Pie A La Murder Read Online Free PDF

And don’t you have to buy tickets in advance?”
    “I go every year, but as soon as you told me about the daughter coming to town I bought two more tickets. She’ll have the excitement of seeing some famous faces, and I thought if she believed it was both our ideas it might help your relationship with her.”
    “That’s very generous of you, but I don’t want to buy her goodwill toward me.”
    “Don’t be silly. Stepparents do it all the time. Once Celeste gets to know you, she’ll love you for yourself, but there’s no reason not to use whatever we can to start things off on the right foot. Between Bill’s celebrity patients, our social life, and what I laughingly call my own career, I do have a few important contacts. Tomorrow, when we’re at the luncheon, I’ll introduce Celeste to some people who could help her. She might even”—Liddy made quote marks in the air—“ ‘be discovered’!”

    At my house, Liddy picked up her Range Rover and drove to her home in Beverly Hills, taking with her the big piece of apple pie I’d saved for Bill, her husband of twenty-plus years.
    Using the remote control clipped to my sun visor, I opened the garage to put my Jeep away and saw that the little red VW wasn’t there. It belonged to Eileen O’Hara, my semipermanent houseguest and partner in our walk-in and mail-order business, Della’s Sweet Dreams. Eileen had lived with me for much of her life, during her mother’s periods of mental illness. Now, thankfully, Shannon was on medication that kept her stable, but because Eileen and I worked together, Eileen still spent most nights at my house. I really hadn’t expected to see her car there; usually on Thursday evenings she did the inventory with our store’s manager and made up the list of what needed to be ordered.
    As usual, Tuffy and Emma were in the living room, waiting for me. I greeted them both with affectionate petting, and checked their food and water bowls to see what needed refilling. After changing into my “Tuffy-walking” shoes, fastening his leash to his collar, and slipping the house key, my cell phone, and plastic bags into my pockets, Tuffy and I went out into the crisp night air.
    While Tuffy decided which bush, tree, or patch of city grass was worthy of his attention, and I scooped up anything he deposited, I thought about Nicholas.
    When I first met him, Nicholas had been dating a succession of twenty-something blondes. Seeing Celeste tonight had been a bit of a shock because she was a slightly younger version of those young women he had dated. I wondered if he had been drawn to blondes before he and I fell in love because they resembled his ex-wife. Had he been trying to recapture what he’d lost? Liddy’s question, “Does he still have feelings for her?” came back to me.
    Inside my pocket, I felt my cell phone vibrate.
    Before I saw the caller ID I knew it was Nicholas.
    “Hey, babe. Where are you?”
    “Enjoying the night air.” I heard loud music in the distance behind his voice. “Where are you?”
    “In the parking lot outside Cuba Libre.”
    “Isn’t that a drink?”
    “We’re on the far side of the generation gap, honey. It’s a Latin dance club Celeste wanted to check out. I miss you.” He made his voice low and husky. “What are you wearing?”
    “What I usually wear when I walk Tuffy: a white seethrough nightie, black stockings, a garter belt, and stilettos.”
    “I wish I could rush right over.”
    “Me, too. How are things going with Celeste?”
    “She’s amazing, Del. Speaks four languages.” Pride warmed his voice. I imagined his full lips curling in a genuine smile. “It was a little awkward, because we don’t know each other. I wasn’t happy to find out she wants to be an actress, but she’s serious about it. She told me when they were living in London last year she studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. Probably the best drama school in the world. I would have preferred it if she wanted