Free Ding Dong Dead by Deb Baker

Matt needed to hear was that Gretchen was discussing his cases with his mother and her other workout buddies.
    She needn’t have bothered, though, since Bonnie chimed in with, “My Matty is working on a tough case, a murder in Eternal View Cemetery. He can’t tell me a thing about it, because it’s highly confidential. However, my friend Anne works in the office at the cemetery and she gave me all the gory details.”
    Bonnie’s red wig was adjusted properly for a change, and her penciled eyebrows were straight. Recently she’d switched to half-decaf, half-regular coffee. It had been Nina’s suggestion, a “psychic moment” she called it, and the results were amazing. No more jitters for Bonnie. No more crooked wigs or wobbly eyebrows. “Want to hear the details?” she asked.
    “My. More juicy gossip,” Ora said. “You girls are energized today.”
    Gretchen was all ears. Anything she could learn might help solve the crime and put a killer away. And as an added benefit, getting the case wrapped up quickly would get Matt back in her arms with his mind focused completely on her.
    “We’re ready, Bonnie,” Nina said. “Don’t leave out a thing.”
    “Well, Gretchen was there when it happened,” Bonnie said. “She should help tell it.”
    “Really?” Julie said, swinging her head toward Gretchen in surprise.
    “What?” Nina shouted. “Is that true? I’m family. Why am I always the last to know anything?”
    “I’m sorry, Nina.” Thank you, Bonnie. “It was so late by the time I got home . . .” What else could she say?
    “My own niece,” Nina said. “Absolutely no consideration for me at all.”
    Bonnie jumped in again. “I knew Gretchen had been there the minute Anne said the detective had a woman with him.”
    “Was your friend Anne in the cemetery when it happened?” Gretchen asked.
    “No, but she was behind on her work, so she stayed late in the office that night. She was going to her car when she heard a ruckus in the cemetery. She’s the one who called the cops. Of course, she didn’t know about the dead woman until the police arrived and searched the area.”
    Two other Curves members came through the door, putting an end to their private conversation. “Let’s stretch,” Bonnie said, leading them to another room. Gretchen took up the end position. They were like a flock of inquisitive turkeys all in a row, trotting along with their necks craned.
    Nina hadn’t said a word since she found out that Gretchen had been in the cemetery and hadn’t told her. She was too busy showing Gretchen that she was angry by ignoring her. “I’m sorry,” Gretchen mouthed the next time Nina glared her way. No reaction from her aunt.
    Bonnie was already sitting on a floor mat, twisting over one raised knee. “Here’s the scoop. It wasn’t a random murder. A bunch of those homeless people were lurking in the cemetery, so that would have been my first thought, that one of them did it, or all of them together.”
    Gretchen couldn’t imagine Nacho or Daisy killing anyone or anything. She’d have to take Bonnie down to the rescue mission for a little charitable giving. “People everywhere come in all kinds of packages,” she said. “Good and evil exists on all social levels.”
    “But that’s what the police would have thought,” Bonnie continued. “That she had been picked just because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, or because she reminded the killer of someone, or because of whatever reason a psycho kills. But that wasn’t the case because the police found a big clue.”
    “What big clue?” Julie asked.
    “A doll,” Bonnie said. Gretchen made a point of keeping her mouth shut.
    Everyone had forgotten to stretch. Instead they huddled together like football players. Bonnie continued in a whisper. “I put two and two together when Anne told me the dead woman’s name. Allison Thomasia. I searched on the Internet and found her right away. She was a fantasy doll