Free Death Takes a Honeymoon by DEBORAH DONNELLY

mess would have made me insane, but she seemed to thrive on it.
    “Here we go.” B.J. reappeared with a tray and set it on the nightstand, newly cleared for my arrival. “This should help.”
    I levered myself to a sitting position, ever so cautiously. The room was no longer whirling, as it had last night, but I wasn’t going to push my luck. At least I wasn’t nauseous anymore. The tray held two coffee mugs, steaming and fragrant, along with a plate of buttered scones and a bowl of grapes.
    “I do love you, Muffy,” I said, sipping and munching. “I do, I do, I do.”
    “Well, you should,” she answered around a mouthful of scone. “I had to drive you back here last night, in case you don’t remember.”
    I closed my eyes. “I do now. Sorry.”
    “No big deal. I wasn’t planning to work today, but we can swing by the nursery later and get my car.”
    “Sure.”
    As we finished the scones, an awkward silence fell. It was time to get serious.
    “B.J., you said you needed help. I can’t help if you won’t tell me what’s going on.”
    She took a swallow of coffee, wiped her mouth on a napkin, and looked down at her hands. Her wedding ring threw back a tiny chip of sunlight.
    “I’m in trouble, Muffy,” she murmured. “You won’t—?”
    “Of course not. Not a word, not to anybody.”
    She heaved a sigh that came all the way up from her toes, and began.
    “Matt and I have been having problems for a while now, with him traveling so much and me working so hard at the nursery, and other things. Being married is more complicated than you’d think.”
    I thought about Aaron and myself and smiled wryly. “I’ll bet.”
    “Then Brian turned up in town to start training at the jump base. He kept hanging around the nursery, dropping hints about picking up where we left off years ago.”
    B.J. turned the ring on her finger around and around. “I shut him down, I really did. But then last week Matt and I had a fight on the phone, and that night I went out with some friends and had too much to drink. I didn’t want to drive, so I let Brian take me home and...one thing led to another. It was a stupid, stupid thing to do. I must have been out of my mind. I’ve never cheated on Matt before, never. You’ve got to believe me!”
    “I do, B.J. Go on.”
    “Well, I was wearing this silver necklace, and when Brian pulled my shirt off—”
    I held up a hand. “I don’t need the details.”
    “No, of course not. Sorry. Anyway, when I woke up Brian was gone and so was my necklace. I called him and asked for it back, but he teased me about it, the bastard.” She stood up and began to pace, her bare feet silent on the loft’s braided rugs. “Jeez, I shouldn’t talk about him like that now that he’s dead. You must think I’m horrible.”
    “B.J., sit down. I don’t think you’re horrible, I think you’re upset. So what happened with the necklace?”
    “He threatened to keep it.” She sank into a chair and laced her fingers together, tight. “I was afraid someone would see it, like the guy who shared his apartment, but Brian laughed and said no problem, he was keeping it close to his heart as a souvenir. I was frantic! I called him again and again, but I think he enjoyed it.”
    “That
bastard.
”
    “Oh, don’t say that, Carnegie. I mean, Bri shouldn’t have acted that way, but he wasn’t a bad person at heart.”
    And now he’s dead.
I relented. “Sorry. Go on, what happened next?”
    “I threatened to call the police, not that I really would have, and he gave in. He said I could come by the jump base and get the necklace, but before I got there he was called out for the Boot Creek fire. And now he’s gone, and I don’t know where it is.”
    “I take it this necklace is really valuable?”
    “That’s not the point! Matt had it made for me. Look.”
    She plucked a framed photograph from Matt’s desk and held it out. It showed the two of them, arms entwined, smiling for the camera. Matt