Page 32 of Rest In Pink

“You do not want to mess with me, Liz Danger!” Faye said. “You have no idea who I am or who I know!”

That was confusing because I knew exactly who she was. Everybody did. Faye Blue was a lot of things, but a mystery was not one of them.

I put Peri in the front seat and went around to the driver’s side and got in to find that Peri had already locked her door.

“She’s not going to get you,” I told her, and then I pulled out of the parking lot leaving Faye standing in the road calling after us. I saw Crystal in the door behind her, probably ready to call the police.

Peri nodded, her head a little wobbly.

I drove until I got to the crossroad and halted at the stop sign. “Peri, look at me.”

The kid turned eyes huge with tension on me.

“She is not going to take you,” I said slowly. “I will see to it that you are safe.”

Peri nodded again.

I sat back. “How about this. Anytime you leave the house from now on, I will be with you the entire time. No more getting dropped off, I’ll stick.”

Peri breathed out in a gust of relieved air. “Or Anemone.”

“Or Anemone.”

“Anemone’s pretty tough.”

“Anemone will have your grandmother for breakfast if she tries anything.”

Peri nodded. “With maple syrup?”

“I doubt she’d waste good maple syrup on Faye.”

Peri smiled, a weak smile, but a smile, and I thought about strangling Faye. This kid was already coping with losing her father three months ago and her mother descending into alcoholism, and now Faye was pulling this crap to get her hands on Peri’s money.

“I, on the other hand, will stick a damn fork in her,” I said, forgetting to ease up on the rage, and then was brought back to reality when Peri laughed.

“Okay,” she said. “That’s good, stick a fork in her hand if she tries to grab me.”

The hell with her hand,I thought, but all I said was, “So we have a plan.”

“Yes,” Peri said with satisfaction. “We have a plan. Did you know I swam the whole length of the poolunderwater?”

“Wait, you did that in the pool at the club?”

“Yes!”

“That pool ishuge,” I said, legitimately impressed.

“Iknow,” Peri said, grinning. “Crys said I wasawesome.”

“You really are. Wow. You’re like a mermaid.”

“I don’t have a tail.”

“Well, that’s why it’s so impressive. You did that without a mermaid tail.”

“Idid,” Peri said, looking entranced at this new perspective.

Somebody behind me honked, and I drove across the intersection to the road to the Blue House, Blue Lane, the only house on that road. Because if you’re a Blue, the county builds a road to your house. And you build the country club close by, which I had to admit, selfishly, was convenient at the moment.

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