“Hi, Rhonda,” I whispered, waving at her … squatted right below Grady’s office window.
“What are you—” She gasped so loudly I thought her lungs might collapse in on themselves. “You were looking for the list!” she whispered with a point back toward the desk. “I told you I’d look into it! You’re not helping! Not with Tweety’s case! Not with him!”
“I know. I just—”
Her point swung to Grady’s office. “Are you trying to kill him! I told you he can’t take much more!”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered back. Then I had another thought. My brow furrowed. “But you know, it’s not like he’s some sort of endangered bird. I think—”
I stopped when I saw Rhonda’s eyes roll up to the window.
“Everything all right?” I heard Grady’s voice call out.
Rhonda nodded silently.
“You released Erica?”
Her eyes dropped back down to mine. “You’re lucky I’m a romantic,” she muttered.
“Sorry?” Grady asked.
“Nothing, boss. She’s gone.”
“Good.” A moment later, he added, “She tell you anything we could use to help Tweety? It’s certainly not like she’d tell me.”
I rolled my eyes. That was so unfair. I wanted to tell him stuff, and I would … if he’d stop throwing me in jail.
“Well,” Rhonda said, hooking her thumbs through her belt loops. “She seems to think the real killer made a visit to Tweety yesterday.”
“What? Here?”
“But she pulled another Erica and wouldn’t tell me why.”
My jaw dropped, but Rhonda flashed me a clear What are you going to do about it? look.
“Okay, get me a list of everyone who has been in this building for the last forty-eight hours.”
“Well, that’s the thing,” Rhonda said. “I’ve already looked at the ledger. Nobody’s on the list.”
I heard Grady growl—much closer to the window than he had been just moments before. I inched my way toward the exit just as his door opened. I froze.
“What do you mean nobody’s on the list? I—never mind. Question the new kid, Amos. He was on the desk yesterday. I want to know everybody who came through that door. Office deliveries. UPS. Medical supplies. The server from the Dawg. And by the way, no more takeout for Tweety. She’s going to have a coronary in that cell. Call my mom. She offered to make her a real meal.”
Rhonda nodded. “So you think Erica and Freddie are onto something?”
“The crime-fighting duo usually is.” His voice sounded quieter this time, like he had moved back farther into his office.
I slid again toward the doors, but Rhonda held up a finger for me to wait. “You know, boss, Erica seems to think you meant it when you said you two were through.”
“Rhonda,” he said, voice full of exasperation. I could just see his hands on his hips. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“So … are you through?”
“No. I mean, I would love to … Erica and I, we … I don’t know! Just get me that list!”
The door slammed.
Rhonda shot me a self-satisfied smile and jerked a thumb at the door.
Didn’t have to ask me twice.
I crawled toward the exit. Big smile plastered across my face. Not only was Grady not through, but their conversation had triggered something in my mind … something that just might change everything.
Once outside, I jumped to my feet. “Freddie! Get out of that fire truck! We have work to do!”