Page 98 of Lyrical

“How about if you and I have a drink at the bar? We can talk.”

“I told you I’m not drinking anymore.”

“Then have water. The main part is the talking, not the drinking. I really care about your son, Jillian, and I know how much he cares about you. He tells me all the time how much you’ve done for him. It’d mean a lot if we could at least be amicable.”

My heart softened. Daniel said those things about me? And the fact that she wasn’t acting like a piece of Bubble Yum hadn’t escaped me.Keep your enemies closer, I heard Perry saying in my head.

“I need to check on Perry first and see how she’s doing. Either she’ll be fine to venture out, or I might end up just deciding to stay with her.”

“How about this? I’ll come with you—and wait in the hall, I don’t want to intrude—and you can talk to Perry, find out what’s going on. That way I can just go right to my room afterwards if I need to.”

“Yeah, okay. That’s fine. But first tell me one thing. Do you own a cat?”

She looked at me strangely. “Yes.”

“Male or female?”

“Male.”

“Name?”

“Jake.”

“Breed?”

“Domestic short hair.”

“Age?”

“Five.”

Damn. I’d run out of cat questions unless I wanted to start getting into his medical history. If she would’ve hesitated for even a second on any one of them, I would’ve called the whole thing off.

We waited out the rest of the show while I kept eyeing up those shots. Someone had downed one, but there were still two left. No. It was more important than ever to keep my wits about me.

After chatting with the girls a bit, Cassie and I took the elevator up to the third floor where our block of rooms were.

“Too bad none of us won,” she said. “I was hoping that it’d be someone from our table.”

I nodded. Yes, me too. The killer turned out to be a Plain Jane who’d blended in with the woodwork. I’d barely noticed her. Her motive: The victim returned her favorite romance novel with a few of the best pages ripped out, and it made her go postal. I was sure it was based on an actual case; those romance readers could be brutal when it came to protecting their books.

“I’ll be right back,” I told Cassie when we got to the door. “I’m not sure which room she’s in, but I shouldn’t be too long.”

“No problem. Take your time.”

Perry and I had adjoining rooms. I checked hers first, found it empty, then crossed over to mine. She was sprawled out on my bed sound asleep. “Perry,” I whispered just to double-check. She responded with a snore. I covered her gently with a blanket, pausing for a minute. I touched her face, finding it cool. She didn’t have a fever.

I crept back out through her side, clicking the door shut behind me. “I don’t think she’s going anywhere soon. She’s out cold.” How shitty that she didn’t feel well. This was her one and only bachelorette party.

“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that.”

“So, we’ll go down for a little while, but I don’t want to stay out late. I’d rather get back in case she wakes up and needs something.”

“Definitely. I won’t keep you long.”

I also wondered what Sam was going to do. It wasn’t her thing to let loose and whoop it up like some of the other girls were already planning.

The elevator doors opened to Diane waiting to get on. “Hey,” she said with a smile, running her hands over her belly. “I made it through the entire show. Whew, but now I’m exhausted. I’m so glad my husband and I got a room for the night.”

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