Read No One Lives Twice (A Lexi Carmichael Mystery) for Free Online

appropriate time to indulge.
    After I’d finished stuffing my face, I felt better. I found a pen and piece of paper and jotted down the phone number Mr. Middle Eastern Guy had scrawled on my arm. Then I pulled down all the shades on the windows when there was a loud knock on my door.
    My heart jumped to my throat and stayed there. I grabbed a heavy, ugly vase that my mother had given me for Christmas and cautiously approached the door. Without speaking, I peered out the peephole and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw it was my neighbor Jan Walton.
    Jan was a cute, single mom with a seven-year-old, high-functioning autistic son named Jamie. The boy was the most handsome kid I’d ever seen, with thick, dark hair, sky-blue eyes and a dazzling white smile. He was super smart, but often had odd fixations. He’d once named every single part of my vacuum cleaner. In return, I’d listed the entire mathematical equation for the Mandelbrot Set. We’d been buddies ever since.
    I quickly removed the chair from beneath the doorknob, unfastened the chain and unlocked the door.
    “Hey, Jan,” I exclaimed, sticking my head out. I didn’t open the door all the way in case she saw the mess inside and asked questions to which I didn’t yet have answers.
    Jan looked puzzled that I hadn’t invited her in. I always invited her in.
    “Why is it so dark in your entranceway?” she asked.
    “Oh, that,” I said. “The light burned out, I guess. I’ll have to replace the bulb.”
    A look of surprise crossed her face. “Hey, you don’t have a guy in there, do you?”
    Sometimes it astonished me how invested everyone, except me, was in my love life. Maybe turning twenty-five was some kind of blazing social milestone that meant if you didn’t have a significant other, you’d better find one. In my case, dating meant change and I hated change. Change was different. Change was scary.
    “No. Unfortunately, there is no guy in here, hot or otherwise,” I said.
    “Well, I came by earlier, but you weren’t home.”
    “I was at my parents’ for dinner.”
    “On a Tuesday? Special occasion?”
    “Just my mom trying to set me up. Again.”
    Jan laughed. “How awful. You poor thing.”
    I laughed, too, but it was forced and I still didn’t invite her in. Apparently sensing I wasn’t in the mood for company, she held up a large FedEx mailer.
    “Anyway, this came for you tonight. Since you weren’t home, Jack dropped it off at my place. I forged your signature, and Jack said it was okay as long as we don’t tell anyone. He didn’t see the harm in it, seeing how we’re good friends and all.”
    Jack was our FedEx guy. Jan was on a first-name basis with him because she insisted her ex-husband send his alimony check that way. Jack had become quite friendly and Jan often invited him in for coffee.
    My hand trembled as I reached out to take the mailer from her. I didn’t need to look at the return address because I already knew what it would say. But I had a morbid need to see, so I glanced down at the sender’s address.
    Not surprisingly it read “Basia Kowalski.”

Chapter 2
     
    I nearly peed in my pants right there on the spot, but instead smiled and thanked Jan, hastily closing the door. She probably thought I’d gone round the bend. Maybe I had.
    I turned the deadbolt, fastened the chain and wedged the chair underneath the doorknob again. Then I stood with my back pressed against the wall, trying not to hyperventilate.
    Why had I ever agreed to dinner at my parents’? If I had come straight home from work like I was supposed to, Jack would have given the mailer to me, and Beefy or Mr. Middle Eastern Guy could have stolen the papers from me, perhaps even before I got a look at them. Then I would have been happily clueless about this whole mess. But no, my mother had to pick this day—out of three-hundred and sixty-five choices—to try and set me up with a Senate-bound, preppy CPA.
    Taking a deep breath, I darted into the