Never Laugh as a Hearse Goes By: A Penny Brannigan Mystery by Elizabeth J. Duncan Page A

allergy. Bronwyn said she was speaking in a normal voice so anyone nearby could have heard her.”
    “But we don’t know enough about her yet to know why someone would want to hurt her,” said Davies.
    The two lapsed into a silence that, as the seconds turned into a minute, hung heavy and awkward. Where once there had been companionable silence, now there was awkwardness with a hint of underlying tension.
    “This isn’t turning out the way I’d hoped it would,” Davies said finally.
    “No,” Penny replied. “It’s too bad about Minty.”
    “I think you know I didn’t mean that, Penny, although that situation is certainly not helping. I meant between you and me. I’d hoped that this time away together would have been enjoyable for you. Spending time together. Just the two of us. I’d hoped that we…”
    He looked at her, beseechingly, but she did not meet his eyes. “What is it, Penny? What’s the matter?” When she did not reply, he continued, softly. “Look, I’m not stupid. I read people’s body language for a living. I know there’s something wrong and I’m hoping we can talk about it. That you feel comfortable enough to tell me what it is. Or what you’re feeling. You can be honest with me, you know.”
    Finally, she raised her troubled eyes to meet his anxious ones, then looked away.
    “I don’t know,” she said, softly. “But I do know it isn’t you or anything you’ve done.” She covered her eyes with her fingers and shook her head lightly. “Oh, this is going to sound stupid, I know. It’s just that this has got too intense and it scares me a bit.” She peered at him and smiled. “And at the same time I value our friendship so highly and I’m afraid of losing that.” She shrugged and locking her fingers together, placed her hands on the table, and looked at them. “I don’t want things to change. I liked how comfortable we were before things got complicated.”
    “But did things get complicated?” he asked gently. “Or are we just moving on to the logical place where good relationships go?” He covered her hand with his and was relieved when she did not pull hers away. “Penny, tell me. What are you afraid of? What’s this really about?”
    But before she could answer, his phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID and then, with an apologetic grimace, answered it, listened for a few minutes, and then rang off.
    “That was the pathologist’s office. The PM’s been moved up—it’s going to take place this evening, so I have to go. Sorry, love. We’ll continue this conversation, but all I want is for you to be happy, and I’m fine with whatever you want. We’ll take things as they come and as slowly as you like. No pressure.” He leaned over, put his hand on her shoulder and kissed her cheek. “Really. No pressure.” As he got to his feet she looked up at him and smiled and a moment later he was gone. She remained where she was, enjoying the feelings of relief washing over her that the conversation they needed to have had been started. Then, she too left the room.
    As she reached the top of the stairs and turned down the hall toward the bedrooms, she heard low, urgent voices coming from the Robinson Room. She walked just past the open door and flattened herself against the wall.
    “I told you, darling, we’d have to be careful,” a male voice said. Penny gave a tiny gasp at hearing almost the very same words that had been left on her voice mail and covered her mouth with her hand. After a moment, a female voice responded, “Well, we certainly weren’t expecting anything like this. I think we’d better finish, don’t you? It’s all just become too risky and if I’m honest, just a little bit boring. Anyway, it’s been fun, but we’ve gone as far as we can, wouldn’t you agree? There doesn’t seem much point anymore.”
    When there was no reply, the female voice went on, “You didn’t have anything to do with it, did you? With what happened to the precious