In the Worst Way (Mercy Watts Mysteries Book 5) by A.W. Hartoin Read Free Book Online

give it try. If they could do it, so could I. It was the first of many notions that didn’t work out for me. There are some things that one just has to have a penis for. Standing up and peeing is one of them. My socks and shoes didn’t survive the attempt and neither did Mom’s bluebells.  
    Dad watched us through the dinner, pushed back from the table with whiskey in hand, ready to make a break for it if another fight broke out. He hated it when we fought. When I was a teenager, he would be suddenly required to put in even more overtime than usual and when he did come home, he brought pastries from the Missouri Baking Company. Sometimes we pretended to fight just to get the gooey butter cake. Despite being a stellar detective, Dad never figured it out or maybe he just thought an influx of sugar helped keep things calm.  
    After dinner, he offered to wash the dishes, leaving Mom and I momentarily speechless. We quickly retired to The Oasis, Mom’s bed. I would say it was my parents’ bed, but The Oasis was all Mom. Dad just got to sleep there if he was good. My mom knew how to make a bed. She believed in the best linen, the comfiest mattress, and pillows imported from heaven.  
    We curled up and Mom turned on Grantchester . I wasn’t much of a mystery fan, having enough real-life mysteries to contend with, but I said nothing and let Mom ogle Sidney Chambers. During a scene with a doctor, Mom put her arm around me and whispered in my ear, “I want you to see Dr. Witges.” I nodded. Mom took that as an agreement. It wasn’t. I was merely acknowledging that I heard her. We could fight about it later when she figured it out. Dr. Witges couldn’t help me. Talking to her wouldn’t change a thing. That kid would always have tried to kill me. I would always have killed him.
    Dad brought us Ghirardelli hot chocolate and backed out of the room. I took one sip and immediately wanted to eat an entire cucumber in penance. Luckily, Mom was so entranced by Sidney that she didn’t notice when I tipped my cup into the orchid on her bedside table. I thought that would kill it, but a couple of months later it sent up shoots and had crazy twisted blossoms. Mom thought she’d invented a new species.  
    I don’t know what time I went to bed. Pick and I slept in my third-floor bedroom, smelling the paints wafting in from the studio across the hall. Aunt Tenne’s boyfriend Bruno worked there, creating his masterpieces. That sounds snarky, but they really were masterpieces. Bruno was a genius and the art world was abuzz with his talent. He preferred to block it all out and closet himself in the attic while Aunt Tenne basked in the limelight. She was a natural at promotion and had taken over my so-called career, too. I was still Double Black Diamond’s cover girl, although I was on hiatus since I lost so much weight. Aunt Tenne fielded Mickey Stix’s calls and complaints, swearing that I’d get my Marilyn curviness back. I wasn’t so sure. All I wanted to do was sleep, work, and eat lettuce. None of those things was going to bring back the body that Mickey and the DBD fans loved. I fell asleep with my nose buried in Pick’s fluffy neck, thinking about pouring Ghirardelli into that orchid. Who was the girl that did that? I didn’t know her, but I couldn’t find my way back alone.  
     

Chapter Five

    “MERCY,” SAID DAD, poking me in the ribs.  
    “Huh?” I inched away from his insistent voice in a pointless attempt to escape. I should’ve known better. There was no escaping my father.  
    “Get up now,” he said.  
    “No.”  
    “Yes. It’s time to go.”  
    “I’m going back to sleep,” I said.  
    Another jab to the ribs.
    “You can sleep in the car.”  
    “Go away. It’s midnight.”  
    “It’s four a.m.”  
    I smacked his hand as it came in for another jab. “Oh my god. Are you crazy?”
    “Everyone’s waiting,” said Dad. “Get the hell up.”  
    “Everyone’s waiting for what?”