Murder of a Smart Cookie: A Scumble River Mystery Read Online Free Page A

which placed Skye squarely in the middle of the situation. Although she opened her mouth several times, nothing brilliant sprang into her mind to say.
    After a few seconds May demanded, “So, whose side are you on? Mine or your father’s?”
    Skye knew she should refuse to answer on the grounds she might infuriate her mother even more, but she felt compelled to try and smooth the waters between her parents. “Well, uh, I understand how frustrated you must be with the toilet running all the time, but it is usable, right?”
    May nodded grudgingly.
    “And Bunny really has no transportation until Dad gets her car running, so—”
    “So, nothing. He’s
my
husband, and I don’t want him hanging around with that hussy. She only bought that wreck so she could get Jed over to her place and into her clutches.”
    “I’m sure that’s not true, Mom.” Skye tried to pat May’s hand, but her mother snatched it away. “Bunny knows Dad is happily married.”
    “Oh, really?” May sputtered. “Then why did I catch her with her arms around your father’s neck when I stopped over there a few minutes ago?”
    Shit!
Skye’s eyes widened and her mind raced trying to come up with an innocent reason for the embrace.
    Finally she settled for saying, “I’m sure there’s a good explanation.”
    May snorted, crossed her arms, and tucked her chin into her chest. “Your father went over to that woman’s place right after lunch. Since I hadn’t seen him all afternoon and wanted to tell him something before I started my shift at the police department, I decided to stop by on my way to work and talk to him. You know he doesn’t answer the phone when I’m gone, right?”
    “Right.” Skye was well aware of her father’s aversion to the telephone. It had made communicating with him difficult when she had lived away from Scumble River. “Then what happened?”
    “At first I wasn’t sure where he’d be. I knew Bunny lived above the bowling alley, but I didn’t know where she’d keep her car, so I called Simon. He said there was a garage in back that was part of the property and her car was there. By the way, he wasn’t at all happy to hear that she had roped Jed into helping her either.”
    “So you went to the garage?” Skye prodded, ignoring the side issue of Simon’s displeasure.
    “Right. And when I walked in, that floozy was wrapped around your father like hair around a curler, and she wasn’t wearing nothing but chiffon and feathers.”
    Skye blew out a puff of air. This was worse than she’d thought. Bunny had been a Las Vegas showgirl for twenty years before moving back to Scumble River, and her taste in clothing reflected her past career. “Mom, I’m positive that Bunny was just thanking Dad. He would never look atanother woman. And despite what you think of Bunny, she’s all flirt and no fu … uh … fulfillment.”
    May brooded in silence for a while, then said, “I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
    “But what are you going to do?”
    “Nothing, for the moment. I’ve got to think about it some.” May took a deep breath. “And I said I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
    Skye knew that when her mother put up that emotional shield even a photon torpedo couldn’t break through it. She just hoped her parents could patch things up and she wouldn’t have to get involved.
    Without warning, May demanded, “Why were you sitting in the car rather than inside working?”
    For a split second Skye considered lying, but what would be the use? The whole story would be all over town by supper that night. “I was fired.”
    “Why?” The expression on May’s face was hard to read.
    Skye explained the day’s events, leaving out the part where she was whacked on the rear end with a sword and concluding with, “Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything to Mrs. Griggs. Maybe I should have just closed my eyes to what Cookie was doing and minded my own business for once.”
    “Right.” May’s lips