Read Online A Truth for a Truth by Emilie Richards - Free Book Online

finished. “I ruined the service for her. Not that I had any choice, but will she see it that way?”
    “I have to meet this woman.” Lucy glanced at her watch. “Gotta run.”
    “You could stay for pizza.”
    “Gotta run.” She smiled a little. “I’ll keep you in the loop if I hear anything else.”
    “Good friends tell each other everything.”
    “Everything they want to.” She winked. In a moment she was gone.

    By seven o’clock the pizza was gone except for two slices I managed to save for my slumbering husband. If Ed didn’t wake up by ten, I planned to eat them myself. I was cleaning the kitchen again, Deena was upstairs on a marathon phone call, and Teddy was taking a shower when our doorbell rang—which immediately ruled out a second visit from Lucy. I was still drying my hands on the same dishtowel when I opened the door to find Sally Berrigan on our threshold. If I’d ever had doubts about a benevolent creator, they were now put to rest.
    I locked arms with her and pulled her inside. This was not the easiest of tasks, since Sally is tall, with wide, almost masculine shoulders, not to mention Sally is a woman who will not be pulled where she doesn’t want to go.
    Luckily she wanted to come inside, and did. I let go of her once I was sure and closed the door with a resounding thud.
    “Sally, do you know what’s going on here?”
    She looked puzzled, which is not an expression one often sees on her no-nonsense face. In her sixty-plus years, Sally has rarely been puzzled. She’s almost always sure of herself and her opinions and never hesitant to express them. That’s why Emerald Springs is chafing under the mayoral leadership of Brownie Kefauver, who will say anything anybody wants to hear. Sally, the forthright candidate, scared the town to death.
    “I know Win Dorchester’s memorial service was this afternoon,” she said. “I feel so bad I had to be away. Did it go all right?”
    That was such a loaded question, I wasn’t sure how to answer it. “Would you like a cup of tea?”
    “Not really. I just got back into town, and I’m looking forward to some dinner.”
    “I have homemade pizza. Mushroom.” I saw her eyes light up. “Red pepper and whole wheat crust.” I tried not to feel guilty about poor, snoozing Ed.
    “Would it be any trouble?”
    “Not one bit. Come in the kitchen. Would you like wine to go with it? I’ll have a glass with you.”
    Sally looked pathetically grateful. “My plane was held up at Reagan National. We were on the tarmac for two hours. Then we circled the Columbus airport for half an hour before we landed.”
    I nodded as she continued her litany of travel woes, all of which sounded too familiar these days.
    She was seated with the pizza and a glass of cheap cabernet before I dared interrupt.
    “I’m just glad you stopped by.”
    “I’m really here to see Ed. I have some papers for him.” She gestured to the large leather satchel at her feet. “He’s interested in health care legislation, so I brought home everything I found on my stops.”
    “He’ll be thrilled. But he’s sleeping off some powerful antihistamines.” I segued into the story of the lilies as Sally nodded and chewed.
    “That wasn’t the worst problem, though,” I said, and filled her in on the phone call and all the trouble afterwards. “I think the police might suspect more than a heart attack.”
    For a moment she went perfectly still, then her eyes widened. “Murder?”
    I couldn’t add what Lucy had told me, even though it was a confirmation. “Why else would they stop the burial?” I asked instead.
    “Unbelievable.”
    “I’d have said so if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.”
    “This is terrible.”
    It was, which made me feel even worse about pumping Sally for information. But I was a pump that was primed and ready. I gushed forth.
    “I spoke to Yvonne after the service. She told me about the party that Win and Hildy had the night he died. She mentioned