Page 26 of Wham Line
Bobby cocked a sideways look at me.
“Since you’re currently suspended—”
“On leave,” Bobby said and gave me a shake.
“—and since Fox is already going to the station, and since, um—”
“Someone is clearly trying to frame Indira?”
“Well, not to put too fine a point on it.”
Bobby sounded like a man running out of patience.“What, Dash?”
“Something about Indira’s story, about how Mal helped her start the restaurant and then took it away from her.”
“Yeah.He was a real jerk.”
(Jerkis my word, not Bobby’s.)
“Mal and Talmage got into an argument when we were at the restaurant last night.She said, ‘It’s my restaurant.’”
Bobby opened the Pilot’s door for me.You know how some guys can do that thing where they stand with one hand on the car door, and itdoes something to you?Like, in your tummy?It made it hard to focus on what Bobby was saying.“You think Mal was trying to take Talmage’s restaurant away?But weren’t they married?”
“That didn’t stop him before.And the spouse is the most likely suspect.”
Bobby did some more of that manly hand-on-the-car thing.It’s like they grow extra muscles or something.(I’m a big fan.) “Do you want to talk to her?”
“I mean, ifyouthink it’s a good idea.”
Bobby’s not really the eye-rolling type, but sometimes—like when he shut the passenger door—the same energy is there.
Chapter 8
Mizzenmast was open before noon, which surprised me a little.Even more surprising—and also, annoying—the lot was full.
“There’s a spot,” I said helpfully.
“Hydrant,” Bobby said as he took the Pilot around the corner again.
“Oh!Right there!”
“Red curb.”
“Wait, wait, wait!Bingo!Jackpot!Straight ahead!”
“The one that says, ‘Expectant Mothers’?”
“Isn’t that more of a suggestion?”
Bobby stopped at a stop sign.
He looked at me.
“Just to be clear,” I said—a trifle nervously—“I would never—”
“Dash.”
“Oh my God, I wouldn’t!”
