Read Online Rocky Road by Josi S. Kilpack - Free Book Online Page A

ago. What would Caro and Tess think of her having changed her mind so drastically?
    Tess headed toward Lori with a huge smile on her face. “I haven’t seen you in forever. Other than Facebook, I mean. How are you?”
    “Hey!” Lori said, just as happy to see her old friend. “Let me wash my hands.” She moved to the sink, and Tess followed her.
    “How’d it go in here?” Caro asked, approaching Sadie as she finished up the last of the watermelon. Sadie’s shoes were sticky from the watermelon juice. Where was that mop?
    Lori and Tess began chatting by the sinks, and Sadie hoped Lori wouldn’t betray the depth of their conversation until she had a chance to explain things to Caro and Tess. “It went well,” she said. Sadie threw the last bit of rind in the garbage can. “How about you guys—did you get everything set up?”
    “Yep. Looks like you two are just finishing up, too.”
    Sadie nodded, dicing the last of the watermelon. When she finished, she picked up a huge, drippy, double-handful of the fruit and dumped it into the bowl. “We still need to mix up the dressing, but we’re pretty close to being done.”
    Tess’s voice suddenly rose above the conversational tones she and Lori had been using on the other side of the room. “Sadie was asking you about Trent’s disappearance?”
    Sadie looked up to see three sets of eyes watching her. Caro and Tess looked surprised, but Lori just looked confused, probably because Tess had made such a point of the question. Tess had the slightest smirk on her face as she turned back to Lori. “Did she tell you about the pictures?”
    “Tess!” Sadie and Caro said at the same time.
    “What?” Tess replied, turning back to Caro with a challenging look. “Sadie’s been in here questioning her the whole time.” She pointed at Lori for emphasis, and Sadie felt her face heating up in reaction to the accusation.
    “Questioning me?” Lori looked at Sadie again.
    “I was not questioning her,” Sadie explained, glancing back and forth between them. “We were just ... talking.”
    “About Dr. H,” Tess said accusingly.
    “Well, yeah, and other things, but—”
    “Wait.” Lori put up her hand, looking somewhat cornered. They all went quiet. “What are you talking about?”
    “Sadie’s an investigator—didn’t she tell you that?”
    Sadie didn’t know what to say. Tess was making it sound like Sadie had been deceptive, which she hadn’t been. The conversation had just ... evolved, of its own accord. Okay, maybe she’d guided it a little bit, but there was so much more to it than that, and she felt cheapened by the way Tess was pouncing on this circumstance without even trying to understand.
    “Did she tell you about the photos?” Tess asked again.
    “What photos?”
    Tess began explaining to Lori all about the photos and her idea about using the scrapbook to get information from people. Sadie couldn’t believe the turn this had taken, and she looked at Caro. Caro shrugged. She didn’t seem upset about Sadie asking questions—which was good—but she certainly seemed curious and wasn’t picking up on how bad Tess was making Sadie look to Lori right now. Sadie looked down at the sticky floor at her feet and tried to think of how to explain what had happened.
    “So—we’re on the case?” Caro asked. She leaned her hips against the counter, folding her arms over her chest and raising one eyebrow.
    “Well,” Sadie said, glancing at Tess and Lori on the other side of the room and reflecting on the new questions her conversation with Lori had raised about Dr. Hendricks’s disappearance. Even with regret sitting heavy in her chest, pulling back now was impossible and she knew it. After all, she’d gathered so much information, and Tess was now in the process of telling Lori everything. Suddenly, another thought crossed her mind.
    “Did you set me up?” Sadie asked, looking at Caro square-on. “Did you know that sending me in here with Lori