Free Dark Valentine by Jennifer Fulton Page A

information for the delivery. I’m sending gifts to a few people for my boss, and I think I was looking at the wrong name. Did I tell you a Mrs. Kelly Smith in Winchester?”
    “No, ma’am. This delivery is for Ms. Kate Lambert in Oatman, Arizona.”
    Jules scratched the information down. “Peonies and irises?”
    “Yes. Is the delivery information correct?”
    “Phew. Yes, it is. I thought I’d better check. My boss gets mad if I screw up.”
    The girl laughed. “I know what you’re talking about! They’ll be delivered on Monday. That’s the soonest FedEx can do it.”
    “Excellent. You’ve been very helpful.” On an impulse, Jules said, “One thing more. Could you include some miniature red roses. Just buds.”
    “Oh, the tiny ones? They are so cute!”
    “If there’s an additional charge, please add it to the card.” Jules ended the call and slid the phone back into her pocket, crowing, “Candy from a baby.”
     
    *
     
    Bonnie stormed across the back patio, through the open French doors into the kitchen, where Rhianna was feeding Alice.
    “That old fool!” She slumped down at the table. “Whatever I say, he’s got an answer.”
    Rhianna passed her a Coke. “He’s a lonely, stubborn old man. I think he’s just doing this to get attention.”
    “Well, he sure as hell got mine.” Bonnie cracked open the soda and gulped some down. Catching her small daughter’s transfixed stare, she calmed her voice and leaned over to kiss Alice’s head. “Mommy’s upset but there’s nothing to worry about. After you’ve had your lunch, we’re going to play with your farm animals.”
    “So he hasn’t done anything about it?” For Alice’s benefit, Rhianna kept her tone light as well.
    Their feud with Walter Entwhistle had started out as a boundary disagreement when the Mosses put up a new back fence just after Christmas. During the past two months, it had deteriorated into a standoff over his latest act of retaliation. Not only had he taken down ten feet of fence where he claimed it crossed into his land, but he’d replaced it with a huge pit. For several weeks the pit had grown wider and deeper by the day; then, all of a sudden, old man Entwhistle had hired some hands and started stripping out scrub and cactus from around his property. This had all ended up in the pit, an obvious hazard to people and animals.
    Lloyd and Percy had fenced off the Mosses’ side of the pit for safety, only to have Entwhistle knock the fence down, claiming it still encroached. Finally, yesterday, after a visit from the county sheriff, he’d erected a sign proclaiming Private Property—Trespassers Shot.
    Bonnie was beyond incensed. She’d tried reason, home-baked goods, and emotional blackmail about his late wife, whom she’d helped during the illness that finally claimed her life. She’d begged Entwhistle to consider Alice and Hadrian, who was hard of hearing and almost blind. All he could say was that if they stayed away from his property, she wouldn’t have anything to worry about.
    “I don’t understand why he’s doing this.” Bonnie was in tears. “We’ve been good neighbors to him.”
    “It’s four months since Mrs. Entwhistle passed,” Rhianna said. “I think he’s really feeling the loss and this is a big distraction for him. Some people create that for themselves when they’re not ready to deal with something deeper.”
    Bonnie sighed. “I know. I’m trying to be understanding, but just go down there and take a look. Those barrel cactus with prickly pear piled on top, some of them have spikes three inches long. And he’s started dumping all the waste from his henhouse there, too. We won’t be using the hot tub anytime soon. Very romantic, sitting under the stars breathing in the smell of chicken poop.”
    Rhianna groaned. “Did he say when he was planning to fill it in?”
    “Oh, he rambled on about mulching after summer when it’s had a chance to rot down some. I get the impression he’s