Janet Evanovich - Full Scoop

"I have to make a grocery list," Maggie said after a moment. She needed to occupy her mind and stop her obsessive worrying or she would drive herself nuts. She grabbed a tablet and pen from a drawer in the small built-in desk.

Zack entered the room as Everest came through the back door with the candles and satchel. "Here's your hoodoo-voodoo mojo mumbo-jumbo stuff, Granny Queenie," he said, grinning. "I hope you don't have any cat's eyeballs or lizard's tails in this big old satchel," he added as he placed it on her chair. "Because I'll get a bad case of the heebie-jeebies." He winked at Zack. "Just kidding. Nothing scares me."

"You know I don't use eyeballs and all that nasty stuff," Queenie told Everest.

Maggie gave Zack a questioning look. "Everything okay?"

"I found three unlocked windows, including the one in your daughter's bedroom," he said.

"It cooled off for a change last night so we opened them."

"We need to keep them locked from here on out. Also, I want all the blinds and curtains closed, and I want you and Mel to avoid standing in front of them. Beginning now, the two of you don't leave the house without me. Not even to grab the morning paper." He smiled. "Deal?"

Maggie and Queenie exchanged glances. "Do you think he's already here?"

Zack shook his head. "I seriously doubt it. The airports, bus stations, and even the marinas were crawling with cops and security within an hour of Stanton's escape. My guess is they dumped the car the minute they left the hospital. I suspect they had another one waiting nearby. It's hard to imagine that they would have been dumb enough to steal a vehicle because somebody would report it right away.

"I think the three of them are traveling together by car. Unless, as a witness to the crime suspects, one of the shooters was hit. If that's the case we might be looking for two bad guys instead of three."

"Maybe Carl Lee was shot," Queenie said, her voice hopeful.

Zack smiled at her. "That would help. Unfortunately, we don't have anything to go on, but I want to be prepared." He paused and looked around. "What's that smell?"

"Queenie is boiling basil to protect the house from evil," Maggie said as though it were an everyday occurrence. "She practices folk medicine."

Zack looked intrigued.

"This is powerful stuff," Queenie said. "Carl Lee Stanton will not set foot in this house after I'm done."

Maggie sat quietly for a moment, rolling her pencil back and forth on the table. "Um, Zack?" she said. "I need to discuss something with you."

He joined her at the table. "I'm all ears."

"I didn't want to say anything in front of Mel, but I think it's too dangerous for her to stay here. I have an old college friend in Charleston. I could take Mel there." Maggie heard a sound from the doorway and looked up.

"No way am I leaving," Mel said. "I don't even like your friend Cheryl. All she does is complain because she can't find a boyfriend."

"I could help her with that," Queenie said.

"Excuse me," Maggie told her daughter, "but I'm having a conversation with Zack."

"I'm not leaving, Mom. You can't make me go."

Queenie stood at the stove stirring. "I should probably stay out of this. I should probably keep my big mouth shut."

Mel crossed her arms. "If you make me go I'll force myself to throw up in your car. Then, as soon as you leave Cheryl's house I'll run away. I'll hitchhike back."

Mel turned, strode across the kitchen floor and into the hall. A second later her bedroom door slammed.

Queenie made a tsking sound with her tongue. "The girl is scared something is going to happen to you," she said to Maggie. "As much as I dislike hearing back talk from a child, I'm going to have to cut her some slack this time." Queenie turned to the stove. "Once this is all past us though, I think you should ground her until she's thirty. Everest, look in my satchel and grab more basil. Get the big jar. I have a feeling we're going to need it."

"Would she actually run away from your friend's house?" Zack asked.

"Oh, yes," Maggie assured him. "She is willful and stubborn and spoiled. Tell him, Queenie."

Queenie looked at Zack. "That girl is willful and stubborn and spoiled."

"You'll have to keep Mel out of school for a couple of days," Zack said. "I want her at your office where I'll be able to keep tabs on both of you."

"I'm really trying hard not to get freaked out over this," Maggie said, her eyes bright with tears.

Zack nodded. "It's tough with kids."

Maggie looked at him, noted that his eyes had softened. She did not want Zack Madden feeling sorry for her. She did not want him looking at her like that because it made her feel even more vulnerable, and if she let down her guard she might start crying and never stop. She cleared her throat and tried to sound casual. "Do you have children?"

"Nope." Zack grasped his hands behind his head. "I discovered early on that my line of work doesn't make for a good family life." His cell phone rang, and he pulled it from the pocket of his jeans and checked the readout on his screen. "I'll take this outside," he said.

"Man, oh man," Everest whispered once Zack left the room. "I'll bet that call is from FBI headquarters. This is like watching a movie. Zack is one slick dude."

"Yeah," Queenie said. "But I'm thinking it might be tough for him to keep an eye out for Carl Lee Stanton when he can't keep his eyes off Maggie."

Everest nodded. "I noticed it too, Dr. Maggie."

"Know what I think?" Queenie said, mopping her face with a paper towel. "I think under that beard is one fine man. And he's got the nicest behind I've seen in a long time. If his front side is as good as his back side—"

"Queenie!" Maggie glanced toward the kitchen door. "Mel might hear."

"Oh, good grief, the girl is thirteen years old," Queenie said. "What? You don't think she knows a man has a front side?"

Maggie almost groaned out loud. She did not want to start thinking about Zack's front and back parts. "I thought we were going to have an ice-cream party," she said.

Queenie gave a grunt. "No way am I going to eat Better than Sex chocolate ice cream with a good-looking man around," Queenie said. She pretended to fan herself. "I might have an orgasm."

"Granny Queenie!" Everest said, clearly shocked.

Maggie burst into laughter. It felt good to laugh after the day she'd had, with all the fears and worries swirling around in her mind. "I can't believe you said that!"

Everest grinned at the older woman. "Hey, you could pretend it was gas."

"I don't think so," Queenie said, tipping her white head to one side and giving a wicked smile. "Gas doesn't make you go 'ooh-ooh-ahh-ahh-ahhhhhhh' and move like this." Queenie began a hootchy-kootchy dance, swinging the dish towel seductively, then pretending to towel off her behind with it as she began swiveling.

"I may be old, but I'm still hot," Queenie said, touching herself with one finger and blowing hard on it as though she'd just given herself a bad burn. Maggie and Everest laughed so loud it brought Mel into the room, but Queenie paid the girl no mind and began moonwalking across the kitchen.

Maggie shrieked with laughter.

Everest doubled over and held his belly, then grasped the back of Maggie's chair to keep from falling on the floor.

"What in the world is she doing?" Mel asked.

Maggie couldn't stop laughing, even when she noticed Zack peering through the screen door, an odd look on his face. He stepped inside, tucking his small cell phone into the pocket of his jeans. "Are you okay?" he asked Queenie.

She came to a dead stop, and her mouth formed an O of surprise. Everest snapped upright and threw his shoulders back as though standing at attention, and Maggie tried to swallow her laughter.