Bones To Pick (Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery Book 6) by Carolyn Haines

Author:Carolyn Haines [Haines, Carolyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Books
Published: 2011-05-26T05:00:00+00:00

While the one-hour processing of the diskettes took place, I got an ice cream for Sweetie and a double chocolate shake for me and drove around with my hound to look at the Christmas lights.

This had always been one of my childhood highlights. I’d sit in the front seat, between Mama and Daddy, and let the multihued lights blend and whirl in a fantasy of color and bliss. Now, the trend of the more sophisticated white lights had taken over. “Icicles” hung from eaves all over town. It was beautiful, but I missed the red, green, blue, and yellow lights of my childhood. In fact, I missed all of my childhood. And mostly, I missed my family.

I sucked down the last drop of my shake and wadded up Sweetie’s clean napkin—she never let a drop of ice cream escape her—and headed to pick up the photos.

The clerk yawned as she bagged everything and handed it over to me. “How’s the case coming, Miss Delaney?”

I was surprised that the teenager would recognize me, much less know I was on a case. “It’s coming,” I replied, with a knowing nod.

She nodded and compressed her lips. “Will these photos help?”

I hadn’t seen them yet, but it really didn’t matter. “I’m sure they will.” I took them and headed into the night.

Sweetie was more interested in the wind in her ears than looking at photos, so we went back to Dahlia House, where I could go into my office with good lighting and privacy to see what I’d netted.

At first I was disappointed. The photos were of Allison and Quentin at a restaurant, then a dress shop, then a florist, all around the Delta. I recognized some of the establishments where they were shopping—ritzy, expensive places. The two women were together in each shot, laughing and looking at each other with obvious love. This was a documentary of their wedding planning trip. When it occurred to me that someone else had taken the photographs, I wondered who. It could have been an employee at each different business, or it could have been someone who was with them, planning the wedding. The photos had elicited another question for me, but they would also be something for Allison to hang on to, once she was cleared.

I put them in my desk drawer and locked it, thinking how fleeting happiness could be. And sometimes what an illusion. Tinkie had me worried. The road to romance was mighty rocky. My heart squeezed as I thought of Coleman. I had to let him go. I had to.

My friends, and Barbara Mandrell, were right. There was no future in loving a married man. Did I love him? I wasn’t sure. Love was an emotion that swelled and withdrew. The truth was, I didn’t want to plumb the depths of my feelings for Coleman. What good would it do?

Though I expected Jitty to appear and make a comment on my morose attitude, she didn’t. Jitty had little tolerance for self-pity and even less for self-inflicted pain.

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