Page 105 of The Body in the Backyard

“I just had the best idea,” Blossom announced. “Girls’ trip to the commune! We’ll can applesauce and take that yarn dyeing class we’ve always talked about.”

None of them had ever mentioned a yarn dyeing class.

“Actually, I was wondering if you and Wander wanted to come do some exciting investigative work with me tonight?” Riley asked with the feigned brightness inherited directly from her mother.

“Laurel’s not here,”announced the roommate dressed in a hot-pink onesie. She was wearing a green face mask and had a bowl of ice cream in one hand.

Riley, Blossom, and Wander stood on the front porch of a three-story town house in one of those developments that was laid out like a miniature town. Three dog faces poked out of the passenger window of Wander’s minivan at the curb.

By the time they were ready to leave, Mrs. Penny had—thankfully—fallen asleep in her desk chair, allowing Riley to make the executive decision to leave her behind. After all, they weren’t running down leads. They were just handing over some dogs and confirming from another source that Ingram Theodoric III was a terrible person.

“Well, this was fun. Who wants to make our own organic hair dye and color our hair? I’ve always wanted to go pink,” Blossom said.

“Do you know where Laurel went or when she’ll be back?” Riley asked, ignoring her mother.

The roommate shrugged. “She’s at her support group. They meet in the Wegmans café. Dunno when she’ll be back. I gotta go. If I leave this face mask on for too long, it turns my skin green.”

The door shut in their faces.

“Everybody back in the van,” Riley said, ushering her mother and sister off the stoop.

“Don’t you think it’s a little unethical to crash a support group meeting?” Wander asked.

“I don’t think. Iknowit is. But maybe we can just wait outside for her,” Riley said. “Unless you want pink hair.”

“Let’s go invade a woman’s privacy,” Wander said and hit the unlock button on her key fob.

Waitingin the grocery store parking lot turned out not to be a viable option. Apparently everyone in Silver Spring Township did their Wegmans shopping on Saturday night. Laurel’s dogs’ incessant yapping was the final nail in the coffin.

“Okay. We’re going inside. This is who we’re looking for,” Riley said, passing her phone up to the front seat to show her mother and sister a photo of Laurel.

“She’s a cutie. Do you think I could pull off bangs like that?” Blossom wondered.

“Focus, Mom,” Riley said. “She’s part of an active investigation. She just doesn’t know it yet, so I don’t want to scare her off.”

“Is she dangerous?” Blossom asked hopefully.

“Just her taste in men. She dated one of our suspects and slept with Griffin.”

“I don’t know what women see in that little weasel,” Blossom said. “No offense, sweetie.”

The terrier launched itself at Riley and licked her face between migraine-inducing yaps. “None taken. Let’s go.”

Wegmans was known for their café and alcohol sections. A hungry shopper could come in for milk and eggs and leave with freshly made sushi, hot chicken parm, and a six-pack of blueberry lager. Riley led the way past the hot food buffets and beer coolers to the cavernous community room full of tables.

“Did you hear about the jewelry store robbery?” Riley heard a cashier ask her shopper. Something inside her pinged.

The shopper with a toddler and a twelve-pack of spiked seltzers gasped. “No! What happened?”

“I heard three hot guys?—”

“Look! I got us a snack,” Blossom said, holding up a to-go container of vegetable korma.

“Mom, we don’t have time for snacks,” Riley said as she pawed through her bag for her phone.

“Isn’t that Laurel?” Wander pointed toward a group of women standing around a pink balloon arch with an easel sign that saidGGS Support Group.

“Let me get a closer look,” Blossom said and scooted toward the far end of the room.