Read Online An Affair to Dismember by Elise Sax - Free Book Online Page B

“Let go of me! I wanted to talk to Jane. You interrupted us.”
    He tightened his grip. “You don’t want to talk to her. She’s nuts. She has nothing to say.” His eyes twirled around in their sockets. Crazy eyes. “You want to know about Jane’s childhood love of cutting off the heads of her sisters’ Barbies? Or maybe you want to hear about Jane’s first and last babysitting job. Huh? You wanna know about that?” He shook me.
    “Not particularly,” I said.
    “I have to talk to you,” he continued. “I’ve learned something very disturbing about my family. I need you to solve the murder.”
    I gasped. Murder was the catchword of the day. Did everyone in the Terns household think Randy Terns was murdered?
    “Why don’t you go to the police?” I asked.
    “You think I haven’t? Of course I did. They don’t believe me. The coroner ruled it an accident, and that’s all they care about. Listen, I don’t care if my father was killed, but it’s not the end, Gladie. I might be next.”
    “You?” I breathed. “Did someone threaten you?”
    “I know who you are. I know about your grandmother.She tells everyone that you’re just like her, that you have the gift. And since she won’t help me …”
    “What do you want me to do?” I asked. He was scary and hurting my arm, but I wanted to know what the very disturbing thing about his family was and what it had to do with murder and why he might be next. The disturbing thing had to be worse than Barbie heads, babysitting horrors, and DUIs with babies in the backseat. Nothing could have stopped me from hearing what he had to say. I wished I had a stiff drink or at least some popcorn to eat while he spoke.
    “Is there a problem?” Arthur Holden, my new neighbor and possible new client, seemingly materialized from thin air. He was dazzling in the daylight. He looked yummy. I thought about licking him: much tastier than Betty’s coconut cake and well worth the calories.
    “Piss off,” said Peter. “Can’t you see we’re talking?”
    “I see that you’re manhandling this young lady, and I want you to stop.” He’d called me young. I sucked in my stomach.
    “Who the hell are you?” Peter demanded.
    “I’m the one telling you that you better let go of her and go back in your house before I get in your face.” Arthur Holden stood a good head taller than Peter. Some kind of silent man code passed between them. Peter had sized up the situation and decided on the wisest choice of action. He let go of my arm, scowled at me, and went back into the house.
    “Are you okay?” Holden asked. He tenderly lifted up my arm for inspection. It was red and throbbing and would probably be black and blue for days. All I felt were the tiny pinpricks of sexy filtering through his fingertips.
    “I got no information,” I said, waking out of my haze. “You interrupted Peter before he could tell me anything.Everybody talked about murder and they wanted to spill the beans to me, but I didn’t get any information. I had to spit out cake!”
    “This sounds like an issue for the police,” he said. I couldn’t argue with his reasoning, but I was obsessed, and I was still annoyed at him for blocking me from getting at the truth.
    “Look, the man was shaking you.” He touched my arm gently. “Welts,” he said with sympathy. Goose bumps rose all over my arms. I gasped. “Are your eyes blue or green?” he asked, leaning down.
    I pulled my arm away and swayed in place. “Stay on your property,” I mumbled. I ran halfway across the street when I remembered. “I’m finding you somebody. Your soul mate,” I called to him.
    “OH, GOOD. You’re alive. I was about to call the cops. What’d you find out?” Bridget demanded over the phone. I had called her as soon as I got home.
    The kitchen phone was plastered to my face, and I had a mouthful of chili cheese dog in my mouth. Grandma was busy in the parlor with the Cannes Ladies’ Craft Show board, discussing the