Blown To Pieces (PTO Murder Club Mystery Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

the money.” Haley drummed her fingernails on the picnic table. “Okay, what about this—we put the money in an account for Molly’s mother, Edna, so she can continue to live out her life in comfort. I thought about putting some money away in a fund that sends Godiva chocolates to Edna weekly, but since she’s one of the vilest people I’ve ever met, I say no chocolate for her.”
    When we’d interviewed Edna while investigating her daughter’s murder, the old woman had been more concerned about missing the Godiva chocolates her daughter brought her weekly than she had been about her daughter being dead.
    Monica put her arm around Haley. “‘Vile’ isn’t ‘bitch’ or ‘asshole,’ but for you it’s a very strong word. I’m proud of you for expressing your hate, and maybe someday in the future, you’ll be able to cuss like a sailor.”
    Haley could give Snow White some serious competition for the goody-two-shoes award...then again, Haley had killed someone a few days ago. The fact that he was bad more than outweighed the killing...probably.
    “I’m okay with keeping Edna at Lakeside Living. If the old bitch gets kicked out of her apartment, where else is she going to go? No one else will take her.” I propped my head on my fist. “What about the gold coins?” We’d also found diamonds, but since they’d been stolen from Daman, they really weren’t our concern. I was planning on returning them to him...one day, when he wasn’t having me followed and I didn’t hate him and/or right before the world ended. Whichever came first.
    Right now I was keeping the “ice” on ice in my freezer. Come on, freezing the diamonds in my ice cube trays—brilliant.
    “Y’all aren’t going to like this, but I think we should discreetly cash out the coins and y’all take the money and put it into college funds for your kids.” Haley wanted to take care of everyone.
    A college fund would be nice.
    I looked at Monica. “What do you think?”
    I had to admit that I felt better about putting Molly’s money into a college fund for Max than I did about spending it on myself.
    “I can’t help feeling that the money is bad luck.” Monica hunched her shoulders. “I know, it’s stupid, and I’d love to have a college fund for Landon, but...”
    “I know what you mean.” Compromise is my middle name. Actually I don’t have a middle name, but if I did, it might be Compromise or possibly Leah. “What if we hang on to the gold coins for a while and see how we feel about it later? We just need a place to store them.”
    “We could bury them someplace.” Haley volunteered. It wasn’t the most original idea.
    “Except it’s almost impossible to dig a hole out here. I tried to plant a tree in my backyard and couldn’t because under the inch of topsoil we have it’s nothing but limestone.” Monica had practicality down to a science.
    “You have a point.” Haley nodded. “When Humberto tries to plant anything larger than a potted plant, he uses a jackhammer.”
    Humberto was Haley’s gardener, and he spent a lot of time pretending to not understand English so he didn’t have to do what Haley wanted. Since his wife made the best chicken tamales in the world, Haley had learned to live with having things his way.
    “I have an idea.” Haley raised her hand like the fifth grade teacher’s pet that she no doubt had been.
    Monica eyed her suspiciously. “It’s not that we don’t think you contribute to the group, but being devious really isn’t your forte.”
    “I’ve got this.” Haley smiled to herself. “Do y’all want to know my genius plan?”
    Monica and I shared a look.
    “Um...” I hesitated. This was a woman who actually had a legitimate doctor’s note for every single one of her twin daughters’ school absences, and they weren’t from her husband...the doctor. But she clearly had a plan, and we needed to trust her. “We don’t need to know. Just go forth and hide it.”
    “If the gold