Blackbird 10 - A Little Night Murder Read Online Free Page B

favor.”
    She glared at me a little, then finally smirked. “Well, sometimes a girl has to make her own opportunities.” She lifted the latch on the pool gate and let herself out. “I once had a boyfriend, a big-shot psychiatrist in Hollywood who had kind of a mommy problem, if you ask me, so we worked on that, him and me. Good times. Anyways, he always talked about seizing the day. So I’m gonna do a little seizing.”
    “Wait! You can’t just walk over there and expect an audition.”
    “Can’t I?”
    “Surely it’s unprofessional—”
    Bridget stepped through the gate and headed across the lawn. Over her shoulder, she said, “Tell Mick I’ll be back in half an hour, babycakes.”

CHAPTER TWO
    I ran to find my sandals, determined to chase Bridget across the lawn. But I had to sit down to put them on, and with my ungainly belly it was almost an impossible task. By the time I managed to wrestle one on, Bridget was out of sight.
    Michael came across the pool’s flagstones, pocketing his phone and looking annoyed.
    “Everything okay?” I asked, panting with the struggle to reach my feet.
    “It’s complicated,” he replied, still distracted by his call.
    I decided I didn’t have to be sympathetic. I gave up on my sandal and threw it at him. “You had to leave me alone with your mother?”
    He caught the sandal one-handed and looked genuinely apologetic. “Sorry. I have a couple of pots on the back burners, and one of them just boiled over. Where’d she go?”
    Lexie appeared, carrying a tray with bottles and glassware. “I don’t have any limes! I hope lemon will do. Oh, dear— What happened to—? Where did she—? Was it something I said?”
    “Nothing anybody says ever bugs Bridget.” Michael went down on one knee to help me with my sandal. “She’s indestructible.”
    Lexie set the tray on the table. “She’s not exactly what I expected.”
    I stuck out my foot to make Michael’s job easier. “I’m not sure what I expected, either, but she certainly isn’t it. Will she tell anyone about Lexie?”
    “She doesn’t read the news, so she probably doesn’t know who Lexie is.” He slipped my sandal onto my foot and looked around. “Where did she go?”
    I said, “I think she went to audition.”
    “For the play?” Lexie cried.
    “I knew it!” Michael got up and was suddenly pacing around me. “I should have figured out she had another motive for coming here today. Is this going to upset the neighbors?”
    “They’re a bunch of crackpots themselves,” Lexie said. “They probably won’t notice the arrival of one more. It’s like a screwball comedy over there—music and dancing and cocktails at all hours. If Fred Astaire were alive, he’d be swanning down the staircase in a tuxedo.”
    “Well, there’s no stopping Bridget when she gets an idea in her head,” Michael said grimly. “I better go after her before she accidentally tells the whole world where Lexie is. You should have seen her the time we waited at a stage door to get the
Phantom
guy to autograph her blouse. She practically mugged him.”
    “You saw
Phantom of the Opera
?” I said, thinking there were still things I didn’t know about the man I was about to marry.
    “Half of it. When I was a kid, she dragged me to shows all the time. Mostly, I fell asleep, except when the girls in little outfits came out.
Phantom
was the show when she finally let me start waiting in the lobby. I learned to play poker from the guy who sold tickets.”
    “How old were you?” I struggled to stand up.
    He helped me to my feet. “Seven or eight. He cleaned me out of my allowance. Bridget got it back for me, but I don’t want to know how she did that.”
    With a wicked grin for me, Lexie said, “You can find out when you have holiday dinners together, Nora.”
    The thought of sharing holidays with Bridget O’Halloran set off a siren in my head. That’s when we heard a bloodcurdling scream from across the lawn.
    “Oh,