Free 50% Off Murder (Good Buy Girls) by Josie Belle Page A

this, as the two brothers came to blows over every competition that the seniors had.
    Maggie worked her way over to the table where the two men were sitting with teeth bared, hunched over their boards waiting for the next number to be called.
    “Hurry up!” Jerry barked. “A man could die waiting for you to get to the next number.”
    “If we’re lucky,” Dennis snapped.
    Maggie peeked at their bingo cards. They only had a few spaces to go. Someone was going to win soon. Paula called out three more numbers, and Jerry shot up from the table, yelling, “Bingo!”
    In his tank top with his gray chest hair poking out over the neckband, plaid shorts and loafers with black socks, Jerry was the epitome of old-man chic.
    Wearing similar attire, except with striped shorts, Dennis popped out of his seat to look at his brother’s bingo card.
    “He cheated!” Dennis shouted. “I challenge that bingo.”
    Paula let out a put-upon sigh. Maggie suspected it was because she was forced to do this for every game. The rest of the seniors in the room looked like they couldn’t give two hoots who had won the bingo. This was just the opening Maggie needed.
    “You know, Dennis,” she said. “If Jerry won this bingo round, that would be good for you.”
    “How do you figure?” he asked. “I don’t see how his cheating is doing me any good.”
    “I didn’t cheat,” Jerry argued. He cracked his knuckles, and Maggie was afraid he’d get himself sedated before her plan was in motion.
    “It’s just that I saw the Spring Gardens bus out front, and it looked to me like it was headed to the Frosty Freeze, so if Jerry here is busy picking out his bingo prize, you would score the front seat, Dennis.”
    The two brothers stared at each other for a heartbeat, and then they both scrambled for the door, throwing elbows and shoving each other.
    “Misters Applebaum!” Paula hollered after them. “What is the meaning of this?”
    “A trip to the Frosty Freeze,” Maggie said. “I heard the bus driver say they were going.”
    Moving as one, the rest of the seniors hustled up from their tables and hurried to the door. There was a little bit of a jam-up, but Dennis gave Jerry a wet willy by licking his index finger and sticking it in his brother’s ear.
Ew!
    As Jerry jumped back, all of the seniors stampeded past him on their way to the front door.
    “What the heck was that all about?” Paula asked.
    “Ice cream at the Frosty Freeze,” Maggie said.
    “We don’t have a trip planned for today,” she said. “At least I don’t think so.”
    This was the beauty of Paula Duwalter. She was a former Miss Virginia, by about thirty years, but she still walkedthe walk and talked the talk, meaning she wasn’t the sharpest tack on the bulletin board.
    “Really? I saw Ray getting the bus ready,” Maggie said.
    “Huh, imagine that,” Paula said. “Hey, is Dr. Franklin in today?”
    “No, why?” Maggie asked. She was itching to get on her way, but she knew Paula, and if she didn’t stop and listen, Paula would get all huffy, and that never boded well for anyone.
    “I’ve got this twinge in my neck,” Paula said. “Whenever I sleep on my right side, I wake up all tight.”
    Maggie glanced down the corridor. The seniors were almost at the front. Oh dear, she really didn’t have time for Paula’s hypochondria right now.
    “I know how to fix that,” she said.
    “Really?” Paula asked. “Because I don’t want any pills. One of the contestants in the Miss America pageant with me was addicted to diet pills. I won’t take pills.”
    Somehow, Paula always managed to work her Miss America–contender status into every conversation. It was a gift, truly.
    “There are no pills. It’s very simple,” Maggie said. She was losing sight of the oldsters. Time to go. “If sleeping on your right side hurts, then don’t sleep on your right side.”
    She left the room with Paula frowning after her. Well, what did she expect when she asked