Free Diva 02 _ Diva Takes the Cake, The by Krista Davis

made a decent living as a computer systems analyst, but she and Craig meant to buy a house and had set a precise budget for their wedding. She had already lost the entire deposit at Carlyle House. A second dress? The bag bulged. Were there two more dresses in there?

    She smiled and said cheerfully, “Have you forgotten that I’m marrying a doctor? He’s more than happy to pay for extras.”

    I threw my hands in the air. If I could nail him, she wouldn’t need one dress, much less three.

    Hannah ran up the stairs with Phoebe, and I trudged up behind them to change clothes for dinner. After a quick shower, I stepped into a gauzy periwinkle and avocado skirt and matching sleeveless top. But when I looked for earrings, I found that one of the drawers in my nightstand hung open as though someone had been going through it. The contents, nothing exotic—lotion, a flashlight, books, and the remote for the TV—had been rooted through. I closed the drawer and put on festive dangling earrings, and, since I was finally going to see Wolf, I spent a few minutes applying eyeliner, mascara, and lipstick, and spritzed exotic Opium on my neck. But all the while I wondered what someone needed from my drawer.

    I returned to the kitchen, grabbed three cans of cheap beer from the fridge, and enlisted help in carrying everything out to the grill. Shortly thereafter, Craig joined us, a drink in his hand and jollier than I had ever seen him. Then the guests began to arrive, including washed-out Humphrey, who hovered near me as I manned the grill.

    I dashed inside to mix more Wedded Blitz Martinis and was passing through the foyer when Mars, my ex-husband, barged through the front door without knocking. Ordinarily I’d have protested, but he appeared upset. He carried a box of desserts.

    I took it from him. “Do these need to be refrigerated?”

    He looked at the box as though he’d never seen it before and shrugged. “Who the heck is Kevin?”

    “Kevin?” I’d expected Mars to be worried about the corpse in his backyard and wondered if the two things were connected. “You think this Kevin murdered Emily?”

    His face went through a series of confused contortions. “Murder? I thought she killed herself.”

    I brought him up to speed.

    “Good golly, don’t tell Natasha. She’s a wreck over this. She already contacted somebody to tear down the pergola because it’s now tainted.”

    Mom appeared from the kitchen and held out her arms. “Mars.” She cupped her hands around his face. “You’re as handsome as ever.”

    Even if he was my ex, I had to admit Mars was attractive in a polished good-old-boy way. A political advisor, he had better TV appeal than some of his clients. And he could turn on the charm.

    “Inga, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you were Sophie’s sister.”

    She actually giggled. Besides his looks, he could dish out baloney as well as any politician. He roughhoused with Daisy, and the two of them went off in search of Dad.

    Mom sighed.

    “Don’t start,” I said through clenched teeth.

    She eyed me oh-so-innocently. Our mothers couldn’t imagine a world in which Mars and I weren’t together. “Thank you for wearing makeup. Though you could have worn something that shows a little cleavage. Honestly, Sophie, it wouldn’t hurt you to wear something sexy. No wonder Natasha managed to steal Mars.”

    Ignoring her, I stashed Natasha’s box of desserts in the kitchen.

    The knocker on the door sounded, and Mom opened it.

    When I peered into the foyer, Natasha stood possessively close to a man whose muscles bulged so dramatically they looked on the verge of exploding.

    Natasha introduced the muscular man as Kevin Pointer. It took me a moment to realize where I’d heard his name. “You’re the best man.” I felt guilty for thinking it, but my mind went straight to how helpful he might have been to the killer. With those arms, carrying the body would have been a snap.

    Like Mars, he