Half-Price Homicide by Elaine Viets Page A

signs of ordinary life.
    “Well, Larry is not young anymore,” Rob said in that lazy drawl. “Your mother is sick in Fort Lauderdale. Eight hundred miles is a long, hot trip for an old geezer. Larry isn’t well enough to take the bus. Look what it did to your mother.”
    “It’s no hotter in Florida than it is in St. Louis,” Helen said. “And he can buy a plane ticket.”
    “The farthest Larry goes these days is to the supermarket and church,” Rob said. “It wouldn’t hurt you to be nice to him, Helen. He’ll get your mom’s money when she passes on. Though I hope she won’t die,” he added quickly. “You know Dolores made out her will in his favor.”
    “That’s all Larry cares about,” Helen said. “Mom and I both married men who were only interested in our money.” Oops. Her hot temper was flaring up, trying to bust out of the ice cave.
    “That’s harsh,” Rob said. “It was your idea to divorce me. Otherwise, we’d still be happily married.”
    “You’d be happy,” Helen said. “I was happy, too, as long as I stayed stupid.” She could hear the ice cave cracking. Helen fought to seal it, but the heat was too much.
    “Your mom was a lonely widow when she married Lawn Boy Larry,” Rob said, his voice still silky cool. “She needed a companion. The new marriage didn’t work. When Dolores asked Larry to move back into his own home, he did. Larry is a gentleman. He still makes himself useful. He cuts your mother’s lawn, cleans the gutters, paints the fence, rakes leaves, little chores like that.”
    “So he can sell her house as soon as she dies,” Helen said, with more heat than she intended. Her temper was sizzling. She tried to shut it away, but it was getting too hot to handle.
    “You can’t judge Larry for that,” Rob said. “He’s almost eighty.
    Dolores has been in a coma for what—three months now? Larry told me she was his wife in name only for most of their marriage. Larry and Dolores weren’t exactly red-hot lovers. Your mom only did it once with him. That was enough for her. Think it was that little flat cap he always wears when he cuts the grass? Could be quite a turn-on for an older woman. When she got him into bed without that cap, well, all his charm vanished.”
    Ping! That was it. Helen could hear roaring in her ears.
    “Are you here in Florida?” Helen asked, her voice lethally quiet.
    “Why? Do you miss me?” Rob said.
    “Hell, no. If you’re staying at a nearby hotel, I want to come over and rip your face off. If you ever talk about my mother’s sex life again, I’ll kill you.”
    She’d lost it. She was flaming mad, all caution forgotten.
    “You’re feisty,” Rob said. “I’ve always liked that about you. Here’s some advice: Do be careful. Talking about killing me could be construed as a threat if anything should happen. As to your question, I’m a free man, Helen. There’s no reason to tell you where I am.
    “You’ve got to admire Larry, though. He made sure he consummated his marriage to your mother. Dolores wouldn’t dare ask for an annulment after they did the deed. A lesser woman would have lied. But Dolores was legally married to Larry and she doesn’t believe in divorce. She disapproved when you divorced her favorite son-in-law. She wasn’t happy with Larry, but she’s no hypocrite.
    “Larry made sure he and his new bride were well and truly hitched. Must have been worth the effort. Nice piece of property he’ll get when your mom passes.”
    “Shut up,” Helen said. Her voice sizzled and died in the powerful heat of her rage. She tried to remember if Rob had been this obnoxious when they were married, but she couldn’t think.
    “You won’t get her house, but at least you didn’t inherit Dolores’s dislike of sex,” Rob said. “You used to go at it hammer and tongs.”
    Helen couldn’t say anything. A sheet of red flame shut out her vision. She didn’t know who she loathed more—her ex-husband or herself for