Page 29 of The Hard Way

It was going to be a long day, but hopefully the last day.

If Andy was lying, my guys would find out pretty quickly. I could have the nose off by afternoon, though that would also mean leaving town, leaving my sisters behind again. Not that there was a choice.

We set off, heading in the other direction from the Walmart. I stared out the window, taking in the many familiar places and, sometimes, faces in cars. The gas station where I’d use my allowance to secretly buy candy, the music store where I took flute lessons, the drive-in burger place my dad would take us on Saturdays.

Then there were the places I’d forgotten about: the uniform shop, the roller rink, the candy store. The car wash where we never went; we were farm people, so we washed our own vehicles. A few new places had sprung up—a kitschy little coffee shop next to a new Vietnamese restaurant—though I was shocked to see the town’s favorite ice cream parlor, Blue Deer Ice Cream, had closed.

The Millers had a little wooden sign at the end of their gravel drive:Miller’s Acres.A lot of farms took names like that. My parents had come up with Sunny Sisters just before Kaitlin was born. It was a name I’d always loved. Tarnished now, thanks to Andy or whoever had pressured him to pull that warmed cheese out of the dumpster and blame my sisters.

We pulled up.

“You’re sure he’s not going to recognize you?” Zeus and the guys still had this idea that Andy and I were somehow close.

“I promise. They weren’t in our circle of family friends, and he was a grade older than me and just…too cool for me, as it turned out.”

My guys looked at me like I’d uttered that last bit in Urdu. I loved them for it.

“I can’t believe he’d do this,” I said. “I can’t believe anybody would. A mandied.”

“That’s probably why,” Thor said. “Whatever he was up to, maybe he didn’t count on somebody dying. So he lied to cover it up. At this point, he’ll stick hard to his story.”

“He’ll try, anyway,” Zeus said.

I got out with my briefcase; Odin had brought one, too. Thor was our official note-taker. Zeus had bought a clipboard. Props were important to my guys, but still, the clipboard made me snort. “Who uses a clipboard anymore?” I teased.

“I do.” Zeus turned and headed up the walk to the farmhouse, a traditional white Victorian with a front porch that had been glassed in during the 1970s to create that special architect-on-crack look. “I’m going to be writing all the things I plan to do to you on this clipboard.”

“Shut up—don’t!”

“That’s what I’ll use the clipboard for.”

“You have to concentrate. This is serious.”

“I’ll be concentrating, don’t worry. I can do two things at once.” He gave me a hot little backward glance. “You yourself have witnessed that many times.”

My face went red, because of course he meant it in the dirtiest way possible.

“This is a small-town kid,” Odin said. “We’ve questioned hardened fighters and warlords. I think we can get the truth out of a small-town kid without much trouble.”

“Who broke up with who?” Thor asked.

“It wasn’t even like that. We weren’t going out enough to have an official breakup. It was more of a fizzle.” I lowered my voice, because we were nearing the door. “He was a cute but not-too-bright guy on the football team who dated everyone.”

“And he thoughtyouweren’t cool enough?” Zeus growled. “Did he break your heart?”

“This is why I didn’t want to tell you anything. Because you’d be freaks about it. But no, no broken hearts.”

“But he fizzled on you,” Odin said.

I shook my head hotly, but it was true. Andy dumped me once we fucked. He was that kind of boyfriend. A dolt and a cad, if you wanted to get technical. But I didn’t need my guys knowing that. Andy was in enough trouble already.

Mrs. Miller came to the door wearing a terrycloth track suit and a look of great suspicion, because who comes to anybody’s door anymore? I lurked in the background during introductions, and she showed no sign of recognizing me. It was weird, because I so recognized her. But she hadn’t seen me in two years, she thought I was dead, and I seriously looked like Tootsie.

My guys explained they wanted to talk to Andy, and she texted him. He was in the main barn. She pointed the way, and we headed over. It was a cool spring day. Crisp. April in Wisconsin was always the best.

We hadn’t called ahead because Zeus didn’t like people preparing, but the text alerted Andy, of course. I could tell Zeus didn’t like that.

Andy came out of the main barn, wiping his hands on a rag. He wore blue coveralls and dirty brown boots with red laces, just as he had in high school. He looked mostly the same—same twinkly eyes, same really straight blond hair, though in general he was way thicker—his face, his neck, his whole body. He had turned into a grown man, closer to thirty than twenty now, just like me.

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