Darlene Franklin - Dressed for Death 03 - Paint Me a Murder by Darlene Franklin

protest forming on Jenna’s lips.
    Audie raised his hands in mock self-defense. “I’m just agreeing with you that someone in love doesn’t see the object of their affection with twenty-twenty vision. And you’re right, Brad was charming. Of course people liked him.”
    “All that most of them knew was that I was Brad’s model.” Jenna opened a bag of brownies and gave us each one.
    Her words turned my thoughts in another direction. “Who knew you were lovers?”
    Jenna sighed. “Finella.”
    Oh, dear . That was one fact I hoped the police would never find out.
    “And Noah, of course. The Three Musketeers didn’t have any secrets from each other back then.”
    Noah, Dina’s boyfriend, might have guessed the truth about her birth father. His interest in such a younger woman puzzled me, especially since she was the daughter of an old friend. “What happened to your friendship?” As far as I knew, Jenna hadn’t hung out with either of the Musketeers since her return to Grace Gulch.
    “I guess you could say I grew up. Having a baby will do that to you.” She laughed at herself. “Finella pulled away from me during my pregnancy. And Noah. . .well, he was the same party animal he had always been.” The bleakness in her voices betrayed the ostracism she must have experienced during those difficult months and years. “And then, later, Noah and I went to different colleges, Finella married Ham and we just drifted further and further apart.”
    “What about Noah and Finella? Did they stay friends?” I answered my own question. “No. Ham wouldn’t stand for it.”
    “They had stopped hanging out together before we left high school. Noah still fooled around some with alcohol, and Finella just wasn’t into that scene anymore. I guess he must have straightened up eventually, or else I don’t see how he made it through graduate school. When we all came back for our ten-year high school reunion, we were like three strangers. Our lives took very different paths.” Jenna picked a pecan off her brownie. “If the police ever find out the whole story. . .” Jenna sighed. “It will look bad for both Brad and me.”
    The high schoolers returned at one on the dot, when my sign said I would reopen, and were knocking on the door.
    “I guess that’s our sign that it’s time for us to go.” Jenna’s phone rang while she collected the lunch trash. “The police station. I’d better answer it.” She scrunched her nose and hit the speaker.
    I should have told her about the early morning police visit . Too late now.
    “This is Jenna Wilde. Yes, Chief. Today? As soon as I can come in? How about 3? Okay. I’ll be there then.”
    I already had my own phone out, calling our lawyer.
     
     

10
     
    Bob and Mary Grace almost disinherited Louella when she married Louis Hardy. But they only had two children, and they were loath to cut ties with their only daughter.
    At the time of her marriage, she was working the Grace Gulch Herald, the daily that her father had founded. The paper developed a strong readership across Lincoln County.
    In the end, the Graces divided their worldly goods between their two children. Roland inherited the ranch and the working oil properties. Louella Grace Hardy took over the reins at the Herald and the Orpheum. The paper stayed in the family until the death of Penn Hardy (Louella’s grandson) during the tragic reenactment of the original gunfight between Bob Grace and Dick Gaynor.
    From A History of Grace Gulch
     
    Friday, September 15
    Georgia agreed to represent Jenna, but too many customers came in during the afternoon for me to worry about their visit with the police. By the time I closed up shop, over half of my formal wear from the ’60s had sold. Several of the girls asked if I carried menswear from the decade as well. I spent a few minutes at the computer, ordering more stock.
    Jenna called on my way out the door. “Meet you at the MGM?”
    I didn’t ask about her little chat with