Page 57 of The Game Is Afoot

Proud Mom of Austin, Harlow, and Olive

Sixteen

“So is this like Herbalife?”Jasmine asks as we walk down the sidewalk, searching for the address on Bethany’s evite for her self-care party. We’re on the west side of Beachwood, closer to the ocean, where the home prices are so high they’ll make your jaw drop—or at least mine did when I scoped them out on Zillow before we left. Because it’s by the beach, though, we had to circle the neighborhood five hundred times looking for parking, and even then we’re blocks away.

“Yeah, but Herbalife meets…Gwyneth?” I roll my eyes. “This lady teaches people how to take care of themselves. As if that’s some special skill. As if meditating and exercising and sleeping enough hours at night is going to fix all your problems. And who even has the time to do all of that anyway? It’s bullshit.”

Jasmine stops, looks me up and down, and then keeps walking. “Hmmm.”

“Whyhmmm? What’shmmm?”

“Just…hmmm.” She shrugs and smirks. “Sounds like maybe you’re a little jealous of ole girl. Because, I don’t know, she so easily takes what you feel too guilty to give yourself.”

I brought Jasmine along with me on this mission because Jack’s been so weird about all of this. Even though he was my partner in (investigating) crime last fall, it feels like every conversation about this current investigation could trigger some deep talk about my feelings and my trauma and how I’m using this to deflect all that—and that kind of defeats the purpose of the whole deflecting thing.Not that I’m deflecting.

I assumed Jasmine would keep it easy and light, butclearlyI misjudged that.

“Um, excuse me, ma’am,” I say, dodging some roses peeking out from behind a white picket fence. “For your information, I’ve been doing agreatjob of taking care of myself lately! And why are you talking to me like a therapist? Oh my god—doyougo to therapy, too?”

Am I the only one left?

She smiles and loops her arm through mine. “No.”

“Whew, okay! Because I feel like everyone—”

“Iwasbingeing that French lady therapist podcast this week, though, and”—she shrugs again—“I don’t know, sounds like it could be right.”

She giggles and I bump her with my hip. “There’s no deeper meaning here. I’m just going to this thing to look for evidence and see if she’s involved in what happened with Cole.”

“How likely do you think it is…that she hurt him?” Jasmine asks, her face suddenly serious.

“She’s my number one suspect. I mean, there’s the facilities guy at the park, Dom. And I even considered Hank Michaelson, too.” Jasmine’s dark brown eyes widen at that. “But I don’t think it’s either of them.”

The only real clue I had to go on with Hank is the strangeness of him saying he helped with snacks that morning, which I don’t remember. But after hearing him bring it upagaintoFlorence through the baby monitor over a week later, well, I’m thinking that probably was the one time he did help. And now he wants a Dad of the Year trophy for it, or at least a commemorative medal.

“Bethany, though—things just keep adding up with her,” I continue, lowering my voice as we get closer to the corner where the house is supposed to be. “Do you remember how she disappeared that morning? Right before he fell?” Jasmine nods, though it looks like she’s just humoring me. “Well, they were friends. Business partners. So how does that make sense? And it’s possible she would actually benefit financially from his death, because they were creating these supplements together, and now he’s not here to get his share.Andremember what Ruth told me about her? Well, I confirmed it. Shedoessay her program cured her cancer. She’s using that to scam even more women into giving her money.”

Jasmine’s silent, and her brow is furrowed in…something. I’m not sure. I can’t read her.

“Is this—are you…you’re not mad at me, right? I mean, you and Leon knew I was trying to figure this out.”

“Yeah, we know.”

“Does Leon not want me to, then? Because I know this is his friend, and I don’t want to be insensitive to that. I could—Iwill…stop.”

She cocks her head to the side, narrowing her eyes, and this time the message is much more clear.Girl, neither of us believes that.

“I’m just trying to get this straight.” Her face is still wrinkled, stern, but I see the flicker of a grin pulling on her lips. “We’re using this rare moment away from our precious children to go to this self-care party—notso you can actuallycarefor yourself.But so you can prove that the self-care lady is a scammer and maybe a murderer?”

“I did make that clear when I invited you. And investigating…it helps me relax.” She arches an eyebrow in response, and I smile guiltily and let out a long sigh. “I know I’m a mess.” The Shrek murder board incident maybe made that just a teensy bit clear.

“I didn’t say that.”

“Well, you didn’t have to, because I know it. I am aware!” I laugh, but it comes out sounding more like a sob, which just highlights further what a mess I am. Probably sensing that I’m right on the edge of making this even more like an episode of her French lady therapist podcast, Jasmine leans into me, murmuring into my hair, “Oh, come here, girl.”

We stop on the grass of someone’s beautiful, expensive lawn because keeping it cuteandwalking is a lot to ask of my body all at once. “I—I feel like I’ve been a mess for a long time. Like, I’ve learned the lessons and I’m still here, with a cloud of flies and dust around me like that…stinkyPeanutscharacter. Do you know what I mean? And god, I’m sorry, I’ve been dumping my feelings on everyone lately. It’s probably so annoying.”

“Well, first of all, I love you, so dump away.” She holds out her hands like,Gimme. “And second of all, you talking about Pigpen?”