Page 77 of Little Last Words

The way I saw it, there was only one thing she’d managed to do well—make herself my number-one suspect.

CHAPTER30

As I walked back to my car, I thought about the dream I’d had the night before. The realization that Penelope and Vanessa had an altercation at the lake, combined with Vanessa’s clear and present anger issues, would be enough to convince anyone she was responsible for Penelope’s death.

But was she?

It was a possibility I couldn’t rule out.

I still had my suspicions about Zachary too.

I was about to pull my cell phone out of my pocket so I could give Simone and Hunter a call when I noticed a familiar-looking woman leaning up against my car.

We made eye contact, and she waved and said, “Yoo-hoo!”

“Mom? What are you doing here?”

“You could at leastpretendto be pleased to see me, Georgiana. You didn’t show up to family dinner on Sunday. What was I supposed to do?”

“Did you put another tracking device on my car?”

“I did not.”

“Then how did you know where to find me?”

She lifted a paper bag out of her purse and handed it to me.

“You’re so busy with this case, I figured you haven’t been eating like you should, which is why I brought you a bacon-and-egg sandwich.” She pointed at the bag. “There’s a Caesar salad in there too. Made it myself.”

I was grateful for the food.

And she was right.

I hadn’t eaten today.

Still …

“You didn’t answer my question,” I said.

“Oh, right. You asked how I found you. The thing is, I’m always learning about new apps I can add to my phone. Have you heard of the Find My app? It’s the niftiest thing. We add each other to our phones, and then I can see right where you are any time of the day.”

She clapped her hands together, smiling, like it was a proud achievement.

“I didn’t add you to any app on my phone,” I said.

“Oh, well, you know ... I figured you wouldn’t like the idea, so I went right ahead and did it for you.” She leaned closer, lowering her voice as she added, “You should give your password a bit more thought, dear. Your father’s birthday? I got it on the first try.”

She laughed so hard she started coughing. I stood there, dumbfounded. So many thoughts were going through my mind, none of which I could utter without causing offense.

“How long have you been tracking me?” I asked.

“Not too long. Maybe a month or two.”

A month.

Or two.

Unbelievable.