G.T. Herren - Paige Tourneur 02 - Dead Housewives of New Orleans (19 page)

She grabbed my hair with both hands and yanked.

I screamed, swinging both fists in the general direction of her face. I heard her shriek as my left hand connected with one of her cheeks, and she let go of my hair. I rolled off her and up onto my knees.

“It’s okay,” Billy said, “I’ve got the gun.”

I glared at him. “Now you tell me.”

Amanda Beth covered her face with her hands and started crying.

“All I ever wanted…”

It was after ten as I climbed the steps to my apartment.

I was so tired I could hardly stand it. All I wanted to do was collapse into bed and sleep for the week. I’d been with the cops for hours, going over my statement so many times I was almost positive I was going to have a mental break similar to Amanda Beth’s if I had to go over it one more time. Venus and Blaine had handed me off to another detective, who didn’t seem to believe anything I was saying. His patronizing tone finally got too much for me, and I am not proud to say that I kind of went off on him.

I will say he’ll undoubtedly think before he patronizes another woman, though.

I blame the stress of the day, and that’s the story I’m sticking to.

Amanda Beth had been taken to the Psych ward at LSU Medical Center, where she was going to be assessed as to whether she’d be able to stand trial.

I wasn’t betting on that. She’d gotten away with murder once before, and Margery would undoubtedly do anything she could to help her get out from under again. Margery insisted Amanda Beth forced her to call me and invite me over, and she had no idea that Amanda Beth was going to kill me. That was
her
story, and she was sticking to it.

You gotta love the rich and powerful.

I flagged a cab outside the police station, and all the way home all I could think about was how dangerous secrets were. I knew what I had to do, whether I wanted to do it or not.

I unlocked my door and walked inside, almost jumping out of my skin when Ryan said, “Ah, there you are.”

I closed the door and took the glass of wine he was holding for me. I sank down on the couch beside him. “Oh, the day I’ve had, baby.” I put my head down on his shoulder.

“I know. Blaine called Mom and Mom called me, so I thought I’d come over here and wait for you.” He started rubbing my shoulders, working on the knots. “I’m just glad you’re okay.” He leaned over and kissed the top of my head. “I made beef stroganoff— it’s keeping warm in the oven. Are you hungry?”

“Starved.” I smiled wanly at him. “I so don’t deserve you.”

“You always say that.” He smiled back at me. “And it’s not true. I love you, Paige. I really do. And so do the boys.” He got up. “Let me make you a plate.”

I grabbed his hand. “Wait. Before that, sit. I need to talk to you about something.”

His eyebrows met over the bridge of his nose. “That sounds kind of serious.”

I nodded. “Sit.” When he did, I turned to him. “I haven’t been completely honest with you about my past, honey.”

“We don’t have to talk about this now,” he said. “You’re tired, and you’ve had a pretty crappy weekend, as best I can tell. It can wait.”

“I love you so much, but no, it can’t wait another minute.” I took a deep breath. “Because I might chicken out. And all the way home all I could think about was how keeping secrets can destroy the future.” If Margery hadn’t bought Amanda Beth out of a criminal murder investigation when she was a teenager, maybe Amanda Beth wouldn’t have gotten it twisted inside her crazed mind that she could get away with murder again. But where to start?

“I’ve been getting some weird emails, Ryan.” I said slowly, staring at my hands. “And today someone tried to kill me.” Amanda Beth insisted she wasn’t the one who’d tried to run me down. Her car was a blue Porsche, for one thing. I laughed, a little bitterly
. Just another regular Sunday in the life of Paige Tourneur, Girl Reporter..

He nodded. “You don’t have to do this, Paige.”

I looked at his handsome face, and my eyes filled with tears.
My God, I love him so much.

I wiped at my eyes. “There are some things about my past that I need to take care of, Ryan. I’ve been putting this all off for so long… I guess I was thinking if I ignored it all, pretended it didn’t exist, maybe it would just go away… but I’m going to take care of it. I am. And when it’s all taken care of, I promise, I will tell you all about it, okay? And if you still want me…”

He put his arms around me and pulled me in close, kissing the top of my head. “Paige, I can’t think of anything you could have done that would change how I feel about you.”

