Page 105 of Slumming It
"And you believed him?"
Call me a fool, but I did.I gave a decisive nod. "Yes."
She looked at me like I was nuts. "Why?"
"You weren't there, butIwas. And actually, he was really sweet."
She was still giving me that look. "Reese Murdock? Sweet?" She snorted. "Now I've heard everything."
"Not everything," I countered, beyond eager to change the subject. "Guess who I saw on the way back."
"Who?"
"Jason."
"Yeah, so?"
I hated to give her bad news, especially when she was already upset. But she deserved to know, and sooner was better than later. "Do you wanna guess who he was with?"
She shrugged like she didn't care either way.
Icared plenty. "Nikki."
Her eyebrows furrowed. "Nikki Radcliffe?"
"Do we know another Nikki?" I said. "It looked like they were having coffee together."
"And you saw this yourself?"
"Yeah, from Reese's car." I gave her a sympathetic look. "I'm really sorry, but I thought you should know."
"Knowwhat?"she scoffed. "That Jason had coffee?"
I refused to believe she wasthatclueless. "No, that he had coffee withher." I gave Vivian a significant look. "This morning.Early."
But from the look on Vivian's face, she still wasn't getting it. "And do you wanna know why?"
"Why?"
"As a favor to me."
I blinked. "Sorry, what?"
"This morning, after I saw those photos, I asked Jason to see if he could learn anything about what happened, and he promised to ask around."
"Oh." But then I remembered something. "But he was laughing."
"As opposed to what?" Vivian said. "Crying? Because the last time I checked, sobbing around town isn't the best way to get anything."
And now I felt like an idiot. "Oh, I dunno…" I mumbled. "It seems to work for Maisey Stubs."
Vivian stared at me. "Is that a joke?"
Maisey was the local drama queen. She could sob on a moment's notice, especially if it meant she would get a free dinner out of the deal. Rumor had it, she brought her own cockroaches to restaurants so she could cry about her ruined entrees. She wasreallygood at it, too.
To Vivian, I replied, "Well,Ithought it was funny. Sort of."
A ghost of a smile crossed her features. "Yeah, I guess it was." But then her smile faded. "Just be careful, alright? We all know he's not a nice guy. You saw what he did to Cassandra Bloom, right?"
