Page 135 of The Body in the Backyard

“How do you say no to that?” Nick asked Riley, hooking a thumb at the girls behind them.

Riley responded by rifling through the glove box for vomit bags and fast-food napkins.

“Okay, unicorn chipmunk skunks,” Nick called, “I don’t have the patience to wait for all of you to figure out exactly what you want so I’m gonna go through the drive-thru, order one of everything, and we’ll eat it all on the way to our next stop. Cool?”

“Cool!” they agreed.

“Please tell me the next stop is a living room with a TV next to a bathroom,” Riley muttered.

“Everybody shut your mouth holes and let me order.”

“What arethese doughy thingies with the stuff in them?” Janet demanded in a high-pitched voice.

“That, my friend, is a Cinnabon Delight,” Nick explained, eyes on the rearview mirror as he headed south on Route 15.

“I want to eat ten of them,” Janet announced. “Also, I tooted.”

“Me too,” River confessed.

“Me three,” Rain said.

“Me four,” Nick announced.

Riley snickered.

“What? I did,” he insisted to the delight of all four nieces. His gaze skated back to the side mirror.

Rain groaned. “I accidentally dropped part of a taco on the floor.”

“That’s okay. That’s why we papered the entire van in napkins,” Riley said as Nick took a surprise exit onto Capital City Mall Drive. He was frowning now, gaze glued to the mirror.

“Uh, everything okay?” she asked quietly.

“Remember when you asked me today if we were being followed?”

“Yeah. And we weren’t.”

“Guess what? Now we are.”

She whirled around to see a pair of headlights in the dark behind them. “How long?”

“Since Taco Bell.”

“Damn it.” They had four kids and eighteen pounds of tacos in the car. This was not an ideal time for a high-speed chase. “What do we do?”

“Text Mrs. Penny.”

“You think Mrs. Penny is going to ride to the rescue?”

“I do not. Text her the stupid code word.”

It was possible that Nick was overreacting. It could absolutely be a coincidence that the car behind them was still there. But Riley wasn’t about to take any chances. Not with their nieces in the car.

Riley: We have a Cold Burrito situation.

Mrs. Penny: I was born ready for Code Cold Burritos. See you at the drop site.

“What’s the drop site?” Riley asked.