Death by Chocolate Cake: A Bakery Detectives Cozy Mystery by Stacey Alabaster Read Free Book Online

there?"
    I was finally able to move my face. "Pippa, tell me this is one of your little jokes. You are pranking me, right?"
    "I'm not, Rach! Marcello needs a job. Like, really needs one. I promise you he will be a model employee."
    "Pippa, he breaks everything. He thinks that you can fish the glass out of salsa and still serve it! He drops hair everywhere!"
    "I know he's not perfect..." Understatement. "But he can be trained. He'll be different at work than he is at home. You'll be there to keep an eye on him. And if he does totally mess up, you can fire him, and I promise there will be no hard feelings." Pippa grabbed me by the arms. "Please, just give him a chance, Rachael."
    I couldn't believe I was about to agree to this. "Fine," I said with a heavy sigh. "I'll give him a chance. But this is on a trial basis only, okay?"
    Pippa nodded and jumped up and down. I had to double check she understood what I mean. "Trial. Basis."
    "Yes, Rach! Thank you!" She ran out of the kitchen and came back with Marcello, who was grinning ear to ear. He reached out for my hand and kissed it. "Thank you so much, Miss Rachael. I promise that I will be your humble servant at work. You will not regret this decision."
    I was already regretting it, though. And I knew I would only regret it more when the next day came.

    * * *
    I hadn't taken my eyes off him from the moment he'd walked in the store.
    "You know, you can trust him a little," Pippa whispered to me as she tied her apron behind her back. "It's not like he's going to burn the place down."
    "Pippa, if he works here, it's on my terms. And that means never taking my eyes off him for one moment."
    Pippa held her hands up. "Okay, okay, you got it, boss. Now, what do you want Marcello to do first?"
    Hmm. Definitely nothing involving food, which was difficult in a bakery. Drinks maybe? I wondered just how badly he could screw up a cup of coffee.
    "Does he know how to use a cappuccino machine?"
    "I'm sure he can learn. He is Italian, after all!"
    But as soon as the milk hit the frother and Marcello had managed to cover himself, me, and Pippa in hot milk before dropping the entire jug on the ground, I knew that he couldn't learn. At least, not until we were closed to customers and I had the time to teach him. And I'd had a few glasses of wine first.
    "I'll get a mop."
    While Marcello was in the cleaning closet—I figured there was only so much trouble he could get up to in there—I took a minute to check my phone.
    I had a new message from Justin. What happened yesterday with Renee and Adam???
    I'd been putting off messaging him. I wasn't yet sure what to make of either of them, they both could have done it, and I wanted to dig for some more information on both without Justin's opinions of them clouding my own good judgment.
    I decided not to reply. Just as I was about to put my phone back in my pocket, a call from a private number flashed up on the screen.
    I hovered over the 'reject' option before finally tapping it. I never answer calls from private numbers as a matter of principle. If it's someone I know, or it it's important, they can leave a message.
    They did, but unfortunately not a text message. A voice message. I sighed and glanced towards the mop cupboard, wondering what was taking Marcello so long. I really should go check on him.
    But with everything that was going on, I was worried the message could be important. Maybe it was Jackson. Maybe something had been discovered about Pierre.
    I listened to the message while keeping one eye out for Marcello at the back of the shop.
    "Hello...Rachael?" It was the kindly voice of an older woman, one that I thought I recognized but couldn't quite place. "I'm not sure this is the right number, I received it from Justin. Anyway," the voice continued briskly, if a little unsurely. "This is Dawn Ashfield calling, from Baking Warriors . I'm still in town. Production is in a bit of limbo right now, as you can imagine. But we have some good news for