by Diana Orgain | Jun 22, 2021 | Maternal Instincts Mysteries, Sneak Peek, Uncategorized
Did you miss Chapter One? Did you miss part one of Chapter Two? From Lethal Lullaby Chapter Two Continued… It smelled good, but I had to suppress a smile at all the pageantry. I loved a good wine tour as much as the next person, but a lot of it seemed like theatrics to me—could anyone really taste all those notes in the wine? Could anyone really tell the difference between a fifteen-dollar bottle and a hundred-dollar bottle? I was skeptical. With a side‐ ways glance at Andrew, I filched his chocolate. I mean, if I can’t have the wine . . . They sipped the wine with very serious expressions. “An excellent choice,” declared Nick. Natalie, Nick’s girlfriend, started talking as if she were speaking to a camera. “Nick is sipping the 2017 Merlot, infused with dried floral and vanilla and perfumed with berry aromas.” She thrust her empty fist toward his face as if she held a microphone. “Tell us, can you taste the lingering finish?” He chuckled and leaned over to give her a quick kiss, then turned to us. “Natalie’s going to be the next anchor on our local news chan‐ nel, so she’s using this trip to practice.” She suddenly looked shy, tucking back a strand of dark hair that had come loose from her ponytail. “Well, I’m still in the interview process,” she said, “but I’m hopeful. It’d be a dream come true.” “That sounds like an exciting career,” I said. “Have you always wanted to be a journalist?” She nodded. “This is going to be my big break. I’m sure of it.”...
by Diana Orgain | Jun 22, 2021 | Maternal Instincts Mysteries, Sneak Peek, Uncategorized
Did you miss part one of Chapter One? From Lethal Lullaby Chapter One Continued… “Tracy, we’ve used that marinade for years. He just didn’t think to check—” But she was already storming out to the backyard. “Wait!” I chased after her but stopped to carefully close the sliding glass door. She marched right up to Jim. “I cannot believe you!” she yelled. Jim’s eyes widened, and he looked from Tracy to me. Andrew jumped up from where he was sitting with Mom and the girls and raced to Tracy’s side. “How could you not know the marinade had gluten?” she demanded, her face reddening as she waved the bottle at Jim. “Are you trying to poison me?” Jim stuttered, “I . . . I . . . what has gluten?” “The steak marinade!” Her face was red. “Which means all these steaks have gluten.” My poor husband looked like a deer in the headlights. No—he was way more startled than a deer. Maybe an opossum in the headlights. Andrew put an arm around Tracy’s shoulder. “It was an accident, sweetheart. How about we order a gluten-free pizza for you?” Jim looked at me and shrugged helplessly. I crossed my arms and studied the scene with a scowl. So, I hadn’t been imagining it; I’d felt like Tracy had been especially short-tempered with Jim ever since she’d arrived. But this was the last straw. My brother had come to San Francisco on a business trip—he worked for a real estate investing firm—and since it was summer break, Tracy and the girls had tagged along. If I was perfectly honest, Tracy...
by Diana Orgain | Jun 22, 2021 | Maternal Instincts Mysteries, Sneak Peek, Uncategorized
From Pampered to Death Chapter One How my best girlfriend, Paula, convinced me to take a yoga class was beyond me. When she’d told me about this spa, Pampered to Death, I’d envisioned something quite different. A massage, of course … a glass of champagne … a girlfriend’s brunch. And at the top of the list RELAXATION. Instead, I now found myself attempting to perform a yoga pose I couldn’t have done even pre-baby, while a stick-thin woman with the height of an Amazon, stood at the head of the class telling us to take the stretch just a bit deeper. Was this supposed to feel like torture? “Feel the burn,” the woman shouted excitedly. Oh, I guess so. “Breathe into the pose and feel yourself getting stronger,” she said. “Go deep within.” If I went any deeper, I wouldn’t be able to recover. How embarrassing if I were suddenly to cramp up and crumple to the floor. I imagined an ambulance pulling up to the spa and carting me off because I pulled a hamstring. No. I wasn’t going to let that happen. I stayed in my comfortable lazy stretch to avoid injury and humili‐ ation. I glanced over at Paula, who was right beside me, looking like she was some sort of Olympian. Not going to lie. I thought I might actually strangle her by the end of the day if I didn’t get some real down time. Paula turned in my direction, and seemed completely at ease in the bizarre one-legged king pigeon pose. “Isn’t this great?” Paula asked, a huge smile on her face. “Press...
