Read Hide and Snoop (The Odelia Grey Mysteries) for Free Online Page A

as if the question came with a disease. “Don’t look at me.”
    The waitress came to my rescue. “I have a kid her age. He loves the chicken fingers.”
    I looked at her with relief. “Then chicken fingers it is.”
    “Milk to drink and apple slices for dessert?” the waitress suggested.
    “Sounds good to me. Thanks.”
    She returned a minute later with our teas and Lily’s milk. Until then Steele had remained silent.
    “So,” he said after taking his first swig of tea, “seems Hamlin-Hawke is already putting you to work as a sleuth. Has a body turned up yet?”
    My attention was on Lily. She was determined to drink her milk while holding crayons in both fists, and I was just as determined not to wear the milk. In the middle of coaxing her to drop the crayons, my head snapped up to stare at Steele. “What in the hell are you talking about?”
    “Careful of the profanity, Grey.” With his chin, he indicated my charge.
    I took a deep breath while I guided the milk to Lily’s eager mouth and helped her put down the cup again. I wanted to give Steele my full attention, but it was impossible. As soon as Lily was back to coloring, I tried to focus on his comment. “I repeat, what are you talking about?”
    “You don’t know?”
    “All I know is that Erica Mayfield dumped her niece on me. She didn’t say why.”
    Steele studied me. I knew that look all too well. He had some juicy details about something and was weighing how much to tell me. His eyes settled on Lily briefly before returning to me.
    “Mayfield’s sister is missing.”
    That got my attention. “You mean Lily’s—” I cut my comment off at the knees before I said the M word in front of the kid. “You mean Connie?” I whispered after making sure Lily was still occupied with her coloring. Even though I’d heard something similar from Alyce, it was the last bit of news I’d expected from Steele.
    Steele started to speak, but the waitress arrived with our food. He simply nodded in my direction.
    As soon as the waitress left, I asked, “How do you know this?”
    “A friend of mine knows Erica quite well. Since she took my old job, my friend finds it amusing to tell me stuff. Seems Connie dropped…,” he paused, amending his words for present little ears. “Dropped a valuable package off with Erica and disappeared. Until now, I had no idea you had the package in question.”
    “I take it this friend of yours is a bed buddy?”
    He gave me a sly grin over the rim of his tea glass.
    I coaxed Lily into dropping the crayons long enough to start on her chicken fingers. The chunks of deep-fried bird were the perfect size to wrap a small fist around. The eagerness with which Lily tackled them told me it wasn’t a new culinary experience for her.
    When I spoke, I kept one eye on Lily and one on Steele, both my brain and eyes feeling cross-eyed.
    “I thought maybe they had you on the hunt,” Steele continued, “considering your colorful past.”
    Steele took a bite of his grilled chicken salad as he watched me guide Lily through her lunch. “Seems the sis might be into something shady,” he said after swallowing.
    That got my attention again. “You mean drugs or something like that?”
    He shrugged. “Not sure, but I’ve heard Erica’s been worried about her for a long time and doesn’t want to involve the police.”
He speared a piece of chicken with his fork. “That’s all I know.”
    “Well, it’s more than I know. I’d heard about Connie missing but not about the other stuff.”
    “Connie’s disappearance isn’t the entire reason why I called you, Grey, though it does add a bit of spice to your situation.”
    I swallowed the bite of salad I’d managed to stuff into my mouth in between babysitting duties. If I had Lily full-time, I’d probably drop a few pounds. “There’s more?”
    Before I could hear what else Steele had to say, a little hand to my right started pawing at me. I turned to look at Lily, who was holding out