I felt her hesitation down the line. “You murder Stan, Kitty? I bet he deserved it, but I need to know so I can fix things with the?—”
“No, she didn’t, Star. Your new BFF’s safe.” Stan clucked his tongue. “Appreciate you having her back though.”
Crazily enough, I sensed he meant it.
“Oh. Good. To clarify, Kitty, I’d have helped you get rid of the body?—”
“Charming!” Stan retorted, but a teasing twinkle gleamed in his eye as he winked at me.
Winked.
The sudden levity came as such a relief, I almost wept.
“—but I’m glad you didn’t,” Star prattled on. “He’s pretty decent for a boneheaded lab rat who produces drugs that’d give the White Rabbit nightmares.”
My lipsalmostcurved. “Well, I like him.”
“I bet.” Star cackled. “Okay, so what’s with the call?”
“I-I was taken earlier from his home.”
“Taken as in kidnapped?” Was it me or did her voice grow cooler? “Stan, what the fuck is wrong with your security?”
“We’re working on it,” he fumed.
“You’re obvs with him now so what gives?”
“Yes, he got me back, but Dead To—I mean, Taube?—”
“DEAD TO ME IS ALIVE?!”
Wincing as her shriek went to war with my concussion, I let Stan answer for me, “I should probably have led with that.”
“That fucking cunt! What the fuck is she fucking playing at, going fucking silent on me?! I swear I’d fucking hate her if I didn’t fucking love her!”
“Star!” I barked when the ‘F’ bomb-loaded rant continued for a lot longer than my brain could handle. “I need your help!”
“Huh? Oh. Yeah. Sure. What do you need?”
As easy as that?
“Taube said?—”
“Who the fuck is Taube?”
Stan inserted, “Dead To Me claims it’s her new alias.”
“What a psycho.” This was said fondly. “Okay, continue.”
“Taube said she’d share what happened to me with you?—”
“Oh! So she intends on calling me sometime this century to confirm she isn’t dead?!”
“Star, for fuck’s sake. Shut up and listen to her, goddammit,” Stan growled, his voice low enough that it didn’t hurt my aching head.
Shakily, I pleaded, “Don’t tell my family.Please.”
Silence was her answer. Then… “You want me not to tell your family that you were kidnapped? Just making sure you didn’t switch to talking Sicilian because this doesn’t sound like something a kidnapping victim would say.”
