Scotched by Kaitlyn Dunnett

Author:Kaitlyn Dunnett
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp.
Published: 2011-09-28T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

That piece of the puzzle fell into place with a resounding thunk.

Nola Ventress—no, Nola Preston—had cheated on her husband with Stu Burroughs. No wonder the tension in the room had gone through the roof when Doug walked into the MSBA meeting and saw his ex-wife sitting in Liss’s Canadian rocker. And no wonder Stu had been so determined to pick a fight with Doug.

“Moosetookalook is starting to sound way too much like Peyton Place,” Liss muttered.

“They were young,” Margaret said. “We all were. Twenty-four, Nola would have been. Stu was barely twenty-two.”

“That’s hardly an excuse.”

“Yes, well, there was a divorce, of course, and we all expected Nola would marry Stu. Instead, she left town. It was years before anyone heard from her again. Eventually, I started to get Christmas cards from her. After that, we kept in touch with once-a-year letters. Hers were always interesting. She moved around a lot. New York. Los Angeles. Even Vancouver for a while.”

“What did she do for a living?”

“I’ve no idea. She never said. I assumed she’d taken early retirement when she moved back to Maine a few years ago. She wouldn’t come here, so we didn’t see each other, but she sent me pictures of her house in South Portland and we occasionally talked on the phone.” Margaret’s voice had a catch in it. “I didn’t see her again in person until I made her an offer she couldn’t refuse to hold the Cozy Con at The Spruces.”

“Don’t start playing the blame game again,” Liss warned her. “None of this was your fault. And I very much doubt that a thirty-year-old love triangle had anything to do with what happened up at Lover’s Leap. Maybe if Nola had died first ... but she didn’t, did she? And there’s no way that anyone could have mistaken Jane Nedlinger for Nola. So it’s all just an old scandal. Nothing to do with the present.” Or so she hoped.

“It will be raked up again,” Margaret predicted. “People have long memories. And Dolores Mayfield is a terrible old gossip. She’ll talk to the press, even if no one else will.”

“Did Dolores have a grudge against Nola?” Liss asked. “If they were friends, maybe—”

“Hah! Dolores was a friend of the fair-weather kind. Moose is the one who was close to Nola when we were kids. I don’t think he ever asked her out, but everybody knew he had a major crush on her.” Margaret shrugged. “He only took up with Dolores after it was clear Nola and Doug were an item.”

“So Dolores knew she was his second choice.”

Margaret nodded.

“Well, no matter what comes out, it will all blow over.” Making her voice as bracing as she could, Liss urged her aunt to go home, get dressed for work, and head out to the hotel. “I’ll be there at nine,” she promised, “when the dealers’ room opens.”

“The show must go on?” Margaret managed a wry smile as she set Glenora on the kitchen floor.

“Something like that.”

After her aunt left, Liss toasted two slices of rye bread and refilled her mug with coffee.

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