Fortune Hunter (A Miss Fortune Mystery Book 8) by Jana DeLeon Read Free Book Online

the best look on a man. It was even worse on a woman.
    “Hello, Beulah,” Gertie said. “We’ve brought our friend Fortune with us. She’s younger and more up-to-date on certain things. I hope you don’t mind.”
    Beulah barely glanced at me before pulling the door open and motioning for us to come inside. Her eyes and nose were red from crying, and she shuffled into the living room as though all the energy had been sapped out of her. She plopped down on a recliner that had seen its better days and I heard it creak in protest. Ida Belle and Gertie took seats on the couch next to the recliner, and I sat on an ugly antique-looking chair that turned out to be just as uncomfortable as it appeared.
    I looked over at Gertie and Ida Belle, who were both studying Beulah, and waited for Gertie to get things going. She was the more emotional of the two. Ida Belle would perk up when we got down to business, but Gertie would get the lonely hearts ball rolling.
    “I brought you a chicken casserole,” Gertie said as I put the dish on the coffee table. “I remember it’s your favorite.”
    Good job, leading with food.
    “Thank you,” Beulah said. “I haven’t felt much like cooking. Haven’t felt like doing anything, if I’m being truthful.”
    “Perfectly understandable,” Gertie said. “You’re having a bad time of it, not to mention a nasty shock.”
    Beulah nodded. “Yes. It all came as such a huge surprise to me…I still can hardly believe that people do this sort of thing. And for what? I suppose they have their bit of fun at others’ expense.”
    “Oh, I wouldn’t think it was fun,” Ida Belle said. “I’d say some of the unscrupulous and lazy have made it their profession. A lot easier than learning a trade and working eight hours a day.”
    “It’s evil is what it is,” Beulah said. “Playing with people’s feelings. Making them promises and getting them to believe that their life is going to be that dream they always had.”
    I held in a sigh. Ida Belle and Gertie had been right. Beulah had been carrying the torch for a big romance. Unfortunately, the torch had burned her badly.
    “It’s a despicable thing for one person to do to another,” Gertie agreed. “I’m so very sorry that you got caught up in this.”
    Beulah flushed. “I should have known better. No man has ever been interested in me. Why in the world did I believe that someone younger and so very handsome would want anything to do with someone like me? I’m a fool.”
    “You’re not a fool,” Gertie said. “You just come from different stock than other people. In Sinful, we tend to take things at face value. It’s speaks to your character that you didn’t suspect the man of nefarious business. It’s simply not in your makeup to do such things, so you don’t expect others to do them, either.”
    I was impressed that Gertie managed to deliver that nice little speech with a straight face. Anyone taking things at face value in Sinful was just asking for trouble. Since I’d arrived in town, I’d had the hardest time trying to figure out which end was up, and that was saying a lot given my profession.
    Beulah must have bought it, because she gave Gertie a grateful look. “I appreciate your kindness. I know I’m not always the most pleasant person to deal with. You and Ida Belle are saints for offering to help.”
    “Are you going to be all right?” Ida Belle asked. “Financially, I mean?”
    “Yes,” Beulah said. “Things will be a bit tight for a while, and I’m praying that the air-conditioning and the roof hold out for another year, but I won’t have to sell the house or anything like that.”
    “That’s good,” Ida Belle said. “Are you ready to talk about what happened?”
    Beulah nodded. “Might as well get it over with. I don’t know that I can be more embarrassed than I already am, and I haven’t died from it so far.”
    “Then start at the beginning,” Ida Belle said.
    Beulah took a deep breath in