Read Online Bad Reputation, A by Jane Tesh - Free Book Online Page B

and thick false eyelashes. And if I wasn’t mistaken, all that golden hair was not her own.
    â€œHave you seen the gallery?” she asked. “It’s going to be a wonderful place.”
    â€œI stopped by just a little while ago. Looks like it’ll be ready in no time.”
    â€œWendall went to Parkland to interview a potential curator. He wants to find the perfect person.”
    â€œHas he considered hiring someone from Celosia?”
    â€œYou know, I told him that might be a good idea, but he didn’t agree. I thought it might help things.” She sighed. “Madeline, I haven’t known you very long, but I feel as if I can confide in you.”
    â€œI’ll be happy to listen.”
    Once again, she played with a curl of the golden hair. “It’s like this. I didn’t set out to ruin anyone’s marriage. Wendall and I fell in love at first sight. It just happened. We couldn’t help it. He was so unhappy because Larissa never understood his big plans. As for my ex-husband, he had no ambition whatsoever, and whenever I got him to try something, it always fell apart. I’m sorry Larissa is still so angry, but Wendall and I were meant to be together.”
    â€œSometimes these things happen, Flora.”
    â€œHe wants to give this town something grand and important. I think that a beautiful new art gallery would be just the thing.”
    To make the town forgive him? “I hope people will appreciate it.”
    â€œOh, I think an art gallery is a splendid idea,” she said. “People need the arts, you know. Well, of course you know. You’re an artist. But were you really Miss Parkland?”
    â€œYes, I was.”
    â€œYou didn’t want to continue?”
    â€œI entered Miss Parkland because I wanted to and I needed the money, but from the time I was very small, it was all my mother’s idea.”
    â€œPeople always said I should be in pageants, but I was much too shy to be on stage.”
    â€œBeing in a pageant will take care of your shyness, believe me.” I liked Flora, but there was something forced in her friendliness, as if she were trying too hard to be agreeable. She’d make a great pageant girl. No, that wasn’t fair. She was new in town and had been thrust into an unpleasant situation.
    She took a sip of tea. “But you’re really a detective, Madeline. Have you solved any mysteries?”
    â€œWhen I first moved to town, I helped solve the murder of a Miss Celosia Pageant contestant.”
    â€œMurder at a pageant? That must have been very strange.”
    â€œIt was a Twilight Zone moment. But having pageant experience came in handy.” And one of those handy experiences was the ability to tell a fake smile from a real one, and I wanted to believe Flora’s was real. “Then not long after that, a director wanted to use my house for the set of a monster movie, and someone killed him.”
    â€œAnd you solved that mystery?”
    â€œYes, and next, an unpopular teacher was found dead at the elementary school, and it turned out she had been murdered. I didn’t think I’d find much work in Celosia, but every now and then somebody goes wild.”
    She gave a little laugh. “Well, if you find me murdered, you’ll know who done it. Larissa Norton.”
    I sincerely hoped not.
    â€œBesides Larissa, did Wendall ever tell you anything about Bea Ricter? She seemed very upset at the reception. Do you have any idea what she meant by telling him to do the right thing?”
    Again she toyed with the curl of hair. “I’m not sure what’s going on there. He is doing the right thing by opening this gallery. Maybe she’s afraid he won’t let her show her work.”
    â€œHe also told her, ‘That’s not going to happen.’”
    â€œHe said she was still angry about something that happened a long time ago. He knew not everyone in Celosia would