The Scotts didn’t go far.
They rounded the corner and entered Barkley Way, driving past double-story brick houses that were oddly familiar. No, not oddly. This was the same street that Mia and her mother lived in. What were the chances that the two women lived close to each other? Even more alarming, what were the chances that they lived on the same street?
The car passed by the Cruz residence and stopped three houses down. I pulled up behind it, leaving a gap the size of another car between us, and prepared to get out.
A feral scream rent the air.
“What on earth?” I spun around in my seat, searching for the source of the noise.
Uh oh.
Mia strode down the sidewalk toward the Scotts’ car, her hands balled into fists and her gaze burning fire and brimstone.
Mr. Scott emerged from the vehicle and frowned at her.
I got out too, just in case I was needed. Though, I doubted Mr. Scott wanted me there.
“Where is she?” Mia screamed.
“Who?” Mr. Scott asked.
“I know she’s here. I know it.”
Emmy opened her car door and straightened. “What’s going on? Oh, hey, Mia, how are you?”
The two women knew each other, at least in passing. They couldn’t know each other that well, though, or they’d surely have realized they were dating the same guy.
“You cow!” Mia circled the car, grabbed hold of Emmy’s blouse and tried dragging her into the road. “I’ll kill you for this! I’ll kill you.”
Emmy released a horrified cry and tried wrenching free of the other woman’s grip, but to no avail. Mia was imbued by the strength of a woman scorned, and she dug her nails in, hard.
“Let go of her!” Mr. Scott jogged into the road.
All over the street, curtains flickered or people emerged onto their porches to watch the fray. I had to admit, it was a spectacle, even for Gossip.
“Calm down, everyone,” I said, putting up my hands. “I’m sure we can all come to a—”
“How could you?” Mia shook Emmy this way and then that, trying to move her around but only succeeding in jiggling her on the spot. “How could you? Don’t you have any shame?”
“What. Are. You. Talking. About?” Emmy gasped the words out between each successive jiggle. “Let. Go. Of. Me!”
“Young lady, unhand my daughter right this moment or I will call the police.” Mr. Scott had flushed the color of Lauren’s tomato jam, and he took a shaking step forward. Was it just me or did this guy look like he was about to burst into anger?
Heaven knew, the best way to diffuse a situation wasn’t to add more fuel to the fire.
Finally, Emmy wrenched backward with all her might. Her blouse ripped beneath Mia’s viciously sharp fingernails, leaving several long tears down the front. Emmy hugged herself and backed up, retreating to stand behind her father.
“What is the meaning of this?” Mr. Scott demanded.
“That hussy has been dating my man,” Mia growled.
“What?” Mr. Scott and Emmy asked, in unison, with matching looks of disbelief.
Ah. So they didn’t know about Mia. And Mia must’ve only just found out about Emmy. I couldn’t help wondering who’d told her. Who would have lacked the common sense to do such a thing? Or maybe, it was someone who wanted to cause trouble. Always a possibility.
“My man!” Mia repeated. “You were messing around with my boyfriend, Donny.”
“Donny?” Emmy sucked in a breath. “Donny’s my fiance!”
Mia recoiled as if she’d been slapped.
Oh no. This is going to be bad.
“Fiance?” Mia asked. “Fiance!?” She stumbled forward, going pale as a sheet. “He asked you to marry him? You of all people? Boring, ginger idiot? You’re not even that pretty. You’re not even anything!”
“That’s enough.” Mr. Scott held out an arm to protect his daughter.
“You weren’t dating him,” Emmy cried, tears spilling down her cheeks. “You weren’t. You’re lying just to hurt me, you’re—”
Mia lifted a necklace bearing a heart locket and popped it open, holding it out and displaying the picture of her and Donny within, arm-in-arm. “We’ve been dating for months.”
“Donny?” Emmy placed a hand over her mouth. “No. Why would he do this to me?”
Mr. Scott turned his back on Mia and blocked her from view, as if he could shield his daughter from the truth. “I told you he wasn’t good for you, Emmy. I told you that you deserved better. No daughter of mine is—”
“Hussy!” Mia bent, ripped off her shoe, and threw it at the Scotts. It struck the back of Mr. Scott’s head.
He growled under his breath and turned to his attacker, but Mia caught one look at his face then sprinted off down the road. “I’ll get you for this,” she cried. “I’ll make you pay!”
And then she dipped into her house and slammed the door.
The silence that came after was deafening. The only sound was a dog barking somewhere in the neighborhood and the occasional chirp of a bird.
Mr. Scott herded Emmy inside before I could say a word, but not before he levelled me with a challenging stare. Yeah, maybe now wasn’t the best time to talk to Emmy about her cheating fiance.
The neighbors slowly retreated, and I got into my grandmother’s car and started it. A text binged through on my phone and I swiped it out of my handbag.
Meet me at the Spot as soon as you can. I’ve got important information about your case. Big G.
Big G was my grandmother’s code name. This was great! I’d thought she wanted nothing to do with the case, or that she had more important affairs to attend to, but if she wanted to help, I couldn’t be happier. I needed every bit of Intel I could get.
Something about this case didn’t sit right with me. It was the parents. Both Mr. Scott and Mrs. Cruz had acted so shifty about Donny and their daughters. What did it mean?
Hopefully, Gamma would help me get to the bottom of it.