Lyndsey Cole - Lily Bloom 01 - Begonia Means Beware Read Free

the side door. Leave Rosie here.” Lily locked the front door, flipped the open sign of a big red lily in full bloom to the closed side of a white lily bud and walked to the car.
    Iris regained her composure once she was in the car. “Tamara is not going to be happy about this.”
    “Of course not. Who would be?”
    “That’s true. But Tamara hand-picked Clifton for her precious Melinda. And with the wedding just a few days away, all her plans will be ruined.”
    “She hand-picked Clifton?”
    Iris looked over at Lily. “You need to pay more attention to what goes on around you, dear. Tam ara wanted Clifton for a son-in-law. I’m not even sure what Melinda thinks about him. Oh, I’m sure she likes him okay, but I doubt she’s in love with him. Or was in love with him.”
    Lily pulled into the police parking lot. “Here we are. What are we going to tell the police?”
    “That there’s a dead guy in your house, of course. Come on, Lily. This might end up being interesting.”
    Lily ran to catch up with Iris. Iris opened the door and waited for Lily to enter first.
    “You again? What law have you two broken now?”
    Lily’s eyes adjusted to the darker interior of the police station, but she didn’t need her eyes to tell her who that deep, smooth voice belonged to.
    Lily sputtered. “What are you doing here?”
    “Ms. Bloom, take a look at what I’m wearing, and maybe you can figure that out for yourself.” He chuckled at her confused expression.
    “You’re a policeman?”
    “Very good observation.” He walked around from behind the desk “Can I help you with something? Are you looking for your lost dog, Ms. Bloom? Or maybe you lost your scooter, Mrs. Bloom?”
    Iris stepped forward. “No. It’s nothing like that. ” She paused by the distraction of seeing the handsome Mr. Steele in a police uniform. “When did you start working here in Misty Valley?”
    “I ’m filling in until the selectmen hire a new police chief. I’m assuming you know that the last one left rather abruptly.”
    “Of course we know that.” Lily leaned on the desk with her arms folded. “Are you the one we need to talk to, then?”
    Ryan looked around. “Yup. No one else is here but me. So what can I do for you two ladies?”
    Lily was hoping to sound professional, but instead, the wrong words just plopped from her mouth. “There’s a dead guy in my kitchen.”
    Ryan momentarily lost his composure. It was his turn to look surprised. “Excuse me?”
    “There’s a dead—”
    Iris interrupted. “After you so kindly brought Rosie to Lily’s shop, I was bringing her back home. When I went in the back door, I found a dead man on Lily’s kitchen floor.”
    Ryan looked from Lily to Iris. “I hope neither of you are involved in this.”
    They looked at each other, and Iris said, “That’s ridiculous. If we were going to kill someone, we wouldn’t leave the body in Lily’s house.”
    Lily nudged her mother and added, “Of course we aren’t involved. We came here to get help. Are you going to help us?”
    “ I’m your guy. Follow me over.”
    Iris innocently asked, “Do you know where Lily lives?”
    Ryan looked at Lily. “Yes. We bumped into each other this morning. Let’s go.”
    Iris winked at Lily and mouthed the words, “He’s so handsome.”
    Lily gently slapped her mother’s arm and mouthed back, “Don’t meddle in my life.”
    Lily and Iris followed the police cruiser down Main Street to Sugarbush Lane. “Mom, don’t start trying to push that guy on me. I can handle my own love life, thank you very much.”
    Iris raised her eyebrows and chuckled. “Oh, really? What about that lying, cheating guy, Sam?”
    “ You always throw that in my face. I was young then.”
    “I think that was just a few months ago, dear.”
    “What about you? You don’t have the best track record.”
    “Your dad was my true love. I have no desire to try to replace him. The rest have been fun hook-ups, as you youngsters