Rarity didn’t have a chance to answer before she was swept up into the house, shown the guest bedroom, and handed some yoga pants and a large T-shirt with a pair of thick socks.
“Get comfy. We’ll have fun. Like a sleepover, but we have booze. And anything we want to eat. Thank goodness for delivery.” Sam stopped her chatter when the doorbell rang. “Maybe someone already sent over delivery. When did you eat?”
Again without waiting for an answer, she left the room. Rarity thought about sinking into the soft bed and putting a pillow over her eyes, but she thought she might dream of spiders and snakes. So instead, she and Killer followed Sam out to the living room.
Jonathon was there with Romeo and his laptop bag. “I’m here until one of the guys gets free. I’m assuming it will be Archer, but you never know.”
“Come in. I’m sure we would have been fine, but I’m not killing the messenger,” Rarity said, smiling as Romeo came up to her to sniff her hand. “This is crazy.”
“Maybe, but I brought my murder book. Do you want to go over what you found? Maybe there’s a connection somewhere.” Jonathon looked over at a recliner. “Okay to claim that?”
“Of course, I’ll go get my book too,” Sam said as she went down the hallway. “There are drinks in the fridge or I can make coffee?”
“I’ll take some water,” Jonathon said as he snapped his fingers and pointed. Romeo went over by the chair and lay down. Killer laid next to him. He set his bag down. “Let’s get something to drink before we start.”
Rarity showed him to the kitchen, and by the time Sam came back with her murder book, they were back in the living room, sitting and talking about the dogs.
She sat next to Rarity. “Tell me what happened. I have a feeling something happened after breakfast this morning.”
“First, you tell Jonathon about breakfast. I might have missed something you saw.” Rarity nodded to Sam.
“Okay, well, it seemed like everyone was still there, which I thought was weird. If the festival ended on Saturday night, why would you go to a Sunday brunch?” Sam looked at Jonathon and Rarity for an answer.
“Free food? Maybe their planes weren’t leaving for a while. They drank too much on Saturday night?” Rarity listed off the reasons she could think of.
“Okay, fair points. I guess it’s just me who likes to get home after two weeks of being away. I’ll be honest, a weekend away andI’m ready to go home. I guess I’m just a homebody.” Sam went on to tell Jonathon about getting there, then about getting them a place to sit, and how Talia had come up to say goodbye.
“Wait, you didn’t tell me that.” Rarity stared at her friend.
“You were going to find Jane and then Miranda stopped you. You were talking to her when Talia came over to the table. She said it had been a pleasure meeting everyone in town and how much she loved your little shop. She said she’d wanted to visit my crystal shop but had run out of time. I didn’t think she even knew who I was.”
“I was just about to say, I didn’t remember seeing her at the shop, but she came in to see Darby because everyone was saying her double worked there,” Rarity added. “I still need to get Jane that movie. I don’t want to have to ship it to her.”
“We’ll go over to the hotel tomorrow morning, first thing,” Sam promised. “And we can go to breakfast afterward. Maybe we should go shopping and get out of Sedona for the day.”
Jonathon waved his hand in front of Sam’s face. “Before we start planning the mani/pedi appointments, can we finish adding to the murder book?”
“Oh, yeah, sorry.” Sam finished telling Jonathon about the breakfast at the hotel with the festival people.
Then Rarity started over with the morning, telling her side, adding a few things to Sam’s narrative. After she was done, she added, “You know, I’ve never realized this is why our group works so well with solving mysteries—we all see something different. I was focused on getting the movie back to Jane and how I failed at that task again.”
“And I was focused on the food and seeing who was around us. Call me starstruck, but this was really fun. And some of the actors are already listed as up-and-comers, so I get to say I met them back when they were nobodies.” Sam paused. “Okay, maybe that doesn’t help in this situation, but some days it does.”
“I think there’s something there,” Rarity said but then shook her head. “I just can’t put my finger on it.”
“Well, let’s finish updating the book with your spider and snake attack. There is no doubt that it’s a warning to stay out of the investigation. It’s like an old movie threat.” Jonathon picked up his pen again. “Let’s go over what you did after breakfast.”
“Wait, I remember one more thing.” Sam’s face brightened. “Talia asked about your book clubs. Or she commented on them. Shesaid how wonderful it was that you had things for all ages, including adults. So we talked for a minute about the Survivors’ Book Club and why you started it. She said it should be a movie. I told her that we sometimes turn into a sleuthing club, and she said it really should be a movie. Then her phone buzzed and she left me.”
“Talia knows that I’m running a book club that investigates local murders?” Rarity met Jonathon’s gaze. “Let’s finish this and talk about Talia as a suspect. I wonder where she was this afternoon.”
As they finished updating the book, Rarity groaned. “We’re going to miss Darby’s party.”
“I’ve already called her to let her know. Don’t worry, there are plenty of people there already. Darby has a crew. And Holly said she’d keep an eye out for any issues. Marc is out of town this weekend, remember.” Sam nodded to the television. “Let’s find a movie the boys would hate.”
Jonathon set his murder book into his tote bag. “Don’t worry about me. I’m just here for the entertainment.”
Rarity smiled and made a mental note to apologize to Darby. Although she thought that the current group in the room would have been the oldest people there. Maybe it was better that she wasn’t going.
