Eggs Benedict Arnold (7 page)

Suzanne made a mental note to call Mike and tell him they were perilously low on cheese, then she peeked into the Book Nook to check on things. This was book club
night and Toni was leading a discussion on so-called chick
lit books. For some reason Suzanne had yet to fathom,
every one of those books seemed to have a hot pink cover
with bouncy, funky type. Go figure.

Of course, the book club would also break halfway through the evening for a glass of wine. After quizzing
Suzanne for suggestions, Toni had opted for a lovely,
mel
low Italian Pinot Grigio. A fine choice that would no doubt
help the group segue from discussing sarcastic chick lit to bodice-busting romance novels.

Romance novels. Doggone it.

Scurrying across the well-worn Aubusson carpet to the
romance section, Suzanne carefully checked the shelves.
Carmen Copeland, their local romance author, was coming in Wednesday afternoon for a book signing and she wanted
to be stocked and ready.

Well, okay. Phew.

They had at least twenty-five copies of Carmen
’
s new book,
Ramona
’
s Rhapsody,
on the shelf, along with at
least two copies of each book in Carmen
’
s backlist. So that
ought to do it.

Carmen was one of a handful of authors who had jumped
from mid-list mediocrity to the top of her genre. In leap
frogging thousands of other authors, Carmen had become rich, haughty, and imperious, not necessarily in that order.
But Carmen
’
s snippy attitude wasn
’
t Suzanne
’
s problem at the moment. Right now she was concerned about Missy
Langston and was wondering how in heck she could get in
touch with her.

Maybe drive over to her house after lunch? Stop by the
boutique? Missy was probably there, unpacking boxes, fran
tically steaming garments and arranging them on racks.

Grabbing a couple of empty coffee mugs that had been
left on the Book Nook
’
s small counter, Suzanne scooted through the cafe and headed into the kitchen.

When Petra saw Suzanne burst through the door, she
said,
“
Do you realize what a ferociously busy week this is
going to be?
”

Suzanne gave a knowing nod. She knew exactly what they had on the docket.

“
We
’
ve got the Silver Leaf Tea Club coming in tomorrow afternoon,
”
said Petra, ticking off the events on her
fingers,
“
then the Knit-In for Charity on Thursday, and our
Take the Cake Show on Saturday.
”

“
I know,
”
said Suzanne.
“
It
’
s a lot.
”

“
More than a full week,
”
muttered Petra, as she dipped her frosting knife into a bowl of creamy vanilla frosting.

“
That cake
’
s for Saturday?
”
asked Suzanne. Petra was frosting a three-layer chocolate cake and had sketched out
a Take the Cake logo and design. Her plan was to add mini
fondant cakes and blue ribbons as decoration.

“
It is in a way,
”
said Petra.
“
Jenny Probst offered to display it in the front window of the bakery. Advertising made
delicious.
”

Toni came slaloming in with a stack of clean dessert plates and slammed them down on the wooden butcher
block table.
“
What
’
s wrong?
”
she asked, at seeing Suzanne
and Petra with such serious faces.

“
We were just talking about how much we
’
ve got sched
uled this week,
”
said Petra.
“
What were we thinking?
”
She
picked up a spatula and twirled it in the air.
“
We
’
re going to run ourselves ragged!
”

“
We just got overenthusiastic,
”
said Toni, matter-of-factly.
“
In case you two hadn
’
t noticed, a lot of that goes on here. Somebody says something about knitting or cake
decorating and the energy level ratchets up about a zillion degrees and suddenly we have a great big honkin
’
event on
our hands!
”

“
You think we scheduled too much?
”
asked Petra.
“
In
too short a time frame?
”
Now she and Toni both cast side
ways glances at Suzanne.

“
Of course we did,
”
said Suzanne.
“
But I don
’
t think
we
’
d want it any other way. All our events are great fun and
help keep us on our toes.
”

Petra gazed down at the purple Crocs on her size-ten feet.
“
Such as they are.
”

“
Petra
seems a little edgy, don
’
t you think?
”
asked Toni,
as they laid flatware and set water glasses on the tables.

