A Sprinkle of Secrets: A Cafe Crimes Cozy Mystery Book 5 (A Cafe Crimes Cozy Mystery Series) by Simone Stier

Author:Simone Stier [Stier, Simone]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2025-01-21T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11

The fluorescent lights of Magnolia Grove General Hospital buzzed overhead while I slouched in an uncomfortable plastic chair, watching Hazel pace the waiting room. Nellie Pritchett stood at the nurses’ station as she jotted notes into her day planner. The morning’s events played through my mind on repeat—the empty storage unit, Truitt’s “accident,” and the look on Hazel’s face when I’d found her at the scene.

“Would you please sit down?” I patted the chair next to me. “You’re making me dizzy.”

Nellie glanced at her watch. “Gracious me, would you look at the time!” She turned and rushed over to us. “Parker, Hazel, I’ve got to scoot—I have a meeting with the town’s groundskeeper to discuss the proper way to prune our azaleas for the upcoming Magnolia Spring Festival.” She clutched her planner to her chest. “Nurse said Truitt’s stable but still out of it. Do keep me posted! Sorry to leave you stranded.”

“Will do, Nellie. And we’ll call an Uber,” I said.

She hurried out, leaving behind a cloud of floral perfume and municipal authority.

Hazel dropped into the seat, fidgeting with her phone. “Sorry. I just keep thinking … what if I hadn’t closed my eyes to pray? Maybe I would’ve seen the car, gotten a plate number …”

“Or maybe you’d be in a hospital bed too.” I squeezed her hand. “We still need to discuss your definition of ‘holding down the fort,’ by the way.”

“I know. But Parker, doesn’t this hit-and-run make Truitt seem innocent? Like why would someone try to run him down if he was guilty?”

“Maybe he knows something that makes him dangerous.” I pulled out my notebook to jot down possible connections. The first one being Mr. Fancy Pants Local Celeb … Barney Ford.

My phone’s blast of the “Imperial March” interrupted my scribbles. I glanced at the screen and groaned. “It’s my parents.”

I answered the call. “Hi Mom …”

“Parker, honey!” My mother’s voice carried that usual blend of excitement and worry she’d perfected since I was a little girl. “Your father and I have news. The moving company called––they can move us earlier than planned, and Golden Grove said it would be no problem, that our place would be ready!”

“When will you arrive?”

“Next week!”

The pen slipped from my fingers, clattering against the linoleum floor.

“Next week, like Monday or like Friday?”

“Thursday! The morning of your Valentine’s Day soiree!” she sang.

Dad’s voice chimed in from the background. “We’ve got a ‘heart-y’ desire to see you!”

“Daniel, please,” Mom sighed, but I could hear the affection in her voice. “Parker, we know you’ll be busy that day, so don’t worry about helping us unpack and such. We can even pitch in with your event! Won’t it be wonderful?”

My stomach dropped faster than a failed soufflé. The Valentine’s Day Sweethearts celebration was my biggest event yet––specialty drinks, heart-shaped pastries and live music. Adding my parents to that mix while trying to solve a murder case seemed like a recipe for disaster. I didn’t want them to worry about me, because that added its own special layer of pressure.

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