Armoires and Arsenic (21 page)
Read Armoires and Arsenic Online
Authors: Cassie Page
Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, #Mystery, #Cozy, #Women Sleuths
“Stay out of trouble, princess.”
“Which one of us will fulfill those wishes?”
“You better.”
“No, you better.”
“Love you.”
“Love you more.”
“I give up. Let me sleep.”
The End
Cassie Page is a prolific writer of tasteful and humorous mysteries set in Northern California and other exotic locations. She resides in a small town near Darling Valley where she raises rare orchids and perfectly behaved children. Her soufflés rise effortlessly, her skirts are always the correct length and she only tweets with the best people. She fraternizes with gruesome murderers and backstabbing lowlifes and reads quantum mechanics for relaxation. Her editor says she has a breathtaking mastery of the semicolon—the colon not so much. If you pass her on the street, she begs that you do not ask for an autograph. Please respect her privacy; the paparazzi have worn her to a frazzle.
The upcoming books in the Darling Valley Mystery series features designer/clothes horse/sleuth extraordinaire Olivia M. Granville; the winsome if bizarrely dressed Tuesday, the tiresomely righteous Mrs. Harmon and the deliciously distant Detective Richards.
Future titles include:
Dying For Diamonds, coming March, 2014
Death is in the Details
A Second Coat of Murder
Tea For Two Murders
Designed for Death
Armoires and Arsenic now available in paperback:
Paperback version:
https://www.createspace.com
/
4398123
Look for tea leaves reader Tuesday in her own breakout series: Tuesday’s Tea Leaves Mystery. Book 1, A Corpse In A Teacup is available now. To purchase from Amazon
as an ebook and paperback, click the links below.
A Corpse In A Teacup: A Tuesday’s Tea Leaf Mystery
Paperback version:
https://www.createspace.com
/
4497195
Groundbreaking Murder: A Darling Valley Cozy Mystery
Paperback version:
Https://createspace.com/4634990
(available 2/1/2014)
Cassie Page
The Checklist
Gloves and shoe covers on. Check
Wipe the foam from her mouth. Check
Place her on the tarp and drag her into the living room. Check
Prop her up on the edge of the sofa. C
heck.
Oops. She fell forward. No going back now. That’s how they will have to find her. Whoever “they” might be.
Step back for a wide screen shot. Does it look like a heart attack? Check
Clean up the kitchen. Check
Leave dishes in the sink. Check
Pack up the tarp and equipment. Check
Send text to the pizza joint. A thin crust medium Margherita and a house salad. Blue cheese dressing. Paid for. Check
Turn on the TV. Check
Script on the coffee table. Check
Get out. Fast. Check
No one on the street. Wait. In the rear view mirror. Someone’s pulling up in front of the house The pizza delivery guy. Yes! Check again
One down. Nothing personal, sweetheart.
Tuesday settled in for the runway approach, watching the lights of Southern California come alive as
her six-thirty a.m. flight descended over Burbank. It was an ungodly hour to do anything but sleep or, well, these days it was just sleep. All those gorgeous men she had just left behind in Darling Valley, the small town outside of San Francisco, made her realize she needed to do something about that.
A calm came over her. Goodbye, Darling Valley. Goodbye murder and mayhem. Now she could get back to her normal life, reading tea leaves for an exorbitant fee at The
Mulberry Cat Café and get her body back on track with a good cleanse. The only trouble with visiting Olivia was the absence of healthy food. She never stocked her kitchen with anything except sugary and salty treats. It will take her days to get that stuff out of her system. Though she did enjoy the Salted Caramel’s ice cream. She actually squirreled away a jar of their hot fudge sauce in her suitcase that none of her nutritional clients need know about.
She went over her calendar. Meet with Holley, do her shift at the Café, then maybe squeeze in
a trip to the consignment shop after work to touch up her wardrobe. Easy peasy day.
The attendant walked by. “Are you buckled up, ma’am?”
Tuesday bristled. Ma’am? She looked down at her outfit. Many lively colors and prints capped by her pink Afro. What about this happening look deserved a ma’am? Had
miss
gone out of style for twenty-somethings? Okay, early thirty-somethings. Tuesday indicated her fastened seatbelt and smiled yes.
The attendant leaned over Tuesday’s shoulder to look out the window.
“Weather looks good, but you never know. This time of year it could be a bumpy landing.”
Tuesday checked her cellphone as they taxied up to the gate. A text from Holley Wood. Her nine a.m. starlet client with a name she was born to live up to. Holley was the reason Tuesday had dragged herself out of bed for the dreadful early flight instead of a comfortable noon plane with cocktail service. Even she didn’t drink Champs for breakfast. Well, not as a habit.
Holley had a standing Monday morning reading. Tuesday opened the
Mulberry Cat Café early just for her, so she better not say she’s canceling. She hadn’t been her best practical self when she made the reservation to Darling Valley. Not that practicality was her middle name, but she’d had murder on her mind. Specifically, why one showed up on her friend’s doorstep. In her haste to get to Olivia, she booked an expensive one-way instead of a cheap return ticket. She had to pay a premium price for the return commuter flight she found last night at the last minute. Don’t make me regret it, Holley, she thought as the plane bounced onto the runway.
The passengers started
leaping out of their seats and bashing each other with their carry-ons from the overhead compartments despite the attendants’ instruction to stay seated until the plane came to a full stop. Tuesday settled back to wait for the crowd to thin out. No point being trampled to death waiting for the crew to open the doors. She flicked on Holley’s message.
“
We’re on for this morning, right? I need to see you. Someone is trying to kill me!”
“Oh, Holley,” Tuesday said to the baggage truck pulling up underneath her window, “You‘re so melodramatic.”
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While Ms. Page has worked tirelessly to execute the perfect murder mystery, mistakes happen. Should you find one or wish to communicate on a higher plane, she would be thrilled to hear from you. You can reach her at [email protected]
This book is a work of fiction and solely the product of the author’s warped imagination and twisted sense of humor. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead would be a huge surprise to the author and wholly unintentional. If you feel you resemble any of the characters, honestly, I’d keep it to yourself. You know how rumors start.
January 30, 2014