A Deal to Die For

by Josie Belle

  She looked determined and a little crazed.

  “Probate court will determine the outcome of the estate,” Max said. “You can’t just go around trying to kill people to get what you want.”

  “You have to tell the truth, Molly,” Maggie said. “You have a right to part of this estate, and instead of killing Courtney, you need to just tell the truth.”

  “What truth? You have no right to this estate, either of you!” Courtney declared.

  “Yes, she does,” Maggie said. She was beginning to feel dizzy and light-headed.

  “What are you talking about?” Courtney scoffed.

  “Tell them,” Maggie said. “Tell them who Jimmy’s father is.”

  “Buzz,” Molly said. Her voice was so low it was hard to hear, and then she cleared her throat and said, “Jimmy’s father is Buzz Madison.”

  Chapter 30

  “Liar!” Courtney shrieked. “You’re a liar.”

  “Oh my,” Bianca gasped. She reached over and grabbed Max’s hand. He put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.

  “Well, that explains so much,” Summer said.

  “Shut up,” Courtney snapped at her.

  “Don’t talk to me like that!” Summer snapped back.

  “This is ridiculous!” Courtney shouted.

  “No, it’s the truth!” Molly said.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Bianca asked.

  The voices began to swirl around in Maggie’s head, and she couldn’t keep track of who was saying what. She felt her knees give out, and she slumped to the floor.

  Then she heard a voice, a deep man’s voice, shouting over the others, and then she was falling into a blue so pretty and clear, she was sure it had to be an ocean in a tropical place, or maybe she was a bird flying in a summer sky. The last thing she remembered before blacking out was a strong pair of arms picking her up off of the floor and carrying her out of the room.

  Maggie woke up in the hospital to find all of the GBGs sacked out in her room. Joanne was curled up on a short couch, wrapped in a blanket, while Claire and Ginger were slumped together on two lightly upholstered wooden chairs, also covered in blankets. None of them looked comfortable, but Maggie didn’t have the heart to wake them.

  It was dark outside, and she pushed up in bed to try to find a clock. A digital one hanging on the wall read 4:23.

  A familiar head of white hair appeared in the doorway, and Maggie smiled as she recognized Doc. His hair looked worse than usual, as it stood completely on end, but when his light blue eyes met hers, he looked relieved enough to cry.

  He crossed the room quietly and began to check her vitals. He studied her pupils and checked her heart rate and her breathing.

  “How do you feel?” he asked.

  “Groggy,” she said. “What happened?”

  “You got hit with a subcutaneous intramuscular injection of morphine. Frankly, it was enough to kill a horse, but it wasn’t a full injection, and Sam got you here in time.”

  Maggie flashed on the blue ocean she had thought she’d seen. It had to have been Sam’s eyes. They were that same endless blue. Somehow, she was not at all surprised that he had been the one to save her.

  “What happened to everyone?” she asked.

  “Well, Sam had backup, so everyone else was rounded up and brought to jail,” he said. “Last I heard, they were still sorting things out.”

  “Bianca knows now,” Maggie said. She put her hand on top of Doc’s, where it rested on her bedside.

  Doc looked shaky and a little excited. “A daughter. Can you believe it?”

  Maggie smiled. She wanted to talk more, but her body was having none of it. Still, she had to know.

  “What will happen to Molly?” she asked.

  Doc frowned. “I don’t know. Sam said that the autopsy did show that Vera was dying from pancreatic cancer. Her doctor had prescribed the morphine as a pain reliever and, according to her will, there is a stipulation that Jimmy be taken care of for the rest of his life by the estate, so it appears that what Molly was saying is true.”

  “But she did try to murder Courtney,” Maggie said.

  “She will likely have to serve some time, but there do seem to be an awful lot of extenuating circumstances,” he said.

  Maggie nodded. She tried to keep her eyes open, but she lost the fight. Slipping back into sleep, she felt Doc squeeze her hand and say, “Get some rest, Maggie, and thank you.”

