A chill passed over her body as she sniffed. The long-forgotten odor of smoke and alcohol and crummy perfume stung her sinuses. Her face and body sagged. No one familiar with her public persona would have recognized her in that moment. And then, a picture of her dead mother appeared misty gray in...
White walls and black furnishings made the room, along with the stark black-and-white photos on the walls. But it didn’t smell achromatic. Not with the Heartlink Men’s Group potluck being held there. It smelled of wine and beer and apple juice, bolstered by the mixed scents of garlic, aftershave,...
“Isn’t one funeral enough?” I demanded. “You know I never hit anyone,” she replied calmly. And then, without any transition, she asked, “Why don’t you marry Wayne?” I groaned. “Well?” she prodded. “You’re the psychic,” I snapped. “You tell me.” “I just might,” she said, grinning my way. The car b...
Winona Eads stood then too, awkwardly, her strangely skewed eyes looking at Phyllis's disappearing back longingly. The possibility of discovering what had really happened to Shayla Greenfree seemed to be dissolving, for all of Ivan's efforts. And possibly because of Yvette...
I let the breath out and pushed past Barbara, dropping to my knees beside the body. I grabbed Sheila’s wrist to feel for her pulse. The instant I touched her flesh, I knew I wouldn’t find one. Her body was too inert to be alive, her arm too heavy. But I desperately pressed my fingertips to her ra...
Even in the dark I could tell the figure in the doorway was menacingly tall and muscular. At least it couldn’t be Paul Beaumont. Paul was small and slender, the guy in the doorway was huge. He looked as big as my sweetie, Wayne. I centered myself and stepped cautiously forward until I was close e...
Woolsey demanded. Most of them, my mind responded. But I kept my mouth shut. No one, not even Felix, was the type to pull a practical joke this weird. “None of our friends or acquaintances pinned a trocar to our door,” Wayne answered clearly, his low voice sounding calmer than I was sure he was f...
I said. Wayne didn’t answer me. He was looking down at the table again. I felt my pulse pop into gear and accelerate. “But you didn’t kill her,” I stated again, loudly this time. “Right?” Wayne looked up at me, eyebrows raised. “You didn’t, did you?” I asked, an involuntary tremor creeping into m...
And to Barbara Kempster for sharing her expertise as a police dispatcher and former emergency medical technician. And to Eileen Ostrow Feldman, my intrepid first reader. I couldn’t have written this without you guys! Please note, any mistakes in these areas are due to the author’s fevered imagina...