Beauty Expos Are Murder

Book 6: Poppy McAllister Mystery

by Libby Klein

Genres: Amateur Sleuth; Cozy Mystery; Female Sleuths

Synopsis

Gluten-free baker Poppy McAllister is about to see the ugly side of beauty expos . . .



Easter weekend on the Jersey Shore is hopping. Poppy's Bed and Breakfast is busier than ever, but she needs to leave things in the hopefully capable hands of Aunt Ginny—and paws of Figaro the black smoke Persian. She's selling her paleo muffins and keto cookies at the Health and Beauty Expo in Cape May's Convention Hall. Normally sharing a booth with the love of her life would be a treat, but she's recently discovered secrets that throw her new romance into chaos.



But more secrets are about to be exposed at the expo. In his keynote address, prominent cosmetic surgeon Dr. Lance Rubin reveals his breakthrough anti-aging technology. Unfortunately, someone has one-upped him with a truly foolproof anti-aging formula: murder. With the plastic surgeon dead under his own UV mask, and bedlam reigning in the hall and back at the B&B, Poppy needs to follow a twisted trail marked by glowing footprints to unmask a killer . . .

Release date: June 29, 2021

Publisher: Kensington Books

Print pages: 368

Sample

I don’t care how good-looking a man is, somewhere there’s a woman who’s fed up with him.

“Bella, it’s not what you think.”

I dug my fingernails into the palm of my hand. I bet Adam said the same thing to Eve in the Garden. “It never is.”

Was this a joke? Did Aunt Ginny and the biddies put him up to this? The pained look on his face said this was really happening. I had to fight my every instinct to run home and cry. I could still feel his lips on mine. His heart beating against my chest. I had just declared my love to Gia only to have him blow my world apart by being married. I scanned through my memory for any mention of Alexandra. I thought she was dead. Didn’t he tell me she was dead? I distantly remember asking him if he was married. And where is his ring! If there is no ring, this isn’t my fault.

I took a steadying breath and pulled out of Gia’s arms to look at the statuesque honey blonde, my cheeks turning to lava. All these months working side by side, he’d been stealing little pieces of my heart. We’d talked for hours, revealing the most intimate details of our lives, how does I have a wife never come up?

A ripple of worry crossed Gia’s face and he searched my eyes. He reached to stroke my cheek and I jerked away, giving Alexandra a look of triumph. The bell to the front door chimed. No one moved. A moment later Gia’s sister, Karla, came into the kitchen, spun an about face, and made an immediate retreat.

Alexandra took a step toward Gia and put her hand on his arm. “Giampaolo, darling, who is this that I’ve caught you kissing?”

Tell me this isn’t happening. I felt like I was moving under water. My heart was sinking like a shipwreck. If you put your ear against mine, you’d hear a tsunami.

Gia’s eyes flashed hot disgust as he removed Alexandra’s hand from his arm. “You lost the right to touch me a long time ago.” He reached for me again and I arched away. “Bella, please. Let me explain.”

I was almost gone. I had my hand on the door, ready to pull the trigger, when I felt a tiny pat on my hip.

Henry scrunched his face up and his glasses moved a fraction before sliding back down his nose. “Poppy, where are you going?”

I swallowed hard. I recognized that scared puppy look. So small and confused. I forced a smile and kneeled to face him. “Nowhere, buddy. Everything’s fine.” I tapped Henry on the nose. “Do you know how special you are to me?”

A grin split his face and he nodded.

Alexandra reached for him. “Henry, come back to Mommy now, darling.”

Henry cut wary eyes toward her and he buried himself into my side.

Gia spoke through clenched teeth. “He has never seen you before today. Don’t you think you are being ridiculous?” He squatted down to face me; his blue eyes were the gray of a coming storm. “Bella, nothing is as it seems.”

Alexandra took two quick steps toward Gia and Henry, but before the words, “Darling please,” had fully crossed her lips, Gia gave her a look so fierce and cold that it took my breath away. I didn’t understand the string of Italian he spat at her, but I knew I never wanted him to look at me that way. Alexandra crossed her arms over her chest and looked away.

Gia took my hand. “Let’s take Henry to Momma’s and I will explain everything. Please?” His eyes pleaded with mine.

For months I’d kept my heart locked away to protect it from being hurt, and the very minute I took a leap of faith, I turned into Wile E. Coyote and plummeted. I’d always let my circumstances control me. I’d laid down under fear, shame, disappointment. I didn’t know how this would end. Maybe it was a misunderstanding, or maybe I’d just repeated the biggest mistake of my life. But this time no one was going to choose my fate but me. One of these people was my enemy and I needed to find out which one. I glanced at Alexandra and told Gia, “You go. I’ll wait here until you get back.”

