Page 121 of Murder on Charity Lane

LILY-ANN

The scent of cinnamon swirled from Lily-Ann’s cappuccino as she settled on the sofa in front of her laptop. The cup warmed her in the chilly morning, though not as well as sharing a bed with Anthony had the previous night. He’d crawled in at two in the morning, freshly showered after work, smelling of rosemary-mint shampoo.

She’d climbed on top of him. She liked putting her palms on his broad chest and feeling his solidness. She liked that he thrilled to the fullness of her, the weight of her. In fact, she’d slept so well that she was almost late for her morning schedule. So she ignored the texts buzzing from the Marigold Cottages Murder Collective chat for a few hours, then made herself a second cappuccino and picked up her phone.

Ocean

Riley’s convinced CJ is guilty. She’s doing

her own investigational services

Nicholas

Investigational? Is that a word?

Not investigatory?

Sophie

Focus, Nico! Trying to solve a murder.

Hamilton

Are we calling Nicholas Nico now?

Nicholas

No.

Lily-Ann wrinkled her nose at the tangent.

Lily-Ann

Did Riley find any evidence?

Ocean

No. She just doesn’t think she’s

being framed

Nicholas

Also she’s protective of her mother

Sophie

Stop or you’ll make Ocean blush

Nicholas

Also that is ridiculous.

Nobody gets framed. C’mon

Lily-Ann jumped in to agree before anyone mentioned how they’d successfully framed her ex.

Lily-Ann