Brownies & Betrayal (Sweet Bites Mysteries, Book 1) (32 page)

I’d even had a display case delivered the previous afternoon to show off my cupcakes and cookies and any other fun desserts. I was proud of what I was doing, and couldn’t wait to hear the bell ringing as customers came in to buy something to please their sweet tooth.

I heard the kitchen door open and crossed back there to see Honey standing in the doorway. “About time you made it,” I teased, though she was less than two minutes late. “I have a plane to catch, you know.”

“Yeah, yeah, tell it to someone else. You ready to go?”

“Definitely.” We went out and she loaded the bags I’d left by the back door into her trunk—I claimed that lifting hurt my wound, which was true. I locked the door and turned to hand the keys to Honey. “You’ll remember to let the delivery guy in on Wednesday?”

“Yes. Don’t worry about it. I have everything under control.”

Of course she did. She was superwoman. I slid into the passenger seat and buckled up. “I heard Dahlia is staying at Tad and Analesa’s,” I said when she had started the car.

She sent me a sideways glance. “Been talking to Shawn again?”

I allowed a smile to curve my mouth. “I might have. He said Analesa got over her anger pretty fast when she got all the facts. It could hurt Tad’s chances at a senatorial seat someday, but they’ve decided not to worry about that now. I guess her parents and Tad’s are over the moon about having a granddaughter.”

“Yeah, but rough on Dahlia, don’t you think? Can you imagine being in her place?”

That was one issue I hadn’t been able to resolve. The poor baby. I still woke at night with visions of her running into that room, crying for her mom. “No. She’s the biggest victim in all of this. How confusing for her.”

“But back to Shawn—so, you know. What’s up?” She maneuvered the car onto the freeway and we headed south for Phoenix as I laughed.

“I guess the only thing that will answer that question is time.” And as I looked ahead, I knew there would be time to figure out answers to all my questions.

Book 2 in the Sweet Bites Mystery series,

Pistols & Pies

Check out the excerpt:

Despite how huge the fitness center’s cake had started out, there was only a small section of white cake left when the last of the guests dispersed. I packaged up the remainder in a couple of pastry boxes and headed down the hall where I’d seen the mayor and facility manager talking earlier. Someone might as well enjoy the end of this, and I sure didn’t need it. The local nursing home, women’s shelter and food bank already got regular donations of my leftover products.

The halls were eerily quiet, my footsteps echoing on the gray asphalt tiles. Children’s voices trickled from the pool, while the clank of weight machines sounded down the other hall. The facility was free to the public for the rest of the day and plenty of people were taking advantage of it.

When I didn’t find the mayor on the main floor, I went upstairs where there were rooms organizations could rent. I checked a couple of meeting rooms, then pushed on the door to the closet of a kitchen that could be rented to portion out snacks for events. The door stopped when it was halfway open and I looked down, seeing a big brown men’s shoe blocking the way. It appeared to be attached to a pair of men’s dress pants.

My heart raced and I caught my breath as I looked around the edge of the door, already knowing I was not going to like what I saw.

Eric Hogan lay on his back, the boxes of pie I’d made for him were next to him, one on its side with the pie falling out onto the floor in chunks. His hands were splayed at his side and there was a big red bullet hole in his forehead, blood still oozing out of it into a pool around his upper body and trickling down under the oven.

My stomach clenched as I grew nauseated, the smell of peaches and spice assaulted my nose along with the coppery scent of blood (though that might have been my imagination). I took two quick steps back, holding my stomach, hoping I wouldn’t vomit.  A few more steps and I ran into the railing that overlooked the main floor, then turned to see the mayor and a woman passing below me. “Mayor, help. Someone needs to call 911.” I didn’t think I said it very loud, but he looked up at me, confused. “It’s Eric Hogan,” I called.

“What’s wrong with him? Is he hurt?” He started toward me faster than before.

“He’s dead.” I slid down the railing to sit on the floor and pulled my legs to my chest, dropping my head between my knees, hoping I wouldn’t pass out. What was it with me finding dead bodies?

“We really have to stop meeting like this.”

I’d know the voice anywhere—it belonged to paramedic Jack King, the man who always seemed to be there when I felt or looked like crap.  I peered up at him now and hoped I wasn’t as pale as I felt. “You’re telling me. Did you get a look at him?”

“Yeah, there’s nothing we can do for him. How about you? Need an IV?” His eye twinkled at me and I glared. He knew how much I hated needles.

