Free Evil In Carnations by Kate Collins

He was still talking to Nikki, who appeared to be in some kind of hypnotic trance—or maybe she’d fallen asleep with her eyes open. “Oh, yeah, I met him, all right—for nine very long minutes.”
    “What about her?” Iris asked, pointing toward Nikki. “Who is she?”
    “My roommate, Nikki.”
    “Lucky girl.”
    “Yeah, right,” I said with a laugh. Then I noticed the envy in Iris’s tiny eyes and realized she was being serious. She studied Nikki for a moment, then, without so much as a good-bye, set her glass on a tray, dropped the wine-soaked napkins beside it, and walked toward the door.
    Was it something I said?
    “Hey, chili pepper.”
    With a silent groan I turned, and there was José, grinning broadly. “Want to go for a ride on my hog?”
    Thank goodness I knew that he was referring to his Harley; otherwise I might have had to deck him. “No, thanks. And by the way, I’m not a food.”
    I turned to walk away, saw Delroy’s face light up—as if he had a chance!—and hurried in the opposite direction. I spotted Aidan picking out cheese bites from the appetizer table and headed his way, figuring he’d be a safe person to talk to.
    Suddenly, there was a loud crash outside the restaurant, as though two cars had collided. Everyone stopped talking, but because the back room was windowless, there was no way to know what had happened. A moment later, the restaurant hostess stuck her head into the room and called, “Anyone here own a red Ferrari?”
    “Oh, shit,” Jonas said, and started jogging toward her. When Nikki followed, I put down my glass and dashed after her.
    By the time I reached the parking lot, a number of restaurant patrons had already gathered there. I managed to squeeze through the crowd to catch up with Nikki, who was watching in dismay as Jonas circled his new Ferrari, sizing up the damage. The sleek red coupe had been rammed from the rear, crumpling the back end and pushing the front into a cement light pole hard enough to smash the headlights and dent the hood. I glanced around for the vehicle that had hit it, knowing it would be pretty banged-up, too, but I didn’t see a likely candidate.
    “Poor Jonas,” Nikki said, watching him struggle to get the door open.
    “An accident waiting to happen,” I reminded her. I just hadn’t thought it would be so soon.
    “The police should be here in a few minutes,” the restaurant manager called, weaving through the people to reach the scene.
    Jonas tugged on the handle, then hit his fist against the roof like a spoiled child on the verge of a temper tantrum. He turned toward the gawkers, “Did anyone see who hit my car?”
    No one spoke. As a police car arrived at the scene, I caught sight of Carmen Gold standing on the other side of the crowd, watching Jonas with a look of smug satisfaction. Obviously she was enjoying his suffering. Remembering the glares she’d given him earlier, I wondered what was behind her animosity.
    “We might as well get our coats and go home,” Nikki said, shivering in the cold night air.
    “You haven’t found a date yet. Don’t you want to go back inside and talk to Aidan?”
    Nikki pointed across the parking lot. “ That Aidan?”
    I followed her index finger and saw Aidan getting into a Camry. Great. There went my last hope for finding Nikki a date before I left for Key West.
    “I was really hoping you’d find someone tonight, Nik.”
    “I know,” she said, not sounding terribly disappointed.
    “At least you’ll be able to attend a second event free. That’s Cloud Nine’s policy. But I still feel terrible about leaving you all alone this weekend.”
    “You’re going somewhere this weekend?”
    Good job, Abby. Sheepishly, I said, “Marco and I are taking a little trip to Key West.”
    “Oh? Did you just plan it?”
    “Well, actually, we made plans before you and Scott broke up; otherwise I would have delayed it for a while.”
    Nikki looked hurt. “You kept the trip a secret from me ? I