Page 110 of The Body in the Backyard
“Nice try. We’ll add trash-talking to the danger boot camp syllabus.”
“Can’t. Wait.”
She sweated her way through four more reps while Chupacabra breezed through another set of ten.
“Gah! Fifty.” Weber collapsed to the floor, sweating and panting. “Is she still looking?”
“You did not just do fifty push-ups,” Nick argued.
“Fuck. You. Nicky,” Weber wheezed.
“Why don’t you show Kellen how it’s done?” she prompted through her teeth as she fought against the pull of gravity to raise the dumbbells again.
Nick scoffed. “I don’t need to prove myself in a push-up contest.”
“Because you know you’d lose,” Weber pointed out, flopping onto his back.
“She just saw us,” Riley said without moving her mouth.
“Good. Wake up those spirit guides of yours.” Nick swapped weights, handing over a lighter set. “Time for triceps,” he said louder.
A fit and muscly shadow fell over Riley. “Hey. You guys are the investigators, right?” Chupacabra asked, tossing a bone-dry sweat towel over her shoulder.
“That’s us,” Nick said. “Chupacabra, right?”
“Good memory,” she noted.
“Hard to forget the best name ever. This is my friend Yan.” Nick gestured at Weber. “He’s visiting from Sweden. He makes clocks for dollhouses.”
“Nice to meet you, Yan,” Chupacabra said, offering her hand to Weber.
“Yah. Is pleasant to meet you as well,” Weber said in a reasonable-sounding Swedish accent while shaking her hand.
“A clockmaker?” she asked.
Weber bobbed his head. “Yah. I makes the teeny tiny clocks. And you? You make clocks?”
“No, I don’t make tiny clocks. I make big muscles,” Chupacabra explained, tapping her biceps. “I’m a personal trainer.”
Weber frowned in confusion and looked at Nick.
Nick gestured at Chupacabra. “Hon slår pingviner som Arnold Schwarzenegger.”
Riley wasn’t sure if her boyfriend was speaking gibberish or actual Swedish because he did it with such confidence.
Weber bobbed his head. “Åh! Ja. Du bär damunderkläder.”
“Cool,” Chupacabra said.
“So how are things going with the Gentrys? Do you have them ready for an amateur bodybuilding show yet?” Nick asked.
She might have been half-dead from her workout, but Riley still caught the distinct flash of something that emanated from Chupacabra at the mention of the Gentrys.
“Great,” she said with a smile that was almost believable. “Those two are getting in better shape by the day. Bella finally convinced Griffin to work out a couple of days a week now too. Almost can’t believe he was on medical leave just a couple of months ago. It’s practically a miracle.”
The way Chupacabra saidmiraclesounded less impressed and more…irked. Like when you found out your high school nemesis had just bought a beach house.
Riley felt the nudge from her spirit guides. “When was that?” she asked.
