Death Indoors: Target Practice Mysteries 4 by Nikki Haverstock

wanted; a new job, home, and friends. A year ago, I had been crying my eyes out wondering if I could ever be happy again, and now I was.
    With a skip, I bounded up to the table and dropped the notebook and pens in the empty seat next to Liam. I was ready to say good morning when he turned to me, and I caught a glimpse of his eyes.
    "Oh, no! Are you okay?"
    Moo got up, his tail wagging, and came over to say good morning to me.
    In the space underneath Liam's eyes, near his nose, were dark-purple smears. "I'm fine, but you're getting a black eye."
    Jess approached the table then stopped. "What happened?"
    "Liam was putting my necklace on me, and Moo smacked him in the back of the head. We crashed into each other."
    "Let me see the necklace." She dropped her things across the table from me and raced around to pick up the necklace. "It came out perfectly. Want me to grab you a plate of eggs?"
    I leaned over the table so Mary could see the necklace and called over my shoulder to Jess as she left. "Yes, please, and some fruit and yogurt." We ate together most days and often grabbed food for each other.
    We would discuss what work we had for the day and plan out when was best to meet. Tiger and Minx's main priority was training, while I had a full-time job to juggle around. Part of Jess's job was to coach, but she had other obligations as well. Throw into the mix the fact that Mary worked part time at the center and was taking a full load at the college in order to be eligible to compete as a collegiate athlete, and we had a daily struggle to figure out who was training when and with whom.
    I pulled out the chair and sat down. Mary and Orion stared at me, waiting.
    "What's going on? Why are you guys looking at me like that?"
    Mary smiled. "I'm just waiting to hear you tell Liam your idea."
    Liam looked at me with eyebrows raised. "Oh? What idea?"
    I scrunched up my lips to glare at Mary, though I doubt I looked very menacing considering her giggles. Taking a deep breath, I turned to Liam to plead my case in hushed tones that wouldn't carry in the dining room.
    "It's about Coach Ron. You know how Mary and I usually investigate?"
    He nodded and stabbed at his waffles swimming in butter and syrup.
    My stomach grumbled at the maple and fresh-waffle scents hitting my nose. Why couldn't athletes be powered by sugar and carbs? "Well, Mary and I obviously can't do that this time because she has to shoot, so... I don't want to do my Miss Marple act alone."
    He nodded along for a few seconds then looked around, perhaps realizing that I had left my request in there. "Me? You want me to help? How?"
    "See, I have this perfect plan. We need an excuse to talk to everyone and ask them about Coach Ron, the YAP programs in the area, and the tournament without them realizing what's going on. Then I had the best idea. You could offer to give them free feedback on their sponsorship pitch."
    Liam started coughing while Orion laughed loudly. Moo stood up and licked at Liam's face while he tried to catch his breath.
    Orion snorted. "That's your investigation technique? Good luck. I bet Liam hates everything about that idea."
    Liam caught his breath, mopped the dog spit off his face, then grabbed his water to chug.
    I pushed a strand of hair behind my ear. "I know that Liam hates talking to... well, everyone, so I thought that I could conduct the interview and he could just point afterward to some areas to improve. And we will make it clear up front that there are no sponsorships available from Westmound or any of the companies it owns and that Liam won't ever be doing interviews, but still it would be a great chance for the kids to get feedback and for me to nose around."
    Orion tapped a finger on his mouth. "Good point. Very clever. Just glad it's not me." He put his napkin down on his plate as Mary got up to go.
    I grabbed and squeezed Mary's arm as she passed by. "Good luck, Mary. I'll stop by to check on you."
    She gathered up a few things and grabbed