Some Like It Haute: A Humorous Fashion Mystery (Style & Error Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page B

about that.
    There was a tap on the front door, and then Dante entered. He carried a bag from the grocery store. I pulled the comforter up around me.
    “You’re awake,” he said.
    “So I am.”
    “Are you hungry?” he asked. “I’ll make breakfast.” He held up the shopping bag. “Eggs and bacon okay with you?”
    “Sure.” Things were getting curiouser and curiouser. But I was already slightly down the rabbit hole. Why not get some bacon while I was there?
    I peeked under the sheet and saw that I’d slept in a T-shirt and sweatpants, neither of which were mine. I stood up and hopped across the cold hardwood floor to the bathroom. My dress, smelling faintly of wet ash, hung over the curtain rod. I found an empty hanger in Dante’s closet and hung the dress up, did other bathroom-type things, and rejoined him.
    The futon had been folded up, and a small table with a large plate of bacon and eggs sat on a table in front of it. There were forks poised on either side of the plate. Dante patted the seat next to him. Rocky and Bullwinkle filled the screen. I pinched a piece of bacon and ate it before sitting.
    “You should have told me about the attack,” he said.
    I figured we’d get around to this sooner or later. “I don’t always make the best decisions.”
    “That’s a very mature thing to admit.”
    I shrugged. I couldn’t really say anything else. My mouth was full.
    “I talked to my sister this morning.”
    “How is Cat?”
    “She’s great. She’s in Paris on a buying trip.” He continued. “She filled me in on your recent history. Helps explain last night.”
    Dante’s sister, Cat, traveled in the same fashion circles that I did. Our initial antagonistic relationship had morphed first into acquaintances and then into friendship. She knew about my employment issues since moving to Ribbon, about my frequent run-ins with the law, and about my recent breakup with Nick. If you needed gossip on me, she could give you the Cliff Notes version.
    “I don’t question the fact that you wanted to go to the show. It seems as though your ex and I have very different ideas on letting you live your life, regardless of what appears to be questionable judgment. But like I said, you should have told me.”
    “What did you expect me to say? Somebody put me in the hospital at a fashion show setup and now I need help figuring out who it was? You were going to pretend that was normal?”
    “You think asking me out on a date was normal?”
    “What’s so abnormal about that?”
    “You were set on fire outside of the show and there was a fire at the show tonight. Somebody put a lot of people in jeopardy. If you hadn’t been attacked, it might have seemed like an accident. But connect the two, and there’s forethought. Somebody intended to hit that show. That same somebody thinks you’re a threat.”
    It was true. Hearing him spell it out made it all the more real and all the more scary. I couldn’t pretend that everything was okay. I set the bacon back on the plate.
    “I keep trying to figure out what I know. Somebody attacked me. Me. Not anybody else connected to that show. All I’ve been doing for the past month is showing up at Warehouse Five to help Amanda get the show ready. I agreed to do it for reasons I don’t want to get into, it was important to me to fulfill my obligation and protect my reputation. I didn’t threaten anybody, I didn’t see anything shady, I didn’t have any confrontations. I was the perfect employee. And if you must know, Amanda basically fired me before I was attacked.”
    “That may all be true, but somebody still set the show on fire. What else do you remember about what happened?”
    “The warning. ‘Stay out of it’ What is ‘it?’ How can I stay out of ‘it’ if I don’t know what ‘it’ is?” I tried to stand, but doubled over as a flash of pain shot through my torso.
    “Slow down, Samantha. You might not be in the hospital anymore, but it’s going to take