The Catcher in the Eye (America's Next Top Assistant Mystery Book 1) by Lotta Smith Page B

and have some
cookies and milk.”
    “I can’t believe
you treated her like that! I’m very disappointed.” I hissed, following his back.
“Can’t you be a little nicer to her? As the BFF, she deserves to know things that
she’d eventually learn from six o’clock news.”
    He replied with a
snort.
    “I’m not a child,
I’m even going to the prom! Alright,” she yelled from behind. “I’ll Tweet that Michael
Archangel is a truly crappy detective! And I’ll write you’re not only a freak
but a jerk too! I’m gonna trash you on every SNS, comment sections in news and
gossip sites.”
    Archangel the crappy
detective continued power walking.
    “I’ll also write that
you totally ignored someone who’s about to offer an invaluable information just
because she is a minor! Being a minor doesn’t mean the information he or she
carries is worthless, but this supposedly top detective so doesn’t understand.
Come on, he deserves to be called a narrow-minded-cross-dresser rather than a
badass-detective!”
    Archangel stopped,
turned back, and I thought he would bitch-slap the little girl. With pouted
lips and pink cheeks, her initial façade of a bored teenager had completely
fallen off.
    “Tell me about the
invaluable information you know.” Archangel said. With tight jaw and bulging
veins in the neck, he didn’t look happy but his voice was calm.
    “Has she been…” she
started in a quivering voice, stopped for a moment, but managed to continue, “Murdered?”
    “Yes,” Archangel
replied through gritted teeth. “And there’s no place for misidentification of
the corpse. Multiple forensic evidence had confirmed that the body was hers.”
    Without a word, she
buried her face in her hands.
    “I told you not to
ask a question to the answer you don’t want to know,” Archangel extended his
hand and patted her head.
    “I know.” She nodded,
her voice shaky and muffled. “And I knew you two are here for that Eyeball Snatcher
case investigation. I’ve seen you, Mr. Archangel going into that poor doctor’s
house in the evening news. But I still had some hope that Alice is still alive
until I find out the truth…just like Schrödinger's
cat paradox. The cat can
exist as being alive and dead all at once.”
    She raised her head and tried to smile,
but big, fat tears were running down her cheeks.
    I handed her tissues.
    “Thank you, Miss...” She quietly blew her
nose.
    “It’s Kelly,” I said. “You can call me
Kelly.”
    “Thanks, Kelly.” she sniffed.
    “Unfortunately, her death is a solid fact.
There’s no blurry, gray-zone like she is dead-and-alive at the same time.”
Archangel said. “I’m sorry.”
    “What a shame,” she sighed, her shoulder
slumping. “She is the best babysitter in this district, and she taught me
French, Spanish, Italian, Greek, and Mandarin. We talked about everything
including our love lives.”
    “Love lives as in plural? I’m impressed.” Following
her comment, Archangel arched one eyebrow.
    “Hello, I’m a high school student, I have
my love life. What’s wrong with that?”
    “Nothing,”
Archangel said. “Now let’s talk about the love life of Alice’s.”

Chapter 13
     
    “It was about a month ago that she
met this new guy. The timing was about the same as the finalization of her divorce.”
    Karen told us as
soon as she led us in to her parents’ kitchen. She preferred to speak in
private.
    Just like her
neighbor’s place, the Andrews kitchen was kept clean and spotless, indicating they
have regular housekeeping services. Karen served us each a disposable cup of
milk and a chocolate-coated potato crisps from Neiman Marcus.  
    Karen said. “She
was so excited. Initially, I was happy to see her moving on. In this
neighborhood it is widely considered Alice to be a happy divorcee with a
handsome settlement, but things were not that simple. Not only had Anthony
totally deceived her, he ran away to NYC with his new lover who happened to be
a