All Hats on Deck by Sandra Bretting

Author:Sandra Bretting
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lyrical Press
Published: 2019-06-17T14:56:25+00:00

Chapter 13

I clumsily fired up the engine, since my hands wouldn’t cooperate, and slowly pulled away from the curb.

“C’mon,” Beatrice urged. “Spill. What happened back there with the mayor?”

“I’ll tell you what happened…I tried to talk to him about the new hat shop. Convince him to put the brakes on its grand opening. But everything backfired.”

“Backfired? What do you mean?”

“I mean, he knows Antonella Goode’s family.” Even now, I couldn’t believe my bad luck. “Ambrose confirmed she’s the one who’s behind the new hat shop. I called him when you were in the restaurant.”

“Shut up!” Beatrice’s eyes widened the moment she realized what she’d said. “Sorry about that, boss. I don’t know why I keep saying it. Guess it’s a bad habit.”

“It’s okay. I know you don’t mean it.” While I’d normally reprimand her, today I had too many other problems on my mind to worry about it. “Anyway, like I said, our conversation didn’t go very well.”

“I can’t believe it. You’re usually so good when you meet new people.”

“Not today.” I checked the flow of traffic over my left shoulder, and then I drove the car onto Highway 18. “I wanted to tell the mayor there’s no way Antonella Goode could get the building permits in time for her new store to open. Ambrose said it’s supposed to open Monday.”

“This Monday? She’s gonna be really busy this weekend.”

“No doubt. And I don’t think she’ll have anything inspected before the store opens. She can’t, not with such a tight timeline. Which means she’s putting her customers—and her employees, if she hires any—at risk. Can you just imagine what’d happen if there was an electrical fire, or if she blocked the exits with packing boxes?”

“I don’t know what to tell you, Missy.” Beatrice seemed to want to say something good. “Will it make you feel better if I tell you Miss Odilia threw in some extra drumsticks?”

I gave her a slim smile. “Maybe. But I need to come up with a plan. Something that’ll stop Antonella in her tracks.”

We both fell silent during the short drive back to the Factory. While my conversation with the mayor didn’t go well, at least it was short and we’d beaten everyone else back to work. Since I had my choice of parking spots, I pulled into one in the very first row.

By the time I hopped onto the warmed asphalt, Beatrice had outpaced me, and she swung the bag from Miss Odilia’s casually back and forth as she walked.

“Wait up, Bea.” I hurried to reach her, and together we headed for Crowning Glory. As soon as we arrived at the entrance, a blue-clad figure leaning against the wall straightened.

“Hey, Missy. I was just about to call you.”

“Hi, Lance.” I jimmied a key into the shop’s front door. “Let’s get you inside.”

I quickly headed into the studio ahead of the detective. It wasn’t the bright sunshine that made me hurry indoors, but my need for privacy. I didn’t want my neighbors to know I sometimes teamed up with Bleu Bayou’s finest to help solve murder cases.

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