Gia looked uncomfortably from me to the strange blonde in the room. I could see a battle raging in his eyes. He spoke softly to Henry as he led him from the shop. “Come, Piccolo. Nonna has chocolate milk and bom-boloni.”

I sized up Alexandra while she made an equally visible inspection of me. As soon as the bell in the front announced that Gia had exited the shop, she grinned like a cat with a cornered mouse. Then her eyes melted into soft pools that made her look like a Disney fairy. Her hair was the color of spun gold and she was willowy and pale and beautiful like a porcelain statue. She was the exact opposite of Gia, who was dark and broad and strong. Henry clearly got his coloring and features from his . . . mother. It was like finding the last few pieces to a puzzle you’d been working on, and now that it was finished you couldn’t believe how much you had missed before. She reached for my hand, and a single tear rolled down her perfect peach cheek. She even cries pretty.

“Please don’t think I am horrible. I don’t know what you’ve been told about me.”

You’d be surprised at how little I know.

“I can tell that you are very special to my son. Thank you for being here for him when I couldn’t be.” She sighed. “It’s good to be home. I’ve missed everyone terribly.” She brushed the tear away and her face brightened. “Oh, I am so ashamed. I don’t even know your name. Did I hear Henry call you Poppy? Like grandpa?”

Her words dripped with honey but had a sting. Something about her made me unreasonably angry. I took a moment to swallow my terror. “Like the poisonous flower.”

She smiled and nodded. “How pretty. And please, call me Alex. All my friends do.” She took a step back and leaned against the granite counter, its flecks of silver winking under the pendant lights.

A memory flashed before my eyes of Gia holding me against that same spot, speaking careless whispers that he loved me. I swatted the memory away. “So, how is it we’ve never met before?”

Alexandra looked around the cobalt-blue kitchen. She traced the lines on the teal peacock of the KitchenAid stand mixer that Gia had given me when I first started working at La Dolce Vita. She sighed. “I’ve been away. I guess you know that I wasn’t well after Henry was born. Gia and I were so excited to welcome our little one into the family, but then I became very ill. Gia said he would give me time to rest and get better, but he took Henry and disappeared.”

“You’re saying Gia kidnapped Henry?”

She twisted her hands together and hung her head.

What is that? Is that a yes or a no?

“Those were painful days. I didn’t have any friends in Philly. No one I could talk to. I wanted to die, and I almost did without my little boy.” She turned her face to be sure I saw the tear on her lashes before she wiped it away. Her smile was soft but reflected a hard shell beneath the surface. “I’m back now, and no matter what Gia tells you, I’m here to stay. I’m Henry’s mother and no one can take that away from me. You understand, don’t you? What am I saying, of course you do. You probably have children of your own. You are not exactly young.”

Her words were like a kidney punch. Her eyes drilling into mine as she was waiting for me to give information that I refused to give. I held my poker face and waited.

She started to fidget with the tie dangling from an apron on a hook. “I’m sure my husband has been up to all kinds of games while I’ve been away. He is Italian, after all. But I finally have a chance to get my family back and I’m going to fight for them. Gia is very angry with me, but soon he’ll remember that he used to call me his treasure.”

The front bell chimed again, and Alexandra swayed toward me and grabbed me by the shoulders. “Listen to me. I know you don’t want to be a home-wrecker. You’ve just been enticed by the Italian charm. But you need to walk away for your own good. Trust me, Gia isn’t who you think he is.”

Gia marched into the kitchen, his mouth set in a grim line. In one fluid motion he put his hand on my back, broke Alexandra’s contact, and led me out the back door with a slam.

We walked the block and a half to the beach in silence, the stress enveloping us like smoke at a medical marijuana clinic. I followed Gia up the ramp to the boardwalk and we found an empty bench overlooking the dunes. The sound of crashing waves drove my blood pressure down. How did I ever live in Virginia without this? Oh yeah . . . Pop-Tarts.

Gia draped his arm across the back of the bench and looked toward the ocean. “It must be high tide. The waves are close.” His dark hair fluttered lightly in the breeze.

I expect the Valentine’s Day massacre also began as a nice day. I rubbed my arms against the chill. I did not anticipate this turn of events when I ran out of the house to tell this man that I loved him or I would have grabbed a jacket. And maybe a Valium. I never expected a wife to appear after weeks of promises and innuendo. I should have known he was too good-looking to be single.

