Read Online A Cup of Jo by Sandra Balzo - Free Book Online

'Hmm.'
    'Aren't you going to answer it?' I asked.
    'It's a tweet,' Sarah said.
    'What do you mean?'
    'The bird call? Tweet? Get it?'
    For the second time today, I didn't. 'Sure.'
    'You like it?' Sophie was pushing buttons as she spoke. 'That ringtone was as close to a "tweet" as I could find without actually having to pay extra.'
    Ahh. The birdsong must be Sophie's ringtone for Twitter updates. I didn't know much, but I did know that Eric always seemed to know things before I did. Hell, before the TV news did. Downside? Rumors could spread like wildfire.
    'So, what's the news?' I asked Sophie, pouring coffee into a ceramic Uncommon Grounds white and blue cup. No matching saucer, but aside from that, it was a small-scale model of the one in which JoLynne Penn-Williams had been found. I hoped no death-junkies noticed, or they'd start filching the things for souvenirs.
    But Sophie warded me off the pour, pointing at our to-go cups. 'Put it in one of those,' she said. 'There's been a "sheriff sighting".'
    I reached for a to-go, but held up. ' My sheriff?'
    It might seem presumptuous, but Pavlik and I had, after all, been together for nearly eighteen months now.
    'Yes, "your" sheriff,' Sophie said, scoring a cup from the top of the stack herself and holding it out for me to fill.
    'But why would you want to follow Pavlik?' And was he on Twitter?
    'Same reason we track you,' she said. 'Things happen wherever Maggy Thorsen goes.'
    Wait a minute. I was on Twitter?
    'Your life is like an old-time radio serial.' Sophie gestured toward the pot with her cup. 'We can't wait for the next episode.'
    And who was 'we'? 'But I'm not on Twitter.' At least I didn't think so.
    'You don't have to be.' Sarah took the carafe away from me and filled Sophie's waiting cup. 'People just use the network to report where they see you.'
    'I'm here.' This senior stalking was creeping me out.
    'I know,' Sophie said. 'I've already reported it.'
    With a shiver, I glanced toward the big front window just in time to glimpse a woman with steel-gray hair peer through the glass. When she saw me looking at her, she ducked sideways and disappeared with a dull thud.
    'Oh, dear,' Sophie said, grabbing a cover for her cup and hurrying to the door. 'Teresa has toppled again. I keep telling her that she should bring her walker instead of a cane on stake-outs. More stability, of course.'
    Stake-outs. 'Of course,' I repeated woodenly.
    I turned to Sarah as the door closed behind Sophie. 'What was that all about?'
    'The senior book club. They read a novel about this detective agency and decided to try it themselves.'
    'Using Twitter?' And twitting me? And Pavlik?
    Sarah shrugged. 'What can I say? The geezers in residence at Brookhills Manor are more technologically advanced than we are. Rodney Houston "friended" me on Facebook the other day. Said he's "in an open relationship" and wants to hook up.'
    My head began to spin. 'Rodney has got to be eighty-five.'
    'But not dead, apparently.'
    'Apparently,' I said, feeling a little sheepish. 'And so long as people like Sophie and Henry and Rodney keep busy and occupy their minds, they'll stay sharp. Vibrant.'
    'No,' Sarah said. 'I meant literally. Rodney's not dead. The Brookhills Observer accidentally ran an obit on him last week. Complete with "X's" for where his age should go when he finally does kick.'
    'Rodney must've had a pretty impressive life for the paper to have a death notice already written and waiting.' That kind of pre-planning at media outlets was usually restricted to public figures or celebrities.
    'Nah, Caron is writing them for everyone in town.' Sarah pulled a napkin toward her and made a note on it. 'I have to remember to let her know when I win the train contest.'
    ' If you win . . .' Wait a minute. 'Caron?'
    Caron Egan was my former partner in Uncommon Grounds. Not the deceased one, but the woman who pulled the plug on our partnership because of 'employment stress', as she put it. 'Caron is working again? For