AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“The deceased, Lottie? Really?” Mom takes an anxious bite out of her s’mores brownie. “Bella Hall was my friend. Was. How I hate that word now.” She takes another bite and swallows in haste. “And then there’s Danya Swanson. She’s as sweet as her stories are. I doubt she could kill a fly.”
“Swanson?” I inch back. “Lily?” I call out, and my trusty helper shows up with a scowl on. Just because I sign her paychecks doesn’t make me Lily’s favorite person. She was actually one of my high school tormentors, along with Keelie’s twin, Naomi. Come to find out, Naomi was upset all those years ago because Bear wouldn’t sleep with her at the time—an anomaly in and of itself since Bear sought out to sleep with everyone while he was dating me. And well, Lily did whatever Naomi told her to do, which was to make my life a living heck.
“What is it, Lottie?” Lily tucks a dark lock of hair behind her ear as she checks the watch on her wrist with a screen the size of a plum. “Sam’s about to come in. We’re going to discuss strategies to help her snag Jed Silver for herself.”
I shudder at the thought.
Mom leans in. “I hear there’s stiff competition with my sweet Meg.”
“Just hearing you reference Meg as sweet makes me wonder if you’ve met her,” I say before looking up at Lily. “You wouldn’t happen to be related to an author by the name of Danya Swanson, would you?”
Lily rolls her dark amber eyes. “Danya is my second cousin on my father’s side, twice removed. She’s an annoying know-it-all who thinks she’s uber-successful just because she knows how to write a book.”
Mom lifts a finger. “Danya has hit the Vermont best-seller list many, many times. Therefore, she is uber-successful. Unless, of course, you listen to Bella,” Mom grunts. “Bella didn’t believe best-seller lists amounted to much anyway. I happen to agree with her on that.”
“And I happen to disagree,” Carlotta harps.
It seems about right since my mother isn’t on a best-seller list and Carlotta is.
“Sounds a lot like the mommy wars,” Keelie points out. “You know, the working moms versus the stay-at-home moms? At the end of the day, we’re all mothers.”
“Exactly,” Mom says. “And at the end of the day, we’re all authors, too.” She toasts Carlotta with a cookie.
“That’s right, Mirandy,” Carlotta says, toasting her back. “It’s just that some of us are better than others.”
The bell chimes and in walks Noah’s sister, Sam, looking as sassy as can be with her dark curly locks bouncing around her ears.
“Ooh, gotta go.” Lily speeds off.
“I’ll talk to Danya when Lily has a chance to help me track her down,” I say. “What about Marlena?” I ask my mother. “Any clue where she might be today?”
“None,” she says “But before Bella died, Crane invited us all to go bowling with her this evening. Bella was slated to go as well. It’s some group they both belong to, the Bare Exam?”
“Told you it was bare and not bar,” Teeny Weenie yips.
“Do you think Crane is still going?” I ask my mother as a sprig of hope surges through me.
“Oh, she is.” Mom lifts her phone off the table. “She sent a group email this morning to Marlena, Danya, and me saying that the offer still stands. The other two already opted out. But I haven’t answered yet. Turns out, the Bare Exam is an exhibitionist club, and I had a hard time convincing Wiley to join me.”
“You mean they get naked and go bowling?” Carlotta asks with a little too much enthusiasm.
Mom nods. “Bowling is tonight’s escapade. They like to switch things up.”
“I don’t want to get naked in front of a bunch of strangers,” I protest.
“Oh, come on, Lot,” Keelie says. “I’ll go with you and hold your hand. It won’t be the first time you’ve stood in a room full of strangers without a stitch of clothing on.”
“Sadly, this is true.” I sigh. “Okay, fine. But only if Evie can watch Lyla Nell. Noah is busy with the case, and he’s also helping to oversee the debacle at Rizzo’s.”
Here’s hoping Evie has other plans for the evening.
But one way or another, I’m going to get Crane Mitchel to talk about her dead nemesis.
And if I’m lucky, I’ll find out why Bella Hall is dead to begin with.
But I haven’t been all that lucky as of late.
In fact, I’ll be lucky if I don’t end up dead myself.
