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She eyed the envelope. “I guess I should have used your last name like everybody else.”
His expression grew ominous. “What do you mean, like everybody else?”
This was the kind of slip she never made in Washington. “I didn’t mean a thing. Stop glowering and get in, will you?”
Lucy snickered. He slowly turned to stare at her. Button melted into smiles and gurgles, but he ignored her. “What’s Nell talking about?”
“You think I like having Jorik for a last name?” Lucy retorted. “You think Button does?”
“Are you telling me your last name is Jorik?”
“What did you think it was?”
Mat shoved his hand through his hair. “Shit.”
“Sit!” Button crowed.
“That’s it!” Nealy exclaimed. “No more foul language from either one of you. Button’s turning into the first R-rated toddler!”
“Sit!” Button shouted, clapping her hands and looking pleased with herself.
It was Nealy’s turn to glower, and she made the most of it as she thrust her hand through the window. “I’ll take that.”
He looked down at the envelope. “From John Smith?”
Why couldn’t Terry have used a little more imagination? The old Terry would have written Homer Simpson or Jerry Falwell or something like that. But Dennis’s death had stolen Terry’s laughter. “My cousin,” she said.
Mat tested the weight of the package, then regarded her quizzically before he handed it over to her. She knew he expected her to tell him what was inside, but somehow she didn’t think volunteering that her dead husband’s lover had loaned her thousands of dollars in cash would put an end to his questions.
She tucked the edge of the package against her hip. “Time’s a-wastin’, cowpokes. Let’s head out.”
For all her insistence that they go to a mall, Lucy didn’t seem too enthusiastic once they arrived. As the teenager wandered away, Nealy wondered if she might not be more interested in postponing their arrival in Iowa than in going shopping.
With Button in her arms for camouflage, Nealy slipped into the rest room to dispose of the Fed Ex envelope and put the money into her purse for safekeeping. When she came out, Mat was waiting for her, even though he’d said he was heading for Mexico as soon as they disappeared.
“Trouble with the border guard?” she asked.
“Shaaaaa!” Button screeched in delight.
“So what was in the envelope?”
“Money so I can go clothes shopping. You’re welcome to come along.”
“Somebody actually sent you money?”
“It’s amazing what the Mafia pays for a kill these days.”
“You’ve been hanging around Lucy too much.” He fell into step next to her. “So how much do you have?”
“Enough to pay you back and buy something for myself that doesn’t blow.” Another sweet smile. “Enough to take off on my own if you irritate me in even the most minuscule way.”
His expression turned distinctly cocky. “Why do I think you’re happy right where you are?”
“It doesn’t have anything to do with you.”
“No? That kiss last night said someth
ing different.”
