LITMIR.BIZ

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tone that I couldn’t tell.

      “Gemma,” Joss said in a warning voice.

      He knew her better than I did. I had to assume she was getting in a dig.

      My dad answered her with narrowed eyes, “No, I do.”

      She blinked, seemingly stunned that he sewed, or maybe that he was so obviously defending me.

      Then, because we needed more drama, the doorbell rang its nerve-jangling “Yankee Doodle Dandy” song, and Annie and Lani walked in.

      Annie was my dad’s neighbor and girlfriend. She was the one who had convinced me to move home when my dad was sick, and was now a big part of our family. She wore a sparkly hat with girl power stenciled on it and carried a plateful of baked goods. As soon as she moved closer, I caught the delicious scent of bananas and nuts.

      “Hi everyone,” Annie said. “I come bearing muffins. Look who I found on the porch. Lani!” Annie said as she introduced herself to Gemma.

      “I’m Gemma, Kai’s mother.”

      Joss was looking more stressed every minute. “Kai!” he called out. “Time to go.”

      Lani slipped by me and reached out to shake Gemma’s hand. “I’m Lani.” She turned to me and gave me a hug. “I come empty-handed, but full of love.”

      “Love for those muffins,” I teased. “You can come in anyway.”

      “What’s going on?” she whispered in my ear. Today she wore a tank top with swirls in all colors of the rainbow over purple jeans and sandals that looked like they were sprouting sunflowers from between her toes.

      “Later,” I said with a tight smile.

      “Now, Kai!” Joss said, with a hint of desperation that I totally understood.

      Finally, Kai and Elliott came out of the kitchen and their faces grew wary, sensing the tension in the room.

      “Okay, then,” Joss said. “Out the door.” He practically shoved both his daughter and ex-wife through it.

      Kai threw out a quick, “Thank you for everything,” before Joss went outside and closed the door emphatically behind them.

      I huffed out a deep breath. “Wow.”

      “Wow is right,” Lani said.

      “She seems like a very nice lady,” Annie said, but I wasn’t sure she meant it.

      My dad put that all aside and grabbed me by my shoulders and looked into my face. “You’re okay?” he asked as if he was demanding that I actually be okay.

      “I’m good,” I said.

      He took a moment to pull me close for a hug and then said, “Muffins first or shower?”

      “Muffins,” I said. “Definitely muffins.”

      With the crowd thinned out a bit, Trouble came down to sniff at me. You stink. But she joined me when I plopped down on the couch at Annie’s urging.

      I filled them in on what had happened at Benson’s, and none of them were surprised that I’d found another dead body. That would concern me if I wasn’t so tired.

      Elliott made me tell the story twice, and asked a lot of questions about how being in an explosion felt. Then he wrote down everything I said. He’d recently heard that one of his favorite writers recommended taking lots of notes about details in your life so that he could pull from them later. He was writing a play but still thought he’d be a Broadway actor when he grew up. Sometimes he said he’d be a small business owner like me, but that he’d sell something cool like skateboards instead of cat food.

      I asked Lani to call Quincy and tell him that Norma would be contacting him and why. She readily agreed with my most likely interfering with a police investigation idea and dialed his number, but he didn’t answer. She left a message for him to contact her.

      My dad’s concerned frown never left his face. “I don’t know how you get into so much trouble.”

      “Like anyone could anticipate a garage exploding?” I asked.

      He shook his head. “Not that. The whole dead guy thing.”

      I couldn’t blame him, since I had gotten involved in local murder investigations before. “This one has nothing to do with me,” I told him.

      Trouble meowed. That’s what you said the last time.

      “So we’re not going to talk about the elephant in the room?” Lani asked when my dad and Annie went into the kitchen for muffin reinforcements and probably some private smooching.

      “Elephant?” I asked. “Oh you mean Joss’s ex-wife.” My casual tone didn’t faze her.

      “Yeah,” she said. “She’s gorgeous. And she just arranged to meet her competition.”

      “She did not arrange anything,” I said. “She couldn’t know that Joss would have to pick me up at the freakin’ police station.” Then I thought more about what she said. “You think she’s trying to get back together with Joss?”

      “I don’t think it,” she said. “I know it. She didn’t dress like that to pick up her kid. You better watch out for her.”

      Great. Something else to worry about.

      “Is there something wrong with me that I’m more shaken up by meeting my boyfriend’s ex-wife than…you know?” I asked Lani.

      “Than finding a dead body and getting blown up? Absolutely not,” she said, loyal to the end. “Besides, I’m sure it’s all just compounded together. Jealousy on top of extreme panic.”

      “Let’s go with that,” I said.

      Chapter 4

      Watching the evening news was a bad idea; reporters had driven the twenty miles inland from downtown San Diego to make wild speculations about the murder of a “beloved music teacher” in the small town of Sunnyside. At least the police hadn’t released Yollie’s or my name.

      I slept badly and somehow turned off my alarm without gaining consciousness. My dad knocked on my door at eight, holding a cup of coffee. “You okay to go to work?” he asked. “Elliott said to let you sleep. He got a ride to school with a friend.”

      Trouble trailed behind him, complain-meowing loudly. You better be okay enough to feed me.

      I sat up, trying to shake the sleep out of my brain. “What friend?” I took a sip of coffee.

      “That girl who’s co-vice president with him,” he said, with a smile.

      I smiled back. We both thought Elliott had a crush on Sasha, the girl who had battled him for the position of vice president of the drama club. At some point, they decided to be co-vice presidents and with their mutual love of musical theater, had become friends. She’d been over several times ostensibly “helping” with costumes, always right beside Elliott.

      She was adorable, with dark curly hair, brown skin and brown eyes that seemed to light up when she was looking at Elliott. I think she was one of the reasons he gave in on his initial wish to have the club perform Hairspray. Along with Lani’s costumes and the drama club teacher explaining that The Lion King was an epic tale of resistance against tyranny.

      I’d made the mistake of asking him once if he “liked her liked her” and his furious denial answered me. Dad and I had met eyes and let it go.

      I fed the cat and grabbed a shower, hiding the worst of the bruise on my cheek with makeup before heading out much later than normal. I arrived at my commercial kitchen to find the parking lot cordoned off with yellow police tape, the crime scene investigation truck outside. All of the employees who normally worked the early shift were milling about on the sidewalk, under the careful eye of a lone policeman behind the tape. I was already feeling anxious because both Lani and Zoey

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