Free Dead Giveaway by Joanne Fluke Page A

she’d be glad to help Vanessa find lots of other items under fifty dollars.
    Naturally, they’d had a big fight when the charges had come in and now Vanessa was forced to ask Hal every time she needed anything, even a new toothbrush. She was right back where she’d been as a single girl—short of cash.
    Vanessa knew everyone in the building suspected that she’d married Hal for his money, but she’d honestly loved him and thought that their marriage would work. Of course his money was the reason she was sticking it out, but it hadn’t been the deciding factor.
    When Vanessa was a child, her mother had told her that it was just as easy to fall in love with a rich man as a poor one. Money made everything easier. If her mother had married a rich man instead of the truck driver who’d deserted them before Vanessa was born, Vanessa could have grown up in a nice house with nice clothes and plenty of spending money. And she certainly wouldn’t have been forced to drop out of school to take a job in a factory. She’d gotten out of the small Southern town eventually, but it had taken her three long years of punching a time clock and saving every penny to do it.
    Things had started to look up the moment she’d rolled into Vegas. She’d bought herself some fake ID and landed a job as a change girl in a downtown casino, where she’d met the producer who had turned her into Vanessa Thomas, rising young starlet. Of course, it had been only one movie and she hadn’t spoken any lines, but it had been a far cry from the plastic seat cover factory in Georgia.
    And then she’d met Hal and fallen in love. He’d taken her out for dinner almost every night and sent her roses at least once a week. She hadn’t guessed how wealthy he was, not then. Of course, she knew the places he took her were expensive, but lots of guys put fancy meals on their expense accounts.
    Then, one night when her roommates weren’t home, she’d invited Hal to her apartment for dinner. Afterward, she’d tried to seduce him and that was when she’d found out about his problem. Poor Hal had been so embarrassed that Vanessa’s heart had gone out to him. She’d told him she loved him anyway, and Hal had said he was crazy about her, too. But there was no way he’d ever ask her to marry him. It wasn’t fair to ask a healthy young woman to live without sex.
    After Hal had left, Vanessa had settled down on the lumpy couch and done some hard thinking. She’d had a red-hot affair with the producer, but he’d treated her like an absolute nothing when they weren’t under the covers. Hal was just the opposite. He said he couldn’t make love to her, but he treated her just like a princess.
    The next morning she’d told Hal she wanted to marry him anyway. The sex wasn’t that important to her. She’d signed the papers he’d asked her to, and they’d gone off to a wedding chapel to make it legal. She hadn’t found out Hal was rich until after it was all over.
    Now, looking back on the whole thing, Vanessa knew she’d set herself up. She hadn’t really believed that a good-looking, masculine man like Hal couldn’t perform in bed. She’d simply thought that he just hadn’t met the right woman yet. And she’d talked herself into believing that she was that woman.
    Right after the wedding, she’d bought all kinds of books guaranteed to get results, and treated herself to lots of sexy negligees and kinky outfits. When the books and the clothes hadn’t worked, she’d driven down to the strip and talked to a couple of hookers she knew. She’d tried every single thing anyone had suggested, but Hal had just gotten more anxious and uptight. So she’d moved into a separate bedroom and resigned herself to a celibate life. They would be loving roommates and that was fine with her.
    In some ways, Vanessa was an