Death of a Country Fried Redneck (Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mysteries) by Lee Hollis Read Free Book Online Page B

there is something you really don’t like, although I’m pretty familiar with your eating habits, having read about you all these years.”
    “I’m sure I’m going to love everything you cook for me, Hayley,” Wade said with a wink.
    Was that wink a flirtatious gesture?
    Hayley took another sip of her wine.
    Great. She was calming her nerves with lots of alcohol.
    Always a sound plan of attack.
    Suddenly, her eye caught something.
    There was a figure crouched down behind some bushes a few feet away, watching them. He was small and wiry, the size of a kid, maybe eleven or twelve years old.
    Hayley squinted to get a better look, and then there was a blinding flash that surprised both her and Wade, followed by a rustling in the bushes as the kid ran off in the dark.
    Hayley shrugged. “I guess a fan wanted a photo for his scrapbook.”
    “Happens all the time,” Wade said, smiling, and then he refilled their glasses with more wine.
    Hayley wasn’t exactly tipsy when she and Wade left the Balance Rock Inn, but she was feeling warm and fuzzy inside, and fought every urge to rest her head on Wade’s broad shoulders.
    If she could reach one.
    Wade was tall.
    Maybe on her tippy toes.
    Wade insisted on walking Hayley home, but Hayley laughed and assured him the town was very safe and her house was just a few blocks away, and it was such a beautiful night.
    He gave her a sweet peck on the cheek that nearly caused her to lose her balance.
    Before he could press the matter of escorting her home any further, she left.
    As she walked home, Hayley felt confident she could prepare at least three meals a day that would make Wade happy and she was getting more excited about the idea of being Wade Springer’s personal chef.
    When Hayley got home, she noticed Liddy’s Mercedes parked in the driveway.
    The house was lit up like a Christmas tree, unlike most of the other homes on quiet residential Glen Mary Road.
    Hayley shook her head, smiling to herself. Liddy and the kids were probably on pins and needles waiting to hear every detail of her night with Wade. She was tired, but would give them a few highlights before she turned in for the night.
    But when Hayley walked in the back door and through the kitchen there was no welcoming party to greet her. She heard the sound of rummaging down the hall and followed it to the living room, where she stopped and gasped.
    The room had been turned upside down. The shelves were emptied, books and framed photos piled high on the floor. The couch and chairs were moved, the dining room table upended.
    “What is going on here?” Hayley said as she spotted Liddy on her hands and knees going through a basket of magazines.
    Liddy’s face was pale and gaunt. Like she hadn’t slept in days. She wasn’t even wearing one of her signature Donna Karan ensembles. She was in a sweatshirt and jeans and flip-flops.
    Liddy in flip-flops?
    This had to be something bad.
    Real bad.
    “Where are the kids?” Hayley asked.
    “Upstairs,” Liddy said. “They’re searching the bathroom. I think I went up there to use it the last time I was here, but I’m not sure.”
    Liddy looked lost and broken.
    “My God, Liddy, what’s happened?”
    “My diamond earrings? The pair I bought at Tiffany’s on my last trip to New York and spent a fortune on when I knew I shouldn’t? But then I said to myself, ‘Liddy, you deserve this!’ and I called you from the counter so you could talk me out of it, but I really wanted you to tell me to go for it and you didn’t disappoint. . .”
    “Yes, Liddy, I remember. What about them? Did you lose one?”
    Liddy nodded and then burst into tears.
    Hayley rushed forward and embraced her.
    Not the end of the world. At least, in Hayley’s mind. She was raising two kids as a single mother and just wanted to pay her heating bill for the winter. But Liddy was an entirely different creature altogether. And, to her, this was the end of the world. So as her closest friend, Hayley