Wedding Day of Murder

Wedding Day of Murder Read Free Page B

Book: Wedding Day of Murder Read Free
Author: Vanessa Gray Bartal
Tags: cozy mystery
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word echoed around the warehouse, bouncing off the walls so the small crowd
sounded large and intimidating.
    For a moment, Jason seemed at a
loss as to know what to do with them. He looked between the woman and his gun
with more than a hint of longing. Finally, his professionalism won out. He
clamped his hand on the woman’s bicep and began dragging her toward the exit.
    “You cannot protest inside.
Everyone out, or I will arrest you,” he said.
    The group followed their leader. A
few of the stragglers turned to stare at Lacy as they filed past. “Morning,”
she called, adding a friendly wave. “See you. Have a good day.”
    “What are you doing?” Michael
asked.
    “I thought maybe if I was friendly
enough, they might not notice anything else,” Lacy said.
    “There isn’t a big enough smile in
the world to stop them from noticing that you’re naked, wrapped in canvas, and
covered in paint. A better strategy would have been to tell them that this is
some sort of art project,” Michael said. “I’ll spread that story, if you want.”
    “That would be great, thank you,”
Lacy said. “I’m going to finish my shower.” Once again Joe had disappeared.
Michael backed toward the exit.
    “See you, boss.” He added a little
salute and disappeared, closing the door tightly behind him.
    Lacy showered, shampooing her hair
five times to no avail. Some of the paint came out; a lot of it didn’t. She
left the conditioner in and wrapped it in a towel, vowing to lay her hands on
baby oil as soon as possible.
    When she stepped outside of the
bathroom, Jason met her with a bottle. “After I took the trash out, I walked to
the store and bought some oil.”
    “Thank you,” she said, she reached
for it, but he tugged it back and plucked off her towel.
    “Let me,” he said. Lacy wasn’t sure
if it was a romantic gesture or if he simply couldn’t resist a cleaning
challenge.
    “Let’s go to my office so we can
sit down,” she said. They walked hand in hand downstairs to her office. Jason
sat in her chair. She sat on the floor in front of him and closed her eyes
while he gently worked oil into her hair and pulled out wads of paint.
    “This is tedious,” he said, but he
sounded cheerful.  
    “Not that this isn’t completely
helpful and relaxing, but what are you doing here? Did you take the day off?”
    “Sort of,” he said. His tone told
her she wasn’t going to like what was coming next.
    “You have to work tonight,” she
surmised.
    “I’m sorry. A thing came up, and
Arroyo took it off.”
    Detective Arroyo had more seniority
than Jason and therefore first pick of assignments and days off. Lacy secretly
thought he didn’t care about those things and messed with Jason’s schedule to
get to Lacy. “It’s all right,” Lacy said, trying hard to cover her
disappointment.
    “I know that you were looking
forward to tonight, and I was too,” he said.
    “Aren’t you the sweetest liar?”
Lacy said.
    He chuckled. “Well, the thought of
a double date sounded a little Brady Bunch for my tastes, but I did want to
meet Kimber’s guy.”
    “He’s not just Kimber’s guy. Andy and
I have been friends since freshman year. I think the four of us could have a
lot of fun,” Lacy said. She hoped that was true. Andy was like her and Kimber,
a late-blooming nerd with a history of social dysfunction. But Jason had
repeatedly proved that he didn’t care about any of those things. If someone was
kind and a good person, then Jason was willing to accept him. Andy was a great
guy and one of the few people Lacy deemed worthy of Kimber.
    “I’m sure I’ll get the chance to
meet him again,” Jason said.
    “Definitely,” Lacy said. She was
trying hard to be upbeat. It wasn’t his fault that his job had terrible hours
and never seemed to end. Lacy had gone into the relationship with eyes open,
fully aware that his schedule would be a challenge. To complain about the
unchangeable now would be grossly unfair. Sometimes,

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