Cherry Cheesecake Murder Read Online Free PDF Page B

us don’t you understand?” Andrea retorted. And then she promptly burst into tears. It was obvious that it wasn’t for the first time that morning, because her eyelids were swollen and the tissue she pulled from her pocket was damp and bedraggled.
    Hannah turned to Tracey who, at almost six years of age, seemed to be the most rational person in the small family group. “What’s going on, Tracey?”
    “It’s not as bad as it sounds.” Tracey snagged a cookie from the plate and took a quick bite. “Daddy’s going to a conference in Miami, and Mommy’s all upset because she can’t go. It’s not like they’re getting a divorce, or anything like that.”
    “Well, that’s a relief!” Lisa said, giving Tracey a little hug as she passed out napkins and placed a box of tissues in front of Andrea. “What kind of conference is it?”
    “It’s about fitness in law enforcement,” Andrea answered the question. She still sounded stressed, but at least she’d stopped crying. “The only problem is, she’s going too!”
    “She who?” Hannah asked. She was almost certain there was a better and clearer way to ask the question, but she didn’t want to bother with that now.
    “They’ll pay for her, but they won’t pay for me!”
    “Her who?” Hannah asked again, changing the pronoun, but not the intent.
    Andrea turned to look at her oldest daughter. “Tracey? Why don’t you go…”
    “Away,” Tracey interrupted, picking up the glass of orange juice Lisa had poured for her and using a napkin to grab two more cookies. “I’ll just go have my breakfast in the coffee shop so you can tell Aunt Lisa and Aunt Hannah what I’m too young to hear. I can always ask Bethany what you said later.”
    Hannah burst out laughing and so did Lisa. A moment later, even Andrea ventured a small laugh.
    “That’s better,” Tracey said, looking proud. “I’ve been trying to get you to laugh ever since Daddy told you he was going.”
    Once the swinging door had closed behind Tracey, both Hannah and Lisa spoke up. “Who?” they both asked, within seconds of each other.
    Andrea stared at them for a moment and then she gave a giggle that sounded more than a little hysterical to Hannah. “You two sound like a flock of owls.”
    “Parliament,” Hannah corrected her. “A flock of owls is called a parliament, but that’s not really important. Who’s going to the fitness conference with Bill?”
    “Ronni Ward, that’s who! Remember when Bill hired her to hold exercise classes for the deputies?”
    “I remember.”
    “Well, her official title is fitness instructor and that means she’s qualified to go along, all expenses paid by the department.”
    Hannah reached out to pat her sister’s arm. She could understand why Andrea was upset. Escaping the frozen tundra for a tropical climate, all expenses paid, was a collective Lake Eden fantasy during the winter months.
    “The conference is in a hotel that’s right on the beach,” Andrea continued. “And you know what that means!”
    Hannah didn’t bother to respond since all three of them already knew that the beach meant bikinis and Ronni Ward was the three-time winner of the annual bikini contest. “But surely you don’t think that Bill…” Hannah stopped speaking as she read the look on her sister’s face. “Have some more chocolate. It’ll help.”
    “I know exactly how you feel,” Lisa said, pushing the plate of cookies closer to Andrea. “I’d feel the same way. But maybe Ronni will find a really handsome fitness instructor and they’ll…they’ll do exercises together, or something.”
    Andrea gave Lisa a halfhearted smile and Hannah could tell she wasn’t convinced. She took another cookie, though, and ate it before she spoke again. “It’s just making me a little crazy that I can’t go, that’s all. It’s so boring in Lake Eden this time of the winter.”
    Hannah exchanged glances with Lisa. “When is Bill leaving?”
    “The second week in