AllFreeNovel
Share Us
After writing down Cheryl’s number, Jaine went over to Sam’s and got the bag containing her Caller ID unit and new cell phone, which she hadn’t even turned on yet.
She sat at the table and carefully read the instructions, frowned, then wadded them into a ball and threw them in the trash. “It can’t be that complicated,” she muttered. “Just hook this thing between the line and the phone. How else would it work?”
Looked at logically, it was simple enough. She unplugged the phone from the wall jack, took the phone wire provided with the unit, and hooked the unit to the jack, then connected the phone to the unit. Presto bingo. Then she went over to Sam’s house and dialed her number to see if the thing worked.
It did. When she pressed the display button, Sam’s name popped up in the little window, with his number under it. Man, technology rocked.
She had a list of calls to make, and the first one was to Shelley. “I need you to take BooBoo for the rest of Mom and Dad’s vacation,” she said.
“Why?” asked Shelley belligerently, her hurt feelings evident.
“Because my house was vandalized last night and I’m afraid BooBoo will be hurt.”
“What?” Shelley fairly shrieked. “Someone broke into your house? Where were you? What happened?”
“I was with Sam,” Jaine said, and left it at that. “And the house was pretty well trashed.”
“Thank God you weren’t at home!” Then she paused, and Jaine could hear her sister’s thoughts churning. Shelley wasn’t slow. “Wait a minute. The house has already been trashed and BooBoo wasn’t hurt, was he?”
“No, but I’m afraid he might be.”
“You expect them to come back and trash your house again?” Shelley was shrieking again. “It’s that List, isn’t it? You have a bunch of crazies after you!”
“Just one, I think,” Jaine said, and her voice caught.
“Oh, my God. You think the man who killed Marci broke into your house? That’s what you think, isn’t it? Jaine, my God, what are we going to do? You have to get out of there. Come stay with me. Stay in a hotel. Something!”
“Thanks for the offer, but Sam beat you to it, and I feel safe with him. He has a gun. A big one.”
“I know; I saw it.” Shelley was silent a moment. “I’m scared.”
“So am I,” Jaine admitted. “Sam’s working on it, though, and he has a couple of leads. Oh, by the way, we’re getting married.”
Shelley began shrieking again. Jaine took the phone away from her ear. When there was silence again, she put the phone back and said, “The tentative date is the day after Mom and Dad get back.”
“But that’s only three weeks! We can’t get everything done! What about the church? What about the reception? What about your gown?”
“No church, no reception,” Jaine said firmly. “And I’ll find a gown. I don’t have to have one made for me; one off the rack will do fine. I have to go shopping anyway, because the creep cut up most of my clothes.”
More shrieking. She waited until Shelley’s outrage died down. “Hey, let me give you my new cell phone number,” she said. “You’re the first one.”
“I am, huh?” Shelley sounded fatigued from all her shrieking. “What about Sam?”
“Even he doesn’t have it.”
“Wow, I’m honored. You forgot to give it to him, didn’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, let me get a pen.” There were rustling noises. “I can’t find one.” More noises. “Okay, shoot.”
“You found a pen?”
“No, but I have a can of Cheez Whiz. I’ll write your number on the counter with it, then find a pen and copy it.”
Jaine recited her number and listened to the spewing noise as Shelley Cheez-Whizzed it on her coun-tertop.
“Are you at home, or at work?”
