Deadly Décor (A Caprice De Luca Mystery) Read online

  The blinds in the nook were closed. Louise looked toward them and nodded. “Thank you for telling us.”

  “I think we’re ready,” Caprice announced. “The house is staged exactly the way we want it except for the plants, and Garden Glory will deliver them the day before the open house. The menu sounds perfect. By next weekend, we’ll be ready.”

  A few minutes later after Rachel procured their coats and they hugged and said their goodbyes, Caprice led Lady to her van.

  She happened a glance at the frosting of snow on the driveway. She caught the glare of headlights as a truck sped away from the driveway’s entrance. A visitor who decided not to come in? A wrong turn on a snowy night?

  Caprice gave herself a mental shake. She was just paranoid because she’d been followed before. She’d been followed and almost killed.

  Nothing was going to happen tonight.

  She followed Nikki’s car out of the driveway onto Middlebrook Drive. Her sister’s car had just turned off onto a side street when the snow swirled in almost blizzard proportions with a howl of wind. Recently snow squalls seemed to become more prevalent in the Pennsylvania winter weather patterns. She was glad she’d put Lady in her crate.

  She was carefully slowing for a stop sign when her cell phone played the Beatles’ “Good Day Sunshine” from her cup holder. She thought about not taking the call, but then her curiosity, as usual, got the best of her.

  Checking the caller ID, she saw that it was Grant Weatherford, her brother’s law partner. She listened to a few more notes of the music and took a deep breath. Lately Grant’s voice made her feel both excited and nervous. They’d been getting along better since he’d adopted Patches, Lady’s brother, but there was still so much tension between them.

  She swiped her finger across the face of her phone and picked it up. “Hey, Grant, what’s up?”

  “I think we have a problem,” he warned her.

  She started off again across the intersection, wishing she had taillights in front of her to follow. “And what might that be?” she asked.

  “I think your brother is in love with Roz Winslow. What are we going to do about it?”

  The question so startled her and broke her concentration that she hit a patch of ice and slid sideways into a snowbank by the side of the road.

  KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by

  Kensington Publishing Corp.

  119 West 40th Street

  New York, NY 10018

  Copyright © 2014 by Karen Rose Smith

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

  If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the Publisher and neither the Author nor the Publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”

  Kensington and the K logo Reg. U.S. Pat & TM Off.

  ISBN: 978-0-7582-8486-0

  First Kensington Mass Market Edition: June 2014

  eISBN-13: 978-0-7582-8487-7

  eISBN-10: 0-7582-8487-X

  First Kensington Electronic Edition: June 2014