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

standing in
front of me.
    “Katie?” She had the quilt wrapped
around her shoulders. “Is everything okay?”
    I shook my head. “That was Tipper,”
I answered. “She just called me!”
    Her mouth dropped open as she sat
beside me. “Seriously?”
    “Yeah. But she didn’t know where
they were.”
    “They?”
    “She’s been kidnapped , Liv!
She was talking about the man that took her, so—”
    My sister turned slightly and put
one hand on my arm. “Calm down, Katie. I didn’t…I wasn’t exactly following. I
was sound asleep and…I heard you talking. It sounded bad, so I…”
    She took a deep breath, squeezing
my arm like she did when we were kids and I was upset. Back then, it was about
a boy. Or something in school. Now, it was my friend being plunged into a
horrifying nightmare.
    “Sorry,” I said after we sat
quietly for a moment or two. “It was her voice, you know? Tipper’s voice? She
sounded so—”
    The emergency operator came back on
the line. “Miss Reed?”
    “Did you find him?”
    “Yes, he’ll be calling you any
second.”
    “Okay, thank you so much,
sergeant.”
    “You’re welcome,” the woman said.
“And I’m sorry to hear about your friend, ma’am.”
    Before I could reply, the line
beeped with the incoming call signal. I quickly thanked the operator again
before toggling over to Trent.
    “She called you?” he asked gruffly.
    “Yes. I didn’t recognize the name
or number, but Tipper said she found a phone in the trunk.”
    “Of her car?”
    “I don’t know about that,” I said.
“I was so surprised by the call that I didn’t ask if it was her car or not.
Although she did say something about a car like the one she drives—”
    “Okay, Katie.” Trent sounded
authoritative and poised. “Can you text the number to me?”
    “Sure. It was Tania something,
and—”
    “Okay, but first,” he interrupted,
“tell me everything that Tipper shared with you.”
    I paused to replay the brief
conversation in my mind. Then I relayed it to Trent with as much detail as
possible. I told him that Tipper thought they’d been driving around town since
leaving her house. I told him about the church bells and children’s voices. And
then I told him about the dog.
    “Dog?” he mumbled. “Tipper has a
dog?”
    “No, she said that the guy who
abducted her came to the door with—” As I answered Trent’s question, I suddenly
remembered the man in the snowmobile suit and sunglasses that I’d talked with
after arriving at Tipper’s earlier in the day. “Oh, my…Trent! I think I spoke
to the guy!”
    “Whoa, Katie. Slow down and back it
up. Tipper said something about a dog?”
    “Yes, she said someone came to her
door with a dog. And when I got there, like, I guess maybe after she’d
already been put in the car, a guy walking a little white dog came across
Tipper’s yard. He was wearing sunglasses, a knit cap and a snowmobile suit. I
didn’t think much about it at the time because he seemed so…normal. And he was
totally convincing. He told me that he was a neighbor and his wife had tried to
return something to Tipper. But she wasn’t home.”
    “Who wasn’t home—Tipper?”
    “Right,” I said. “And if it is the same guy, he was obviously trying to get me to leave.”
    Trent didn’t say anything, so I
waited and looked at my sister. She was crouched on the edge of the bed,
huddled in the quilt and biting her lower lip.
    “Okay, so…anything else?” asked
Trent.
    “About the call?”
    He groaned. “What else would I be
asking about?”
    “Sorry, yeah. I’m pretty freaked
out right now, Trent. Maybe you could cut me some slack.”
    “You’re freaked out? How about
Tipper?”
    The barb cut deep; the emotional
ambush of her call had caused me to briefly lose focus. I thanked Trent for
helping me get back on track. Then I remembered Tipper’s comments about driving
into a garage. When I shared that final bit of information, Trent grumbled
under his