“Unbelievable. Shy, sweet Peter Delacroix. What’s going to happen to him this time?”
“The DA has agreed to prosecute him. He’s about to get his politically well-connected ass fried.”
“Senator Mom notwithstanding?”
“You got it.”
I drove home through the main street of Landry, then past the police station, hoping to spot Joe’s car. I hoped we could talk. But his car was nowhere in sight.
Sadie Hawkins was out of town visiting her son, and I faced the prospect of celebrating my new job alone. The sun was setting and the sky looked as if it was on fire. The buildings and houses of Landry were bathed in peach-colored light. Our wide open sky in late summer and early fall provided amazing sunsets that guaranteed I would never leave, even if I ended up living in Nevada as a solitary single woman.
By the time I pulled into my driveway, the sun had gone down, leaving behind a scrim of blue and purple. Charlie greeted me at the door. I was standing by the sink, opening a can of dog food and looking out at my backyard when I heard a familiar sound. Joe’s car in the driveway.
I gave Charlie his food and waited. Then I couldn’t stand it a moment longer. We had to make up from our quarrel.
I pushed open the kitchen door and almost hit Joe, who was coming in with a large carton in his arms. He put the carton down on the butcher-block island in the center of the kitchen. He took me in his arms. “Congratulations, sweetheart. I knew you were going to get that job.”
“How’d you find out?”
“Your message. Besides, it’s all over town. Nell told Wynan who told Norm, who...” I stopped him with my mouth and we lingered there.
There were no apologies. That was Joe. And no, we were not going to talk about his earlier angry remarks. Not yet.
I looked in the carton. Joe’s enormous soup pot was nestled next to his favorite cast iron skillet, items he sometimes brought over to cook at my house, but items he always took back to his apartment. Precious possessions. Upright and next to the pot was a leather case that I knew was filled with his extra sharp chef’s knives.
Joe removed the skillet from the carton and began to wander around the kitchen. “I’m wondering where to hang this,” he said, his eyes roaming the walls.
“And I’ll need part of that lower cupboard for the soup pot.”
I had a steel rack with hooks over the sink. Joe removed an old fry pan of mine and put up his cast-iron treasure. He went back to the carton and pulled out a special knife rack. He held it against the wall near the sink where I assumed he wanted to install it.
I stifled the temptation to applaud. “If you leave this stuff here, how are you going to cook at your place?”
Joe shrugged. “I’m not. I figure with the demands of your new job, I’ll be doing all my cooking here from now on.” Charlie let out a low groan of delight. Never doubt that dogs understand English.
Joe headed back to the open kitchen door.
“Now what?” I asked.
“My clothes.”
I knelt down and pretended to shift pots in the lower cupboard. Then I stopped, closed my eyes and put my hands over my mouth, trying hard to conceal a triumphant grin.
About the Author
Bourne Morris began writing at Bennington College where she studied under the late poet laureate, Howard Nemerov. After college, she worked at McCall’s Magazine and then went to Ogilvy&Mather, New York during the “Mad Men” era. David Ogilvy and his colleagues treated her wonderfully, promoted her several times and then sent her west to become head of their agency in Los Angeles. She had a splendid run in advertising.
In 1983, she joined the University of Nevada Reno as a full professor in Journalism where she taught until 2009. She learned about campus politics when she served as chair of the faculty senate. She retired to write mysteries in 2009 after an equally wonderful teaching career.
In Case You Missed the 1st Book in the Series
THE RED QUEEN’S RUN
Bourne Morris
A Meredith Solaris Mystery (#1)
A famous journalism dean is found dead at the bottom of a stairwell. Accident or murder? The police suspect members of the faculty who had engaged in fierce quarrels with the dean—distinguished scholars who were known to attack the dean like brutal schoolyard bullies. When Meredith “Red” Solaris is appointed interim dean, the faculty suspects are furious.
Will the beautiful red-haired professor be next? The case detective tries to protect her as he heads the investigation, but incoming threats lead him to believe Red’s the next target for death.
Read all about it at www.henerypress.com
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Henery Press Mystery Books
And finally, before you go...
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SHADOW OF DOUBT
Nancy Cole Silverman
A Carol Childs Mystery (#1)
When a top Hollywood Agent is found poisoned in the bathtub of her home suspicion quickly turns to one of her two nieces. But Carol Childs, a reporter for a local talk radio station doesn’t believe it. The suspect is her neighbor and friend, and also her primary source for insider industry news. When a media frenzy pits one niece against the other—and the body count starts to rise—Carol knows she must save her friend from being tried in courts of public opinion.
But even the most seasoned reporter can be surprised, and when a Hollywood psychic shows up in Carol’s studio one night and warns her there will be more deaths, things take an unexpected turn. Suddenly nobody is above suspicion. Carol must challenge both her friendship and the facts, and the only thing she knows for certain is the killer is still out there and the closer she gets to the truth, the more danger she’s in.
Read all about it at www.henerypress.com
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A Zoe Chambers Mystery (#1)
Zoe Chambers, paramedic and deputy coroner in rural Pennsylvania’s tight-knit Vance Township, has been privy to a number of local secrets over the years, some of them her own. But secrets become explosive when a dead body is found in the Township Board President’s abandoned car.
As a January blizzard rages, Zoe and Police Chief Pete Adams launch a desperate search for the killer, even if it means uncovering secrets that could not only destroy Zoe and Pete, but also those closest to them.
Read all about it at www.henerypress.com
KILLER IMAGE
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An Allison Campbell Mystery (#1)
As Philadelphia’s premier image consultant, Allison Campbell helps others reinvent themselves, but her most successful transformation was her own after a scandal nearly ruined her. Now she moves in a world of powerful executives, wealthy, eccentric ex-wives and twisted ethics.
When Allison’s latest Main Line client, the fifteen-year-old Goth daughter of a White House hopeful, is accused of the ritualistic murder of a local divorce attorney, Allison fights to prove her client’s innocence when no one else will. But unraveling the truth brings specters from her own past. And in a place where image is everything, the ability to distinguish what’s real from the facade may be the only thing that keeps Allison alive.
Read all about it at www.henerypress.com
WHEN LIES CRUMBLE
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A Carter Mays Mystery (#1)
Chicago PI Carter Mays is thrust into a house of lies when local rich girl Cindy Bedford hires him. Turns out her fiancé failed to show up on their wedding d
ay, the same day millions of dollars are stolen from her father’s company. While Carter takes the case, Cindy’s father tries to find him his own way. With nasty secrets, hidden finances, and a trail of revenge, it’s soon apparent no one is who they say they are.
Carter searches for the truth, but the situation grows more volatile as panic collides with vulnerability. Broken relationships and blurred loyalties turn deadly, fueled by past offenses and present vendettas in a quest to reveal the truth behind the lies before no one, including Carter, gets out alive.
Read all about it at www.henerypress.com
DEATH BY BLUE WATER
Kait Carson
A Hayden Kent Mystery (#1)
Paralegal Hayden Kent knows first-hand that life in the Florida Keys can change from perfect to perilous in a heartbeat. When she discovers a man’s body at 120’ beneath the sea, she thinks she is witness to a tragic accident. She becomes the prime suspect when the victim is revealed to be the brother of the man who recently jilted her, and she has no alibi. A migraine stole Hayden’s memory of the night of the death.
As the evidence mounts, she joins forces with an Officer Janice Kirby. Together the two women follow the clues that uncover criminal activities at the highest levels and put Hayden’s life in jeopardy while she fights to stay free.
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The Rise of the Red Queen Page 23