"I couldn't believe it when my dad told me. And the police don't seem to be much further."
Louisa had just returned to overhear this last sentence. Her smile slipped.
“It was an accident,” one of the garden club ladies insisted. “Everyone knows that.”
"The police are working every angle and following every clue,” Louisa said.
“I bet," I muttered. "I'm quite sure that they will listen to every snippet of gossip that comes their way."
Did her face grow pink? I didn’t look, but I assumed so.
Linda dropped her fork. Mimi shot us a startled gaze. "Let's not talk about these unpleasant things," she said, signaling toward me. Mimi was trying to spare me because of the things being said about my aunt.
I gave her a grateful nod. She couldn't know that the last thing I wanted was for the chatter about the murders to stop. Every little bit of information might be the one thing that helped put all the puzzle pieces into place.
But I was out of luck.
For tonight, the bowling match was all that mattered to the rest of them. That, and a little bit of showing off, I thought, when I noticed Ange looking at Linda and giggling. "That woman hasn't had an original thought in 20 years—down to copying Mimi's perfume and Reina's manicure,” she whispered to me.
The Badger Belles lost the match by two points.
It didn't matter, at least not to me.
For the last half hour of the game, when everything was still in play, and Ange managed another strike, I had forgotten all my worries. I was so caught up in cheering, laughing, andwaiting for the pins to drop that it felt as if all my worries—and the investigation—were just a tiny niggle. Nothing mattered but being here with my friends.
We'd all called it a night but I still basked in that warm, fuzzy feeling when I returned home. I sang under my breath as I reached my room.
Cosmo was already asleep, which meant no more discussions, no more brain-wracking thoughts. Everything could be shelved until the morning.
I woke up to the sound of rain lashing against the windows. The shutters rattled, and Cosmo's fur bristled as he stretched.
"Good morning, sleepyhead," I said.
He glanced at me but, for once, was silent.
Thunder growled. His fur bristled even more.
"You're not afraid of a little thunderstorm, are you?"
He turned his back to me.
"We all have weaknesses."
"It's giving me a headache," he said.
"Oh. Do I need to take you to the vet?"
He growled. "A nap will do."
I felt sorry for the little guy. I'd never seen Cosmo admit to any weakness since he started talking to me. It must really hurt his pride.
"You take your time, and I’ll prepare your breakfast. Your usual, all right?"
The poor cat twitched with every rumble in the sky.
Yet, he devoured a can of tuna with a healthy appetite.
"You are pretty chipper this morning," he observed.
