Operation Blind Date Read Online Free Page B

at the term, but said only, “Go on.”
    “So, Edward, he’d even asked me out a couple of times. But I wasn’t attracted, and I was too busy with plans for this shop.”
    “And?”
    “Last month Amber and I went to the mall there. She loved to shop. Edward was there with a friend, we ran into him. I introduced them. She seemed interested, and so did he, she’d just broken up with a guy and was kind of down, so I told her she should go, he was a nice guy.” She blinked again, more rapidly this time. “I told her she should go, damn it. I practically set her up on a blind date with this guy, and now—”
    “Easy.” Instinctively he reached across the table and put his hand over hers. “You didn’t know.”
    Not that he was sure anything was wrong himself, not really. He needed to know more about what had triggered her worry.
    “Tell me about the texts you felt were off. Did you answer?”
    “Yes. But she never responded. Which isn’t like her, either.”
    “What if you initiate a text?”
    She shook her head. “I either get no reply, or if I do, it doesn’t really answer what I said.”
    “Example?”
    “I ask where she is, she says she’s fine. I ask when she’s coming back, she says she’s having a great time.”
    Which could, Teague thought, be answers. Just not the ones Laney wanted or expected.
    “You showed them to the police?”
    She grimaced again as she nodded. “They thought it was just drunk texting. I know better.”
    “Because?”
    She reached into the low front pocket of her shirt—when had scrubs become somehow sexy? he wondered—and pulled out a phone. She tapped it a few times, then held it out to him. “This is the first one I got.”
    He took it and read the message.
    Take care of Pepper 4me, pls? He’s such a gd dog. Thx
    “Seems innocuous enough,” Teague said neutrally.
    “Yes. Except for three things.”
    “Three?”
    “Pepper? A cat. And a she.” She took a deep breath. “And she’s been dead for ten years.”

Chapter 4
    “A mber has never been that drunk in her entire life,” Laney said firmly. “Pepper was her pet for eighteen years, from childhood, and she adored her. She cried for months when she died.”
    It wasn’t much to go on. But even Teague had to admit that three such mistakes in a text message fifty characters long was a bit much. Even drunk on her ass, would Amber have forgotten Pepper was a cat not a dog, a she not a he, and that she had died a decade ago?
    Teague glanced down at Cutter, still ensconced on the floor with his head on Laney’s foot, as if to hold her there until the story was out. He tried to imagine, even drunk, ever forgetting about the dog.
    Nope . Impossible. And he’s not even my dog.
    “Are there more?” he asked.
    She nodded. “None as obviously wrong as that one, but some. Read through them. I cleared out all the non-Amber ones.”
    He wondered for a moment if there had been some from a boyfriend. But she had said she hadn’t been attracted to this Edward, implying if she had been, perhaps she might not have said no. So there couldn’t be a boyfriend. Unless she was the juggling type. He didn’t think so. If nothing else, he suspected she didn’t have time.
    And none of that was in the slightest bit relevant, he reminded himself.
    He focused on the series of texts. Most seemed innocuous to him, something about being late for the office and catching up later, one about wanting to buy a new car, and a final one about jetting off to Canada. Nothing jumped out at him, but then nothing would have about the first one, either.
    He didn’t have to ask. The moment he looked up, Laney ran through a list. “Except for days when she meets with clients, Amber works from home. She bought a new car late last year, and the process exhausted her so much she plans on keeping it at least ten years. And she absolutely hates to fly. Canada’s way too close to get her on an airplane.”
    “You told the police all