not to yelp as her injured back protested.
“You shouldn’t have come down here yourself, lovie. Or were you actually hoping to see Der Fuh—”
Mr. Meagher hissed as loudly as a cobra-spying mongoose and Elysia broke off as Jake appeared in the lobby, carrying a sheaf of papers.
He stopped, nodded gravely, his gaze lingering on A.J.’s, before he apparently changed his mind and walked out again.
Elysia sniffed disapprovingly. “I need the loo.” She turned on her heel.
A.J. exchanged looks with their companions and followed Elysia into the ladies’ room, where she found her mother reapplying her makeup with fierce efficiency.
“Are you . . . ?” A.J. cut off what was obviously a silly question. She couldn’t imagine how it would feel to be jailed, but she could imagine that once she’d been released, feeling clean and in control of her life again would be high priority.
“Bradley tells me there are reporters out there,” Elysia said, combing through her dark hair in sharp, short strokes. She twisted it up into a loose chignon and studied her wan reflection narrowly.
“We can probably sneak out the back of the station,” A.J. said. “I can ask the desk sergeant—”
“ Sneak out the back? ” Elysia stared at her. “I have no intention of sneaking out the back.”
“I thought . . .” A.J.’s voice trailed off.
“You thought what?” Elysia raised her elegant eyebrows. “You thought I would sneak away in the night like a whipped cur?”
“Er, no. I thought you would prefer to slip out the back and avoid all the dumb questions and bad publicity.”
“You. Thought. Wrong.”
All riiiiiight. Clearly ready for her close-up, Mr. DeMille.
Elysia held her head high. A.J. could just make out the ghostly obscenities scrawled on the multi-bleached wall behind her. “I have no intention of going gently into that good night,” she said clearly and coldly. “Far from it. In fact I’m going out there to give a press conference on the front steps of this dungeon.”
A.J. sucked in a sharp breath. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Mother.”
“I didn’t ask. You can sneak out the back if you like.” Elysia moved to the door.
“Wait! I really think we need to—”
Elysia cut her off, throwing open the bathroom door, nearly taking out what looked like a teenaged hooker and her baby.
“My public,” Elysia announced crisply, “awaits!”
Six
“Dear, dear. After all, it could have gone worse,” Mr. Meagher said absently, for the fifth or sixth time. They were tooling along the tree-lined highway, lush farmland, and green woodland flashing by as they headed for Starlight Farm. Monster, his head stuck out the window, sneezed loudly and wetly.
Other than Mr. Meagher and Monster, no one had had anything to say since they had left Deer Hollow. Actually, no one had had anything to say before Deer Hollow. In fact no one had had anything much to say since Elysia had delivered her scathing denunciation of her treatment at the incompetent hands of the Stillbrook Police Department—which she had concluded by challenging “the plods” to solve the murder of Dakarai Massri before she did.
It had made excellent copy—and had probably earned her the undying enmity of every single member of the Stillbrook Police Department from Chief of Police Harlan Welles to Fred the janitor. Safe to say Elysia wasn’t topping the charts with anybody pulling a salary in the legal and judicial branches either.
Not that she cared. She sat in the front seat gazing broodingly out the windshield at the vast and cloudless blue skies overhead. She had remained so since they’d said good-bye to Stella at the police station and driven to Deer Hollow to pick up Monster. A.J.’s back was beginning to give her, in Elysia’s vernacular, “gyp.” But it seemed easier to spend the night at her mother’s than try and manage on her own. Mostly because it would be difficult to keep an eye on her mother long
“You shouldn’t have come down here yourself, lovie. Or were you actually hoping to see Der Fuh—”
Mr. Meagher hissed as loudly as a cobra-spying mongoose and Elysia broke off as Jake appeared in the lobby, carrying a sheaf of papers.
He stopped, nodded gravely, his gaze lingering on A.J.’s, before he apparently changed his mind and walked out again.
Elysia sniffed disapprovingly. “I need the loo.” She turned on her heel.
A.J. exchanged looks with their companions and followed Elysia into the ladies’ room, where she found her mother reapplying her makeup with fierce efficiency.
“Are you . . . ?” A.J. cut off what was obviously a silly question. She couldn’t imagine how it would feel to be jailed, but she could imagine that once she’d been released, feeling clean and in control of her life again would be high priority.
“Bradley tells me there are reporters out there,” Elysia said, combing through her dark hair in sharp, short strokes. She twisted it up into a loose chignon and studied her wan reflection narrowly.
“We can probably sneak out the back of the station,” A.J. said. “I can ask the desk sergeant—”
“ Sneak out the back? ” Elysia stared at her. “I have no intention of sneaking out the back.”
“I thought . . .” A.J.’s voice trailed off.
“You thought what?” Elysia raised her elegant eyebrows. “You thought I would sneak away in the night like a whipped cur?”
“Er, no. I thought you would prefer to slip out the back and avoid all the dumb questions and bad publicity.”
“You. Thought. Wrong.”
All riiiiiight. Clearly ready for her close-up, Mr. DeMille.
Elysia held her head high. A.J. could just make out the ghostly obscenities scrawled on the multi-bleached wall behind her. “I have no intention of going gently into that good night,” she said clearly and coldly. “Far from it. In fact I’m going out there to give a press conference on the front steps of this dungeon.”
A.J. sucked in a sharp breath. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Mother.”
“I didn’t ask. You can sneak out the back if you like.” Elysia moved to the door.
“Wait! I really think we need to—”
Elysia cut her off, throwing open the bathroom door, nearly taking out what looked like a teenaged hooker and her baby.
“My public,” Elysia announced crisply, “awaits!”
Six
“Dear, dear. After all, it could have gone worse,” Mr. Meagher said absently, for the fifth or sixth time. They were tooling along the tree-lined highway, lush farmland, and green woodland flashing by as they headed for Starlight Farm. Monster, his head stuck out the window, sneezed loudly and wetly.
Other than Mr. Meagher and Monster, no one had had anything to say since they had left Deer Hollow. Actually, no one had had anything to say before Deer Hollow. In fact no one had had anything much to say since Elysia had delivered her scathing denunciation of her treatment at the incompetent hands of the Stillbrook Police Department—which she had concluded by challenging “the plods” to solve the murder of Dakarai Massri before she did.
It had made excellent copy—and had probably earned her the undying enmity of every single member of the Stillbrook Police Department from Chief of Police Harlan Welles to Fred the janitor. Safe to say Elysia wasn’t topping the charts with anybody pulling a salary in the legal and judicial branches either.
Not that she cared. She sat in the front seat gazing broodingly out the windshield at the vast and cloudless blue skies overhead. She had remained so since they’d said good-bye to Stella at the police station and driven to Deer Hollow to pick up Monster. A.J.’s back was beginning to give her, in Elysia’s vernacular, “gyp.” But it seemed easier to spend the night at her mother’s than try and manage on her own. Mostly because it would be difficult to keep an eye on her mother long
Similar Books
