Vanilla Vices by Jessica Beck

interview, but she understands your unique relationship with Grace, so she’s agreed to allow you to share whatever you learn with her, as long as you promise to be as discreet as possible.”
    “That exception has to include Jake as well,” I said. I wasn’t trying to be difficult, but there was no way I was going to agree to keep anything from my husband.
    “That’s understood. So, do you agree to her terms?”
    “Hang on a second,” I said, and then I buried my phone against my chest. “We’ve got a new offer, Grace. The mystery woman still just wants to speak with only me, but I can share what I learn with you after the fact.”
    “From your end of the conversation, I assume you can tell Jake as well.”
    “Yes, but only if we all promise to be discreet.”
    “And you want to know if I can do that?” Grace asked me.
    “I know you can. I just want to be sure that you’re okay with the terms.”
    “They are fine by me. I can catch up on some paperwork while you two chat. After you talk, maybe we can get lunch.”
    “That sounds wonderful. Thanks for understanding.”
    “Hey, as long as you’re not the one excluding me, there’s nothing to understand.” She pointed to my phone and added, “Should you keep her hanging around on the phone like that?”
    “Probably not,” I said as I smiled and spoke again.
    “It’s a deal,” I said before I realized that Gabby was already gone.
    What now?

    “Hey. Did you just hang up on me?”
    “I thought you were signaling your unwillingness to accept the new terms by hanging up on me again,” Gabby said sternly. “Suzanne, I must say, I don’t approve of this new way of communicating with me.”
    “I didn’t hang up on you,” I explained. “I wanted to be sure it was okay with Grace before I gave you my answer.”
    “And was it?”
    “Yes. I accept. Now, who is it?”
    “Rather than tell you over the phone, come to the back of my shop as soon as you can get here. She’s waiting on you.”
    “Should I knock in any particular pattern so you’ll know that it’s me, like three shorts, three longs, and then another three shorts?” I asked her.
    “Why on earth would you want to do that?”
    “I don’t know. This all just seems so covert, I thought she’d at least insist on some kind of secret code.”
    “She’s not making this difficult on purpose. All she wants is to salvage what small bit of pride she has left. Being with Dan wasn’t easy for her, but she genuinely cared for him, and now that he’s gone, she wants to be sure that whoever killed him pays for it. Is that so hard to understand?”
    “I suppose not,” I said. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
    “Alone,” she reminded me.
    “Alone,” I echoed.
    After I hung up, I turned to Grace and said, “I’ll swing by your house when I’m finished.”
    “I’ll be there,” Grace said. “Good luck.”
    “Thanks. I just hope I don’t need it.”
    “This is a friend of Gabby’s, remember? Trust me; you’re going to need it, all right.”

    I didn’t even have to knock on Gabby’s back door when I got there, so my suggested secret code was useless anyway. The door opened a moment before I was even able to reach the handle.
    “Come in,” Gabby said, looking behind me furtively, as if it was a possibility that I could have been followed. Maybe it wasn’t that crazy an impulse. After all, someone had killed Dan Billingham the night before. It was entirely feasible that they knew Grace and I would be digging into the crime, especially if they were from April Springs. We’d developed quite a reputation for nosing around crime scenes, so it wasn’t that hard to believe that the killer might decide to stalk us as we worked at solving the homicide to check up on our progress. I’d have to share that insight with Grace the next time I saw her. The thought of being followed made me uneasy, and I was happy to get inside and bolt the door behind me.
    “Hello, Suzanne,” a voice