DEATH IN PERSPECTIVE Read Online Free PDF Page B

wouldn’t put past Lizzy Borden.
    “Luke and Cherry,” she squealed. “I’m so glad to see you. How are y’all? I thought
     I’d find you here.”
    “What a surprise . ” I smirked. “Have a seat, Tara.”
    Luke’s shoe nudged my ankle, but I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to dress Tara up
     and braid her hair.
    “What have you been doing?” I turned to grab the free chair behind me and scooted
     it around to face our table.
    “I just finished some volunteer work at the women’s shelter and thought I could meet
     Lukey for lunch. The guys at the station said he was headed here.”
    “Lukey? That is so adorable.”
    “I’ve got to go back to work . ” Luke shoved the rest of his sandwich in his mouth and grabbed a handful of okra.
    “Really?” Tara’s smile turned upside down and somewhere a fairy died. “Well, I hope
     the rest of your day goes well.”
    “Thanks,” Luke said through a mouth full of okra as he hopped to his feet.
    “I’ll just eat with Cherry. You don’t mind do you?” She turned her sorrowful eyes
     on me and my heart just about broke.
    “Please do, Tara.” My eyes narrowed at the man scrambling to get out the door.
    He shook his head and I mouthed “chickenshit.”
    Tara laid a napkin in the chair abandoned by Luke and pulled out an antibacterial
     wipe from her purse to clean the table. “Mercy, what a sticky mess. I guess y’all
     ate here because it’s so close to the Sheriff’s Office.”
    “We ate here because Lickety makes some of the best barbecue in the county. That it
     just so happens to be near the Sheriff’s Office, makes it handy.”
    “I don’t eat barbecue, but maybe I’ll get a salad.” Tara smiled and waved at the cashier
     behind Lickety’s counter. “Where’s the waitress?”
    “Lickety doesn’t have salad unless you count coleslaw. They don’t have waitresses,
     either. You have to order at the counter. Tara, it’s like you didn’t grow up around
     here. How do you not eat barbecue?” Tara fascinated me the way zoo animals did.
    Her small shoulders lifted. “What have you been doing today, Cherry?”
    “Visiting Peerless Day Academy. The drama teacher needs help with set design s .”
    “My brother goes to Peerless. They have such a beautiful campus. I wish I could have
     gone there, but daddy said it wasn’t worth the money for me.”
    “Because you’re a girl?”
    “No, silly. Because they don’t have football.” Tara’s trilling laugh caused the grizzled
     farmer behind her to break a smile.
    “You played football?”
    “Cherry . ” S he laughed again, and I hunted the air for animated bluebirds. “I did competitive
     cheering. High school and college. What about you?”
    “I worked and painted.” And drank beer and ran around with boys, but those were extra-extracurriculars.
     “So what does your brother think about Peerless?”
    “He doesn’t like it, but it’s either Peerless or military school. After that big to-do
     last year, my daddy almost pulled him out. And now that it’s happening again, a lot
     of parents might do the same. Peerless could be in trouble.”
    “What to-do? What’s going on?” At the thought of Peerless Day Academy in trouble,
     I saw my possible paycheck floating away. “What happened?”
    Tara grabbed six napkins, spread them before her, then leaned an arm on the table.
     “I don’t like to gossip.”
    “Of course you don’t.” I pushed aside my barbecue basket and plunked my elbows on
     the dirty table.
    “I think the poor girl who killed herself — you know, Ellis? — was troubled anyway. She was from Ballantyne Estates. Sophomore. Same year as my brother,
     Laurence. At first it started with photos on PeerNotes and then they hounded her with
     anonymous texts. I heard something like that is happening at the school again.”
    “What’s PeerNotes?”
    “Peerless Academy’s version of Facebook. Girls would post photos of shopping trips
     and parties where Ellis wasn’t