The Sweet Taste of Murder: An Angel Lake Mystery Read Online Free

bit her lip. “Did you know?” Her hand trembled, and she gripped the phone tighter.
    “Yes. I knew.”
    “About the note? Or that he said he was your dad?”
    “I knew he was my father.”
    The air in the car seemed stifling, and Elise jammed the key in the ignition to roll down the window. The dinging bell filled the silence as she tried to digest her friend’s words. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
    Another sigh, this one louder. “I only just found out myself a few months ago. Mama had never mentioned a peep about him to me. Honestly, Elise, I hardly knew what to think of it. And with everything going on between you and Mark, well, I didn’t want to add to your burden.”
    “You could never add to it! I’m here for you! Blood sisters?”
    Lavina softly chuckled. “I remember that. Sixth grade wasn’t it? Two peas in a pod.”
    “Yeah, and I was too chicken to cut my finger. You had to do it for me.” A ghost of a smile appeared at the memory. “You should know I’m always here for you. Especially for something like this.”
    “Truly, I just was trying to ignore it. Pretend I didn’t know, and it would all go away. I didn’t want a relationship with him anyway. Too little too late. I don’t think I could ever forgive him for abandoning my mama.”
    “Oh, honey. I’m so sorry.”
    “It’s just all so weird.”
    “How did you find out?”
    “Oddly, it was his housekeeper who first let it slip.”
    “Are you serious? How did something like that just slip out?”
    “She came into Sweet Sandwiches one day to pick up an order. I remember her staring at me with huge eyes and talking a mile a minute in Spanish.”
    “Since when do you speak Spanish?”
    “I don’t, but the guy who stocks my deli meat does. He was behind the counter refilling the fridge. He asked her a few questions, and the housekeeper chatted back to him even more urgently, still staring at me like she’d seen a ghost. It unnerved me, to be quite honest. I certainly didn’t know how to respond, so I just gave her the sandwich order and said thank you.” Lavina mumbled now, and Elise could hear crunching.
    “Are you eating? How can you eat at a time like this?”
    “It’s macaroons. You know how I am about macaroons.”
    “That’s called stress eating.”
    “Oh.” There was a pause. “That explains the tub of ice-cream.”
    “For crying out loud, finish your story! I can’t believe you didn’t tell me any of this earlier.”
    “So the housekeeper left, and Dan turned to go too. I practically had to threaten to whack him with the cheddar wheel to get him to talk. He was reluctant, but he finally told me.” More crunching.
    “You’re driving me crazy.”
    “Sorry, sorry. He said the housekeeper kept repeating that I looked just like him. Like Cameron. And I was the reason their household was in an uproar. His wife threatened to divorce him because Cameron was ready to publicly claim me. Not that I would have let him. I would have denied every single word that came out of that man’s mouth.”
    Elise closed her eyes again, trying to mentally compare the appearances of Cameron and Lavina. “I don’t get how you look just like him. You have red hair for one.”
    “Oh, honey… you do know it comes out of a box, right?”
    “You’re telling me you don’t have natural red hair?”
    “Normally, sandy blonde.”
    Elise raised her eyebrows. “Lavina Sue Marie, I don’t believe you. You were red-headed as a child!”
    A soft laugh came over the phone. “Strawberry-blonde. That was grandma’s doing. Grandma always used to say I had the mousiest hair. ‘But we can fix that, darlin'. Every woman needs to have a sparkle.’ From as early as I can remember every Sunday night she rinsed my hair with vinegar and then sat me in front of cartoons covered with a mound of tomato sauce and a plastic bag.”
    “You’re kidding me.”
    “No. I’m sorry, hun.”
    “I feel like my whole childhood was a lie.”
    “Well,”