Apple of My Eye (Tiger's Eye Mystery #7) - Alyssa Day Page 0,42

hussy—argh. Now I was doing it. He could have made his guest park in the garage and at least closed the curtains. Surely that meant there was a good reason for all this that didn't involve an illicit relationship?

I stopped in the shadow of a tree, considering. I was half-tempted to knock on the door and just ask him.

"Don't you dare stop now, Tess Callahan," Eleanor hissed in my ear, scaring the crap out of me.

I jumped two feet in the air and let out a squeak.

"What are you doing here? You promised to stay in the car!" I looked around, because if Eleanor was here, the chances were slim to none that Lorraine had stayed in the car. "Where is she?"

Eleanor tried the innocent face on me again, but now I knew better.

"Who?"

"Don't 'who' me," I whispered. "Where's Lorraine?"

"She said it's only revenge if you take action," she said smugly, pointing at something behind me.

I whirled around just in time to see Lorraine open a pocket knife and slam the pointy end into one of the front tires on the Jeep.

"What? Stop that," I whisper-yelled at her. "Do you want to get us arrested?"

Her grin was a gleam in the light of the streetlight, and she scooted over to the back tire.

"That's it. I will not be part of vandalism and destruction of property," I said. I turned around and started marching back toward the car, but Eleanor grabbed my arm.

"Okay, okay," she said hastily. "Look! She stopped."

Sure enough, Lorraine folded her knife and put it in her pocket and then hurried over to us and gave me a dirty look.

"Spoilsport."

"You two are unbelievable. This is way out of hand. I'm going to—"

"Please, Tess. At least take a quick peek and tell me if she's in there and what's going on," Eleanor pleaded. "Please? For me?"

I sighed. She'd double-pleased me. Now I had to do it.

I could hear Aunt Ruby's voice in my head. "If your friends jump off a cliff, does that mean you have to?"

Only if they double-please me, Aunt Ruby.

I sternly warned them to stay back, and then I sidled over to Mr. Oliver's yard, took a deep breath, and then raced across his lawn and dove into the bushes at the side of the house.

Note for the future: Diving into bushes is never a good idea.

"Ouch!" I'd skinned my elbow, and the bushes had gotten in a couple of good scratches on my face, probably out of revenge for me smashing their leaves and branches. I muttered a few mildly bad words, wiped my face with the bottom of my shirt, and then slowly rose up out of my crouch until my head was just beneath the window sill.

This was the stupidest idea I'd ever gone along with, and that was saying a lot.

I heard the murmur of conversation, so either Mr. Oliver was watching TV or there really was somebody in his house other than him. I took another deep breath, swallowed hard, and then ever-so-slowly raised my head until I could peek in.

The first person I saw was the hussy. I gasped a little and dropped back down out of sight.

Darn.

Eleanor was going to be very unhappy.

Still, there could be a perfectly reasonable explanation for this. I peeked in again.

This time, Mr. Oliver was hugging the hussy!

I'd seen enough. I hated to admit it, but Eleanor was right. Mr. Oliver was blatantly hugging a woman who looked half his age right in the middle of his living room.

He'd better never try to pawn his Jackalope again, that was for sure, or I would… I would have very strong words for him.

I sighed. Maybe Lorraine's idea had been better. 'Very strong words' was a pretty lame idea of justice.

I glanced up and down the sidewalk, to be sure nobody was coming, and then I raced back over to where Eleanor and Lorraine waited.

"Well?" Eleanor's eyes were wide. "Was she in there?"

"Let's go back to the car before we get caught."

"Tess! Tell me right now."

My shoulders slumped. "I'm sorry, but you were right. She's in there, and he was hugging her."

She ducked her head and nodded. "Okay. All right. Well, better to know, right?"

Then she started marching down the street back toward her car. Lorraine and I followed her, not exactly sure what to say. My heart ached for Eleanor. I knew she'd been growing more and more fond of Bill Oliver, who'd seemed like way too nice a guy to do this.

We cut through