Perilously Fun Fiction: A Bundle by Pauline Jones (best fiction novels of all time .TXT) 📕

looked with interest at the long, narrow space nestled behind the house as she made her way towards the slider swing tucked under the blossom-weighted branches of the magnolia tree.

Some of it she vaguely remembered from those long-ago visits, like the cement cherubs, urns, and gargoyles that Miss Hermi was so fond of inserting in the middle of the flower beds. But the brick pathway, winding between those randomly placed flower beds, circling the thick trunks of magnolia, oak, and cypress and passing close to the bougainvillea before finishing at the small patio crowded with metal and wicker patio furniture, seemed new. And of course it all looked smaller than she remembered.

Only one small corner had escaped the ordered disorder that was Miss Hermi’s gardening style. Near the shed, and mostly out of sight of the house, was a raw scar of bare ground with lumber stacked near it.

Luci looked at it, frowning as she kicked off her shoes and sank onto the slider swing. Before relaxing against the over-sized cushions that made the wooden surface bearable, she poured herself a glass from the tall pitcher of lemonade on a tray that Louise had left perched on a cement birdbath.

A long drink, a sigh, and she relaxed back, settling her feet on the arm rest opposite. A gate creaked over near the garage, but she didn’t look. Being emotionally tuned in to the easily irate Mickey Ross wasn’t what she’d have chosen, but Luci was not one to kick against the vagaries of life. And it was amusing to watch him struggle against it like a fish on a line. He couldn’t know she wouldn’t be reeling him in.

When they came into view, both he and Delaney looked grim and hot. Though Mickey still retained his powers of observation, Luci noted. For a long moment he stared at the bare patch in the corner of the garden, before following Delaney over to join her. What was his busy brain making of that, she wondered?

She snuggled deeper in the cushions and rotated her tired feet. When they were close enough, she gave them a sleepy smile, widening it to a grin when she noted their interest in her generously exposed legs. She gestured toward the birdbath, her voice purring as it left her throat. “Help yourselves—to some lemonade. Or I can ring for some tea or coffee?”

“Lemonade’s fine.” Delaney’s voice sounded a little husky and he still wasn’t looking at the birdbath.

Taking her time, her gaze on their wide eyes and slack jaws, Luci pulled her legs down, straightening enough to tuck them discreetly under her skirt. Then watched the red run up both their faces.

Delaney turned to pour, but Mickey, after a tug on his tie and a pause to clear his throat, nodded towards the raw ground. “What’s supposed to happen over there?”

“Miss Hermi claims it’s to be a gazebo. She wants the bride and groom to stand in it on the big day. Like cake decorations.” She tipped her head back, giving Mickey her best wide-eyed look.

Mickey met her look and had to smile because she looked so cool and fresh after the hot garage, and because the thought of Eddie in a gazebo was the silver lining to today’s cloud. “There is a God.”

Luci’s smile became edged with satisfaction, starting a different kind of heat coursing through Mickey’s mid-section. She snuggled down in the cushions with a movement that was feline and fetching. He stopped. Where and when had “fetching” found its way into his vocabulary? That place above his eye seemed inclined to twitch again, but before it could get going, Delaney put a cold glass in his hand. Mickey applied it to the spot for a long moment before taking a long drink.

“Uh, Luci.” Delaney rubbed his glass on his neck. “We need to talk to everybody connected with the house. Would your aunts mind if we commandeered a room?”

“You could commandeer the whole house and they wouldn’t mind. Minding isn’t in our programming.” She hesitated, then asked with a casual air, “Any ideas yet who did this?”

Delaney shrugged. “Not a clue. It’s too early to even guess.”

“What about my aunts? You don’t think they are involved, do you?”

“We’re not allowed to think until we’ve talked to more people.” Mickey took a long drink of lemonade, then grimaced.

So he did suspect them, Luci thought, noting how he avoided looking directly at her. She supposed it was a natural reaction for someone like Mickey, who liked things ordered, controlled. Neat and tidy. The clues lined up like obedient soldiers on parade. Of course she couldn’t let him pin this on her aunts.

“They didn’t do it, you know.”

Both men looked skeptical, though they tried not to.

“You’re sure about that, are you?” Mickey took another long drink. “Look, whatever your personal opinions about this, a body was found in their freezer on their property. That means we have to talk—”

“Talk? Don’t you mean interrogate?”

This time Mickey did look at her. “Talk. Ask a few questions. But if you’d like to call the family lawyer—”

Who was older than her aunts and still in love with Miss Theo. She didn’t think so. Luci straightened her body until her feet were on the ground, holding his gaze with her own the whole time. “I’ll just sit in on the talk, if you don’t mind?”

Suspicion flared in his eyes and narrowed them to slits. The little lines at the edges and on the bridge of his nose were kind of cute.

“Why would you want to do that?” he asked, his voice as suspicious as his face.

Luci widened her gaze, mixed in innocent and said, “Why, to help.”

“When hell—”

“Thanks,” Delaney interrupted smoothly. “But we’ll let you know if we need you.”

Luci shrugged like it didn’t matter. “If you don’t think you need an interpreter—”

“An—” Mickey shook his head. “Why would we need an interpreter?”

“Last time I checked we all speak the same language,” Delaney added his two cents, though he looked more amused