The Corpse in the Cabana

the new one. Greta something.”
“Oh, yeah. Morris.”
It was well known in the romance community that Natasha had fired her original PA, Piper Ross, the woman who’d been with her since the beginning, before she’d gotten successful. Word on the circuit was that Piper and Jason Winters had gotten extremely cozy, and Natasha found out. She’d fired the former and began divorce proceedings on the latter. Although I’d never heard that Piper cared much about getting fired. Natasha had been a major pain to work for even back then, although perhaps not as big a diva as she eventually became.
In any case, Natasha’s new PA, Greta Morris, was about as different from her old PA as two women could be. While Piper was young, attractive, and a go-getter, Greta was past middle age, plump, graying, and scared of her own shadow.
I pulled Cheryl to an empty table not far from the two women. “Let’s see if we can learn anything.”
“You mean eavesdrop?” she hissed.
I shrugged. “If you insist.” It was semantics, really. If I was going to learn anything at all, underhanded tactics would be involved. It wasn’t like I could march up to either woman and ask them if they bumped off Natasha.
We sat down as quietly as possible, trying to look natural and inconspicuous. I’m not sure we were terribly successful, but Yvonne and Greta were so deep in conversation they didn’t even look up when the waiter came to take our order.
Unfortunately the Flying Fish didn’t serve blackberry bourbon. I needed a clear head, anyway, so I ordered iced tea. Cheryl asked for a beer.
“What?” she hissed when I shot her a look. “I need to calm my nerves. I swear you’re going to give me heart palpitations with all this investigating nonsense.”
I hushed her. The last thing we needed was people cottoning on to our investigation. Subtlety was key here.
The women’s voices grew louder by the minute. By the time the waiter brought our order, they were practically screaming. I expected that from Yvonne—she and Natasha had more than one screaming match over the years—but from Greta it was totally unexpected.
“It wasn’t my idea,” Greta all but shouted. “You’re the one who got me into this. I won’t go down for—.”
“Shut up, you fool,” Yvonne snapped. “Do you want everyone to know about...” she trailed off. Her small, muddy brown eyes darted around the Flying Fish while everyone else pretended to be engrossed in their drinks. “Come on. We’ll continue this conversation elsewhere.” She stood up and tossed a few bills on the table before storming out, Greta followed along in her wake. Both of the women were flushed, eyes snapping with anger.
I leaned closer to Cheryl. “Come on, let’s follow them.”
Before either of us could budge from our seats, a new player arrived. “Hello, ladies. Is this seat taken?”
Cheryl beamed up at Lucas Salvatore. “Of course not. Please sit down.”
I all but growled in frustration. Yvonne and Greta had disappeared from sight. I had no idea what direction they’d gone, and now I’d never know what they were arguing about. What if it was something important?
“I hope I’m not interrupting something,” Lucas said smoothly, taking a seat across from me. It was obvious from his expression he knew very well he’d interrupted.
I found myself suddenly ensnared in his gray eyes and barely refrained from shaking my head. What was wrong with me? I did not have time to moon over some writer dude. I had a mystery to solve.
I opened my mouth to tell him that he was, indeed, interrupting something when Cheryl barged in. “Oh, no, not at all, Lucas. It’s so good to see you again.” Good grief, the girl could gush.
After placing his drink order with the waiter, he leaned back, fingers laced behind his head. “So how goes the investigation?”
I glared at him. “Why don’t you announce it to the entire bar?”
He laughed. “I wouldn’t worry. Everyone else is more interested in speculating about Yvonne and Greta’s argument.”
“You heard that?” Cheryl asked.
“Naturally.”
I leaned forward eagerly. “Do you know what it was about?”
A slow grin spread across his handsome face. “Perhaps. What is it worth to you?”
My eyes narrowed. “Stop messing around and tell me, or else...” I had no idea what to threaten him with, but hopefully he’d get the message.
He held out his hands in supplication. “Mercy.” I swear he was laughing at me. “Now, keep in mind, this is all second- and third-hand information, but what I heard is that Natasha was being courted by a new acquisitions editor at a competing publishing house.”
My eyes widened. “Natasha is leaving Romantic Press?”
“I don’t know for sure,” Lucas admitted, “but that’s the rumor. Yvonne had some kind of deal going with Greta, and apparently Greta failed to deliver.”
Cheryl leaned forward, buzzing with excitement. She did love a good piece of gossip. I could relate. “What kind of deal? Like spying on Natasha or something?”
“I honestly don’t know, but that would make sense, wouldn’t it?”
Now it was me buzzing with excitement. What if Greta had been spying on Natasha for Yvonne, and Natasha had found out? Confronted Greta. If she fired Piper over sleeping with Jason, she’d for sure fire Greta over spying, and from what I understood, Natasha was Greta’s only client. Natasha could easily make sure Greta never got hired again. It would totally give Greta a motive for murdering Natasha.
Or maybe it was Yvonne. Maybe she got so angry with Natasha about leaving her and Romantic Press that she confronted Natasha on the beach. They argued and blamo! Natasha ends up dead. Yes, I could definitely see it going either way.
“Forget about Yvonne and Greta for a minute,” Cheryl said, interrupting my thoughts. “What about the bracelet?”
“Bracelet?” Lucas perked up.
I explained where and how I found the bracelet and my plan for it. Then I told them both about how I’d shown it to Kyle. “I’m certain he recognized it, but he’s a cagey one. He pretended not to recognize