A Devious Lot (Antiques & Collectibles Mysteries Book 5) by Ellery Adams, Parker Riggs Page B

Tiffany.”
    Troy shook his head. “No, you weren’t.”
    “Yes.” She stared at him. “I was.”
    “Alice, it’s time for you to go,” he said.
    “You can’t kick me out, I haven’t done anything wrong.” She turned back to Molly. “She was my best friend until Giles moved here with his snooty parents, always looking down their noses at everyone. It figures he and Tiff got together. She became such a snob when she met him, didn’t have time for me anymore, told me to bugger off and find a new friend.” She plucked at the yarn on her poncho and her eyes narrowed angrily. “She wouldn’t talk to me after she moved back. I saw her on the street and waved. I wanted to talk to her, but you know what she did? She crossed to the other side. She was avoiding me. She used to be nice when we were kids.”
    Troy pointed to the door. “Alice, you need to go. You’ll be late for work.”
    Alice stuck her tongue out at Troy, surprising Molly. She had to be thirty years old, but was acting like a juvenile. “I’ll leave,” Alice said. “But be honest, Troy. You were always jealous of Giles, because you wanted to go to prom with Tiffany but she said no.”
    Alice didn’t give Troy time to reply. She turned and marched out the door.
    Troy shook his head. “Sorry about that,” he said. “Alice is delusional.”
    “Is it true, what she said about you wanting to go to prom with Tiffany?”
    “Yeah, it is,” he said. “I only asked her because I thought she and Giles were on the outs. It was the last year of school, and they were fighting about their future together. Actually, they fought about that a lot. But at that time, it was about how they were going to stay in touch, with her going to London to study hair design and Giles going to Oxford to study God knows what. I was amazed he even got into Oxford.” He leaned toward her and lowered his voice. “Giles isn’t the brightest bulb in the box, if you know what I mean. People around here think his father paid someone in admissions off. Anyway, they got back together and that was the end of it. I asked Paula Johnston to the prom and had a great time. She’s a good dancer.”
    “Are you married?”
    “Me? No. Not yet. I’m dating a great gal, though. Plan to ask her real soon.”
    Molly ate more pie and sipped her coffee. He didn’t seem inclined to move, and she was happy to keep talking to him.
    “What other things did they fight about?” she asked.
    “Back in those days, stupid stuff I don’t even remember,” he said. “I always knew when they fought though, because they wouldn’t sit together on the bus.”
    “What about the years since school, did they come home for visits?”
    “Yeah, sure, they’d stop in here from time to time for a drink or a meal,” he said. “Tiffany always said she hated village life, but I think what she really hated was seeing Brenda Adair. I remember one time she told me she broke into hives every time they stayed with her at Channing Hall. I thought it was funny, her being allergic to Brenda.”
    “They didn’t get along?”
    “Never. Blame it on the snob factor,” he said. “Giles’s dad was stinking rich, his mom is an aristocrat wannabe, and Tiffany was never good enough for their precious son. Giles was a spoiled little boy who grew up to be a spoiled man. God knows why Tiff stayed with him all these years. At some point, you’d think the attraction would have worn thin.”
    “What about Alice . . . was she really best friends with Tiffany?”
    “Look, the sad truth is, the only person who thought they were friends was Alice. Tiffany was friendly to everyone. Alice got a little obsessed with her. This was before Giles moved into the village, then she got obsessed with him.”
    “She had a crush on him?”
    “Yeah, but he totally ignored her. I think she really got mad at Tiffany when she started dating him.”
    “Where does Alice work?”
    “She’s a waitress at the Bluebird Tearoom,” he