Read Live and Lime Die: A Key West Culinary Cozy - Book 8 for Free Online

but a lovely breeze
wafted through the car, and Tim was content. Arriving at his destination, he
found two large, tough-looking young men who seemed to be of dubious character,
and had a conversation with them, entirely unaware that his every move was
being watched. A large sum of money transferred from the former mortician to
the meaty palms of the misguided youths, and they came over to claim his prize
from the backseat. Taking care to vacuum the backseat with a mini-vac, which he
then emptied into the water, he completed his goal, and turned toward home,
whistling a happy tune.
    **
    A
figure emerged from the shadows when Tim was out of sight, and boldly
approached the two young toughs who were in the process of taking out their
rage upon the motionless bundle that Tim had left with them. The somewhat
paunchy former mortician had taken video of the man in the makeup before he
left, chuckling to himself in a manner that even creeped out the hired thugs.
This new arrival puzzled them even more than the semi-psychotic mortician, and
they received their second windfall of the night, this time the cash buying
their silence.
     

Chapter 11
    “Mom,
you’ve got to get me out of here,” Tiara complained urgently when Marilyn was
finally allowed to see her. She’d had her stomach pumped, and was weak, but fully
awake and aware. Her mother nearly fainted with relief.
    “Oh,
honey, I’m so glad you’re okay,” Marilyn held her hand and brushed silken
golden strands of hair away from her face. “What happened? Do you remember?”
    “We
can get to all of that later, but seriously, you need to give me my clothes and
take this stuff out of me,” she gestured to the IV line in her arm. “I need to
leave right now,” she insisted, clearly agitated.
    “What?
There’s no way they’re going to let you leave, sweetie. Your body has been
through a horrible ordeal. You’ll need to stay here and rest so that they can
make sure everything is back to normal before you go home,” Marilyn explained
patiently, not understanding Tiara’s distress.
    “That’s
just it, Mom, they don’t want to keep me here for observation, they think that
I tried to commit suicide,” she burst into tears. “I didn’t do this, Mom. They
said I overdosed on tranquilizers, but I don’t use tranquilizers. I don’t even
know anyone who does,” she cried, covering her face in embarrassment.
    “Of
course you don’t,” her mother frowned. “Tell me what happened, honey.”
    Tiara
wiped her eyes with the edge of the coarse hospital sheet, sniffling, and
Marilyn handed her a tissue. “I lied to you,” she began, not able to look her
mother in the eye.
    “What?”
was the startled reply. She’d been raised to always tell the truth, no matter
what, and to Marilyn’s knowledge, she always had…until now, apparently.
    “I
didn’t hang out at your house to watch Netflix. Sam stopped by the store
earlier and said that he needed to talk to me about something important. I
didn’t want him to know where I lived, so I told him I’d meet him at your
house,” her eyes grew wide, as realization struck.
    “What
is it?” her mother asked, seeing her reaction.
    “He
knew where you lived. I never gave him an address or anything, and he knew
exactly where to go,” she murmured. “My wretched ex-boyfriend may have been
stalking you,” Tiara looked as though she might start crying again, so Marilyn
changed the subject.
    “Did
he come over?” she prompted.
    The
weak young woman nodded. “He came over and I took him out to the back patio,
because I figured if he tried anything, I could scream and Tim would hear and
call the police or something. Anyway, I was having a glass of wine and he
started telling me all about how he had changed and had a really good job and
wanted to get back together with me,” she explained, remembering.
    “Oh
dear, what did you say?” her mother asked.
    At
that moment Tiara looked like herself again, giving her mother an