A Premonition of Murder Read Free Page A

willed it to some charitable organization? She’d have to leave a large amount of money for them to maintain it, of course. Right now, she manages with a live-in housekeeper, Lucy Dargos, and an estate manager, Jeb Arnold. He’s a sort of jack-of-all-trades and lives in the guesthouse. Lucy has her own apartment on the top floor of the mansion.”
    â€œI’m surprised she can manage a place that size with such a tiny staff,” Ali said.
    â€œI think she keeps most of the rooms closed off,” Minerva added. “That’s the only way she can cope. And she hires an outside landscaping service to handle the gardens. She always says she likes to live simply, and I believe she often dines alone in front of the television. She’s a news junkie, you see,” she added with a smile. “And she loves politics.”
    â€œHow I wish she had given you a tour,” Rose said to me. “Beaux Reves. You know what that means, don’t you?”
    â€œBeautiful dreams,” I said promptly, remembering my high school French. An odd coincidence since Abigail was preoccupied with a dream, I decided.
    â€œYes, beautiful dreams,” Rose agreed. “Except now it seems poor Abigail is having nightmares. Do you think we can help her? She’s such a sweetheart, I’d like to.”
    â€œI’m sure we can,” Ali said warmly. “I’ll call an emergency meeting of the Dream Club for tomorrow night.”

2
    We had almost a full house the following evening. Detective Sam Stiles was on duty and had to cancel at the last minute, but the rest of the group was there. The Harper sisters arrived first and settled onto a lavender settee that Ali had scored at a flea market. She’d draped a white crocheted throw over it, a gift from the Harper sisters.
    Rose and Minerva were quickly followed by Dorien Myers, a prickly woman in her forties whose acid tongue sometimes causes tension in the group, and Lucinda Macavy, a retired school headmistress. We thought romance was in the cards for Lucinda last year, when she developed a brief friendship with a male Dream Club member, but that relationship seemed to have fizzled out, along with his involvement with the group.
    At the moment, our membership is all female, although we’d be happy to have a man in the club if a gentleman applied. Etta Mae Beasley took a seat across from me andsmiled when she recognized a plate of blueberry scones on the coffee table.
    â€œFrom my family cookbook?” she asked, her tone ringing with pride.
    â€œOf course,” I told her. “It’s one of our favorites.” A few months ago, Etta Mae had been convinced that a visiting celebrity chef had stolen some of her treasured family recipes and included them in her bestselling cookbook. There was quite a to-do. Etta Mae threatened a lawsuit, and when the chef died under suspicious circumstances at a book signing, she was briefly considered a suspect. Everything was finally smoothed over and Etta Mae is now a valued member of the group. She’s new to the field of dream interpretation, but all we ask of our new members is that they be respectful of other points of view and open to the idea that dreams really do have meaning.
    By establishing a few ground rules, we’ve managed to run a fairly harmonious group with little dissension. A couple of our members do tend to “hog the floor,” but Ali, our moderator, usually finds a tactful way to step in and redirect the discussion.
    Etta Mae looked pleased and settled back happily in her comfy armchair. Sybil Powers and Persia Walker arrived together, and Ali called the group to order. “Help yourselves, everyone,” she said. “There’s sweet tea and fresh lemonade, and a nice assortment of pastries.”
    Since we’ve added a small café to the candy shop, we’re always on the lookout for new recipes and we use the Dream Club members as our beta tasters,