The Corpse in the Cactus Page 16

Maggie left them to flirt with each other.

  She congratulated Rocco and a glowing Adrian on their success. They stood next to the statuesque Barbara Atwell with her perfectly-coifed blonde hair as she held court with the well-wishers anxious to welcome her back. Her smile was as elegant as her classic dress. She leaned over and hugged Adrian, happy to be home where she belonged. After Montana’s suicide and putting together the tragic puzzle surrounding the corpse at the Desert Museum, Maggie was ready for a happy ending.

  And this was it.

  A Tucson cop and a group of eccentric artists made for strange bedfellows, yet The Mosaic Gallery had become her haven. Were it not for the unfortunate circumstance that had first brought her here, she would never have met Rocco La Crosse. Or Mary Rose. Or any of the other people that she now considered friends. Amazing how a dead man on a gallery floor could serve as a positive catalyst. And Barbara’s expression made it clear she held no animosity toward her for doing her job.

  In the end, everything worked out for the best.

  She wove her way through the crowd, studying the new art on the walls and shelves. Bold colors, muted tones, abstracts and landscapes. And naughty metal statues by Rocco La Crosse. There was jewelry, there were ceramics, and there was warmth mixed with an aura of optimism. It was breathing life and beauty and shining light onto a world that sometimes slipped into the darkness.

  It was a place filled with hope.

  Mary Rose walked up to her.

  “It’s a good show.”

  “It’s perfect,” said Maggie.

  “Your friend is delicious. And such a gentleman. Too good of a gentleman, really.”

  “Is there such a thing?”

  “I asked him over for a cup of tea,” she said with a wink, “but he said that he was your escort and obligated to drive you home.”

  From across the room Maggie could see Carlos looking at Mary Rose with the adoration of a leading man in a romantic movie. Or a cocker spaniel puppy. She couldn’t help but smile. One was never too old for love and tonight there was plenty to go around.

  “Tell your Romeo I’ll find another way home,” she said, then added: “and don’t be corrupting him with those funny cigarettes.”

  “Oh, I’ll take good care of him, my dear. I promise.”

  Detective Maggie Reardon walked over to Rocco and whispered in his ear.

  “Your place or mine?” he asked.

  “They say one always returns to the scene of the crime.”

  “Then my place it is.”

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Lonni Lees is a multi-award winning writer. Her stories have appeared in Hardboiled Magazine and the anthologies Deadly Dames, More Whodunits, Battling Boxing Stories, and Felons, Flames and Ambulance Rides and online on Yellow Mama, A Shot of Ink, Shotgun Honey, Black Petals, All Due Respect and others. Her first short story collection, Crawlspace, her novels, Deranged (which won the PSWA 2012 award for Best Published Novel) and The Mosiac Murder, a Maggie Reardon Mystery, are available from Wildside Press. She lives in Arizona with her scientist husband and shows her art at a Tucson gallery.