Bumped Off at the Bake Sale: A delicious seaside cozy mystery (Saltcliff Mysteries Book 2) by Nancy Stewart

Author:Nancy Stewart [Stewart, Nancy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-10-24T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

That night I couldn’t sleep.

Owen hadn’t checked in after he’d taken Angus in, and I imagined the kind janitor spending his night in a cold jail cell at the police station. Had he really killed Dorothy Withers? He’d all but admitted it.

Actually, he had admitted it. Though he’d said it was an accident. I just wasn’t sure I could imagine it, but then murder wasn’t something I’d had much experience with in general. Even the most gentle soul had a trigger that might turn us into a version of ourselves we didn’t recognize.

Still, something didn’t feel complete about Angus’s confession, and I was eager to hear Owen’s thoughts.

Until then, however, I had things to attend to.

“Ready, Taco?” I asked my dog once I’d dressed and given him breakfast. Most dogs liked to get out first thing in the morning and handle their business, but Taco was too focused on food. Once he’d demolished his breakfast, only then could he consider other matters. Now he looked up at me from his water dish with water dripping from his jowls, a smile in his soft amber eyes.

I clipped on his leash and we headed out the apartment door into the lobby and out the front door of the inn. It was early, which meant guests were still tucked up in their beds, though midweek we didn’t have too many people to look after.

Taco and I wandered the garden, but saw no sign of Marcus quite yet besides the clear effects of his presence here, which came in the form of tidy paths and trimmed plants everywhere I looked.

“A quick stroll up Nutmeg,” I suggested to Taco, who was eager to accompany me pretty much anywhere.

We turned out of the inn’s gate and headed for the main street of town, which shone dark in the lingering dampness of morning. The fog hung over the low branches of the pines and eucalyptus trees, and I suppressed a shiver. Fall was undoubtedly here, and its arrival in town was marked along the sidewalk with Halloween and pumpkin-themed displays in store windows and next to shop doors.

As we walked, I planned my day.

Muffins first, and then I’d make a quick batch of egg bites to put out this morning.

There was one room to turn over, and I’d need to finish up the laundry I’d begun the day before. Amal wanted to discuss the accounts and we’d agreed to see if we had enough on hand to renovate the bathroom in the Atticus suite before the holidays. I wanted to talk to Owen, but I imagined he’d check in with me when he had time—he knew I’d be curious. And my brain was still circling the strange encounter I’d had with the principal and the disparities in accounting that seemed to have plagued the festival for several years. And there was still the note and the snow globe.

Back at the inn, I finished up the baking as Diantha appeared, ready for school.

“Aunt Dolly?” She asked, looking uncertain in a way my brave niece rarely did lately.

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