Class Reunion of Murder

by Vanessa Gray Bartal

  “My point remains. We have each other, and nothing is going to change that. Take a breath. Relax. We’ll handle it together.” His phone buzzed. He pulled it out and stared at it. “It’s a text from your mom.”

  “What does she want you to do?” Lacy asked.

  “She wants me to secretly remove all the chocolate from the house before she arrives, that way she won’t have to be the bad guy who puts you on a diet.”

  Lacy took his phone and tossed it on the coffee table. “And so it begins.”

  Thank you for reading the Lacy Steele Mystery Series. Look for the next book in the series, Wedding Day of Murder, coming Summer 2013. Keep reading for a bonus, hidden scene from Arch Enemy of Murder.

  *

  Riley Steele had no idea what she was doing. The car smelled like blood, the man beside her was about two minutes from an anxiety attack, and she had inserted herself into this situation on purpose. Why? Why had she volunteered to drive Tosh home? She didn’t even like him. For a cute guy, he was really annoying. But there had been something in his expression that tugged at whatever humanity remained inside her as he stood in the doorway volunteering to drive Lacy to the hospital. Who does that? Who saves a guy’s life and then drives the woman who trampled his heart to the hospital? Tosh needed a niceness intervention. Riley was the person to give it to him, but not tonight.

  “It’s there,” he said, pointing to a rundown little apartment that looked more like the setting for a Dickens novel than the home of a multi-millionaire with a trust fund. Maybe Lacy had been lying about that. Riley shook her head. Lacy never lied; she was too goody-goody. She and her sister were like that Frost poem—two roads diverged in the wood. Lacy stayed on the straight and narrow. Riley had definitely taken the road less traveled, the road where she put her needs ahead of everyone else and went after what she wanted with a vengeance. She did nothing different than most men did every day, but because she was a woman, she was perceived differently.

  “Thanks for the ride,” Tosh said. He sounded shaky and unstable.

  “It’s not over,” Riley said. She had to see him inside or risk having him keel over in the driveway. Grandma would never forgive her if anything happened to her precious pastor. Regardless of what everyone thought, Lucinda’s opinion still mattered to Riley. No one had ever been sweeter or offered her more unconditional love; she didn’t want to do anything to risk losing that. Of course Riley had also found that her grandmother had a lot of leeway in what she was willing to overlook. The whole Robert incident, for instance. Riley had been sure that Grandma would be angry. Lacy was, after all, the anointed favorite. But Lucinda hadn’t been angry. She had been understanding, sweet, kind, and forgiving. All of the things that made Riley feel bad if she let herself dwell on the situation too long. The fact that Lucinda wasn’t biologically her grandmother should have changed things, but it didn’t.

  Now Riley had the added thoughts of adoption crowding her head, and it was too much. There was too much to think about so she didn’t let herself think about anything. She walked Tosh to his door. He fumbled with the key. She took it from him with a stifled sigh of impatience. Caregiving wasn’t her forte.

  “Thanks,” he mumbled. He stumbled to the couch and sank down, staring blankly at the wall. Riley helped herself to his bedroom and rifled his drawers until she found a shirt. In here were a few signs of his wealth. The dresser, for one. It was solid wood and a name she recognized. She guessed that the singular piece cost more than a few months’ rent in Manhattan, and rent had been exorbitant. His clothes were another clue. They might not be the style she would choose, but they were good brands and quality material. She chose a warm-looking gray sweater and went back to the living room. Tosh was still staring at the wall. Riley thought he probably didn’t even know she was still there. When she began unbuttoning his shirt, he snapped to attention.

  “Oh,” he said, jumping in surprise. He was going to resist, she could tell. She batted his hands away.

  “Let me do it. Sit still.”

  He complied. She pushed the shirt off his shoulders and experienced her own moment of surprise. The pastor had a fine physique. He was tall and lanky so she had expected him to be skinny. While he wasn’t exactly ripped, there was plenty of muscle definition to admire. Some other time, perhaps, she promised herself. Right now she had a goal of getting him properly dressed. She pulled the sweater over his head and allowed him to put his arms in unassisted. When he was done, he caught her wrist and clamped down.

