Killer Chameleon by Chassie West Read Free Book Online Page B

any bells. We’ll get one from this Ms. Poole, too, make some comparisons. That’s all for now.” With a brief excuse for a smile, he was gone.
    Perched on the arm of the futon again, Neva eyed me. “You all right? You looked kinda shaky for a while.”
    â€œI’m fine. Mad, though, so mad I could spit. And if Willard’s coming back, my plans for tonight are shot. This was supposed to be my first night at Duck’s.”
    â€œThere’s always tomorrow night. I wouldn’t put it off any longer than that, if I were you. That Mr. Duck’s a stone hunk,” she said, her grin suggestive of what she’d like to do to him or, perhaps, with him given the chance. She stood up and massaged her back. “Miz Holloway’s gonna miss you, though.”
    â€œLikewise. She’s been a good friend. She’ll hate having missed all the excitement.”
    I’d barely finished the sentence when we heard her key in the door. “Who was that just left here?,” she asked, balancing dry cleaning and a bag from Lexxon’s Wine and Spirits. “You having gentlemen callers in behind my back? And Duck’s?”
    Neva chuckled and got up. “Reckon she could have done without this one. Miz Warren,” she said, on her way to the door. “You need to think real hard about who you’ve pissed off. Seems to me with two dirty tricks in one day, somebody’s tryin’ to tell you something. Y’all have a good evening.” And she was gone.
    â€œTwo dirty tricks?” Janeece demanded. “What’s she talking about? What did I miss?”
    Uh-oh. I should have told Willard about the call Janeece had intercepted earlier. I’d fill him in when he came back with the list.
    I jerked my head toward the easy chair. “I think you’d better open the Zinfandel and sit down for this one.”

4
    â€œRUN ALL THAT BY ME AGAIN,” DUCK SAID THE next morning, his brow furrowed with concentration. I had no illusions that the bizarre narrative explaining why I hadn’t arrived the night before might be the sole reason for the ridges lining his forehead at the moment. Not that he hadn’t been listening, but somewhere on the bottom of his cereal bowl, hidden by an ocean of milk, was an errant raisin he was determined to find. Fortunately, he had the kind of mind that could compartmentalize easily, so it didn’t bother me that he appeared to be paying more attention to the raisin chase than to the misadventures that had delayed my spending my first night as a permanent resident in the condo. Duck loves raisins, but again, fortunately, I was confident that he loved me more. Really.
    I began again with the prank call that had sent Janeece scrambling all over Baltimore, then the incident in the basement.
    â€œSo,” Duck said, giving up and draining the milk in one swallow, “first the bogus call about my alleged accident, then the one to the department while you were down in the storage room.”
    â€œIsn’t that what I just said?” I asked, wondering if the raisin had won the battle for his attention after all.
    He got up to put the bowl in the dishwasher. “You were definitely the target, not Janeece. I’m thinking that whoever called and got her really thought you’d be home to answer the phone, and when you weren’t, assumed that Janeece would be able to find you with no trouble. The caller had to know you’d try to track me down at work first before you’d take off for Baltimore. But—” He leaned back against the sink, arms across his chest. “That assumes she knows you as more than a passing acquaintance. Perhaps she doesn’t. Perhaps she thought you’d do exactly what Janeece did: go off half-cocked. But what was the point? Simply to jerk your chain?”
    I wasn’t ready to pose the only possibility that had occurred to me in the middle of the night. I was fairly