Weeding Out Trouble by Heather Webber Page B
Authors: Heather Webber
Tags: Fiction, General, Mystery & Detective, Women Sleuths, Contemporary Women, Quinn; Nina (Fictitious character)
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gone. Riley went off to help Mrs. Greeble, and Kevin is on the telephone and asked for privacy."
My mind sorted all that out. My first thought was to search Riley's room thoroughly while he was out, but my second was to catch him in the act.
Both options required me getting out of the tub, which I didn't want to do just yet.
"After the tears and all, I thought you may have wanted company."
"Yes, I could see how breaking through two locked doors would give you that impression."
"Snarkiness, my dear, is not becoming. Especially when I have news."
I drew back the curtain, stuck my head out. "News?"
"Maddie Pipe phoned. Daisy's viewing will be held tomorrow. Maddie hoped you would attend. I told her you would."
Leave it to my mother to agree without asking me. I should probably have put up a fuss about it, but I wanted to go, to see who might show up. There was one person I wanted to see in particular, someone who could shed some light on Daisy's business and drug selling.
I hoped she had some of the answers I was looking for.
Eleven
As soon as my mother left, I let the water drain out of the tub, watching it swirl in a little vortex down the drain. I quickly got dressed, blow-dried my hair, and pulled it back into a ponytail. With any luck, I would not be seeing Perry again today. As my hairdresser, he wouldn't be fond of my lack of style.
I'd half expected Kevin to be waiting for me to emerge from the tub, but I could hear him talking with my mother downstairs when I opened my bedroom door.
Sprinting across the hallway, I ducked into Riley's room. I started with his bookshelves. He wasn't much of a reader, so it only took five minutes to flip through all his books. None were hollowed out, and none held anything other than old bookmarks. I did notice one of his books from the local library was overdue by fourteen months. I made a mental note to return it and make Riley pay the late fees from legally earned funds.
I peeked in at Xena, who lay coiled in the bottom of her cage. There wasn't anywhere inside the cage Riley could hide anything of significance, like a wad of cash, so I skipped searching in snake territory.
Okay, who was I kidding? If there'd been a big moneysized mound, I wouldn't have stuck my hand in that tank.
No way, no how.
I checked behind and in his Cincinnati Reds ceramic bank, took a piece off one of his 3-D puzzles and peeped inside, and shuffled around his CDs. Nothing.
Turning my attention toward the closet, I wondered if he'd have taken his stash with him to Mrs. Greeble's house. It made sense that he'd need playing money.
But since I'd gotten started, I found I couldn't stop myself from snooping. Ry's closet was oddly tidy. Shirts hung up, pants folded on a shelf. He had a set of built-in dresser drawers that revealed he might have a bit of obsessivecompulsive disorder in him. Folded tees, neat rows of socks, and sweats were stored, color-coded.
Yet, no money.
At the bottom of the closet, I shook old gym shoes, hoping something would fall out. Still nothing. In the way back, I found a couple of shoe boxes. One was filled with old Pokémon cards that looked like they hadn't seen the light of day in five years. Another box held Hot Wheels, which made me smile. I tugged on the small Nike box at the bottom and checked the label. Size 11, youth. Now he wore size 12, mens.
Noticing writing on the lid, I aimed the box toward a beam of sunlight.
MOMMY was written in childlike block letters.
"Find what you were looking for?" a deep male voice asked from behind me.
"Eee!" I screamed, nearly falling backward out of the closet. I caught my balance, guiltily shoved the shoe box back in, and looked up.
Kevin loomed over me, scowling.
He was a great scowler. It was his eyebrows. When he was mad, they snapped together in a furry vee that nearly dipped down to his nose. Very intimidating. Though once, when I was on pain medication, I thought he looked remarkably like Bert from Sesame Street.
I
My mind sorted all that out. My first thought was to search Riley's room thoroughly while he was out, but my second was to catch him in the act.
Both options required me getting out of the tub, which I didn't want to do just yet.
"After the tears and all, I thought you may have wanted company."
"Yes, I could see how breaking through two locked doors would give you that impression."
"Snarkiness, my dear, is not becoming. Especially when I have news."
I drew back the curtain, stuck my head out. "News?"
"Maddie Pipe phoned. Daisy's viewing will be held tomorrow. Maddie hoped you would attend. I told her you would."
Leave it to my mother to agree without asking me. I should probably have put up a fuss about it, but I wanted to go, to see who might show up. There was one person I wanted to see in particular, someone who could shed some light on Daisy's business and drug selling.
I hoped she had some of the answers I was looking for.
Eleven
As soon as my mother left, I let the water drain out of the tub, watching it swirl in a little vortex down the drain. I quickly got dressed, blow-dried my hair, and pulled it back into a ponytail. With any luck, I would not be seeing Perry again today. As my hairdresser, he wouldn't be fond of my lack of style.
I'd half expected Kevin to be waiting for me to emerge from the tub, but I could hear him talking with my mother downstairs when I opened my bedroom door.
Sprinting across the hallway, I ducked into Riley's room. I started with his bookshelves. He wasn't much of a reader, so it only took five minutes to flip through all his books. None were hollowed out, and none held anything other than old bookmarks. I did notice one of his books from the local library was overdue by fourteen months. I made a mental note to return it and make Riley pay the late fees from legally earned funds.
I peeked in at Xena, who lay coiled in the bottom of her cage. There wasn't anywhere inside the cage Riley could hide anything of significance, like a wad of cash, so I skipped searching in snake territory.
Okay, who was I kidding? If there'd been a big moneysized mound, I wouldn't have stuck my hand in that tank.
No way, no how.
I checked behind and in his Cincinnati Reds ceramic bank, took a piece off one of his 3-D puzzles and peeped inside, and shuffled around his CDs. Nothing.
Turning my attention toward the closet, I wondered if he'd have taken his stash with him to Mrs. Greeble's house. It made sense that he'd need playing money.
But since I'd gotten started, I found I couldn't stop myself from snooping. Ry's closet was oddly tidy. Shirts hung up, pants folded on a shelf. He had a set of built-in dresser drawers that revealed he might have a bit of obsessivecompulsive disorder in him. Folded tees, neat rows of socks, and sweats were stored, color-coded.
Yet, no money.
At the bottom of the closet, I shook old gym shoes, hoping something would fall out. Still nothing. In the way back, I found a couple of shoe boxes. One was filled with old Pokémon cards that looked like they hadn't seen the light of day in five years. Another box held Hot Wheels, which made me smile. I tugged on the small Nike box at the bottom and checked the label. Size 11, youth. Now he wore size 12, mens.
Noticing writing on the lid, I aimed the box toward a beam of sunlight.
MOMMY was written in childlike block letters.
"Find what you were looking for?" a deep male voice asked from behind me.
"Eee!" I screamed, nearly falling backward out of the closet. I caught my balance, guiltily shoved the shoe box back in, and looked up.
Kevin loomed over me, scowling.
He was a great scowler. It was his eyebrows. When he was mad, they snapped together in a furry vee that nearly dipped down to his nose. Very intimidating. Though once, when I was on pain medication, I thought he looked remarkably like Bert from Sesame Street.
I
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