Page 47 of A Midsummer Night's Ghost

She was dressed demurely tonight for her. She had on a chambray swing dress with a ruffled neckline. No cleavage. Which didn’t stop Lawson from eyeing her chest anyway. When he wasn’t being skeptical of me and when he thought no one was looking, he was checking out Alyssa in a way that made me think maybe this relationship had legs.

“Thanks, that would be great. Tomorrow is Mary’s funeral so I think the seniors would appreciate it if we threw in something a little extra special for them. Kick their costumes up a notch.”

“One of her actresses died,” Alyssa told Lawson. “Heart attack on stage.”

“Damn. I’m sorry to hear that.”

“I guess that’s a risk when you’re working with seniors.”

Our first practice had been a mixed bag. The mood had been melancholy because of Mary, but much to my surprise Clifford had returned to his role of Pyramus, looking no worse for the wear.

“Or when you’re stabbing people with knives,” Jake said wryly. He flipped his menu over for the third time like it was going to present him with different options.

We were at a wine bar with tapas offerings and I knew him well enough to recognize he felt ripped off. He’d been expecting a steak in return for being forced to sit through this double date and instead the menu was all small plates. A stuffed date on a plate was just going to piss him off.

“I think I missed something,” Lawson said easily. “Sounds like a story someone needs to tell.”

“You tell him, Bailey,” Alyssa said.

She was sucking on the lime from her cocktail.

Lawson cleared his throat, his eyes narrowing as he watched her.

No one was going to listen to me if I told this story. That was clear to me.

But I went for it anyway, giving the whole breakdown, hand gestures and all. It sounded almost as shocking in the retelling as it did when it was actually happening.

It was also wasted breath.

“So would you just assume that was an accident with all those witnesses?” Jake asked Lawson.

“Sounds like an accident to me.” Lawson shrugged.

“That’s what I thought. Bailey isn’t so convinced.”

“There’s been a lot of death at the senior center,” I protested. “It’s alarming.”

“It’s a senior center. They’re elderly,” Alyssa pointed out.

“Okay, so three against one. No one thinks it’s odd. I get it. But I’m entitled to my opinion.” I picked up my wine and took a sip that was too big for a lightweight like me.

Jake’s eyebrows lifted, but he didn’t say anything.

My phone was sitting on the table next to my plate. I had put it there because I’d brought a small cute purse that was no match for a phone, lip gloss, wallet, sunglasses, and car keys. The keys were Jake’s but whenever we went out together he asked me to put them in my purse. Tonight that meant there was no room for my phone so it was on the table and it was lighting up with notifications from Sara Murphy.

I ignored them until it went off for the fifth time.

“Who’s texting you?” Alyssa asked.

“Sara.”

“Your new best friend.”

That made me roll my eyes. “She’s probably asking about the funeral for Mary.”

But there was also clearly a photo attached.

Curious, I opened it.

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