Page 21 of A Spot of Tea
The woman walked closer, waving her arms. “Hey!”
Eliza glared at him. “I thought you were good under pressure.”
“I’m better with planes,” he said in a low voice. “It’s fine. We’ll just say hello and be on our way.”
They got closer and Eliza recognized the woman – Stacy, the ATF agent who’d insinuated she was stupid.
Just what she needed.
Eliza slid down in her seat, doing her best to disappear into the floor.
Joey rolled down his window. “Hey there! Didn’t expect to see you here.”
She scowled at him. “What are you doing?”
He whipped out the bag of scones and held it up. “I was going to drop off some scones for my neighbor.”
“Your neighbor?” She crossed her arms. “What neighbor?”
With her heart still thundering away and the car refusing to absorb her, Eliza made a mistake: she coughed.
Stacy leaned down to look at her. “Miss Dennet. Interesting seeing you again.”
Eliza leaned forward and meekly waived. “Hi, Agent Stacy. Ned is my Granny’s neighbor and she wanted us to bring over some scones and –”
Stacy cut her off. “This is an active crime scene.” She paused. “But you already knew that, didn’t you?”
Joey said, “No,” just as Eliza said, “Oh?”
She stared at the pair of them. “You weren’t poking around, were you?”
This time, they both said no.
She nodded, hands on her hips. “Tell me you’re not doing something as dumb as trying to get that reward.”
Joey and Eliza looked at each other, each trying to master the look of innocence to varying degrees of success.
“The robber is a dangerous man. You’re going to get yourselves killed.”
“What? Us? No!” Joey said. “We had no idea this was a crime scene. Did you catch him? The bank robber?”
“I don’t have time for this,” she said with a sigh. “Get out of here.”
“Yes, ma’am!” Joey said.
This time, he was able to appropriately put the car in reverse.
“Hang on,” Stacy said, leaning into the window. “Leave the scones.”
He handed them to her and she waved them off. The car reversed rapidly down the hill.
When they got back to the road, Joey burst into laughter. “Did you see her face? She was so mad!”
Eliza forced herself to sit up. It still felt like her heart was on the floor of the car. “That was the ATF agent who thinks I’m an idiot.”
“Oh,” Joey said with a groan. “That’s why she knew your name.”
“Yeah.”
