4 Arch Enemy of Murder Read Online Free PDF Page B

from town for her to walk, so after the line of arriving vehicles came to an end, she pulled out her phone and called her grandfather to pick her up.
     
    “You look a little green around the gills, Granddaughter,” were her grandfather’s opening words.
     
    “I feel it. That was…” she shuddered, unable to find an adjective dire enough for what she was thinking.
     
    “The good news is that it’s your grandmother’s turn to host the meeting of the Constant Complainer’s Club at the house tonight, so there’s that to look forward to.”
     
    Lacy groaned. Her grandmother and her group met once a month as their own sort of town beautification committee. They fancied themselves on par with the Kiwanis or Rotary Club, but her grandpa’s description wasn’t far off. Most meetings deteriorated to a gripe session as all the ladies except her grandmother picked apart everything and everyone. As always, Lucinda remained the sole voice of kindness, trying valiantly to steer the topic back to pleasantry whenever it strayed. At the start of the meetings, she was able to keep everyone on target, but by the end the women turned snarky and Lucinda retreated to the safety of the kitchen to serve refreshments. Lacy had no idea what her grandmother saw in her friends. Either beauty was in the eye of the beholder, or she felt like she was too old to make new ones. Ever since Tom Middleton came into her life, though, her contact with the group had become fewer and farther between. Lacy couldn’t decide if it was the natural course of events or because the other women were jealous.
     
    Lacy smiled at the thought that her grandfather was considered a catch, and then smiled harder at the thought that her grandmother had caught him. Her plump, staid grandmother wasn’t the most attractive of her group of friends, but she had the kindest, purest heart of anyone Lacy knew. Lacy was thankful that, in the end, that was what counted most.
     
    “Are you going to be there?” Lacy asked.
     
    Her grandfather snorted and looked at her askance. “Good one. I wouldn’t be caught in that pit of vipers without a net and a dart gun. I suggest you get out while you can.”
     
    “I can’t,” Lacy said. “What will become of Sean?” Sean was Gladys’s grandson. After a horrible separation and divorce, his self-absorbed parents had dumped him on his grandmother full-time while they worked on finding themselves. He was lonely and gawky, and Lacy adored him. When the monthly gripe sessions were held at Lucinda or Gladys’s house, Lacy and Sean spent their time catching up on his English homework. He was a math whiz, but literature was another story. And since literature had been Lacy’s best subject, she was a natural choice for his tutor.
     
    Mr. Middleton clucked his tongue. “That boy’s parents should have stayed together. They deserve each other’s stupidity and selfishness.”
     
    Lacy couldn’t agree more. She had met his parents once. His father hit on her when he thought his wife wasn’t looking. And now Sean was stuck with Gladys and her plastic-covered furniture. She was doing her best, but she was too old to parent a teenage boy. Sean had confessed to Lacy that she put a plastic cover on his mattress “in case of accidents.” Lacy and Tosh had taken up the slack, lavishing special time and attention on the kid whose pain was palpable.
     
    “What did Grandma bake?” Lacy asked. If her grandmother was having guests, then she would have baked more than normal.
     
    “The cream-filled chocolate cupcakes you like so much.”
     
    Lacy perked up as the day suddenly looked a little brighter. “Really?”
     
    He nodded. “And she baked double so in case the crones ate them all there would be enough left for you.”
     
    “I love that woman,” Lacy declared.
     
    “So do I,” Mr. Middleton agreed, and they shared a smile.
     
    He dropped her at home, and she changed her clothes in preparation of Sean’s arrival.