Inherit the Word (The Cookbook Nook Series) by Daryl Wood Gerber Read Free Book Online

every word, I urged my aunt and the mayor to hurry to the hall.
    Pepper jabbed a finger at Lola. “Tell the truth.”
    Lola batted Pepper’s finger away. “I didn’t go anywhere near the café area. I went to the restroom.” She pointed to the ladies’ room. “I got trapped inside. The door wouldn’t open.”
    “You appeared out of nowhere right after the fire alarm went off,” Pepper said.
    A crowd formed behind my aunt, the mayor, and me. Everyone, heads craning right and left, watched the combative women as if they were participants in a tennis match.
    “I’m telling you, I was in the restroom,” Lola said. “It’s the truth. The door stuck. I was so frustrated that I tried to call my daughter on her cell phone.”
    I scanned the throng for Bailey but didn’t see her. Where was she?
    “I couldn’t get a signal,” Lola went on.
    “A likely story,” Pepper jeered.
    “Look, if you don’t believe me.” Lola displayed her cell phone.
    Honestly, signals were hard to drum up anywhere in Crystal Cove. We had a couple of nearby cell towers, but being on the coast, we often experienced dead zones, as telephone companies call them. At present, the phrase made my stomach turn.
    Lola continued. “After a few minutes and a lot of tugging, the door opened.”
    “Why were you running from the café to here, then?” Pepper asked.
    “I got turned around. The alarm . . . ” Lola pointed to and fro.
    Bailey wedged into place beside me while rasping, “Out of my way.”
    “Where were you?” I said.
    She blanched. “In the stockroom ogling the two-hour-old coffee. I was about to succumb when I heard my mother and Pepper screaming. Do something.” She nudged me. “My mother isn’t lying. You know that bathroom door sticks.”
    I had asked my father, a master handyman, to fix it. He hadn’t gotten around to tweaking all the items on the shop’s to-do list.
    “Look, Pepper.” Lola spread her hands. “I’m as sorry as the next guy that Natalie is dead, but I’m innocent.”
    “You threatened her on The Pier. Everyone heard you.”
    “Do something,” Bailey repeated.
    Seeing as our chief of police was otherwise occupied, I presumed I was in charge. I hurried toward the women. “Pepper. Lola. Let’s calm down.”
    Pepper said, “I will not. You heard her the other day. She was teed off that Natalie nabbed her chef. She’s got motive.”
    “Not enough to end someone’s life,” Lola cried.
    “Pepper,” I said. “Please. Don’t jump to conclusions. This isn’t ours to dispute. Your daughter, Chief Pritchett”—I thumbed toward the café—“is good at her job. She’ll figure this out.”
    “But Lola did it,” Pepper said.
    Why was she so sure? I had convinced myself that I could like this woman, but suddenly I felt hotter than a broiler oven. She had accused me of murder not too long ago. I wouldn’t let her continue to assail Lola, as well. “Pepper, please.”
    “Somebody arrest Lola Bird,” Pepper said.
    “That’s it.” Lola waved her arms overhead. “I’m out of here. I will not take this abuse. If you need me, I’ll be at my restaurant.” Like Moses parting the Red Sea, she forged through the crowd. Magically, the onlookers separated. When Lola reached the end of the pack, the group closed the gap.
    Time seemed to stop. No one moved. Not even Pepper. For a few seconds, we existed in a vacuum. But then Pepper started her rant again, and chatter rose to a frenzied din.
    Cinnamon appeared and clapped her hands. “Everyone, listen up.”
    She couldn’t continue because her mother grabbed her by the elbow and said, “Go after Lola Bird, Cinn. She killed Natalie. She left.”
    “She what?” Cinnamon glowered at me, like I had something to do with Lola’s departure.
    I splayed my hands—
not guilty
.
    With even greater emphasis, Cinnamon said, “People, stay put. Do. Not. Leave. My associate is going to question you.” She hitched a finger at a massive male subordinate with