Chilling Effect by Unknown Read Free Book Online Page B

peered in at her with wide, heavily
    made-up eyes.
    “Are you okay?” the woman shouted.
    She nodded yes, but the woman’s forehead was still crinkled
    with worry, so she gestured for the Good Samaritan to move back
    so she could open the car door. She unlocked the door, stepped out
    into the cool night air, and smiled reassuringly at the woman.
    “I’m fi ne. Th anks for stopping to check on me.”
    “Sure, okay.” Th e woman pulled her jacket closer around her body.
    Aroostine noticed she was wearing a sequined leotard under it.
    Gray yoga pants and fl ip fl ops completed the outfi t. She examined the woman’s face more closely. Th ick eyeliner, lots of blush, and
    bright red lipstick couldn’t hide her tired pallor.
    “Are you a cocktail waitress up at the casino?” she asked. It was
    the only explanation for the attire.
    “Yeah. Ruby Smith.” Th e woman stuck out her right hand to
    shake and her coat fell open.
    Aroostine took her extended hand. “Aroostine Higgins.”
    “Are you having car trouble or something?” Ruby jerked her
    head toward the Jeep’s engine.
    “No, nothing like that. I’m just waiting for my husband.” While he stomps around in the woods or communes with nature or whatever he’s doing.
    Ruby cocked her head and glanced over at her car.
    “Uh, okay. Listen, I don’t know if you’re from around here or
    what, but a guy was killed tonight. It’s probably not safe to just be hanging out on the side of the road, you know?”
    So word of the murder was getting around.
    47
    MELISSA F. MILLER
    “No, I’m not from here. I’m sorry to hear about the death.” She
    considered Ruby’s tense face. “Were you . . . close to him?”
    “Not like that. He lived next door to me. He was a completely
    harmless, nice guy, and he took a bullet right between the eyes . . .”
    Ruby trailed off and took a long, shaky breath. Th en she frowned
    and gestured toward her own car, moving her hand in a downward
    motion,
    “I can see how that would be disturbing—” Aroostine began,
    then she turned to look where Ruby was gesturing and stopped
    midsentence.
    A tiny face was pressed up against the rear passenger side win-
    dow, grinning. Its owner waved excitedly at her.
    Th e pieces began to fall into place. She turned back to Ruby.
    “You’re Lily’s mom?”
    “How do you know Lily?” Ruby’s voice was raw with suspicion.
    “I met her when I was leaving the steak house. She was playing
    fairy in the bushes while she waited for you,” Aroostine hurried to explain.
    Ruby’s posture softened just a bit.
    “Oh, okay,” she said with a nod. Th en her eyes widened and her
    voice shook. “I don’t usually bring her up to the casino. I just . . . I didn’t know what else to do.”
    A twinge of guilt ran through Aroostine for her earlier judg-
    ment of the woman. “First of all, you don’t owe me any explana-
    tions. Second of all, I’d say you did the right thing. Your next-door neighbor was murdered. You couldn’t very well leave her home alone
    after that.”
    Ruby gulped down air and nodded again. “Yeah.”
    Ruby’s rear car door opened slowly.
    “Lily Lotus Smith, don’t you dare!”
    Th e door closed. Lily made a sad face out the window.
    Aroostine tried not to laugh.
    48
    CHILLING EFFECT
    “She seems like a great kid,” she told Ruby.
    “She is. She’s so smart and hardly gives me any trouble. She’s a
    little bit fl ighty, though. Always living in her make-believe world.”
    Ruby paused for a moment. “I think it’s her way of dealing with
    living on the reservation. She pretends she’s in some faraway land
    or something to escape.”
    Aroostine thought of another little girl who used to pretend she
    lived on the moon, under the sea, anywhere but where she really
    lived—a place of limited opportunity but no end of misery.
    “Th at’s normal. She’s just creative.”
    Ruby gave her a sidelong glance, as if she knew she was receiv-
    ing parenting advice from the