Page 43 of Out to Get Her
“Is something wrong?”
Erin held up the bag in her hand. “Addie sort of sent me here.”
“Of course, she did.” Samantha laughed, then took a sip of her beer. She hadn’t planned on even a tiny chuckle this evening, but two seconds of Erin at her door and that’s what she got. Well, thanks to Addie. “Come on in. You can have one of these and tell me how she convinced you to do her dirty work.”
Erin stepped inside and looked around. “Sorry about the ambush. I didn’t know this was your address.”
“I figured.” Samantha went to the kitchen and returned with an opened amber lager. “Here. I don’t know if it’s good, but it has to be better than the one I have.”
“Thanks.” Erin took the beer and tasted it. “It’s nice.”
Samantha was relieved she hadn’t offered another nasty brew. Although she shouldn’t be offering anything. She was supposed to be drinking and wallowing alone.
“So Addie roped you into coming here?”
“Apparently. I just went in to get a sandwich and maybe accuse her of slashing my tire.”
“Wait…what?” Since when had Erin’s tire nail turned into vandalism? And how had Addie landed on the suspect list?
Too many crimes for one tiny town lately.
Nathan and Jordan were both right. This was all too big for her.
“Not important. She didn’t do it. Although, someone did, and I don’t know who yet.” Erin barely paused for a breath. “Anyway, she gave me my sandwich for free, but it came with an extra order and an address to deliver it to.” She smiled awkwardly. “So, here I am. But I’m not sure why I’m here if you didn’t order food.”
Samantha opened the bag and pulled out both containers, handing the one with “BLT” written on it to Erin. “I guess you didn’t watch the news.”
“Why does everyone keep asking me that?”
Samantha was saved from having to answer and relive her horrifying performance by furious yapping.
Her black pug barged into the room and stood at Erin’s feet, demanding to know who had entered his domain.
“Hey there.” Erin looked down at the dog, clearly unsure whether to touch it or keep all her fingers intact.
Samantha scooped him up. “This is Dexter. Don’t mind him. He’s got to put up a front. He’s a softie, really.”
“Dexter. As in the serial killer and secret weapon of cops?”
“The one and only.” Samantha kissed his little smushed face and set him back on the floor. As promised, he dropped his fierce act and plopped onto Erin’s shoe.
“I like it.” She grinned at Samantha. “And I like your sense of humor. It’s subtle.”
A sense of humor would have helped today. But no, she had to go all deer-in-the-headlights. Stumbling over her words. Letting the whole parish know she had no clue what she was doing with this murder case.
“Dexter and I were just about to drown our sorrows, but now that you’re here, I suppose we can share the experience.”
She finished her beer and went to the fridge to grab another.
“Um, and eat,” Erin called out. “You should also definitely eat something.”
Samantha returned and placed her beer on the little dinette table between the kitchen and living room. She opened the second container expecting to find a sandwich, maybe another BLT to match Erin’s, but she found something else instead.
Samantha laughed.
Erin leaned across the table to peek inside the container. “Shrimp étouffée? I don’t get it. Why is that funny?”
“It isn’t.” Not really. Samantha just found it funny that she hadn’t expected it. “When I was ten, I was out riding my bike and fell in front of Addie’s. Scraped the whole side of my leg pretty bad, but I wasn’t supposed to be riding out that far, so I just sat in the ditch and cried. Addie carried me inside and didn’t even ask if I wanted her to call my mother. She knew as well as I did I wasn’t supposed to be there. She just helped me clean up and fed me a plate lunch and a Coke before dropping me off at home. The lunch that day was shrimp étouffée. I must have been hungry, because I cleaned off that plate.”
