Sweets Forgotten (Samantha Sweet Mysteries Book 10) by Connie Shelton Read Free Book Online

Both dogs
rose and approached the edge of the front porch as she parked her van.
    “The chicken smelled so good when
I got here,” came Beau’s voice from the kitchen, “that I went ahead and mashed
the potatoes and made some gravy.”
    What a prize he was. She dropped
her pack onto one of the hooks at the coatrack and set her phone on the end
table before joining him in the kitchen. He handed her a glass of wine and
insisted she take a seat at the small kitchen table while he turned off the gas
under a pan on the range top.
    “Um, you taste like sugar,” he
said after kissing the top of her head.
    “I should shower. I think I have
powdered sugar in every pore of my body.”
    “I could get that for you.” He
licked the tip of her nose with a little flick.
    “Ugh, honey. You really don’t
want to do that. There’s plenty of sweat in the mix too.”
    He laughed and clicked his beer
glass to her wine glass. “Okay, you win. You want that shower before dinner or
after?”
    Tiredness was settling over her
pretty quickly. She stood up and took his hand. “If you can hold dinner ten
minutes I’ll make it a very quick one.”
    By the time she came downstairs,
refreshed and wearing a loose caftan, he’d lit candles on the dining table and
refilled her wine glass.
    “Is there an occasion I’ve
forgotten or do you plan to always spoil me rotten?” she teased.
    “Um, probably neither. Although
our anniversary is coming up soon.”
    Sam gulped too quickly and
sputtered on her wine. How had she not remembered such an important date,
especially when she created fantastic desserts for other people’s occasions all
the time?
    Sam’s energy began to return as
she ate. Beau talked about his investigation.
    “I made a second trip out to
interview the victim’s parents,” he said. “Now that the Albuquerque police are
treating this as a suspicious death, possibly a homicide, my department is
having to look into the man’s background here at home.”
    “And I’ll bet the parents swear
their son never used drugs a day in his life.”
    “Most of ’em will tell you that,
yes. Especially the ones who’ve been successful in their lives and watched
their children grow up to be successful too. They really don’t think that stuff
happens in their own families.”
    A picture of Kelly flashed
briefly through Sam’s mind. Aside from a lot of beer and maybe some
experimentation in her college years, surely her own daughter didn’t …
    “So the Robinets are swearing up
one side and down the other that dear Zack was a wonderful man who never made
an enemy, who attended church every week and was probably the next Steve Jobs
when it came to his business success.”
    “And you’re not buying it?”
    “I think they genuinely believe it. I mean, most likely they’re not covering
up anything. But parents often have an incredible blind side about their adult
children. Here’s a couple who are vital and active for their ages—they travel
and get out a lot. How closely did they really stay involved in their married
son’s life?” He poured a little more wine for Sam. “I went by Zack Robinet’s
residence—nice place, by the way. Nobody home there. Most likely, the parents
or the business partner will talk to the wife before I do.”
    “Still, you have to get her side
of things.”
    “Yeah, she’ll be the one to
verify or deny the things the parents said.”
    “Do you think she will?” Sam set
down her fork and pushed her plate aside. “She might be the one with the most
to lose by admitting her husband’s weaknesses.”
    “Losing face, you mean?”
    “Well, yeah. Especially when it
comes to sex and drugs. She could have been turning a blind eye to all kinds of
things, you know, in exchange for lots of money and a fantastic lifestyle.”
    He nodded. “Some do. You’re right
about that. The same might be said for his business partner, Chandler Lane. I’d
planned on going back to question him some more but he’s