Whatever After (Someone Else's Fairytale #5)

Chapter Three: My Wicked Half-Sister

My phone rang at midnight, and when I saw Beth's name flash on the display, I forgot to be annoyed. She was one of the few people I'd programmed my phone to accept calls from no matter what time of day or night.

"I got it," she announced before I could even say hello.

"Got what?"

"I figured out how Chris got Lori's address, and I might have gotten a Target employee fired, but do I care? No, I do not."

Jason rolled onto his back and rubbed his eyes.

I hoisted myself out of bed only to have him grab my wrist and pull me back. I didn't have enough strength to resist both him and the extra weight of our baby, so I flopped clumsily back down onto the mattress.

"Do I want to know how you got involved?" I asked. "And do I need to remind you about taking the law into your own hands?"

"Uh, I know Chris's friends. You remember how I grew up in the same house as him and all that?"

"I think you told me once."

Beth and Chris were full siblings, and I was their half sister. Nowadays, Beth was so fully integrated into my life that I sometimes forgot we had grown up as strangers in different homes. Her mother was our father's wife. My mother had been his underage mistress.

"So," Beth said, "I went to talk to Wendy, since she was the obvious suspect."

"Okay," I said, "back up. Did Brad talk to you?"

"I'm how Brad found Wendy. He came by with a list of names of Target managers to see if any names were familiar. Wendy Albright and Tony used to date in high school."

"Oh, got it."

"And she won't talk to Brad, so I went to talk to her."

"Beth—"

"Don't," she said. "Whatever you're about to tell me off for, leave it. I went as me, not a lawyer in the DA's office. A private citizen can ask another private citizen about who they've talked to lately. It's legal and I'm not being an idiot."

"I did not call you an idiot," I said.

"Sorry. I'm feeling... What's the word? Stabby? I'm in a really stabby mood."

I wasn't sure whether she'd made that word up or not, but it fit.

She swore. "I forgot about the time difference. I woke you up, didn't I?"

"You had information about how Chris found Lori. That is worthy of a wake-up call."

"I'll leave you alone."

"Um, no. You're going to tell me what happened with Wendy. All of it."

"She confessed, said Chris came in asking for Charles's address and she gave it to him. I can't believe she was that stupid."

"She gave out a home address to the guy suspected of killing her ex? Yeah, she deserves to be fired."

"I know, right? Brad might be angry, so I'm sorry about that. Look, I'll call you tomorrow, during a time we're both in daylight."

She hung up before I could say goodbye, which made me chuckle. We might have been only half sisters, but in so many ways, we were alike.

I rolled over so that I was facing Jason. He was still lying on his back, blinking up at the ceiling in the darkness. The rooms had that same Scandinavian, unvarnished-wood and open, boxy-space feel to them the dining room did. It reminded me of a log cabin even though it didn't look like one at all. The wood gave off that same sappy smell and the floors creaked extravagantly at every footstep.