Free Limoncello Yellow (Franki Amato Mysteries) by Traci Andrighetti Page A

stylish as you? I'm asking because I'm totally obsessed with true crime." Now I was thinking like good ol' Nancy Drew again.
    Annabella leaned forward. "Well, she was drop dead gorgeous for one thing. A lot of people said she looked like a young Kim Basinger. And she only wore the latest styles—LaMarca, Hermes, Gucci, Chanel, Armani. You name the brand, she had it. And she always accessorized with a scarf."
    " You don't say," I prompted her.
    " Yeah, she said that a scarf gives your outfit that touch of class, unless it's a cheap one, of course."
    One look at Annabella 's scarf confirmed that she hadn't internalized that all-important accessory rule. But if Jessica had said that, what had it meant that she'd been strangled with a cheap scarf she would have detested? "Did she really say that? About cheap scarves, I mean?" I asked as I pretended to look through the scarves.
    " Yeah."
    "Was she a good manager?"
    " Well, she was cold as ice to her employees," Annabella said, a little huffily. "I mean, I know you're not supposed to speak ill of the dead. But for her, we were nobodies: lower than nobodies. But that's the way it is in fashion, and she knew this business like the back of her hand. She actually got to intern at the original LaMarca store in Milan's Via Monte Napoleone fashion district. I don't know how she did it, either, because they never give internships to foreigners."
    " How nice for her," I murmured as I considered the connections Jessica must have had to land that kind of opportunity.
    " I was hoping she would mentor me," Annabella continued. "You know, so I could work my way up? But she thought I was too unfashionable," she added, her double chin trembling with emotion from the perceived injustice of that last statement.
    " Well, that's just her opinion," I reassured, although I did think that the poodle skirt was killing her career chances. "I mean, you look like a 1950s version of Geri Halliwell—you know, Ginger Spice? So how in the world could you be unfashionable?"
    " I know, right?" She sniffled. "But Jessica was nothing if not brutally honest. Besides, she always said that emotion had no place in the business world and that we should leave our feelings at home—along with our personal lives."
    " Speaking of personal lives, the police think her boyfriend did it, right?" I pulled a hideous scarf from the rack and pretended to examine its bizarre horseshoe pattern.
    " Yeeeeeah," Annabella said with a tone of doubt, plucking a stray yellow thread from her white sleeve. "But I'm not so sure."
    " Why do you say that?" I watched as she began to twist the thread with her fingers.
    " Well, for starters, fashion is a cutthroat industry. If you've made it in this business, you've got enemies," she explained, giving me an extra wide-eyed and knowing look.
    " Gosh, I had no idea the business was like that," I lied as I put the ugly scarf back on its hanger. "Do you know if Jessica had any enemies?"
    " Maaaaaybe," Annabella said, suddenly vague and evasive. Then she batted her eyes at me oddly. "Oh, I guess I can tell you ! You're not the police!" she exclaimed cheerfully. Then, again glancing from side to side and even taking a look behind her, she turned to me. "There was at least one guy who didn't like her. He came in here one night after we were closed. Jessica didn't know I was here because I had left for the night, but then I came back because I'd forgotten my purse. I went in through the back of the store, so I never saw him, but I heard him yelling at her."
              "What did he say?" I turned to look at her, completely abandoning all attempts to seem like a scarf shopper.
    " Well, I couldn't hear all of it, but I know he said she'd broken an agreement they had. And I think he warned her to stay away from New Orleans. He also said something about the London College of Fashion, and it almost sounded like Jessica had gone there. The weird thing is that Jessica never mentioned going to