Murder in the Mix Boxed Set 28-30: Cozy Mystery Addison Moore (the reading strategies book .txt) 📖

do that to another woman. I may not have cared for what Flo did to my big brother, but that girl was like a sister to me. I’m not the one who felt insecure with my friendship with her. Flo was number one in any and everything that girl undertook. And believe me, I knew my place. Her men were off the table as far as I was concerned.” She snatches another waffle out of the chaffing dish and lands it on her already wobbling stack. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to continue with this caloric tribute to my bestie.” She stalks off as Flo and I look at one another.

“She didn’t do it?” Flo zooms past me then zooms right back as her hot pink aura curls around her head like smoke.

“No, but I think she just gave away the killer’s identity. She said she wasn’t the one who felt insecure with her friendship with you. And I have a feeling I know exactly who did.”

Flo’s entire face glows red as a flame. “So do I.”

Chapter 19

Flo and I thread our way to the other end of the room where a certain brunette who couldn’t stand to be number two to anybody knocks back the rest of her drink.

“Lorena Lazzari”—her name strums from me breathlessly—“that was some funeral you threw.”

The bright-eyed woman looks my way with her crunchy curls, her lips painted a shocking shade of pink, and they just so happen to match the dress she has on.

Flo shakes her head as she looks at the girl. “Not my Lo.” The words come out with a mournful ache. “She wouldn’t do this to me, Lottie. It’s not true. Make her say it’s not true.”

Lorena averts her eyes. “Yeah, it’s some funeral if you were really that into yourself, and Flo was into herself. I always said no one loved themselves more than Florenza.”

“Well, they didn’t call her Angel Face for nothing.”

“Pfft.” She nods outside of the event room we’re in. “Follow me and I’ll give you the lowdown. I’m getting the good stuff from the bar.”

“Sure. I’m feeling thirsty myself.” For justice.

We walk at a quickened clip, and both put in an order for a couple of drinks.

She turns my way with her lips curving a notch. “Angel Face? Flo thought up that nickname herself.”

Flo sucks in enough air to fill a dozen pairs of lungs. “She swore she’d never tell!”

The bartender slides a double shot of whiskey her way and a fruity virgin piña colada to me.

“She can’t hold her liquor,” Flo says the words incredulously as if the whiskey were to blame. “She’s always needed it to give her courage she didn’t have. She’s never believed in herself.”

“Flo thought of that nickname?” I shrug at the thought. “It was fitting, though. I mean, I bet Nicky called her that all the time. I talked to him earlier, and he said he’d never forget how beautiful she was. He said no one else on this planet could hold a candle to her beauty, and that if they tried they’d be nothing but second place.” Okay, so he didn’t say that, but he should have.

Lorena’s eyes widen with a touch of rage.

“Oh, hon,” Flo moans. “I think you touched a nerve.”

“If you excuse me, Lottie, I need to get some air.” Lorena stalks out the foyer and into the icy air. “You don’t need to follow me.” She knocks back her double shot of whiskey in haste and grimaces as she sucks in a breath. “I think I need to be alone for a minute. You know, reflect on Florenza.” She lands her glass on the hood of a sedan in the parking lot as she makes her way over to a clearing. So I do the same as I follow along.

“Lorena, wait,” I say as I trek my way through the snowy lot as carefully as I can. “Why did you do it?”

“Why did I do what?” She turns my way with a hard look on her face. “Are you accusing me of killing my best friend in the entire world?” Her words are so loud, so sharp, it certainly sounds as if what she were saying was the furthest thing from the truth.

“No. Actually, I was going to ask why you slept with Nicky Knuckles, but since you brought it up…”

“Nicky,” she spits his name out with a vengeance before staggering to the edge of the parking lot that overlooks a snowy meadow. “I hated him for making me feel that way.”

“Feel what way?” Flo asks, and I quickly echo the question.

“Feeling beautiful!” she shouts as she turns my way. “Feeling wanted. Special. All those things that a woman wants to feel. The more he poured it on, the more I craved it.”

Flo’s chest bucks as tears stream from her face with a moonbeam trapped in each one.

I nod to the woman before us. “You tried to pin this on Nicky, didn’t you?”

Lorena tips her head back a notch. “You know, when Carlotta said you were good, I didn’t believe her. But here you are, Mrs. High and Mighty—Mrs. I Have Two Men Who War Over Me Day and Night. Well, I have news for you. The rest of the world? We’re not so lucky.”

“Nicky made you feel lucky. But what I don’t get is why you pulled the trigger on a woman who you professed was your best friend in the world. You knew she loved Nicky.”

“Bull!” she cries out over me. “Flo loved herself. I could’ve given Nicky everything!” Her hand clasps over her belly. “In fact, I’m about to give that two-timing louse a lot more than he deserves.”

Both Flo and I take in a breath.

“Lorena, are you going to have a baby?” I ask as she closes her eyes tightly.

“I guess.” She tosses her hands in the air. “But what kind of a mother am I going to be? I mean, look at me. I’m drinking like a