Sweet Tarts and Bitter Revenge: A Small Town Cozy Mystery (Olivia Twist Mystery Series Book 3) by Jorgensen Irene

Author:Jorgensen, Irene
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Apatite Publishing
Published: 2022-05-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

I blinked. I'd expected to fake a few visions to drag information out of Daisy. Certainly not this. “You’re convinced the woman who sent the invitations didn’t murder Lilliana?”

“That’s right.” She met my gaze and held it. “Do you agree to prove she’s innocent? Of course, I’ll pay you.”

If I agreed, of course, I wouldn’t charge her. “Why do you want me to do this?”

“Because I feel so guilty about belonging to that secret group. I should’ve reported them instead of just going along with it.”

Like me, Daisy was trying to make amends. “The only way to prove this woman is innocent is to find who offed Lilliana. So, before I can accept, let’s have a chinwag. First, who are we talking about?”

“I’ll tell you her first name. It’s Gabby.”

“What happened to Gabby that didn’t happen to the others?”

Daisy averted her gaze, looking out over the lake. “After the pledges got dropped off, the guys sneaked back later, hid behind a tombstone and made scary noises to frighten them into leaving.”

Ah, what Jem didn’t want to tell me.

“But with Gabby—” Daisy’s face tightened “—one of them sneaked up behind her and gagged her. He dragged her to a fountain in the cemetery, then pushed her head underwater.”

Or was this what Jem hadn’t wanted to reveal? If so, imagining he'd shot his wife. But before sharing this hunch, I’d need to uncover a motive. “That’s bloody awful. Talk about traumatizing.”

“She thought he was going to drown her. After about thirty seconds, he lifted her head, threatened her and said he’d finish the job if she told anyone. Then he ran off.”

“She must’ve been terrified. Did Gabby say anything about his Hallowe’en costume?”

“A clown.”

Acting on a hunch that someone might use a similar disguise, I touched my temple with two fingers. “I see a clown with vampire’s teeth, green hair, a purple nose and black blood dripping from his eyes.”

Daisy’s dark blue eyes widened. “Wow, that’s right. And he disguised his voice, made it squeaky. Gabby didn’t have a clue who it was.”

I dropped my hand. “Did she, or you, have any idea why someone targeted her for such a dodgy hazing?”

“Not someone. Lilliana. What a vengeful woman. Lots of guys were in lust with her, and I’d bet anything she convinced one of them to drown, well, almost drown Gabby.”

“Are you sure about that?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Have you wondered why the invitations came in a red envelope?”

“Because red is the color of blood. Oh, wait. Lilliana was dressed all in red at the gala.”

“She started wearing lots of red clothes in college—claimed it was her signature color.” Daisy leaned against the fence. “I bet the sender chose red because Lilliana was the ringleader.”

“Assuming you’re right, why was she cheesed off at Gabby?”

“Lilliana was madly in lust with an Australian guy who was here for a semester as part of some student swap thing. The Aussie completely ignored her and paid a lot of attention to Gabby. Lilliana went berserk because, according to her, she was a beauty compared to the chunky Gabby.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.