“No.”
“Remember your guilty conscience,” Jem said.
“Right, I know, and obviously you’re an independent adult, and you don’t need my approval, and you can do whatever you want.But Jem, the sodium alone—”
“So easy,” Jem murmured to himself as he rolled off the couch.“Scipio’s getting nuggets.”
So, they argued about—discussed—that on the way.
“So,” Jem asked as they sat in the drive-thru, “what’s the next step in Operation Save Ammon’s Ass?”
Tean filled him in on his conversation with Hannah, along with the conclusions—or possible conclusions—he’d reached.
When he finished, Jem said, “It wasn’t Lucy.”
“What?”
“Lucy didn’t do it.”
“I don’t think she’s capable of it, no, but—”
“No, it wasn’t her.I was reading an article about the murder, and they said Brennon had bruises on his neck.”
“Right,” Tean said slowly.“But the warrant said he was stabbed.That was the cause of death.”
“I know.But if Lucy was going to kill him, why choke him—or whatever happened?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why not just stab him?”
“I don’t know, Jem.”
Jem was silent for the next few minutes.Then he said, “So, we need to figure out what happened to Brennon—I mean, when, where, that kind of thing.”
“Okay.”
“And I know you thinkUnsolved Mysteriesis too sensationalized, and you find it upsetting to watch—”
“I mostly find it upsetting to watch because you made me watch that episode with Jon Bon Jovi, like, five times.”He thought about this and added, “And you keep trying to call the tip line.That number went out of service twenty years ago.”
“But ifUnsolved Mysterieshas taught me anything—and it has—”
“It hasnot.”
“—it’s that the wife is always the most likely suspect.”
Tean knuckled his chin.Finally he said, “Okay.”
“And that means talking to Brennon’s wife.”
“If I call Lucy, she’ll give me her number.”Tean felt obliged to add, “I think.”
“Screw that,” Jem said as they rolled up to the speaker.“If we call her, she’ll be ready for us.Best thing to do is catch her by surprise.”He leaned past Tean to shout, “A number one, super-sized—”
“They don’t do that anymore,” Tean whispered.
“—with a second order of even larger fries.And how many nuggets do you recommend for a seventy-seven-pound Lab?”