Dead on Delivery Read Online Free PDF Page B

Nothing buzzed in my brain or my flesh.
    On the other hand, I was pretty sure I smelled pizza.
    “Ted?” I called.
    “Hey,” he answered from the other side of the door. “Could you let me in? My hands are full and I can’t find my key.”
     
     
    WE POLISHED OFF MOST THE PIZZA IN RIDICULOUSLY SHORT order. Well, Ted and I did. Norah picked at olives and peppers and took some tiny bites of cheese and crust.
    “Thanks.” I leaned back on the futon couch and contemplated undoing the top button of my jeans. I decided against it. It seemed unladylike. I may not be well-versed in the ways of girlfriending, but I’m pretty sure popping open the top button of your 501s has to wait until after the first anniversary.
    “I figured you’d be tired and hungry.” He leaned back and smiled at me.
    He’d been right about that. I’d been both of those things and my night wasn’t over. I needed more information, the kind that most definitely would not be available on the Internet. I needed underworld gossip and I knew where to get it. The question was, how was I supposed to get it without alerting Ted?
    If I could just maneuver him into deciding to take me where I wanted to go, I’d be golden. People call boxing the sweet science. I think it’s manipulation. It’s way harder to do.
    “So what’s the plan?” I asked, picking desultorily at a mushroom and not looking him in the eye.
    “Plan for what?”
    Norah made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat. “It’s Saturday. It’s date night. Dinner was good, but now what are you going to do?”
    Ted looked from one of us to the other. “We could go to a movie or something.”
    I wrinkled my nose. “There’s nothing I really want to see.”
    He drummed his fingers on his knee for a second while he thought. “How about a drink? We could go out for a drink.”
    This was almost too easy. I felt a pang of guilt. “That might be fun. Where would you want to go?”
    “How about McClannigan’s? We could stop by and say hi to Paul.” Ted gave me a sweet smile.
    “Great idea!” I said. “I’ll go change.”
    That had been some low-hanging fruit I’d just picked. Still, I mentally patted myself on the back for an excellent job of covert boyfriend manipulation as I headed down the hall to my room.
     
     
    NORAH WOULDN’T GO WITH US. I COULDN’T REMEMBER THE last time she’d gone out.
    “She doesn’t look right to me, Melina. Don’t get me wrong. I’m pleased as punch that she doesn’t hiss and spit every time she sees me anymore, but she’s not herself.” Ted looped his arm around my shoulder as we walked to his truck.
    I tensed for a nanosecond. I was still adjusting to casual public displays of affection. My usual reflex to an arm across my shoulder was to grab it, whirl beneath it and give it a strong chop at the elbow. I have it on the best authority that that is not the route to getting more dates, although it is damned effective at shattering a bone. I forced myself to relax. This was nice, right? Cozy, even. “Tell me about it. I mean, what the hell is she doing home on a Saturday night? I think I can count on one hand the Saturday nights she’s stayed home since high school. Since the kiang shi , I’m not sure she’s been out on one and I don’t think she’s been down in Old Sacramento at all. She used to love it there.”
    He unlocked the truck door and held it open for me, yet another alien experience that I was adjusting to. “She has some bad memories associated with that place. She might never want to go back there.” He kissed me as I slid into the truck. “Are you okay going back there?”
    I nodded. He shut the door and went around to his side. I am well aware that I am not wired like other girls. It’s not like I had pleasant memories about last summer’s adventures in Old Sacramento. If anything, mine might be worse than Norah’s. She might not have ever seen anything like the kiang shi before, but I related to them more than