Read Ladies' Circle of Murder (A Lacy Steele Mystery Book 8) for Free Online Page A

room visit? Since she had been dating Jason, she hadn’t needed to know. Strange how infrequently she’d had any accidents since they’d been together.
    “You’re good for my health,” she blurted.
    “You’re good for my everything,” he returned. “I’m going to miss you.”
    “Please try not to think of me when you’re digging up rotting corpses,” she said.
    “I’ll do my best.”
    “You’re allowed to think of me all the other times when you’re not touching dead bodies,” she said.
    “Duly noted. Same goes for you.”
    “I don’t plan to touch any dead bodies, and I will surely think of you,” she promised him. He came around the desk and gave her an extended goodbye. As she watched him walk out the door, she tried not to feel forlorn. She wouldn’t be one of those women who fell to pieces at the thought of spending a week without her boyfriend. She would be one of those people who fell to pieces over spending a week with her mother. How was she going to handle so much time spent with her mother without Jason as a buffer?
    She picked up the phone and called her sister. “Any chance you had that baby yet?” If the baby arrived, Frannie would have a worthwhile way to spend her time and energy. Lacy would be off the hook.
    “Just a sec, I’ll check. Nope, it’s still in there and locked up tight. Judging by my size and the length of my gestation, I’ve decided I’m having an elephant. I need a distraction. Distract me.”
    “Do you want me to dance or juggle or something?” Lacy asked.
    “No, I need a hobby, something to get me away from the house, away from Mom.”
    “I was invited to a knitting group last night,” Lacy said.
    “Yes, that. Let’s do that. I probably have time to knit a blanket or twelve before the baby comes.”
    “Why do I have to go if you’re the one who wants a hobby?” Lacy asked.
    “Because I can’t show up at a knitting group you were invited to without you. Can’t you just do this for me? My feet are too swollen for shoes and the only pants that fit are some of Tosh’s cut-off sweatpants. I look like the Incredible Hulk.”
    “Fine. Hey, did you loan Mom your car last night?”
    “I told her she could use it anytime she wants.”
    “Did she use it last night?” Lacy asked.
    “How should I know? I fell asleep in the middle of a container of mango sorbet. The spoon was in my mouth and I drooled on the only shirt that fits me. Do you think Grandma would mind if I borrowed one of her muumuus?”
    “Not if you call it a muumuu,” Lacy said.
    “I’m going over there later to look for something that fits. Do you still have any of your old clothes lying around? What about the dress you wore to homecoming your senior year?”
    “What are you saying? My clothes were not that big,” Lacy said.
    “If you say so, but the Santa Maria called. It never got its sail back after you borrowed it to make a nightgown.”
    “I really do not think we want to start tossing out weight jokes right now,” Lacy said.
    “Believe me, there’s nothing you could say about me that I haven’t said about myself. At least you lost the weight. I’m still a frontrunner to play Moby Dick in the live-action version,” Riley said.
    “It’s not that bad, and it’s all going to come off after you have the baby.”
    “I’m never having the baby. In fact, I’m having a lawyer deliver it an eviction notice later this afternoon because that’s all I can think of to get it out at this point,” Riley said.
    “Soon we’ll be able to stop calling it an it. Any ideas on a name yet?” Lacy asked.
    “Only Tosh’s ideas, so no. Promise me something: If I go into a coma, don’t let him or anyone from his family name the baby.”
    “What would I name it?” Lacy asked.
    “I don’t know. Name it whatever you’d name it if it were yours. What would that be?” Riley asked.
    “I’ve only ever thought of a girl’s name. I’d name her Lucinda after Grandma and call her