A Deadly Deletion by Lorna Barrett

Author:Lorna Barrett [Barrett, Lorna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2021-07-27T00:00:00+00:00

NINETEEN

Angelica was in high spirits as they drove back to the municipal parking lot. So much so that one might have thought she was the one who’d played triumphantly on the tennis court. Tricia listened, but she didn’t take it all in. She had other things on her mind.

Angelica unlocked the door to the Cookery and the sisters trundled up the stairs to her apartment. After a warm welcome from Sarge, they took off their coats and headed for the kitchen, where Angelica already had a pitcher of happy hour cocktails waiting.

“We’re not too much later than usual,” she said as she pulled a tray of something wrapped in plastic from the fridge and turned on the oven.

“Are we in a hurry?” Tricia asked.

“Not a bit.”

“What have you got there?”

Angelica set the tray on the island. “Mushrooms wrapped in bacon and covered in barbecue sauce. It’s something Tommy threw together for us. They only take ten or fifteen minutes to bake. It should taste fabulous.”

“I’ll bet.”

“Oh, did you have a chance to call Louise Jameson to set up our family portrait?”

Tricia winced. “Rats! With everything that went on today, I completely forgot.”

Angelica did not look pleased, but she didn’t berate her sister, either. “Perhaps you’ll remember tomorrow,” she said pointedly.

“I will definitely call her tomorrow.”

“What were you doing that took up all your time?”

“You mean besides running my store and arranging things for Becca?”

Angelica nodded and put the tray of appetizers in the oven.

“I called the last of the people on my Chamber list to try to talk them into rejoining.”

“How’d that go?”

“Nobody returned my calls—so far,” she amended. As if on cue, Tricia’s phone rang. She glanced at the number and, recognizing the name, answered. “Hey, Billie, thanks for returning my call.”

Billie Hanson was the manager of the Bank of Stoneham. Tricia had dealt with her for business transactions on a number of occasions since she’d arrived in town nearly seven years before. It was said that Billie was named after Billie Burke, the actress who played Glinda the Good Witch of the North in The Wizard of Oz. Not that she looked like that icon of the silver screen. She didn’t have long, frizzy red hair, nor was she tall. In fact, Billie, short and squat, reminded Tricia of a fireplug. As she always wore slacks, Tricia couldn’t imagine her ever dressing in a glittering pink gown, but then these days Tricia rarely wore a dress of any kind, either.

“So the Chamber is going to regroup now that Russ Smith is in jail,” Billie said.

“That’s the plan,” Tricia replied as Angelica started gathering plates and glasses and setting them on the island. Tricia wandered into the living room to pitch her speech, but she could tell by the chilly silence at the other end of the line that Billie wasn’t impressed.

“Why don’t they just ask you to step in to run the organization? The members, myself included, should have rioted months ago to toss Russ out on his keister and let you run the show.

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