A Zest for Murder (Sky High Pies Cozy Mysteries Book 5) by Mary Maxwell Read Free Book Online

my gosh! Tipper? Where are you?”
    “I don’t know, Katie. I tried my
brother, but it went—”
    “Wait a second! You don’t know
where you are? What’s going on, Tipper? I came over earlier and…” It sounded
like she was crying, so I paused briefly. “Were you home when the woman was
shot?”
    “He put me in the trunk before they
started arguing,” she said. “It’s a black car, okay? Almost like the one I
drive, but an older model. And I found this phone in a briefcase that he tossed
in here with me.”
    It felt like everything had begun
to spin slowly, as if my world was starting to pivot away from level and
ordinary toward a type of alternative universe. I was in my bedroom. My sister
was sleeping soundly in the living room. And my friend was on the other end of
the line telling me that she’d been abducted and placed in the trunk of a car.
    “Are you hurt?” I asked.
    “Nothing bad. Some scratches where
that girl grabbed my arm when they first came in the house.”
    “The one that I found?” I asked.
“In your kitchen?”
    “Uh-huh. I wasn’t there when she
got shot, Katie. I was in the garage. All three of them were crazy! Just plain
crazy! I was at home around three. I knew you were coming by with the delivery,
and Kirsten had called to say she was running late. When the doorbell rang, I
figured…” She gasped softly. “Oh, no ! The car’s stopping! We’re stopping ,
Katie!”
    I held my breath, waiting for her
to continue.
    “Tipper?”
    “I heard some kind of door open,”
she said finally, her voice even softer than before. “Like a garage door
maybe.”
    “How long have you been in there?”
    “I have no idea. It feels like we’ve
been just wandering around town, stopping and going, stopping and going. At one
point, I heard the bells at St. Mary’s and then a bunch of kids laughing and
talking.”
    “St. Mary’s on Euclid?”
    “I’m pretty sure.”
    “Okay, that’s really good, sweetie.
If he’s just been driving you around town, maybe—”
    “I don’t want to die, Katie.”
    The statement was simultaneously
heartbreaking and distressing, the last thing anyone would ever want to hear a
friend say.
    “I know, Tipper. But try not to
think of that, okay? Trent’s got everyone searching for you.”
    “They have guns,” she whispered.
“And there’s a dog.”
    “A dog?”
    “They had a dog when they came to
my door,” she said. “And they looked really normal, so I—” She stopped, but I
could still hear her breathing. “We just drove inside somewhere,” she murmured.
“I don’t want him to hear me, Katie. I don’t want him to—”
    The line went dead, but I kept the
phone pressed to my ear.
    Hoping.
    Waiting.
    And feeling the sense of dread as
it blossomed somewhere deep inside.

CHAPTER
12
     
     
    My fingers trembled as I punched
Trent’s number into my phone. When the call connected and I heard the scratchy
recording he’d made years earlier, I hung up and dialed 911.
    “Police Dispatch,” a woman said.
“What’s the exact location of your emergency?”
    “This is Kate Reed,” I told her. “I
need to reach Deputy Chief Walsh right away! It’s about Tipper Hedge.”
    “Yes, Miss Reed. This is Sergeant
Oliver.”
    “Can you please get Trent on his
walkie-talkie?” The words flew from my mouth even as my throat tightened with
fear. “Tipper’s been kidnapped. She just called me from…” The voice in my head
uttered the obvious question: Where? “Uh, she just called and I need to
talk with Trent as soon as possible!”
    “This is about the incident on
Hanover, right?”
    “Please! Will you get Trent to call
me? One woman’s already dead. I don’t want—”
    “Stay calm, ma’am. I’m going to
place you on hold while I try to reach Deputy Chief Walsh.”
    Each second felt like infinity as I
clutched the phone and sat on the edge of my bed. I was concentrating so
intently on the call that I didn’t hear my sister until she was