Murder of a Chocolate-Covered Cherry by Denise Swanson Read Free Book Online Page B

hour after they were scheduled to have been finished with lunch, Grandma Sal’s staff started moving the contestants out of the restaurant and into their cars. Everyone was instructed to follow Grandma Sal’s limo to the factory, where they would be given a brief tour and then have a chance to do a trial run of their recipes.
    Skye and May were in the last group to be ushered from their table.
    As they stood to follow the contest staffer, May whispered to Skye, “Here are the keys. I’ll meet you at the car. I have to go to the bathroom.”
    “Okay.” Skye noted that a couple of women were lined up to use the only ladies’ room, and wished she had brought a book to read.
    Skye followed her tablemates out the door. Once they were in the parking lot everyone scattered toward their vehicles. Skye sorted through the huge ring of keys May had thrust into her hand. She had just found the car key and inserted it into the passenger-side door when she heard the first scream.

CHAPTER 4

Butter and Flour Your Pan
    S kye froze. Did that sound like her mother?
    The second scream propelled her into action. Over her shoulder she yelled to the few remaining people in the parking lot, “Call nine-one-one. I’ll go see what’s wrong.”
    Skye burst through the restaurant’s door and skidded to a stop, searching for the problem. A third scream drew her to the back of the restaurant, where two women were engaged in a shoving match.
    When Skye got closer she saw that one of the brawlers was Cherry Alexander. The redhead pushed her opponent and yelled, “You give it back to me right now!”
    Cherry’s shove moved the other combatant into view, and Skye cringed as she saw her mother raise both fists and shout, “I told you, I don’t have your silly
secret
ingredient!”
    Cherry pulled back her arm, aiming a slap at May’s face, but Skye grabbed the petite woman’s wrist and said in her best playground-monitor voice, “No hitting. We’re all adults here, and I’m sure we’ll find whatever you lost.”
    “Get out of my way.” May tried to thrust Skye aside, but her five-foot-two, one hundred twenty-five pounds was nomatch for her daughter, who had five inches on her, and quite a bit more weight. “I can fight my own battles.”
    “I’m sure you could beat each other to a pulp with no trouble whatsoever, but that would mean you would be kicked out of the contest.” Skye raised an eyebrow. “Is that what you really want?”
    As if someone had lowered the flame on a gas stove, both women went from boiling over to simmering in the space of a heartbeat.
    “She started it.” May thrust out her chin. “She accused me of stealing.”
    “If you didn’t take it, who did?” Cherry theatrically rubbed the wrist Skye had released. “And I’d better be able to whisk tomorrow with this arm or I’m suing you.”
    Skye wanted to slap the asinine woman, but instead asked, biting off her words, “What did you lose?”
    “You’d like to know, wouldn’t you?” Cherry’s gaze darted among the women gathered around her.
    Until then Skye hadn’t noticed that the people who had still been in the parking lot had all come inside. Their presence reminded her that she had told them to call for help before going to investigate the scream. Now she asked, “Did anyone call nine-one-one?”
    A woman nodded and held up a bright red cell phone. “They said they’d be right here.”
    “Shoot.” Skye was angry with herself for jumping the gun. “Call them back and tell them we don’t need them after all.”
    “Don’t you dare!” Cherry forced her way past Skye and pointed at May. “I want this woman arrested.”
    Before Skye could react, the restaurant door slammed open and Officer Roy Quirk strode into the room. He immediately spotted Skye and asked, “We got a call about a woman screaming. What’s up?”
    Quirk was Wally’s second in command and, since Skye had been hired as a psychological consultant to the Scumble River