Page 18 of Counter Attack

Then she turned to Alexis. “And you, Miss—” Her eyes widened behind the lavender frames. “Alexis Stone! Is that really you?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Honey, you don’t look too good. How about I bring you a strong cup of Pete’s coffee?”

Alexis gave a quick shake of her head. “I’m not that far gone. I’ll have what Nathan’s having and a Diet Pepsi.”

“Don’t have it.”

A frown crossed Alexis’s face. “Don’t have what?”

“Diet Pepsi. Pete figures anybody eating his burgers don’t worry about their calories. Regular?”

“Sure.”

“Good. How’s Judith? She took you getting shot pretty hard.”

Alexis flinched. Nathan wished he knew how to turn Ethel off. “We all did. And now she needs food to get her strength back,” he said pointedly.

Ethel looked from Alexis to Nathan, then slowly nodded. “Right. Don’t know what got into me, talking about you getting shot and all. Imagine you’re wanting to forget that. I’ll get Pete to working on this and have it to you in a jiffy.”

“Sorry about that,” he said when Ethel scurried away. He could only imagine the conversation going on in the kitchen.

“I might as well get used to it. I’m not in Kansas anymore.” Her cell phone rang, and she fished it out of her pocket and glanced at it before punching the answer button. “Hi, Gram. We’re at Pete’s.” She listened for a minute. “It sounds great, but could we have that for supper?... Good. We should be to the house in about thirty minutes ... Okay, see you then.”

“She wasn’t happy we stopped at Pete’s?”

“No. Seems she’s cooked all my favorites. Roast beef and gravy, potatoes, chocolate cake—you get the picture.”

“I’m sorry. Guess we should’ve called her first.”

“She was good with waiting. Gramps is out on a search and rescue call. Did you know Russell County has a SAR dog?”

“Gem. She’s also trained for explosives and drugs. Mark Lassiter is her handler. You might remember him. He was a couple of years behind us. Kind of laid-back, bends the rules sometimes, but he’s a good detective. Not someone you’d enjoy working with, though.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing ... except you’re so by the book, you two would have a little friction.” He shook his head. “I don’t know how I got off on that subject since you’re not the sheriff and don’t have to work with him.”

“I still don’t understand what you’re getting at.”

When would he learn to keep his mouth shut? Probably never. “Let’s just say Iwassurprised to see you working undercover at the Lemon Tree.”

He chanced a peek at Alexis. Her lips were tightly pursed, but at least he’d gotten a little color in her cheeks.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

The way she shifted in her seat told a different story, and he lifted an eyebrow. “Can you honestly say you’re comfortable using deception to get information? I mean, the girl I remember couldn’t even lie if one of her friends asked if their outfit made them look fat.”

“At least my friends knew that I’d tell them the truth.” She lifted her chin. “But if they’d already bought the outfit, I kept my mouth shut. Besides, that was a long time ago, and criminals are fair game.”

Nathan started to respond and decided he’d better stopwhile he was ahead. Thankfully, Ethel appeared with their burgers and drinks.

“Y’all enjoy.”

Nathan was glad she didn’t hang around to talk, especially since Alexis was eyeing her burger like it was a mountain. “Just eat half of it.”

“Good idea. I had forgotten how big they are. Glad we didn’t get fries too.” She cut the hamburger in half and took a bite and sighed after she swallowed. “This is so good.”

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