Designed to Death (A Faith Hunter Scrap This Mystery) by Christina Freeburn Read Free Book Online Page A

well on message boards.

    You mean, Faith? You think she had something to do with my layouts being swiped?

    Little Lamb replied:

    Maybe in that, too. Was submitting something Belinda usually did? If not...

    Who in the heck was Little Lamb? And what in the world did they have against me?

    I know she doesn’t like me. And Belinda never cared about contests before so you might be on to something. I could see Faith wanting to ruin me. I’ll have to think on this for a while. Darlene added an angry face icon to the end of her post.

    Butterflies fought in my stomach. Darlene was just revving up. The gauntlet was thrown. Could I get Ted to have the site owners shut this thread down as he was investigating who started the fight this afternoon? I doubt he’d appreciate a call from me at midnight whining about mean things people said on the internet.
    Now, Steve, he wouldn’t mind. He’d even come to my defense. Or else, he’d tell me that I found enough trouble in real life and didn’t need to go jump into web based drama. Defending oneself on the web, or having others do so, always made a person look guiltier. And I already had enough instances in my life where other people’s actions nearly landed me in jail.
    The best way to handle it was to keep quiet and allow Belinda and Hazel to tell these women the truth. Or at least their version of the truth.

    A board regular popped into the conversation:

    Why wasn’t all this information about you two cropping together included in your first post? Sounds like someone has the bitters.
    Darlene fired back:

    Why would I be jealous of someone whose only talent is being able to scraplift and mail out someone else’s design?

    And the reply:

    Prove it!

    Another poster entered the conversation but only contributed a smiley icon holding a bag of popcorn and munching on kernels. While a buttery treat sounded good right now, I didn’t want to leave before the thread slowed down. No sense joining in the merriment when I wasn’t sure if the store—or me—were in the clear.

    Darlene typed:

    I took the password off my layout gallery. Check there.

    A first-time poster calling themselves JealousMuch entered into the cyber conversation.

    Who’s to say you didn’t scraplift Belinda?

    I guessed Belinda. I didn’t know why Belinda thought she’d get away with submitting a design of her cousin’s without getting called out on it. But to use a dozen layouts all by Darlene was over the top. And what pride and pleasure would Belinda get from using the work of others?
    Of course, the glee might have come from annoying her cousin.

    Because I didn’t. Darlene responded.

    Well, that cleared it up.

    Hmmm… JealousMuch started her next reply. I took a look at the time stamp for the upload. You just did that a couple days ago. Maybe you got a sneak peek of the magazine. Maybe one of the employees gave you a little looksee.

    Caught. The next person replied.

    A long time poster joined in the fray:

    I knew there was something odd going on. That’s why I didn’t join the pile-on. It always happens with these contests. Some self-proclaimed artist doesn’t get chosen and decides to destroy one of the winners. 

    And Darlene bit back:

    I did not copy her. She CASED me. Belinda Watson is a no talent hack.

    Personal attacks were not going to go over well. Darlene had a large post count on this particular board, she knew how it worked.

    JealousMuch added unnecessary fuel to Darlene’s raging inferno and the two went on from there:

    Ho hum. So, two of your layouts are similar. Stop being a baby and deal. I bet you entered and lost.

    I did not! I had no interest in submitting anything to Making Legacies!

    Then why do you care? Sounds like a case of ‘thou doth protest too much.’

    Because it is my work. My creative endeavor not hers.

    Again, prove it!

    I frowned. Where did Little Lamb go? I would have thought they’d have jumped right in to defend Darlene and throw suspicion