beat Reggie to the door, only to find Alice sitting in Reggie’s seat chatting quietly with Cal McCormack, who was sitting at the other desk in Reggie’s office.
“Hey, Tally,” he drawled. “I thought you weren’t meddling.”
“I’m not,” I said.
“Huh. Seems you and I are gonna have to break out the ol’ dictionary and look up ‘meddling.’ Because I just caught this little lady going through Bryan’s desk.”
chapter 9
That night, before we hit the Bar None, Alice, Emily, and Finn had another strategy session/gossipfest at the Remember the A-la-mode.
When we were all gathered around a table—everyone except Kyle, who had camped in a booth with his schoolbooks, pretending to study—I gave my niece the hairy eyeball. “Are you gonna tell your mama what happened, or am I?”
She looked stricken, betrayed.
“Tell me what?” Bree asked.
“It wasn’t a big deal, but Aunt Tally went to get a cup of coffee with Reggie so I could have a few minutes alone in Reggie’s office.”
“And why would you want to be alone in Reggie’s office?”
“Because it was also Bryan’s office,” Alice admitted.
Finn’s jaw dropped, and Emily looked completely horrified. Bree, on the other hand, didn’t look terribly surprised. Pissed, but not surprised.
“Alice Marie Anders, are you telling me you pawed through a murder victim’s personal belongings?”
Alice shrugged. “I didn’t get around to the pawing part. Detective McCormack didn’t let me.”
That was the last straw. Bree slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand. “Hand to God, little girl, you’re gonna be the death of me,” she moaned.
“Mom, it’s okay.”
“It’s not okay. My daughter’s in trouble with the law.”
“I’m not in trouble,” Alice huffed. “And you’re one to talk. Didn’t you and Aunt Tally break into Wayne’s office last year? You actually committed a crime.”
Bree glared at me, and I raised my shoulders in a helpless shrug. Alice was absolutely right. We were terrible role models.
When I didn’t offer support, Bree turned on me. “I can’t believe you helped her,” she hissed.
I held up my hands. “In my own defense, Alice told me she needed me to keep Reggie occupied so she could snoop around and make sure he didn’t have a girlfriend, because she was thinking of asking him out.”
“Oh, well, in that case, I guess it’s okay,” Bree drawled. “If you were just helping her to act like a crazy stalker instead of helping her commit a B and E.”
A tiny part of my brain recognized that she had every right to be PO’ed at me, but I chafed at having my reckless, party-girl cousin, who had spent a lifetime relying on me to bail her out of messes and marriages, accuse me of irresponsibility. Especially in front of Finn and Emily.
“Hey,” I snapped back, “she was threatening to pick the lock to his office door. At least with my help she just entered, without the breaking part.”
“Honestly, Tally—”
“Mom! It’s not Aunt Tally’s fault. I manipulated her.”
Without hesitation, Bree refocused her ire back on her child. “You mean you lied to her. Do I need to haul your skinny be-hind back to Sunday school?”
Alice blushed pomegranate pink. “I didn’t exactly lie,” she said. “I am going to ask Reggie to go to a movie with me. Kyle told me the Dalliance Rec Department is showing the Rocky Horror Picture Show outside, at Lonestar Park, in a couple of weeks.”
From my position at the table, I had a good view of Kyle. The boy looked gutshot. If only Alice knew the power she had to squish his heart to smithereens. Emily, too, appeared troubled by Alice’s interest in Reggie. I wondered if she shared my concern about the age difference between the couple, or if Emily, as Reggie’s teacher and adviser, knew an even better reason Alice should keep her distance.
“See, I didn’t lie to Aunt Tally. I just didn’t tell her the entire truth. I planned to look through both Reggie’s and Bryan’s desks.”
Now there was no mistaking the panic on Emily’s face. Was she upset that Alice would take such a risk? That Alice was too deeply involved in a potentially dangerous situation? Or was she worried about what Alice might find in Bryan’s desk?
Bree had plenty of wrath to go around that night. She pointed a purple manicured finger at Emily Clowper. “Did you put her up to this?”
Emily appeared genuinely distraught. “Me? Absolutely not.”
Bree didn’t look convinced.
“Listen, I gave Alice my office key already, and that key opens all of the offices on the first floor of Sinclair, including Bryan