Dog-Gone Murder by Marnette Falley

Author:Marnette Falley [Falley, Marnette]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery
ISBN: 2940012817150
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 12050012
Publisher: Kansas City Star Books
Published: 2008-05-06T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

On Thursday morning, Po was just formulating her mental plan for the day, when the phone rang and her plan suddenly changed.

“Hi, Po,” Phoebe said. “Do you still want my country club report?”

“Of course,” she said. “And even if I didn’t, I would never pass up the opportunity to see you.”

And with that, they arranged for Phoebe to come by in an hour or so.

“I dropped the boys off with a friend of mine,” Phoebe said when she arrived at the front door. “They adore her son, and they’re going to play for a bit, but I can’t take too long. It’s not easy to herd three boys. At any age. And these three are all 4. That’s not a walk in the park, even for an experienced mom.”

“You could have brought them,” Po said. “It’s been too long since I’ve seen them.”

“You’re the best, of course,” Phoebe said as they settled into the chairs by the fire. Po started a fresh pot of coffee. “But I wanted to be able to just give you my report without my brain being split worrying about what they might be into.” Phoebe ran her fingers through her short hair, rumpling it even more, if that were possible. “It’s hard to decide where to start,” she said. “OK, well … my mother-in-law was thrilled that I showed some interest in the Women’s Club, of course. She wishes I would go all the time. And she was all into it because they were doing the planning for their Halloween gala.” Phoebe sniffed. “Whatever,” she said. “Halloween is the best holiday of the year. Lots of candy. Freedom to enjoy some fantasy. No stuffy family dinner. And that creaky crew wants to go and ruin the whole thing by stealing the theme for a stuffy ‘get together.’”

Po smiled and poured Phoebe her piping-hot, rich-smelling coffee. Phoebe really only managed-truce with her stuffy in-laws because of real devotion to her tall-dark-and-handsome lawyer husband. Well, that and being tired of her experience with a lifetime of family conflict. She vowed never to put her beloved little boys in the role of referee that she’d played so often as a child. Still, her free spirit bubbled out. Happily it normally bubbled out in a cheery sort of way.

“So, we arrived right on time, of course. And everybody was standing around in the corners talking about Mercedes’ disappearance.”

“What were they saying?” Po asked.

“Well, word seems to have leaked that the police are investigating,” Phoebe said. “They were mostly getting the stragglers up to speed about how long she’d been gone. And there was some catty commentary thrown in about how many people hated her, but that nasty manners isn’t something that generally got you killed. I didn’t get to hear much, because they called the meeting to order just a minute or two after we arrived.”

Phoebe stopped a moment, and looked intently at Po. “But really, none of that is the interesting part.”

“Well,” Po said with some surprise, “get to the interesting part then.

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