Murder Is a Piece of Cake Read Online Free PDF

Lenore’s outrage was loud and clear. “What! You believe there’s an incompatibility
     with the Florida and Missouri concealed carry laws? I am in a building owned by my
     son and I was protecting both of us from a knife attack. That’s why I carry a gun—for
     protection. It’s my constitutional right.”
    The rumble was deeper and darker this time, a subterranean earthquake.
    “Of course I didn’t carry it on the plane in my purse,” Lenore said. “I don’t fly
     commercial. I came on my husband’s plane, and brought my weapon with me. Good thing
     I had it, too. If I’d waited for you to respond, that lunatic would have cut Ted’s
     throat. And I didn’t threaten that so-called bride. I saved her from a murder charge.
     I hope you’re locking her up for assault.”
    A soft rumble was cut short by Lenore’s clipped response. “What? Only if my son presses
     charges? Of course he will. And if he doesn’t, I will.”
    The rumble sounded more tentative now.
    “No, I wasn’t hurt,” Lenore said. “But I could have been. Really! If Ted doesn’t press
     charges, you can Baker Act her. You do know what that is, don’t you?”
    Another short rumble.
    “Missouri doesn’t have a Baker Act?” Lenore said. “Even this backwater must have a
     law so people who are a danger to themselves and others can be committed, whatever
     you call it. And that young woman qualifies as both! How long are you going to detain
     us? We’ll miss our luncheon reservation.”
    The next rumble sounded apologetic. Josie heard the exam room door close softly. When
     Officer Edelson knocked on Josie’s door, she felt absurdly relieved, like a patient
     waiting for a doctor.
    Edelson looked like a schoolboy who’d escaped expulsion with a stern lecture. Even
     his buzz cut seemed wilted. Josie was tempted to commiserate but decided he wouldn’t
     want to be reminded he’d been tongue-lashed by a sixty-two-year-old woman.
    Josie offered him her chair. “I prefer to stand, ma’am,” Edelson said. “State your
     name and address.”
    She told him, then added, “I’m engaged to Dr. Ted Scottsmeyer. Really engaged. He
     proposed to me in Tower Grove Park.”
    For a moment, she remembered the sunlit splendor of that fall day and her sheer happiness.
     Then she was back in the clinic exam room, staring at a plastic dog pelvis and wondering
     if Molly’s bizarre intrusion would wreck her future with Ted.
    “Do you work here at the clinic?” Edelson asked.
    “No, I’m a mystery shopper for Suttin Services, but I wasn’t working today. That’s
     how I met Molly Deaver. I mystery-shopped the store where she works. I gave her a
     good rating, too. She’s a good salesperson. She told me she was marrying a man named
     Ted. I had no idea she meant my fiancé. She must have something wrong with her.”
    Two can play that game, Josie thought.
    “I came here to watch Ted’s TV taping,” she said. “Then Ted and I planned to have
     lunch with my future mother-in-law.”
    An hour ago, Josie had dreaded that lunch. Now she longed to be sitting at the table
     with Lenore.
    “I got here just as that bride arrived in a Bentley,” Josie said. “It was surreal.
     She marched right inside with a huge bouquet and her dog in a basket. Kathy, the receptionist,
     tried to keep Molly out of the back room where Channel Seven was taping, but she forced
     her way in and made a scene.
    “And her dog bites, too,” Josie said. “She bit Ted’s cat, Marmalade.”
    “Does the cat need medical attention, ma’am?” Officer Edelson asked.
    “I don’t know,” Josie said. “Marmalade jumped off the exam table when you arrived.”
    She glanced through the exam room window. “That’s Marmalade, the orange cat under
     the table, curled up with the black Lab, Festus. The dog is also Ted’s. The cat is
     licking the Lab’s ear. That’s so cute.”
    “Ma’am,” the officer said. He was losing patience.
    “The cat seems fine,” Josie