Famous last words,
I thought, closing my eyes and enjoying his warmth as I rested my face against his strong chest.

Be prepared, Laura Pillsbury, whoever you are— I’m coming for you.

THE END

This is for all the FL’s—
and you know who you are

As always, there are so many people to thank for keeping me sane during the writing of this book!

Julie Smith is my biggest cheerleader, thanks for always believing in Paige and pushing me to write about her.

Margery Flax was my personal shopper for the Grande Dames— and has done a great job picking out
my
clothes, too. Thanks!

My co-workers at the day job make going to the office a pleasure rather than an ordeal! So let me give a big thanks and shout out to Josh Fegley, Mark Drake, Joey Olsen, Brandon Benson, Matt Valletta, Nick Parr, Alex Leigh, and Drew Davenport.

And my own Grande Dames, who always have my back: Victoria A. Brownworth, Jean Redmann, Pat Brady, Bev Marshall, Susan Larson, Janet Dailey Duval, Chris Wiltz, Nevada Barr, and Allison Vertovec.

Robin Pearce, Meghan Davidson, Daniella Rivera, and Martin Strickland— still miss you guys every day.

Everyone at BooksBNimble have proven to be a joy to work with. I thank you all for not minding me being a bit of a nutjob.

The Houstonians: Timothy J. Lambert, Becky Cochrane, Rhonda Rubin, Lindsay Smolensky, and of course the gang at Murder by the Book rock so hard!

And of course, Paul, who had to put up with me every day and has yet to run away.

Thanks, everyone, for the support always and coming along for the ride!

We’ll give you your money back if you find as many as five errors. (That’s five verified errors— punctuation or spelling that leaves no room for judgment calls or alternatives.) If you find more than five, we’ll give you a dollar for every one you catch up to twenty. More than that and we reproof and remake the book. Email [email protected] and it shall be done!

DEAD HOUSEWIVES OF NEW ORLEANS is part of a “season” of stories, the second episode in Herren’s Paige Tourneur Missing Husband Series. It’s even more fun if you tune in early. Get the prequel, FASHION VICTIM (
http://amzn.to/ZAchf2
). And watch for: THE MAD CATTER.

The Paige Tourneur Missing Husband Series

Fashion Victim

THE CHANSE MACLEOD MYSTERIES

Murder in the Rue Dauphine

Murder in the Rue St. Ann

Murder in the Rue Chartres

Murder in the Rue Ursulines

Murder in the Garden District

Murder in the Irish Channel

THE SCOTTY BRADLEY ADVENTURES

Bourbon Street Blues

Jackson Square Jazz

Mardi Gras Mambo

Vieux Carre Voodoo

Who Dat Whodunnit

As well as the young adult novels…

Sorceress

Sleeping Angel

Sara

Timothy

We hope you enjoyed
Dead Housewives of New Orleans
and wonder if you’d consider reviewing it on Goodreads, Amazon (
http://amzn.to/11rKUCE
), or wherever you purchased it? The author would be most grateful. And if you’d like to see other forthcoming mysteries, let us keep you up-to-date. Sign up for our mailing list at
www.booksbnimble.com
.

GREG HERREN is a New Orleans-based author and editor. Former editor of
Lambda Book Report
, he is also a co-founder of the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival, which takes place in New Orleans every May. He is the author of twenty novels, including the Lambda Literary Award winning
Murder in the Rue Chartres
, called by the New Orleans Times-Picayune “the most honest depiction of life in post-Katrina New Orleans published thus far.” He co-edited
Love, Bourbon Street: Reflections on New Orleans
, which also won the Lambda Literary Award. He has published over fifty short stories in markets as varied as
Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine
to the critically acclaimed anthology
New Orleans Noir
to various websites, literary magazines, and anthologies. As G.T. Herren, he’s also the author of
Fashion Victim
, the first book in the Paige Tourneur Missing Husband Series.