Chocolate Dipped Death by SAMMI CARTER Read Free Book Online Page B

right. I’m sure of it.”
    He stared at me as if he’d never seen anyone so rude—and maybe he hadn’t. I didn’t wait around for him to comment but bolted for the back door, still hoping to prevent a disaster. I heard the bell jingle as the door closed, let out a sigh of relief, and tried not to think about what I’d just done.
    I’d promised that everything would be all right, but I’d never been less sure of anything in my life.
     
    Karen seemed a little unsteady as she came into the kitchen, and her hair was only a little less wild than it had been at two thirty that morning. Her eyes were red-rimmed and shadowed deeply, as if she’d smudged cocoa powder under them. She wore the clothes she’d been wearing when she showed up at my door, but she didn’t have a coat. I was pretty sure she hadn’t been to see Sergio, or she’d have taken more care with her appearance. Or maybe she had gone to see him and she’d found something that upset her. I almost didn’t want to ask.
    I made myself ask anyway. “What are you doing running around without a coat? It’s freezing out there.”
    Karen looked down at her sweater as if she hadn’t noticed that her coat was missing.
    “Karen? Are you all right?”
    She looked at me sharply, then nodded. “Me? Sure. Why?”
    “I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but you look horrible. Where did you go, and what time did you leave? I didn’t even hear the door open.”
    Karen tugged her apron from its hook and slipped it over her head as if she expected to wait on customers looking like Medusa on a bad hair day. “I went for a walk. No big deal.”
    “You went for a walk at six o’clock in the morning?”
    She leveled me with a look. “Is that a crime?”
    “No. It’s just that you usually don’t go out for leisurely strolls before the sun comes up. Where did you go?”
    Karen picked up several boxes of toffee, then stopped and stared at them as if she didn’t know what they were. “Just out,” she said when she realized I was waiting for an answer. “I needed to think.”
    “I thought maybe you’d gone to see Sergio.”
    She shook her head. “I wanted to, but I didn’t dare. What if she was there?”
    Understandable. Sometimes you just don’t want to know. “I don’t think she was,” I said. “I talked to Miles Horne this morning. He said that Savannah didn’t sleep well last night, and she’s out jogging now.”
    I felt a tickle of worry when I remembered the fear in Miles’s expression, but the relief in Karen’s wiped it away. An actual spark of life brightened her eyes. “Are you sure?”
    “That’s what he said, and he had no reason to lie to me.”
    Suddenly shaky, Karen put down the boxes and dropped onto a chair at the table. “How did you find out? Did you call him or something?”
    “He called me. He and Savannah wanted a public apology from Evie.”
    Karen blurted a laugh. “Are you serious?”
    “That’s what he said.”
    “And you agreed?”
    “Not exactly. I thought maybe I could convince them to change their minds, but it turned out that he really wanted somebody to tell him what Savannah was like when she lived here.”
    Karen’s lips curved into a tremulous smile. “And did you?”
    “Are you crazy?”
    Her smile gained a little strength, but the fingers she dragged through her hair trembled. “Can you believe the nerve of that woman? Demanding an apology from Evie? I’ll bet Savannah did cheat last night. It would be just like her. I just can’t figure out why she would.”
    “That’s the million dollar question,” I agreed, sitting down across from her. “At least you can relax, knowing that Sergio didn’t spend last night with her. Maybe you should talk to him, Karen. Listen to what he has to say. There might be a perfectly good explanation for what you saw.”
    Her smile evaporated, and she speared me with a sour look. “Oh, I’m just sure there will be.”
    “Come on, Karen. You know I’m the last