Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

Twenty-one

Twenty-two

Twenty-three

Twenty-four

Twenty-five

Twenty-six

Twenty-seven

Twenty-eight

Twenty-nine

Thirty

Thirty-one

Thirty-two

Thirty-three

Thirty-four

Thirty-five

ONE

“Charlie Harris, what are you doing hiding in the kitchen? Stiffen up that spine, young man, and get yourself in there where you’re needed.”

Miss An’gel Ducote didn’t wait for a response. The grande dame of Athena society turned and strode back toward my living room. She had been telling the citizens of Athena what to do for more than seventy of her eighty-odd years. Far be it from me to cast aside my Southern upbringing and defy her—even if the last place I wanted to be this Wednesday night was my own living room. Confrontation unsettled me, and I had taken refuge in the kitchen, ostensibly to brew fresh tea. I wasn’t going to avoid the unpleasantness that easily, however.

The tea forgotten, I scurried after Miss An’gel as fast as my fifty-two-year-old legs could move. My feet tangled together just inside the living room, and I grabbed at the door frame to steady myself.

Miss An’gel had resumed her place on the sofa with her younger sister, Miss Dickce. Her fire-engine red, vintage Chanel woolen dress provided a startling contrast to her sister’s sober black. I didn’t ordinarily pay much attention to women’s clothing, but my actor daughter, Laura, waxed ecstatic whenever we encountered one of the Ducote sisters. Evidently they’d inherited a considerable wardrobe of designer clothing from their mother and grandmother. Laura practically swooned over the creations of Worth, Chanel, Balenciaga, and Dior she’d seen them wear, and I’d picked up enough detail to identify the designers’ work. I drew the line at shoes.

Diesel, my Maine Coon cat, nestled between the sisters. His head and upper torso lay across Miss Dickce’s lap, and his purr rumbled from across the room. He lifted his head briefly to acknowledge my return, but as long as the Ducote sisters remained in my house, he would stick close to them. The ladies adored my cat from the first moment they saw him, and Diesel appeared to be every bit as smitten with them.

Vera Cassity’s strident tones claimed my wandering attention as I eased toward my chair. She cast a frown in my direction as she held forth. “As I was saying before Mr. Harris left the room, it’s ridiculous to consider holding the gala anywhere else but Ranelagh. We have the only private dining room that can seat seventy.” She leaned forward in the wingback chair and glared at the other members of the board of the Friends of Athena Public Library.

Besides Vera Cassity, the Ducote sisters, and me, the board was composed of Teresa Farmer, the library’s new director; my boarder, Stewart Delacorte; and Sissy Beauchamp. The three of them appeared no more inclined than I to wander onto the battlefield.

“Vera, honey, we all know how big the dining room at Ranelagh is.” Miss An’gel treated her adversary to a brief smile. “But we are not proposing to have a state dinner. We’re having a gala, and I believe that means a festive occasion. Darling, there’s nothing festive about a sit-down dinner for that many people.”