  “For what?” she asked, forcing her eyelids up to half-

  mast.

  “For giving me my daughter,” he said.

  Doc leaned forward and kissed Maggie’s head as she slipped back into unconsciousness.

  Maggie was released late on Friday afternoon. There was no question that her date with Pete would have to be postponed, and he’d called her at home to check on her and tell her that he completely understood.

  The GBGs took her home as soon as she was cleared to go, and Sandy and Josh fussed over her as if she’d been gone a month instead of less than a day.

  On Saturday, Maggie woke up feeling normal again. She hadn’t been in her shop in days and she was determined to still open as planned, so she dressed in her favorite jeans and sweatshirt and loaded up the back of her Volvo with the meager boxes she’d gathered in her garage for the shop.

  She’d only been at the shop for an hour when, one by one, Claire, Joanne and Ginger showed up, followed by Max and Bianca, who arrived with a carload of boxes from the flea market. Bianca wanted to gift the items to Maggie as a thank-you for all of her help. When Maggie politely refused, Bianca asserted her newly acquired backbone and insisted.

  Max also brought several pizzas from A Slice of Heaven, and they all worked on arranging Maggie’s inventory on the round clothing racks that had belonged to the previous owner.

  Bianca was sorting a box full of blouses, when Maggie stopped beside her. She couldn’t imagine what Bianca must be feeling with all that had happened to her over the past week.

  “How are you?” Maggie asked.

  Bianca glanced up from the box and gave her a small smile.

  “Overwhelmed,” she said. “I miss my mother, but for the first time in my life, I also feel free. Then I feel guilty for feeling that way.”

  Maggie nodded.

  “And I’m worried about Molly,” Bianca said. “But I’ve promised to look after Jimmy. Courtney is not taking it well, but even she can’t deny the resemblance between Jimmy and my fath—Buzz.”

  “Did your mother know that Jimmy was Buzz’s?” Maggie asked.

  “Yes,” Bianca said. “Molly told me that Jimmy was Vera’s leverage in the end. Apparently, when Buzz threatened to cut me out, she forced him to keep me in by agreeing that Jimmy would always be cared for by the estate.”

  “And she didn’t hate Molly for her affair with Buzz?”

  “How could she?” Bianca asked. “When she’d done the same with Doc. Besides, my mother knew how charming Buzz could be.”

  Bianca was silent for a moment, and then she said, “Dr. Franklin and I have decided to have a small service for my mother tomorrow. Given the circumstances, I think it’s for the best.”

  “You have a lot to adjust to,” Maggie said.

  Bianca glanced up and her gaze lit on Max, who was across the room, trying to put together a shoe rack. She pushed her glasses up on her nose, but Maggie could still see the sparkle in her eyes.

  “It’s okay,” Bianca said. “I’m not alone anymore.”

  Maggie patted her hand and walked back to the counter. Max and Bianca, what a perfect pair. She was glad they had found each other, although it was too bad that it had taken a tragedy to get them there. Maggie wondered if Doc and Alice would find their way back to one another or if they would call it quits. She knew it was none of her business but she couldn’t help hoping for a happy outcome for her friends, whatever it might look like.

  “Um, Maggie?” Ginger called to her from the front of the shop, where she w
as setting up a display of handbags.

  “Yes,” Maggie called.

  “Are you expecting company?” Ginger asked as she glanced out the front window.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, there are two men coming this way, and both of them are carrying flowers. Call it a wild guess, but I’m thinking they’re both for you.”

  “Oh!” Joanne and Claire said together as they hurried to the window to gawk beside Ginger.

  “Decisions are going to have to be made,” Claire said.

  “Looks like you have to pick between some lovely peach-colored roses or some bright white calla lilies,” Joanne said. “This will be tough.”

  “What are you talking about?” Maggie asked as she stepped forward to glance out the window.

  Ginger pointed in one direction, and there was Pete, carrying a bouquet of peach-colored roses. Then she pointed in the other direction, and there was Sam, carrying an armful of calla lilies.

