Engaged in Murder (Perfect Proposals Mystery) by Nancy J. Parra Page B

had bought the house in 1980. They loved vintage and had used that as an excuse not to update anything in the house.
    The floors were wood from when the house was built in the 1920s. The walls were plaster and the doorways were arched. The house was a basic bungalow. It had a porch that ran the width of the front of the house. The front door opened into the living room. To the right was the guest bedroom. It had been my room growing up.
    Straight back from the living room and separated by a wide archway was the dining room. Behind that was the kitchen, which opened to the stairs to the basement and a tiny back porch, where Mom’s students would take off their shoes before they entered.
    To the right of the kitchen was a small hall that led straight into the only bathroom. To the left of the bath was my parents’ room. To the right of the bath was Felicity’s old room. My sister had her own apartment as well, and my parents now used her room for storage. My mother had considered making her room the new music room, but Dad refused to pull those pianos upstairs. So instead she used it as a place to keep her sewing machines and Dad’s desk, where he had his computer and did his accounts.
    I snatched a carrot slice off the veggie tray Mom had put on the kitchen table. “I can’t wait to see the video of their engagement.” I tapped my fingertips on the DVD that sat on the table. “Cesar assured me it was romantic. Then you can see what all went into planning the event.”
    “There had better not be any sign of that poor dead fellow in the video.” Mom closed the open door. “That would be terrible, just terrible for your sister.”
    “There isn’t,” I said. “I checked. Besides Cesar gave a copy of the video to Detective Murphy. I’m certain the detective on the case would not have let us keep a copy if there was any evidence on it.”
    “What an awful thing, finding a dead man in the ladies’ room.” My mom tsked her tongue and pulled out a package of brown-and-serve rolls and placed them in a pan. “Did you ever find out who he was?”
    “There was no identification on him,” I said. “Last I heard, they were going to check missing persons and see if anyone fit his description.”
    “Will they tell you when they find out?”
    “I don’t suppose they will.” I shrugged and grabbed another carrot. “There would be no reason to tell me.”
    “But aren’t you a witness or something?” Mom asked.
    “I found the body, but I didn’t see anyone or anything unusual.” I sat back and studied my mom. She had her own small business. Maybe she would appreciate my idea. I’d been thinking about my business plan all weekend. But it would have to pass my parents’ sniff test before I could even consider it. “So, Mom, Warren said I should go into business for myself.”
    “Really? What would you do?” Mom wiped her hands on a dish towel.
    “I’m thinking of event planning in a niche market,” I said and rested my head against the orange-and-yellow-floral-wallpaper-covered wall. She looked at me blankly. “I could do proposal events. Warren said I did a great job helping him plan Felicity’s proposal.”
    “I don’t understand how you can make a living at that,” Mom said carefully. “A gentleman in love buys a ring, takes his lady to a nice restaurant and gets down on one knee. What’s to plan? Speaking of gentlemen, where’s Bobby? It’s not like him not to come to a family dinner—especially when there’s free food.”
    “We broke up.” I reached for a piece of celery.
    “You broke up?” Mom scrunched her brows. “Why? When? Are you okay?”
    “What happened?” Dad asked as he strolled back into the kitchen and pinched a cookie off the dessert tray Mom had on the counter.
    “Pepper and Bobby broke up.” Mom slapped Dad’s hand when he reached for a second cookie. “Dinner’s almost ready.”
    Dad pretended nothing happened and pulled a glass out of the cupboard and filled it