Frosted Shadow, a Toni Diamond Mystery: Toni Diamond Mysteries Read Online Free Page B

diplomacy or keeping her thoughts to herself used to say that it was God’s punishment to Toni for being so nosy.
    Of course, Toni grew into her nose as she grew older and she’d learned how to play up her good features, her eyes and mouth, so she’d didn’t worry about it much any more, but back in the early days when they’d been friends, she’d foolishly confided in Nicole about her Achilles nose.
    There were a lot of rejoinders Toni could make, most of which included the term undead, but she tried to model good behavior, especially in front of sales associates, so she let the jibe pass, merely saying, “the colors this season are fantastic.”
    She turned to Melody Feckler. “Can you believe that line up? I hope you checked in early.”
    “The great thing is we’ve been here a couple days already. Nicole wanted us to have some team bonding time. How about you?”
    “I checked in yesterday morning. I always come early to get myself organized and avoid this,” she gestured to the barely moving crowd. “It will be midnight before everybody gets their room. Are you and Stacy rooming together this year?”
    Most attendees bunked in with one to three roommates to share costs. Nicole never shared a room at conference. Toni didn’t either now she could afford to have her privacy, but most of the sales reps shared.
    Melody shook her head looking awfully pleased with herself. “My husband works for this hotel chain back home in Oklahoma City. He’s on the front desk.” She leaned closer and whispered, “I’m not supposed to spread it around, but he was able to get me a room here for next to nothing. It means I don’t have to have a roommate.” She leaned even closer. “He might even come visit me. With both of us working so hard we almost never get any time away at a hotel.”
    “That’s great,” she said warmly. “Of course I’ll keep it to myself.”
    “Looks like we’re in fierce competition again for the top sales division prize,” Nicole reminded her, as though she could possibly have forgotten.
    “That’s right. It’s so exciting that the final orders don’t close until the end of the month. Right in the middle of conference. Should be a nail-biter.”
    Or, in Nicole’s case, a backstabber.

Chapter Four
     
    Look your best--who said love is blind? — Mae West
     
     
    Naturally, the talk at lunch was all about the murder. The poor luncheon speaker was going to have to give the equivalent of the Gettysburg Address to get any attention.
    Toni and her top sales people had met in advance so they could sit together and as the doors opened and the women filed in for lunch, they reached a table that still had plenty of seats at the same moment that Melody Feckler cried, “Here’s three together.”
    Nicole and Toni gave each other another fake smile and made the most of sharing the table. If you didn’t grab groups of seats when you saw them, another team would scoop them from under you. Rather like musical chairs without the music.
    Toni ended up sitting beside Stacy Krump who flanked Nicole’s right while Melody sat to her left. Beside Toni was Ruth Collier, a retired school teacher who ran her skin care classes as though there’d be a test at the end, but had a true gift for sales, and Suzanne Mireille, a half-Cuban half-French-Canadian woman whose café con leche- colored skin was a glowing billboard for Lady Bianca’s Luminescence line. She’d come to Dallas with her pilot husband and was busy raising three boys and a girl while selling makeup on a part time basis. Her native tongue was French but she was equally comfortable in English or Spanish, a definite asset.
    Four other women completed the table. Donna Ray Atkins, whose family owned a pig farm in Kansas and three others from her region.
    As the scant details of the morning’s death were being chewed over as thoroughly as the salads Toni had seen in the kitchen, Melody Feckler leaned forward and said, “I heard that there was