Free Treacherous Tart by Ellie Grant Page A

or something if he thinks you were the catalyst after he asked you not to print that stuff.”
    â€œI’m not worried about Frank. I have a constitutional right to print the news. Police from threestates, including this one, have investigated Donald. Frank wanted to turn a blind eye and wait to see what happened. That’s not my problem.”
    Maggie wasn’t sure about that. Frank had been angry at the shop yesterday.
    â€œWho were the five women Donald was dating?”
    Ryan took out his cell phone. “Anna Morgan. Sylvia Edwards. Angela Hightower. Lenora Rhyne. Debbie Blackwelder. Any of them ring a bell?”
    Her brows elevated at the list of women. “Definitely Angela. Also, Lenora Rhyne. She’s a friend of Aunt Clara’s. I think they went to school together.”
    â€œI’m going to take this list of names to Frank as a peace offering.” Ryan shrugged. “Maybe he’ll get over our disagreement. And one of these women could be the killer.”

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Eight
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    A fter Ryan had left to use his list of possible suspects to placate Frank, Maggie gave all the tables and chairs a quick clean. There were a few pie spills, and customers always spilled coffee on the floor. She’d just finished mopping when Lenora and her daughter came in.
    Lenora had been crying. Her brown eyes were red-rimmed with tears. She was shaking and occasionally let out a low moan.
    â€œTake it easy, Mama.” Alice Majors, Lenora’sdaughter, helped her to a chair. “You said you wanted to do this. I told you it was a bad idea.”
    Lenora was a heavyset older woman with long gray hair that spilled down her back. Her Shalimar perfume was so strong that it almost overpowered the aroma of baking pies. “It’s so hard,” she sobbed. “Donald and I were so much in love.”
    â€œ Shh. I know. I’m so sorry.” Alice was a younger version of her mother. Her hair was long and dark, a swath of bangs cut across her forehead. Her brown eyes were keen on her mother’s face. Alice was a large woman too, but tall enough to still make it look good.
    Maggie wasn’t as surprised as she might have been if Ryan hadn’t just shared the information about Lenora being on Durham Singles. She knew her aunt and Lenora were competitive with each other. Aunt Clara was always coming home from their meetings with stories about the other woman’s one-upmanship. She may have started dating Donald because she knew Clara was.
    Maggie had listened to stories of Lenora volunteering for jobs at the library because she knew Clara wanted them, but that was only lately. She could remember as a child that the two women were constantly finding ways to annoy each other.
    At the end of the day, though, they still remained friends.
    Still, it seemed strange to have her come here today. Was this another attempt at beating Aunt Clara out at something—in this case grief?
    â€œCan I help you with something?” Maggie didn’t want to interrupt their moment, but she didn’t want to think what would happen if Aunt Clara saw her rival in the pie shop, crying for Donald.
    â€œI wanted to see the spot where he died.” Lenora bit hard on her lip to try to stem the tears. “I wish I could’ve been here for him. I wish I’d been here to share his last moments.”
    Alice looked up at Maggie. “You’re Clara’s niece, right? It’s nice to meet you. Your aunt talks about you all the time.”
    Maggie didn’t know Aunt Clara had regular visits with Lenora and Alice. She knew they met occasionally at the library. Clara and Lenora’s friendship just wasn’t something she understood. She didn’t know why they wanted to spend time together when all they did was snipe at each other. Well, it was their friendship. She didn’t have to understand.
    â€œNice to meet you,” she replied. “I didn’t know your