Keeping Mum (A Garden Society Mystery) Read Online Free Page B

hands, so Petunia could take a break once the prep was done.
    Nick was appreciative. Cam’s brother-in-law looked like a bit of a thug, prison tattoos, legitimately earned, and a Jersey accent that screamed gangster, but he had a heart of gold and always wanted what was truly best for Petunia, rather than what Petunia claimed she wanted. Cam had learned to appreciate his approach to her sister long ago.
    There would be a choice between Aiguillette of Striped Bass Joinville or Medallion of Spring Lamb Chasseur, and the sides and salads were all prepped and ready. Nick had access to the country club ovens for the occasion, so it would all go smoothly once they arrived, which should be any minute now.
    Cam, in the meantime, was checking that the grounds where the party would be held were ready and that all the game props were in place.
    She circled the grounds, keeping a watchful eye for the carefully chosen heirloom collection of flowers, first sweeping through the garden where the pre-supper cocktail hour would be held. There was a wall to one side of the garden with a gorgeous blooming autumn clematis. The delicate white flowers gave off a heavenly scent, so Cam forgave them for not being heirloom, or even native. She and Henry had agreed the majority of the flowers would be asters, largely because Samantha had pressured them to focus on red, white, and blue, and asters came in all those shades . . . sort of. In other circumstances, Cam might have argued that blue flowers were usually more purple than blue, as was true for the aster, and the “red” was definitely more fuchsia, but she wanted to minimize her headache and hadn’t really believed red, white, and blue was a priority, so she’d kept those thoughts to herself.
    She left the garden and wandered toward the first hole of the golf course, noting anise hyssop to the sides. The spiky flower clusters were pretty, but the decision had been made by the golf course, not Cam. She thought it was because they were relatively easy to maintain and looked pretty late into the fall. She chuckled with amusement that most of Samantha’s potted chrysanthemums had ended up also lining the fairway. They looked out of place with their red and pink pointed heads, but they were cheerful, nonetheless. As she reached the tee, she switched from just looking to make sure things were attractive to running down her mental checklist for all the props and settings for the game that had to be in place. She thought they were ready.
    Annie arrived not long after Cam had. She’d had to go home after her bakery day to change, but Cam was impressed. Annie wore a short, simple flapper dress, but it was silver and, therefore, elegant. She cursed her own fussy beaded number, which she was afraid to sit in until the last possible minute in case pieces of it went flying off in various directions.
    “How’s it look?” Annie asked.
    “I assume you don’t mean my floral checklist,” Cam said. Annie tilted her head and raised a brow. “Other than that, props are in place. It looks pretty. I think we’re set.”
    “No Rob tonight?”
    “At a thousand dollars a plate? Hardly. He’s glad, though. Virginia Tech had an away game last night, and he didn’t get back into town until about three in the morning. He wouldn’t have liked wearing a stuffy old suit.” Rob was currently winding down what had been a fairly exciting football season.
    “Are Nick and Petunia here?”
    Cam looked at her watch. “They should be.”
    “Excellent.” Annie rubbed her hands together in a mad scientist fashion. Cam couldn’t help but laugh. Annie followed Cam toward the kitchen to check.
    The dining room looked gorgeous. Nick had planned a seven-course meal inspired by
The Great Gatsby
that would begin with cream of celery soup and toasties, along with celery olives and anchovy canapés. Even the decorations finalized by Joel Jaimeson looked sublime, much to Cam’s irritation.
    She scanned names on the place