Page 123 of Murder on Charity Lane

Hamilton

I just googled. They are similar

though lawn bowling uses ovoid

balls and a longer green. Bocce

spherical balls and shorter.

Anthony

Yes.

Sophia

Thanks, Anthony! Sweet that you

remembered.

Anthony

Happy to hop.

Hop

Help

Nicholas

Is anyone else concerned that

Lily-Ann broke Anthony?

Anthony responded with a shockingly fast middle-finger emoji.

Lily-Ann laughed and went into her bedroom where she found Anthony sitting against her headboard, her duvet bunched around his waist.

“Did I break you?” she asked.

“Into a thousand pieces,” he told her.

She simply stood there, because the tone of his voice or the gleam in his eyes almost made her blush. He kissed her goodbye, then headed to his studio for his weights.

Lily-Ann reapplied her makeup. She used sharp contour under her cheekbones and along her chin line. She didn’t want to look good; she wanted to look intense. Well, more intense. She was aware that most people wouldn’t call her easy, but she still liked to reinforce that impression on the days she worked at the office. That way, her boss was happier to let her work remotely.

She left her cottage and got halfway to her car before she caught sight of CJ standing in the shade of the hedge. She only noticed because that was the one place on the property that every other resident avoided: the spot where Sophie had found James Dedrick’s body.

CJ was hunched over her phone, listening intently. She looked so tense that Lily-Ann wanted to imagine that she’d stumbled into a vital clue, though she knew CJ was probably just struggling to hear the automated voice of a utility company.

As CJ looked toward the street, her gaze swept past Lily-Ann, then returned with jagged surprise.

“Are you okay?” Lily-Ann asked, digging into her store of small talk.

“Yeah, thanks.” CJ showed her tight smile. “I just, uh…”

She gestured vaguely, then bustled down the front steps without another word.

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