Page 25 of Stay in Your Lane!

“I am if it means giving Dad a pair of stripper cuffs! Did you even ask if he wants them, or am I being looped into a practical joke that’s going to get blamed on me the second he opens it?” There was a long pause. “That’s what I thought, you fucking—damn it, Colin.”

“It’ll be funny! He won’t be mad at you!”

“He’s always mad at me,” Kyle snapped. “I’m not doing it.”

“Jesus Christ, you’re always such a?—”

Kyle ended the call and glared at his phone so hard I thought for a second he was channeling Steve. “Sorry about that,” he said a bit roughly. “My dad is retiring soon, and my brothers think it would be hilarious to prank him at his party.”

“Mm?” Hard to go wrong with a single-syllable response, right?

“But you don’t want to hear about that shit.”

No, I do!But it seemed like he didn’t want to talk about it. In fact, it seemed like Kyle was getting ready to reclaim his space, and I wasn’t ready to go. How could I stay a little longer? What might he find interesting and relevant and?—

“We could make it look like your brother is getting calls from a strip joint.”

Kyle’s jaw legit dropped for a second. “I’m sorry?”

“If you wanted to prank him,” I said, warming to the subject. “We could spoof the number of the local strip club and send it right to voicemail. You can even mask your voice right on the call, too—you could sound like a woman calling him about somesecret meeting they were supposed to have and how he stood her up and now owes her two hundred dollars.” He stared at me. “Or something. Or not.”

“Is that legal?” Kyle asked.

“Um…it varies from state to state, but I think so?”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “Do you think we could spoof Leon’s phone with Rosie’s number, so he’s more likely to pick up?”

I didn’t see why not. “Sure. It’s not hard to do. There are a bunch of websites you can work off of. You don’t think he’ll pick up for us?”

Kyle shook his head. “He hasn’t yet. And who answers strange numbers these days, anyway? But if we can get a foot in the door as Rosie, then tell him we just want to talk…that might be the way to go.”

I liked it. Plus, it gave me a reason to hang out with Kyle for longer. “Let’s try it.”

He shook his head. “Tomorrow. There’s another scene that needs cleaning, and the department is going to release it any minute.”

“Another murder? Err…” I made air quotes. “Suicide?”

“Doesn’t sound like it. It’s one of those scenes where someone was found dead, most likely of natural causes, and they’re just ruling out foul play.” He held up his phone. “I should be getting a text about it soon, and they want me on it ASAP.”

Dang.“Okay.” I set Patches on the couch and got to my feet. “Thanks for introducing me to your pets. They’re amazing.”

Kyle smirked. “Even Steve?”

“EspeciallySteve.” I was going to win Steve over if it killed me. Which, if I got careless and stuck a body part into the tank, it might, so I’d have to start my campaign cautiously.

Lots of face time. Lots of treats. What relaxed a fish? I’d have to look it up. I had the burning desire to pull out my phone andstart Googling, but that would be rude when I was still having a conversation. “I’ll…talk to you later?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow,” I agreed. I had a shift of my own tomorrow, but I could work around it. “Sounds good.” I put my shoes on, waved goodbye to the piranhas, and looked around for Patches so I could give her a good-bye petting, but she’d vanished into thin air, just like she’d appeared.

Ninja cat. Awesome.“Bye, Kyle.”

“Bye.” He closed his door, but given that he was smiling while he did it, it didn’t feel like an ending.

It felt a lot more like a beginning.

CHAPTER 8

---