Books, Barbecue and Murder by Lori Woods

Author:Lori Woods [Woods, Lori]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Moonstone Press
Published: 2019-04-04T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

“This place is a mess, someone should clean it up,” Erica suggested, dropping her handbag on Clary’s counter and plopping down onto her favorite chair.

“Are you volunteering?” Marie asked as she stepped out of the kitchen with a tray of marinated ribs. Clary gave her friend a warning look which she immediately dismissed. Loki immediately showed up, winding himself between Marie’s legs and looking up at her with an innocent gaze. “You only like me when I have food,” she accused.

“Where’s Karen?” Erica asked, looking around suspiciously.

“I’m right here,” Karen said immediately, walking out from behind a bookshelf.

“We need to get things organized,” Erica decided. “Call the insurance company and tell them to get someone out here to investigate.”

“There’s just one thing,” Karen started, but Erica cut her off.

“The more people we have on the case, the quicker we’ll get that insurance money and put Salome out of business.”

“I need to tell you something,” Karen tried again, but Erica ranted on, effectively cutting her assistant off.

“You’re going to love this marinade,” Marie promised. “Do you think Logan will want to join us for dinner? Or is he busy?”

“I told you, we’re not having ribs for dinner tonight,” Clary said resolutely, giving Marie a stern look. “It’s not appropriate. Erica just lost her livelihood; how would you feel if it were you?”

“We can invite her to join us,” Marie offered charitably, shooing Loki away from where he was watching the marinating ribs with a calculating expression. He responded by giving her a haughty look and sauntering off.

“That’s not what I meant,” Clary said in amusement.

She tried her best to minimize the extent of Marie’s insensitivity, but she often failed. When Marie set her mind to something, it was impossible to get her to change it. Clary often thought that they were such good friends because the two of them were alike. On the other hand, she saw Marie’s personality reflected almost perfectly in Loki, and the two couldn’t stand each other.

She didn’t know how it worked, but she and Marie were a good influence on each other. It was as though each one balanced the other out. Marie busied herself with basting her ribs again, and Clary smiled to herself. Life wouldn’t be the same without her trusty chef and closest friend.

As Erica prattled on, and Karen tried to get a word in, Clary realized how grateful she was to have a friend like Marie.

“Erica,” Clary said suddenly, “I think Karen is trying to say something.”

“Oh,” Erica waved dismissively, “I’m sure I already know what she’s going to say.”

“Let’s test that,” Clary suggested. “Karen, what did you want to say?”

“I was just going to say that I saw Philip by the salon a few minutes ago. I’m not sure what he was trying to do.”

“Speaking of the salon,” Clary realized, “I never really got a chance to apologize about this morning. I’m so sorry, we shouldn’t have assumed your brother was guilty, just because we were paranoid. Please tell him how sorry I am too.

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