They had just disappeared up the stairs when someone knocked at the back door. Judith and Joe stared at
each other. The rear entrance was reserved for family,
friends, and neighbors.
“Mother?” Judith mouthed and started for the door.
Cairo put a hand to stop her. “Dilys will get that,” he
said. “It might be a reporter. Shoo him—or her—off,
will you, my girl?”
The young woman cautiously opened the door to reveal a startling figure. A tall platinum blonde of more
than a certain age stood on the threshold in an emeraldgreen satin lounging robe slit to the hip. She was carrying a paisley umbrella in one hand and a glass in the
other.
Judith’s jaw dropped. It was a neighbor, all right, it
was sort of family, but it wasn’t necessarily a friend.
Vivian Flynn, also known as Herself, was Joe’s first
wife and Judith’s nemesis. Their visitor dropped the
umbrella and swayed into the kitchen with a big
crimson-lipped smile on her face.
“Stone Cold Sam!” she cried, setting the glass down
by Judith’s computer. She reached out her arms, embraced the detective, and kissed him three times. “It’s
been too long!”
Cairo, his chin on Vivian’s shoulder, gave Joe a
wink and a smile. A nasty smile, Judith noted, and
thought the night would never end.
EIGHT
“LET’S GET OUT of here,” Joe whispered to Judith.
“We’ll go into the front parlor.”
Unobtrusively, Judith tried to edge toward the
door. The crime-scene tape barred her way. Joe
glanced at Cairo, saw that he was still in Vivian’s
embrace, pulled the tape aside, and with an arm
around Judith, slipped out through the dining room.
Dilys, though evincing curiosity about her partner
and Joe’s ex-wife, raised an eyebrow at the Flynns’
departure but made no comment.
“Good Lord.” Judith sighed, collapsing into one
of the two matching armchairs in front of the stone
fireplace. “I’m exhausted! And what’s Vivian doing
here?”
Joe’s grin was off center. “You know Vivian,
you’ve watched her for six years since she moved
into the cul-de-sac. She keeps late hours. No doubt
the emergency vehicles caught her attention.”
Meanly, Judith figured it was more likely they’d
roused her from an alcohol-induced stupor. Herself,
as Judith preferred to call Vivian, had brought a
glass with her. Maybe she’d come to borrow a refill.
Despite Joe’s efforts to get his ex to join AA, she
