Seed No Evil Read Online Free Page A

out of their way to court their favor.
    The other three women were unfamiliar to me, but the signs in front of them indicated that one was the board secretary, one the treasurer, and one the vice president. Like everyone else in the room, the four women, too, were talking, and no one appeared ready to start the meeting.
    I checked my watch. It was ten minutes after seven o’clock, so I leaned closer to Marco and whispered, “I hope this isn’t an indication of how the organization runs, or we’ll be here all evening.”
    Finally, Dayton Blaine went to the podium and tapped her finger on the mic to see if it was on. After fiddling with it for a minute, she leaned in to it and said in an annoyed voice, “We apologize for the delay, but Beverly Powers is not here to run the meeting. I can’t imagine why she’s late and we’re unable to reach her, so please bear with us for a bit longer. If she isn’t here soon, we’ll let Emma Hardy, her second in command, start it. Emma?”
    At that moment, a woman of about my age came hurrying up from the rear of the room. “I’m here,” she said breathlessly, taking a seat in the front row. She was tall and curvaceous, with thick, curly brown hair that seemed disheveled, as if she’d just jogged a mile. She wore a fitted black linen blazer over a pink blouse, with gray pants and black flats.
    â€œYou’re late, too?” Dayton remarked, still sounding annoyed. “Is there something in the air tonight?”
    People in the audience laughed lightly, as though they weren’t sure if Dayton meant it in a humorous way or not. The woman I assumed was Emma seemed not to notice. Once she was seated, she took a mirror out of her purse and pushed her hair into place, then checked her makeup.
    â€œI’m going to call Mom,” I whispered to Marco, taking out my phone. “She should be here by now. She hates to be late for anything.”
    I tapped in her speed-dial number and listened. The phone rang four times, then went to voice mail. I waited for the message, then said, “Hey, Mom, where are you? We’re at the meeting.”
    â€œMaybe your mom is driving and doesn’t want to answer her phone,” Marco said.
    â€œThat’s possible.” Except that my inner antennae were vibrating, and when that happened, I knew to expect the unexpected.
    While we waited, Marco and I chatted about his PI cases for at least another ten minutes until Dayton Blaine went to the podium again and said sharply, “We’re going to start the meeting. Emma Hardy is PAR’s development director and she’s agreed to take over.”
    The young brunette with the disheveled hair rose from her seat in the front row and walked around the table to the podium, seeming much more composed now and, in fact, almost happy to be speaking.
    â€œHello,” she said with a smile. “Thank you for coming to the monthly meeting of PAR. We’ll start with the minutes from the last meeting read by the board’s secretary.”
    As the elderly lady seated at the table on the stage rose, my cell phone vibrated. I pulled it out of my pocket and checked the screen. “It’s Mom,” I said to Marco, and slipped out of the room.
    â€œAbigail,” she whispered, a note of desperation in her tone, “would you and Marco please come down to the police station and pick me up?”
    â€œThe police station? Why are you at the station?”
    â€œIt’s Bev Powers,” she whispered. “She’s dead. And I was the one who found her body.”

C HAPTER T HREE

    â€œY ou found Bev’s body?” I whispered back to my mom, motioning for Marco to join me. “Where?”
    â€œAt the shelter. I was the only other person there,” Mom explained in a hushed voice. “It was awful. Poor Bev. But I’ll tell you all about it when you get here. The police want to question me again.