Peril for Your Thoughts (Mind Reader Mystery) Read Online Free PDF Page B

could. I truly believed everything happened for a reason. Maybe this mind-reading ability had happened to me at the perfect time. My best friend needed me, and I had access to information others didn’t. Whether it would be admissible in court, or even believable to the average person, didn’t matter. I would find a way around that. I wouldn’t stop until I found a way to clear my best friend’s name. I owed her that much. One thing was certain …
    I wouldn’t stop until I found the real killer.

C HAPTER 4
----
    “I don’t like her.” My mother rubbed her hands on her olive oil–splattered and spice-stained apron, having sampled most of the menu today alone. What could I say? My family liked to eat.
    “You don’t even know her, Ma.” I sighed, having a sinking feeling that tonight was going to be the longest dinner of my life.
    My new PR person for Interludes, Natasha Newlander, had called earlier, letting me know she had arrived in Clearview. We were supposed to meet for dinner to go over the promotion plan for my new Kalli Originals spring line. Of all the restaurants she could pick, she had to choose my parents’ place, Aphrodite. The goddess of love, beauty, and all things Greek filled every inch of space, with plenty of marble statues scattered about just short of overkill.
    Ophelia Ballas squinted her dark-brown eyes and stared at the overly thin woman who was fashionably late and had made my cousin Eleni seat her at three different tables until she was satisfied. Strike one. She wore her short-cropped dark-red hair slicked back in a sleek style that somehow matched her perfectly tailored purple suit and four-inch heels. Apparently purple was the new “it” color. The woman couldn’t be more than five feet tall and looked as though she hadn’t had a decent meal in weeks. Strike two. Things were not looking good. If she reached strike three, there was no telling what my family would do.
    “Oh, I know her, all right,” my mother said, her Greek accent growing thicker with her irritation. “She’s from that big fancy city that put stars in your eyes, but her kind are no good I tell you. They come in here thinking they are better than the rest of us with their expensive clothes and fat wallets.”
    “She chose your restaurant, so she must have good taste. She can’t be all that bad, right?” Flattery was my only hope of salvaging the evening that had barely started. “All I’m asking is that you give her a chance.”
    My mother’s scowl diminished slightly as she squared her shoulders with pride. Other than me, Aphrodite was the apple of my parents’ eyes. Their firstborn. Something they’d actually birthed on their own. “Well, who wouldn’t like Aphrodite with her beautiful Greek culture on display and food prepared with skill and pride.” My mother’s scowl was back. “If that pointy-nosed bird only orders a salad, I’m throwing her out. Who eats this late at night, anyway? Most people around here are finishing dessert and heading home.”
    “Things are different in the city, Ma. Most people from there are just getting started as you’re heading to bed.”
    “No wonder she can’t eat. That’s horrible for your digestion, and just one more reason why you should never move away from home. That city is not good for you.”
    “I’m not moving there, my designs are. At most I’ll make an occasional trip for business, so you can relax.” I patted her shoulder. It was the closest to a hug I could get.
    Her expression softened. “I’ll relax when you stop hanging around with troublemakers. First, that hussy you work with scandalized everyone with being involved in murder.”
    “Allegedly involved.”
    “Same difference.”
    “Not really.”
    She went on as though I hadn’t even spoken. “Then you start fraternizing with a woman who wants to starve you and take you away from me.”
    “She’s not taking me away from you. She’s helping me launch my new line.”
    “That’s