A Deception Most Deadly: An utterly addictive historical cozy murder mystery (A Cassie Gwynne Mystery Book 1) by Genevieve Essig

Author:Genevieve Essig [Essig, Genevieve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781800196940
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2022-01-13T16:00:00+00:00

FIFTEEN

Having had no luck elsewhere on the Egmont grounds, Cassie was in the hotel garden across the street, a colorful oasis planted with orange and lemon trees, cabbage palms, and roses, as well as a whole host of exotic tropical plants she had never seen before, staring up into the knotty branches of an old juniper tree, when a twig snapped behind her.

“Dad-blame it. Right in the eye.” Jake stepped into the clearing with a hand over his face.

“Gracious,” Cassie said. “Are you injured?”

“No. I’ll be fine. As soon as I have a word with the groundskeeper about keeping this path trimmed back properly. Anyway, Mr. Littell told me I’d find you out here.”

“Sam and Lily had an argument, and Lily ran out. I thought she might have come over here, but I don’t see her.”

“Those are your friends from New York?”

“Used to be.”

Cassie trudged over to the stone fountain burbling next to the footpath and sank onto the edge of the reservoir. She’d forgotten how tired she was.

“How’re you holding up?” Jake sat next to her, Peanut’s ledger book in his lap.

“Oh, me? I’m fine, I think. It was good to see that Flora was in better spirits when I left this morning. More than better. Though, if I’m being entirely honest… I wouldn’t say it was inauthentic, but it felt a little—”

“Emphatic?”

“Yes, actually.”

Jake picked at the cover of the ledger book. “She gets that way sometimes, when something has really upset her. I think it’s a way of coping, forcing herself to feel better. It may have something to do with the—incident that happened this morning at the house. Before you woke up.”

“Something happened at the house? I had no idea.”

“Someone nailed a placard to her store sign that covered up the word “perfumer” and replaced it with the word “murderer.” I went over as soon as I heard and took it down, but the damage was done. Flora was very shaken by it. Less by the specific act, I think, than the fact that someone had thought of her that way, if that makes sense.”

Cassie sighed. “I understand. I’m sure it made everything seem all the more real, too.”

Jake nodded and opened the ledger. “So I took a look at this ledger book you left for me.”

“Any idea what it’s about?”

“I wouldn’t go that far, but I’ve at least recognized a common thread. Most of it seems to relate to various properties in Flora’s neighborhood.”

Cassie picked one of the purple wildflowers growing in the grass by their feet. “Including Mr. Downing’s?”

“Peanut’s next-door neighbor? Probably, but I’m not sure. I’m not experienced enough at reading these kinds of documents to tell specifically what relates to what.” Jake opened the book and started flipping through it. “I especially haven’t a clue what these notations at the top of some of the pages are about.” He pointed. “Like this, a dollar sign circled together with a percentage symbol. And here, an hourglass next to a skull and crossbones. And this one looks to be, what, a flame?”

Cassie chewed on her lip.

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