Read Online An Uplifting Murder by Elaine Viets - Free Book Online Page A

children had never been in the city except for chaperoned school-sponsored field trips. Many of their mothers bragged that they never set foot in St. Louis. There might as well be a brick wall around the city limits.
     
    Josie was startled when Fiona Henderson-Dobbs tapped lightly on her car window. A suburban snow queen in her full-length white fur coat, Fiona didn’t give an ermine tail about animal cruelty. Her white-blond hair was pulled so tight into a chignon her eyes were slanted—unless Fiona had had an eye job.
     
    She bared her teeth in a skeleton smile as Josie rolled down her window.
     
    “Fiona,” the snow queen announced. “I met you at the school book fair. Do you know the name of a good exterminator?”
     
    “No, I just buy a can of Raid,” Josie said. “It kills the occasional roach who wanders in.”
     
    “I don’t think Raid would work on night squirrels.” Disdain dripped from Fiona’s lips.
     
    “What are night squirrels?” Josie asked.
     
    “They’re small gray brown animals that look like squirrels, except for their long, skinny tails,” Fiona said. “I’ve never seen one, but our gardener has. Pedro says the night squirrels have been eating the dog food we store in our garage.”
     
    “These night squirrels have long, skinny tails?” Josie asked. “Hairless tails?”
     
    “Yes, kind of pink and naked.” Fiona gave a small dramatic shudder.
     
    “I don’t think those are night squirrels,” Josie said. “They sound like rats.”
     
    “We don’t have rats,” Fiona said. She gave Josie a frosty stare. “We live in Ladue.”
     
    “That’s the ideal place for rats,” Josie said, unwisely. “Rats go where the money is and you have money. I mean, your neighborhood has. Ladue has those big estates, lots of woods and creeks. Rats love waterways. Everybody has dogs, too. Those bring rats.”
     
    “Hewitt is a pedigreed Labrador,” Fiona said. “He has nothing to do with rats.”
     
    “Maybe not,” Josie said. “But I bet the rats love the dog food you probably keep in the garage. They’ll gnaw right through plastic storage bins. Trust me, you have rats.”
     
    “You would know,” Fiona said. “You live in the city .” She made it sound like an insult.
     
    Before the rat fight could continue, Josie heard the principal, Mrs. Apple, announce, “Pamela Henderson-Dobbs!” A thin blond girl with whirling windmill arms burst out of the door. Even her heavy navy backpack didn’t slow her. She jumped into the snow queen’s BMW.
     
    “I have to go,” Fiona said. Her smile looked painful.
     
    “Amelia Marcus!” Mrs. Apple called.
     
    Josie admired the easy way her daughter ran down the sidewalk. Last year Amelia nearly dwarfed by her enormous green backpack. Josie had bought her a rolling backpack, but Amelia refused to use it. Now she carried her monogrammed backpack effortlessly. Josie could see the elegant nose and the high cheekbones emerging on her daughter’s round childish face. Amelia would be a heartbreaker soon.
     
    Josie was glad she’d stood in line to get those black boots by Alice + Olivia for Payless. They’d been fifty bucks, but they were warm and stylish. She’d found the leopard-print coat on eBay—the virtual garage sale—and the warm wool scarf and gloves at Target. She made sure Amelia was dressed as well as her classmates. Maybe better.
     
    “Hi, Mom.” Amelia tossed her backpack into the backseat. She brought in a rush of cold air and warm energy. “Were you talking to Pam’s mom?”
     
    “She asked me a question about city life,” Josie said. She kissed her daughter on her freckled nose. Amelia permitted this liberty. For now.
     
    “You’re all dressed up,” Amelia said. “Did you go mystery-shopping?”
     
    “At Desiree Lingerie at Plaza Venetia,” Josie said, “with your aunt Alyce.” Alyce was an honorary aunt. “We bought bras.”
     
    “Cool.”
     
    “Not really. A woman from my high school