Murder Has a Sweet Tooth - By Miranda Bliss Page 0,23
a sore thumb.
If I was as thorough and as organized as I claimed to be, why didn’t I think of that?
I swallowed my mortification and thanked my lucky stars that Eve wasn’t able to be with me that day. One woman without children was odd. Two were bound to look conspicuous. As it turned out, Eve said she had too much to do that afternoon. She claimed she was going to zip over to Très Bonne Cuisine so she and Norman could look through samples to choose the napkins that would be on the table at the wedding. (Just for the record, I insisted that the napkins Bellywasher’s already owned would be fine, but once Eve and Norman got the whole cotton sateen idea in their heads, they were impossible to control.) No matter, I didn’t believe the table linen story from the start. Oh, no. My worries ran far deeper. I had suspicions about another wedding cake fiasco. Believe me, as soon as I had a free minute to devote to it, I was going to go into full detective mode and call every bakery in Arlington and beyond. One sparkler-encrusted wedding cake per lifetime is one too many.
I promised myself I’d think about that another time. For now, I had a murder to investigate. With that in mind, I walked over to the Fun and Fitness area like I had every right to be there. When I stopped to look things over, I just so happened to end up close to where Celia, Glynis, and Beth were talking quietly.
“Wow.” When I pulled in a breath of wonder, I didn’t have to fake it. The place was spectacular. Besides, I was out of breath from walking the playground. “I’ve heard good things about this place, but I never thought it would be so incredible. The kids are going to love this!”
Celia turned and offered me a smile. “You didn’t bring your kids? When they find out, they’re going to declare you Monster Mommy.”
We all laughed. I took that as a good sign and moved a casual step closer. “They’ve got music lessons this afternoon. All three of them,” I said, lying through my teeth—about the music lessons and, of course, about the three kids—and not caring a bit since it was all for a good cause. “I figured it was a good time to come check things out.”
“You’re new to the area?” The question came from Glynis, and since it played into the persona I’d made up for myself on the drive to Fairfax County, I was all set to jump right in.
“Just moved in,” I said. “We bought a house in the Humboldt Creek development.”
“That’s where we all live!” Have no fear, I didn’t tremble when Glynis made the announcement. I had the tasteful program the funeral chapel gave out at Vickie’s service, remember, so I knew all these women’s last names. I’d looked up their addresses, and I’d even cruised by their homes a couple times. I knew there were two new streets being added to the upscale elegance of Humboldt Creek. I saw that on those streets, a few of the houses were finished and people were already moving in. In my mind, I’d decided which of those houses I was going to pretend was mine. It was a redbrick Colonial with white shutters and a brick front walk. I’d just seen the moving truck out front on Tuesday, and when I drove by that Wednesday afternoon, there were already pots of tulips outside the front door and off-white draperies, tasteful and simple, hanging in the windows. There was a Lexus in the driveway, a landscaper busily at work manicuring the lawn, and a couple kids’ bikes leaning against the garage door.
Hey, I can dream, can’t I?
“What a coincidence.” I pretended it was and offered Celia and Glynis a smile in turn. When I got to Beth, I had to wait. She was distracted yelling to her son, Jeremy, who looked to be about eight, that he should take it easy because he had practice with the Tigers later that evening and he was going to tire himself out. That taken care of, she wrinkled her nose and gave me a careful look.
“You were at Vickie’s funeral,” Beth said.
At the funeral, they’d been so preoccupied with their own grief, I hadn’t expected any of them to notice me, and I silently cursed myself. Out loud I said, “Oh, my gosh, wasn’t it just awful? I never