Read Online 7 Madness in Miniature by Margaret Grace - Free Book Online Page B

meeting, before we all went to Sadie’s. I’m not sure who else was present, but certainly Catherine, Maisie Bosley, and Bebe Mellon.”
    “Yes? “
    “Did you happen to hear anything about a public display of anger?” I asked.
    “You mean the fight between Bebe and Maisie on Springfield Boulevard?” he asked.
    “You are good. Let me put that in context for you.”
    I recapped the tensions around SuperKrafts’ taking over the spaces formerly belonging to Maisie and Bebe. “Maisie seems to have adjusted, but it’s been hard for Bebe to let go. Not for a minute do I think she’d hurt anyone over it.”
    “I’ll take it all under advisement. Thanks a lot, Aunt Gerry. We need to get you on the payroll.”
    “I’ll stick to being the official baker.”
    “Works for me. Anything else come to mind?”
    “There’s one other little twist. Video Jeff.”
    “The game store Jeff? Jeff Slattery?”
    I nodded, and though I was beginning to feel like the worst kind of snitch, laid it all out for Skip—the high school romance between Catherine and Jeff, Bebe’s little brother; how the relationship went south fifteen years ago when Catherine left town with her family, but might be heading north at the moment.
    “This is over and above Catherine’s not-quite-ended romance with Craig?”
    I confirmed his assessment, but drew the line at telling Skip about the notes Catherine had been receiving at her hotel room. Whether pertinent to the love triangle or not, the threats in the notes were directed to Catherine, after all, not to the murdered Craig Palmer. If Catherine wanted the help of the police with the letters, she could ask for it herself, as I’d recommended in the first place. Besides, if I blabbed any more, I’d never hear a secret in this town again.
    Not surprisingly, Skip sensed my discomfort. “I know this is hard for you, Aunt Gerry, and believe me, I won’t abuse this. Kidding aside, you know I value your insights.”
    No wonder I loved my nephew.
    When my atrium clock struck three, we both stood up, taking the chime as an ending bell of some kind.
    “Are you going to be able to get any sleep?” I asked Skip, whose eyelids were at the lowest still-awake position I’d ever seen.
    “Not likely. This is an unusual situation in that some of the prime suspects could get on a plane to JFK any minute.”
    “I hadn’t thought of that.”
    “Maybe if we’re lucky, a local will be the guilty party,” he said with a grin.
    “Skip! Are you trying to annoy me tonight? This morning?”
    “No, but I am a little grouchy.” Skip indicated the object of his grouchiness by tilting his head toward my neighbor on the left, his on-again, off-again girlfriend, June Chinn, a tech writer in a Silicon Valley software firm. Fortunately, June and I stayed friends no matter what the weather was between her and my nephew. His mother, Bev, and I had been rooting for June from the beginning of their dating life.
    “How big is this tiff with June?”
    Skip sighed. “Dollhouse size.”
    Whatever that meant.
    * * *
    “I felt another shock last night,” Maddie said at breakfast. Although we were eating later than usual—nine o’clock—both morning and breakfast seemed to come fast on the heels of my post-midnight snacks.
    “Really? An aftershock?” I asked.
    “Uh-huh,” Maddie said, between gulps of orange juice. “And I woke up and you weren’t in bed.”
    “I must have been raiding the fridge.”
    Maddie gave me a sideways look. “Then I thought I heard Uncle Skip’s voice.”
    “Imagine that.”
    “I wanted to get up, but my legs were, like, I couldn’t move them, so I just zonked out again.”
    “I’m glad you were able to go back to sleep.”
    “Is there a case, Grandma?”
    I should have known. I couldn’t remember exactly when Maddie became obsessed with cases. Before she could say the word properly, it seemed to me. More than once Skip had used her extraordinary computer skills to help in an