Charmed and Dangerous by Toni McGee Causey Read Free Book Online Page B

going to be subtle if it killed her.
    She examined the check Ce Ce had given her, hoping that the activity made her seem normal. Whatever the hell
normal
was. She wasn’t entirely sure she’d ever met up with
normal
. With the line not even moving, Bobbie Faye craned to see who the teller was, and sighed as soon as she saw it was little Avantee Miller, who was barely nineteen and already thoroughly bored with the world.
    The skinny, bespectacled man stood in line directly behind Bobbie Faye. As she bounced on her toes, fidgeting, watching Avantee ever so slowly help the very first nun, the man behind her twitched and flinched and gawked at her as if she was something from another planet. She thought she’dreassure him with a little friendly banter, because that’s what normal people who are being subtle do, right?
    “We’d have to drive a stake in the ground to see if Avantee moved,” she joked, expecting to get at least a hint of a grin from him. Nothing but a blank stare. “You know, create a fixed mark? Something to measure from?” He sort of shuddered, barely grimaced acknowledgment, and tried to avoid meeting Bobbie Faye’s gaze, which made her wonder if she’d even remembered to brush her hair.
    She was now officially scaring the locals.
    Then she noticed a small puddle of water, thanks to drips from her purse. She tried to look completely innocent and gladly took a step forward when the first nun was finally finished.
    Fifteen minutes later, Avantee had just progressed to helping the third nun and Bobbie Faye decided it was a good thing she’d had to wear old clothes, because when she spontaneously combusted, at least Lori Ann could take some of her better clothes and sell them. Bobbie Faye caught herself bouncing again in rhythm to the snores wheezing from old Harold, the eighty-year-old bank guard, and her impatience was definitely not improving the twitchy nerves of the poor nerdy guy behind her.
    She noticed Melba, the insect-thin bank manager, darting over to a desk, and Bobbie Faye, filled to the brim with all the patience she could manage for an entire week, much less one morning, said, “I hope you have a good retirement plan, Melba. I’ve been here long enough to apply for one.”
    Melba sighed the very long, drawn-out sigh of one who carries the entire weight of the world, which did not faze Bobbie Faye one whit. Melba had been sighing like that since first grade. She sighed again, more resigned this time, and said, “What can I do for you, Bobbie Faye?” in a tone that implied she had met her quota of helping people back in the womb.
    Bobbie Faye rushed to Melba’s desk and handed over the check that Ce Ce had given her.
    “I need to cash this,” she said, trying to sound entirelynormal, like her brother’s life didn’t depend on it. Before the words
you have to wait in line
could form in Melba’s plodding thoughts, she added, “And I need to, um . . .” She slid a glance around, then dropped her voice. “Check on my safe-deposit box.”
    Melba arched a painted eyebrow so high, it stabbed her hairline. Bobbie Faye tried not to flinch.
    Melba asked, “You have your key, of course?”
    Shit. Key.
    Bobbie Faye rummaged in her soggy purse, knowing it had to be in there, that was the last place she put it, and please God don’t make her have to go home and try to find a
key
in the middle of a trailer lying on its side, with most of her belongings strewn in the middle of her lawn. She tossed all the debris from her purse out of her way. Finally, from the bottom, she pulled up a box full of hairpins and various important things and lo, there was the key. Melba cleared her throat and Bobbie Faye looked up. She’d covered Melba’s entire desk with the wreckage from her purse; most of it was wet and already leaving water marks on Melba’s prized leather blotter.
    “Oh. Sorry, Melba.” She raked the contents back into her purse and ignored Melba’s sour expression.
    The safe-deposit