I hit his leg with my closed fist, though I didn’t put as much energy behind it as I could have. “Sure, just as much as you want an appendectomy.”

“Too late, I already had one, but yeah, surgery’s not really high on my to-do list right now.” He crouched beside me. “Are you going to be all right? You’re kind of gray around the edges.”

“I’m feeling better. Help me stand and we’ll see how much better.” I slid my hand into his and tried to ignore the way it wrapped around mine so nicely, or the gentle way he helped me to my feet.  Instead I reminded myself that he’d put a needle in my arm that spring. I still wasn’t ready to forgive him, even though I’d needed the IV and had sort of given permission.

“How’s that?” Jack asked when he got me to my feet. He put a hand on my back, steadying me for a moment as a bout of lightheadedness hit me.

When it passed, I nodded. “I’m okay.”

“Yeah, sure. Let’s find you a chair. Tingey will want to talk to you before you leave, anyway.” He nodded toward the detective, who was speaking with someone outside the kitchen door.

“Of course he is. And then he’ll ask me again, and he’ll have me write it down, and if I’m really lucky, I’ll get a ride to the station to give a formal report too!” I pasted on a manic grin as if it sounded like barrels of fun. Having experienced it before, though, I knew better.

My cell phone rang and I fished it out of my pocket as we headed down the stairs to a chair by the empty cake table. Someone had hauled off the board while I’d been upstairs trying not to be sick, and it looked like they swiped the end of the cake too. That was fine by me.

I pulled the phone out of my pocket and glared at it when I saw my shop’s number come up. “Hey, Angela. How’s it going?”

“Um, fine?”

I could feel a headache coming on, and she hadn’t even said what was wrong, yet. “Yeah? You called to tell me everything was fine?”

“Well, see, I was helping Mrs. Hooper with the anniversary cake you made for her, and I sort of dropped it on the floor. It doesn’t look really good there.”

My mouth formed words I would not allow myself to speak aloud to an employee. Jack seemed to get the gist of it as he slid an arm around my back before I could give in to the desire to pass out for real this time. It had to be easier than dealing with such incompetence.

“Um, Tess, are you still there?” Angela asked when I didn’t speak for a long moment.

“Yes. Is Mrs. Hooper still in the store? Could I speak with her, please?” I was proud of myself for keeping my voice even.

A moment later the woman came on the line, her voice hitching with tears. “I promised my Albert we’d have something special for the family party tonight. I can’t believe it. It happened right in front of me. What are you going to do about it? It’s all over the floor.”

Dang. That meant I couldn’t just fix the exterior as I would if the damage hadn’t ben serious. I looked at my watch. It was three-thirty. “Look, I have a round cake in my fridge that I was going to decorate tonight. How about if I come in and decorate it for you? I know it’s the wrong shape, but it’s the same flavor and I can do it up along the same design as the other one and deliver it to your house before six tonight. Will that work?”

The woman sniffled. “Yes. But I should get a discount if it’s going to be round.”

I ground my teeth together. “Of course. How does fifteen percent sound?”

“Well, I guess you are delivering it.” She seemed to debate for a moment. “That will be fine.”

“Terrific. Make sure you give Angela your address and I’ll see you in a few hours.”

Detective Tingey was not going to be happy about me ducking out, but I figured he knew where to find me. I hung up the phone and slid it back into my pocket.

“That didn’t sound good,” Jack said.

“You have no idea. The good news is I’m so furious that I’m not feeling light headed anymore.” I pulled one of my business cards from the pocket of my apron and grabbed my pen. On the back of the card I jotted. “Sorry, business emergency. I can meet you after six, or you can swing by the shop.” I put my cell number below it and signed my initials. I handed it to Jack. “Could you give this to Detective Tingey? I know I owe you for taking the glare he’s going to shoot at you when he reads my card. Bring your daughter in when you get a day off and I’ll get you both cupcakes on the house.”

“I guess I won’t argue with that. You’re sure you feel okay, though?” He looked concerned and studied my face.

“Fine.” I smiled fakely, then hurried out to my SUV. I thought I heard Detective Tingey’s voice calling my name before the door closed behind me, but I didn’t stop to find out.

For Danyelle—thanks for the years of friendship and support. There’s nothing quite as sweet as finishing a project, and having good friends to celebrate with.

The Ball’s in Her Court

Rebound

Family by Design

Blank Slate

The Switch

Shear Luck

Homecoming

Homecoming: Second Chances

and other Sweet Bites books:

Pistols and Pies

Muffins & Murder Coming Spring 2013