Charleston with a Clever Cougar: A Dance with Danger Mystery #6 by Sara M. Barton Read Free Book Online Page B

you
can’t have what you want, is that it?”
    Doc glared at me, looking through those thick
lenses, before shaking his head. And then he growled.
    “Are you calling me stubborn, Cady?”
    “Are you?” I inquired.
    “Well, I might be,” he grumbled. “But that’s
not necessarily a bad thing.”
    “I didn’t say it was, Doc. As for the
coffeemaker, my best guess is he knew he had a winning formula. So,
when you finally hit on your own version of it, you’ll probably
want to keep it to yourself as well.”
    “Does that mean you’ll teach me?”
    “It does. I’ll even go one better for you.
You pinpoint where you were in Tanzania and I’ll try to guess what
the basic formula for the region is, using the local beans and what
the roasters generally add. And I can order whatever green beans
you think you might need from my supplier. If you’re any good at
creating blends, maybe we’ll offer it up to customers at the
shop.”
    “Deal,” Doc said, satisfaction written all
over his face.
     

Chapter Six --
     
    “Cady, how many more of these am I making?”
Darlene wiped her wet hands on her apron on the following
afternoon. She had rolled out another three dozen of the shortbread
wedding bells, carefully placing them on the parchment-lined baking
sheets. She had agreed to stay on until four to help us with the
wedding prep. It was already quarter to four, and I wanted to give
her enough time to clean up her area.
    “That should be enough for today,” I told
her. She seemed relieved. Darlene was pushing sixty, had a husband
who got home at three-thirty from the garage, and she was used to
doing the early shift. I didn’t want to overwork her or disrupt her
normal routine.
    It had been a really long day for all of us.
Carole had been a brick, coming in again to help. I noticed a
couple of times through the day that some of our male customers had
wanted to chat with her. Wouldn’t it be nice for her to be someone
other than Daisy and Dylan’s mom, just for a change? Heaven knows
Carole was an attractive woman. The short haircut she sported made
her look like a young Audrey Hepburn, especially now that she had
some color in her cheeks. I thought it was good that she had had a
chance to get out in public, rubbing elbows with the coffee crowd.
Maybe working at home was a little too isolating for her. She
really did need to meet new people, especially after that
ex-husband managed to be such a louse. She told me she could stay
if we needed her to handle the cash register, but Dylan was still
too young to be a latch key kid and he would soon get off the
bus.
    Doc had also made himself useful, filling in
here and there, doing the heavy lifting, cleaning, and even managed
to reorganize the baking supplies.
    At quarter to five, Daisy bagged the trash in
the shop and hauled it out the back door, heading for the waste bin
shared by the tenants in the strip mall. She was gone quite a long
time. Too long. What should have taken her two minutes seemed to
take forever. Doc noticed my eyes on the back door.
    “Something wrong?” He preparing to mix
another batch of cookie dough, his ingredients spread out across
the stainless steel prep table.
    “Daisy took out the trash. She hasn’t come
back yet.”
    “Maybe she’s calling a friend. You know how
teenagers are, Cady.” I could tell he was trying to reassure me.
The only problem was the temperature outside was chilly, too cold
for Daisy to hang around while chatting or texting, especially
since she didn’t bother to put on a coat.
    “I don’t know.” Something wasn’t right. Don’t
ask me how I knew that, but I did.
    “Want me to go look?” Doc peered at me
through those glasses, saw the concern on my face, and didn’t
bother to wait for my answer. I led him to the back door, planning
to point him in the direction of the Dumpster. The building’s
spotlights cut through the growing darkness and cast a sharp beam
across the parking lot, where two figures