Death Pays a Visit (A Myrtle Clover Mystery Book 7) Read Online Free PDF Page B

it’s good. Much better, in fact, than what I made for myself for lunch yesterday.”
    “Don’t be hasty. It’s not really fair to judge a hot lunch against a pitiful cheese sandwich or whatever you made for yourself yesterday.”
    “It was a salad with vegetables from my own garden,” said Miles rather indignantly.
    A lady next to Miles beamed at him, giving a flutter of her eyelashes. “Do you really grow your own vegetables? I really do admire a man for living off the land.”
    Myrtle snorted. “Miles lives off the Piggly Wiggly grocery store. And then accents that food with tomatoes grown in his small garden.” This lunch was getting to be irritating, although Miles seemed pleased.
    “Have we seen you here before?” asked the lady next to Miles, completely ignoring Myrtle’s presence.
    Miles opened his mouth to answer but Myrtle quickly said, “Actually, we’re here to visit a friend of ours who hasn’t apparently made it to the dining room yet. Ruby Sims. I might be on a reconnaissance mission, myself—checking the place out to see if it might make a suitable future home.”
    She was surprised at how glibly the words came out, especially since they were complete lies. Miles gave her an admiring look at the smoothness in which she delivered the falsehoods.
    The woman sitting next to Myrtle hadn’t yet uttered a word, instead, continued eating her roast pork and studying her intently. She had sharp features that were carefully outlined in various earth-colored makeup. She wasn’t unattractive, just hard looking. She wore clanking jewelry and a turquoise top with well-ironed white linen pants.
    “Is something wrong?” asked Myrtle with some irritation. It was no fun to be so blatantly stared at.

Chapter Four
    “Did you teach me?” asked the old woman, narrowing her eyes. “English? In high school?”
    “Surely not,” snapped Myrtle, feeling a rising horror that she might have taught someone who appeared nearly as old as she was.
    Miles started choking on his chicken and Myrtle pounded on his back. He hastily sipped his iced tea until the coughing spell subsided. The entire time, the old woman continued staring at her.
    “I was Inez Bridgebane,” she said. “Now I’m Inez Wilson. And I’m positive you taught me. Miss Towers, wasn’t it? I never forget a face. Never.”
    Myrtle sighed. “Yes, that was my maiden name. I suppose I did teach you. But it must have been early in my career—I’m not that old. I did start out as a substitute for a pregnant teacher and finished the year out for her. That probably was when you had me. I was barely older than my students that year.”
    Inez just gave her a smirking smile and didn’t answer.
    The woman sitting next to Miles tried to enter the conversation again. “So y’all are here visiting! How nice. Are you…siblings?” she asked hopefully.
    Miles said, “No. We’re not related … we’re friends.”
    The women at the table looked back and forth between Miles and Myrtle as if trying to figure out what friends might entail. Apparently, the woman next to Miles decided to accept it at face value. She said, “How nice!” and beamed at Miles in an encouraging manner.
    “So, you’re visiting Ruby?” asked Inez.
    “That’s right,” said Myrtle. She tried a bit of her broccoli casserole. Not bad. She scooped up a larger portion.
    “Funny Ruby didn’t mention that,” said Inez.
    Myrtle got the impression that Inez was the kind of person who enjoyed a lot of drama. And, lacking drama, might be the type to generate some herself.
    “You’re friends with Ruby?” asked Miles quickly. He appeared to be both attempting to deflect attention from Inez’s question and attention away from himself.
    Inez’s face muscles tightened up. It was clear that Miles hadn’t won Inez over. Although the other women at the table were hanging on every word that was coming out of Miles’s mouth.
    “I live on her hall and spend maybe more time with her than