Page 145 of The Body in the Backyard
The gated neighborhood’s golf cart–driving full-time security officer had little to do besides enforce HOA ordinances and had embraced Nick’s request for frequent drive-bys.
She stepped into the dining room, making a note to find the glass cleaner and remove all of Mr. Willicott’s face smudges from the windows. “Did Brian tell you anything about what he and Nick are up to?” Riley asked Josie desperately.
“Nope. Which means either they’re busy doing whatever it is they’re doing, or he fell asleep. In which case I will put fire ants in his boxers.”
Pregnant Josie was even more bloodthirsty than regular Josie.
Lily and Fred marched into the room and saluted Riley. “Per your orders, the lunch dishes are cleaned up as is the accidental olive oil spill in the basement,” Fred reported.
“Great,” Riley said dryly.
“Also two of the four toilets in the house are clogged, but no bad guys have breached the perimeter yet,” Lily added.
Riley pinched the bridge of her nose. “Fabulous. See what you two can do about the toilets. Oh, and can you clean Mr. Willicott’s face prints off the windows?”
They saluted again. “Aye, aye, captain,” Fred barked.
Griffin scuttled past the doorway with his phone to his ear. “My credit card number? Okay. Hang on. Let me find my wallet.”
Riley abandoned the Bogdanovich twins and followed Griffin into the guest room. He and Bella had packed five suitcases of clothing and beauty supplies.
“What are you doing?” she demanded, stepping over a bag full of hair products.
Griffin beamed at her. “I won a special award for Best White Teeth on Morning TV. They need my credit card number so they can ship my trophy.”
Riley snatched the phone out of his hand. “Hello?”
But the caller had disconnected.
“How exactly did you find out you won this award?” she asked with what little remaining patience she had.
“I got a message on a dating app,” Griffin said.
She counted backward from ten slowly. “Okay. First of all, why are you on a dating app? You’re engaged.”
“Oh. It’s an old profile from this summer,” he said with a dismissive wave.
“You were engaged this summer.”
He smiled coyly. “I was? Oopsie.”
“Whatever. Moving on. Why would a legitimate organization be contacting you through adating appinstead of your work email or your agent or your lawyer to tell you that you won an industry award?”
Griffin patted her arm like she was a child. “Business is done on the apps these days. It’s not like it was ten years ago when you were in your prime.”
“How have you not been murdered yet?” Riley wondered out loud.
“Just lucky I guess.”
“Show me the message,” she said, handing his phone back.
She rolled her eyes over Griffin’s shoulder as he scrolled through a full inbox of DMs from “sexy singles” before opening a message. “Here it is. Completely legitimate,” he said.
Riley ran her tongue over her teeth. “This message is signed by Mimi Mappenberger.”
He nodded vigorously. “Uh-huh. She’s the award lady.”
“Her username is PaybaxRHail.”
