Page 31 of The Body in the Backyard

Claudia’s smile was feline as she slipped an arm around Riley’s shoulders. “Let’s have a drink and chat, shall we?”

Riley ordered a glass of white wine and followed her quarry to a cocktail table where they could observe the rich and fabulous around them.

“That man has quite the track record, doesn’t he?” Claudia asked as they watched Griffin kiss the knuckles of one woman while making awkward bedroom eyes at her friend. “And he’s never once paid the price for his sins.”

“I keep hoping someone will hold him accountable eventually,” Riley said as she once again mentally rolled up her spiritual garage doors. She drew the psychic ethics line at forcing herself into people’s heads unless it was a life-or-death situation. But if she happened to catch snatches of thoughts that they broadcast…well, that was slightly less icky.

“Yes, well. I’ve turned all my revenge fantasies over to karma. She’ll take care of him…eventually.”

“Any tips on how to forgive and forget? Because every time I see his face, I just want to throw something,” Riley admitted.

“Here’s a page out of my playbook,” Claudia offered. “First I let the bitterness simmer for a few years. Then I continued to let it eat away at me while I used it as fuel to achieve. Every rung of the ladder I’ve climbed has been so I could one day stand over him and rub his little pig nose in my success. I’m the highest-paid anchor on Channel 49. I won four Dillys. And I bought my parents a condo in Sarasota.”

She paused and took a delicate sip of her champagne, still watching Griffin. Then she put the glass down and deliberately turned her back on the man.

“And then I realized I was still miserable. I woke up one day and discovered that making choices to spite someone doesn’t lead to happiness. So off I went on a self-healing journey.” She plucked absently at one of the threads on the embroidered wrap she wore draped over her elbows.

“What did that entail?” Riley asked.

“Oh, I tried therapy for the helplessness. I took up boxing for the rage. Then I went to a tarot card reader and asked to see Griffin’s downfall. Instead, she showed me a journey. So I packed my things, took a sabbatical, and booked a flight.”

The kerfuffle around the chocolate fountain had reignited, this time spilling over to the dessert table. Insults and plates of tiny desserts were hurled back and forth. Griffin didn’t seem to be involved, but a bowl of pudding landed rather close to him.

“Where did you go?” Riley asked, trying to stay focused on the conversation at hand while signaling Nick to stay focused on Griffin.

Claudia seemed oblivious to the drama erupting around them. “First I went to visit my parents in Colombia. Then I went to an ashram in India and meditated for forty-five days, the first thirty of which I meditated on all the ways I wanted Griffin’s life to implode. And then on day thirty-one, all that hatred, all that frustration was just…gone.”

Riley’s nose twitched, and she was treated to a sudden flash of Claudia in wrinkled off-white linen on a meditation cushion in a stuffy, windowless room surrounded by more than a dozen other sweaty people desperate for enlightenment. It didn’t smell good.

“Wow,” she said, not sure what else she could say.

“Yeah, it was a real eat-meditate-forgive kind of experience.” Claudia tapped a manicured finger to her chin. “I might write a book about it.”

“And now you’re fine being in the same room with him?” Riley pressed.

“Of course. I’ve evolved. I’ve found inner peace. Every year, I go away to a spa in upstate New York for a silent meditation retreat and juice fast. I come back feeling even healthier and more at peace. I just got back yesterday afternoon.”

Knowing what was required, Riley gasped theatrically. “I wondered why your skin was glowing.”

Claudia gave her thick hair a shake. “It’s all the broccoli sprouts I eat,” she said conspiratorially.

“I’ll keep that in mind for my healing journey.”

“Lay it on me,”Nick said when Riley returned to the table.

“Well, I learned that broccoli sprouts make your skin glow.”

“Gross.”

“And that Claudia claims she’s given up her animosity toward Griffin after years of working on herself.”

“Hence the broccoli sprouts.”

“Exactly. She also just got back into town yesterday from a spa retreat.”

“Did your spidey senses tell you anything?”

“She isn’t lying about all the self-work she’s been doing. But she also stood at the bar glaring eyeball daggers at Griffin for a good five minutes before I interrupted her. I remember her doing a special report years ago from a gun range where she shot up a target with what looked like expert precision. I think she stays on the list.”