Read Online Seven Threadly Sins by Janet Bolin - Free Book Online

doctor. I’ll give you a ride home from Erie, too, if you need it.” She turned away from Paula. “Willow, I need to talk to you.”
    “Me, too?” Dora asked.
    “After I talk to Willow,” Vicki told her.
    Walking behind the stretcher, Paula called over her shoulder, “Arrest them both for attempted murder!”
    Why did the woman keep harping on the word “murder”? If we had punched Antonio, she might have had a case for accusing us of assault, but we hadn’t touched him.
    Murder?
    Ignoring Paula’s outburst, Vicki asked everyone except me to clear the room. “But anyone who heard or saw Antonio fall, don’t leave the building. I’ll want your statements, too.”
    Ashley and Macey looked at each other, then Ashley braced her shoulders. “Willow and Mrs. Battersby did nottouch Antonio.” She wagged an index finger between herself and Macey. “We were there. We saw.”
    Vicki nodded. “Fine, thank you. Please go with the others, and I’ll talk to you two later.”
    I asked Haylee where Clay was.
    Haylee looked uncomfortable. “He left.”
    I made a vague gesture toward the floor. “Before Antonio collapsed?”
    She nodded. “He went out the back door.” She scooted toward Ben, who was waiting for her in the foyer.
    How strange. Still, it wasn’t as if Clay and I had a date. I hadn’t expected him to attend the fashion show, but leaving without saying good-bye wasn’t exactly his style.
    And I don’t usually look this glamorous.
    Dora must have noticed the disappointment I was trying to conceal. She patted my arm.
    Vicki told her gently, “I do want to speak to you, Mrs. Battersby, but after I talk to Willow, okay?”
    Dora saluted. “Don’t call me Mrs. Battersby like I’m some ancient old grandmother. Even Haylee and Willow call me Dora. But I get it. You have to question us separately to see if our stories match.”
    Vicki made a pretend scowl. “I know you Threadville women. You’ve been passing each other messages that I can’t understand ever since I arrived, and probably before, also.”
    Dora rose to the bait. “No, we haven’t!” Head high, she marched out of the room.
    One corner of Vicki’s mouth quirked up. “She’s so easy to rile. Okay, Willow, what happened?”
    I told her that I suspected that Antonio had pinched Macey’s rear end, and maybe Ashley’s, also, and that I’d been afraid that Dora had been about to take a swing at him. “I grabbed her hand and stopped her. But he fell, anyway. It was the strangest thing. Neither of us touched him.”
    “How did he look?”
    “Surprised.”
    “Mrs. Battersby—Dora—can have that effect on people,” Vicki deadpanned.
    I couldn’t help smiling at her description of Dora. “His face became red and puffy, like he was angry. Or embarrassed at being caught possibly touching girls.”
    “Did he say anything? Apologize, for instance?”
    “He did this pretend thing like he was choking, you know, clutching at his throat. And he said, ‘Help me.’”
    Writing in her notebook, she didn’t look up. “Think he was choking? I mean, actually choking?”
    “I didn’t think so at the time. I thought he was only trying to distract us from his behavior. But he could have been choking. He started feeling around in his pockets as if he were hunting for his candy, and he said, ‘Where’s my—’ but he didn’t finish the question. He gasped, ‘Help,’ and then fell.”
    She sent me one of her piercing glances. “Did he take anything out of his pockets?”
    “Not that I noticed. I’m sure he didn’t put anything into his mouth.”
    “And he was clutching his throat? Not his chest?”
    I tried to picture the moment. “I think so. Maybe he had a candy in his mouth and it went down the wrong way.”
    “Hmmm.” Another of Vicki’s indecipherable comments. She pointed her pen toward the foyer. “Tell Dora Battersby that I want to talk to her. Then you can go.”
    I didn’t have to tell Dora. As soon as she spotted me