rip off for a couple of minutes climb. And Tullah’s my…” Damn, I hadn’t gotten around to giving her a title. “…apprentice.” That sounded right. It had overtones of being given all the boring jobs.
“An hour. Take it or leave it.”
I shrugged and punched him lightly on the shoulder. “I can’t believe you remembered what I used to get up to when I was fourteen.”
“If I hadn’t, Cassie would’ve reminded me.”
“Has she forgiven me?” I’d climbed the side of their house and left frogs in his daughter’s bed. Well, she shouldn’t have called me a toad. No matter how good a friend she was, she should have known the founder of the Urban Crazy Climbing Club was not a person to be messed with.
“What? Already? It’s only been, oh, not even fifteen years.”
“Sixteen,” I said.
“Yeah. Sixteen. I guess you…” He trailed off. Fifteen years ago, Dad’s illness meant the practical jokes and climbing and lots of stuff had just stopped. “Anyway, she said to give you her love, and she’ll look you up the next time she comes back.”
Yup, and I could expect some payback. She was as bad as me about practical jokes. After the frogs, she’d left anonymous messages for me—‘revenge is a dish best eaten cold’—at every opportunity. She knew how to get inside a person’s head, even at that age. I blame her for my paranoia.
It all stopped when Dad got sick, of course.
These days, she was a freaking shrink over in New York, like they need another one there. She would be formidably scary now, if the dish was finally ready. I grinned to myself. It would be good to see her again and see how she was. It’d take more than frogs to put me off.
We went back inside. I looked at the insurance letter again and shook my head. They had really gone overboard on this. They were refusing to pay for the damage to the balcony doors, claiming it would have been impossible to get up to the balcony, which I was going to enjoy disproving. They practically implied that the Quinns had damaged their own doors. For what? Then they insisted that the front door must have been left open, and that constituted negligence, which put the whole claim in doubt.
The really bad news was that the medal wasn’t even covered on the insurance, not that you could put a value on it.
“I’m very careful about the door when I do go out, which isn’t often, these days.” He settled himself back into his chair, and I perched on the arm of the sofa.
“Okay, one step at a time. We prove it’s easy to get to your balcony from outside first. You said there were two things?”
I heard the sound of the front door, and got up. Niall’s lips moved. I can lip-read and what he mouthed was short and Anglo-Saxon.
His wife, Ruth, bustled in and stopped dead. Her face went chalky pale.
“What’s she doing here?” she demanded.
Whoa! Where was ‘hello, Amber, we haven’t seen you in years?’
“Amber’s come here just to try and help with the insurance claim, Ruth,” said Niall.
Her face went to the other extreme, red with anger. She struggled before she regained control. What on earth had happened?
“I am sorry, Amber, just barging in and not saying hello. This has been a very trying time for us, and thank you for the offer. I know you mean well, but what could you do that the police can’t?”
“I haven’t said I would do anything about investigating the crime, Mrs. Quinn,” I said. “I’ve agreed to prove the insurance company got it wrong. You know, saying the burglar couldn’t have gotten in from the balcony.” I was going to ask again about the second thing Niall had mentioned, but he was making signs for me to shut up.
“But that’s a waste of money we don’t have,” she said.
“I’ve said I would do it for free,” I pointed out. I never was good at shutting up, and why had she gone so overboard when she’d seen me?
“Then you shouldn’t waste your time on our behalf either, thank you, Amber.
“An hour. Take it or leave it.”
I shrugged and punched him lightly on the shoulder. “I can’t believe you remembered what I used to get up to when I was fourteen.”
“If I hadn’t, Cassie would’ve reminded me.”
“Has she forgiven me?” I’d climbed the side of their house and left frogs in his daughter’s bed. Well, she shouldn’t have called me a toad. No matter how good a friend she was, she should have known the founder of the Urban Crazy Climbing Club was not a person to be messed with.
“What? Already? It’s only been, oh, not even fifteen years.”
“Sixteen,” I said.
“Yeah. Sixteen. I guess you…” He trailed off. Fifteen years ago, Dad’s illness meant the practical jokes and climbing and lots of stuff had just stopped. “Anyway, she said to give you her love, and she’ll look you up the next time she comes back.”
Yup, and I could expect some payback. She was as bad as me about practical jokes. After the frogs, she’d left anonymous messages for me—‘revenge is a dish best eaten cold’—at every opportunity. She knew how to get inside a person’s head, even at that age. I blame her for my paranoia.
It all stopped when Dad got sick, of course.
These days, she was a freaking shrink over in New York, like they need another one there. She would be formidably scary now, if the dish was finally ready. I grinned to myself. It would be good to see her again and see how she was. It’d take more than frogs to put me off.
We went back inside. I looked at the insurance letter again and shook my head. They had really gone overboard on this. They were refusing to pay for the damage to the balcony doors, claiming it would have been impossible to get up to the balcony, which I was going to enjoy disproving. They practically implied that the Quinns had damaged their own doors. For what? Then they insisted that the front door must have been left open, and that constituted negligence, which put the whole claim in doubt.
The really bad news was that the medal wasn’t even covered on the insurance, not that you could put a value on it.
“I’m very careful about the door when I do go out, which isn’t often, these days.” He settled himself back into his chair, and I perched on the arm of the sofa.
“Okay, one step at a time. We prove it’s easy to get to your balcony from outside first. You said there were two things?”
I heard the sound of the front door, and got up. Niall’s lips moved. I can lip-read and what he mouthed was short and Anglo-Saxon.
His wife, Ruth, bustled in and stopped dead. Her face went chalky pale.
“What’s she doing here?” she demanded.
Whoa! Where was ‘hello, Amber, we haven’t seen you in years?’
“Amber’s come here just to try and help with the insurance claim, Ruth,” said Niall.
Her face went to the other extreme, red with anger. She struggled before she regained control. What on earth had happened?
“I am sorry, Amber, just barging in and not saying hello. This has been a very trying time for us, and thank you for the offer. I know you mean well, but what could you do that the police can’t?”
“I haven’t said I would do anything about investigating the crime, Mrs. Quinn,” I said. “I’ve agreed to prove the insurance company got it wrong. You know, saying the burglar couldn’t have gotten in from the balcony.” I was going to ask again about the second thing Niall had mentioned, but he was making signs for me to shut up.
“But that’s a waste of money we don’t have,” she said.
“I’ve said I would do it for free,” I pointed out. I never was good at shutting up, and why had she gone so overboard when she’d seen me?
“Then you shouldn’t waste your time on our behalf either, thank you, Amber.
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