Fanny Packs and Foul Play (A Haley Randolph Mystery) Read Online Free PDF

worked with them prepping
the Thanksgiving feast I could see how much they loved each other.
And beyond that, they made a great team working side by side at
Pammy Candy.
    Then an ugly image flashed in my mind.
Veronica, distraught and desperate, standing at the glass sliding
doors in the master suite of that beautiful mansion, then charging
across the balcony, hurling herself over the railing.
    Could she really have done that? Could she
have killed herself, as Julia had said?
    True, Veronica’s life had taken a major turn,
and I could see where she might have been overwhelmed by the move,
the new house, the business, new friends and family. Trying to fit
in when her background was so different wouldn’t have been
easy.
    Could Andrea, as Veronica’s personal
assistant, been so wrong about her and her relationship with
Patrick? Was Julia right and she had been planning to go back home
with her family, leave Patrick and everything they’d built? Had
Veronica been too unhappy and upset to tell Patrick how she
felt?
    I didn’t like any of those thoughts or images
swirling around in my head, so I pushed them out. They might be for
nothing, anyway, once the police completed their investigation.
Maybe it had been a horrible accident, after all.
    No matter what, I figured the Thanksgiving
Day feast I’d been putting together for the employees of Pammy
Candy was off. Maybe Patrick would want me to plan a memorial
service instead.
    Not a great feeling.
    My office phone rang. Mindy was calling. I
mentally repeated my be-nicer vow and answered.
    “Hello? Hello? Is this the accounting
department?” Mindy asked.
    “No, it’s not,” I said—pleasantly, under the
circumstances.
    “Haley, is that you?” Mindy giggled. “Oh,
jiminy, are you in accounting now?”
    “No,” I said.
    “That’s too bad,” Mindy said. “You’d make a
terrific accountant.”
    Good grief.
    “Bye, Mindy,” I said.
    “Oh, wait,” she said. “Haley, you have a
call—no, you have a client. Yes, client. A client who called, then
came by—no, a client who came by, then called—”
    I hung up—which was the nicest thing I could
do.
    I had no idea if a client was in the office
or on the phone, so I sat there for a minute in case Mindy
transferred a call. She didn’t, but given her prowess with our
phone system—thank God she wasn’t working in a missile silo—that
didn’t necessarily mean anything.
    I gave it a couple more minutes, then decided
there was a real possibility that a client of mine had showed up
without an appointment and was waiting for me in one of the
interview rooms. I grabbed a new event portfolio from my desk
drawer—I always look smart when I carry it—and headed down the
hallway.
    All the interview rooms were empty, except
one, and—oh my God, who was that guy?
    I froze in the doorway. I couldn’t move,
couldn’t think. My heart raced and I felt all jittery inside.
    The man seated in front of the desk was
handsome—I mean, really handsome. His hair was somewhere between
light brown and blonde, combed carefully into place. He had on a
very expensive dark suit, a snowy white shirt, and a gray necktie.
Even seated I could see he was tall and that he worked out
regularly. I figured him for early thirties.
    He spotted me and rose from his chair. “Miss
Randolph?”
    Oh my God, he had the most gorgeous green
eyes I’d ever seen in my entire life.
    I fought off the I’m-fifteen-again urge to
giggle, play with my hair, and act like a complete idiot—not easy,
but I pulled it off.
    Oh, please, let me have pulled that off.
    “Yes,” I said, and walked into the room.
    He extended his hand and we shook—and all
sorts of crazy heat raced up my arm.
    “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said. “I’m
Liam Douglas.”
    Oh my God, he had a fabulous name. He was
tall and sturdy, but long limbed and athletic, like he could morph
into a Marvel superhero at any moment.
    “I’m glad I could finally catch you,”