Page 28 of The Princess and the Pizza Man

“Now that our detective is here a day earlier than expected,” Mel continued, gesturing half-heartedly to Stacey, “she’s going to have to stay low-key until tomorrow. That way we don’t have anyone solving the mystery before it’s over.”

Winter raised her hand like a child, the first time she’d done so to speak during one of their meetings. But Mel seemed particularly moody. “I really don’t think anyone has a clue.”

Mel raised an eyebrow and turned, arms crossed. “Even William Monroe.”

“Even him.”

Mel stood there staring at her long enough that it made Winter laugh. What was she so worried about? Will didn’t give two hoots and a holler about who the murderer was. And if he did, he was a better actor than all the people in this room.

After a few long seconds, Mel slowly swiveled back to the room. “We’ll announce the pool party at lunch. Say we’re commemorating Edward.”

“Our people sure like to party after a death,” Michael said, and the joke eased the tension in the room. Mel sighed, her way of covering a laugh, and then continued to drone on about the rest of the week. Winter was suddenly preoccupied with imagining Will in a bathing suit.

“Um, I hate to interrupt this very interesting meeting,” Ms. Vancouver said, standing from her lounge chair, “but it’s nearly lunchtime, and I have a date with a handsome southern man.” Her eyes met Winter’s for a moment, sparkling with an inside joke Winter wasn’t sure she understood, but she smiled anyway.

Mel sighed, this time in exasperation, and waved them all out the door. Winter hopped off the side table and bee-lined for Michael.

“Hey.”

“Hmm,” he grunted back. She frowned. He’d been quieter than normal during that meeting, and she was still wondering about last night.

“Are you feeling okay?” she asked. “Did you catch what Eddie had?”

He smirked, pushing up from the couch and gathering his things. “I’m good.”

“But are you well?”

His eyes met hers, and there might have been a smile on his face, but it wasn’t in his soul. “I’m fine, Princess.”

“It’s Winter right now.” She folded her arms and watched him fumble with his papers. “And I’m worried about you.”

He took a deep breath and shook his head before turning to face her. “Promise, it’s all good. We got a pool party today, and that means many, many single women in bathing suits. Perhaps they’ll want to snuggle up to this.” He ran a hand down his torso, and Winter backhanded him in the chest.

“You keep away from them.”

“Nothing wrong with a little flirting.”

He said that a lot… but there was something different about it this time. Like he was trying to convince himself and not just her.

Winter shook it off; if he didn’t want to talk, that was fine.

“Well, just keep it in your pants,” she teased, and that seemed to pull him out for a moment. He laughed whole-heartedly and plopped a heavy arm over her shoulders and steered her toward the door.

“Hey, I will if youwill.” He winked and then headed toward his room, leaving her scowling at his clever—and not entirely inaccurate—pun.

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