Ronnie sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Katie might have. She’s had it in for Ernie for months.”
“Hey! He started it,” Kate defended.
“This is your doing, Claire. You’re the sane one. You need to own up to it when Grady comes by later to keep Katie off the radar for now.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Kate agreed.
“You both can shove it.” Claire gripped the bars to keep from strangling her darling sisters. She glared at Ronnie. “You had to go and get involved with a cop. We are Morgans, remember? We’re allergic to badges.”
Ronnie’s face darkened. “I can’t help it. I like Grady.”
“He is sort of cute when he’s not threatening to handcuff me,” Kate said, reaching between the bars to pat Ronnie’s arm.
Bahh! Claire growled at the two of them. “You can’t keep up this charade.”
“What charade?” Kate asked.
“This June Cleaver kiss-ass game Ronnie is playing.”
Ronnie’s chin jutted. “It’s not a charade.”
“Come on, Ronnie.” Kate pressed her face between the bars and whispered, “You’re wearing a dress with polka dots on it.”
“So? It’s a pretty dress.”
Claire scoffed. “It’s not your style and you know it. This is a dress meant to impress the local goody two-shoes. You normally wear jeans and T-shirts and boots.”
“Not always.”
“That’s true,” Kate told Claire. “Back when Ronnie was trying to be Lyle’s perfect, high-gloss wife, she wore fancy dresses and sparkly shoes, remember?”
“What’s next?” Claire asked her older sister. “Are you going to dye your hair blond again and start walking around with a hostess tray, asking if anyone would like more hors d’oeuvres?”
Ronnie’s face looked like someone was pinching her in a tender spot. “You don’t understand.”
“Oh, we do, don’t we, Kate?”
Kate nodded. “You’re doing the same thing you did with your ex-husband.”
“Trying to be someone you’re not in order to impress the rest of the world,” Claire added. “I would think that after Lyle’s lies and crimes and philandering, Veronica, you’d have learned a lesson about the long-term effects of a counterfeit lifestyle for you and your poor family.”
Ronnie reached through the cell bars and grabbed a handful of Claire’s hair, pulling it. “Take that back!”
“Take what back?” Claire tugged at her wrist. “Let go of me, Veronica, or I’ll have you arrested for prisoner abuse.”
“I’m not letting go until you stop calling me that damned name.”
“Veronica is your stupid name.” Claire yipped while trying to pull free of her sister’s grip. “Blame Mom if you don’t like it, not me.”
Kate slapped Ronnie’s wrist, making her let go of Claire’s hair. “Stop it, you two. This is not helping the situation.” When Claire and Ronnie kept poking and pinching each other through the bars, Kate snarled, “If you don’t stop it, I’m going to tell Mom that you guys gave Dad’s new girlfriend the cashmere scarf and hat set we originally bought for her.”
“What in Sam Hill is going on back here?” Gramps’s voice boomed from the other end of the hallway. His Army veteran hat sat crooked on his head, like he’d jammed it on in a hurry.
Ronnie pinned Claire with a hard squint before turning toward Gramps. “I was just playing a game of thumb war with Claire while we waited for the deputy to release her and Katie.”
Gramps approached the cell with Deputy Dipshit on his heels. The keys jangled in the deputy’s hand, a wad of toilet paper still jammed up one of his nostrils.
“You sure you don’t want me to lock all three of them up for the night?” he asked Gramps with a nasally voice. His beady eyes roved down Ronnie’s fancy dress, his upper lip wrinkling when his gaze returned northward.
“Tempting, but no,” Gramps said, his light blue eyes nailing each of them in turn.
Ronnie stepped aside so the deputy could open the cell door. “Thank you for letting them out, Deputy.”
Claire ground her molars at the extra dose of sugar in her sister’s tone.
“Yeah, well, Sheriff Harrison gave me an order, and he is the sheriff.” Ernie grunted and added, “For now, anyway,” under his breath. Deputy Dipshit pulled open the door with an oily smirk. “We wouldn’t want anything like this tarnishing that badge of his, now would we? Especially with an election year coming up and all.”
Ronnie’s cheeks turned bright red, matching her dress. She glared at Claire and then Kate, aiming poisonous darts in their direction.
“Is that some sort of threat, Deputy?” Kate asked, stopping in front of him after exiting the cell.
“No, of course not, Ms. Morgan. Now be sure to take it easy. With that baby coming, you don’t want to get in any accidents. Or should I say, any more accidents?”
Kate sputtered. Before she could get a handle on her tongue, Ronnie grabbed her by the arm and dragged her along to the front office. Claire followed after an apologetic frown at Gramps and joined Kate at the main desk, collecting her personal belongings from the basket sitting there.
Something on Deputy Dipshit’s desk snagged Kate’s attention. She took a step toward it.
The front door swung open with a buzz, freezing Kate in her tracks.
“I’m looking for Kate Morgan,” a girl carrying a pizza said. When her gaze landed on Kate, she gaped. “Hey, aren’t you that substitute teacher we had before Christmas break?”
Kate grabbed the pizza and shoved a wad of bills in the girl’s hand. “No, that’s another Kate. I’m her twin sister.”
“Oh wow, I have a twin sister, too.”
Ronnie held open the door. “Everyone out. I’m sure Deputy D—I mean Ernie has a lot of work to do.”
The pizza delivery girl led, with Gramps bringing up the rear. At Gramps’s car, Claire held the back passenger door for Kate and her box of pizza.
“Be careful with that pizza in the car, Crazy Kate. Gramps doesn’t like pizza grease on his white leather