“
Mostly because of Saturday
’
s Take the Cake event,
”
said Suzanne.
“
She sort of spearheaded that whole idea, so
I think she
’
s feeling responsible.
”

“
But we
’
ll all pitch in,
”
said Toni.
“
We always do. And
we
’
ve got volunteers lined up like crazy.
”

“
Thank goodness,
”
said Suzanne,
“
because I
’
m pretty sure we
’
re going to have tons of entries in the cake-decorating contest. And a whole lot of folks coming for the cake social.
”

“
The cake judging is going to be my favorite part,
”
said
Toni.
“
I love watching
Ace of Cakes
on TV, and now we
’
re
gonna have our own mini competition.
”

Suzanne put the last water glass in place and surveyed the cafe.
“
We all set?
”

“
We better be,
”
said Toni, slipping a long black Parisian
waiter
’
s apron over her jeans and T-shirt,
“
because here comes our first customer.
”

Both women stood there with smiles on their faces as the door slowly swung open.

Only it wasn
’
t a customer at all. Standing in the door
way, staring at them with a stricken look on her face, was
Missy Langston.

Suzanne took in Missy
’
s sad expression, haggard look, and slumped shoulders, and murmured,
“
Oh no.
”

Chapter six

Missy
Langston wasn
’
t just upset, she was practically hysterical.

“
My poor Ozzie is dead and now Sheriff Doogie says I
’
m at the top of his suspect list!
”
she wailed.

Suzanne led Missy to a table and got her seated. Toni quickly brought a glass of ice water.

“
Take a sip,
”
urged Toni.

“
Why do people always bring you water when you
’
re upset?
”
asked Missy, taking a tentative gulp. In her mid-thirties, Missy possessed fair, almost porcelain skin, hair the color of fine corn silk, and a full, ripe figure. She
’
d caught the eye of more than a few men in Kindred, but Ozzie Driesden had been her sweetie for more than two years. Except for lately.

Suzanne wanted to get right to the heart of Doogie
’
s accusations.
“
Where were you yesterday afternoon?
”
Suzanne asked Missy.
“
Do you have an alibi?
”
She hadn
’
t watched
Law & Order
all these years for nothing.

“
I was at home,
”
sniffed Missy.
“
I was planning to go to Kindred Spirit Days, maybe hang out a little, but I was just so tired from working twelve-hour days, trying to get Carmen
’
s boutique ready. So I gave myself a break and took a nap.
”

“
Poor dear,
”
said Toni.

“
Next thing I know,
”
said Missy,
“
Sheriff Doogie is pounding on my door, telling me Ozzie is dead!
”

Suzanne wrinkled her nose. George Draper had offered
to break the news to Missy. Obviously, Doogie had engineered a serious change in plans.

“
So Doogie just barged in?
”
asked Toni.
“
Just dropped
the terrible news on you?
”

Now Missy pulled a white hanky from her bag and dabbed at her eyes.
“
Yes.
”
Her voice dropped to a hoarse
whisper.
“
And it was shocking, just shocking! The news hit
me like a ton of bricks.
”
Missy took another sip of water.

“
What did Sheriff Doogie say after he broke the bad news?
”
asked Suzanne.

Missy sniffled again.
“
Just rattled off a string of ques
tions. Didn
’
t display a speck of sympathy. Or decency,
”
she
added.

“
And the questions were all concerning you and Ozzie?
”
asked Suzanne.

Missy bobbed her head.
“
Exactly. Sheriff Doogie asked
me how long we
’
d been dating, how close we were . . .
”
She blushed slightly, then added,
“
really personal questions. Then he asked if Ozzie and I had cooled it over the past couple of months.
”

“
What did you tell him?
”
asked Suzanne.

“
I told him we
’
d cooled it a little bit,
”
said Missy.
“
That
I
’
d been so busy with the new boutique that I hadn
’
t had a lot of free time.
”

“
But your relationship had cooled off, hadn
’
t it?
”
asked Suzanne. She felt so sad asking about Ozzie in the past tense.