Free Class Reunion of Murder by Vanessa Gray Bartal

said. “Or, better yet, let Lacy tell her. She likes Lacy.”
    Somehow between Pearl’s incarceration and Tosh’s marriage, Pearl had decided that Lacy was her new best friend. She greeted her with suffocating, bosomy hugs at every sighting. Riley was now public enemy number one in Pearl’s quagmire of a mind. Lacy should have been relieved. Instead she spent too much time trying to get the stench of Pearl’s perfume out of her nose after every smothering hug. Her phone buzzed with a text from Jason.
    “It’s about to be a moot point anyway,” Lacy said as she read her phone. “Jason needs us back at the hotel for a briefing.”
    “What for?” Tosh asked.
    They didn’t know. How could something so cataclysmic have occurred without their knowledge? “Summer is dead; she was murdered last night. Everyone who was staying at the hotel needs to be at the meeting.”
    “Summer is dead?” Riley repeated. “But she was so pretty.” She sat back, deflated. Tosh eased his arm around her, and Lacy shuddered. Summer hadn’t looked so pretty last time she saw her. How long would it take to get that image out of her head?
     
    “Are you okay, Lacy?” Tosh asked.
    “She’s fine,” Riley replied as she pulled away and stood. “We should go before his royal constable gets cranky and issues arrest warrants for all of us.”
    Lacy held her tongue with effort. Her patience with Riley was wearing thin. Why was she picking on Jason? Then again, why did she do any of the things she did? She was an enigma. “I have Kimber’s car. You can ride with me, if you want. I didn’t see your car in the drive, so I assume you walked.”
    “Sprinted, actually,” Tosh said with a secret smile for Riley that made her laugh.
     
    I don’t want to know, Lacy thought. The more distance she kept between herself and their sham of a marriage, the less pain she would feel when it inevitably fell apart. How long would Riley wait to tell him about the money she owed? Or had she already and that was what all the fighting was about? That might explain the fighting, but not the making up. Unless Riley was trying to cajole the money out of Tosh. Riley wasn’t above using her wiles to get what she wanted, and Tosh was easy prey for a sob story and pretty face. Together, they were toxic. As much as Lacy expected their “relationship” to implode, she dreaded the fallout. Tosh would need her, but for all their differences, Riley was still her sister. She was already torn, and the end hadn’t even arrived yet. How much worse would it be when it actually happened?
    Tosh plucked the keys from her fingers. “You’re in la-la land,” he said. He herded her toward the back seat and opened the passenger door for Riley who beamed at him. A light bulb went off. Was that what this was about? Maybe being with Tosh wasn’t about the money; maybe it was about hurting Lacy. Maybe for Riley it was another notch in whatever sick, twisted, sisterly competition had been going on since birth. Jason hadn’t given her a glance, but Tosh had fallen like a hollow tree. Had that been Riley’s plan all along?
     
    Lacy sat in the back and studied them through narrowed eyes. She was missing something, but what? What was Riley’s master plan? Lacy had no doubt that she had one. Her sister had never made an impetuous, uncalculated move in her life. Lacy felt a desperate, gnawing need to discern her strategy before she revealed her final move. If she knew Riley’s game, maybe she could protect herself and everyone else from the inevitable mess when it was over.
    They arrived at the hotel in minutes. Tosh parked and leaned over the console to kiss Riley who returned it with a smile. They turned to look at Lacy who must have been scowling because Tosh’s smile faltered, and Riley’s grew.
     
    “Coming?” Tosh said.
    Lacy nodded and slid out of the car, stalking ahead of them while they meandered hand in hand. She was so distracted by them that she forgot her