She’d been excluded from their wedding, and found out about it. They knew they did her dirty, and this was payback.
And it worked.
Listen, her momma had used good, old, Catholic guilt, and she could throw that shit around too.
“So, help him deal with his seventeen-year-old child that he had with the blessed virgin harpy.”
Chris just laughed.
“If Hell is a place, Elizabeth, you’re getting a suite,” he offered.
And she was fine with that.
“Good,” she said.
Then, she explained.
“I’m almost to a year,” she admitted. “If I can keep clearing my cases, the asshole director will get off my ass. I can’t drop the ball and lose my job because you can’t wrangle a seventeen-year-old child. That’s a you problem, Daddy. Not my problem. I dealt with your choices, and now, you need to deal with them.”
Charlie was not amused.
“You’re cranky,” he said.
Yeah, she was, but this was the hill she was dying on.
Elizabeth was tired, and she was worn down. She was being held together by fancy britches and a prayer. One wrong move, and she was screwed.
She didn’t trust Abigale’s son not to be the mistake that screwed up her career.
The cannibal case had been a nightmare, and she’dBARELYpulled that one off. If the killer didn’t eat a priest, she wouldn’t have caught her.
EVER.
This was not the time to deal with bullshittery and tomfoolery.
“Sorry, Dad and Mom. I’m out.”
When her phone chimed, she pulled it from her pocket, and wasPRAYINGit was Gabe. What she really wanted was to go to Colombia again—because it beat being anywhere near Abigale, George, and this clusterfuck week that was heading their way.
“Is it a case?” Charlie asked.
She showed him the text. If she didn’t, he’d hide in the trunk of her car, thinking she was going to one.
‘Hey. Lunch tomorrow? I need to talk to you. Let me know if you’re free. It’s not work related. Livy’s birthday is coming, and I need gift ideas. Xo—G.’
When he saw that, he sighed.
“I was hoping it was a case, and I could call Abigale and tell her to fly toBostoninstead with Georgie.”
Well, someone was not doing that.
Charlie was out of luck.
“Sorry, Dad. Now, since you need to head to the airport, Chris and I are going to go to a nice hotel, and stay there until we have to fly out. I’m not telling you the city, or the place we’ll be because you can’t be trusted. You earned that after the gallbladder incident.”
He rolled his eyes.
“You don’t have to leave the place. I won’t dump your brother on you.”
