Catered to Death (Holly Hart Cozy Mystery Series Book 6) by Laura Pauling

Author:Laura Pauling [Pauling, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Redpoint Press
Published: 2016-02-07T16:00:00+00:00

Holly’s hands shook so badly the next morning, she couldn’t put the teeth inside her mouth. Instead, she placed them on the counter and sat on the bed. The red digital numbers on the clock on the nightstand were unavoidable.

Forty-five minutes.

That was it. And then, she’d be talking face-to-face with Teddy. Yes, her disguise had fooled Trent and almost everyone in the room the day before. But Teddy?

He was smart and observant. Lawyer smart. Plus, he was suspicious, so it made him more dangerous and her disguise that much more fallible.

“I can do this,” Holly whispered over and over to herself.

Muffins sat by her feet, loyal to the end. “I’d love to bring you in on this, but Teddy would recognize you in the time it takes a cheesecake to burn. Not that I’ve overcooked a cheesecake,” she muttered, attempting to laugh at her own joke.

Finally, after a third pep talk that didn’t seem to be working, she faced her teeth and the bathroom mirror once again. She put on the cleavage-revealing shirt Millicent picked out with the reasoning that Lacey had to be the opposite of Holly.

Ten minutes later, Holly crossed the street and took down the On Vacation sign from Just Cheesecake. She entered her store with an overwhelming sense of nostalgia as if already this business was a lingering memory.

Charlene showed up on time, her unsmiling face at the door as she knocked. Lacey let her inside.

It had been decided, by everyone, that Holly shouldn’t face Teddy alone. Charlene had volunteered to act as the assistant, because one, she often was the assistant. And two, they didn’t want to put Holly’s regular high school assistant, Max, in a dangerous position.

“You sure that silly disguise will fool this guy?” Charlene asked.

“I hope so.” She almost added that it had fooled her son.

Charlene put on her apron, then stood at the counter. “Where do you want me?”

Holly studied the shop. What would be the least obvious? “How about you go back and forth between wiping down the tables, working in the back, and then possibly reloading the showcase.” Obviously, Charlene couldn’t stand in the corner or by Holly’s side with a gun hidden in her apron.

“Fine,” Charlene grumbled. “Heads up.”

For one panicked second—more like several—Holly froze. There he was. Confident and tall. Smart and good looking. Why hadn’t she ever liked him? Now the thought made her shudder. Maybe all along she’d sensed he wasn’t completely good, that somehow, the kindness he portrayed was an act. That underneath all that... She couldn’t finish the thought that someone she’d considered a friend could be a killer.

Charlene hissed from the door to the kitchen. “Get with it!”

The words pierced her awareness as the door opened and Teddy walked through. More like swaggered. Instead of appearing eager to strike a business deal, he stood in the entranceway and observed. He took in the style of tables, the atmosphere she’d painstakingly created, and he took in the smallest details of the pastries behind the showcase.

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