Gray and Tim were helping Brendan at the barbecue pit. At a nearby picnic table, Ray and Emily were putting out a bunch of different salads. Janet and Tex were circulating with wine, beer and soft drinks.
“Okay, who wants a burger?” Brendan called.
“Me! Me!” Van and Violet screamed in unison, racing over to him.
“I don’t know how your sister and Ray manage those two,” said Aidan, laying his surfboard down on the sand next to Sofia and Jaxon. “I’m exhausted and they’re full of energy.”
“What are you telling us?” said Sofia. “That the Housewives’ Choice can’t keep up with a couple of kids?”
“The Housewives’ Choice has hung up his posing pouch,” said Aidan, sitting down.
“Wine for anyone?” asked Janet, holding up a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc.
Sofia tilted her empty cup in her mom’s direction. “So, I keep meaning to ask, how’s Marcie doing?” she said.
Janet grimaced.
“Please tell me Wade didn’t find out,” said Sofia. “Not after everything we went through.”
“No kidding. I’ve never known pain like that,” said Aidan, with a rueful glance down.
“No,” said Janet. “She found out about Wade.”
“What do you mean?” asked Jaxon.
“Well, it turns out that the whole time we were trying to save her marriage, Wade was having an affair with his partner.”
“The woman he worked with?” asked Aidan.
“No,” said Janet. “The guy he worked with.”
No one said anything to that. Not straight away anyway.
“Huh,” said Aidan eventually. “Didn’t see that coming.”
“Neither did Marcie,” said Janet.
“Wow, how’s she doing?” said Sofia. She couldn’t imagine how it felt to find out your husband was having an affair, never mind with a man.
“Remarkably well, I’d say,” said Janet. “Wade’s partner has moved in with them.”
“Whoa,” said Jaxon. “Every time I think Californians can’t get any weirder, they do.”
Aidan took a red Solo cup from a stack Janet was holding in her other hand. Janet poured some wine into it. Aidan raised it in a toast. “Here’s to the Golden State,” he said. “Long may it remain weird.”
“I guess it does keep us in business,” said Sofia, tapping her cup against his and looking out over the perfect sun-kissed beach below Nirvana Cove.
More Malibu Mystery Books
“A” IS FOR ACTRESS
After a decade spent in the glare of the Hollywood spotlight as the star of kids' TV show Half Pint Detective, Sofia Salgado has had enough. Desperate to build a life outside showbiz, she quits acting to do something that everyone around her - including her family - thinks is plain nuts. Get a real job.
They think she's even crazier when she announces that she's going to become a real detective, instead of playing one on TV. She's convinced the technical consultant from her TV show, Brendan Maloney, to take her on in his detective agency, but can accident-prone Sofia hack it?
“B” IS FOR BAD GIRLS
Sofia Salgado, is back on the case that turns into her mother's worst nightmare when she ends up undercover in one of Malibu's many rehab clinics.
If she doesn't solve the mystery in time, she and all the bad girls she meets inside, including rock star Brandi Basher and reality TV train wreck Monaco Jane might just end up going to the big rehab center in the sky.
“C” IS FOR COOCHY COO
Former child star Sofia Salgado is finding her feet as a trainee investigator at Malibu detective agency, Maloney Investigations, when a new case throws her, and everyone else at the agency, for a loop.
Maloney Investigations are drafted in to help thirteen-year-old Daniel find his birth father. There’s only one snag. According to Daniel’s mom, former Los Angeles party girl, Candy, there’s more than one candidate. A lot more!
“D” IS FOR DRUNK
Roll up your pant legs and bare your feet, there are barrels of grapes to crush in this hilarious fourth installment of the Malibu mystery series.
Maloney Investigation's new client? An eccentric vineyard owner convinced his even more eccentric neighbor is siphoning off his precious water.
But of course it's not as simple as that. Or as dignified.
“F” IS FOR FRED (Coming in 2018)
“G” IS FOR GROOVY (Coming in 2018)
Also by Rebecca Cantrell
The World Beneath
The Tesla Legacy
The Chemistry of Death
A Trace of Smoke
A Night of Long Knives
A Game of Lies
A City of Broken Glass
The Blood Gospel (with James Rollins)
Innocent Blood (with James Rollins)
Blood Infernal (with James Rollins)
iDrakula
iFrankenstein
Also by Sean Black
The Ryan Lock Series
Lockdown (Ryan Lock #1)
(US/Canada) (UK/ Commonwealth)
Deadlock (Ryan Lock #2)
(US/Canada) (UK/Commonwealth)
Lock & Load (Short)
Gridlock (Ryan Lock #3)
(US/Canada) (UK/Commonwealth)
The Devil’s Bounty (Ryan Lock #4)
(US/Canada) (UK/Commonwealth)
The Innocent (Ryan Lock #5)
Fire Point (Ryan Lock #6)
Budapest/48 (Short)
The Edge of Alone (Ryan Lock #7)
Second Chance (Ryan Lock #8)
4 Action-Packed Ryan Lock Thrillers: Lockdown; Deadlock; Gridlock (Ryan Lock Series Boxset Book 1) - (US & Canada only)
3 Action-Packed Ryan Lock Thrillers: The Devil's Bounty; The Innocent; Fire Point (Ryan Lock Series Boxset Book 2)
The Byron Tibor Series
Post (Byron Tibor #1)
Blood Country (Byron Tibor #2)
Winter’s Rage (Byron Tibor #3)
Malibu Mystery News
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Thanks for reading!
Rebecca & Sean
E is for Exposed Page 20