The Silence of the Chihuahuas by Waverly Curtis Page A

job and she has never let go of the task of trying to manage every detail of our lives. Teri managed to escape her relentless pressure by running away. I just tried to stay as far away from her as possible.
    â€œI don’t work for Jimmy G any more,” I said.
    â€œWell, that’s good news,” Cheryl said. “So do you have another job?”
    â€œActually, I’m freelancing,” I said.
    â€œAs what?”
    â€œAs a private detective.” Of course, Pepe and I didn’t have any cases yet. Just a bunch of business cards that read Sullivan and Sullivan.
    â€œYou don’t even have a license.”
    How did she know that? “I know but I’m signed up for the certification course. It’s this Saturday.” I had been waiting for this class, which was only offered twice a year, since I first started working for Jimmy G.
    There was silence on the end of the line.
    â€œSo you’re not coming to the wedding?” she finally asked. “I was just talking to Amber and she said you had never RSVPed.”
    â€œYou’ve got to be kidding!” Pepe could hear the tone in my voice and came running over to see what was up. “Do you really think it’s appropriate for me to attend Jeff’s wedding?” Jeff was the best friend of Cheryl’s husband, Don, as well as, briefly, my husband.
    â€œYes, of course, it is,” said Cheryl. “It shows you have no bad feelings toward him.”
    â€œBut I do have bad feelings toward him.” Jeff had divorced me after I put him through business school, which had qualified him to get a great job working for an insurance company, where he immediately hooked up with his secretary, Amber.
    â€œIt would heal a rift in our family,” Cheryl said. “We could all hang out together again.” Like the old days, when we had double-dated after I met Jeff at Cheryl and Don’s wedding.
    â€œNo, thank you,” I said.
    â€œYou could bring that guy you’re dating,” Cheryl said.
    I knew she didn’t approve of Felix, who had been gracious enough to accompany me to a tense Easter dinner at my sister’s house on our very first date.
    â€œHis name is Felix and the invitation didn’t say Plus One.”
    â€œSo you did get an invitation!”
    â€œYes, but I threw it in the trash.”
    â€œGeri, think about it,” said Cheryl. “We’ve only got each other now that Mom and Pop are gone. It would really mean a lot to me if you were there. And the kids have been asking about you.”
    Cheryl has two kids, Danielle and D.J., possibly the two most obnoxious kids in the world, but I do take being an aunt seriously. And I hadn’t seen them in months.
    Cheryl continued, piling on the guilt: “Danielle is the flower girl and she looks so precious in her pink tutu. And D.J. will be wearing a little pink tux. He’s the ring boy.”
    â€œI’ll see what I can do,” I said sulkily. I couldn’t ask Felix since he was going to be filming. And I wasn’t going to go to Jeff’s wedding alone. Maybe I could find Brad and get him to go with me. He had accompanied me to my sister’s house once before and had sworn he would never go back—he claimed the furniture gave him a headache—but if I found him and cleared him of the suspicion of murder, he would owe me big time.
    â€œThat’s great!” chirped Cheryl.
    â€œSo you don’t think that was really Teri that called?” I asked.
    â€œWell, if you find her, invite her too!” said Cheryl with a dismissive tone in her voice. She clearly thought I was nuts. I guess everyone did.
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    â€œPepe, what should I do?” I asked as he came scurrying into the kitchen while I was making myself a cup of tea.
    He ran into the living room where Paraiso Perdido was playing. In this episode, Conchita was in jail because her angry ex-lover, Oswaldo, has framed her for a