  “What if he dies?”

  “Jason is not going to die,” she said.

  “But he was so pale, and his pulse so weak. And the blood.”

  “Yes, you mentioned the blood several times.”

  “Lacy would be devastated.”

  “Lacy can survive anything, believe me,” Riley said. She put her hands on his shoulders and gave him a little shake. “He’s going to be all right, thanks to you. You did a good thing; you saved his life.”

  He shook his head vehemently. “I haven’t been nice to him. I mean, I’m supposed to be a pastor, an example of love and kindness, and…”

  “And you sort of hate him,” she guessed.

  He nodded. He looked so miserable that she smiled. Was he for real? Who in this day and age had such a tender conscience? Besides Lacy, of course, but Lacy’s conscience annoyed her. Tosh’s sensitivity was endearing. “Doesn’t the Bible say that God is jealous? And aren’t we created in his image? So wouldn’t our jealousy be natural? It seems to me that envy is worse, and you’re certainly not envious of Jason now.”

  “Did you just spout theology to me?” he asked.

  “You can’t sit third row left hand side in church week after week without learning a little something,” she said.

  “I’ve never seen you there,” he said.

  “I used to go every week. I don’t think I’ve been back since college.” Church made her feel bad. She tended to avoid things that didn’t feel good. “I’m going to throw this shirt away. It’s beyond repair.” She left to toss the shirt in the kitchen trash and returned with a warm dish cloth. “You have blood on your face.”

  He took the cloth and made a few ineffectual swipes at his cheeks. “No, here.” She took the cloth back and cleaned his face. He was so tall that she had to stand to reach him properly. The blood was dry and she had to scrub at it. When she was finished, he was wearing an expression she recognized, one that told her he wasn’t thinking of prayer at the moment. Riley was exasperated. A few hours ago, she had looked really good. They had danced together at Lacy’s party, and she got nothing from him. Now her hair was wet from the shower, her face scrubbed free of makeup and covered in welts and bruises from the fistfight with Lacy, and now he found her attractive?

  “You’re not quite right in the head,” she said.

  “I know,” he agreed.

  “I mean, how long have you been dangling from Lacy’s apron strings, begging for a scrap of affection, and now you’re worried about how she’s going to feel because her true love is injured.”

  He winced. “First and foremost, Lacy and I are friends. I would worry the same amount for any of my friends.”

  “You probably would,” she said. “There is something seriously wrong with you. You need to toughen up, or you’re going to spend the rest of your life in pain.”

  “You think I need to be tough like you?” He was giving her a wry, amused smile now that annoyed her.

  “Yes.”

  “What would you say if I told you that I think your tough girl act is a ruse?” Tosh asked.

  “I would say you’re a loser for using the word ruse, and I would say you’ve taken a few too many blows to the head.”

  “There’s a tender heart somewhere in there, I know it.”

  “You see the best in people, much to your detriment,” she said. “People are selfish and cruel, myself included.”

  “I think you’re fundamentally sweet.”

  “I think
you’re fundamentally stupid.”

  He chuckled. She poked him. “I just called you stupid. You’re not supposed to laugh at that. What is wrong with you? It’s like you’re wearing this lens that makes you determined to see everyone as Mary Poppins, but you’ve got the wrong sister. Lacy is the one voted most likely to commit random acts of kindness.”

  “And yet you’re the one who drove me home and cleaned me up,” he pointed out.

  “A rare act of idiocy on my part, one I’m already regretting. You’re going to have to see the good in people on your own time. I have homes to wreck and villages to pillage.” She took a step away. He caught her wrist and tugged her back.

  “No, stay. Please? I could use some company. We can watch TV. Or a movie.”

  “I’ll only stay if you promise we can watch all the Star Wars movies in order.”

  His face lit. “I love Star Wars.”

  “I know. That was me making fun of you.”

  “Oh. Wow, you are kind of mean.”

  She smiled and sat down. “You catch on quick, reverend.”

  He turned on the television and started flipping through the channels. “You know, I wasn’t always a pastor. Believe it or not, I was kind of wild before.”

