Book Club Killer by Mary Maxwell

way.”
    “Are you enjoying dinner?” she
asked.
    “Oh, very much. This is one of our
favorites in town.”
    “Brock likes it,” she said with a
resigned sigh. “But I don’t much care for pasta.”
    “Then it’s good of you to indulge
him once in a while,” I joked. “Especially before the wedding ceremony!”
    She scowled at my remark. “Who
knows if there will even be one!” she hissed, her faint grin suddenly changing
into a frown that crinkled her forehead. “Brock’s witch of a wife is causing so
much trouble.”
    “That’s horrible,” I said. “What’s
she doing? I mean, if it’s not too personal to ask.”
    Amanda shook her head. “I shouldn’t
even be talking about this with you. I mean, I just met you, and now you’ll
think…” She eyes filled with tears and she covered them with one hand. “Oh,
jeez! I’m not usually this…” I plucked a tissue from the dispenser by the sinks
and pressed it into her other hand. “Thank you,” she said softly. “It’s just been
a really stressful time, you know?”
    “Do I know?” I said, trying to
lighten the mood. “Some days, I think stress is my middle name! Ben and I have
two boys under the age of twelve.”
    Amanda blotted her eyes and blinked
away the last few tears. “I can’t even imagine,” she said. “I can barely take
care of myself. Brock wants to have kids, but the difference in our ages…” She
waved one hand in the air. “Oh, there I go again,” she continued. “Talking
about stuff that you don’t need to hear.”
    Another woman came through the
door. She smiled nonchalantly and made her way to one of the stalls.
    “I should get back to the table,”
Amanda said. “Brock gets anxious if I’m gone too long.”
    I quickly washed my hands to
justify my trip to the ladies’ room. Then I followed her into the hallway
leading back to the dining room.
    “Do you mind if I ask a quick
question?” I said.
    Amanda shrugged. “What’s that?”
    “Do you know if Brock’s wife drives
a black SUV?”
    She scoffed. “That’s one of the ten
zillion things she’s fighting over,” Amanda said. “The crazy witch refuses to
give up her company car. She’s still got the Escalade that Brock leased for her
before she cheated on him with her personal trainer.”
    “Oh, my goodness,” I said. “I had
no idea what had happened.”
    “Well, not too many people do,”
Amanda explained. “But if she doesn’t see the light, this whole thing is going
to end up in court. Then everybody in town will know every nasty little detail
about her sleazy ways.”
    “I sure hope that doesn’t happen,”
I said, touching her arm lightly. “For your sake. And for Brock’s.”
    She smiled. “That’s sweet of you to
say, Jana. Maybe we can have lunch sometime after the dust settles.”
    “I’d like that,” I said. “My
husband told me that Brock’s staying on as a consultant for a year after he
sells Zephyr Industries. Maybe the four of us could go to dinner, too.”
    “That would be wonderful.” She
glanced over at Brock. He was tapping his watch and grinning widely. “Oh,
shoot,” she gushed. “I better run. It was nice talking to you. And I’m sorry
about all that dirty laundry that I spilled.”
    “Don’t you worry about that,” I
said. “I just hope everything works out okay for you.”
    Her smile softened. “Yeah, so do I.
Brock’s ex has been stalking me and leaving all kinds of rude messages on my
phone. He doesn’t know a thing about it, but it’s freaking me out like you
wouldn’t believe.”
    The look in her eyes told me she
was truly terrified by the situation. As she turned to walk back to their
table, I thought of two more questions.
    “Do you think his wife could be
violent?” I said. “Or do you think she knows someone who could be?”
    Amanda laughed. “She was married to
an ex-con before she met Brock. From what I’ve heard, she and her ex-husband
are still pretty close. She’s also aware now that