Page 39 of Road Queens
“I—”
She waited.
“I guess I want to make sure the right people are punished this time.”
This time?
“Whoever that ends up being,” he added.
“Whomever,” she corrected absently. “So here you are.”
“Here I am.”
“Helpful, but only to a point.”
“My curse, apparently.” He shrugged. “I can be more than helpful, but I’d need information. And you brought up Iris Rivers.”
“I did,” she admitted. All right, so he wasn’t a crusader for justice. But he could still be useful. Though before they took this any further
(“This”? Are you talking about the investigation?)
she’d need to regroup with the girls.
“Let’s start with something small,” he coaxed. “Cassandra Rivers’s scar.”
“Cass would be the first to tell you it’s not small. So would her mother. Also? None of your business.”
“Not even for backstory?” he coaxed. “Because Iris Rivers was notorious for never calling the cops no matter how bad it got. So there’s no official record of the inciting—”
You’re wrong about that.“You’d have to ask her.”
“But it’s related, right? Since—”
“No,” she said shortly. “This isn’t a Q and A for your benefit. I’m not serving up malts and dishing hot goss so you can be predisposed to turning Cass in.”
“I’m not predisposed to anything!” he protested. “If she did it, I want to help, and if she didn’t, I want to help.”
“She didn’t. So don’t fret.”
“My God, I could never—if anything, I’m predisposed to—” Then he cut himself off so quickly that she heard his teeth click together.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Whaaaaaaaat? You might as well answer me. You don’t want to know how long I can keep up the whining.”
“It’s not important.”
“And that’s your call because—oh. You’re, um. Leaving, I guess?”
Good guess, since he was already halfway down the stairs. She was so surprised by the abrupt departure that it took her a few seconds to follow him out of the kitchen.And here I thought he was riveted to my every utterance, when, really, he just wants to get gone.
“Thanks, I’ve—thanks for the malt,” he called up from her entryway. “And for letting me up.”
“You’re welcome.” She came closer and was amazed to see that her proximity was making things worse. “Are you all right? You’re acting like a diabetic who can’t find his insulin.”
“Insulin! No! That’s ridiculous! I’m not diabetic! No need for a shot!”
