Read Book Club Bloodshed for Free Online Page A

her in passing, and never by name, and he’d never revealed anything about her except that she worked at in sales at a pharmaceutical company. Missy knew that meant she made a fortune, at least by Missy DeMeanor standards. She’d seen pictures of the woman online, and she was stunning. Tall, long legs, blond hair, year-round tan, and her body had a long, lean look to it like she’d played sports her whole life.
    In other words, she looked exactly like Missy didn’t.
    “What do you want?” Jill said, no humor in her voice.
    Missy’s anger rose. “I called Tyler because I need to speak to him.”
    Jill didn’t respond for a moment. “Why are you calling my husband at this hour?”
    “It’s police business.”
    “Oh right.” Her voice changed tone and became mocking. “You think you’re a detective. I forgot. You think you can do what Tyler does.”
    “I’m just trying to help.”
    “More like you’re trying to get your friend out of trouble by exploiting your relationship with the chief detective.”
    “You must not think much of Tyler if you think he’d let someone he thought was guilty go because I said so.”
    Score one for Missy.
    “You can speak with him tomorrow.”
    “I need to talk to him now. He’s got somebody locked up who shouldn’t be, while there’s a killer out there.”
    “You mean he’s got your friend locked up right now. Talk to him tomorrow.”
    “You’re not seriously going to hang—”
    Jill cut her off. “Don’t ever call my husband on his private phone again.”
    “This is—”
    “And don’t ever call Tyler again at this hour. I don’t care if you’re dying.”
    She hung up.
    “What a bitch,” Missy said.

Chapter Eight
     
    The morning came early. It had taken Missy an hour to calm down enough after her call with Noreen and nasty conversation with Jill, Tyler’s wife, to fall asleep. She woke at 7:00AM, her mind already racing, and as tired as she felt couldn’t fall back asleep. It was still too early to get a hold of the attorney, Lee Greenberg, so she decided to exercise instead.
    Missy pulled on some old sweats that were really starting to get loose (yay!) and a black t-shirt that wasn’t quite form-fitting but also didn’t look like she was wearing a trash bag. The sun was out when she slipped on her sneakers and bounded down her steps. Cody watched her leave from the front door.
    Though Missy had always been overweight, she’d also been an athlete in high school. She’d been a pretty good field hockey player and had made the volleyball team too. Anybody looking at her would never suspect she had an ounce of athletic talent in her, especially if they knew she was a bookworm. But long ago (almost twenty years!) she’d played varsity sports and had known what it was like to be part of a team. Even though the years had added plenty of cushion around her hips, thighs, and butt, she could still move okay.
    She walked for a minute down the road then started jogging. Six months ago, she wouldn’t have been caught dead running on the street, where any nitwit could see her, preferring instead to go to the gym and use the ellipticals with other people “of weight.” But a month ago she’d decided to get over it.
    Missy jogged at a good clip. She was running toward the sun, and the early morning light felt good on her skin as the day broke. Spring was right around the corner. At this rate, she might be down another fifteen pounds in two months and, believe it or not, meant she might be able to get back into her black (slimming) one piece bathing suit and make her triumphant return to the Grove City pool.
    She hadn’t been able to fit into that in almost three years. The thought of that motivated her to pick up her pace and she was feeling extraordinary, getting that runner’s high that temporarily made her forget about everything else that was going on—
    Till a car horn blared her out of her zen-like state. The sound actually startled her. Missy lost her