Murder by Manicure

Author:Nancy J. Cohen
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: ereads
Published: 2011-05-04T23:03:44+00:00

Chapter Twelve

"Gloria must be doing something crooked,” Marla said to Tally, draining the hot noodles in a colander. “According to Slate, Jolene informed him about Gloria's activities that Friday night during her massage. She'd wanted to know if Keith was involved. If I could get into Gloria's office, I might learn more.” She poured the noodles into a large bowl after rinsing them in cold water.

Putting aside her damp dish towel, Tally opened the microwave and retrieved the dish holding the melted margarine. “Gloria might have wanted to get rid of Jolene to shut her up."

"That's one possibility.” Marla stirred a couple of hot noodles into the beaten eggs, then added all the eggs to the noodles. A half cup of sugar went in the bowl next, followed by the margarine and quarter teaspoon cinnamon. “Meanwhile, Keith is forcing Slate to follow his orders in return for his silence. That means Slate is involved in some dirty business. Jolene could have found out what he's hiding."

"Don't forget Amy, who was jealous of Slate's attention to Jolene,” Tally contributed.

"Maybe they're all in it together!” Marla tossed the drained crushed pineapple into the mixture along with the juice from a fresh lemon.

"Don't you add raisins?” Tally asked, peering over her shoulder.

"That's an option. You can add a half cup of raisins, or cut the butter to a quarter pound and add a pint of sour cream. Or you can put in one teaspoon of vanilla instead of lemon juice. I'm using the ingredients I have available.” She spread the mixture in a greased rectangular pan, sprinkled two tablespoons of cornflake crumbs and cinnamon-sugar over the top, then put it in the oven at 350 degrees to bake for one hour.

The phone rang, and Marla resolved for the umpteenth time to get Caller ID.

"Hi, Marla. It's Stan."

Lord save me. She threw Tally an annoyed glance. “Yeah, what's up?” Her ex-spouse was the last person she wanted to talk to on her day off.

"Kim and I are going to be in your area this afternoon. How about we drop in to say hello?” His smooth tone oozed oil.

"Sorry, I won't be home."

"We'll come now, then. We've had a new offer on our rental property. It's a good deal, Marla. A good deal. Let's unload the place before values go down."

"I'm not stupid. Property values in that area have been rising. I'm not going to sign, so you'd be wasting your time coming here."

"You're not as adept in financial matters as I am, dear heart. That's why you have to work for a living these days. You know you need my advice."

"Go to hell.” Slamming the receiver down, she faced Tally, who'd been idly thumbing through a Modern Salon magazine. “That louse. He'll never give up trying to get me to sign those papers. Kimberly is probably nagging him to get the money so they can move to the beach. Well, wife number three isn't going to gain anything from me."

Tally nodded. “Don't let him get to you.

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