Page 10 of Deja New
FIVE
He’s dead.
(thud)
Murdered.
(thud-thud)
Your father’s dead.
(thud-thud)
Your uncle murdered your—
•••
ANGELA OPENED HEReyes. The words that changed everything, the words that decimated her childhood. But the—
Wait.
Where am I again?
Then she remembered: This was no ordinary car-ride snooze. She’d actually dozed off in Archer’s car while he drove her and Leah to a state prison to visit her incarcerated uncle and putphase two of her long-game plan into action. In a downpour, no less, and his wipers needed changing.Thud-thud.
How the hell did I sleep?
“She’s back!” Archer cried, catching her gaze in the rearview as she sat up, rubbed her lower back, smacked her lips. Bleh, nap-breath. She’d throttle someone for a Tic Tac. “Let me guess: You stayed up all night freaking out about our visit, and when you finally calmed down, you conked.”
“No,” she denied automatically. The “Shut up!” that followed was also automatic. She could feel her face get warm as she flushed.Jesus, how old are you?“Sorry. Force of habit.”
“Ah, that takes me back,” Archer said, adjusting the mirror so he could keep torturing her with sporadic eye contact. “Back to hell, in fact, which in this case means Iowa.”
“We only made the one trip to Iowa.”
“Yes, because the state trooper who put out the fire politely asked us to never, ever return.”
“He was really nice,” she said, remembering. “He could have arrested some of us. Or all of us.” It was one of the reasons she’d wanted to get her Insighting license—to work with the police.
One of the reasons.
“Angela has a soft spot for cops,” Archer told Leah, which was embarrassing beyond belief.
“I do not! Well, good ones I do,” she admitted. “They make things better. And easier.”
“The good ones usually do,” Leah agreed. “In our work, we— No?”
“I wasn’t talking about work. This isn’t— I mean, I didn’tjust suddenly become interested in my father’s murder case again. I’ve never stopped working it.”
“Since the day after my dad took a plea bargain for killing your dad.” He paused a beat, and then he and Angela added, “Allegedly!” in unison.
“Ha! Jinx,” her cousin chortled.
“Ugh, you’re endlessly annoying.”
At that, Leah burst into giggles, and Angela was able to see her as a real person instead of the glorified Insighter ideal for the first time. It was as sobering
(heroes are just ordinary people having a series of bad days)
