9 The Hitwoman's Downward Dog by JB Lynn Read Free Book Online

weird, fetish-y thing. Personally I don’t get the appeal of shining metal with a smelly cloth for hours on end, but it’s one of the things they share a love of.
    "How’d the meeting go?" Susan asked the second I stepped into the room.
    "Good news. They say she can come home in a week or so." The reality of the idea filled me with dread, but I did my best to sound excited.
    "Oh that’s wonderful!" Susan leapt to her feet, flew around the table and hugged me tightly. "That’s the best news I’ve heard in ages."
    I tried not to flinch as she tightened her grip on me. As a general rule, Susan is not prone to fits of joy or demonstrativeness, so it was uncomfortable on multiple levels to have her squeezing me like I was an almost-empty tube of toothpaste.
    "We’ll have to have a welcome home party."
    Even U.S. Marshal Lawrence Griswald raised his eyebrows at that.
    "She might not be up to a party," I suggested gently, extricating from aunt’s almost manic grasp.
    "Nonsense. What child doesn’t love a party?"
    "I wasn’t suggesting she wouldn’t love it," I replied carefully, getting the distinct impression that saying the wrong thing might send her into emotional overload. "I just think it’ll be a lot of changes and might overwhelm her."
    "She’s right," Griswald interjected. "Why not give the girl a little while to get settled first?’
    Susan looked from me to her boyfriend as though she suspected we were conspiring against her.
    "Brian tells me you got into a bit of trouble," Griswald said, deftly turning the conversation away from Katie and well-meant but ill-conceived parties.
    "What happened?" Susan asked, falling for the distraction.
    I glanced at Griswald, trying to determine if he was annoyed by the fact I’d claimed he’d said Ike Medd was a serial killer. He gave me a half-shrug indicating it was my story to tell.
    "Armani is missing," I told my aunt.
    Her eyes widened. "Are you sure?"
    "She didn’t come into work, she’s not returning phone calls, and her place was trashed. So yeah, I’m pretty sure."
    "Oh my. And how are you involved?"
    "I’m not."
    "But Lawrence just said…"
    I waved off her concern. "I went to Armani’s place to look for her. Detective Griswald… Brian, said I should stay out of it."
    Lawrence quirked an eyebrow, letting me know he was well-aware I wasn’t telling the whole truth, or even half the truth, but he didn’t utter a word.
    "Well of course you should stay out of it," Susan fussed. "Let the police do their job."
    "Excellent advice," Detective Brian Griswald said, walking in behind me.
    "You promise you’ll find that poor girl, won’t you?" Susan asked.
    A worried look was exchanged between Brian and his uncle.
    "He can’t promise that," I said flatly, grabbing the back of a chair to steady myself as a wave of old grief and bitterness hit me so hard it almost knocked me off my feet. "Don’t you remember the promises they made about Darlene?"
    An uncomfortable hush fell over the room at the mention of my teenage sister who’d disappeared at the local carnival.
    Zeke strolled into the room at that moment. Sensing the tension, he froze in place, looking to me for guidance, but I was too caught up in old pain to guide him as I remembered the empty promises the police gave back then about finding Darlene.
    False hope doled out as a tranquilizer to keep everyone calm.
    But they hadn’t found her until they discovered a body they claimed was her.
    Now everyone thought she was dead. I’d believed it too until a woman who talked to ghosts said that the ghost of my sister Theresa, Katie’s mother, had told her Darlene was still alive.
    "I’ll do my best to find her," Brian Griswald pledged solemnly, breaking the silence.
    I offered him a weak smile. "I know you will."
    "But I need you to stay out of it. For her safety as well as yours."
    "I understand."
    Brian turned his attention to Zeke. "That goes for you too. You can’t be helping her look for Armani."
    "I