Sentenced to Death by Lorna Barrett

prefer.”
    Tricia found herself shuffling up the stairs behind her sister, feeling totally downcast. She followed Angelica inside the apartment and down the hall to the kitchen. The afternoon sun streamed through the windows and felt warm on her back as she took a seat at the large table.
    “It’s a bit warm for hot tea,” Angelica said, and instead opened the refrigerator and took out a glass jug filled with homemade ice tea. She snagged a couple of tumblers from the cupboard, filled them with ice from the freezer, and poured the tea. She set a glass on the table in front of Tricia. “Why are you moping around? I thought you were behind the idea of Ginny furthering her career.”
    “I am. I just hate to lose someone I trust so much.”
    “Wasn’t it just this morning Ginny was complaining that you didn’t trust her enough to let her open and close your store? That you didn’t let her go to the bank for you. That—”
    “Okay, maybe I should have given her a little more authority. I’m not standing in her way. I just wish, well, that she could’ve stayed forever. She’s not only a good assistant, she’s a good friend.”
    “And good friends don’t stand in the way of one of them getting ahead. Look at you. You’ve already achieved your life’s dream.”
    “You make it sound like I should just give up and quit—or die.”
    “I’m not saying that at all. I’m just wondering, will you always be happy selling books? Isn’t there anything else you aspire to?”
    Tricia hadn’t given that much thought in the past few years. Her goal had always been to open Haven’t Got a Clue–or something very like it. She was happy here in Stoneham. She couldn’t imagine going back to her old life in Manhattan. And yet . . . could she imagine climbing all those steps to her loft apartment some twenty years in the future? Paper books might be a thing of the past the way e-books were proliferating. Was her chosen way of life doomed? She’d already had to stock items besides books to keep the customers satisfied. Edgar Allan Poe and other famous author coffee mugs, bookmarks, blank journals, key chains, and the like.
    “Hello!” Angelica called.
    Tricia looked up. “I’m sorry. I was lost in thought.”
    “Are you burned out?” Angelica asked, yet it sounded more like an accusation.
    Tricia shook her head sadly.
    “Maybe you need to be more like me,” Angelica said with the hint of a devious smile touching her lips. “Diversify a little bit.”
    “How?”
    Angelica shrugged. “I don’t know. Make a few investments. I’ve already got the Cookery, the café, and a writing career. Maybe you could start a day spa. We could sure use one around here.”
    “Why would I want to run a day spa?”
    “For fun! That’s why I opened Booked for Lunch.”
    “Are you crazy? You’ve had nothing but problems since you opened the café. From thieving employees to a dead body in your garbage.”
    Angelica waved an impatient hand in the air. “Just a few speed bumps on my way to success. Look at me—less than two years after coming to Stoneham and already I’m a successful businesswoman and a bestselling cookbook author. And look at you.”
    “I am not a failure. I’ve just chosen different goals than yours.”
    “The bar doesn’t get much lower.”
    “Hey! I’m a successful businesswoman, too. I don’t choose to live a life as manic as yours.”
    “No, you get your ya-yas finding bodies every couple of months. Maybe there’s a reason they call you the village jinx.”
    Not that again. And it hurt that Angelica would be the one to bring it up. Talk about bullying!
    Suddenly Tricia was once again the unwanted second child. No matter what she’d accomplished, there was always something in the back of her mind that reminded her that she’d been an inconvenience to her parents—and Angelica—and how they’d probably wished they’d used more effective forms of birth control. How it still haunted her that