Murder of a Botoxed Blonde by Denise Swanson

Author:Denise Swanson [Swanson, Denise]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Mystery & Detective, Fiction, General, Women Sleuths
ISBN: 9780451221414
Google: -hWeOb5F6XQC
Amazon: B006Z43Z3Y
Publisher: Thorndike Press
Published: 2006-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

Keep Your Powder Dry

“You know, for a second before she said she was Simon’s half sister, I thought she was going to say she was gay.” Skye sat with her back to the headboard of her bed, telling Trixie about Spike’s bolt from the blue. “Then when Bunny fainted, I thought we had another death on our hands.”

“I’m still having trouble putting it all together.” Trixie lay on her side across the bottom of the mattress, her head supported on her hand. “How can Spike be Simon’s half sister and Bunny not know her?”

“I stayed for the short explanation, but I couldn’t really ask questions. I felt like I had to leave the three of them alone to hash things out. After all, I’m not family.”

“Which brings up another matter. Now that you know Simon didn’t cheat, where does that leave you two, not to mention you and Wally?”

“I’m not going to think about that right now.” Skye clutched her head. “First I need to get the whole Spike-as-Simon’s-half-sister clear in my mind.”

“Okay, tell me what you know.”

“Until this morning, I knew Bunny had left Simon’s father when Simon was three, then only saw him intermittently until he was fourteen, at which point she disappeared for good.”

“That leaves twenty to thirty-one years of her life unaccounted for, depending on how you count.”

“Right. Simon never seemed willing to discuss Bunny’s past, with her or with me.” Skye pursed her lips. “At the time, I thought he didn’t want to know what his mother had been up to, but now I’m confused. It’s as if I never knew him at all.”

“Simon has always been hard to read,” Trixie agreed, then asked, “So, what did you find out today?”

“To start at the beginning, when Bunny left Simon’s father, she was already sleeping with the owner of the club she was working at.”

“And this guy was Asian-American?”

“Right.” Skye adjusted the pillow behind her back. “A month or maybe even less later, Bunny discovered she was pregnant.”

“Oh, my. Was abortion legal back then?”

“I’m not sure, but that doesn’t matter. Despite all of Bunny’s faults, she’s a practicing Catholic. No divorce. No abortion. She was going to have the baby.”

“Did she know who the father was?” Trixie sat up and hugged her knees.

“She told the club owner it was him, but since she wasn’t divorced, and I suspect the guy wasn’t really sure it was his kid, he arranged for a black-market adoption.”

Trixie asked, “How did that turn out?”

“Surprisingly well. He must have been a smart man. He had two couples lined up, one Asian-American, one Irish-American. If the baby looked more like him when it was born, it would go to the Asian-American couple. If it looked like Bunny, it would go to the other couple.”

“Did Mr. Reid know she was having a baby?”

“No.” Skye shook her head. “Once she started to show, she stopped visiting Simon and didn’t go back until she had regained her shape.”

“So, Spike was born, had Asian features, and was adopted by the Asian-American couple.

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