Sucker Punch (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #27) - Laurell K. Hamilton Page 0,165

and then back at us. The one in yellow smiled at us, and I smiled back, because that’s what you do. Nicky smiled at them, too. The lavender twin smiled with us, and then the one in yellow looked at Olaf. It made me look at him, too. He wasn’t smiling.

If I’d thought he would think it was funny, I would have asked him what kind of sociopath doesn’t smile when a baby smiles at him? But I was pretty sure he wouldn’t get the joke. Luckily for all of us, the mother came back into the room. She sprinkled Cheerios across the trays in front of the babies and then curled up on the only other clean seat in the room, the corner of the couch beside Olaf.

It meant he could just turn his head and look at her, but I had to turn my entire body to see around him to get glimpses of her. If I hadn’t been wearing so many weapons, I’d have curled up on my end of the couch like she was in her exercise outfit. Olaf noticed the issue and sat straighter against the back of the couch so I could see past him.

“Now, Ms. Gibson—”

“Call me Brianna, please.”

“Okay, Brianna, how long have you and Jocelyn been friends?”

“Oh, since high school. We even went to the same college.”

“So, the two of you are close?” I said.

She sipped her can of Diet Coke and seemed to think about the question more than I thought it warranted. “We are. I mean, not as close as we used to be. I got married, and she didn’t, and then we had the twins. Marcy—Marcy Myers—and I got closer because we have husbands and babies. I know Jocelyn felt left out, but she didn’t want what we had. She’s not ready to settle down, and I’m not sure she ever wants kids.”

“It’s hard when some of your friends get married and start families and some don’t,” I said.

She nodded, sipped her diet soda, and said, “None of you is wearing a ring, but one of our friends is a cop, and he said that a lot of you don’t wear wedding rings to work. Are you the married friends or the single friends in your group?”

“Engaged and living with,” I said.

“Living with,” Nicky said.

“Single but dating,” Olaf said.

Nicky pressed his leg tighter against mine, which meant I’d tensed. I did my best to relax and be grateful that Olaf had at least added the single part.

Brianna flashed that smile again, but this time there was a hint of mischief in her eyes. “Living in sin, my mother called it.”

“My dad’s not too fond of it either,” I said.

Olaf looked at me. He actually opened his mouth to say something, then seemed to think better of it.

Brianna had seen the interaction. “You didn’t know her daddy disapproved?”

“We’re not each other’s usual partners. About the night of the murder,” I said, hoping to forestall any more personal questions aimed our way.

It was like all the light just drained out of her face. The makeup looked flat but not harsh, which let me know that she was wearing more base makeup than I’d thought at first. Why was she wearing this much in the middle of the day at home? It did hide whether she paled to match the grim look in her eyes. Maybe she’d worn the makeup like camouflage to hide her expressions while we questioned her?

“Jocelyn talked Marcy and me into a night on the town like we used to do when we were all single.”

“Talked you into? So this wasn’t common for the three of you?” I asked.

“Not anymore. I don’t think the three of us have gone out without spouses or kids since the twins were born.” She smiled at her babies, who were dropping more Cheerios than they were eating and gabbling to each other in their baby language.

“So, over a year,” I said.

Brianna nodded and looked back at us with the glow of her smile still on her face. “Jocelyn said she missed the old days, and so did I. I’m not sure about Marcy. She always had to get a little drunk to get wild, but Joshie and I were wild in our day.” She looked at the babies again with a serious look on her face. “God, I hope neither of them takes after me—not in that way at least.” She looked almost scared. If we hadn’t been investigating a murder, I