I, Spy? (Sophie Green Mysteries, No. 1) (Sophie Green Mystery)

down.”
    Leta Lou and Merry laughed. Eazy blanched.
    “Yeah, right,” she said. “I can just see this.”
    “What are you afraid of, Eazy?” Leta Lou asked. “I’m game if you are.”
    The rest of them looked at Merry.
    “Sure,” she said.
    After that, nothing they talked about could hold their interest as the tension built around those small pieces of paper. Often, when they had girls’ night out at Ann’s, she would challenge them to do something different. Once they played a game of Truth or Dare as they played bridge, and the one who failed to be honest had to drink a shot of tequila. Another time they went bowling and were sore for weeks afterwards. And one Christmas they went Christmas caroling and visited other country club friends and got them to join in.
    “How about what you want, Ann?” Leta Lou asked, stabbing the air between them with her fork.
    “Mine comes last. But we all agree to do whatever is written down.”
    “Then write yours down as well,” Eazy told Ann. “I’m not doing it unless it’s written down. You’re such a bully. I’ll bet even the boys were terrified of you when you were growing up.”
    Ann challenged her with a cackle. “Promise that you’ll do it?”
    Eazy looked around at the rest of them and nodded. “I will if you will. But even you may balk at doing a couple of things.”
    “Never.” Ann put down her fork and looked at the others who stared back at her expectantly.
    “Well, this is getting us nowhere,” Ann commented. “We’re going to be starving later, but I doubt any of you have even tasted your food for the past ten minutes.”
    Wordlessly, they filed back to the kitchen and set their plates on the counter. Ann wrote down what she wanted then pulled out the slips of paper, placed hers on bottom, and with ceremonious deliberation selected one of the other three.
    “I’d recognize this chicken scratching anywhere. Eazy wants a vibrator.”
    Ann almost felt sorry for her. Almost. It took them a few seconds to recover from the shock.
    “A dildo?” Merry asked.
    “I’ve been single a long time,” came Eazy’s defensive response. “And I’ve always wondered what the…big deal…was.”
    Everyone sniggered then burst into laughter.
    “Some of them are pretty big,” Merry said with a laugh.
    “Leave it to you to already be intimate with something like that. Well, if you’re just going to make fun of me,” Eazy said in a huff, “I might as well…”
    “Oh, Eazy!” Ann cried, throwing an arm about her shoulders. “I’ve never had one either, so this could be fun. Let’s go shopping!”
    Amidst Eazy’s furious blushing and Merry’s shrieks, they all gathered their purses and jackets and headed toward Eazy’s car, piling in like sorority sisters.
    “You’ve probably never needed one,” Eazy grumbled.
    “I’ll have you know that I was celibate for several months after all my husbands’ deaths,” Ann said, climbing in beside her and fastening the seat belt. “There’s no shame in acknowledging you have needs. Besides, this could be fun.”
     
     
     
    Christy’s Toybox on North May wasn’t deserted, as Eazy had hoped. But there were only a few customers milling about. And rather than waste time fording through a sea of feather boas and a mountain of shocking videos while looking for dildos, to Leta Lou and Merry’s amusement and Eazy’s chagrin, Ann nabbed the sales clerk immediately and asked her to direct them to the vibrators.
    “What do you suggest?” Ann asked, once they’d arrived at the displays at the back of the store that wrapped around them on three sides.
    The gum-smacking clerk blew a bubble, popped it and gave Ann a blank stare. “Why, whatever trips your trigger, sister,” she said noncommittally. “You want motion in the ocean, I’d say the Eager Beavers or one of the Power Bunnies. For variation in size, the row behind you goes from magnum to derringer, and there are more over there by the cock rings and flavored lotions.”
    Eazy picked up what looked like a large water pistol. “What the hell is this thing?”
    “It’s a dildo, like the others,” the clerk said. “The little thing right there that you’re using as a trigger…it does look like a gun, doesn’t it?” she continued. “But that’s for your smaller hole. You know—your asshole.”
    Eazy dropped it as if it had bitten her, triggering a wave of laughter throughout their end of the building.
    “You’re shittin’