Read Online The Bad Always Die Twice by Cheryl Crane - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Cheryl Crane
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dogs hopped up and down, barking a greeting. “There’s my boys! How are my boys?” She petted Stanley and then Oliver and then Stanley, the needier of the two, again. “Have you been good boys for Grandma? Have you?”
“This is a game with you, isn’t it? A game you’re making into a career.” Victoria glided into the kitchen. She still wore the lavender turban, and was dressed in a floor-length, white silk robe. “Vexing me.” She turned to Ina. “Tea?”
“Be ready in a second. You want it in your room or by the pool?” Ina was still moving things around in the refrigerator.
“It’s a nice evening. Poolside.” Victoria headed for the back door. “Nicolette.”
“I’m not staying, Mother. No tea for me, Ina,” she called over her shoulder as she followed Victoria outside. The dogs flew past them; they preferred their “grandmother’s” yard to Nikki’s. More room to run.
“I’m sorry to hear Jeremy can’t come tomorrow night. Alan Ball’s coming. Jeremy adores his work.” Victoria took a seat in a cushioned chair on the stone terrace that looked out on an immaculately groomed garden. “Sit.”
“I’m not staying. I’m beat. The office was crazy today. Apparently, people like the idea of hiring a woman who’s been accused of killing a dead man.”
“All the more reason why you should have a nice cup of green tea. It’s energizing.”
Nikki leaned on the back of a chair, letting her hair fall forward over her face. “I don’t want to be energized, Mother. I want to go home, put my PJs on and crawl into my bed. I want to be comatose.”
Victoria frowned. “Tell me you’re not serious about sticking your nose into this business with Rex.”
“It’s not about Rex, Mother. It’s about Jessica.” Nikki watched the dogs play tag with each other as they circled the pool. First Ollie chased Stanley, then Stanley chased Ollie, their ears flopping as they sailed around the yard. They made her smile.
“I’m utterly against it, but if Jessica were my friend and I felt inclined to not mind my own business—” Victoria met her gaze with those famous piercing blue eyes, “then I’d start with the wife.”
“You think Edith could have something to do with this?”
Victoria shrugged theatrically. “If you were Rex’s wife and he rose from the dead, wouldn’t you kill him?”
Chapter 7
T he next day Nikki showed a house on The Strand in Hermosa Beach to an Arab sheik with a name she couldn’t pronounce. Then she stopped by Edith’s around noon. Security was tight at her front gate and it took two calls to the house before she was able to get in. Shondra, Edith’s maid, answered the front door in her black-and-white uniform. The homes with the maids in frilly white aprons always amused Nikki. Even Victoria wasn’t that pretentious.
But Edith had put up with so much crap with Rex that Nikki was willing to give her a bye on that issue. Besides, the woman had grown up in Echo Park. A woman who fought her way from Echo Park to the canyon neighborhood of Outpost Estates in central Hollywood, even to live in a tacky tomb, deserved a little leeway.
Still, Nikki knew for a fact that Shondra hated the uniform. A pretty girl in her early twenties with mocha skin, dark hair, and her mother’s brown eyes, she dreamed of being a model. Her mother, Edith’s housekeeper, had gotten her the job; Shondra only did it to make her rent. She and her cousin shared the position so they could both go on look-sees.
“Edith in?” Nikki asked.
“Right this way.” Halfway across the front hall, Shondra looked over her shoulder and whispered, “Mrs. March says I have to do it this way.”
Nikki smiled. “You do it perfectly.”
Shondra led her to Rex’s library and held open the door. Inside, Edith and Thompson were having lunch on a hideous coffee table fashioned from animal horns and a slab from a redwood tree. Was that even legal? A footstool made from an elephant’s foot, complete
“This is a game with you, isn’t it? A game you’re making into a career.” Victoria glided into the kitchen. She still wore the lavender turban, and was dressed in a floor-length, white silk robe. “Vexing me.” She turned to Ina. “Tea?”
“Be ready in a second. You want it in your room or by the pool?” Ina was still moving things around in the refrigerator.
“It’s a nice evening. Poolside.” Victoria headed for the back door. “Nicolette.”
“I’m not staying, Mother. No tea for me, Ina,” she called over her shoulder as she followed Victoria outside. The dogs flew past them; they preferred their “grandmother’s” yard to Nikki’s. More room to run.
“I’m sorry to hear Jeremy can’t come tomorrow night. Alan Ball’s coming. Jeremy adores his work.” Victoria took a seat in a cushioned chair on the stone terrace that looked out on an immaculately groomed garden. “Sit.”
“I’m not staying. I’m beat. The office was crazy today. Apparently, people like the idea of hiring a woman who’s been accused of killing a dead man.”
“All the more reason why you should have a nice cup of green tea. It’s energizing.”
Nikki leaned on the back of a chair, letting her hair fall forward over her face. “I don’t want to be energized, Mother. I want to go home, put my PJs on and crawl into my bed. I want to be comatose.”
Victoria frowned. “Tell me you’re not serious about sticking your nose into this business with Rex.”
“It’s not about Rex, Mother. It’s about Jessica.” Nikki watched the dogs play tag with each other as they circled the pool. First Ollie chased Stanley, then Stanley chased Ollie, their ears flopping as they sailed around the yard. They made her smile.
“I’m utterly against it, but if Jessica were my friend and I felt inclined to not mind my own business—” Victoria met her gaze with those famous piercing blue eyes, “then I’d start with the wife.”
“You think Edith could have something to do with this?”
Victoria shrugged theatrically. “If you were Rex’s wife and he rose from the dead, wouldn’t you kill him?”
Chapter 7
T he next day Nikki showed a house on The Strand in Hermosa Beach to an Arab sheik with a name she couldn’t pronounce. Then she stopped by Edith’s around noon. Security was tight at her front gate and it took two calls to the house before she was able to get in. Shondra, Edith’s maid, answered the front door in her black-and-white uniform. The homes with the maids in frilly white aprons always amused Nikki. Even Victoria wasn’t that pretentious.
But Edith had put up with so much crap with Rex that Nikki was willing to give her a bye on that issue. Besides, the woman had grown up in Echo Park. A woman who fought her way from Echo Park to the canyon neighborhood of Outpost Estates in central Hollywood, even to live in a tacky tomb, deserved a little leeway.
Still, Nikki knew for a fact that Shondra hated the uniform. A pretty girl in her early twenties with mocha skin, dark hair, and her mother’s brown eyes, she dreamed of being a model. Her mother, Edith’s housekeeper, had gotten her the job; Shondra only did it to make her rent. She and her cousin shared the position so they could both go on look-sees.
“Edith in?” Nikki asked.
“Right this way.” Halfway across the front hall, Shondra looked over her shoulder and whispered, “Mrs. March says I have to do it this way.”
Nikki smiled. “You do it perfectly.”
Shondra led her to Rex’s library and held open the door. Inside, Edith and Thompson were having lunch on a hideous coffee table fashioned from animal horns and a slab from a redwood tree. Was that even legal? A footstool made from an elephant’s foot, complete
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