Read Whiskey Rebellion (Romantic Mystery/Comedy) Book 1 (Addison Holmes Mysteries) for Free Online Page B

he used to tie firecrackers to cat’s tails and light them when he was a kid.
    “Addison?”
    “I’m fine, Rose Marie. I just have a little bit of a headache.”
    What I was really thinking was that it wasn’t such a great day to go into the police station and give Detective Dempsey the statement he was so hot and bothered for or to start a new job, but then I thought of the little house on Hutton Street and decided to suck it up.
    I opened my eyes and saw more than I wanted to of Rose Marie. She was dressed in hot pink capris and a pink and white striped sailor’s top. What they say is true about large women not wearing horizontal stripes. Her permed blond hair was teased high around her head, and she always wore two perfect dots of rouge on her cheeks. I had the sudden urge to take out my makeup sponge and show her how to blend.
    “Bless your heart,” she said in a syrupy accent thick enough to spread on toast.
    Rose Marie wasn’t a bad person. She was just someone who took a great deal of energy to deal with, like a toddler or a Great Dane.
    “I just can’t believe Veronica said those things to you at lunch today,” she continued. “I d on’t believe for a minute that someone posted naked pictures of you on the Internet, but I’ll go home and check for you this afternoon just to make sure.”
    “Thanks, Rose Marie. You’re a true friend.”
    “I’m sure you’d do the same for me,” she said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Veronica posted those pictures herself. ” Veronica had experience in posting naked pictures of me on the Internet, so I wasn’t completely surprised by her bombshell during lunch. She’d done the same thing our senior year after I’d been voted Most Likely to Succeed by setting up a camera in the girls locker room. I like to think she wouldn’t have bothered with such a thing if she’d known in advance that my greatest successes would be teaching high school history and being the president of the Whiskey Bayou Yoga Association. But here we are again.
    “ She’s always been vindictive and spoiled,” Rose Marie continued. “I heard she seduced her mother’s third husband when she was sixteen and blackmailed him with the tape because he didn’t buy her the car she wanted.”
    “I heard that, too,” I said. I knew for a fact Veronica had always been vindictive and spoiled. Just like I knew the moment she came back to town she’d set her sights on Greg Nelson. It was me who was naïve enough to think he’d ignore her advances since he was so madly in love with me.
    “I tell you, you girls have been entertaining this town for twenty years, but it’s not just a simple case of female rivalry anymore. In my opinion, Veronica’s out to draw blood. I’d watch my back if I were you.”
    “Well that makes me feel better,” I said.

    God bless Dairy Queen. When life lets you down, they’re always there to pick up the pieces with the help of twenty-percent butter fat.
    I’d gone home to change into what I considered to be “spying on adulterous spouses attire.” Which included a short black skirt, a George Michael concert tank top that said FAITH in hot pink glitter, a pair of flip flops, an oversized straw hat, and large sunglasses to help hide my identity. I’d wiped the red marker off my face, but I still wasn’t in top form, so I stopped for a banana split to calm my nerves before driving to Kate’s office.
    I was multitasking, steering with my knees while eating my ice cream as I weaved in and out of traffic on Harry Truman Parkway. My stereo was cranked and Lynyrd Skynyrd was vibrating the fillings in my teeth.
    I savored each bite of ice cream and hot fudge and almost missed my exit because I was lost in semi-orgasmic bliss. I was in the far left lane of traffic, so I punched my horn to warn the people around me and zipped over two lanes. A black Ford F150 swerved when I cut him off at the exit, and I winced and waved an apology as I headed down the exit ramp.
    I