Blue Dahlia

obviously designed for Roz to comment. When there was none, Hayley blew out a breath. “Well? You’ve known him a long time.”
    “A few years. I can’t tell you what’s in his mind. But I can tell you he’s never cooked for me.”
    “Was his wife a real bitch?”
    “I couldn’t say. I didn’t know her.”
    “I’d like it if she was. A real stone bitch who tore him apart and left him all wounded and resentful of women. Then Stella comes along and gets him all messed up in the head even as she heals him.”
    Roz sat back on her heels and smiled. “You’re awfully young, honey.”
    “You don’t have to be young to like romance. Um ... your second husband, he was terrible, wasn’t he?”
    “He was—is—a liar, a cheat, and a thief. Other than that he’s charming.”
    “Did he break your heart?”
    “No. He bruised my pride and pissed me off. Which was worse, in my opinion. That’s yesterday’s news, Hayley. I’m going to plug some silene armeria in these pockets,” she continued. “They’ve got a long blooming season, and they’ll fill in nice here.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “No need to be sorry.”
    “It’s just that this woman was in this morning, Mrs. Peebles ?”
    “Oh, yes, Roseanne.” After studying the space, Roz picked up her trowel and began to turn the earth in the front of the mixed bed. “Did she actually buy anything?”
    “She dithered around for an hour, said she’d come back.”
    “Typical. What did she want? It wouldn’t have been plants.”
    “I clued in there. She’s the nosy sort, and not the kind with what you’d call a benign curiosity. Just comes in for gossip—to spread it or to harvest it. You see her kind most everywhere.”
    “I suppose you do.”
    “So, well. She’d gotten word I was living here, and was a family connection, so she was pumping me. I don’t pump so easy, but I let her keep at it.”
    Roz grinned under the brim of her cap as she reached for a plant. “Good for you.”
    “I figured what she really wanted was for me to pass on to you the news that Bryce Clerk is back in Memphis.”
    A jerk of her fingers broke off part of the stem. “Is he?” Roz said, very quietly.
    “He’s living at the Peabody for now and has some sort of venture in the works. She was vague about that. She says he plans to move back permanent, and he’s taking office space. Said he looked very prosperous.”
    “Likely he hosed some other brainless woman.”
    “You aren’t brainless, Roz.”
    “I was, briefly. Well, it’s no matter to me where he is or what he’s doing. I don’t get burned twice by the same crooked match.”
    She set the plant, then reached for another. “Common name for these is none-so-pretty. Feel these sticky patches on the stems? They catch flies. Shows that something that looks attractive can be dangerous, or at least a big pain in the ass.”
     
    SHE BURIED IT AS SHE CLEANED UP. SHE WASN’T CONCERNED with a scoundrel she’d once been foolish enough to marry. A woman was entitled to a few mistakes along the way, even if she made them out of loneliness or foolishness, or—screw it—vanity.
    Entitled, Roz thought, as long as she corrected the mistakes and didn’t repeat them.
    She put on a fresh shirt, skimmed her fingers through her damp hair as she studied herself in the mirror. She could still look good, damn good, if she worked at it. If she wanted a man, she could have one—and not because he assumed she was dim-witted and had a depthless well of money to draw from. Maybe what had happened with Bryce had shaken her confidence and self-esteem for a little while, but she was all right now. Better than all right.
    She hadn’t needed a man to fill in the pockets of her life before he’d come along. She didn’t need one now. Things were back the way she liked them. Her kids were happy and productive, her business was thriving, her home was secure. She had friends she enjoyed and acquaintances she tolerated.
    And right now, she had the added interest of researching her family ghost.
    Giving her hair another quick rub, she went downstairs to join the rest of the crew in the library. She heard the knock as she came to the base of the stairs, and detoured to the door.
    “Logan, what a nice surprise.”
    “Hayley didn’t tell you I was coming?”
    “No, but that doesn’t matter. Come on in.”
    “I ran into her at the nursery today, and she asked if I’d come by tonight, give y’all a hand with your research and