Read Whipped Wedding Woes: A Cozy Mystery (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book 8) for Free Online Page A

dozens of people were tossing their cookies into bags. Now Paige is a rock solid gal when it comes to most things, but being around people regurgitating their lunch…well it’s her kryptonite. Stormi’s Achilles heel was snorting and laughing when she’s nervous; and Paige’s is dry gagging when other people are barfing. I knew as soon as we entered the room Paige was going down in flames. She lifted a hand to her mouth and started gagging. Of course, I have the same chink in the armor as Stormi. As soon as she gagged, I chortled. The more she gagged the more I convulsed with laughter, tears streaming down my face. I grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the room towards the parking garage. We must have been a sight as nurses, patients and guests all looked at us as if we’d escaped from the loony bin.
     
    By the time we made it to Paige’s SUV, my stomach hurt from laughing and Paige was exhausted from all the gagging. We fell into the vehicle and Paige’s cell phone rang. It was Stormi.
     
    “Cowards!” I heard her rail.
     
    Paige was having none of it. “Get down to the car…we’re waiting.”
     
    “How could you leave…?” Paige cut her off mid sentence and hung up. Then she turned to me.
     
    “Well that was exciting. I was doing fine until we stumbled into the…” Paige shook her head. “Ok, forget about that fiasco and me ever mentioning becoming a private eye.”
     
    “What did you find out?”
     
    “Absolutely nothing. There was no record of him being admitted into this hospital.”
     
    “What? That doesn’t make any sense. Why would Luella lie about that?”
     
    Suddenly the back door opened and we both jumped. Stormi piled into the back.
     
    “So what did you find out?”
     
    “Nothing. Like I told Tara, there was no record of him being here.”
     
    “What the frack! If he wasn’t here, then where did she take him?”
     
    “We need to talk to your mother and Doreen,” I said. “Weren’t they the last ones to talk to Luella?”
     
    “Okay,” Stormi replied. “I’ll call Doreen, but I want to talk to Momma in person.”

Chapter Seven
     
     
     
    Doreen was no help. She and Howie had been estranged for many years, so although she was distraught that her only child died, she wasn’t any help in locating his body. She said Luella only told her she’d have the ashes shipped to her. However, she did have the address of the funeral home where his body was to be cremated. It was in a little town south of Caesars Creek. But before we headed there, Stormi wanted to stop by her mother’s house.
     
    Dottie moved out of Brandon’s place into a senior living community several months ago. The homes were all duplexes, which worked great for Dottie who didn’t need a large living space. As we gathered in her small living room, Stormi proceeded to tell her what we found out at the hospital.
     
    Dottie fanned herself with one of her magazines. “I cannot believe you girls. What if you had gotten caught?”
     
    Stormi raised her iced tea drink to her temple. She was sweating in her mother’s living room. “Momma, you need to turn the air conditioning on.”
     
    “I am not getting hit with a high electricity bill. Just turn on the fan.”
     
    Stormi looked at her mother with dull eyes. “You do know the fan uses electricity too.”
     
    Dottie smacked the magazine down. “Yes I do Miss Smarty Pants.”
     
    “Okay everyone, lets try and get a grip and remember what we came here for,” Paige said impatiently. “Is there anything that Luella or Howie said to you that seemed out of place or odd?”
     
    Dottie positioned a small fan on an end table to blow right in her face. “Well honestly, anything Howie said was strange. You know he was so intelligent, but couldn’t hold a normal conversation if it sat in his lap and called him Momma.”
     
    Dottie shook her head. “All I remember is him talking about developing some strange machine that could talk to ghosts. He