Lethal Outlook: A Psychic Eye Mystery Read Online Free Page B

eat them on a queasy stomach. But there was no time. Andmy escape would work only if Dutch didn’t catch me sneaking out of the house.
    As quietly as possible, I eased over to the door, turned the latch, and slipped outside. I managed to get down the stairs with only a few muttered expletives (swearing doesn’t count if you mutter), only to realize my car wasn’t in the driveway.
    “Feck!” (Swearing also doesn’t count if you use the slang term from a foreign country.)
    Looking up and down the street nervously, I spotted a gleaming silver sedan snaking its way down the road. “Feck, feck,
feck
!” Ducking low, I turned and hobbled across the lawn as fast as I could, squatting down behind my neighbor’s car just in time.
    Peeking through the windows, I could see the silver Mercedes slow down and turn into our driveway. I waited with a pounding heart as my sister, Cat, chatted happily into her phone while putting the car into park and turning off the engine.
    For an interminably long time she sat there, gabbing it up. I began to wonder if I could sneak off and call Candice from the corner, but just as I was getting ready to move, I saw my sister hang up and open her car door.
    I hunched down again and waited, hearing her designer heels click across our driveway…up the steps…then the very faint sound of our doorbell followed by my dog Eggy’s bark.
    Distantly, I heard Dutch call my name. I held perfectly still.
    Cat rang the bell again and muttered something herself.Eggy’s bark was joined by that of our other pooch, Tuttle. Finally I heard the door open and Dutch say, “Hey, Cat. Nice to see you.”
    He’s such a good liar.
    “Morning!” my sister sang. “Is Abby up?”
    “She’s up. I heard her in the shower a few minutes ago. She should be down in a sec. You got more wedding stuff for her to look at?”
    There was something that sounded like the shifting of papers. “Yes, I do! And I’m so glad you’re still home. I’ve got some things for you to look over too.” Cat’s voice drifted merrily into the interior of our house. A moment later I heard Dutch call my name again (a bit urgently, I thought), and then the door closed and I breathed a huge sigh of relief. “That was a close one,” I whispered.
    “Can I help you?” asked a voice right behind me.
    I let out a little “Eeek!” and stood up fast, bringing my cane around defensively. My neighbor jumped back, narrowly avoiding getting his shins whacked. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Jason!” I said, feeling my cheeks heat up when I realized who it was.
    He considered me for a minute, and given the fact that my hair was now dripping onto his asphalt, I could only imagine what he might be thinking. “I gotta go to work,” he said after clearing his throat.
    “Sure,” I said, flashing him my famous toothy grin. “I gotta get to work too.” I hobbled to the end of the drive without looking back and made my way down the block. When I reached the corner, I hid behind a big cedar tree and called Candice. “You gotta come get me!”
    “Morning, Sundance,” she said merrily.
    “Candice, I’m serious! Cat’s in town again and she’s at my place right now!”
    “Did she come packing?”
    I knew that Candice meant packing wedding ideas. It was a little joke between us. “She is locked and loaded!”
    “Where are you?”
    “At the end of my street.” I was back to whispering just in case Cat’s batlike hearing could pick up my voice. “I’m hiding behind the big cedar tree next to the stop sign.”
    “See you in ten minutes,” Candice said.
    After I hung up, I dug around in my purse for a brush and began to try to comb out the wet tangles. While I was at it, my phone went off…several times. I declined to answer. The first call was from Dutch. The second—my sister. The third—Dutch again. He was also the fourth, fifth, and sixth calls, but Dave—our handyman/builder—was the seventh. I dodged his call too.
    As Candice pulled up, I