Accessory to Murder Read Online Free Page A

seriously about the Dorchester Mall. For not making me feel like a sheltered housewife. But you still haven’t answered my question. What’s worrying you?”
    â€œMy mom. She’s taken up smoking.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œPeer pressure,” Josie said.
    Alyce laughed. “Your mom is what? Sixty-five?”
    â€œSixty-eight,” Josie said. “Jane gave up smoking after my father walked out on us, because she couldn’t afford cigarettes. She needed every penny to raise me. Now that she’s retired, she has a little spending money. Her friends all smoke, so she started again. She says she’s not worried about cancer—she’s too old to care.”
    â€œShe has a point, Josie,” Alyce said. “It’s her life.”
    â€œIt’s a bad example for Amelia,” Josie said. “Nine is a dangerous age. Some of the kids at her school are starting to smoke. She doesn’t need to see her grandmother puffing away. Her school has zero tolerance for smoking. She could lose her scholarship and be expelled. She—”
    Josie stopped in midsentence and stared at Alyce. Her friend was packing curly greens into what looked like a fertilizer spreader. “What are you doing with that miniature farm equipment? The doohickey with the crank?”
    â€œIt’s an herb mill,” Alyce said, as if that explained it.
    Josie guessed everyone had one of those, too. She wouldn’t embarrass herself with more questions. “Here’s the other problem with Mom smoking: She stinks.”
    â€œJosie!”
    â€œI can’t stand to be in her home. I’m there five minutes and I reek of cigarette smoke. It’s in her carpets and her curtains. I have to wash my hair every time I see her. She lives upstairs, don’t forget. The smoke seems to seep into everything in her flat. I’ve told her I hate it, but she waves away my protests like I don’t count.”
    â€œWhat’s the big deal?” Alyce was tearing the leaves off the baby artichokes and throwing them away. Alyce tossed everything but a thimble-sized hunk of the heart. Josie thought it was a lot of work when she could buy nice big artichoke hearts in a jar for two bucks.
    â€œIt’s her home,” Alyce said, eviscerating another tiny artichoke. “If your mom reeks of smoke, she’ll gross out Amelia. You won’t have to worry about your daughter picking up a bad habit.”
    â€œMom smokes in my home, too.”
    â€œTell her no,” Alyce said. “It’s your right to ban smoking there.” She dropped the infant artichokes into boiling water.
    â€œThat’s the problem when your mother is also your landlord and your babysitter,” Josie said. “She smokes while she watches Amelia in our flat. Mom swears she doesn’t, but she sneaks cigarettes. I can smell them the moment I unlock the door. She opens the windows, so the place is stinky and freezing cold, and I’m paying to heat the outdoors.”
    â€œSounds like what you used to do at school. Didn’t you sneak ciggies in the girls’ bathroom and blow the smoke out the window?”
    Alyce dropped the boiled artichokes into a bowl of ice water. Josie wondered if the little things were confused.
    â€œHow did you know?” Josie asked. “We didn’t go to school together.”
    â€œI know you, Josie. I bet you smoked to rebel. Maybe your mom is doing the same thing. The more you make a big deal out of it, the more she’ll light up. Let her go. It’s a phase. Why did you quit smoking?”
    Alyce patted the tortured artichokes dry with a towel, as if she’d just given them a bath.
    â€œI discovered boys,” Josie said. “I wanted more money to spend on clothes and makeup, so I quit the cigarettes. Ohmigod. What if Mom got a serious boyfriend? I mean, besides her bingo buddy, Jimmy Ryent. He’s harmless.”
    â€œSee, it could be