Your Eyes Don't Lie by Rachel Branton Read Free Book Online

himself and his business on his website? If so, she might be able to connect the information back to his clients and from there to his scams. Then she could blackmail him into letting her go.
    Flipping through the handwritten pages, she found what she was looking for. He’d already dropped a note on the target and would be waiting for a reply before going further. Well, whoever he was stalking, she’d somehow find out where the notes were being exchanged and arrange to be there—and this time she’d be the one making a nice sweet file that would become her insurance.
    Feeling better than she had all day, Makay went to the kitchen, opened the fridge, and downed a slice of cold pizza before returning to bed. This time she dropped into a deep, thankfully dreamless sleep.

Chapter Four
    T he doorbell rang while Nate was eating breakfast the next morning, and when Makay opened the door, her neighbors Janice and Ted stood there with plastic grocery sacks in their wrinkled hands. Makay hurried to put Snoop out on the balcony. He no longer growled at them, which meant they were in danger of being knocked off their feet by his friendly snuffling.
    “Grandkids are coming over,” Janice said. “Do you have any of that cereal they like?” She was a tall woman with wide shoulders and dark splotches on her face and hands that contrasted sharply with her white hair and pale skin. Too much sun as a child, she’d told Makay. She was the reason Makay had started using sunscreen every day.
    “Just got some yesterday. What about chili? I have more of that.”
    “Good idea. They can have it for dinner.” Janice made a face. “Don’t like the stuff myself, but they seem to.”
    “What about toothpaste and denture adhesive?” Makay went to her cupboard and began taking items down. “And I have cake mixes and frosting. Want to make them a cake?”
    “I need the adhesive,” Ted said stretching his mouth wide to show false teeth that seemed stark white against the ebony color of his skin. “And what about some of that hair dye? You got any more?” He bent his tall frame over to show her the top of his close-cropped hair. “Just got it cut, but the gray is coming back.” Ted might be in his late seventies, but he was quite a ladies’ man in the building, attracting even those who were decades younger. Despite this, he seemed to prefer the company of Janice, and Makay suspected it was because she liked to read the same books he did. Janice wasn’t much of a cook, though, and that’s where the other ladies came in.
    When the two older people had left, Makay had eighteen dollars, ten of which was profit. She tucked the cash into her wallet. She’d need it in the gas tank today so she could start her file on Lenny.
    “Ready?” she asked Nate.
    He nodded, lifting his bowl to drink the last bit of milk. “Just need to get Snoop some water.”
    “I already did. But you can let him in from the balcony.”
    Checking to make sure the bedroom door was shut and thus protected from the dog’s snooping, Makay grabbed the manila folder and both their backpacks before giving Nate a final inspection. “Nope,” she said, shaking her head. “Sorry, but you can’t wear those jeans again before I wash them. You must have gotten something on them in the barn yesterday.”
    Nate sighed, drooping his shoulders and looking at her with wide, pleading eyes. But she turned him around and pushed him toward the bedroom. While she wasn’t a clean freak, she was careful how she let Nate dress, especially at school. So his wardrobe was double the size of hers—and a lot newer. She didn’t mind. Clothes, she’d decided a long time ago, were just something to cover your nakedness. Some people might see dressing well as a status symbol, but in the end it served the same purpose as her favorite jeans with the hole in the knee.
    As she drove Nate to school, she caught him staring at her left hand as it gripped the top of the steering wheel. “What