Page 45 of The Body in the Backyard

As if on cue, there was a resounding crash from the foyer. “Whoopsie!” Lily called.

“I hate everything about this,” Josie said.

Brian patted his wife’s leg. “Look at it this way, Jos. It’ll be good practice for parenting. We just gotta keep a couple of tall toddlers alive for a few days.”

“That’s the spirit,” Nick said. “Tell them we’ll pay them in shingles vaccines or whatever they’re into.”

The meeting broke up, and everyone dispersed. Burt rolled off Riley’s lap onto the floor for a big stretch before trotting out of the room.

“What time do you want to leave?” she asked Nick, checking her watch.

“I’ve got a few things I want to take care of here first. How about we head out in an hour? We’ll grab lunch and fuel up before interrogating half of Harrisburg.”

“Sounds good. In the meantime, I think I’ll confiscate Gabe and see if we can psychically narrow down the list.”

“I’ll be eternally and sexually grateful,” Nick said with a wicked, dimpled grin.

“I’ll pass that along to Gabe.”

“So how do we do this?”Riley asked her spiritual adviser.

She and Gabe were sitting cross-legged facing each other on the dusty wood floor of the attic. It wasn’t the most comfortable space, but none of their other roommates had the endurance to make it up the extra flight of stairs, so it was a distraction-free zone.

Gabe peered down at the list. “I fear you may be opening yourself up to too much information if we seek answers to questions that are too general.”

“Meaning?”

“Griffin Gentry is not a nice human.”

“No, really?” she said dryly.

Her lovable hunk of a spiritual guide cocked his head. “Do you not agree?”

“Of course I do. I was just being sarcastic.”

Gabe looked at her blankly.

“It means you use words that say the opposite of what you mean. But it kind of only works when it’s obvious. Griffin is obviously a terrible person,” she explained.

“Ah. I believe I understand now.”

Happy to be the instructor for once, Riley grinned. “Here, let’s practice. Gee, Gabe, November sure is chilly.”

“I find the month to be quite invigorating.”

“Okaaaay. Not quite. How about this one? Do you like ice cream?”

He blinked, then a slow smile spread across his handsome face. “I do not care for ice cream.”

“That’s better. But to make the sarcasm more obvious, you can exaggerate it. Like ‘Nooo. Ihateice cream,’” she said. “Sometimes an eye roll helps convey the message.”

“But is it unkind to use words that mask your truth?” he pressed.

“I like to think of sarcasm as a humor tool. Words can tell the truth, but you can also have fun with them and tell the truth at the same time.”

“Then I willnotpractice this sarcasm,” he deadpanned.

Riley laughed. “I think you’re getting the hang of it. Now back to our list of suspects. How do we narrow it down?”