Camilla T. Crespi - The Breakfast Club Murder Read Online Free PDF Page B

at a backpack full of explosives. But what could he do with all his fancy Park Avenue friends there, throw me out? I’m getting thirsty. Do I deserve a beer or what?”
    “No, you don’t, but I’ll get you one out of the goodness of my heart.”
    “Now, mind you,” Ellie said, after ignoring the glass Lori had put on the table and swigging directly from the beer bottle. “I did dress great, didn’t want to shame Jess. I wore a Loehman’s designer room outfit. Green, with sequins. Pricey, but I can always wear it when you get married again.”
    “Never!”
    Ellie tapped her watch. “Oven time. Don’t drop the lasagna, okay? And make sure the oven door is shut tight or else it doesn’t heat good. Got the plastic bags off?”
    Lori slipped the lasagna into the oven. Ellie needed to hear the sound of her own voice to make sure she was still going strong.
    “Twenty minutes now, no more.” Ellie twisted around to watch Lori. “So I’ll wear the outfit at Jessica’s wedding. Anyway, Jess said I looked like a queen.”
    Lori threw the oven mitts on the kitchen counter. She turned to face her mother. “Go on.”
    Ellie filled her in with great gusto. “The wedding and reception were at the Central Park Boathouse. Flowers to make a funeral home proud. And they had the gall to serve the bloated livers of I don’t know how many poor tortured geese and so much bloody meat I thought I’d walked onto the set of Pulp Fiction. There was enough champagne to fill the lake. They’re all going to get cancer or end up in AA. I was too disgusted to stay for dinner. Valerie wore a strapless Vera Wang and her shoulder blades stuck out like chicken wings and you’ll be happy to know her French twist collapsed in the middle of the ceremony. A hairpin got stuck to her veil. Now, our Jessie,” Ellie lifted her hefty chest with pride. “She looked like a movie star in her Vera Wang. Just gorgeous. You’re going to have to peel the boys off her in a year or two. Rob looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks. I’m telling you, Loretta, he’s regretting it. I know he’s going to come crawling back in six months.”
    “You don’t expect me to take him back?”
    “He’s Jessica’s father. He’s a good provider and you’re not getting any younger. In my day, just one of those would be enough to make a wife swallow her pride and let the man into her bed again.”
    “A hell of a lot more than my pride is involved here.”
    Ellie shrugged. “Maybe.”
    “Rob thinks someone tried to kill him two nights ago.” Lori didn’t know why she was telling her mother this.
    “Did you?”
    “Mom!”
    “You could have hired someone.” Ellie thought for a moment, then shook her head. “Naw, never believe a lawyer. He’s coming back. Mark my words.”
    When Lori saw Rob at the airport, there had been a fleeting moment when she thought: he’s back, he didn’t marry the dentist. She had denied that thought until now. Could she take him back for Jessica’s sake? Love him? It had to be too late for that. No, if she still dreamed of getting him back, it was probably for the satisfaction of turning him away.
    “Mom, I’ve heard enough. Thanks. Now tell me about the house key.”
    Ellie looked at her wristwatch, a man’s Timex that had miraculously stayed intact when her husband fell off the roof of their house while replacing some shingles, dying on impact. Lori had been eight at the time. “Ten more minutes for the lasagna.” She looked up at her daughter. “Yes, I have a key to your house. I snitched Rob’s when you told me he was divorcing you. They were lying on the front table for anybody to take. I said I had to go to the drugstore and quick as a wink I got a copy made. What if you fall down the stairs or slip in the bathtub and lie there comatose? Jess is a teenager, she’s going to be off with her friends. You want some stranger to break down the door, smash the windows? You call me and I come help you.”
    “I’ll call