Read Online Sister Mine by Tawni O’Dell - Free Book Online Page B

together?”
    I’d put her age around mine. She could easily pass for ten years younger if I only look at the skin on her face, but she has a forty-year-old neck and like all women, no matter how well their outsides have been maintained, her true age shows in her eyes and movements.
    She seems to know what I’m thinking and she reaches back into her car for a pair of white Ray-Bans and slips them on beneath the bill of her little cap.
    â€œNot exactly. We’re old friends,” I answer. “We go way back.”
    â€œHe was attractive. I was surprised.”
    â€œWhy’s that?”
    â€œOh, you know the stereotype of the country sheriff and his deputies: fat, stupid, bumbling, bad teeth.” She tries to scrunch up her face in disgust but amazingly, nothing moves on it except for her lips, which purse slightly, and her nostrils, which flare. “And they chew tobacco.”
    I nod.
    â€œI suppose where you come from all the cops look like Brad Pitt.”
    â€œWe do have a fairly good-looking police force.”
    â€œWhere are you from?”
    â€œA town in Connecticut. I’m sure you’ve never heard of it.”
    â€œI’m flattered that you assume I’ve heard of Connecticut,” I say.
    I turn my back on her and start walking toward the flattened groundhog.
    I’m really pissed at my son right now.
    She follows along behind me, but stops well away from the carcass.
    Apparently, removing the dead groundhog from the road was also beneath an officer of the law.
    â€œWhy are they called groundhogs?” she asks me. “They don’t look like hogs. Are they actually related to hogs?”
    â€œNo,” I say, heading back to her SUV. “But they do live in the ground.”
    â€œDo you think they feel pain?”
    â€œI would imagine so.”
    â€œBut they’re not intelligent?”
    I give her a blank look.
    â€œSay as intelligent as a schnauzer, for instance?”
    â€œI’ve never spent any time around a schnauzer, so I wouldn’t know. Can you show me where your spare tire and jack are?”
    She gives me a blank look.
    â€œNever mind.”
    I find what I need and set about changing her tire.
    She hovers over me while I jack up the front of her car.
    â€œDid you take a class?” I hear her ask.
    â€œPardon me?”
    â€œTo learn how to change a tire? Did you take a class?”
    This is one of those questions where I believe if a person feels compelled to ask it, he or she is not going to understand the answer.
    â€œNo,” I say.
    â€œWhy are you no longer a police officer?”
    I lean into the lug wrench with all my weight to loosen the hubcap nuts.
    â€œMrs. Jameson,” I say through gritted teeth, “I’m kind of busy here.”
    â€œOh, I’m sorry. I talk too much when I’m nervous. I’ve been meaning to discuss it with my doctor. I believe there’s a pill on the market now that can get rid of the problem.”
    â€œYeah. Cyanide,” I say under my breath.
    It’s a hot day, and it’s been a long time since I’ve had to change a tire. Plus every inch of my body aches from my brawl with Choker. I can feel sweat beading along my hairline and between my breasts.
    The woman continues to prattle on above me despite her earlier apology for doing so. I can tell she’s pacing back and forth behind me by watching her shadow move back and forth across the doors of her car.
    I decide if I can’t beat her, I’ll join her, but I’m taking control of the conversation. This is the second wealthy out-of-towner to show up in Jolly Mount today, and I’d like to know why.
    â€œSo what brings you to rural Pennsylvania from a town in Connecticut that I’ve probably never heard of?” I ask when there’s a break in her monologue.
    â€œI’m meeting someone in a town called Centresburg. Do you know it?”
    â€œYes, I do. It’s