Lucky snarled at her.
"What's on your agenda today?" Laurie asked.
"Actually we hadn't decided on anything specific," Devon said feebly.
"Well, if you ask me, which I realize you haven't, you're overlooking the obvious."
"What's that, Mother?"
Lucky glanced up at her, curious in spite of his longing to thrash his impudent kid sister.
He welcomed his mother's opinion—anything, in fact, that would momentarily distract him from his physical discomfort.
"That Cagney oaf and his unsavory friend."
"Little Alvin and Jack Ed Patterson?"
Laurie gave a delicate shudder at the very mention of their names. "Detestable people, especially Jack Ed. And those Cagney children were hellions from birth."
"But they're so obvious," Lucky argued.
"Maybe they figure that's what everyone is thinking and are using it to their benefit."
Devon and Lucky's eyes met as they conside
red the possibility. "She's got a point," Devon said. "They certainly were peeved at you."
"But they've got ironclad alibis."
"Lies," Sage retorted succinctly. "They've terrorized people into lying for them."
Lucky gnawed his lower lip as he thought it through. "It wouldn't be too smart to confront them. We promised Pat there would be no more trouble. Besides," he said with a grin, "I might not come out alive if I have another fight with Little Alvin."
"So, what are you thinking?" Devon asked.
"Little Alvin is as strong as an ox and meaner than Satan, but he's no mental giant."
"I agree. Jack Ed would have masterminded the fire."
"So let's use Little Alvin's cerebral weakness to our advantage."
"How?" she asked.
Lucky leaned back in his chair and slapped his thighs with satisfaction. "With the thing I do best. A con."
* * *
As they pulled up in front of the rusty mobile home, Devon nervously wet her lips and asked, "How do I look?"
"Plumb mouth-watering." Lucky switched off the Mustang's motor.
She tipped up the lenses of her dark glasses. "With this?" Sage had done an excellent job of painting on a black eye, using her vast array of eye shadows and shading crayons.
"Even with that." He was tempted to lean across the car's console and kiss her. But glancing at the windows of the mobile home, he realized Little Alvin could be watching them.
"You'll have to open your own door." He vaulted over the driver's door and headed for the trailer without giving her a backward glance. He knocked loudly on the front door of the trailer, then bawled over his shoulder at her. "Hurry up, will you?"
She moved into place beside him and muttered out the side of her mouth. "Macho Pig."