Page 78 of Hiss and Make Up
He grinned, and she was sure she was missing something. Something important. And fun. She didn’t like missing fun. But, since she was going to miss out on all the fun with Marc from now on, she figured she’d better get used to it.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” she said. “How did you know Adrien wouldn’t be here? What if he came home early?”
Mark shook his head. “Freddy again. He helped me screw up my computer at the paper, so Adrien’s gonna be busy for a while.”
“Nice.” Even Sierra had to admit that was an impressively devious move. Especially since it was all Freddy, and she didn’t have to give Marc any credit at the moment. “How did you think you were going to get in here? Wait…did you steal his keys?”
“No!” He wrinkled his nose. “Freddy said I could get in with a credit card.”
Sierra rolled her eyes. Even Freddy couldn’t be perfect, she guessed. “You can’t do that on an exterior door. Not one like that at least. You’re lucky you didn’t get caught.”
“Me? Wait a minute, how did you get in here? More importantly,whatare you doing here?”
She gave him a sly smile. “I’ve got skills, didn’t you know?” She nodded toward the back bedroom.
“Um, I don’t think—”
“The computer’s in there.” He wasn’t interested in her anymore, if he ever had been at all. She didn’t need to hear him explain it to her.
“The computer?” He followed her into the room.
“Yeah, the place is clean. Nothing suspicious. But where would a guy like Adrien keep his files?”
She watched the wheels turn and couldn’t help notice how adorable he was trying to figure stuff out.
“On the computer.” He pointed at the hallway. “Lead the way.”
* * *
The massive flat-screen monitor sat on a cheap, overcrowded desk. Marc hit the power button and waited. Wasn’t Adrien some kind of tech genius or something? Marc figured Adrien would be able to put together something faster than this.
Finally, the screen lit up and the operating system logo appeared. Marc tapped his foot, the awkward silence growing like the carpet mold between him and Sierra.
When he'd discovered her in the kitchen, his hopes had lifted. Maybe she hadn’t found the check yet. He could sneak into her bag and take it back before she ever found out how badly he’d screwed up. But her cold demeanor told him otherwise.
She’d found it all right. That check might as well have been sitting right there on the desk between them.
When he couldn’t take the silence anymore, he asked, “What are you doing here?”
“Looking for snakes.” She said it like it was the most normal thing in the world.
“Snakes? Why would Adrien have snakes and why do you care?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Why didn’t you tell me their dad was a breeder?”
“Mr. Guidry?” He scratched the back of his neck. “I’d forgotten all about that.”
“Well, that might have been kind of important to know.”
“Why? He’s gone.”
“What happened to his collections?”
“Collections? The snakes and stuff? I don’t know. What does that matter?”
“Well, if Adrien inherited them, doesn’t that give him access and opportunity? So now we have him with snakesandthe email. Plus, he knows you and Denise, and he has the perfect stake-out spot from his mom’s house. Everything points to him right now.”
“And you expected to find…what? A trailer full of snakes?”
