Read Fanny Packs and Foul Play (A Haley Randolph Mystery) for Free Online Page B

and we
climbed up onto high stools.
    “Veronica was struggling with lots of things,
certainly with her mother-in-law,” Andrea told me. “But she
wouldn’t kill herself. She was very secure in Patrick’s love. She
had plans for this house, plans to expand the candy company. She
hoped that Brandie would like it here and want to visit more often,
maybe even come here for college.”
    Okay, that was weird. Julia had told me
Veronica intended to leave California and return to her family.
    “So she wasn’t planning to go back home?” I
asked.
    Andrea looked shocked. “Of course not. She’d
never leave Patrick—but wait.”
    She looked shocked—which I took as a good
sign. But then she shook her head and said, “No. No, it couldn’t
be.”
    “What?” I asked.
    “Veronica had some kind of announcement she
intended to make on Thanksgiving Day,” Andrea said.
    “About what?”
    “She didn’t tell me, but I figured it was
about expanding the business, since the employees were going to be
here for the feast,” Andrea said. She shook her head. “It could
have been something personal—but absolutely not that she was moving
back home.”
    “Are you sure?” I asked.
    “Positive,” Andrea told me.
    My belly felt queasy as a thought slammed
into my head.
    “Do you think maybe … maybe Veronica was
pregnant?” I asked.
    “Absolutely not. I ran all her errands. I
picked up her prescriptions. She was on birth control—and she was a
fanatic about it,” Andrea said. “She wouldn’t have left Patrick and
she wouldn’t have thrown herself off that balcony.”
    She seemed certain that Veronica hadn’t taken
her own life and that she was happy here, yet Julia seemed equally
sure that just the opposite was true. Had Veronica told Julia about
her plan to leave, and not mentioned it to Andrea? Possibly.
    Something hit me then.
    “What about Veronica’s mom and dad?” I asked.
“Why didn’t they come out with her aunts and Brandie?”
    “Her dad passed away a long time go,” Andrea
said, “and her mom has some health problems and can’t travel.”
    We sat in silence for a few minutes. I didn’t
know how much the police had told the family or how much of it had
filtered down to Andrea, but if Jack’s concerns were spot-on—and I
had no reason to doubt them—everyone in the house could be at
risk.
    “Did you hear the police had determined the
cause of death?” I asked. When Andrea shook her head I said,
“Veronica didn’t jump from the balcony. She was pushed.”
    Andrea gasped and pressed both palms to her
cheeks. Tears pooled in her eyes.
    “She … she was murdered?” she managed to
ask.
    I nodded.
    She took a few minutes to compose herself,
wiped her eyes and sighed heavily.
    “Veronica was so full of life, so full of
energy. She was one of the nicest, sweetest people I’d ever met,”
Andrea said.
    “Did anything seem unusual about the day
Veronica died?” I asked. “Was there anyone here who shouldn’t have
been?”
    “Just the staff,” Andrea said. “Two cooks and
two housekeepers. But all of them had worked for Julia for
years.”
    “And all of the workmen doing the renovations
had been vetted by their employers?” I asked.
    “Of course,” Andrea insisted. “Nobody running
a business that catered to the types of people who live in this
area would send anyone to the home of one of their clients without
doing a background check. They wouldn’t want to be responsible for
unleashing a stalker or undercover reporter, or something like
that, on them. Anyone who did that would be out of business in a
heartbeat.”
    “Did Veronica seem different in the last week
or so?” I asked, and sipped my soda.
    Andrea thought for a moment and said, “She’d
seemed a little more stressed than usual, but who can blame her?
Her family was coming and she wanted to get the house ready for
them, and for the Thanksgiving feast she and Patrick were hosting
for the Pammy Candy employees. And, of course,