A Catered Christmas Killer (A Sinful Sweets Cozy Mystery) by Carol Lee Read Free Book Online Page B

the community and guests offering their condolences to Marcus.
     
    “She was volunteering on so many committees.”
     
    “It’s a shame, she was such a vibrant member of Newhall.”
     
    “Marcus, I can’t imagine the pain you’re experiencing. What a trooper to have this party tonight. To Julia,” one woman offered as those in the group raised their glasses and toasted Julia’s life.
     
    “Where’s Maria?” Sydney asked Grace when she arrived back in the kitchen and found her pulling a tray of kale chips out of the oven. Kale chips! She would have failed her first catering job if Grace hadn’t been there.
     
    “She went back upstairs. I couldn’t hold her off long enough. Did she see you?”
     
    “No. I went to my room and down the back staircase. Thanks for the heads up.”
     
    “Good thinking. Did you find anything?” Grace moved on from the chips that she’d put into a bowl and was refilling trays of mushrooms and quiches. Sydney hoped they had enough. Her instructions had been finger food. Julia hadn’t wanted to have a sit-down dinner.
     
    “Yeah. Some skimpy article of clothing hiding on top of Marcus’ filing cabinet. It was too high for me to reach, so too high for Julia to have put it there. We have to find out how involved in the business she was to know if she even ever went in there. Or if it belonged to someone else and Marcus was having an affair.”
     
    “Well then get out there with these trays while I fill more and work on the eggnog, because there’s a woman just about hanging off of Marcus. If you’re looking for a lover of his, you might just find her.”
     
    Grace handed two trays of food to Sydney and nearly pushed her out of the kitchen.
     
    ***
     
    “Sydney! This food is incredible!” a voice said behind her. She was on auto pilot and hadn’t even looked around yet. She turned and saw Ryan talking to her above the mumbled hum of all the guests talking at once, close to fifty now.
     
    “Ryan! Thanks. It was quite the undertaking in the end.”
     
    “I think you’ve outdone the previous caterer.”
     
    Sydney gave a half-hearted smile. “I guess you’ve heard about Julia, then?” she asked.
     
    “Yes. This morning. It was such a shock.” Ryan’s eyes filled with tears and he dabbed at them with his napkin. “Sorry. I thought I’d be able to make it through this party without falling apart again. I know this was one of her favorite events of the year, so I’m happy Marcus decided to go through with it instead of canceling, but I wish he’d made it into a memorial of some sort.”
     
    “Well, it was very last minute,” Sydney said, looking around to locate Marcus and see about this woman.
     
    “Let me introduce you to my wife, she’s been raving about the food, too.” Ryan reached to take her elbow and guide her toward the bar while even more guests flooded into the main room.
     
    “Let me just put these trays down first,” she said quickly before he could rope her into his plan.
     
    “Of course, let me help you.” He went to take one of the trays from her.
     
    “No, you’re here to enjoy. I’ll be back in thirty seconds,” she promised and headed toward the staircase to replace the empty trays.
     
    She glanced up the stairs to see if Maria was in sight, but she couldn’t see the office door so didn’t know if she was back in that office. Disappointed, she walked back to where Ryan was waiting and sipping his wine.
     
    This time he succeeded in taking her elbow and guiding her through the growing throng of guests. She could see that they were all enjoying their food and pride swelled in her chest. She was reminded again and again of why she baked for people—her joy in seeing their happiness.
     
    “The decorations are incredible, did you do those as well?” Ryan asked.
     
    This was the first time that Sydney had really taken the time to look around at anything besides her food. She’d been so focused on her own work that she