A Deadly Delicious Delivery (A Chocolate Centered Cozy Mystery Book 2) by Cindy Bell Read Free Book Online

there’s something in them that you notice that can help me solve the case. I believe that I can trust you with this information. Can I?”
    The question took Ally by surprise. She had been focused only on whether she could trust him, not the other way around.
    “Yes.” She held his gaze. He tapped his fingertips against a folder on his desk and he moved it between them. Ally braced herself for what she was about to see.
    “In here are a few photographs of the crime scene,” Luke said.
    Luke flipped it open. Inside were three large photographs. The first was of a police outline where the body had been found. It was on the plush carpet beside the bed. There was no photograph of the body, which Ally was grateful for. Luke showed her the next photograph. This one was of the bedside table. On the table Ally could see that there was an open box of chocolates, a deck of cards, a business card of some kind, and a greeting card. She couldn’t make out the writing on the chocolate box or what the business card or greeting card said.
    The last photograph was a close up of the box of chocolates on Myrtle’s bedside table. A box of chocolates, from Charlotte’s Chocolate Heaven. Ally was stunned as she stared at the box. She was certain that she would be able to prove to Luke that there was some mistake, but the name of the shop was printed on the box. There were only three chocolates left in the box.
    “Can you see anything that proves the chocolates didn’t come from the shop?” Luke asked. Ally just shook her head. “Anything that indicates how they were poisoned?” Ally shook her head again. “Anything you want to tell me, Ally?”
    “No,” she managed to say.
    “Why don’t I make us a coffee and you can think about it?”
    Ally nodded as Luke closed the folder and moved it to the corner of his desk. He walked to the back room to make coffee.
    Ally wanted to look at the photos again. Maybe if she had more time to look at them or if she could show them to her grandmother she would be able to work out if something was out of place. Ally knew that Luke wouldn’t give her a copy of the photographs. She could hear the coffee machine going. She looked around to make sure no one was watching and slowly slid the folder towards her. She pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of the photo that showed the box of chocolates. The moment she did she felt guilty because she knew that she had just broken his trust. But with the name of the chocolate shop on the side of the box, she wondered how long he would believe in her innocence. If the chocolates were from the shop, if they were poisoned with antifreeze, then all of the evidence pointed at her and her grandmother. She could only hope that the police would need more evidence than that to initiate an arrest. She heard footsteps coming back towards her.
    She snapped the folder shut and moved it back to the corner of his desk where he had left it.  A moment later he held out a cup of coffee to her.
    “Think of anything important?”
    “No.” Ally took the coffee. He sat down across from her.
    “I was hoping you might. I’m at a dead end so far.”
    Ally shook her head. “All I can tell you is that those chocolates were not poisoned when I made them, or when I picked them up from the shop.”
    “Wait a minute.” Luke leaned forward and looked into her eyes. “Are you saying you left the chocolates at the shop overnight?”
    “Well, yes. We picked them up in the morning to take with us to the open house.”
    “So anyone could have accessed them?”
    “Not anyone. Only Mee-Maw and I have a key.”
    “But someone could have broken in?”
    Ally started to shake her head, but then she recalled opening up the shop that morning. “There were smudges on the window I had cleaned the previous day and I had a difficult time unlocking the door that morning, but I thought it was just because I was tired.”
    “I think that you need to consider that someone might have broken