Last Resort of Murder (A Lacy Steele Mystery Book 9) Read Online Free Page A

He
and Jason shook hands before he turned his attention back to Lacy. “I can’t
believe this, running into Lacy Steele after all this time. I have to
go—I have a scheduled appointment to keep. But I would love to get
together with you later and catch up. Maybe we could perform some of the old
numbers.”
    “That sounds fun,” Lacy agreed. She
gave him a little wave as he walked away.
    “Who was that?” Jason asked.
    “That was Snaps,” Michael said.
“Obviously.”
    “He was a friend from show choir. I
saw him at every event for years and then our senior year we ended up on the
district team together and became friends,” Lacy said.
    “Is he good at snapping?” Jason
asked.
    “I have no idea,” Lacy said. “Why?”
    “I’m undoubtedly going to regret
continuing this line of questioning, but why is he called ‘Snaps’?”
    “He had scoliosis. His back brace
made a snapping noise whenever he walked,” Lacy said.
    “What an emotionally crippling
nickname,” Michael said.
    “High school was full of them,”
Lacy said. She turned back to the reservation counter. “We have a reservation.
The name is…”
    “Forget it,” Riley interrupted. She
ambled up to them, baby Lucy tucked into the cloth carrier on her front. “It
turns out that Tosh’s psychotic sisters decided to take their revenge on me by
booking us all into two rooms.”
    “Two rooms?” Lacy repeated.
    “That’s right. We four women in
one, the four men in the other. Apparently they’re so possessive of Tosh that
they wanted to make sure I couldn’t be in the same room with him for a couple
of days, despite the fact that we have a new baby and DESPITE THE FACT THAT
HE’S MY HUSBAND!” She turned to yell over her shoulder to no one in particular.
The only people Lacy saw were employees of the resort who looked panicked, as
if they had never heard a woman raise her voice above a genteel whisper before.
    “Okay,” Lacy drawled. She needed to
decelerate Riley’s anger before she took off the baby and went hand-to-hand
with one of Tosh’s sisters. “Where do we bunk, roomie?”
    “The staff will get your bags.” She
flicked her fingers toward the eager-looking bellhops standing by the entrance.
“Come and meet Sven.”
    “Sven?” Lacy said.
    “Sven,” Riley repeated.
    “I guess I’m going to go meet
Sven,” Lacy said to Jason.
    “Have fun?” he said.
    “I’ll catch up with you later,” she
said.
    “Okay, lovebirds, say goodbye
before I throw up in my mouth,” Riley said.
    “So, how’s that sleep deprivation
coming? Is it having any negative effects? On your mood, perhaps?” Lacy said as
she trotted dutifully behind her sister who could walk alarmingly fast for
someone who had delivered a baby only a few weeks ago.
    “Sleep deprivation isn’t what’s
altering my mood. It’s them. ”
    “How many of them showed up?” Tosh
had about a million sisters and brothers.
    “Three, but one would have been too
many,” Riley said. “In here.” She opened a door and ushered Lacy inside. Her
mother, Kimber, and Tosh’s sisters were already there. They stood worshipfully
around a man, or at least Lacy thought he was a man. He might have been a
statue, so perfect was his physique. He was tall, six feet at least, and so
impeccably muscled that Lacy reached out to poke his bicep to make sure it
hadn’t been chiseled out of granite.
    “Imprethive, ithn’t it?” he said.
    Lacy blinked at him.
    “You could have muthles like thith,
too, if you follow my advithe.”
    “Um…,” Lacy said. It wasn’t that
the lisp bothered her so much as the incongruity of a speech impediment emerging
from such perfection. Casting about for something to say, “Is Sven your real
name?” was all she could come up with.
    He laughed. “No, they make uth take
Thwith-thounding nameth. They wanted me to be Thor, but I chothe Thven.”
    “Really? On purpose?” Lacy said and
Kimber elbowed her in the ribs.
    “Okay, ladieth, I want to