  “Don’t tell me that you pulled those tags off sheets, the ones that say never to remove, because I’ll stand up and walk out right now.”

  “Fine, don’t believe me. But I would wager that the stuff I did makes your shenanigans look like child’s play.”

  “The fact that you call them shenanigans tells me you’re wrong,” she said. He shrugged and stared at the television, but she was intrigued. “So what did you do?”

  “I can’t tell you.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because you’ll probably take it as a challenge and try to outdo me.”

  “It’s amazing how well you know me already,” she said.

  “What do you want to watch?”

  “Something with food.”

  He arched an eyebrow at her.

  “What? I can like food. Lacy hasn’t cornered the market on gourmet appreciation. The difference is that I look but don’t touch.”

  He turned to the food channel and relaxed. The cupcake competition was on.

  “This is my favorite show,” Riley said. “If I had a bakery, I would totally win this thing.”

  “I could see that,” Tosh said. “And you would look good while doing it, too. You wouldn’t break a sweat.”

  “Oh, Tosh, flattery will get you everywhere with me.”

  They glanced at each other and smiled. The glance lingered and Riley looked away, flustered. She had never attempted friendship with a man before. Lacy was right; in her world there was either romance or not. This middle ground was confusing, but also sort of nice. What would it be like to have a friend like Tosh? To be able to be real with someone, to not have to keep up a façade that had become exhausting.

  “So, um, Lacy mentioned you have a lot of brothers and sisters.”

  “I guess that depends on your definition of a lot. We have more kids than your family, but less than the population of some towns in India.”

  Riley laughed again, and that surprised her. She usually had to fake it with men. There weren’t many who she found genuinely amusing. Tosh was smiling, too. His eyes were brown like hers, but they were warm. They crinkled a little in the corners as if he laughed a lot and they became stuck that way. Riley’s heart actually fluttered. After so many men and so many games, she didn’t think it was possible to revert back to feelings she’d had when she was a kid, but Tosh was evoking that response now. She hadn’t been genuinely attracted to anyone in years, and now it was happening with her grandmother’s pastor. Where was she supposed to go with that?

  “How are you?” Tosh blurted. “I just realized you’re sitting here with a bruised, cut face, and I haven’t said a word about it. I’m so sorry. Are you okay? Can I get you some ice?” He sat up and prepared to dart off the couch at a moment’s notice.

  “I’m okay,” she said. “Really, it doesn’t hurt that much. Lacy hits like a girl.” She tried to smile and burst into tears instead. She put her hands over her face, mortified. She hadn’t cried real tears in…she couldn’t even remember how long. She didn’t know why she was crying now except that everything was so confusing and horrible. The fight with Lacy had been bad, learning her grandmother wasn’t her grandmother had been awful, losing her job, breaking up with Robert, facing an avalanche of debt…it was all too much.

  Tosh slipped his arms around her and pulled her gently against his chest. “It’s okay, Riley. It’s going to be okay.” His hand ran soothingly up and down her arm, and that made her cry harder. When was the last time anyone had held and comforted her this way? Not since her dad, not since she was a little girl. In relationships, she was always the strong one, always the mastermind and manipulator. She hadn’t needed comfort because she had been in control. Now everything was wildly out of control but she actually believed Tosh when he said everything would be okay.

  Eventually her tears came to an end. She tipped her face up to look at Tosh. He was smiling at her in a gentle way that threatened to wring more tears from her overworked ducts. “Would you believe me if I said I faked those tears in an effort to trap you into comforting me?” she said.

  “No, but why would you be embarrassed over tears? I cry all the time. The other day at the coffee shop, the person behind me made a snide remark, and I went to my car and cried.”

  He was lying, but he made her smile. “I don’t usually like nice men,” she said.

  “I could punch you in the stomach if it would put you at ease.”

  She laughed and sniffed, and then she kissed him. There was no warning for either of them. One minute she was sitting motionless in his arms, and the next she pounced, pushed him against the couch, and began kissing him with all the confused emotion that had been building inside her for so long. At first he was stunned, and then he responded and—surprise!—he was really good at it. Riley lost her head completely. She had no idea where she was or what she was doing. She who was usually a meticulous planner when it came to men barely even had any idea who she was kissing until he pushed away from her and tumbled off the couch.

