Five O’Clock Shadow Read Online Free Page B

going to help us?” He made eye contact but didn’t wait for an answer. “Let’s say you’re telling the truth. You don’t know anything about the money, or the murderer. But somebody who knows you does. My suspicion is that the two are connected. You could be in danger. There’s no proof that the murderer didn’t think you’d be up there in the balloon, too.”
    She hadn’t thought of that, and she knew the surprise showed on her face. Could she be in danger? She seemed to be moving from bereavement to scared shitless in under sixty seconds.
    â€œWhat do you suggest that I do?” There was no animosity in her voice and more than a little fright—would he pick up on that?
    â€œKeep in touch. Lie low, but don’t run away. Shut down your apartment and move in with someone; don’t live by yourself. You have family here in Albuquerque, don’t you?”
    â€œGrandmother.”
    â€œStay with her. No one can put a lock on the money, but if I were you, I’d treat it like a landmine.”
    She nodded. She had no intentions of touching a penny of it. She could put school on hold now that there wasn’t going to be a pregnancy. Maybe she should just kick back for six months, not worry, not force herself to pick up the pieces too soon. Hope that in the meantime someone would come up with answers.
    â€œOut of my way.”
    Pauly saw the door to her room burst open—no mean feat since it was on hydraulic hinges—and a willowy woman with bushels of lightning-white hair cascading down her back swept into the room with a nervous nurse two steps behind.
    â€œHere. Just toss it on the bed.” In one practiced move the woman slipped out of her Black Diamond mink cape and handed it to the nurse.
    â€œGrams.”
    Pauly threw her arms around her grandmother and tried not to think that Grams wasn’t wearing a bra and her two grapefruit-perfect enhanced breasts strained against a flimsy silk tee.
    â€œOh, child, look at your hair.”
    â€œThis is my grandmother.” Pauly hoped she didn’t sound apologetic. She had discussed wearing underwear with her grandmother on numerous occasions but the answer was always the same—“no one wore bras when I was your age, we burned the things.” Of course, when Grams referred to being Pauly’s age in the sixties, it put her in her fifties today, making her about the same age as Paul, Pauly’s father, Grams’ son. It was no use. She was incorrigible.
    â€œI hope you’ve told her to stay put. You are detectives, aren’t you? And you’ve warned her not to leave town? Because I plan on taking this adorable child home with me. She’s been released to my custody. Oops.” Grams looked from one to the other of the two detectives. “Not the best word, right? But she’s not being detained, is she?”
    Pauly saw both men shake their heads. They seemed mesmerized, staring at her grandmother, their eyes locked not at the too-perfect boobs but at her face.
    â€œOh, Grams,” Pauly pointed to her mouth, “you missed removing some makeup.”
    â€œWhat? Oh, drat. Is there a mirror in here?” But she had already pulled a large round compact from her purse. “I’m in entertainment, this is just part of the show. Pauly, honey, hand me a tissue.”
    No one seemed to have anything to say as her grandmother worked at removing the red circle around her mouth, enlarged lips bordered in white and lined with black. In addition to operating a bed and breakfast, Grams hired out as a clown, sometimes traveling with one of the half dozen carnivals that she owned. Pauly had considered herself to be the luckiest child in the world. She spent every summer after her parents’ divorce on Ferris wheels, pony rides, in haunted houses.
    â€œThis is on for life without a little cold cream.”
    Still no one found an appropriate comment, but it