A Taste of Magic (A Sugarcomb Lake Cozy Mystery Book 1) by Alaine Allister Read Free Book Online Page A

response.  “So he’s the intern who took over for the dummy whose social media account landed him in hot water, huh?” she said instead.
    Mrs. Meddler pursed her thin lips and looked Clarissa up and down.  “Your shoes are covered in mud,” she observed disdainfully.  “It looks terrible.  You should clean them,” she scoffed.  True to character, the awful old woman never passed up on an opportunity to criticize!
    Though Clarissa was really tempted to defend herself, she decided it was wiser to stay on Mrs. Meddler’s good side…assuming the old woman had a good side. 
    “So uh, you said you know who killed Jed Black?” she reminded the exasperating old woman, desperate to get the conversation back on track – and over with. 
    “I was getting to that!” Mrs. Meddler snapped.  “You young people these days are all in such a rush.  It’s disgusting.  Anyway, isn’t it obvious?  Jed Black’s political rival must have killed him, because he was mentoring a boy who would have been an excellent mayor!”
    Clarissa raised an eyebrow.  “You do realize the only person who ran against Jed Black in the last election was Elwood Primrose, right?  And since then, he’s had a stroke.  He’s got to be at least eighty years old and he lives in a retirement home.  He has no intention of ever running for mayor again.”
    “That’s a likely story!” Mrs. Meddler scoffed in utter contempt.  “I went to school with Elwood Primrose!  He was a liar then and he’s a liar now!  Why, back when we were teenagers he said he’d take me out for a milkshake – but then he invited Jocelyn Higgins out instead.  She’s a hussy and he’s a two-timing –”
    “Yes, Mrs. Meddler,” Clarissa sighed, her patience wearing thin. 
    She slowly edged away as the old woman continued to rant and rave to anyone who would listen. 
    Thankfully the crowd had grown to such a size that it kind of just swallowed her up.  When there was a safe distance between her and Mrs. Meddler, Clarissa couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.  Now that the old woman was no longer breathing down her neck, she finally had a chance to look around.
    Clarissa scanned the faces, taking mental notes about how people were acting.
    One woman looked particularly shaken.  She was standing with a stoic-looking man.  She was sniffling, while he was blankly staring straight ahead with his jaw clenched.  He was probably one of those guys who got super uncomfortable around displays of emotion.  Talk about a walking stereotype!
    The woman’s reaction, however, was curious.
    Clarissa caught the attention of the older man who standing next to her, simply taking the scene in.  She gestured toward the crying woman as discreetly as she could.  “Excuse me – do you know who that is?” she asked quietly. 
    It was a well known fact that in Sugarcomb Lake, most men of a certain age met for coffee on a regular basis.  Well, they called it going for coffee.  What they were actually doing was sitting there at the coffee shop for hours shamelessly gossiping.  But unlike Mrs. Meddler’s wild stories and crazy conspiracy theories, the coffee shop men tended to know what they were talking about.
    Clarissa’s father actually used to be one of those men, back before her parents had relocated to a warmer climate.  He still loved to go down to the coffee shop to catch up whenever he was back in town for a visit.  Clarissa’s mother would always just shake her head in disbelief and say that the men were even worse gossips than most women.
    That was what Clarissa was counting on.
    “That’s the mayor’s secretary,” the grey-haired man replied knowledgeably.  He looked pleased to be able to help and continued to offer information without being asked.  “She works at his investment firm in Green City.  I think her name is Liz.”
    “Oh.  She looks so sad.  Poor thing – they must have been close.  Is that her husband with her?”
    “No,