Gia sighed. “I didn’t want you to find out this way.”

Anger shot up to the roots of my red hair and a couple new freckles popped out on my face. “Yeah. I bet not! But then, what is a good way to say, ‘I’m married’?”

He turned to me, the picture of calm with just a hint of sadness. “I haven’t been married since Henry was born and Alex took off with another man.”

Oof. That was a punch in the heart. “She said you took Henry away from her and disappeared.”

Gia’s eyes narrowed. He breathed out a bitter little chuckle as he turned back toward the ocean. “Alex says a lot of things. Usually whatever she thinks will get her sympathy for the moment. I did not take Henry and disappear. After Alex left us, I moved to Cape May to be with my family, and she knew that. Momma’s restaurant has been in the same spot for fifteen years.”

My cheeks flamed and my eyes stung. “Why don’t you fill me in on your side of the story?”

“Momma and Alex’s father are from the same neighborhood. Vincenzo Scarduzio is a very powerful man. He helped Momma get us to America after our father died. One by one we got citizenship. So, when Signor Scarduzio said he wants his daughter to come to America, he asked our family to help. He does not want her to go to her cousins in Philly. Alex was different then. She lived with us. Momma gave her a job in the restaurant at night and she went to college during the day. One day Signor Scarduzio said he wants me to show Alex around. She was young and beautiful. She made me feel very smart and very strong. I fell in love with her and we got married. She wanted to move near her cousins, so we went. That was the beginning of Hell.”

I was starting to feel like yesterday’s pork roll left out in the sun after the beautiful, young Alex soliloquy when a couple of female Coast Guard cadets jogged past, giving Gia a long once-over. I sucked my stomach in and wrapped my arms tighter around me. I’d already felt enough jealousy for one day.

Gia shifted to face me. “I soon found out there was another Alex. Once she had a green card, the sweetness fell away and the real Alexandra came out. She would disappear for days and not tell me where she went. She emptied our bank account many times and I had to borrow money from Momma to pay the bills. I caught her cheating and she laughed in my face.” He shook his head and watched a seagull dragging a curly fry down the boardwalk.

“Why didn’t you leave her?”

“I was not the best husband. I work too much. I drink with my brothers too often. But I never cheat on her. I try to make it work. After two years I tell Alex I’m leaving, but she tells me she is pregnant. . . .”

I could see where this was going. I would have to be compassionate because he stayed with her for Henry and I did not appreciate it at all.

“Bella, Momma is very religious. She does not approve of divorce. She says I will dishonor God and the family if I leave Alex. Then things will not go well for us with Vincenzo Scarduzio. And we did not want to cross Vincenzo Scarduzio. But all I cared about was I had baby coming. So, I stay.”

I listened to Gia closely and almost smiled through the pain. The more upset he gets, the stronger his accent becomes.

“I try to work on the marriage. I suggest counseling. Alex agreed, but two weeks after Henry is born, Alex is gone. She left a note that she felt suffocated and does not want to be tied down. If it were not for Momma and my sisters, I do not know what would have happened to us. I do not know how to take care of a baby. So, I move back to my family in Cape May. I swear off women. I am done with love. And then you come along.” He ran his hand down my arm. “With your red hair and giant blue eyes, and that horrible pink feather dress. You wear your heart on the outside. I was caught. When you left my shop, I called Zio Alfio and told him to find Alex, whatever it takes, and make her agree to the divorce. I was ready to move on. It has taken him months, at last he found her.”

“But why didn’t you tell me? I thought she was dead.”

Gia looked surprised. “Why did you think she was dead?”

“I asked you if you were married and you said no.”

“I said she was gone. I didn’t say she was dead.”

“All this time I thought you were a widower. You sure flirt like a single man.”

A crinkle of amusement crossed Gia’s face. “I do not know what that means, but every moment with you was real. I love you. I’ve loved you from the very beginning. I should have told you I was trying to find Alex to get divorced, but I did not want to scare you away. I keep finding ways to be with you, but Tim is always close behind. If you were happy with Tim, I would walk away, but I see your heart in your eyes when you look at me, and I know Tim is not the one.” Gia tentatively offered me his hand, waiting to see if I would take it.

I shook my head. “I’m still angry. And hurt. And honestly, I don’t know who to believe.”

Gia closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “After all this time . . . you still do not know me?”

