Purrfect Roast: A Dragon Cozy Mystery by Verena DeLuca (the giving tree read aloud TXT) 📗

in a pile on their table. It was starting to drive me a little crazy that she did not introduce her tribe after I did. Maybe it was her signal for us to go away. Too bad I did not care if we made her annoyed. This level of gossip was the exact reason I wanted to sit here.

"Sue is the Avoiuli tribe leader," Azure transmitted. "From before lunch."

"No way," I transmitted and mentally rolled my eyes. "Give me a smidge of credit. I wasn't that out of it."

"Could have fooled me," he transmitted.

"Austin, right?" I asked, aloud.

"Yeah," one of them chimed.

"What's the deal with her?" I asked. "She was giving Nathan a piece of her mind this morning."

"Yeah, she was," Skylar said. "Totally thought she was going to hit him."

"She's about as holier-than-thou as they come." Veronica took a sip of her drink.

I raised my eyebrows and took a sip of my own coffee, not wanting to pry, but there had to be more to this story. If other tribes also thought she was a wreck, maybe it could really have been her. Not that I could think of a single thing she would gain from stealing the trophies.

"She has been so salty about not winning first in anything," one of the girls at the table said. "This is like her tenth competition, and she has never taken first. I overheard the judges, and it isn't looking good for them this year either."

I played with my cup, thinking over their words as they continued to speak. Sue made it sound like Tona and her were neck and neck each year. If that was a lie, then maybe she really could have taken them. The complexity of the case grew by a mountain with each tribe.

One thing was becoming clear through our conversations, no one could be trusted. Everyone seemed to have a motive.

Veronica laughed and said, "Serves her right. She thinks she is so much better than the rest of us, just because she is from the Austin t—group."

She stopped talking when she realized she was about to discuss the tribes.

"I just ran into her at lunch," I said. "She ranted about the missing trophies for like thirty minutes."

The San Antonio women all said various forms of, "Oooo, girl. She didn't."

"I see you know all about her then." I laughed, and Veronica's body language shifted from hostile to relaxed. Apparently, trash talking Sue was an instant in with her.

"All I know is if this keeps dragging on, I'm going to demand that the show comp our rooms," Veronica said. "I'm beyond done sitting around waiting."

The other women laughed.

Aubrey pulled out her phone to take a photo of Veronica's cat as he came over from the cat pile. Cats and sun went together like coffee and ice cream. In looking over at the pile, I realized both Shadow and Azure had joined the ranks. Guess dragons were not as stand offish as women.

"He's so pretty. Such cute chunky cheeks," Aubrey said as she snapped a photo. "What's his breed?"

"He's a British Shorthair," Veronica said, rubbing his cheeks with her French manicured nails.

"Sweet," Aubrey said, logging the breed in her phone. "I'm going to show my kids all the various breeds."

"Cute, do you own a cat?" Veronica asked.

"Nope, no pets for us," Aubrey said. "Unless you count two kids."

The ladies laughed. "No thanks to that mess," one of the girls said from the lounge chairs and received a high-five from the girl next to her.

"Yes, thank you for populating the world, so we don't have to," a girl at the table chimed in.

Aubrey blushed, so I changed the subject before the conversation could go any further.

"You want to put your feet in the water?" I asked.

"I don't know if I'll be able to get my jeans rolled up enough." Aubrey laughed. "What about you Skylar?"

"Totally," she said, and swung her legs over the chair to unstrap her sandals. Unlike Aubrey and I, she favored sun dresses and had her feet soaking before we made it up from the table.

As I went to stand, Veronica stopped me and waited for Aubrey to reach Skylar before speaking. I sat back down, as the three girls beside her left the table to join their tribe mates in the pool.

So, this was going to be that sort of conversation.

While I did not know what to expect her to say, I braced myself for the worst.

"I just wanted you to know," she said in a whisper. "Leader to leader, Tori isn't your biggest fan."

I let out a sigh and rolled my eyes. "I've noticed. But I guess that means her ventures to your meetings are filled with as much gossip as she brings to ours?"

"She had never given us a reason to not trust what she says, but after hanging out with you here, I'm starting to rethink letting her come."

"Out of curiosity," I said. "Did she attend any meetings in February or March?"

"Am I allowed to tell her about the poisoning?" I transmitted to Azure.

"Go ahead," he transmitted. "If Leo speaks of cross tribe happenings with her, she might already know."

"Mhmm," Veronica said. "I'm sure she did. She usually attends at least one a month. We have dual meetings with the ladies in Theban, so I just brushed it off."

"Fascinating," I said. "I didn't know tribes hung out."

"Yeah," she said. "Before your tribe, there were some dragons that had decades of history together, so they still enjoy each other's company even though they aren't in the same tribe. We just make it easier for them to do so."

"That makes sense," I said. "Should I be worried about what Tori says about us?"

She waved me off with a laugh.

"I wouldn't be. Her stories seem to be all in her head," Veronica said. "She's told us quite the sob story about how her whole tribe was full of stuffy old biddies that don't like her, and that she wanted to bond with other protectors. It wasn't my