Free Murder the Tey Way: A Golden Age of Mystery Book Club Mystery (The Golden Age of Mystery Book Club Mysteries 2) by Marilyn Levinson Page B

understood, made sense. The many times she told Felicity to stop talking when she’d brought up something regarding their childhood. “You mean like Brat Farrar?”
    Joy shrugged. “I Googled Corinne. Didn’t find out much. Nothing on Facebook. She doesn’t tweet. Just a few articles about her bank VP job, and that she went to college in Indiana. Which proved very interesting.”
    “Oh?”
    “I have a friend who accesses college yearbooks for investigators. She checked out the school’s yearbooks every year Corinne supposedly went there. Guess what?  No photo. No mention of a Corinne Roberts.”
    A chill snaked down my back. Still, I wouldn’t think the worst. “That doesn’t mean anything. Corinne strikes me as the type of person that hates being photographed.”
    “Yeah. Add that to their general weirdness.”
    “Maybe they’re hiding from their father. He sounds like an awful person.”
    “He does,” Joy agreed, all humor gone from her voice. “I’ll get to the bottom of their story sooner than later. And I haven’t had time to check out Gayle’s story,” she said in the same somber tone. “I’ll work on that next.”
    “Don’t bother. Gayle’s done plenty of dumb things in her life, but she’s no liar.”
    “Everyone lies, about one thing or another. Speaking of which, I’m getting nowhere tracking down Mike’s bimbo.”
    I swallowed. “Did you ever stop to think there is no bimbo?”
    “Last night he was on the phone again, talking in that excited, secretive way.”
    “Joy—”
    “Let me finish,” she snapped.
    I was about to snap back, then I saw the pain in her eyes.
    “He mentioned The Lion’s Head Inn.”
    He was on the phone talking about Joy’s surprise party. Obviously, the idiot still hadn’t made things right!
    Joy sniffed. Was that a tear I saw in her eye? “I’m dying to eat there, but Mike always insists it’s too expensive. And now he’s taking a bimbo to stay in one of the rooms! I’ll kill him!”
    I was saved from answering, because Zack and Ruthie burst into the house with the pent up energy of two kids who’d been in school all day. As though on schedule, little Brandon let out a bellow to let the world know he’d awakened from his nap.
    I was glad to leave the Soccer Mom to her charges. I walked home, worrying about Gayle. Then I mulled over the dirt Joy had unearthed about the members of our book club. What a sad bunch they turned out to be! We had a gambler, a compulsive spender, a couple who’d lost children and were paying some goon to smuggle their grandchild out of Peru, and two sisters with mysterious pasts.
    All I had to do was find out which one killed Len Lyons and clear my sister of his murder.
     

 

CHAPTER NINE
     
    A white pickup truck in sad need of a scrub down sprawled across my driveway. Its arrogant angle prevented any car parked inside the garage from driving off. My heart leaped to my throat when I caught sight of the orange and white Utah plates. I was about to floor the gas pedal and drive away when a bearded bear of a man stepped down from the truck and walked towards me. He wore jeans, boots, a fringed leather jacket, and a cowboy hat, and appeared to be in his early thirties. A toothpick jutted from his mouth.
    “Good afternoon, ma’am. You Alexis Driscoll?”
    I nodded. “And you are?”
    “Pete Rogers. I’ve been deputized by the Stone Ridge Police Department to bring Gayle Gruen back to Utah for questioning regarding a homicide.”
    I stared at him, too upset to speak.
    The toothpick jumped to the other side of his mouth. “Gayle’s your sister, isn’t she?”
    “She’s not here,” I told him.
    “You sure?”
    His insinuation that I was lying did the trick. My fear turned to anger.
    “Of course I’m sure!  Do you see her SUV anywhere?”
    He jutted his chin toward the garage. “It could be parked in there.”
    I glared at him as I pulled out my cell phone. “I’m calling a good friend in the Nassau County