Crime & Counterpoint by M.S. Daniel Page A

raised her.” She managed to harrumph in a most supercilious manner.
    “Now honey,” Bill tempered. “Shelley’s a big girl, she can make her own decisions. Though I don’t know why she didn’t even tell me.” To Zach, he said by way of explanation: “She’s my goddaughter, you know.”
    Great. Zach felt his face grow hot. Barb continued to strip his soul, one tormented layer at a time.
    “So Jared,” Carrie said, looking to Zach, “I wanna hear some more high school stories about you guys.”
    Zach grimaced. “No, no, no. Let’s not bring that up, please.”
    “Sorry man. I have to. Carter, James, Brad, and I were all in the same class with Zach,” Jared began, grinning. “Erik was a year behind but always tagging along.”
    Zach looked beseechingly at his grandmother.
    “This is good for you, dear.” Abigail said it with a light tease to her voice.
    “I’d like to say we were all popular studs, but truthfully we were a ragtag bunch,” Jared continued. “Carter and James were all about debate teams and crap. Brad was a baseball fanatic. I was the science geek.”
    Zach frowned. “By science you mean social sciences because you only slept with –”
    “Baaaa! This isn’t about me!” Jared shot back with a grin.
    “No, I wanna hear,” Carrie said, brows riding high. “Tell me more about social sciences, Zach.”
    “He told every hot girl that he came from a long line of respected surgeons –”
    “Which is true!” Jared interjected.
    “– which naturally made their clothes just fall–”
    “Oh okay! You wanna tell stories ?” Jared adjusted himself, elbows on the table. “Let’s dust off the history, shall we? Zach here was the only one who didn’t really fit our motley crew. Star QB dating the head cheerleader who inevitably couldn’t take his infectious personality and cheated on our boy with a fullback who got her pregnant!”
    Carrie and Ashleigh gushed over this while Barb tilted her head urbanely.
    “How come you never told me that?” Carrie said.
    “Why?” Zach returned. “The whole school knew anyway. And –”
    “And your parents were getting divorced,” Jared finished. But the table grew quiet, yielding to the pervasive music. He sobered. “Sorry, man.”
    Zach forced an ‘it’s okay’ smile, dropping his gaze.
    Abigail intervened. “Let’s change topics. Carrie, are you all set for the wedding?”
    “Yes. Let’s talk about that,” Barb said, delving in with gritty enthusiasm. “Do you know Shelley’s not going?”
    Carrie’s countenance fell. “What? Why?” She looked to Jared questioningly. “She has to be there.” And then to her grandmother. “Make her go. Does she have a date? Zach can take her.”
    The detective grimaced. “Uh, no, I can’t.”
    “Well, if you do,” Barb said, “I suggest you watch out. She’s a bit of a black widow.”
    Zach narrowed his eyes.
    Bill shook his head in disapproval. “Dear, that implies she’s killed every man she’s been with.”
    “Hasn’t she?”
    “But what about Carter?” Ashleigh piped up, texting studiously. “He’s still around… sort of.”
    Dismissing her, Jared shook his head. “Give me a break, Ash. He was just her dad’s pick.”
    As Zach puzzled over this, the band wrapped up the set and applause exploded. The MC announced a fifteen-minute intermission before their final set of the night.
    The inebriated laughter of a table of rich males finding some great joke at everything rattled the air, fluttering the chandelier. From his seat, Zach watched as one of those Schnapped-up penguins rose unsteadily from his chair and skated over the glassy marble to the stage. The tux-clad fool flagged Shelley over with a healthy tip in his hand.
    “Hey, check it out. That guy’s putting the moves on Shell,” Ashleigh joked.
    “Zach, why don’t you go rescue her?” Carrie cajoled, eyes glittering in the mood light. “It’ll be so romantic. And oh! If you guys get married, our kids will be