Double Booked for Death by Ali Brandon Read Free Book Online

left to her in Dallas, she had jumped at the opportunity of owning both a home and a business, free and clear.
    She hadn’t realized just how tough things actually were, however, until she’d started keeping the shop’s books. Each month, the gap between black ink and red continued to narrow. While she was still turning a modest profit—James’s rare-books expertise and her push into Internet sales had been proving the difference—one bad month and the red ink would begin spurting. The rent she collected from Jake was a nice little bonus, but since the lease terms as negotiated with Great-Aunt Dee were far below the going rate, those payments didn’t do much to offset any real drop in store revenues.
    The last thing she needed now was a boycott to run off the customers she had!
    “Anyhow, I’m sure Linda isn’t involved with these Lord’s Blessing people,” Darla went on, shoving aside her unpleasant memories to concentrate on the new bad stuff. “She and her family attend your basic garden-variety Methodist church. But I did read something about this church in the Dallas paper last year. The congregation decided that a movie theater in a town about thirty miles north of the city was busy doing the devil’s work. Apparently, the place showed horror-movie marathons on Friday and Saturday nights. It was a real draw for the local teens.”
    “Ah, let me guess,” James interjected. “Mrs. Jennings and her fellow churchgoers saw evil incarnate and decided that a little soul saving was in order.”
    “Exactly. They picketed the theater every weekend for two months until most of the kids gave up and quit going to the movies. The owner finally had to shut the place down,” Darla finished with a disgusted shake of her red mane.
    James gave a genteel snort. “It sounds as if Mrs. Jennings and her fellow fanatics have forgotten that both Old and New Testaments are rife with supernatural happenings far more outlandish than anything you will find in movie theaters or Ms. Baylor’s books. But do not worry. In my estimation, your immortal soul is safe even if you refuse to cancel the signing.”
    “It isn’t exactly my soul that I’m worried about,” Darla replied as she took back the offending letter and shoved it into its envelope. “It’s my livelihood that concerns me. It’s bad enough that we had a girl outside the store yesterday waving a sign accusing Valerie Baylor of plagiarism. What if those church people really do show up here this weekend and raise a stink about the signing? The same thing might happen to us that happened to the theater owner.”
    “My dear Darla, I can assure you that in this part of the world, such a protest would only increase business. But if you are uncomfortable with that sort of publicity, I will be happy to deal with them for you should they make an appearance.”
    That last brought a weak smile to Darla’s lips. If anyone could handle a group of chanting fanatics, it would be James. Countless semesters of dealing with college students had endowed him with a no-nonsense attitude, while his own self-confessed stint as a sixties activist had taught him all the tricks of the protester trade. And his years in retail had prepared him for anything.
    Darla’s smile broadened as she recalled James’s history with the store. He had assumed the management reins from Great-Aunt Dee after she suffered her first stroke half a dozen years earlier, taking on the responsibility for the day-to-day running of the store right up until her death. Per a provision in the old woman’s will, he had continued in that role during the weeks it took to sort out her estate and, eventually, turn the store over to her great-niece.
    Quite understandably, he had been somewhat reluctant to relinquish those responsibilities to Darla, no matter that he had reached official retirement age and could easily have supported himself on what he’d once hinted was a generous university pension. But Darla considered