Bliss drew in a breath, and her cheeks turned even darker. “He left his desperately ill wife here to take the blame alone, while he went flying off with a bank account full of embezzled money, and he has the gall to try to ease his conscience with a letter?”
Her indignant voice had risen steadily, and the last word ended with a crescendo. Jesse was impressed. She didn’t think she had ever heard Bliss shout before. She’d seen her drunk, drugged and hysterical, but never quivering with outrage. It looked good on her.
Vivian pressed her shoulder to Jesse’s and dropped her voice to a murmur. “I told you she’d be okay. Girl’s got more moxie than she ever let herself show. She just needed to get rid of that damned husband of hers.”
“I still think it’s a little premature to be saying things like that out loud,” Jesse whispered back. “In fact, you should probably never say things like that out loud.”
“I’m not used to watching what I say,” Vivian answered with a frown. “I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t like it.”
“Well, how about if you just try it for a little while,” Jesse cajoled. “We’ll give it a time limit, and it will only apply to Harry. You can say anything you want about anything else, and then in, say, maybe a month you can go back to saying anything you want about Harry, too.”
Vivian made a face, her eyes narrowed in thought, her mouth pursed in distaste. “Well,” she responded finally, “they say learning new things is good for you as you grow older.” She slid her arm through Jesse’s and turned toward the study. “Can I talk about Bill instead? Because, boy, did that guy ever turn out to be a slimy bastard.”
She threw her free arm into the air in an expansive circle. “Come on, everybody. Let’s get this party started. Bliss is off the hook, and Jesselyn’s through having to play detective.”
“Until next time,” SueAnn added eagerly. “I had such fun! And I was just starting to get really good at it.”
“Until forever,” Jesse corrected. “There won’t be a next time.”
A surprisingly loud “aw-w-w” went up from the surrounding populace, causing her to stop and swing around. The first gaze she met was Matt’s, and he was staring back at her with a mutual horror frozen on his face.
“Never say never, dear.” Vivian patted the arm that was looped through her own. “It wouldn’t have to be a murder next time, you know.”
“I’m game,” Lindsey said. “It certainly didn’t hurt business at the Lily. As long as it’s something small where we don’t have a bunch of reporters hanging around.”
“Oh, now, really,” Sophia protested.
“Oh, yes, please.” SueAnn’s plea was accompanied by a seriously contorted face and hands clasped in supplication. “I’ll be so much better next time. I’ve already signed up for my first criminology course at school.”
“I really would like another shot at it,” Connie added, joining the chorus. “I barely had a chance to get out of the gate on this one.”
“I don’t think so,” Matt argued with the room in general and his wife in particular. He and Sophia exchanged a quick look of solidarity.
“Seriously?” Jesse asked. “We live in the middle of nowhere. How much crime do you think we’re going to encounter in the course of a year?”
Bliss cleared her throat, furrowed her brow and began hesitantly, “Well, I’m not taking sides here, but considering the amount of crime that surfaced while investigating what could have been dismissed as an accident if it had been planned better, I have to say that maybe there’s more out there than we think.” She shrugged then and fell silent.
Jesse looked around at the eager band of conspirators. More than fifty years separated the youngest from the oldest. Their professions spanned from waitress to heiress, artist to cook, from lives just beginning to lives starting over. They were friends and family, and they were bound by a common hope and the need to make a difference in their own lives as much as the others they touched.
With a short glance of apology to her mother and Matt, Jesse shrugged. “Okay, we won’t go looking for trouble, but if it finds us, I think we’ll know what to do with it next time.”
An enthusiastic shout of joy went up around her, and as she gave into the laughter that bubbled in the air, Jesse thought of Joe Tyler and hoped he would never know of this meeting. Which reminded her…
“By the way,” she said over the sounds of celebration, “we have to put in a flower bed for the Myrtle Grove town square.”
Bliss beamed. “Really? That’s wonderful. I’m not even going to ask how it happened.”
“I am,” Matt said.
“Don’t,” Jesse answered.
“I don’t do dirt,” Lindsey reminded her.
“You can help plan.”
“That’s okay,” Jesse said, refusing to worry about anything else today. “We’ll work it out.”
“Oh, my heavens,” SueAnn crooned. “Life is wonderful.”
Sophia moved next to Jesse and murmured, “Good plan, sweetheart. We’ll keep them too busy with the Garden Club to even think about murder.”
“I certainly hope so,” Jesse answered softly.
“Just remember,” Vivian insisted in a whisper, “it doesn’t have to be murder. We can start with missing dogs and wandering husbands and just see what life brings us.”
Which was exactly what Jesse was afraid of.
Dear Reader,
For more information on the Myrtle Grove Garden Club Mysteries, visit Loulou.
Website: http://loulouharrington.com
Blog: http://myrtlegrovemornings.wordpress.com
Where you’ll find—
● Stories and photos of the hills, lakes and lifestyle of the area.
● Background on the people and relationships that shape each book.
● Pictures of gardens of all types, wildlife, and gardening tips.
● Plus, featured and seasonal recipes from the Gilded Lily Tea Room and Coffee House.
You’ll also find contact information to let me know if you enjoyed Murder, Mayhem and Bliss. I hope you’ll let me hear from you. Until then, happy reading.
Loulou Harrington
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Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty