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  Sandra arrived with their food, and their talk turned general. Brianna asked if Maggie would miss the excitement of working on this case and she said by no means—she had a school evaluation to lead starting on Monday. “They’re always fraught with drama.”

  Brianna said after a moment, “You’re joking, right?”

  “Right,” said Maggie. Though a certain amount of drama was inherent in any human community and Maggie was quite looking forward to it.

  “What do you think will happen to Sarah?” Hope asked Buster.

  “I hope she’s not going to hire Celia Little,” said Brianna, and covered her face with her hands.

  “Not going to be a problem,” said Buster. “Toby asked her if she knew a good lawyer and she said one of the greatest defense lawyers in the country was a backer of her San Francisco restaurant. Toby called him from the car last night.”

  “Are you supposed to do that?”

  “I’m not. Couldn’t stop Toby.”

  “And?”

  “He’ll be here Monday. Interesting case, you know?”

  “Can she afford him?”

  “He said when she gets out she can be his personal chef for a year.”

  When they said good-bye, Hope gave Brianna a hug, and Buster allowed both his mother and Maggie to do something like embracing him.

  Sandra said, “You girls come back, now you know where to find us,” and both Hope and Maggie promised they would. The Just Barb’s regulars all watched out the windows as the women climbed into Hope’s car, which was parked in front of Buster’s cruiser. Hope started inching out into the quiet street, then stopped halfway. They could see Maggie gesturing, then Hope strapping on her seat belt. Then they pulled all the way out, took aim at the road out of town, and Hope stepped on the gas.

  Sandra gave Buster a pat on the shoulder and headed back toward the kitchen, as Brianna said to him, “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

  Buster said “Easy for you to say.”

  As Hope approached the Bangor Airport, Maggie got a text. She read it with apparent interest, then answered, tapping quickly with her thumbs.

  “What’s up?” Hope asked.

  “Margaux Kleinkramer.”

  “Née Eileen Bachman.”

  “Right.”

  “What does she want?”

  “Dunno. She wants to talk to us. Wonder what that’s about.”

  The car whizzed past the sign for the rental car returns, forcing them to do another circuit around the parking lots, but they didn’t mind. They had plenty of time.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Jessica, Walter, and Emily Weber are my avian consultants and I am deeply grateful to them. Evan Moraitis and Domna Stanton provided invaluable guidance on Greek matters, and Lucie Semler and Pam Loree read early drafts for me and gave feedback that helped enormously. Lauren Belfer once again gave me the benefit of her craftsmanship and wisdom; I treasure her judgment as well as her friendship and hope I never have to do without either. Major Richard Bishop of the Ellsworth sheriff’s office, Brenda Campbell in the Major Crimes Office in Bangor, and Katy Young at Troop J of the Maine state police patiently and cheerfully answered my many questions, and I apologize to them all if I have made mistakes in spite of them. Molly Munn is a gold mine of arcane information and the telling detail, as well as a joy in our lives. To my editor Jennifer Brehl and the team at William Morrow, my admiration and huge thanks as always. And to my wonderful agent and friend, Emma Sweeney, thank you thank you thank you.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  BETH GUTCHEON is the critically acclaimed author of nine previous novels: The New Girls, Still Missing, Domestic Pleasures, Saying Grace, Five Fortunes, More Than You Know, Leeway Cottage, Good-bye and Amen, and Gossip. She is the writer of numerous film scripts, including Without a Trace and the Academy Award nominee The Children of Theatre Street. Gutcheon lives in New York City.

  Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.

  ALSO BY BETH GUTCHEON

  Gossip

  Good-bye and Amen

  Leeway Cottage

  More Than You Know

  Five Fortunes

  Saying Grace

  Domestic Pleasures

  Still Missing

  The New Girls

  CREDITS

  Cover design by Jae Song

  Cover photographs: clouds © elegeyda/Shutterstock; house © Andrew Curtis/Getty Images; rocks © Mikhail Markovskiy/Shutterstock

  COPYRIGHT

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  DEATH AT BREAKFAST. Copyright © 2016 by Beth Gutcheon. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  FIRST EDITION

  ISBN 978-0-06-243196-7

  EPub Edition MAY 2016 ISBN 9780062431981

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