Read Online Fanny Packs and Foul Play (A Haley Randolph Mystery) by Dorothy Howell - Free Book Online

handbag—a darling Gucci tote.
    He hit a button that opened the gate. I drove
through.
    When I swung into the Spencer-Taft driveway a
few minutes later I parked between Andrea’s Mazda and Veronica’s
BMW, and got out. All the construction projects remained just as
they were when the workers had been called off the job by the
police. I spotted one of Jack’s security guys nearby.
    As I crossed the circular drive, the front
door burst open and Renée charged outside. She stopped, turned
back, and yelled, “I’m getting what’s due me! And to hell with all
of you!”
    She slammed the door and stomped off around
the house.
    Good grief. What now?
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter 7
    I walked into
the entryway in time to see Melanie dash up the stairs. Cassie
stood at the bottom looking more than slightly upset. She spotted
me and heaved a heavy sigh.
    “I guess you heard,” she said, looking
embarrassed but resigned to what had happened, as if she’d been
down this road with her sisters many times.
    “Must be tough always trying to be the
peacemaker,” I said.
    Cassie shook her head. “Melanie and Renée
have never gotten along. I thought it might be different on this
trip, but Renée is worse than usual.”
    “What’s she so upset about?” I asked.
    “Basically, she’s mad that life didn’t turn
out better for her,” Cassie said. “And right now she’s blaming it
on Veronica.”
    Okay, that surprised me.
    I guess it showed in my expression because
Cassie went on.
    “It started years ago,” she said. “Veronica
found our mother’s candy recipe in the back of an old cookbook.
We’d lost Mom a decade before that, and nobody had bothered with it
since she passed on. So, Veronica started making candy.”
    “Your mom was named Pammy?” I asked.
    “Yes, that’s what Veronica called the candy,
as a tribute to her grandmother,” Cassie said. “Mom was a great
cook and so is—was—Veronica. She started selling the candy at the
county fair and at farmers’ market. She got some of the local
stores to carry it and she even set up a website to sell it
online.”
    “Sounds like she was working hard at building
a business,” I said.
    “Mostly, she wanted money to finish college,”
Cassie said. She shifted uncomfortable and glanced away.
“Veronica’s mother wasn’t in a position to pay for her
education.”
    I remembered then that Andrea had told me
Veronica’s mom had health problems, and figured it must have been
something major—and expensive.
    “I guess things improved when Patrick came
into Veronica’s life,” I said.
    Cassie smiled. “Patrick is a sweetheart. At
first, we had no idea who he was or that his family owned so many
of the businesses around the county. He never let on how much money
he had. When he and Veronica first laid eyes on each other, it was
love at first sight. Everybody knew it. It was the sweetest
thing.”
    It did sound sweet, and I couldn’t help but
wonder what that would feel like.
    “Patrick had the wherewithal to build a
business around the candy Veronica was making,” Cassie went on.
“Imagine, our mother’s candy being sold all across the
country.”
    “Your family must have been thrilled,” I
said.
    “You’d think,” Cassie said. “Everybody was so
happy and so proud, except for Renée. She thought that since it was
Mom’s recipe, all of her children should get a share of the
profits.”
    “Did everyone feel that way?” I asked.
    “No, of course not. Any one of us could have
picked up that recipe and made the candy. All of us knew about it.
We’d even talked about how much we missed Mom’s candy,” Cassie
said.
    She seemed to get lost in her memories for a
minute, then went on.
    “Besides, none of us knew how to build a
business. We didn’t have any idea how to get started, keep it
going, or turn it into something big. Never mind that none of us
had the money it would take to get the whole thing up