Bossy Cakes: A Yellow Rose Cozy Mystery (Yellow Rose Mystery Series Book 3) by K. P. Hilton

for a moment. “I just heard his name tonight. I didn’t know my daughter had met him. He told her he was single, as far as I know.”
     
    Anger flashed across the younger woman's face. “Well, he wasn’t,” she said.
     
    “I’m sorry. And Brianna, who has a boyfriend back home, wasn’t interested in him. She just wanted to hang out with friends. If he thought something else would happen, it wouldn’t have.”
     
    “It doesn’t matter now,” Amy said.
     
    “I’m sorry he died,” she said. It hadn’t seemed like Amy was torn up about his passing. She just seemed angry. Almost glad that he was gone. Her voice was like the edge of a knife.
     
    “I was surprised when I heard what you and Candace were doing,” Amy said, changing the subject.
     
    “It was a dumb idea, but I was scared,” Betty said. “This is like something out of a movie. It doesn’t feel like real life.”
     
    “Yet it is real. And my life at that,” Amy said. Betty nodded and found she couldn’t keep her eyes on the younger woman's. Amy was a shifting emotional mess. She started off mad, then changed to sad, tears gleaming in the low light in her eyes. Betty looked up toward the beach. She couldn’t see anyone. They were alone.
     
    “I should have tried to speak with him,” Amy said. Betty looked back to her.
     
    “About what?”
     
    “Other girls he was apparently interested in. Your daughter, for instance.”
     
    “Like I said, she wasn’t interested in him. And you couldn’t have known. I don’t know if he was being unfaithful, or wanting to be, and for how long, but you didn’t even find out until tonight. Don’t blame yourself. Remember that he cared for you and mourn him.”
     
    “I saw them last night,” Amy said. “You idiot, I saw them last night. I should have tried speaking with him.”
     
    “You saw him?”
     
    “He didn’t know I was in town. I didn’t want to tell him. These trips are for me and my friends. We always say 'no guys.' So he didn’t know, and I thought maybe I would run into him, since the summer season is basically over, but I didn’t try to do anything. We just went to the club, and they were leaving. We were getting there late, and he didn’t even see me. Candace and Heather didn’t even see him.”
     
    “He said he was single,” Betty said. Amy seemed to be growing angrier by the minute. The tears were gone, and her mouth was a small slit in the bottom of her face, tight and grim. “If you guys were exclusive, I mean – ”
     
    “Of course we were!” Amy erupted, but then quickly quieted. “We were.”
     
    Betty was starting to fear the girl. She took a step back.
     
    “I followed them. They got on the boat. Davis’ father's boat. I got on too, though they didn’t know.”
     
    A horrible realization hit Betty. Her eyes widened and she realized she was standing on the beach with the person who had killed Brent.
     
    “They kissed. I saw it with my own eyes. Maybe I should tell your skanky daughter's boyfriend. Maybe he would be thankful for what I did. I took a big paddle...a decoration on the side of the boat, and I hit her. I hit her and she fell. Brent was surprised to see me, I can tell you that. I hit him, too. So hard he fell overboard.”
     
    “You killed him.”
     
    “I’m not sorry,” Amy said with a sneer. “He was a cheater. And cheaters get what they deserve.”
     
    “Brianna – you brought her back?”
     
    Amy nodded. “I knew it was his fault. I was mad at her, I wanted to kill her. I could have, but I came back. I got us off the boat. She was awake but out of it. Drunk. Concussion. Whatever. I set the boat to go back out to sea. I’m sure it'll be found somewhere. I don’t know how much gas those things have. I just let it go. I got a cab – we were just two drunk girls. I left your daughter in the lobby. But when they find that boat, her DNA is going to be all over it. It’s a good thing I left her alive. They have her.