Lethal Dose of Love Read Online Free Page A

him. Yes, Sean’s passing would erase a lot of problems.
    “What’s so funny?”
    “Nothing.”
    Mamie turned the car into the short driveway to Felicia’s impeccable brick townhome. Not a ripple in the white trim paint. Not a weed in the flowerbed. Weeds probably didn’t dare grow in Felicia’s yard. The driveway was cobbled. Talk about flaunting.
    “I didn’t expect Helen to be here,” Claire said.
    “Why shouldn’t she be? None of this is her fault. It’s entirely mine. My stupid do-nothing personality.” Mamie was near tears again.
    Claire changed the subject. “Brighton came to the library this morning. He wanted to talk about Felicia.”
    “What about her?”
    “Last night he woke up and she wasn’t there. He found her standing at the living room window just staring out. He asked what was wrong and she said nothing, that she just couldn’t sleep. He’s sure there’s more to it. That wasn’t the first night’s sleep she’s lost. He wanted to know if she’d said anything to me.”
    “He should be talking to Amanda. They’re tight as thieves.”
    “He said he did and she pretended not to know anything.”
    “Did you tell him we saw them at the diner the other day? That they had their heads together and clammed up when we said hello?”
    “I only said I’d talk to her. I don’t want to get involved.”
    They ambled along the curved walkway. Mamie was curiously silent. Did she know something more about this? Mamie was sort of scatterbrained and it often turned out she knew more than she realized. Now wasn’t the time for interrogations. The big front door with the shiny brass knocker opened.
    Helen Mortenson smiled down at them. The round woman wearing a denim skirt and white sweater stepped out. She pulled Mamie into a hug. “I was afraid you wouldn’t come,” she said in her gravelly voice. Mamie’s shoulders tensed, she was holding in tears. In her condition she wouldn’t be able to hold them very long. Helen urged Mamie inside and down the short, brightly lit hallway. Claire followed, breathing in cinnamon-scented air. Nice.
    As the three women entered the dining room, Amanda leaped toward them, dark eyes bright with excitement. She engulfed Mamie in another hug. “I heard about your gallery! Congratulations.”
    “Yes, wonderful for you. Wonderful for the town too,” said Felicia from the far end of the long table where she poured coffee into tiny china cups. “What a coup for your gallery, to have such a famous man as Miles Arenheim want to—”
    Mamie burst into tears. She dropped into the nearest chair and buried her face in her hands. Everyone gathered around.
    Helen faced the group, her hand on Mamie’s back. “I’m afraid I don’t understand. Sean said—Oh no, I think I screwed up royally. Last night, Sean came to me. He was very upset saying how Mamie’s deal with Mr. Arenheim had fallen through.”
    Amanda put her hand on Mamie’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”
    “The problem is,” Claire said, “the deal hadn’t fallen through.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “Sean told her the deal fell through. But it hadn’t.”
    “That scumbag. That low-down piece of—” It was unusual for Amanda to curse.
    Helen sank into a damask covered chair. “When Sean told me about Mamie’s deal not working out, I felt terrible, of course. We commiserated: how nice it would have been for Mamie, how nice for the town, and all that. Then he acted like he’d had this brilliant idea. ‘Gee, Helen, I know how you were counting on renting that place. Maybe you’d consider letting me have it. I could enlarge my restaurant.’”
    “I allowed…no, I helped him replace Mamie’s name with his on the contract. God Mamie, I’m so sorry.”
    “He’s a filthy rat.”
    They all turned toward the new voice. Sylvie French, in her traditional polyester slacks and knitted vest, laid her coat across the back of the chair beside Mamie. “I thought he was bad when he screwed me out