The Readaholics and the Poirot Puzzle by Laura Disilverio Read Free Book Online

long.” The announcement was timed for mid-January of next year.
    She leaned over to put her hand on my arm. “It’ll be okay, A-Faye. He’s a big boy. He’s smart, he’s resourceful, and he makes darn good beer. Things’ll work out for him.”
    â€œThanks.” I smiled, thinking that only-child Brooke didn’t understand. I’d been watching out for Derek all my life. Yeah, he was an adult now, and he made his own decisions and lived with the consequences, but I still wanted to help all I could.
    On the drive home, I decided that the only way I could help at the moment was to produce the best-ever grand opening party, and that was what I determined to do. Not that I’d been planning a ho-hum grandopening, but I vowed to clear my calendar tomorrow and spend the day at Elysium Brewing overseeing every teensy-weensy, minute detail.

Chapter 4
    F riday dawned crisp and clear, with the possibility of afternoon thunderstorms. Typical weather for this time of year. I said a little prayer that the storms would hold off, since we were counting on using Elysium’s patio space to keep the crowd under fire marshal–mandated levels. Then I headed off to yoga, figuring I needed a little meditation if I were to survive this day mentally intact. Feeling limber and relaxed after class—held in Yael’s studio on the third floor of the building where my ground-floor office was—I descended the stairs past the law firm on the second floor to the Divine Herb, which had the street-front space. Standing in line for a coffee, I overheard a cluster of suited men talking about coming to Elysium tonight and it made me smile.
    â€œYou look like the cat that ate the canary,” said a voice behind me.
    A happy glow spread through me. I turned to see Detective Lindell Hart smiling at me. The police detective was attractive without being handsome, although the longer I knew him, the handsomer he got. Hmm. He had ever-so-slightly receding, curly brown hair, a nose that had clearly been broken at least once, and a tan that testified to his time in a softball league andfly-fishing. He was almost a foot taller than me, maybe six-four, so I had to look up. “Hi. No canaries. I’m going to settle for a yogurt parfait and a large—a very large—coffee. Busy day.”
    â€œI’ll bet. Everything ready?”
    â€œIt will be,” I said with determination.
    â€œI know you hired a couple of our off-duty guys to help with traffic control and security,” he said. “Good move.”
    â€œNever hurts to have a cop on hand.” I accepted my coffee, yogurt, and change from the clerk and moved to the condiments ledge to dump in some cream. Hart held my parfait for me while I tamped the lid back down on my cup.
    â€œSee you there at seven?”
    â€œCome for the preopening party at six,” I invited him impulsively. “It’s for family and the area’s movers and shakers.”
    â€œWhich am I?” His brown eyes gazed into mine, humor and something else lurking in them.
    â€œNeither. You’re
special
.” I gave the word a droll twist.
    He grinned. “I’ve been waiting months to hear you say that.”
    Was he serious? He sounded like he was joking, but . . . I pondered the way his smile made my pulse race a bit, and wondered if it might be nice to be Lindell Hart’s special someone. He’d moved here from Atlanta in April, and we’d gone out a few times this summer, but he’d been at a Homeland Security training session for almost two months, and my job tied me up mostweekends, so we hadn’t been able to spend a lot of time together. Then there was Doug.
    I shook my head slightly to dislodge both Hart and Doug. I didn’t have time to sort out my love life. Not that I really had a love life. I had two attractive men on the periphery of my life, one of whom had dumped me two years earlier and