With a Vengeance Read Free Page B

coroner’s wagon.
    “No problem,” Franklin said. “Look, if you don’t want to attend this autopsy, I’ll let you off the hook.”
    She hated autopsies and avoided them whenever possible. She’d made a deal with Franklin last summer to assist at six, though, and still owed him two.
    His offer of a reprieve was tempting. “No,” she said after some consideration. “I think I need to be there for this one.”
    “Suit yourself.” Franklin gazed past her out the passenger window. “Did you leave lights on?”
    “Yeah, I—” She did a double take at the house where she’d been living for the last two months. Yes, she’d left the porch and kitchen lights on, but now every window blazed. “What the hell?”
    “Should I call the police?”
    “They’re all at the crime scene. Besides, burglars don’t generally put all the lights on. Do they?”
    Franklin shrugged. “How should I know?”
    “But teenagers do.” Zoe opened the passenger door and stepped out. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
    “Eight o’clock. Sharp.”
    Eight o’clock? “Oh, crap.”
    “What’s wrong?”
    “My truck’s at the garage in Phillipsburg. Pete was supposed to take me to pick it up first thing tomorrow.”
    Franklin shook his head. “Pete’s going to be a little busy for the foreseeable future.”
    She glanced at the house with its lights blazing and had a feeling she might have another ride available. “Yeah. Never mind. I’ll be there at eight.”
    “Sharp.”
    She headed toward the house, aware of the van still idling behind her. Ever the gentleman, Franklin would make sure she made it inside safely before pulling away. Meanwhile, the neighbors were probably peering through their curtains, curious and nervous about the presence of a coroner’s wagon on their quiet street.
    The door flew open before she got the key to the lock. Rose Bassi, Zoe’s absentee best friend, pulled her inside and into her arms. “Thank God.” Rose’s voice wavered. “When I kept hearing sirens, I turned on the news and heard one of our ambulance crews had been attacked. I was afraid you might have been…”
    Zoe returned the crushing embrace. “I’m fine.”
    Rose and Zoe had grown up together, more sisters than friends. The four months they’d just spent apart seemed like four years. So much had happened. Life. Death. Loss of trust. Homelessness.
    Gasping for air, Zoe extricated herself from Rose’s hug. “Wait.” She turned and waved out the door at Franklin. The van pulled away. Wheeling back to Rose, she asked, “What are you doing here? Wasn’t I supposed to pick you up at the airport tomorrow night?”
    “We finagled an earlier flight. Sylvia picked us up.”
    A teenage girl appeared in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room, cradling one of Zoe’s orange tabbies. “Aunt Zoe! I’m so glad you’re okay. We were worried.”
    Jade, the other cat, trotted past the girl to a half-empty bowl of food.
    Awed, Zoe studied the teen. “Allison? What happened to you?”
    Rose slipped an arm around Zoe’s waist and beamed. “She grew up.”
    Allison Bassi had been through hell and back last winter. She’d gone from strawberry blond ponytailed innocence to black-haired Goth drug addict before crashing and starting the long road back. The fifteen-year-old woman-child standing in front of Zoe now bore little resemblance to the broken china doll Zoe remembered. A short reddish bob replaced the long hair. Instead of t-shirts bearing the logos of rock bands, she wore a western-style shirt in shades of turquoise and coral. Only the skin-tight jeans remained…except these ones were a deeper blue and had no holes or rips.
    Most importantly, when the girl smiled, clarity shone in her blue eyes. “What do you think?”
    “I think—you look incredible.” Zoe crossed to the girl, stepping over Jade, and threw her arms around her. Merlin, the tabby Allison had been holding, wriggled free with an unhappy meow.
    Zoe took