The Borrowed and Blue Murders (The Zoe Hayes Mysteries) by Merry Jones

could hear me, and I hoped that made sense.
    “That’s great,” Nick offered. He was obviously trying to cover for me. “Are you going to tell us what it is?”
    Her eyes remained on me, a fixed stare. “No. I’m not.”
    Luke wailed.
    “Sorry, Molly,” I apologized. “Can you tell me about it later?”
    “Let me take him.” Nick started to stand.
    “Zoe, sit down and eat. Have Anna hold him.” Sam stuffed a forkful of potatoes into his mouth.
    “It’s okay.” I was already at the door. Seconds later, Luke burped and settled down. I came back and put him back onto the comforter, sitting with him for a moment to make sure he was calm. Finally, I sat at the table and finished dinner. The brothers had become more conversational, talking about car accidents they’d had, apparently competing for the Worst Judgment/Riskiest Behavior While Driving award. So far, Nick seemed to be winning, having, at age seventeen, spun his ‘65 Chevy Nova on the ice into a telephone pole, from which it ricocheted and slid into a ditch, and then, as he tried to back it up the steep incline onto the pavement, the ice gave way under it and it flipped completely over.
    The men guffawed at their youthful luck and stupidity. They were so boisterous that it took a while to notice how quiet Molly was. In fact, for most of the meal, she hadn’t said a word. But just as Sam was starting a story involving his Mustang and an eighteen- wheeler, Anna appeared, cutting him off with her arms crossed and her eyes glaring.
    Anna spouted orders, and the brothers jumped to action. She wouldn’t leave until the last dinner dishes had been loaded into the dishwasher and the last leftover stored in the refrigerator. And, before going, she handed a to-do list to each adult member of the household. Standing at the door, she reminded us again that we had only a very few days remaining until the most important event in Nick’s and my life and, despite dramatic intrusions of the outside world, we had better get ourselves on board with her plans or she would not be responsible for the outcome.
    As she bullied, Nick and his brothers lowered their heads slightly, avoiding eye contact, and I wondered if Anna reminded them of their mother. Despite their muscular frames and macho demeanors, the three were easily cowed into submission by a woman who was barely five feet tall. Not one of them argued or answered back. They seemed well practiced in humble obedience to a diminutive female taskmaster, a fact I filed away for future reference.
    At the door, Anna gave a final warning. “I’ll be back tomorrow. I expect that the items on your lists will have been attended to by then.”
    The door closed. No one spoke for a minute. Then Sam started, mimicking Anna, barking orders, criticizing the quality of his work: “What’s this on the counter? Water stains? You left water stains on the counter?” He sounded surprisingly like her. He even stood like she did, gestured the same way.
    “Water stains? What the hell’s wrong with you? Slob. Moron. Incompetent screwup.” Tony’s falsetto sounded more like Anna than Anna did.
    The two of them kept it up. “You—Nick’s brother. What’s your name? If you want to be in this wedding, you’ll need a haircut—”
    “—An eyebrow wax—”
    “—A chest wax.”
    “—Botox. You can’t be in a wedding with that face. It doesn’t go with the centerpiece.”
    Nick didn’t join in. He got up, stretched and walked over behind me, rubbing my shoulders. “You all right, Zoe?”
    Before I could answer, he’d absently planted a kiss on my cheek and moved on to get a beer, and his brothers trailed him, leaving Molly and me alone with Luke, who was gumming a fold of blanket. Molly remained oddly quiet as she plopped onto the blanket beside him, lay down and covered him with her arm.
    “Lukie, Lukie.” Her affection was strained. “Sweet Little Lukie.” She rolled him onto his back, tickling his tummy a little too