Beach Blanket Homicide (Lucy McGuffin, Psychic Amateur Detective 1)

A part of me would love to tell him exactly what I think of her.

But the way he’s looking at me right now like he trusts me explicitly makes me stop and reconsider.

I have to look at this through someone else’s eyes. Besides my parents, Sebastian and Will are the two people I love and trust most in this world. If they both think Brittany is okay, then maybe I’m the one with the problem.

The truth is, I can’t be objective here.

It kills me to say this, but I have to. “You should definitely go out with Brittany. Who knows? She could be the one. Besides, you don’t want to be a schmuck, do you? What kind of guy asks a girl out and then cancels? Anyway, it shouldn’t matter what anyone else thinks. Only what you think.”

“You’re right,” he says sheepishly.

“That goes without saying.”

Boy, Meryl Streep has nothing on me. I should probably go ahead and book my front row seat at the next Academy Awards presentation.

“I hope you won’t mind if we skip our Friday night pizza and T.V. routine again,” he says. “It was the only night Brittany was free this week.”

“No worries. I can experiment bake. I really need to get this mango coconut muffin recipe worked out. You know, in case they call from Muffin Wars.”

“You mean when they call.”

“Sure, right.”

He walks me out to my car, but it feels awkward between us.

“Wear a blue shirt on your date,” I say. “It makes your eyes look less shifty.”

He laughs, but it’s strained. “So… Luce, can you tell when I’m lying?”

“Every single time. So watch it, buddy,” I say, adding this to all the other lies I’ve told today because if Will knew that he was the only person I’ve never caught in a lie, it would sound strange and somehow, he’d figure out how I feel about him.

He shakes his head as if he’s not quite sure he believes me and waves goodbye. I wave back and begin the short drive back to The Bistro.

It’s dark, but I always leave the back light on. I put my key in the door and am about to unlock it when an all too familiar whimpering stops me cold.

I whip around to find Paco staring back at me, his tail wagging furiously.

Chapter Eleven

I call Lanie and tell her about my surprise visitor.

“Oh, my God, I’m so glad he’s with you! Is he all right?”

“He’s fine. But how did he get here?” With my cell phone tucked under my chin, I bend down to give Paco a bowl of water. He eagerly laps it up.

“One of my staff went to take the dogs out for the night, but when she put them back in their cages, she noticed Paco was missing, so she called me. We found a hole he must have dug under the fence. Nothing like this has ever happened before. It’s lucky that he found his way to you.” Lanie pauses. “Or maybe, luck has nothing to do with it. Maybe he was trying to get back to you specifically.”

It’s almost two miles from The Bistro to the animal shelter with several residential neighborhoods in between. The thought that Paco walked all this way in the dark just to find me is pretty out there. But then, I’m basically a human lie detector, which most people would scoff at, so I suppose anything is possible.

“You make him sound like he’s Lassie,” I joke.

“Maybe he is. Or maybe he’s something even more. Remember when I told you that I thought I’d seen him before? It all came back to me tonight when we were out looking for him.”

“Oh yeah?”

“It’s a long story. And kind of kooky.”

“Try me.”