Read Murder in Aix (The Maggie Newberry Mystery Series Book 5) for Free Online Page B

to accommodate her.
    “Why are you
here, Grace?” she asked quietly. “What’s going on with you and Win?”
    “Nothing good,”
Grace said, brightly, blinking back the tears. “Nothing good.”
     
    Laurent’s nights
out were rare and Maggie hated to begrudge him the few he did take. Besides his
monthly co-op meetings in Aix where all the vignerons collaborated and exchanged notes, and his one night a week at Le Canard , the local pub in St-Buvard,
he never went out after dark. Those rare times he did, normally he made her a
dish of something that she either reheated or ate cold. Tonight he’d been
distracted, and she found herself rummaging around in Laurent’s other
kingdom—the kitchen. Although Grace insisted she wasn’t hungry and baby
Zou-zou had already demonstrated she would eat anything in any condition at any
time, Maggie still felt the need to rustle up something even if it was just
cheese toast.
    “I honestly don’t
bother at home,” Grace said, shifting the chubby toddler on her lap.
    “Well, that’s
because you have a cook, isn’t it?” Maggie said from the interior of the
refrigerator.
    “Oh, I guess
you’re right. That could be the reason.”
    Maggie pulled out
a plate of lamb slices, a tapenade and leftover potato gratin made with the
gnocchi Laurent had served the night before. “I think I can do something with
these.” She put the dish of lamb on the counter and scooped out a piece of cold
gnocchi and handed it to Zou-zou.
    “Hungry,
sweetie?” she asked the child, who popped the plump bit of potato and pasta
into her mouth.
    “She’s going to
be massive when she’s a teenager,” Grace said. “All she does is eat and those
kinds of habits don’t die easy.”
    “Oh, Grace, you
exaggerate,” Maggie said, laughing.
    “You won’t think
so when she’s ripping your refrigerator door off its hinges. I kid you not. The
child is a bottomless pit.”
    “Laurent will
love cooking for her,” Maggie said. “He hates how I’m always watching my diet
and swears he wouldn’t care if I get fat.”
    “Laurent is about
the only man I could honestly believe that about. He really loves you no matter
what. How did you manage that ?”
    “I have no idea.
Oh, look, he’s got great tomatoes still, and this bread he brought home from
Aix.”
    “He went shopping
while you were with your friend?”
    “You know
Laurent. He wouldn’t pass up their Wednesday Food Market if it was me they were arresting for murder.”
    “A bit of an
exaggeration.”
    “Maybe, but only
a bit. Anyway, it’ll make a fine feast for us. We don’t normally have good
bread unless one of us has been in Aix or Avignon.”
    “The village
still hasn’t replaced the bakery?”
    “Nope.”
    “Ah, well.
Memories are long in this part of France.”
    “You can say that
again. Here, take the wine. Just because I’m not drinking doesn’t mean someone else
shouldn’t enjoy it. Oh, she likes the gnocchi, Grace! Didn’t you, little bug?
Is it weird she isn’t talking yet?”
    “Hush your mouth,
Maggie Dernier,” Grace said, putting the little girl on her feet and grabbing
the bottle of wine. “The minute they start talking is the minute they start
whining. I’m enjoying the peace while I can.”
    They settled back
into the living room and Maggie spread their picnic out on the coffee table,
which Zou-zou attacked with delight, grabbing up a fistful of tapenade and
smearing it across her face in her attempt to get it into her mouth.
    “Will that make
her sick, do you think?” Maggie asked, reaching for a napkin for the child.
    “I really don’t
know,” Grace said. She broke off a piece of the bread and dipped it into the tapenade.
    “Do you want to
talk about it?”
    “Not yet, if you
don’t mind.”
    “Okay. But that
is why you’re here, isn’t it?”
    “Is it?” Grace
looked at her blankly, then away. “I suppose it is. Why else? To process it
all. To say it out loud to my dearest friend and watch