  “I’m so sorry,” he said.

  It took her a minute to come back to earth. When she did, she aimed for nonchalance. “Having a man apologize for kissing me makes me feel really good about myself as a woman.”

  He smiled and her heart flipped. “I’m not apologizing because I kissed you; I’m apologizing because I had to stop.”

  “Oh.” She wasn’t sure where to go with that. She wasn’t sure about anything. In fact, she was terrified. “I should go.” She stood and ran away so fast that she forgot to close the door. The last thing she saw as she drove away was Tosh standing in the doorway, his hair a tousled mess, and his face a combination of surprise, desire, and anxiety.

  The next morning, Riley went to church. Her grandmother took it as a sign of Riley’s concern over Jason’s wellbeing. “He needs all the prayers he can get right now,” Lucinda said as she gave Riley’s hand a loving pat.

  “Jason, right,” Riley muttered. It wasn’t that she didn’t care how Jason was faring; it was more that she was certain he would be all right. Everything always worked out for Lacy; her devoted love interest wouldn’t kick it because that would mean Lacy would have to suffer and the universe didn’t work that way.

  No, the universe had it out for Riley. Lacy’s so sweet. Lacy’s such a good writer. Lacy’s so smart. She had heard the comparisons her whole life. By the time she was in first grade, she was already sick of them. No matter what she did, she was never good enough to erase Lacy’s indelible impression. Since she was naturally athletic and Lacy wasn’t, she thought sports would be a way to outshine her sister. Then in the fifth grade her gym teacher had spent the entire period telling her Lacy horror stories. Lacy fell out the window and landed on her head. Lacy got stuck
at the top of the rope and we had to call the fire department. Lacy broke her toe while standing still. Even when she was better at something, she hadn’t been good enough. And then one day while watching her sister walk down the hall alone, her head in a book so deep that she ran into the wall, Riley had an epiphany. Teachers liked Lacy, but other kids didn’t. She didn’t really have any friends. She wasn’t popular. Boys didn’t look at her or flirt with her. That realization had been Riley’s ticket out of comparison town. She could be popular. She could have friends. Guys could like her. She could be everything Lacy wasn’t.

  For a long time, the system had worked perfectly. Lacy could be the reigning queen of Nerddom for all Riley cared. Her sister was happy with her books, movies, and music. She cared more about making first chair in clarinet than she did about being asked to prom. Riley overtook everything else. She became the most popular, the most sought after girl in school. Lacy might have the market cornered when it came to Grandma and their dad, but Riley was indisputably her mother’s favorite. Things were all right.

  And then Lacy stabbed her in the back again. Riley would never forget the moment she realized her world had turned upside down. She was in college and Lacy came to see her cheer. Her sister was always nauseatingly supportive. While Riley had never read anything Lacy wrote or taken any pride in her sister’s academic achievements, Lacy was always front and center cheering Riley on. During halftime, Lacy had run up to give Riley a hug.

  “You were on television, Riley! Dad is going to flip. I’m so proud of you.” Lacy had squeezed the breath out of her before running back to her seat.

  “Whoa, was that your sister?” one of the assistant coaches said. “Holy mother of hotness. Can I get her digits?”

  Riley had done a double take. Was he referring to Lacy? And, just like that, the scales fell off and she saw the changes in her sister for the first time. Lacy was no more a chubby, frizzy-haired, bespectacled geek. She had finally turned into a butterfly, a stunningly beautiful butterfly. To make it worse, her hair was naturally red. Men had a thing for red hair. How was Riley supposed to compete with that? From then on, her anger and thirst for vindication had been unquenchable. Taking Robert, though not necessarily a premeditated act, had felt good. But the good feeling had been temporary. Robert was a schmuck. But at least she had seen Lacy defeated. She had left her high-paying Manhattan job and returned home in shame. Then, because it was Lacy, going home had turned wonderful, too. Not only did Lacy have two men panting after her, but she had inherited a million dollars, a million dollars that she wouldn’t share, a million dollars that should have been half Riley’s anyway.