Dial Em for Murder by Marni Bates Read Free Book Online Page B

romance novels to the real world. Nothing that my mom said mattered; it was all about the way she leaned toward the detective, effortlessly displaying a teasing hint of cleavage, as she widened her eyes.
    Put my mom within five feet of an asshole and suddenly there was hair twirling and slow, sly smiles. I wasn’t sure if she even realized how much of her time she spent acting without a paycheck.
    “We believe that Emmy is withholding valuable information about the killer,” the detective’s voice dropped an octave to make it sound conspiratorial. “Information that is essential for her continued safety.”
    “Emmy?” My mom’s grip tightened and I tried not to wince as her fingers clamped down and pinched some skin. “Is this true?”
    “I don’t know why anyone would’ve wanted to hurt me, Mom.” At least that much I could say honestly. I skipped over the whole I-was-handed-a-valuable-piece-of-technology thing. It wasn’t like I’d entered the coffee shop with the intention of walking off with someone else’s personal property.
    “I did some thinking in the lobby, though, and—”
    “Oh, this should be good,” Detective Dumbass interrupted, crossing his arms and giving my mom a look that was a cross between arrogant self-satisfaction and sympathy that she had to put up with me on a regular basis. “I’m glad the precinct waiting room knocked some sense into you. Are you ready to tell us what really happened in that Starbucks?”
    I refused to acknowledge his question. Instead, I kept my eyes trained on my mom’s face. “I’m going to Emptor Academy.”
    My mom looked surprised, but I wasn’t entirely sure if it was because of what I’d said or because Detective Dumbass decided to punctuate that announcement with a whole string of profanity that ended on the worst curse of them all: “Sebastian St. James.”
    Apparently I wasn’t the only teenager on Detective Luke O’Brian’s shit list.

Chapter 7
    Detective Dumbass clammed up right after that, maybe because swearing in front of a minor and her mother was generally frowned upon in law enforcement circles. Then again, maybe he was afraid that he’d accidentally let something slip. Something even bigger than his own mysterious connection to Sebastian St. James.
    Given that I had known within seconds of my first encounter with Sebastian that he was a rich entitled punk, it wasn’t surprising that he’d also rubbed the detective the wrong way.
    What
did
surprise me was how quickly the defective detective made the connection between Emptor Academy and the wolf in saint’s clothing.
    “You know Sebastian?” I asked, mentally picturing Sebastian handing the detective one of his business cards before strolling out of the precinct. Free and clear of any charges.
    Detective Dumbass grimaced. “Just met him today. He’s one very creepy kid. I told him that his grandpa was dead and he
smiled
at me. I’ve never had that reaction before. Not from a kid, at any rate.” He turned to me and his own expression darkened. “You sure that’s who you want to go to school with, Miss Danvers? I wouldn’t pick him to watch my back unless I was
trying
to get stabbed.”
    My mom audibly sucked in a breath at the same time I said, “Sebastian’s grandfather died?”
    He hadn’t seemed broken up over anything in the waiting room. He’d been irritable and impatient, as if I were holding him up from something far more interesting, but not as if he’d recently learned of a death in the family. I wracked my brain as I tried to remember if Audrey had told me anything about Sebastian right before we had gone to his stupid party six weeks ago. Mostly she’d emphasized that he was Nasir’s best friend, making it painfully obvious that I had been invited in case all of his friends inexplicably decided to hate her. Sebastian’s penchant for lock picking I had discovered all on my own.
    Detective Luke O’Brian folded his arms. “No need to pretend to be so