“You’re right. He didn’t kill Penny’s husband,” Mrs. Haggerty conceded. “But you didn’t know that when you went storming off to her house. You went because you believed the accusations against himcouldbe true. You don’t trust that man, you never have. Because he never earned it. And he’s made you doubt the only people in your life you shouldn’t. So tell me, whose good name are you so desperate to protect—Steven’s or your own?” Mrs. Haggerty fixed me with a piercing stare. It was the first time I had looked at the woman and known with complete certainty she was seeing me clearly. That she knew I was hiding secrets, too.
“If I had knownyoumurdered Gilford, I never would have let you move into my house!”
Mrs. Haggerty sighed and shook her head. “This is not how our book club meeting was supposed to go. Frankly, I’m not sure what we’re going to do now.”
“We have to take a vote,” Lola said. “Those are the rules.”
“I know the rules,” Mrs. Haggerty fired back. “I was there when we wrote them. But before we vote on anything, we’re supposed todiscussit. And it seems we all have some discussing to do.” Mrs. Haggerty turned to us and planted her bony hands on her hips. “Why don’t you two tell us how much you saw before you followed us here.”
“Nothing!” Vero said, shaking her head emphatically. “We saw absolutely nothing. Right, Finlay? And we didn’t follow you. Tell them we didn’t follow them, Finlay.”
Vero’s phone buzzed in Lola’s hand. She narrowed her eyes at the screen.
“What’s wrong?” Birdie asked.
The buzzing continued with a relentless frequency. Lola grimaced as she read. “Someone named Cam is blowing up her phone. He says he knew all along she wanted the eggplant. He says his eggplant is too good for her. That it will never belong to her and he’ll make her regret she ever touched it.” Vero and I exchanged a look while the women’s faces puckered with disgust. Cam must have put a tracer on the Lincoln. He must have realized that Vero’s phone was in the same location as the car, and he assumed she took it.
“He sounds like a disgusting jerk,” Birdie said.
“If we get rid of the eggplant guy for them, maybe they’ll swear not to tell anyone what they saw tonight,” Gita suggested. “We can make them part of the club.”
“It’s not a bad idea,” Kathy agreed.
Destiny checked her watch. “Maybe my sitter can stay for a few more hours.”
I tried to get up but I was tied to the chair. “No one’s killing the eggplant guy! He’s practically a child!”
The horrified women gawked at Vero.
“I didn’t touch his eggplant!” she cried. “It belongs to Mrs. Haggerty!”
Mrs. Haggerty smacked the table. “Forget all that nonsense. We have far more pressing problems to deal with.”
“Um… Guys?” Everyone turned to Destiny as she scrolledfrantically through my phone. “Finlay texted our location to someone named Nick. It looks like he’ll be here any minute.”
“Oh, dear,” Mrs. Haggerty said. “That’s a shame. I liked that one. He always did smell nice.”
“Who’s Nick?” Birdie asked.
“He’s a detective,” Mrs. Haggerty said, rising stiffly from her chair.
A wave of panic rippled through the room. Sally’s lower lip began to tremble.
“What do we do?” Destiny asked.
Birdie peeped through the curtains toward the road. “I say we shoot him.”
“No!” I wrenched my wrists and bounced in my chair. “That would be a very bad idea!”
“A very,verybad idea! He’s a really good cop!” Vero called out over the women as they started to argue. “The best! He’s like John McClane inDie Hard,but with better hair. And a lot more backup!”
I shook my head and whispered to Vero, “I made him promise to come alone.”
“What were you thinking!” she cried.
“You were the one who said I was stupid for calling him!”
Viola grabbed her rifle and shoved Kathy and Birdie toward the door. “Put Robert under the porch. The rest of us will deal with the cop.”