  “So, who is it going to be, Maggie?” Ginger asked.

  Maggie glanced back out the window and between the two men. She liked them both, there was no question, but while one was deeply rooted in her past and all that came with it, the other held the promise of a brand-new beginning.

  She knew in her heart which one she wanted to be with—now she just had to tell him.

  Five Tips on the Art of Resale

  Now that Maggie is running a consignment shop, she and the Good Buy Girls have some tips to share about the art of resale.

  Maggie offers either cash up front, profit-sharing or a store credit option to customers bringing items for resale to her shop, My Sister’s Closet. She recommends that if you’re planning to consign items, read the contract with the store and see what percentage of the profit would be paid back to you upon sale of the item. If it’s high, it might be worth waiting to be paid. Or if you like the contents of the shop itself, store credit could be the way to go.

  Ginger shops resale for her four growing boys. Because teen boys are all about style, she looks for the types of clothing that are popular. If you’re trying resale for your older items make sure they are the types of things that haven’t gone out of style.

  Claire sorts through her wardrobe at the beginning of every season to determine what she will wear again and what she won’t. When she takes her items to Maggie, she wants them to be seasonal, as it is much easier to sell sweaters in the fall than in the spring.

  Joanne knows that babies and all of the equipment that they come with are expensive. Being a thrifty mom-to-be, she is already scouting the county for specialty baby consignment stores, where she can buy gently used furniture, clothes and toys. She plans to take good care of it and return the items for profit once the baby has outgrown them.

  As a shop owner, Maggie doesn’t have time to clean the items that are brought to her. She recommends to customers just starting out in resale that the items brought in have to be clean and in good working condition. The nicer something looks the easier it sells.

  Turn the page for a preview of

  Josie Belle’s next Good Buy Girls Mystery…

  BURIED IN

  BARGAIN

  Coming soon from Berkley Prime Crime!

  “Mom, you need to get a grip,” Laura Gerber said as they trudged up the sidewalk through the center of St. Stanley, Virginia. “Summer Phillips is not worth getting an ulcer over.”

  “I’m not getting an ulcer,” Maggie said. She noted that the small town was still quiet with very few people out in the chilly December morning temperatures.

  She glanced at her daughter, home from Penn State for the holidays, who looked remarkably like Maggie had when she was twenty, with the same wrinkle free face, shoulder length red hair and upturned nose. Only the eyes were different. Laura had gotten her father’s chocolate brown eyes.

  Maggie felt a pang, wishing her late husband, Charlie, could see their daughter now. She had grown up to be a smart, confident and beautiful young woman. Maggie couldn’t be more proud of her.

  “Yeah, right, no ulcer,” Laura said. “That’s why you’re popping antacid tablets like they’re Pez.”

  Maggie stuffed the roll of tablets back into her purse. “Let’s just focus on the mission, shall we?”

  “Mission?” Laura asked and laughed. “I think you and the rest of the Good Buy Girls missed your calling.”

  “Meaning?” Maggie asked.

  “You should really be military strategists,” she said. “I’ve never seen such an organized assault for bargains.”

  “It’s our gift,” Maggie said with a smile. “Now we have to hurry. We need to get to the stationery store as soon as they open. Janice Truman is selling last year’s gift wrap at seventy-five percent off and I want to stock up so we can offer free gift wrapping at My Sister’s Closet.”

  “Yes, yes, I know,” Laura said. “Do you really think customers will go to your resale shop instead of Summer’s Second Time Around just because of free gift wrap?”

  “If they have any taste they will,” Maggie said. “Did you see the hideous window display she has up? Giant cardboard cutouts of herself dressed in a slutty Santa’s helper outfit. Honestly, the woman has no sense of decency.”

  “Don’t tell me, let me guess,” Ginger Lancaster said as she joined them at the corner. “We’re talking about Summer’s holiday window display.”

