The Nobody Girls (Kendra Dillon Cold Case Thriller Book 3), Rebecca Rane [best book club books of all time txt] 📗

ill. That’s what came of chasing serial killers fueled by coffee and Caliente Chips.

“And what do you want this evening, Madame Mayor?” Tony asked.

Stephanie was no longer mayor, but a lot of people still called her that. It was a title that fit and stuck.

“You know, just a salad. I’m also on the diet train. Always am, I’m afraid.”

Kendra couldn’t remember a day that her mother wasn’t one ounce heavier than she was now, in her late fifties.

“On the way,” Tony said. And he caught Kendra’s eye again. Tony was one of her oldest friends. Short of Gillian being there, Tony was proably the next best person in her life equipped to understood the weirdness of the Dillons getting along.

“So, what’s the latest fallout from The 75 Ripper thing?” Big Don asked.

“We’re not talking about this?” Kendra put both of her hands out and gestured to her parents, currently sitting close and holding hands.

“This? Well, your mother heard about my feelings for Darleen, and it riled her up, I guess.”

Stephanie laughed and shrugged.

“Who are you?” Kendra spluttered. “Have you both been body-snatched and replaced by aliens?”

“Oh, stop, we didn’t divorce for a reason. We do love each other. I was reminded of that fact when I heard about that gold digger trying to worm her way into Daddy’s life. We won’t have it.”

Daddy now? Kendra closed her eyes and shook her head.

“How are you feeling, Dad?”

“Good, blood sugar fine and all that. We had to let Darleen go, which I hated to break her heart, but it was a fling.”

Kendra winced at the word.

A waiter appeared with their food. He placed a steak in front of Kendra and a plate that consisted of vegetables and a chicken breast in front of her dad.

“No, I think we’re backward,” Kendra said.

“We’re just right,” Big Don replied. He grabbed his fork and dove in.

“Okay, for sure, aliens.”

“I’ve got to run to the ladies’ room. Come on, Kendra. We’ll be right back, Don.”

“I don’t.”

“Join your mother, don’t be rude,” said Big Don.

She half expected him to steal her food when she turned her back. But she followed her Mom to the ladies’ room anyway.

“So, you want to tell me why you’re back here, with Daddy?” Kendra deliberately put an emphasis on the word. It flew past Stephanie.

“You see him eating, right? Do you see that gold digger anywhere?”

“No, I do not see her, and she was just a nice lady.”

“Well, she was horning in on our family. We don’t need that. I will be here, pay attention to him for a few days, and even get his blood sugar on track. Sometimes he just needs to be managed.”

Kendra shook her head, and they head back to the table. On the way, Stephanie was intercepted by a voter or something of that nature. She always was.

Kendra found her dad, hands in his lap, waiting to eat until they returned.

“You could have started.”

“I was raised in the north end, but not by wolves.”

“Okay, so Mom says you’re doing okay too. I’m glad.”

“See, all I need to do every once in a while is rattle the cage, your mother dances to my tune.”

“Do you mean to tell me the thing with Darleen was you rattling Mom’s cage?”

“It worked, didn’t it?”

“That Darleen is lucky she got out while she could.”

Stephanie returned to the table, and they started eating. The weirdness of her parents acting like a normal couple faded, and the conversation turned to Kendra’s job.

“You’re going to need to do a story on the good work of the Teamsters around here,” Big Don said. “Because truckers are coming off very badly in this current season of The Cold Trail. They’re our life’s blood, a vital part of our community.”

“You mean, of your constituency,” Kendra countered.

“Look, you gotta tell the story as you see it, as you find it, but you’ve also made enemies in this town because, for a petite little thing, you have the footsteps of an elephant,” Big Don remarked.

“As it so happens, I have a great interview coming up, with a great trucker. We just haven’t aired it yet because we had to get the arrest episode up.”

“Honestly, I didn’t listen. I was so scared when I heard you were there, with that monster, that I just couldn’t,” said Stephanie.

“It all worked out. You should listen,” Kendra told her. “Anyway, this is a complicated story, spanning decades, so Art agreed to let me air a few follow-up episodes, including this episode about the Truckers Against Trafficking organization. It’s a non-profit that fights to educate the public about the signs of human trafficking.”

“Oh, good, that’s good,” Stephanie said.

Her parents were master negotiators, so she decided to try to steer the conversation toward something they could help with. Or at least their input on. There was no doubt that both of them had amazing careers.

So, she told them about the offer from Your News 19. She’d put it on the back burner. But now that the podcast season was wrapping up, she had fielded another call from Noah Bradley.

“Oh, that’s rich,” scoffed Big Don. “He dumps you on your keister and now wants to ride your coattails? That’s really rich. I’d take his offer, roll it up real tight, and tell him to shove it up his—”

Big Don had a big thing for loyalty.

But Stephanie was more pragmatic.

“Don’t be so hasty. They’re talking network? This could be a huge leap forward for Kendra.”

“It’s not a network yet, but there could be a meeting.”

Her mother and father started shooting questions at her. When she shrugged in answer to some of the details, like salary, benefits, producing staff, they decided to leave her out of the conversation. They went on to debate the merits of the offer without her.

Kendra let them. She was happy at WPLE. Art was a good boss. And maybe she was more Don than Stephanie when it came to loyalty. She wasn’t great at playing politics or climbing ladders.

Eventually, her parents moved on to