2 On the Nickel Read Online Free

terrible?” I met Jonette’s anxious gaze. “Britt was headed downtown. Did you hear
anything else?”
    Her face scrunched. “Something about the Episcopal church.”
    The pounding in my head turned to
thunder. My family belonged to Trinity Episcopal. Worse, Mama, Francine, and
Muriel were meeting at the church this morning to plan the Sunday school
hostess schedule for the fall.
    I stilled. “You going home like Britt ordered?”
    “Hell no.” Jonette snorted. “Detective
Dumb-as-Dirt can’t tell me what to do. I’m headed to the church. Aren’t you?”
    I managed a breath and climbed in
the cart. “You bet. But you drive. I can’t think straight.”

 
    Chapter 2
     
    Jonette zoomed out of the golf course parking lot, turning
right in front of a speeding pickup truck. My life flashed before my eyes.
Images roared through my head in horrifying succession.
    A scream ripped from my throat. I
braced for impact. The blue truck honked loudly and swerved onto the grassy
shoulder to avoid hitting us.
    She glanced at me over the top of her leopard-print sunglasses, her expression the picture of innocence. Her
right hand fluttered through the air. “What?”
    My fingers were embedded in the
arm rest. “Get us there in one piece.”
    Jonette grinned. “He missed me by a mile.”
    I glared at her. “He missed us by
inches. Pay attention.”
    “Don’t be such a wet blanket,
Clee.” Jonette’s hands came off the wheel to emphasize her point. The car
veered toward the fog line. “I’m a good driver.”
    My stomach lurched. “You’re an
accident waiting to happen. If that truck hit us, we’d be goners. Not even the Jaws
of Life could save us.”
    “Hey. This is a fine car.”
Jonette patted the dusty dashboard. “Don’t you go knocking my two-thousand-dollar
car. It gets me where I need to go.”
    I glanced at the stalled traffic
before us, and my heart stuttered. “Slow down. That van up ahead is turning.”
    She slammed on brakes at the last
minute and stopped short. Behind us, tires squealed on the pavement. If we got hit from behind, we’d need firemen to put out the flames.
    “I thought you’d be less bitchy
once you got laid on a regular basis,” Jonette said. “You ought to ask your
doctor about a prescription mood enhancer.”
    My blood pressure spiked. Jonette
had no right to criticize my moods. Sure, I was wound tight, but I had good
reason. Living with two teenaged daughters, a pregnant dog, and an independent
woman would wind anyone tight.
    “You’re driving like a maniac.
Cool it,” I said. “Charla will be driving on this road in a few months. Do I
have to ground you every time she gets behind the wheel?”
    Jonette’s lower lip jutted, but
her hands stayed put on the steering wheel. “I’d never do anything to hurt
Charla. You know that.”
    A mail truck pulled off to insert
letters in a roadside mailbox. Jonette accelerated around the mail truck,
scooting over the double yellow lines into the lane of oncoming traffic. My
feet jammed into the floorboard. I closed my eyes and prayed aloud. “Dear God.”
    She veered back into our lane. My
eyes popped open. “I’d like to live long enough to see my children graduate
from college.”
    “We’re almost there, ’fraidy cat.”
    Jonette parked on Main Street a
block away from the church. I pried my fingers off the vinyl armrest and
stumbled from her death trap of a car. My heart raced faster than an Olympic
athlete’s.
    I rolled my eyes at my friend. “You
ever put me through that again and I’ll kill you with my bare hands.”
    She tossed her sunglasses on the
dash and flashed me a megawatt smile. “Promises, promises.”
    I turned my attention to the imposing
stone church. What had happened in the shadow of the tallest steeple in town?
Please, dear Lord, don’t let Mama be in the middle of this. My uneasy feeling
grew at the sight of the two uniformed officers guarding the driveway entrance
to Trinity Episcopal.
    Jonette wormed