Sweetness and Light (A Sweet Cove Mystery Book 5) by J.A. Whiting Page A

the bench. Other attendees stood in small groups on the lawn mingling with other guests.
    “We needed a break,” Ellie said.  “It’s lovely out here.”
    “We needed a break, too.”  Angie admired all the flowers blooming in the manicured beds.
    Jenna squinted.  “Look over there.  It’s Bethany and Todd.  Over by the pond.”
    Angie sat up and peered across the lawn at the two people chatting amiably standing by the garden’s water feature.  “I wouldn’t have known that woman was Bethany.”
    Jenna watched them.  “She looks so….”
    “Happy,” Courtney noted.
    “Relaxed.”  Jenna could see the difference in Bethany’s posture and the way she held herself.  Next to Todd, she seemed at ease, lighter, comfortable.
    “See how they look at each other.  It’s so sweet.”  Ellie fiddled with the ends of her blonde hair, and the corners of her mouth turned up in a little smile.  “She seems very different around Todd than she normally behaves.”
    One of the wait staff approached and said something to Bethany, and she turned and followed the woman back into the house.  As soon as Bethany moved away from Todd, her posture became stiff and authoritative and her movements were crisp and business-like.  Even her face looked different, with the muscles of the jaw appearing hard, giving off a stern, harsh expression.
    “Now she looks like the Bethany we know.”  Angie watched the young woman climb the stairs to the terrace and disappear into the house.  The transformation in Bethany as she walked away from Todd made Angie’s heart ache.  “So which is the real Bethany?”
    “Probably both.”  Ellie watched the platinum blonde hurry through the doors into the mansion.  “But the business-like one is the person who is expected to show up most often.”
    “Come on, enough goofing off.”  Jenna stood up.  “Let’s get back to work.”
    “Into the viper pit we go.”  Courtney put her arm over Jenna’s shoulders.
    As Angie and her sisters climbed the stairs back to the house, a thought flickered in her mind and she turned to Ellie.  “If someone can change from happy and loving one moment, to hard and brittle the next minute, could that person change into a killer in order to get what they want?”
    A worried look passed over Ellie’s face.  “It does seem possible, doesn’t it?”
    Anxiety pricked at Angie’s skin.  “We’d better keep a close eye on Ms. Bethany Winston.”
    When they entered the house, Jenna and Ellie headed one way and Angie and Courtney went in the opposite direction.  They spotted an older man talking to Nelson’s sister, Georgia Rider.  He gave her a hug and then moved away.
    “Let’s go offer condolences to Nelson’s sister.”  Angie led the way, and when they were next to Georgia, they introduced themselves.
    “How did you know Nelson?”  Georgia had a glass of wine in her hand.  Her eyelids looked heavy.
    The girls hesitated and were about to say that they were friends of Bethany, when Georgia’s eyebrows went up.  “Oh, are you the young women Chief Martin spoke to me about?  The Roselands, right?”
    Courtney and Angie both blinked, surprised that the chief might have mentioned them.
    “He said he had some consultants who would be speaking with me.  Young women.”
    “Yes.”  Courtney gave a friendly smile.  “Chief Martin calls us in at times to help out.”
    Georgia’s eyes widened and she took a step closer.  She lowered her voice.  “Are you psychics?”
    Angie’s face paled and she nearly shouted.  “No.”
    Courtney kept her composure.  “Why do you ask that?”  She knew Chief Martin would never have revealed their skills to anyone who was not in law enforcement.
    “I’ve heard that sometimes police will call in someone who has special abilities to assist in solving a crime.”  Georgia looked hopeful.  “I wondered if this might be the case with you.”
    “No, we’re not psychics,” Courtney said.