Love Can Be Murder

it's a big hunk of metal that hurtles through the air."
    "Are you saying I'm not smart enough to learn how to fly a plane?"
    "No."
    "Good, because I'm going to someday. What's your number two?"
    " 'Learn to speak French.' For when I went to Paris, of course."
    "Is that why you used to wear that ugly beret?"
    Roxann frowned—Carl had said it was chic.
    "Did you ever learn French?" Angora asked.
    "Just the Cajun I picked up around here, but I doubt if it would get me very far outside of Louisiana. Maybe I'll take a class someday. Number three?"
    " 'Have a cameo on General Hospital.' "
    "Wow."
    "Luke and Laura were all the rage." Angora sighed. "Now there was a match made in heaven."
    "There was a match made during a writers' meeting. How were you going to wangle your way onto a soap opera?"
    "Well, I figured once I was Miss America, I could go on any TV show I wanted to."
    "Good thinking." Either that, or the tequila was grabbing hold of her. "My number three is 'Write a screenplay.' "
    "And?"
    "And I couldn't tell you the last time I even saw a movie."
    "Why did you write down things that were so hard?"
    "Because I had big plans." At eighteen, nothing had seemed beyond reach. World renown. Global peace. True love. "Number four?"
    " 'Meet the president.' "
    "Of the United States?"
    Angora bit her lip. "I don't know."
    "Well, since you didn't specify, you can be creative."
    "Thanks. What's your number four?"
    " 'Be valedictorian.'"
    Angora bounced up and down on the bed. "You were, so you can cross off that one."
    She did, but her stomach churned from the foul drink—so of course she drank more of it.
    "Next I have 'Drive a nice car.' " Angora smiled smugly. "Cross off."
    Roxann's return smile was wry. "Which makes my 'Ride a horse' pale a little in comparison."
    " 'Design a line of clothing.' "
    " 'Read the entire works of Shakespeare.' "
    " 'Learn to swim.' "
    Roxann lifted an eyebrow. "You can't swim?"
    "No."
    "But your parents have an Olympic-sized pool."
    "Mother wouldn't let me use it—she was afraid I'd drown."
    Dee's logic was nothing if not consistent. " 'Learn to play the piano.' "
    Angora's eyes welled up.
    "What?"
    "The next thing on my list is 'Marry a doctor.' "
    Roxann winced. "You were close. I'll let you count that one."
    "Thanks," she choked out, "but I don't think that would be fair."
    "By the way, what kind of a doctor was he?"
    "A podiatrist."
    "A foot doctor? I don't think that counts anyway—a bunion isn't life-threatening."
    "You're just trying to make me feel better."
    "Angora, you don't have anything to feel bad about."
    Her cousin started crying in earnest. "I couldn't keep my man."
    "Oh, God—are you going to sing a country song?"
    She blew her nose on her sleeve. "No—that's number thirteen on my list."
    "Hey, watch it, that's my favorite T-shirt."
    "Sorry." Angora sighed. "I wouldn't expect you to understand about Trenton."
    "Why not?"
    "Because you don't need a man."
    "Don't tell me you believe your mother."
    "I didn't mean you don't need a man, I mean you don't need a man."
    Roxann shifted, ashamed to admit she'd been the tiniest bit envious watching Angora walk down the aisle. "Yeah, well...yeah."
    Angora gestured to the ruined dress heaped on the floor. "Daddy spent a fortune on that dress, the florist, the caterers."
    "If you feel bad about it, pay him back."
    "With what? The allowance he gives me?"
    She blinked. "You still get an allowance?"
    "Just for extras."
    Roxann was starting to remember how high-maintenance Angora could be. "So sell the rock like Trenton said and give the money to your folks."
    Her cousin stared down at her enormous ring, and a new wellspring of tears erupted. "But look at it—it's the perfect ring."
    "And will scare off every eligible man in the state."
    Angora hiccupped. "The ring goes back. Next?"
    " 'Get a postgraduate degree.' "
    " 'Get a gold credit card.' "
    " 'Go parasailing.' "
    " 'Go on a round-the-world cruise.' "
    " 'Become proficient at chess.' "
    " 'Become a famous painter.' "
    "Angora, I didn't know you were an artist."
    "I'm not, but I've seen enough of that abstract nonsense in the museum to fake it."
    You fake . Roxann peered over the top of her list at her tipsy cousin and considered telling Angora about the break-in and the message left on her computer. She chewed on her impulse, testing the story in her head. Maybe it was the distance, or maybe it was lying on her childhood bed, but the threat of danger now seemed more perceived than