Read Online Skating Over the Line by Joelle Charbonneau - Free Book Online Page B

white hair, she looked the picture of the perfect grandmother. Except for the sad smile. Agnes still hadn’t gotten over her nephew’s betrayal. “How nice of you to come for a visit.”
    â€œSammy told me you and Eleanor were at the diner last night.”
    Agnes’s face brightened slightly. “Eleanor and I went to the movies. That Will Smith is so cute, don’t you think?”
    I agreed that Will Smith was very cute, then asked, “After the movie, you went to the diner?”
    â€œYes, we did,” Agnes said in a proud voice. “We each ordered banana splits with extra nuts. Eleanor says that all women need nuts. I didn’t know that, but she’s a nurse, so she should know.”
    My blood curdled. I was pretty sure Eleanor hadn’t been talking about the peanut butter kind of nut.
    â€œCould you tell me who you saw at the diner last night? It might be important to the car thefts that have been going on the last couple days.”
    Agnes stepped out from behind the screen, allowing two more cats to escape into the great outdoors. “Anything for you, dear.”
    She took a seat on one of the porch’s wicker chairs. Immediately, a cat hopped into her lap and went to sleep. “Eleanor and I got there about nine o’clock. Not too long after Doreen and all her friends came in.”
    Judging by Agnes’s tone, she was unhappy with my Realtor. Before she could tell me about Doreen’s slight, I prompted her along. Only problem was, she didn’t have anything new for me.
    Finally, I thanked her and turned to leave. When I was halfway down the stairs, she called, “Oh, there was one guy I’ve never seen before. He was only there for a few minutes, but Eleanor noticed him right away. He was kind of tall, with dark hair, and I think he had a tan. I said I thought he had nice brown eyes, but Eleanor said he had a great butt and that’s far more important.” Excitement flared in Agnes’s eyes, and her voice got a little breathless. “I had no idea that a man’s butt is so important, but Eleanor swears that it is. She said she’s going to take me to a club next week where we can look at some really nice butts so I’ll know the difference.”
    Something told me hanging with Eleanor was going to teach retired librarian Agnes more than she’d ever learned from a book.
    Visions of old women ogling male flesh haunted me all the way back to the rink. While it gave me hope for my later years, I had no idea how anything she’d told me was going to help identify my newest suspect. What I needed was an eyewitness who was more interested in faces than in behinds. A person with an eye for detail and the ability to size up someone in the blink of an eye.
    Taking a deep breath, I did a U-turn and tried to calm the icky sensation growing in my chest. There was only one person I knew who fit that description. Like it or not, I needed a con man.
    I needed my father.
    *   *   *
    Five minutes had passed since I’d pulled into Pop’s driveway, eyes glued on the blue-and-white-trimmed house. My estranged father was inside that house. My mind told me to get out of the car and talk to the man, but my body wasn’t cooperating.
    My fingers started to turn the ignition key when a clang of metal and the sound of my grandfather’s very angry voice jolted me into action. I bolted out of the car and raced up the walk to the side door.
    Another clash of metal rang through the neighborhood as I flung open the door and ran into the kitchen. The scene that greeted me made me stop cold. Pop was standing with his back to me in the middle of the kitchen, wearing red-white-and-blue boxer shorts, a white undershirt, and black tube socks. He was waving a large metal skillet above his head with one hand and the lid of a copper pot with the other. Crouched between the red Formica kitchen table and the back wall was my