by Diana Orgain | Jun 22, 2021 | Maternal Instincts Mysteries, Sneak Peek, Uncategorized
Did you miss Chapter One? Did you miss Chapter Two? Did you miss part one of Chapter Three? From Pampered to Death Chapter Three Continued… Brittany, now examining her face in a mirror, screamed, “I look like a tomato!” She stormed over to the masseuse and yelled in her face, “You killed Kelly and almost burned my face off!” “The … the paramedics are on the way,” the masseuse stuttered, looking ready to cry. “What? Paramedics? What’s going on?” Jane asked. The masseuse ran over to Jane, eyes full of tears. “Ms. North, I don’t know what happened, but I called the police …” “Police? Why did you call the police? What happened?” Jane asked, looking even more frustrated now. She glanced in Brittany’s direc‐ tion. “My goodness! What happened to her?” Brittany’s face was swollen, and there were patches of skin that looked raw. “Forget about me!” Brittany snarled. “Your masseuse killed the bride-to-be! She killed Kelly!” “What?” “I don’t know what happened!” the young woman cried. “I mixed the face mask the same as I always do!” “It wasn’t the mask,” Paula said stepping out into the hallway. “At least I don’t think so.” She glanced at me. “What do you think, Kate?” Before I could reply, Jane attempted to rush into the room, but the masseuse blocked her. “The police said to keep everyone out of the room … who wasn’t, you know, medically necessary …” She burst into tears. Jane wrapped her arms around her. “Hannah, don’t worry. Every‐ thing is going to work out.” “Work out?” Brittany snapped. “For who? Not for my best...
by Diana Orgain | Jun 22, 2021 | Maternal Instincts Mysteries, Sneak Peek, Uncategorized
Did you miss Chapter One? Did you miss Chapter Two? From Pampered to Death Chapter Three Paula and I entered the sauna, eager to put a little distance between ourselves and the tipsy bridal party. The women were all nice enough, but we had come to have a relaxing day, and they were getting a little rowdy for our taste. We left our swimsuits on, and I folded my towel and used it as a little extra seat cushion in the sauna. “Your tooshie is going to sweat, and you’re going to be sitting in a puddle,” Paula teased. “I know,” I said. “But these benches are hard and I don’t have a better idea.” Paula followed my lead and sat on her towel too. “So I’m curious, would you have become buddy-buddy with one of Jim’s exes?” Paula nodded toward the door of the sauna where just outside the bridesmaids were all still splashing around in the hot tub like it was a community pool. “No,” I said firmly. “Not that he dated any catches before me.” I winked slightly, and Paula laughed. “I mean, it’s none of my business, but I probably would have a hard time with that. And those two seemed really close.” “Their bond over one man made them sisters,” Paula said and stuck her tongue out. “I mean, what do they even talk about to one another?” “It’s a little weird,” I admitted. “My guess is that Merida didn’t date the groom for that long. So, anyway, what do you think about the spa? Maybe Jane North will hire you as a designer....
by Diana Orgain | Jun 22, 2021 | Maternal Instincts Mysteries, Sneak Peek, Uncategorized
Did you miss Chapter One? Did you miss part one of Chapter Two? From Pampered to Death Chapter Two Continued… Paula laughed and waved a hand in my direction. “Ignore her.” “Other than the evidently advanced yoga class we took, I really have enjoyed the spa. I’ll have to come back sometime and try out your facial and massage treatments.” “Thank you. That means a lot to me,” Jane said. “This spa has been a labor of love, but it seems to be paying off. We’re working on expanding.” “We saw that when we first got here,” Paula said, referring to the construction we’d noticed toward the back of the lobby. “Are you expanding into the building next door?” “Yeah,” Jane said. “Currently it’s a nail salon. When we book mani‐ cures and pedicures, we leverage their staff and space. So we did the most logical thing we could think of–merge.” “Awesome! A one-stop shop for pampering,” Paula said. “That’s the goal,” Jane said. “So what is it that you ladies do? I heard you talking about … Speederman, was it?” “That would be my oldest,” Paula said with a laugh. “He’s going through a superhero phase right now. But I’m an interior designer by trade.” Paula flashed me a look, both of us thinking the same thing—if she could land the spa as a client, we’d have a lot of complimentary hot tubbing in our future. “Impressive,” Jane said. “And Kate is a private investigator,” Paula said, throwing an arm around my neck and pointing at me with her free hand. “And she’s great! She’s fairly new to...
