“Don’t start. I saw Marcie climb inside your Jeep.”“She needed a ride.”I adopted a hands-on-hips pose. “What kind of ride?”“Not that kind of ride,” he said slowly.”

“Are you defending Marcie?”He shook his head. “I don’t need to. She handled herself. You, on the other hand…”I pointed at the door. “Out.”

“He gave Marcie a spare to the Jeep—I should park this thing in the ocean, twenty feet under.”

“Dante said, “I tried talking Nora into a ride, but she keeps blowing me off.”“That’s because she has a hard-A boyfriend. He must have beenhomeschooled, because he missed all those valuable lessons we learned in kindergarten, like sharing. He finds out you took Nora for a ride, he’ll wrap this shiny new Porsche around the nearest tree.”

“We need a ride. We're stranded.""We still have two legs, leftie and rightie. Mine are in the mood for exercise. They feel like a nice long walk--ARE YOU CRAZY?" she shrieked. I was standing with the tip of the beach umbrella aimed at the driver's-side window. "What?" I said. "We have to get in.”

“The Archangel." I murmured. looking back over my shoulder at the ride, which had started its next ascent."It means high-ranking angel." There was a definite smugness to his voice. "The higher up, the harder the fall.”

“I don’t see any police cars.” “They probably had to park a couple blocks over. Anyway, as I was saying, I noticed illegal substances in the hands of a few guests.” “So?” she snapped. “It’s a party.”“Alcohol is illegal under the age of twenty-one.” “Great!” Marcie shouted. “What am I going to do?” She paused, then raised her voice again. “You probably called them!” “Who, me?” Vee said. “And lose the free food? No way.”