Center Stage: Magnolia Steele Mystery #1 by Denise Grover Swank

what you do, Magnolia?”
    “You mean acting?”
    “I sure as hell didn’t mean killin’ people.”
    I cringed. The memory of Max’s body would haunt my dreams. “I do. But after the other night . . . I think my acting days are over, like it or not.”
    “If you never acted again, would you miss it?”
    “Yeah,” I answered without hesitation. “I love becoming someone else. I love making the audience react. It’s like making magic.” I might have stumbled into it, but I’d found the thing that made my heart take flight.
    “So you want to go back?”
    Well, wasn’t that a loaded question . . . I’d asked myself that very thing all day, and there was still no clear answer. I could only tell her what was in my heart. “All I know is that for now, I want to stay.” I looked into her face. “I’ve missed you, Momma.”
    “I never left.” The warmth in her eyes wavered. The wariness that replaced it broke my heart, but I had to admit it was warranted. Who was to say I wouldn’t take off for another ten years? Maybe without leaving a forwarding address this time. I wasn’t a safe bet.
    I gave her a tiny smile. “I know.” I hurried over to her and wrapped my arms around her back. She’d erected her wall again, not that I was surprised, but I squeezed her tight anyway. “I’m sorry I haven’t been easy. And I’m sorry that I left you like I did. But it was never about you, Momma. I promise. I love you.”
    She nodded, her hair brushing my cheek, then pulled back and turned to face the kettle.
    I yawned. “I’m exhausted, so I think I’ll just go to bed. Can I get a rain check on the tea?”
    “Yeah,” she said, not looking back at me.
    “Do you have any jobs for me tomorrow? Should I be up by a certain time?”
    “I have to be at the office by nine. You can go with me and do some filing and office work.”
    “Okay.” I headed for the stairs, but she called after me.
    “Magnolia.”
    I stopped and looked back at her, not surprised she was still giving the kettle her undivided attention. “Yes, Momma?”
    “I’m glad you’re here to help.”
    I couldn’t help but smile at the warmth those simple words spread through my chest. That was my mother’s equivalent of I’m so glad you came home. I missed you. I’d take it. “Me too.”
    I decided to take a long shower, hoping it would relax me enough to sleep, but the hot water did nothing to clear my mind. The fuzzy images that had popped into my head earlier had faded, but the horror of them lingered in the back of my mind like white noise. Even though the dreams had faded long ago, I was certain those images I’d seen earlier had been plucked straight from them. Could they be memories from the night of my graduation party?
    But if I’d seen something that terrifying, would I really have forgotten it? For a while I’d convinced myself there was only one plausible explanation—that I’d gotten drunk and blacked out in the woods. Except I only remembered having one drink. What if that wasn’t what happened at all?
    Hot water beat down on my knotted back muscles as I quieted my mind and tried to remember, ignoring the way my heartbeat spasmed from my anxiety. Just like it did every time I tried to think about that night.
    I only remembered bits and pieces. Finding Blake in the woods with Ashley. Running in the woods as it began to rain. But there was more. Much more. I only had to make myself remember.
    Start at the beginning .
    My graduation party had started around eight, but the party wasn’t in full swing until ten. I’d already had a drink—a wine cooler—to calm my nerves for what I knew was coming. I had the tiniest of buzzes when Tanner snagged my hand and took me up to my room, shut the door, and locked it.
    But I moved past the memory of losing my virginity and all the awkward clumsiness that went along with it, including the disappointment that it wasn’t all fireworks and magic like I’d expected.
    Fifteen minutes later,