“I thought I did, and then your wife introduced herself. And what about Henry? I love him like he was my own. Where does he think his mother has been this whole time? What’s best for him? Maybe he needs this relationship with his mother more than he needs me in his life.”

Gia shook his head. “There are so many reasons why I know that is not true. Alex could have come home anytime if she wanted a relationship with Henry. She has only come because Zio Alfio gave her divorce papers.”

“Did she sign them?”

Gia rubbed his cheek and his hand bristled against the stubble. He looked weary. “No.”

“Then why is she here?”

He sighed. “She says she wants another chance. She is ready to be a family.”

I felt hollow. Like someone had scooped me out and left my empty shell on this bench. No sadness. No anger. Just shutting down.

Gia put his hand on my back. “Bella, I am telling you. It is a lie. I do not know what she is up to yet, but I will find out. I promise you, she will not get between us.”

She’s already between us. “What if she’s really changed?”

Gia took my hand and brought it up to his lips. “There is no room in my heart for two. I was alone for so long. You are my only love, and nothing will change that. I waited for you; I will not let you go. No matter how long it takes for you to trust me again.”

He kissed my fingers. “Please, mi amore.”

I gave Gia some side eye.

“Do not listen to anything Alex tells you. She spins lies like a web. She cannot be trusted.”

I promised Gia I would think about what he’d said. I couldn’t bear the awkward walk back to the coffee shop to get my car and I wasn’t ready to face Aunt Ginny and the biddies. Not after that big pep talk they’d all given me just a couple of hours ago. This is the lamest love affair ever.

I didn’t want to face my friends either. Why was I humiliated and ashamed? It’s not like I had a secret wife I’d neglected to mention. Even if she’d run off and disappeared for four and a half years, I would still have had the courtesy to mention it. Oh, by the way, still married. Thought you should know in case she ever pops ’round for a hello.

Maybe I was being too hard on Gia. He’d been looking for Alex to get a divorce for months. I’d been stringing along two men because I couldn’t get up the courage to tell one of them I didn’t think it would work between us. I walked a block down the boardwalk to Convention Hall. A workman was out front hanging a poster advertising the Spring into Beauty Expo coming in April.

He looked over his shoulder and caught me reading the description. “Ey, make sure yooze get your ticket a-sap. This one’s gonna be uuge.”

“What’s so special about it?”

“They got a famous doctor coming in to do the BOTOX and day-boo some fancy new contraption that’s being hailed as the beauty breakthrough of the century. The hens inside are all a twitter about it. He was on Good Morning America.”

“And he’s coming here Easter weekend instead of the middle of the summer? You’d think he’d go to New York or Atlantic City to draw a bigger crowd.”

He closed the glass door on the display case. “Alls I know is, the county is over the moon that they got a big name like Dr. Lance Rubin to do a show at Convention Hall. Plus, they get to show the new building off. They’re making a whole shebang outta the deal. Gonna set up booths selling juices and vitamins and stuff.” He locked the glass cabinet and gave me a raised hand in farewell and went back in through the double doors.

I bet Karla would love this . . . Karla . . . pssh. I faced into the wind and started my march of grievances. Gia’s gorgeous sister. She knew about Alex the whole time and kept snickering behind my back like it was some hilarious joke. What kind of woman does that to another? What about girl code? Don’t they have that in Italy? I don’t care how long you’ve been in America, you need to learn proper relationship etiquette. At the very least her mother should have taught it to her. What am I thinking? Her mother probably dated Mussolini.

I jolted to a stop in front of the five-story, red-and-white Sea Mist Resort, the tallest of the painted ladies on the strip. Momma . . . pssh. Gia’s very religious Italian mother who doesn’t believe in divorce. No wonder she hates me. She thinks I’m here to lead her little prince into a life of adultery and depravity. How ’bout a heads-up, Momma! What’s Italian for “adultery”? To be fair, she might have told me. I only understand a small fraction of what she says. I can tell that it’s mean, then I tune her out.

My shame and humiliation were being whipped back into anger. I could just strangle Gia for putting me through this. How could I ever trust him again? If Alex is telling the truth, I’m the world’s biggest idiot. I steamed down the boardwalk like the Flying Scotsman, alternating between wanting to console Gia and wanting to choke him out.

I marched on, and when I finally looked up from my furious ramble, I was standing in front of the site that used to belong to the Christian Admiral Hotel. It had been beautiful and charming, but was sadly demolished anyway for being old, broken-down, and high maintenance. My thoughts mysteriously turned to Aunt Ginny, and I wanted to cry. What would I say when I had to face her?

