Free Dead People by Edie Ramer Page B

investments made money—the rich get richer.”
    “And it all went to the nephew and niece?” Cassie asked, her voice too studiously disinterested to fool Tricia.
    Tricia went cold then hot. Why these questions? Cassie couldn’t guess what Tricia had done. Even if Mrs. Shay had talked to Cassie, she wouldn’t know what happened. Mrs. Shay never had a clue.
    How could she? Tricia had come to the house with her mother that morning, knowing Darleen would find Mrs. Shay dead. While Darleen called 911, Tricia grabbed the leftover candy and threw it out. There were still a few pieces of chocolate that Mrs. Shay hadn’t got around to eating, and she knew Darleen would have scarfed them up.
    With all her faults, she was still her mom. Tricia didn’t want to kill her.
    Thinking about that morning made Tricia nervous. Ravenous. Made her want to run to the kitchen, wolf down the rest of the coffee cake, then lick any crumbs left in the pan.
    “The estate was split equally between the niece and nephew,” Darleen said. “They got every penny, except five thousand that Mrs. Shay left to me. Tricia thinks Mrs. Shay stiffed me, but I’m happy I got that much. You should’ve heard the ladies from her church grumbling because the church wasn’t mentioned in the will.”
    “Do you know anything about the history of the house?” Cassie asked.  
    Tricia frowned, then reminded herself that frowning caused wrinkles and she couldn’t afford Botox. Not yet.
    What was Cassie poking her nose into? The history of the house had nothing to do with what she’d done to Mrs. Shay. Though if Cassie found out about Kurt...
    “It’s old,” Darleen said. “Very old. You could ask the Historical Society.”
    Tricia breathed easier. Sometimes having a stupid mom was good. Let Cassie ask the Historical Society and see how far that got her. The only thing the Historical Society was good for was getting together and yakking about how long their families had lived in Bliss. Like stagnation was a good thing.
    Cassie shrugged and ate the last bite of her cake. Tricia pretended to eat the last bite of hers, then spat it into a napkin that she shoved into her jacket pocket with the others.
    “Thank you for the cake,” Cassie said. “And for all your help.”
    Tricia restrained herself from jumping up. As soon as Cassie left, so would she. She hated every second in this house. Its smallness stifled her.
    Not like the Shay house, with its twenty high-ceilinged rooms, the fancy plasterwork and the gleaming woodwork.
    A sudden fierceness swept through her. Her house. The house should belong to her .
    Something had gone seriously wrong. Her name should’ve been in the will with the other descendants of Thomas.
    “And thank you, Tricia,” Cassie said.
    “It was nothing,” Tricia said with a smile. Not lying because it was true, thanks to her mother’s denseness. Darleen was like the three monkeys rolled into one: see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.
    There was only one “evil” her mother would break. Eat no evil.
    “My Tricia is the best girl in the world.” Darleen heaved herself off the sofa. “I wish I could help her more. She works so hard and never complains. Because she’s beautiful and smart, the other girls in town are jealous. They make up stories about her. As for the boys, they just want one thing.”
    “Mom.” Tricia put her hands over her ears.
    “It’s true. Don’t be so modest.” Darleen nodded at Cassie as Tricia lowered her arms. “It will change when she gets out of Bliss and goes to UWM. But even working two jobs, it’ll take her another year to afford it. I hate it that I can’t afford to help her.”
    “Can’t she get grants or scholarships?” Cassie asked.
    “If her grades were better,” Darleen said.
    Tricia went hot and cold. She wished she hadn’t thrown those last deadly chocolates in the garbage disposal. She wanted to stuff them into her mother’s big mouth right now, watch her chew them,