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divorce you. You are wicked, girl.”
    “You know it, brother.”
    Boots wiggled around and Joey set him on the floor to wander, his one ear still poking straight out.
    “That ear is screwed,” he said before turning back to Lucie. “I don’t like you two going alone.”
    “Why?”
    “I don’t know. Just feels off.”
    Oh, no. He wasn’t about to talk her out of this. No way. She folded her arms, narrowed her eyes trying for intimidating. “Then you’ll have to come with us because I’m going.”
    Ro smacked her hands together. “He could be our driver.”
    “Just shut it, Roseanne. I’m not playing chauffeur.”
    But Ro, in full-on excitement mode, hopped off the desk and stood next to Lucie, staring him down. “Think about it. We throw you in a suit and you drive my Escalade. Luce and I will ride in the back. If I’m going to be rich and have an assistant, I’d definitely have a driver. And we wouldn’t be alone. Problem solved.”
    He rolled his bottom lip out. Considering it.
    At this rate, they’d be arguing over this all day and Lucie didn’t have time. Or patience. “Joey, I don’t care what you do. With or without you, I’m going to Michigan.”

Chapter Five
    T he stress alone of driving to Michigan with Roseanne and Joey might kill her.
    “Driver,” Ro snapped, trying for the thousandth time in the last fifteen minutes to annoy Joey.
    He switched to the left lane and roared by slower cars on the expressway. “I’m ignoring you.”
    Needing a distraction, Lucie opened her window an inch and let the warm air blow in. They’d hit the road at eight-thirty for the two-hour drive to the gallery and managed to miss the worst of the morning traffic. Ro, of course, was dressed the part in a black, sleeveless sheath, her favorite pair of Gucci sandals and sunglasses that probably cost more than Lucie’s laptop. Even if she hadn’t gotten a chance to melt her husband’s credit card, she’d managed just fine pulling something out of her expansive closet.
    Joey glanced at Lucie by way of the rear-view mirror. “I don’t see what the rush was on this trip. We just talked about it last night and now we’re hauling ass out there.”
    “Blame it on Ro freaking me out over that ten-year prison sentence. I’m nobody’s bitch. That’s all I’m saying.”
    “Huh? And since when do you swear?”
    “Forget it. Besides, Lauren was available all day to cover the dogs. Just pray she can handle it.”
    “Luce, it’s dog walking, not biometric engineering.”
    That got Ro’s attention and she whipped off her sunglasses. “Do you even know what biometric engineering is?”
    “Sure. It’s the combination of engineering and biological sciences.”
    Ro turned to Lucie. “I have no idea what that means.”
    “Basically, you nutty broads, it’s measuring and analyzing human characteristics. Fingerprints, DNA, voice patterns.”
    “Oh my God,” Lucie said. It was like an endless cycle of insanity in this car.
    “Hey,” Joey said, “she asked. And speaking of the dogs, Boots’s ear finally went down. His owner took him to the vet. They’re stumped. Go figure.”
    “Well,” Lucie said, “at least the poor baby is okay. How much longer until we get to the gallery?”
    He hit a button on the GPS screen. “It says thirty minutes.”
    Lucie checked the time on her phone. They’d arrive at the gallery at eleven o’clock. Figure an hour tops of being there, a quick bite to eat, and they’d be back on the road by one-thirty. Home by four. They had to stick to a schedule. Even if she wasn’t working today, she didn’t want to be late for her dinner with Detective O’Brien. Tim.
    Wait. Panic shooting straight up into her eyeballs, she drew a sharp breath and turned to Ro.
    “What?”
    She couldn’t say it. Not in front of Joey. He’d have a world-class meltdown about her going on a date with a cop. Via the rear view mirror Joey glanced at her again and their eyes met.
    “Nothing,” she