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her last conversation with Harry. She still hadn’t told her sister about his threat to force them to move. Jessie had enough on her mind between her undercover case and buying the detective agency.
    At times like this, Andi wished she had magical powers. Just enough to shrink Harry and trap him in one of her sugar cookies. The house-shaped one. He’d lean out the dough window, squealing for mercy as she shoved the cookie sheet into the oven. She would never do anything that mean, but the thought made her feel better for about ten seconds.
    Marching into the kitchen, Jessie aimed and tossed her soda can into the recycling container. “I’ll pay the fines.”
    “No, you won’t!” How had their life turned upside down for the worse in such a short period of time?
    “I live here, too. It’s just as much my responsibility as yours.”
    “I signed the mortgage papers. I should have carefully read each and every rule before I moved us here.”
    “It would have taken less time to read War and Peace .” Jessie pinched off a bite of dough. “At least let me pay half.”
    “No!” Andi resisted the urge to slam down the rolling pin. “We agreed you were paying for only food and Internet until you had the money to buy Lenny’s Detective Agency. I don’t want Harry stealing one cent of your savings. Anyone with a conscience would understand the garage is broken and give us time to fix it without fining us.”
    Jessie and Lenny had worked out a deal where she could pay him directly. Both wanted to keep the banks out of the picture. He preferred a down payment and then monthly installments so he wouldn’t spend the money all at once. She would have that down payment in two months.
    Andi remembered how excited she had been when she signed the dotted line on her mortgage agreement. “It’s bad enough that Harry’s destroying my dream.” All she’d asked for was a quaint place to call her own in a peaceful neighborhood. A place where she could sit on her quiet patio while sipping her coffee and watching the lilies bloom. A place where the handsome, single sheriff and his son waved hello on their way to the fishing hole. She blinked away the reruns of Mayberry.
    Jessie didn’t seem to notice. “We could move, but interest rates are going up. You’d lose money.”
    “I’m not moving.” Andi pushed the rolling pin hard over the batter. “This is my home. There has to be a way to stop him.”
    “Just don’t break any laws in the process.” Jessie adjusted her halter top, making sure she wasn’t breaking any indecent-exposure laws.
    Andi watched her sister nab another pinch of dough. “You’re not supposed to eat raw dough. The uncooked eggs can make you sick.”
    “I like to live dangerously.” Jessie left the room for a moment and returned with the shiny, white go-go boots she’d left by the front door.
    “Do you think that good-looking old boyfriend of yours could help?” Jessie had spent over an hour the previous night grilling her about Luke.
    “I got the impression his hands are tied,” Andi said.
    He probably wouldn’t want to help me if he could. He turned his back on me years ago.
    “Too bad,” Jessie said, slipping on one boot, then the other. “How about that nurse? From what you told me, it sounds like she would be a good ally.”
    “You’re right.” A seed of hope sprouted. “She knows everything that goes on around here.”
    “I hate to leave this mess up to you, but I have to go to work.” Jessie patted her on the shoulder the way their father always had when they lived at home.
    “I’ll be fine. You concentrate on cleaning up the streets.” Speaking of cleaning, Andi glanced at the overflowing kitchen garbage can. Guilt ate at her. She should throw it out instead of leaving the chore for Jessie, but she still couldn’t shake the memory of Bernice’s dead body in the dumpster.

* * *
    Luke found Meg in her driveway, unpacking groceries from the back end of her hunter-green