Free Strung Out to Die by Tonya Kappes

her glasses up on her nose. “I thought you looked like you’d lost weight, but it was just the way my glasses were sitting.”
    “Nice to see you.” I smiled politely, setting the board down in front of her.
    Without anyone noticing, I slipped my finger back to my elastic waistband to make sure I wasn’t delusional from the lack of sleep this morning when I noticed slack in my yoga pants.
    Sigh. There was still a little extra space. Although it was small, it was still there.
    There were a lot of unflattering things I could have said in reply to Agnes, but I kept my mouth shut. You never know what could happen if she turned up dead. Then I’d be a suspect in two murders. Or better yet, she’d murder me.
    I jumped over Doug’s dead spot again to grab Marlene and Bernadine’s projects. There wasn’t any sense in bringing out Ginger’s. There’s no way she’d come to the Divas impromptu meeting. I’d left her a message when she hadn’t answered her phone.
    I just hoped she didn’t think I killed her brother.
    “I think it’s so good how you gals got this group together. Those men can be jerks.” Agnes sure wasn’t wasting time starting the bashing session. It probably would’ve been a good one, but with dead Doug weighing on everyone’s mind, nobody even answered Agnes.
    Bernadine carefully laid out her Swarovski crystals in a pattern. She’d been working in this for the last three weeks, since we started this new project. Our projects usually take about a month to complete, and then we move on. Each Diva had picked out a new technique for the current project, which meant it was going to take us longer than normal to complete.
    “What do you think?” Bernadine asked, referring to her project.
    This was the third pattern she’d laid out. Some with ornamental Bali beads and some she’d replaced with sterling silver.
    “I think you set me up!” I said as I glared at Bernadine.
    She was crazy if she thought I was going to let her off the hook after the stunt she pulled only an hour before at Food Watchers.
    “Me?” Her wide-eyed innocence was merely a smoke screen. “You’re the one who jumped up and got the attention of…”
    I interrupted her, “Ms. Food Watcher!”
    All the other Divas looked at us.
    Cheri was the only one brave enough to ask, “What happened?”
    After I told them the quick story about the nutty scene that had taken place at Food Watchers, a wave of laughter rippled through the group. When the laughter quieted down for a second, Flora couldn’t resist.
    She stood up and walked over to Bernadine. She bent down and to examined Bernadine’s cardigan. “Well, where’s that new bell pin, Angel?”
    Flora threw her head back and cackled. It was contagious and everyone started laughing all over again.
    “Okay.” I had to get the Divas back in line. I looked over Bernadine’s shoulder at her bracelet. “I like it.”
    Of course I liked it. I liked anything beaded.  My opinion really didn’t matter anyway. She was going to take it apart a million more times before she put the final crimp on it. Most of Bernadine’s time was taken up by organizing and reorganizing. That was her specialty.
    “Have you talked to Ginger?” Marlene asked as she handed me her project.
    She had the gauge wire wrapped around her finger instead of the fake gem I’d given her to use. Gently, I reached over to help pull it off and show her how to wrap from the beginning…again.
    I wish she’d tell the other Divas about the rare yellow Spinel diamond she wanted to wrap into a new creation so she could wear it. She said it wasn’t anyone’s business but her own, and it wasn’t my story to tell, even though it would’ve been a wonderfully juicy gossip topic for the Divas to discuss.
    “No.” I watched over Marlene’s shoulder to make sure she was rewrapping the fake gem correctly this time. “I left her a message, but she hasn’t called back.”
    “How do you know she hasn’t called? You