CELEBRITY STATUS (The Kate Huntington mystery series #4) by Kassandra Lamb Page B

them.”
                Edie was now bouncing in her chair. “Really, Daddy? Riding lessons!” She clapped her hands. “Can I name the horse I ride?”
                Skip laughed. “I doubt it, Pumkin. He or she will probably already have a name.” Not wanting Edie to be totally taken by surprise if the real animals did not live up to her fantasies, he added, “And you might not like horses as much as you think you will. They poop a lot, and part of taking care of them is picking up after them when they poop.” Skip grinned at his daughter, ignoring his vibrating pocket for the third time.
                “Poopy, poopy,” Billy sang out.
                “You had to get him started,” Kate said.
                “Billy, not good word to say at dinner,” Maria admonished the two-year-old.
                “Daddy say it,” Billy protested.
                “Yes,” his mother said, “and Daddy is going to be punished later for saying it, so if you don’t want to be punished, stop saying it.” Kate was avoiding eye contact with her husband. She knew he was grinning, contemplating what his punishment might be.
                Skip’s pocket purred for the fourth time.
                Kate sighed. “You’d better call her back, Skip, before she works herself into a total snit.”
                “Oh she’s no doubt already there,” he said, leaving his dinner half eaten as he got up and headed for the living room.
                “Finish your dinner, kids,” Kate said, and got up to follow him.
                Skip was saying into his phone, “Be there shortly. Call Rose and fill her in.”
                “You have to go out there?” Kate asked, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice as she followed Skip into the study.
                “Last call was from Ben,” Skip said. He unlocked the gun safe and removed his .38, along with its waistband holster. Unbuckling his belt, he started threading it through the holster.
                “There’s been another note?”
                “Not exactly. A piece of jewelry this time, engraved. ‘Our love forever, til death do us part.’ And this points toward our boy, Timothy. Jewelry was in a Tiffany’s box, and we know he purchased something from there recently.”
                Kate wrapped her arms around him, avoiding the gun that was now at the small of his back, under his loose shirttail. “Be careful, sweetheart,” she whispered, then kissed him hard.
                He gathered her close against him and kissed her back. When they came up for air, he said, “I always am, darlin’.”
    * * *
                At the farm, Cherise once again rushed across the room and flung herself at him. This time she was too quick for him. Her left hand collided with his gun. But instead of pulling back as most women would, she let out a soft, “Oh,” and actually stroked the gun butt through his shirt.
                Skip’s jaw tightened but he gave her a fake smile as he gently disentangled himself and led her to one of the sofas. He glanced in Ben’s direction.
                “Rose and Dolph are on the way, to canvas the neighbors,” Ben reported. “Housekeeper found the box in the mailbox, but it hadn’t been mailed. Wrapped in shiny red paper. No address or postage. Somebody had to have put it there after the mail delivery. It was on top of the envelopes. I opened it with a kitchen knife. Nobody else touched anything, except the outside of the box. It’s all on the kitchen table.”
                “When’s the mail usually come?” Skip asked Cherise. He was standing in front of the sofa where she was sitting.
                “I don’t really know. Bonnie usually gives it to me just before dinner, but you’d have to ask her when it’s