Seams Like Murder Read Online Free Page A

had disconnected all the buttons she knew how to push.”
    He made another offer of a cappuccino, but I was already overdue for my next stop and still buzzed by the red eye. “You’re not sorry about us, are you?” he asked, looking intently into my eyes. “I promised you a wonderful trip and then got in a car accident. I promised you lots of fun and good times and now we’re stuck with Jaimee.”
    “She won’t be here forever,” I said, and Mason brightened.
    “And then it will be time to let the good times roll,” he said, and he gave me another warm hug.

C HAPTER 3
    I was rushing when I left Mason’s. I backtracked through Encino to Tarzana and onto a road that ran into a secluded street. The houses here were more like estates, and the lots were irregular sizes due to the ravine that ran off Corbin Canyon. It was also darker here because of all the trees. Only a few lost their leaves over the winter, so there was a lot of foliage even now.
    I pulled in front of the stone pillars that marked the entrance to CeeCee Collins’s place. A wrought-iron gate closed off the driveway, and a wall of tall, neatly trimmed bushes marked the boundary of her yard.
    The expansive property definitely suited our celebrity Hooker. CeeCee Collins was a veteran actress, known for her sitcom
The CeeCee Collins Show
as well as multiple movie and TV roles and cameos. Then her life had changed. First she’d become the host of a reality show, then she got the part of Ophelia in a movie called
Caught by a Kiss
. The moviemeant a lot to all of us because its hero, a vampire named Anthony, crocheted to control his blood lust. The book series it was based on was a bestseller at the bookstore, too.
    And then, after way too long a time of hearing about “Oscar buzz,” CeeCee had actually been nominated for best supporting actress.
    I wouldn’t say all this had gone to her head, exactly. She had always been a little self-absorbed, and yet she was the leader of the Hookers and the one in our group who was always most interested in making crocheted items for charities.
    I hit the intercom, and her unmistakable voice answered. She always sounded happy and merry, and she had a laugh I could best describe as tinkling. As soon as she heard it was me, she buzzed the gate and it swung open.
    I always thought of fairy tales when I came over to CeeCee’s place. Once you were inside the gate, it was like the outside world didn’t exist. I had to pass a small forest of trees to get to the house, which resembled a stone cottage, though a rather large one. A stepping-stone path led the way to the door, and with all those trees and the basket of biscuits I was carrying, I almost felt like Little Red Riding Hood, except I wasn’t wearing anything red and I certainly hoped there weren’t any wolves hiding behind the trees.
    CeeCee was standing in the doorway, and I saw her eye was on the basket I was carrying. “Thank you for letting me hold Sheila’s practice class here,” I said when I got to the open door.
    “Of course, dear. You know I love helping Sheila. And I understand your predicament. There’s no reason for Mrs. Shedd to know there’s any problem.” While she was talking, she lifted the checkered napkin on the basket. “Oh good, you baked something.”
    CeeCee was always concerned about being photographed by the paparazzi, and so she was always dressed for the possibility, but at the same time, she had a famous sweet tooth and was constantly battling her weight. “Oh, they’re not sweet,” she said, sounding disappointed, just for a moment. “But we can add butter and honey,” she decided cheerily.
    As we spoke, CeeCee’s two Yorkshire terriers ran out the door and began carefully sniffing every inch of my shoes and ankles. By now I had a whole cornucopia of animal scents on me, thanks to my own menagerie along with Mason’s dog Spike.
    “There’s just one thing, dear,” CeeCee said as I handed the basket of biscuits to her.