Whiskey Rebellion (Romantic Mystery/Comedy) Book 1 (Addison Holmes Mysteries)

Bighorn in a padded cell. If only life were that easy.
    Rose Marie was the last person I wanted to talk to today. In fact, I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I wanted to be the invisible woman today, and I figured if I wished it hard enough, kept my eyes closed and didn’t say anything to acknowledge her presence, she’d just go away and leave me floating in an invisible cloud of depression.
    “Are you all right, Addison?”
    So much for luck. I slowly brought my head up off my desk and peeled away the term paper that was stuck to my cheek. I could tell by the smears on the page that I’d have a big fat F marked in red on the side of my face. A merry band of hammering men were pounding away in my left temple, and I was pretty sure I’d hit rock bottom around my third period class. Technically, things could only get better.
    Once his family had been notified, t he news of Mr. Butler’s death had spread through our small community like wildfire. I’d been fortunate that my involvement in finding his body hadn’t gotten out yet, but I wasn’t holding onto too much hope my luck would continue.
    Teachers had been roaming the hall s all day with red-rimmed eyes and the school counselor had been available for all students and faculty who were having a difficult time coping with the situation. I personally wouldn’t take advice or comfort from James Madison’s counselor if I had an ingrown toenail. My mother went to school with him, and she said he used to tie firecrackers to cat’s tails and light them when he was a kid.
    “Addison?”
    “I’m fine, Rose Marie. I just have a little bit of a headache.”
    What I was really thinking was that it wasn’t such a great day to go into the police station and give Detective Dempsey the statement he was so hot and bothered for or to start a new job, but then I thought of the little house on Hutton Street and decided to suck it up.
    I opened my eyes and saw more than I wanted to of Rose Marie. She was dressed in hot pink capris and a pink and white striped sailor’s top. What they say is true about large women not wearing horizontal stripes. Her permed blond hair was teased high around her head, and she always wore two perfect dots of rouge on her cheeks. I had the sudden urge to take out my makeup sponge and show her how to blend.
    “Bless your heart,” she said in a syrupy accent thick enough to spread on toast.
    Rose Marie wasn’t a bad person. She was just someone who took a great deal of energy to deal with, like a toddler or a Great Dane.
    “I just can’t believe Veronica said those things to you at lunch today,” she continued. “I d on’t believe for a minute that someone posted naked pictures of you on the Internet, but I’ll go home and check for you this afternoon just to make sure.”
    “Thanks, Rose Marie. You’re a true friend.”
    “I’m sure you’d do the same for me,” she said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Veronica posted those pictures herself. ” Veronica had experience in posting naked pictures of me on the Internet, so I wasn’t completely surprised by her bombshell during lunch. She’d done the same thing our senior year after I’d been voted Most Likely to Succeed by setting up a camera in the girls locker room. I like to think she wouldn’t have bothered with such a thing if she’d known in advance that my greatest successes would be teaching high school history and being the president of the Whiskey Bayou Yoga Association. But here we are again.
    “ She’s always been vindictive and spoiled,” Rose Marie continued. “I heard she seduced her mother’s third husband when she was sixteen and blackmailed him with the tape because he didn’t buy her the car she wanted.”
    “I heard that, too,” I said. I knew for a fact Veronica had always been vindictive and spoiled. Just like I knew the moment she came back to town she’d set her sights on Greg Nelson. It was me who was naïve enough to think he’d ignore her advances since he was so madly in love with me.
    “I tell you, you girls have been entertaining this town for twenty years, but it’s not just a simple case of female rivalry anymore. In my opinion, Veronica’s out to draw blood. I’d watch my back if I were you.”
    “Well that makes me feel better,” I said.

    God bless Dairy Queen. When life lets you down, they’re always there to pick up the pieces with the help of twenty-percent butter fat.
    I’d gone home to change into what I considered to