Jennifer Apodaca - Samantha Shaw 04 - Batteries Required by Jennifer Apodaca

grinned. He was cool. “Hand over the velvet box that belongs to Angel, or I am going to call her right now and tell her what you are up to. Then Angel and I are going to go to your morning coffee at Jack in the Box and tell all the ladies there how you men were acting like horny teenagers.”
    “Humph!”
    “Better give it to her.”
    “Young lady, such language!”
    I ignored the muttering of the other men and stared at Grandpa. He reached down under a stack of newspapers on the floor and brought out the velvet box. “Is this what you are looking for, Sam? Why didn’t you say so?” He handed it to me.
    I took the box and studied it. “Did you open it?”
    “No.”
    It didn’t look like he had opened it, since the white strip of paper sealing the box shut was still attached. I stuck it into the shopping bag full of bribes that Zoë had given me.
    The phone rang.
    I glanced at my watch and figured it was Angel calling to see where I was. I answered it. “Hello.”
    “Sam! I’ve been trying to reach you all day!”
    I closed my eyes and leaned my forehead against the wall. Linda Simpkins. “Hi, Linda. It’s been a killer day. One emergency after another. I haven’t had time to call you back. Can I call you tomorrow? I have to leave right now to take the boys somewhere.” Lord, I was getting to be a chronic liar.
    “Sam, we could do this really fast. I just need to know which night you can work the Harvest Festival.”
    The night after never. To create my cover, I pulled the phone away and yelled, “I’m coming, Joel!” Then I put the phone back against my head and said, “Linda, I have to run. Let me look at my calendar and I’ll get back to you. Bye.” I hung up.
    Lifting my forehead off the wall, I turned to see all the men were staring at me. Heat flushed my face and neck. “I’m late. You guys have fun.” Clutching my bag and my purse, I hurried out the door.
     
     
    Driving down Lake Street, I still couldn’t get over Grandpa and his cronies. What had tipped him off that there was something . . . interesting . . . in that box? He must not have bought my story that there were lotions in there. Or had it simply been that I told him not to open it?
    OK, it was kind of funny. Grandpa! He was in his seventies!
    I made a left turn into the hills overlooking the lake. I bumped along in Grandpa’s Jeep until I turned onto Angel’s tree-lined street. Even with no streetlights, I easily found her driveway. Years of traveling the same route made it automatic.
    I parked next to Angel’s blood red car.
    Was Gabe staking out his cheater or bending his new partner over . . .
    I turned off the ignition, grabbed my purse and my shopping bag, then got out of the Jeep. I fast-walked up the driveway to escape the direction of my thoughts. Angel and I would break open the wine and eat the chocolate-covered strawberries while we explored the sample sex-toy kit.
    And talk. Girlfriend talk. I’d tell her about Gabe and his new partner, she’d tell me what was bothering her about Hugh and whatever else was going on in her life. I’d help her solve her latest problem with Hugh, and she’d probably insist on gathering up some of her high tech spy gear and tracking down the motel Gabe was working at.
    Going through the gate into the flagstone atrium, I shifted the bag containing the wine, the strawberries, and the sex-toy kit from my right hand to my left.
    Did I want to spy on Gabe?
    A loud thud came from inside Angel’s house. I forgot about spying on Gabe and froze at her front door. The hairs on the back of my neck spiked up. What was that? Angel’s car was in the driveway. She might easily have just returned from the grocery store and dropped something.
    I didn’t believe that. Terror washed up my spine, tightening my shoulder blades and neck. Being a natural born coward, I was really starting to resent finding myself in these situations that required action.
    Brave action.
    Crap. My hand was on the cool