I was so angry I could have walked all the way to the Coast Guard base, but the sun would be going down soon and when my fury wore off the ocean breeze would turn frigid. Part of me wanted to feel the pain so I could dwarf this hollow unrest that was rolling around my insides. I turned and started the slog back home.

The screen door banged against the frame behind me when I entered the house. Aunt Ginny came around the corner with the usual mischief in her eyes. “What are you doing home already? Well, how’d it go? Come on, I want details. What’s the matter?”

I went into the library and threw a couple logs in the fireplace. “Did everyone go home?”

Aunt Ginny reached over and turned on a hurricane lamp. “Victory finished for the day and everyone expected you wouldn’t return until late, so . . . Why do you look like you’ve been crying?”

I lit the fire and stood back to make sure it caught before I sat down. Aunt Ginny silently sat across from me and waited.

“Gia’s married.”

No expression crossed her face. Then she leaped off the couch and flew out the front door before I could stop her. A minute later, her vintage red Corvette backed out of the driveway.

Hmm. I should probably do something about that. Maybe warn Gia that Aunt Ginny is coming in hot. I spotted a People magazine on the coffee table and picked it up. I turned to the story about Dolly Parton and her libraries that was listed on the cover. I really like Dolly. She’s classy.

About an hour later, I heard the Corvette run over our trash cans and knock my pot of pansies off the block by the walkway. Aunt Ginny banged in through the front door and slammed it behind her.

I put the magazine down and Aunt Ginny flopped back in her spot on the chair.

We looked at each other and didn’t speak. She finally asked me, “Is it too late to pick Tim?”

I nodded. “I would feel slimy. I chose Gia because I love him, flaws and all. I just didn’t know those flaws were gonna be wearing four-inch stilettos. And if it’s not going to work out between us, I’d rather be alone than with someone who’s not right for me.”

Figaro peeked halfway around the corner before entering the room. He trotted over to the couch and jumped into my lap to begin taking a very inconvenient bath. I tried to pet him, and he swatted me. Apparently, this was not cuddle time.

“I knew in my heart things weren’t clicking with Tim. We’d changed too much. I just couldn’t face turning him down again.”

Aunt Ginny sat forward on her chair. “I believe Gia that he wasn’t trying to deceive you. Some men are just pigheaded like that. They think they need to protect women from the harsh realities of life in the name of chivalry. Idiots. They are the harsh realities of life. What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. I still love Gia, but I don’t know if I can ever trust him again. Then there’s Alexandra.”

Aunt Ginny sat back and crossed her legs. “Yep. She’ll be in your life as long as Henry is. But there’s something phony about her. I don’t trust her.”

“She was still there?”

Aunt Ginny nodded. “With the mother and some old man who pinched my bottom.”

“That would be Uncle Alfio.”

“Whatever his name is, he’s on to the girl, I’ll tell you that. He was not buying her poor little victim act. Neither is Gia’s sister. I think the only one on that girl’s side is the mother.”

“Oliva Larusso’s a pretty big ally.”

Aunt Ginny shook her head. “I don’t think so. I think Gia adores you and if push came to shove, he’d shove the old battle-ax right out of the picture.”

I’d had a long time to think while I raged down the boardwalk and back. And I knew the thorn that was twisting in my heart. “If I fight for Gia, am I being selfish? Maybe this is Henry’s chance to get to know his mother. I don’t want to break up a family.”

Aunt Ginny gave me a long look. “What are you, some kind of nut? That isn’t a family. And from what Gia said, it never was. As far as I’m concerned, you’d be saving Henry.”

“I just know how I would feel if someone tried to keep me from my child. Alex says she wants another chance. While I know she was trying to manipulate me, I think I need to get out of the way and let the two of them work it out before I get involved. If she wants to reconnect her family, I won’t stop her.”

Aunt Ginny puffed out her cheeks and blew a raspberry. “She wants something—that much is true.”

“But what could it be, and why now? Why has she come back after all this time?”

“Don’t you worry, honey. The biddies are on this. We’ll find out.”

The next morning I fed Figaro his tuna sardine surprise, made blueberry cheesecake French toast for the weekend guests we had staying at the B&B, then left to meet Sawyer at the Starbucks in Rio Grande before my current chambermaid, Victory, could do anything to make me crazy.

