Read Broken Vows Mystery 03-In Sickness and in Death for Free Online Page A

the far edge of the lot next to a corn field that still needed to be plowed under. I felt a little forlorn myself, since the Porsche used to be mine. I’d given it to her when I had to buy a four-door Lexus to accommodate Noelle’s car seat. Seeing the Porsche now made me mourn her as well as my father. He’d bought the Porsche from an insurance company after it bounced off two trees and a Winnebago. He completed the restoration work himself. The car had been my high school graduation present. Every time Erica ground the gears, I cringed. I’m sure my dad did, too.
    Erica slid behind the wheel and backed out. As I followed her out of the parking lot, a woman with fiery red hair stormed out of the strip club and wedged her considerable bulk into a yellow Mustang convertible. Her lips were moving the whole time as though she had someone to talk to, but she was the only one in sight.
    A message from Cory awaited me on the answering machine when I arrived home.
    “Hey Jo, I’ll be bringing a guest tomorrow. What time should we come? Call me. Bye.”
    I dialed the number at the shop. Cory answered on the third ring.
    “How’s your day going, Cory?”
    “Good. The dealers for the Caterhams returned your calls. They’re both headed out of town for the holiday, so you can try them again on Monday.”
    “Okay. Listen, come by around two tomorrow. We’ll eat at four.”
    “Great. What can I bring?”
    “How about an hors d’oeuvre of some kind?”
    “Okay. Brennan said he would make candied yams.”
    “Brennan? Brennan Rowe?”
    Cory sounded sheepish when he replied “Yes.”
    I sank onto the couch. This was an interesting turn of events. We both knew Brennan as a customer, but Cory never let on that he might have a greater interest in the man. “Are you guys dating?”
    “Sort of. We went to dinner a week ago, and he came to see me in the show the other night. We went out for coffee afterwards.”
    “So Thanksgiving will be your third date?”
    “Is that a problem?”
    “I guess not.” But it could be. Danny, the delinquent, might be in attendance. At least Cory and Brennan didn’t carry purses for him to pilfer from, but who knows what he might do next? And Erica wasn’t exactly Miss Sunshine lately. Neither was I, for that matter. And who knew what kind of mood Ray might be in at the start of an investigation. God forbid, he might even have to work tomorrow and stick me with the turkey and all of them. I started to ask Cory if he really wanted to expose Brennan to all of us, but he had to hang up to take another call.
    I would hope for the best.
    ____
    Ray arrived home around six o’clock with Danny in tow. He immediately led Danny into the nursery and sat him in the rocking chair with instructions not to move. He closed the door, and I followed him into the kitchen.
    “Why is Danny in there?”
    Ray pulled a Corona from the refrigerator, popped the cap, and took a long slug. “Think of it as a timeout. He’s not going to sit around and watch television, that’s for sure.”
    “Did you find the owner of the Camry?” Not to mention whoever cut off that poor woman’s arm?
    “It was stolen from a used car lot outside Geneseo. They reported it missing on Monday. They didn’t care if it was ever recovered. Their insurance will pay for the repairs to the front end.”
    “So how did it get to the psych center parking lot?”
    Ray opened the refrigerator and started digging in the drawer. “I’m guessing the thief left it there.”
    “Could Danny’s father have stolen it before his arrest?”
    “Anything’s possible. He’s not admitting to it.”
    “What about the arm?”
    Ray pulled a package of cheese from the drawer and ate two slices. “What’s for dinner?”
    It always amazed me that severed arms and dead bodies did not keep Ray from food. I tried not to look as guilty as I felt about having failed to prepare him a meal. “I didn’t know when to expect you or if Danny would be with