The Walleld Flower Read Online Free Page B

stuff for the favors later,” Gilda said as she headed out of the office.
    “Favors?” Katie called after her, but Gilda was already out of earshot, heading for the exit.
    Katie collapsed into her chair. If she’d felt stressed before, that factor had just doubled. Then again, how much time could it take to help Gilda with her wedding favors and have a dress altered? She’d just have to make the time.
    As she turned back to her spreadsheet, she realized she’d forgotten to ask Gilda about the Victoria Square Easter newspaper ad.
    Swell. Just swell.

    Not many hours later, Andy Rust handed Katie a paper plate laden with a slice of Angelo’s deep-crust pizza, swimming in sauce, meat, and veggies. “And this body—skeleton… whatever—wasn’t gross or anything?”
    “Not really,” Katie admitted. She paused to take a bite. Having a boyfriend who owned a pizzeria had been a great perk. For the first week or so. Not that Katie didn’t like pizza, but she ate it more for sustenance than enjoyment these days. And because it was free.
    Seated next to Andy on the lumpy lime green couch, Katie gazed around the tiny living room. The apartment over Angelo’s Pizzeria had been empty since Andy evicted the former tenants for nonpayment of rent some six weeks before. It gave the two of them a quiet place to share a meal away from the watchful eyes of Andy’s teenaged employees, who probably thought they used the place for romantic purposes.
    As if!
    Along with the former occupant’s couch, the place contained only a rickety Formica cocktail table that had to be at least four or five decades old. At Katie’s insistence, Andy had pulled up the stained, blue-tweed shag carpet to reveal hardwood floors in remarkably good condition. But the sickening yellow enamel walls—that had been painted years before Andy took possession of the building—would not inspire a Martha Stewart award. Maybe Martha would find it a challenge to decorate such a dingy place. The apartment was unoccupied only because Andy didn’t want the hassle of dealing with tenants. Meanwhile, Katie hadn’t renewed the lease on her apartment and needed a cheap place to live that was close to Victoria Square.
    “Rose wants me to help her solve Heather’s murder,” Katie said, and took a bite of pizza, pulling the crust away while a string of mozzarella followed. She yanked at it until it broke and tossed it back on the slice.
    Andy stopped chewing, swallowed, and glared at her. “And you told her no, right?”
    Katie sighed. “Not exactly. The poor girl’s been dead twenty-two years. The trail’s cold. I’ll give Rose some extra attention for a few days, and hopefully that’ll be that.”
    Andy didn’t look convinced.
    “Besides,” Katie said, examining a round of pepperoni on her pizza, “I need to concentrate on apartment hunting. I’ve got to be out of my place by the end of the month, and I haven’t had any luck so far.” Her voice sounded innocent, but she knew Andy wasn’t taken in.
    “We’ve had this conversation before, and I’m not renting you this place.”
    “I didn’t ask you to. I’m just updating you on my situation.”
    “You can move in with me,” Andy said.
    “We’ve had
that
conversation before, too. I have two cats. You don’t want to live with them, and I’m not about to give them up.”
    “You’re using that as an excuse,” he countered. “You don’t trust me. Or any man.”
    “That’s not true. It’s just—” It’s just that she’d trusted her late husband with their financial future, and he’d squandered their savings, and then died and left her virtually penniless.
    Katie recognized the set of Andy’s mouth. He was primed for an argument. Andy was right to some extent. She wasn’t yet ready for the kind of commitment he was offering.
    “I’ve got some leads,” she said to diffuse the tension. “And I’ve got an appointment to look at a place tomorrow afternoon. That is, if I can get