“Oh, no, she’s a regular goody two-shoes.”
“I’m worried about her.”
“Aw, lovers’ tiff?”
“We have a purely professional relationship.”
“Which is why you’re calling on a weekend?”
“I left a message for your parents yesterday, and they haven’t called back.They’re not answering this morning either.”
“Duh.They’re in church.”
“For two days?”
“Mom keeps her phone in a drawer, and Dad never turns the ringer on.”
“It’s important that I speak with them.Can you go over and ask them to call me?”
“What’s it worth?”
Was she serious?Saige’s sister was missing, and she wanted money to run an errand?Justin’s knuckles turned white where he gripped the phone, and he took a deep breath.
But Ari got in first.
She snatched the phone and practically snarled into it.“How about this?If you go and find your parents right this instant, I won’t tell them you tried to cash in on your sister’s disappearance.”
“Who the heck are you?”
“The private investigator looking for Amie.”
“Well, who do you think my parents will believe?”she asked smugly.“You or me?”
“I don’t know… I guess that depends on whether I play them the recording of this conversation.”
The silence was glorious.Justin smiled for the first time all day, and Violet covered a giggle with her hand.She’d taken a seat next to me, and I’d pinched my thigh under the table becauseViolet freaking Millerwas eating one of my blueberry sundae waffles.She’d even thanked me for making breakfast and said it tasted great.Saylor would lose her mind when I told her.
“You…you can’t do that,” Saige spluttered.“You’re not allowed to record a private conversation without permission.”
“I’m in Virginia.It’s a one-party consent state, and do you really think your parents will care about the technicalities?”
“But…but…”
“Why are you still talking?Get off your transactional ass and tell your parents to call Justin.”Ari hung up and passed the phone back.“Now I understand why Amie moved here.If I had a sister like Saige, I’d be serving time for murder.”
“No, you wouldn’t,” Dawson said from the doorway.“You’re way too careful for that.”
That was a joke, right?
“Makes me glad to be an only child, although she does remind me of my mom.All ‘me, me, me’ and screw everyone else.”
“What are the chances she’ll actually go visit her parents?”
“Oh, she’ll go.Con artists generally have a good sense of self-preservation, and she can’t be sure that I don’t have a recording.Hopefully, Amie’s parents will either know where she is or put some additional pressure on the police if they don’t.”
Maybe they’d listen to her family.“You think she went home?”
“How many women do you know who would toss their purse into the undergrowth and then take a trip across the country?”
