Lock, Stock, and Feral

his wine. A toxic compound he cooked down to ensure the maximum deadly benefits.”
“That’s right,” Devan says. “But Summerset’s problems with Jed didn’t end there, did they? What happened to Summerset after Jed died?”
Mom raises her hand, and a tiny spear of pride infiltrates me. My mother always has something intelligent to say.
“Go on.” Devan nods her way.
“Summerset fell in love with Lydia, his next-door neighbor.”
The room breaks out into titters, and even Devan herself laughs the idea off.
“Well, I think that’s a bit of a stretch, don’t you think?” Devan tips an ear toward my mother. “I mean, at most they had a few exchanges about how their chickens were doing and whose poultry was producing more eggs.”
“Oh, but those conversations were so very sensual.” Mom swoons, and another round of cackles circles the room once again.
So much for having anything intellectual to say. That French-American she’s quasi-dating has turned her brain to mush.
The tiny kitten in my hand mewls, and I draw her closer to me.
Even Clyde can see that my mother has her head in the clouds. Thankfully, Romero—if that’s his real name—is too far away for her to have any of her other body parts mixed up in the endeavor.
“Anybody else?” Devan scans the room for a moment until her gaze stops cold over Patterson.
“I’ll give it a go.” He winks her way, and it only seems to infuriate her all the more.
“Go on.” All right, hot shot, let’s hear how your genius mind will interpret this disaster. I’m betting you’ll be twice as randy as Drooling Debbie over there.
Did she just call my mother Drooling Debbie? She’s not far off the mark, but for my mother’s sake, I’d like to request a less bodily fluid based moniker. Like maybe Delusional Debbie or Desperate Debbie.
Patterson gurgles a quiet laugh. “I think Summerset is a good example of many of us. We fight for something we believe in. We discard the old, and pound our chest that we’re free of it, so much so that we start to buy the lie that it was holding us back all along. But in truth, life is never that cut and dry. Many things can hold us back. Often, we like to finger point and suggest it was one thing, one person. But as it turns out, many times it was us all along. We dole out the power for people and things to hold us back. And with Summerset, even long after Jed was gone, I think he realized he was still in that emotional cage. Jed might have been dead, but Summerset was far from free of him. Summerset blamed Jed for his own ruin. He put him on a toxic emotional pedestal. Some people are simply tethered together so tightly it’s impossible to ever be free of them.”
Devan’s head tips to the side as if he struck her. “So you think Summerset had the power to free himself, and yet you said that he was still in an emotional cage? What stopped Summerset from letting go of his emotional baggage and finally breaking free?”
Patterson bores his gaze right into Devan’s. “Summerset will always care about Jed.”
The room breaks out with a nervous laugh, and Devan fans herself with her book.
“It seems Mr. Higgins read the same copy as our chicken friend here,” she says while throwing daggers his way.
A warm laugh circles the room on my mother’s behalf and she joins in blushing like a schoolgirl.
Devan leads the room into another discussion before she announces a five-minute coffee break, and soon the room is alive with conversation once again.
Jasper heads my way. “I see you have a new buddy,” he says, giving Clyde a quick scratch between the ears. “You’ll like Bizzy. She’s extra friendly to cute kiddos like you.”
“Apparently, you’re extra friendly, too,” the words speed out of me a touch too quickly, and it’s no use, I can’t hide my irrational jealously. Jasper is just going to have to take my budding rage on the chin like a man.
A dry laugh pumps from him, but he’s not smiling. “Did you pick up anything? You know, from her mind?”
“No.” I make a face. “At least not about you.”
He glances back into the crowd. “I’ll be right back, Bizzy.” He drops a kiss to my forehead before speeding off.
Perfect. He’s probably going to warn her that his wife is a weirdo who reads minds, and that she should keep their budding romance on the down low.
I crane my neck into the sea of people and spot Emmie and Leo trying to shill their green cookies. Jordy is pouring wine as fast as he can, and I see Devan and Liv, the woman I bumped into, as takers. Next to Liv is that man in the sweater I saw earlier. He looks pretty eager to get in on the liquor action himself. And low and behold, stepping up to the front of the line are Jasper and his new hottie, Hadley Culpepper.
I can’t help but shake my head when Jordy all but bows to the woman and hands her the very next glass of wine. I bet that’s exactly how Hadley has gone through life, cutting lines and stealing husbands. She’s a magician, all right. She’s doing pretty well at making my husband disappear.
I spot Devan in the corner with that man, Patterson, and they look as if they’re having one heck of a tense conversation. I doubt it has anything to do with the book. I sensed something wasn’t right between the two of them during our little meet-up.
A few dizzying minutes go by and I spot Sherlock by the door that leads into the main hall, so I head on over and nearly bump the wine right out of the hands of the lanky man in the sweater.
“I’m so sorry,” I say as I move past him.
Bizzy! I found the killer! Sherlock Bones gives a few quick barks, but the noise level is so high in