Camilla T. Crespi - The Breakfast Club Murder Read Free

Now the gray was growing out, her hair covered her ears, and she was gaining back the weight she’d lost in the last eight months, which pleased both her and Jessica. They were both used to a rounder woman.
    Jessica was with her father now. Today. His wedding day. Well, it was over by now, and Valerie was officially Rob’s wife and Jessica’s stepmother. Jessica had pleaded to be allowed to go to the wedding. The thought of it still made Lori tremble with hurt and anger. She’d wanted to forbid it, wanted to yell to her daughter, “I know you hurt, but I do, too. I need you. Stay on my side.” Instead she had told Jessica she was free to go if that was what she wanted, then picked up the phone and booked a flight to Italy. Lori felt betrayed, even though part of her understood Jessica’s need to be included in her father’s new life, her fear of being pushed aside by her father’s new woman. But Lori’s feelings were so raw she had no control over them.
    After a long shower, Lori finished packing, checked her airline ticket for the umpteenth time, asked the concierge to wake her at eight a.m. so she would have plenty of time to get to the airport and go through security. Once in bed, she tried to read the mystery she’d brought with her, but the bedside light was too dim, she was too tired. She turned the lamp off and found herself thinking about the tall American standing in the small restaurant piazza, taking off his glasses as if to show her how sincere he was, nodding to her. A cluster of wisteria dangling over his head had given him a comic look. Craggy face with sharp cheekbones, dust-colored hair limp across his forehead. A studious face. A kind face. A harmless man who tried to help. She regretted treating him badly, regretted even more showing her own vulnerability. Her list of regrets was so long she started counting them and fell asleep.
    Lori stands in her bedroom of the Connecticut house she’s lived in with Rob since she was pregnant with Jessica, all dressed up in her new silk dress and impossibly high stilettos. “Isn’t it beautiful?” she asks Jessica, who is looking at her from the doorway. “You could never be beautiful,” Jessica answers and disappears. As Lori runs out of the room to find her, one of her heels catches on the edge of the carpet and she falls. When she picks herself up, her chin is bleeding down her dress and she is standing on an unpaved country road lined with poplars. In the distance she can see Jessica’s long legs scissoring the air. Lori kicks off her heels and runs after her.“Wait for me!” Jessica turns, waves and keeps running. A car speeds past Lori, covering her with dust. She starts to cough and recognizes Rob’s new Mercedes. The car overtakes Jessica and brakes to a stop. The passenger door flings open. Jessica jumps, the door closes, and the road is suddenly empty.
    Lori woke up, snapped on the lamp. One twenty-three a.m., seven twenty-three a.m. in New York, a Sunday. Jessica would still be asleep in Rob’s new apartment in Manhattan, but if she waited any longer, Jessica might be having breakfast with her dad and the new Mrs. Robert Staunton. It was now or never. Lori reached for the phone and dialed Jessica’s cell number.
    Jessica answered after the first ring. “Who is it?”
    “Jessica, sweetie.”
    “Mom! What are you doing?”
    “I know I wasn’t supposed to call, but I love you and I’ve missed you so much and I wanted to apologize for being angry at you. Can you forgive me?”
    “I can’t talk! I don’t even know why I answered this stupid phone. God, Mom, how could you?” Her words sounded like the hiss of a cornered cat.
    Lori felt them like a jab in her stomach. “Did I wake you? Is that it?”
    “Wake me? Do you know what time it is? Seven thirty p.m. Valerie’s about to walk down the aisle!”
    Lori groaned. She’d gotten it all wrong. New York was six hours back, not forward. Why was she so dumb? Why couldn’t she get her