call earlier from the Wind-Up about stolen jewelry. Officer Spurgen was on duty then.”
Two calls in one night from the Wind-Up. For Calamity, that was a crime wave. Weird that they were both coming from the same hotel.
“I just don’t know what the procedure is for a squirrel-napping.” Ashley nibbled on her fingernail with focused intensity. Maybe he should offer her some salt.
Laughlin batted his pencil around the desk with coffee stirrers. So many choices here. Do you even treat a call like this seriously? He decided two things. First, they weren’t busy. And second, sending his best detectives on such a call would be the source of much humor at company picnics. He cleared his throat and spoke in his best Dragnet voice. “For a kidnapping, you want to send the detectives right out there. The sisters are on duty tonight, dispatch them, you don’t have to give it a number, just tell them what’s going on.”
“The sisters?”
His niece was too new to know about the department joke. “Detectives Mallory and Jacobson are both named Cindy. Well, Mallory goes by Cynthia. You know, with a Y. So we call them the sisters or the Cindys.”
“Oh.” Ashley nodded like she understood. Then she gripped the trim on the doorway and leaned into his office. “So are they sisters?”
Laughlin clenched his teeth. Nepotism was almost always a bad idea.
Ashley turned so he saw her in profile. She fingered the piece of paper. Again, she snacked on her lower lip.
“Something wrong?”
“Uncle Glen, I don’t think I’m right for this job.” She pivoted on the balls of her feet.
Glen Laughlin suppressed a hallelujah yelp. Ashley would be gone, and he would still be invited over to Megan’s for Christmas dinner.
“I’ve been thinking I would be more suited for aeronautical engineering.”
Laughlin slapped his hand on the desk. “Now that’s something to think about, Ashley.”
On a bench outside the Gap outlet, Kindra slumped against Suzanne. Shopping bags surrounded them. A small crowd milled down the hallway. Arleta sat in the coffee shop across the corridor with the laptop open. “What do you suppose she’s going to blog about?”
Suzanne shrugged. “We need to post something. We haven’t made an entry since we left Montana. Ginger had the laptop open, but she didn’t post.”
“You notice how every piece of clothing Arleta buys is shiny?”
Suzanne wiggled on the bench. “Don’t go giving her a hard time. She spent all those years being the professor’s wife wearing safe colors, gray and navy. I’m glad she found her inner showgirl. The woman is entitled to a hot-pink-and-sequins phase.”
Kindra pulled her blond hair out of its ponytail. “I just hope I’m that feisty when I’m her age.” Even at this distance and through the coffee shop window, Arleta’s blouse glistened.
“I don’t think feisty is the word for it. The woman has better marksmanship skills than a marine sniper. Would you take a shooting class when you were seventy-five?”
“I hope so.” Kindra kicked one of her shopping bags. “Shopping isn’t as much fun without Ginger.”
Suzanne pulled out her cell phone. “I don’t know if Ginger is going to feel like shopping at all … considering.”
Kindra leaned close to Suzanne to see what she was looking at on her phone. Suzanne flipped through pictures of her four kids. “We got this long tunnel filled with stores of marked-down stuff. How many times in a life does that happen, and we can’t even enjoy it because of everything that’s gone wrong.”
Suzanne touched the picture of her baby, one-year-old Natasha. “This is my first vacation since I started having kids. The whole time I was packing and they were dragging things out of my suitcase and getting chocolate stains on my silk blouses, I couldn’t wait to get on that plane. Now that I’m here, all that I can think about is them.” Her voice faltered.
“Don’t be sad.” Kindra scooted a little closer.
“I’m okay.”
Two calls in one night from the Wind-Up. For Calamity, that was a crime wave. Weird that they were both coming from the same hotel.
“I just don’t know what the procedure is for a squirrel-napping.” Ashley nibbled on her fingernail with focused intensity. Maybe he should offer her some salt.
Laughlin batted his pencil around the desk with coffee stirrers. So many choices here. Do you even treat a call like this seriously? He decided two things. First, they weren’t busy. And second, sending his best detectives on such a call would be the source of much humor at company picnics. He cleared his throat and spoke in his best Dragnet voice. “For a kidnapping, you want to send the detectives right out there. The sisters are on duty tonight, dispatch them, you don’t have to give it a number, just tell them what’s going on.”
“The sisters?”
His niece was too new to know about the department joke. “Detectives Mallory and Jacobson are both named Cindy. Well, Mallory goes by Cynthia. You know, with a Y. So we call them the sisters or the Cindys.”
“Oh.” Ashley nodded like she understood. Then she gripped the trim on the doorway and leaned into his office. “So are they sisters?”
Laughlin clenched his teeth. Nepotism was almost always a bad idea.
Ashley turned so he saw her in profile. She fingered the piece of paper. Again, she snacked on her lower lip.
“Something wrong?”
“Uncle Glen, I don’t think I’m right for this job.” She pivoted on the balls of her feet.
Glen Laughlin suppressed a hallelujah yelp. Ashley would be gone, and he would still be invited over to Megan’s for Christmas dinner.
“I’ve been thinking I would be more suited for aeronautical engineering.”
Laughlin slapped his hand on the desk. “Now that’s something to think about, Ashley.”
On a bench outside the Gap outlet, Kindra slumped against Suzanne. Shopping bags surrounded them. A small crowd milled down the hallway. Arleta sat in the coffee shop across the corridor with the laptop open. “What do you suppose she’s going to blog about?”
Suzanne shrugged. “We need to post something. We haven’t made an entry since we left Montana. Ginger had the laptop open, but she didn’t post.”
“You notice how every piece of clothing Arleta buys is shiny?”
Suzanne wiggled on the bench. “Don’t go giving her a hard time. She spent all those years being the professor’s wife wearing safe colors, gray and navy. I’m glad she found her inner showgirl. The woman is entitled to a hot-pink-and-sequins phase.”
Kindra pulled her blond hair out of its ponytail. “I just hope I’m that feisty when I’m her age.” Even at this distance and through the coffee shop window, Arleta’s blouse glistened.
“I don’t think feisty is the word for it. The woman has better marksmanship skills than a marine sniper. Would you take a shooting class when you were seventy-five?”
“I hope so.” Kindra kicked one of her shopping bags. “Shopping isn’t as much fun without Ginger.”
Suzanne pulled out her cell phone. “I don’t know if Ginger is going to feel like shopping at all … considering.”
Kindra leaned close to Suzanne to see what she was looking at on her phone. Suzanne flipped through pictures of her four kids. “We got this long tunnel filled with stores of marked-down stuff. How many times in a life does that happen, and we can’t even enjoy it because of everything that’s gone wrong.”
Suzanne touched the picture of her baby, one-year-old Natasha. “This is my first vacation since I started having kids. The whole time I was packing and they were dragging things out of my suitcase and getting chocolate stains on my silk blouses, I couldn’t wait to get on that plane. Now that I’m here, all that I can think about is them.” Her voice faltered.
“Don’t be sad.” Kindra scooted a little closer.
“I’m okay.”
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