Dead Is the New Black Read Online Free PDF

within Rose's unintentional mental eavesdropping zone. I tugged on Ryan's hand to stop him. Tingles shot up my fingers, my wrists, all the way to my heart. "Back to this disappearing body...," I said.
    A couple of kids from school were headed toward us. I dropped Ryan's hand before they spotted us.
    We fell silent as they passed by. The freshman girl, Katie something, kept glancing back at us over her shoulder. Probably another member of the Ryan Mendez fan club.
    After they were out of earshot, I said, "How does a body disappear without a trace? It can't just get up and walk away."
    "It can't, not if it was anything human," His breath tickled my ear as he lowered his voice.
    My mouth opened, guppylike, as I took in his meaning. Nightshade was an odd town.
    "What did the body look like?" Ryan asked. "I never even got a chance to talk to you about it after we were busted by Officer Denton."
    "She looked ... dead," I said, shoving aside the memory of the twitching hand.
    "Did you notice anything unusual?"
    I almost snapped that I didn't spend as much time in the morgue as he did, so I didn't know what was usual for a dead body, but then I looked into his gorgeous green eyes and stopped myself. "She had a tattoo on her left hand and a stamp on her right. The stamp said 'Opal.' Do you think that's her name?"
    Ryan's eyes widened. "Was it a purple stamp?"
    I nodded.
    "That's probably from the Black Opal," he said.
    I had no idea what he was talking about. "The what?"
    "The Black Opal. It's a club in Santa Cruz."
    "Oh," I said, feeling totally uncool for not knowing. "You've been there?"
    Ryan nodded. "A bunch of us were there last weekend."
    As well as I knew him, it was easy to forget that Ryan had a whole other, more popular group of friends. The kind of friends who went to clubs in Santa Cruz on the weekends instead of sitting at home trying out new recipes.
    "I guess I'll just have to check it out for myself," I said.
    "Daisy, I want you to promise me you won't go there alone."
    I looked him in the eye. "I can't promise you that," I said as we approached my house, "but I will promise you that I'll let someone know where I'm going. If I go," I added, just so he didn't think he knew me like the back of his hand or anything.
    Ryan raised his eyebrow and stared at me. We both knew I would be in that club before he could say "VIP room." "So, tomorrow night, then?" he offered.
    "Thanks, Ryan," I said. "You don't know how much I appreciate this."
    "I'd do anything for you, Daisy," he said softly. "Just ask."
    The intensity in his eyes unnerved me. My knees were trembling so badly I had to grab on to our picket fence for support.
    "This is me," I said inanely, pushing open the gate. Like Ryan hadn't been to my house a million times. He had, but this time was different.
    Very different, I realized, when Ryan reached over and gave me a peck on the lips. Quick, but tasty. The fast food of kisses.
    "I'll call you later," he said, then jogged away.
    I practically floated up the walkway to the house. Ryan kissed me. Again. He was going to call me.
    Wait. Why was Ryan going to call me? To ask me out or to talk about the case? It was a mystery to me. As I climbed the porch steps, my euphoria deflated. I kicked the door in frustration. Just a little kick, but Poppy busted me.
    "You know Mom hates it when you do that," she said.
    "Oh, go psy yourself," I said.
    "Jeesh, you're in a bad mood," Poppy said.
    I walked away from her, into the kitchen, but she followed me.
    "I don't understand why, especially since Ryan walked you home and gave you that sweet little kiss on the lips."
    "Don't you have anything better to do than spy on me?" I snapped.
    "No, not really," Poppy admitted cheerfully.
    I went from wanting to strangle her to bursting into laughter in ten seconds flat.
    Poppy giggled along with me and then went to the fridge and poured a couple of glasses of milk. She peered into the fridge. "I'm hungry and there's nothing to eat."
    "Rose