Candy Cane Murder (Hannah Swensen #9.5)(56)

I hung up in a happy glow. I’d started out to do something charitable, and already I was being rewarded. Not only was there a possible job on my horizon, there might even be a date. With a really nice guy.

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But the biggest reward, I reminded myself, would be the satisfaction I’d get from making a difference in the life of a motherless girl.

Yes, I, Jaine Austen, was about to leave the world of the Self-Involved and become one of life’s Noble Givers.





Chapter


! Six #

Ihad a date with an angel.

Really. That was my L.A. Girlfriend’s name: Angel Cavanaugh, a twelve-year-old only child living with her dad, whose interests were listed on her profile as “outdoor activities” and “the arts.”

When I phoned to set up the date, she was in the shower, and her father took the call.

“We’re so grateful you’re doing this,” he said. “It means the world to us.”

How wonderful to feel so appreciated. Why hadn’t I discovered this volunteer stuff years ago?

I asked him what Angel wanted to do on our date, and he said anything I planned would be okay with her.

Then I hung up and went into a planning frenzy, making and discarding a dozen ideas. I finally decided that, since Angel liked outdoor activities, it might be fun to drive out to the Santa Monica Pier and toss a frisbee on the beach. One of the rules in the Girlfriends Guidebook was to stay away from expensive venues. The girls, they warned, mustn’t see their mentors as a source of financial support. Which was lucky for me, since I was having trouble enough supporting myself.

The day of my “Girlfriends” date dawned clear and bright, with a hint of winter chill in the air. A Los Angeles 196

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winter, that is—the temperature had dipped all the way down to the low seventies. A perfect day for a trip to the beach.

And so it was with an air of eager anticipation that I fed Prozac her Savory Salmon Entrails and nuked myself a bagel.

I couldn’t wait to get started on the first chapter of my new altruistic life. After a quick shower, I threw on a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt, and grabbed a hoodie in case it got chilly out on the pier.

“Bye, Pro,” I called out, when I was ready to leave on my great adventure. “Wish me luck.”

She looked up from where she was napping on my keyboard.

I still don’t see why you have to spend the day with some needy kid when you could stay home and scratch my back.

But she couldn’t work a guilt trip on me. Not today. I headed out to my Corolla, brimming with good intentions, Mother Teresa in elastic-waist jeans.

I drove over to the address Angel’s dad had given me, which turned out to be a low-rent apartment building a fender’s throw from the 405 freeway. It was one of those two-story affairs with an outdoor stairway that looked like it had been a motel in a former life. As I climbed the metal steps to the Cavanaughs’s apartment on the second floor, I could hear the dull roar of the freeway in the background.

Kevin Cavanaugh answered the door, a skinny guy in his late thirties. With hollow cheeks and dark circles under his eyes, he had the look of a guy in desperate need of a vacation.

Or, barring that, a nap.

“So happy to meet you,” he said, pumping my hand. “C’mon in.” He ushered me into his living room, and once again I was reminded of a motel. All the essentials were there—sofa and TV and coffee table, but none of the frills. No sign of a woman’s touch anywhere.

“Angel, honey.” he called out. “Jaine is here.”

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We stood there smiling awkwardly at each other, waiting for Angel to come out. When some time had passed and there was still no sign of her, he shouted, “You ready, or what?”

“I’m commmmming!”

And then, to my amazement, a twelve-year-old hooker walked into the room.

Her skinny body was jammed into spandex capris and a midriff-exposing T-shirt, the words JAIL BAIT emblazoned in sequins across her flat chest. Completing the outfit were a pair of kitten-heel flipflops and a faux leopard skin minipurse.

Good heavens. She looked like she was auditioning for a remake of Taxi Driver.

“For Pete’s sake, Angel,” her dad sighed. “You’re not going to wear that, are you?”

“Yessss.” She rolled her eyes. “I am.”

“Well, come and say hello to Jaine,” he said, shrugging helplessly.

Angel clomped over on her kitten heels and gave me the once-over.

Up close I could see that underneath her cloud of heavily teased dishwater blond hair, she was actually quite pretty.

Clear gray eyes, nice little nose. Slightly protruding teeth, but all in all, a cute kid.

“She’s my girlfriend?” she whined, eyeing my elastic-waist jeans and baggy T-shirt. “I told them I wanted someone who looked like Jennifer Anniston. Somebody who dresses nice.”

Uh-oh. Maybe my new life of selflessness wasn’t going to be so rewarding, after all.

“Angel, that’s no way to talk,” her dad chided. “Apologize this minute.”

“Okaaaaay,” she said, with another roll of her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“Kids,” he said, shooting me an apologetic smile. “What’re you gonna do?”