  “Revolting,” Joanna Claramotta said as she stepped out from in front of her husband’s deli, More than Meats, and joined their group. “I saw Tyler Fawkes standing in front of her store for about twenty minutes yesterday. I swear he would have licked the glass if he weren’t afraid of being seen.”

  “Ew,” the others said in unison.

  “See? It isn’t just me,” Maggie said to Laura.

  Laura rolled her eyes. “Where’s Claire?”

  “She’s meeting us in front of the shop,” Ginger said. “She has to get to the library as soon as we’re done.”

  Claire Freemont was the fourth member of the Good Buy Girls, a self-named club of bargain hunters, of which Maggie and Ginger were the oldest members. Best friends since they were toddlers, Maggie and Ginger had grown up in St. Stanley and settled down to raise their families there. When they began having children of their own, both had become avid bargain hunters and started the money saving club together.

  Write On, Janice’s stationery store, was housed in a large brick building just off the town square. Maggie and her entourage turned the corner to Janice’s shop just in time to see Claire Freemont going nose to nose with Summer Phillips.

  “Darn it! I knew I should have camped out last night,” Maggie said.

  “Mom, seventy-five percent off wrapping paper is no reason to camp on a sidewalk,” Laura said. “It’s not like tickets to Springsteen.”

  “Michael would kill for tickets to Springsteen,” Joanne said.

  “Focus, people, focus,” Maggie said. “We’re thinking about wrapping paper, bows, and tags right now, not hot sixty-year-olds who can still slide across the stage on their knees.”

  “I watched that on YouTube like ten times,” Ginger said. Then she fanned herself with one hand. “‘Waiting on a Sunny Day,’ indeed.”

  Maggie gave her a quelling look. “As I was saying, look out for the cheesy paper that rips easily; we want the foil or reversible paper. Remember, we’re going for quality here.”

  “Summer, I was here first,” Claire snapped. “You need to quit crowding me.”

  “I’m not crowding you.” Summer tossed her long blonde locks. “You’re just fat.”

  Ginger hissed out a breath through her teeth. She looked like she was gearing up to do some damage on Summer, who was tall and skinny with abnormally large frontal lobes—no, not her brain. Maggie put her hand on Ginger’s arm.

  “Out-shopping her will be the best revenge,” she said.

  Ginger adjusted the bright blue knitted cap she wore on her close cropped hair. Her brown skin was flushed with temper b
ut she gave Maggie a nod.

  “Fine. Just stay between me and her,” she said.

  “I can do that,” Joanne said with a toss of her long brown ponytail.

  She was five months pregnant and had just started to show. It had taken her a long time to get pregnant, and she had been so excited she had started wearing maternity clothes the day the stick turned blue. Maggie was pleased to see that they were finally fitting her gently rounded

  belly.

  “No, if there is a ruckus, you and the baby skedaddle,” Ginger said. “Maggie and Laura can run interference.”

  En masse they approached the front door where Claire and Summer were jostling elbows.

  Claire spotted them and sent them a beaming smile. Maggie knew she must be relieved to have her posse arrive just in time to save her from the bully.

  Summer followed Claire’s gaze and her eyes locked onto Maggie and then shifted to Laura.

  “Oh, god, there’s two of you,” she said.

  For some reason this delighted Maggie and she threw her arm around Laura and hugged her close.

  “Double the fun,” she said.

  Summer’s lip curled back. “More like a double hernia.”

  Laura glanced between them. “Don’t you think you two should get over this? You’re both women in business, you need to work together not tear each other apart. If women were more supportive of one another, instead of always shredding each other over their appearances or a man’s attention, we’d be getting a lot further in the world than having only three percent of the CEOs in the United States being female.”

  Summer and Maggie looked at her and then each other and then they both shook their heads.

  “Normally, sweetie, I would agree with you,” Maggie began but Summer interrupted.

  “But the truth is that your mother has never gotten over the fact that I stole her high school boyfriend. It’s a pity because I really think we could have been friends, you know, if she wasn’t so jealous of me,” Summer said. Then she turned back to the glass front door and started examining her reflection.