A Reunion to Die For (A Joshua Thornton Mystery) Read Online Free Page B

announced that he was going to make an example of him.
    It was Joshua’s first fight for his life. Max was armed with his switchblade. Untrained in self-defense, other than the childhood stuff he had learned from his grandfather, Joshua was uncertain about how he had been able to disarm the brute, but he had done so. Under the threat of having the weapon turned on him, Max and his friends ran away and never approached Joshua again.
    Tori claimed ignorance when confronted with the question of why her boyfriend had come after him. Joshua later heard that after finding out that her boyfriend had cheated on her, she started a rumor that she had slept with Oak Glen’s star quarterback.
    The snap of the fingers in his face brought Joshua back to the present.
    Tad MacMillan peered at him with curiosity. After entering his cousin’s home uninvited, he had raided his refrigerator to steal an apple. He was eating the stolen good while sitting on the corner of Joshua’s desk.
    “What are you in such deep thought about?”
    “Nothing.” Joshua held the yearbook on its end and slapped the front and back covers together to shut the book. When the album fell back onto his desk, the back cover flapped open to reveal the last page.
    They observed the pretty face that peered up at them from the album. Her blue eyes were happy. Her golden hair was lush and full. Her smile was dazzling. She had her whole life before her and so far it had been a happy one.
    Joshua ran his fingers across the face that lay before him. The words printed above her image read, “In memory of . . .” and below the picture “Tricia Wheeler” and beneath that: “1967–1984.”
    “I remember her.” Tad took another bite of the apple and spoke around it. “That was awful. I would never have thought she would have killed herself.”
    “That’s what everyone said.” Joshua closed the book.
    “Did you date her?”
    “No, I dated Beth. Remember?”
    “Did you sleep with her?” Tad knew that he could ask his cousin anything, no matter how personal it might be.
    “No.”
    “Did you want to sleep with her?”
    “She was my friend,” Joshua responded firmly. He put the album back on the bookshelf from which he had taken it.
    Tad’s voice took on a naughty tone when he deduced, “She turned you down.”
    “I never asked.” Joshua turned back toward him. “It was one of those situations where we liked each other, but one of us always seemed to be attached to someone else.” He concluded somberly, “She died before the opportunity could present itself.”
    “Too bad.” His sympathy was sincere. “Why the nostalgia?”
    “Gail Reynolds is in town.”
    Tad chuckled.
    “It’s not funny. She’s writing a book about Tricia’s death and she’s going to make me look like a fool. Why? Because she hates me and don’t ask me why.”
    “She doesn’t hate you.”
    “Then why has she made it her career to follow me around and criticize me on every case I get?”
    “Sounds like someone has had a bad day.” Tad pointed out, “Gail was not here when you were working on the Rawlings case. She wasn’t here when you ran for office.”
    Joshua resumed as if he had not heard his argument. “She was there at the courthouse every day when I prosecuted Admiral Thompson.”
    Tad tossed the apple core into the trashcan. “When did you sleep with her?”
    “What makes you think I slept with her?”
    “Come on, Josh. I know you better than you know yourself. Gail isn’t the first pushy woman to challenge you and she won’t be the last. Why should you get so upset about her coming back to town?” He answered his own question. “You had a one-night stand with her and you feel guilty. When did it happen?”
    “Right after that fight Beth and I had at your New Year’s Eve party,” Joshua confessed. “She told me that Beth sent her over to talk to me about making up. Grandmamma was out.” He shook his head. “She ended up seducing me. I found out