I fought my way through the packed room of uniformed Coast Guard cadets celebrating their weekend shore leave with venti Frappuccinos and free Wi-Fi and found Sawyer crammed at a table in the back corner. On my way past the long, polished wood bar, the barista—a boy who looked about twelve years old with a shock of purple hair—called out, “Venti Caramel Macchiato for Swanson and split-shot raspberry white mocha for Potsie.”

Sawyer threw her arms out frantically and shouted for me to grab the coffees. “That’s us! Get them; I can’t leave the table.”

Three women in spandex workout wear who were either coming from, going to, or just fantasizing about doing Pilates immediately made a move toward Sawyer and tried to hijack the table.

Sawyer was tall and thin, but she was scrappy. She lay her chest down and spread her arms out to cover all four corners of the little table. “No! My friend is right there. We’re staying.”

I grabbed the drinks and pushed through the women. “I just got out of urgent care. The doctor says I’m contagious until this scabby rash clears up.” The women twisted away like a Cirque du Soleil act. I giggled and handed Sawyer her Macchiato. “Here you go, Swanson.”

“I’m sorry about that. I spelled ‘Poppy’ three times.”

I shrugged and sucked the whipped cream through the tiny mouth hole. “Last time they spelled it ‘Poopy’ so, Potsie’s a step up.”

“I was surprised you wanted milk since you won’t be able to breathe in about twenty minutes.”

“Breathing’s overrated.” I took a slow sip of the creamy, sweet deliciousness and imagined a workman in my head changing the sign—Days on Diet Without Cheating: back to zero.

Sawyer leaned across the table and gave me a huge grin. “So. How’d Gia take it?”

I gave her a slow eye roll. “Have you ever heard of someone named Alexandra?”

Sawyer blinked a couple of times and furrowed her brow. “Uh . . . no, doesn’t sound familiar. Who is it?”

“Gia’s wife.”

Sawyer slapped the table. “His wife!”

The room went silent for only a moment. This was South Jersey. Furious outbursts were a way of life. I took a sip of my drink and nodded slowly.

She had some choice words that I’d been thinking myself. “I’ve known Gia since he opened La Dolce Vita and I’ve never heard him mention a woman.”

“Well, you had to know there was someone. Henry’s only four.”

Sawyer shook her head and shrugged one shoulder to her ear. “I thought his mother had died. Gia doesn’t wear a ring, and you never see Henry with a woman other than Gia’s mother or sister.”

“So, I take it an ex-wife was never brought up in the conversation?”

“When Gia moved to Cape May I was having problems with Kurt cheating on me, so I wasn’t very social, and Gia kept to himself. I could see him sometimes walking Henry up and down the mall, trying to get him to sleep. For a while I thought Karla was his wife, then Louise at the bath shop told me she was his sister. She said there was no wife. So, if Gia has a wife, where’s he been keeping her?”

“She says Gia kidnapped Henry and disappeared while she had postpartum depression.”

Sawyer’s eyes narrowed and she cocked her head to the side. “Don’t kidnappers go on the run and change their names so they can’t be tracked? Gia opened a coffee shop fifty feet away from his mother’s restaurant. His picture is on the website. How did it take her so long to find him? And why haven’t the police been after him? It’s not like he fled the country.”

I’d been so shell-shocked that I hadn’t thought of any of those things. I shrugged.

“What does Gia say happened?”

“He says Alex ran off with another man right after Henry was born because she didn’t want to be a wife and mother.”

Sawyer’s face was a combination of shock and outrage. “Why is this coming out now? Did he tell you he couldn’t commit to you? What happened when you went over there?”

“Well, first he kissed me, and I almost lost consciousness. Then his wife introduced herself.”

Sawyer slammed her cup down and foam shot out of the lid and landed on my nose. “She was there?! Start from the beginning!”

I wiped my nose off and filled her in on my introduction to the other woman, realized I was the other woman, and had to take a minute to inject myself with raspberry and white chocolate to regroup. Then I told her about Alex’s warning and the conversation on the boardwalk.

She kept her mouth shut with a steady intake of Caramel Macchiato and her venti was gone by the time I finished my tale of woe. “So, Alex said Gia kidnapped her baby, disappeared, she hasn’t seen him in four and a half years, he’s dangerous, but she wants to reconcile, to be a family now.”

“That’s about it.”

“If that were all true, then why does she want him? She should call the cops, give him the divorce, and get on with her life.”

“Aunt Ginny said the same thing.”

Sawyer spun her lid on the polished espresso wood table while she thought. “Gia’s been an anchor of this community since he moved down from Philly. With all the gossip in this town, I’ve never heard a ba