Everybody Takes The Money (The Drusilla Thorne Mysteries) (33 page)

Was this an interview? Was she working on a story? I stood up. “Anne, you asked me to come by and talk. I hope you’re recovering from what happened with Sabo. Tennyson. Whoever. But I’m not doing this.”

“Would you be willing to help a friend of mine with a problem she’s having?”

I opened the front door. “The answer is you’re not recovered, because you’ve clearly gone insane.”

Anne ran to me and grabbed my hand. “Have I ever mentioned my friend Maisie to you?”
 

I shook my head. “No and I don’t care.”

She clutched my hand. If she thought that was enough force to keep me from walking, she was sorely mistaken. “She needs help. Just one day of help, nothing big or illegal, and she’s willing to pay you. A lot.”

I removed my hand from her grip and took her by the shoulders. “Much as I appreciate your trying to help me financially —”

Anne blurted out a number. A rather large number. In dollars. How much Maisie was willing to pay me to help her. For one day.
 

“Come again?” I said.

She looked sheepish. “I may have exaggerated how much I was paying you.”

“Does ‘nothing big’ include murdering someone?” I asked. “Because she can hire some professionals for less than that.”
 

“Her ex-boyfriend has some of her stuff. He’s a total dick and she’s scared of him. She needs someone to go with her to get it. When he’s out of the house. I didn’t even mention half the things you can do and she’s like, Oh my God, can I talk to her?” Anne began to giggle. “You come with a great personal recommendation.”
 

Holy Zeus. That amount of money would pay for a lot of therapy. That would pay for a few months of an apartment for Stevie and me. That would make me less needy in my dealings with Roberto.

On the other hand, there wasn’t a chance there wasn’t something very, very dodgy about this setup. Few things are worth that much money.

Six of one, half a dozen of another. Keeps life interesting.

“Half up front,” I said. “Cash.”
 

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About The Author

Diane Patterson has an MFA in Film from the University of Southern California and a BA in Linguistics from Stanford University. She’s been a shill in a magic act, a production assistant on a science-fiction TV show, and a tech writer at Apple.
 
She lives with her family in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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Books By Diane Patterson

The Sound Of Footsteps

You Know Who I Am

Everybody Takes The Money

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