Page 148 of Murder on Charity Lane

Lily-Ann started stripping thyme leaves from the stalks. “Why not?”

“She’s too full of herself. She knows she deserved the award, so there’s…” She paused. “Riley just texted me. Shit. She sent a photo. She stole a key and searched CJ’s cottage. She found a note CJ wrote. I’ll forward the file, hold on. The note says, ‘I’m so sorry. Guilt is a nightmare. I can’t continue.’”

“Well, that sounds incriminating,” Lily-Ann said, and her phone buzzed. “Wait, I just got it.”

“Riley’s afraid to tell her mom.”

Pinch-zooming her screen, she inspected the handwritten note. Ten words on a sliver of awkwardly ripped notebook paper. “Huh. Brief.”

“I’m not sure there’s a minimum length for suicide notes, Lily-Ann.”

“Messy, too.”

“Riley is freaking out. Hold on. Uh, she says she went downtown to avoid her mom. She wants us to tell her.”

“Hm,” Lily-Ann said, then finished stripping the thyme.

After ten or fifteen seconds of silence, Sophie said, “Lily-Ann?”

“Text her that I’ll take care of it. Then call her, don’t text, and tell her that she was actually in CJ’s cottage to feed the birds. That’s when she happened to see the note.”

“Oh, okay. And what are you going to do?”

“Think.”

“Shouldn’t we tell the cops?”

“I’ll handle that. Wait a moment.” Lily-Ann texted, Tell Riley she doesn’t need to do anything. You don’t either. I’ll pass this along to the police. “There.”

“Okay, uh. And are you going to pass it along?”

“That depends on what I think.”

Sophie wheedled for more assurances, but she didn’t give them. She said goodbye, then trimmed the rack into chops. She started dry-brining them with thyme, rosemary, and garlic, as she considered CJ’s note. It struck her as sloppy, though you probably shouldn’t judge the literary merits of suicide notes.

The handwriting looked like CJ’s, but the notepaper was torn at an ungainly angle. That offended Lily-Ann’s sense of propriety. On the other hand, one might tremble while writing a suicide note, or—

A knock sounded at the front door. Not a normal knock, a childish rat-a-tat-tat-tat-rat-a-tat. For a moment, Lily-Ann expected that Riley wanted to talk about snooping in CJ’s cottage, then she recalled that particular knock belonged to Ocean’s other kid.

She called for Miles to enter, and he burst into the kitchen and said, “Are you ready?”

“Why aren’t you in school?”

“School’s been out for like an hour, Lily-Ann! Oma said you were waiting for me.”

“Did she?”

Miles hopped happily. “So can we go now? Please? Please please please?”

“Where exactly are we going?”

His little face glowed with hope. “You said you’d take me to the animal shelter to look at cats for Hamilton.”

Ah. She’d planned on bringing both Miles and Anthony, because watching them together pleased her. Of course, she hadn’t planned on visiting the shelter today. Still, she needed time to think, and this felt like the perfect opportunity to keep her body busy as her mind worked.

“Then that’s exactly what I’ll do,” she assured Miles.

“How come you’re not a vegetarian?” he asked, then peered at the counter. “What is that? Is that oregano?”