Chocolate Festival Felony by London Lovett

Author:London Lovett [Lovett, London]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wild Fox Press

Chapter 18

The event was all but over for the day. Willow waited for word from the coroner. I hoped Jackson would be privy to the information so that I could be in on the final verdict. I had a fairly solid theory in my head, though some of it was less than solid only because the sabotage of Fritz's sculpture had thrown in a twist. In my mind, someone had put shrimp cocktail in Cameron's tomato juice. That meant the killer had to know him well enough to know that he had a tomato juice habit and he was allergic to shellfish. The auditorium had been cleared for the lunch hour, but it wasn't as if a guard had been placed at each door. I was sure if someone had wanted to sneak back in, or, better yet, if someone had stayed behind during the mass exit, they would have been easily missed.

I stepped out into the brisk late afternoon air. Vanning Vanessa hadn't stuck around for the drama. She'd left plenty of debris behind in the place where her van had been parked. Some of her trash fluttered my direction. Was she just as careless at national and state parks or only when she thought a destination wasn't worth her time to clean up?

Rosemary's truck was still parked in the circle. It seemed she had no intention of losing her prime position. A small green truck was parked next to the food truck. It was filled with boxes of produce, cheese and frozen shrimp. Lucille was helping Rosemary unload the supplies for tomorrow's lunch. I could only assume the chocolate festival would continue tomorrow. I would hate to see it cut short after all the work and money Emily put into it. All the other chocolatiers, as well.

The two sisters had been angered by the victim. I decided to head across and start up a conversation. I was only a few steps in when I noticed a piece of paper had stuck to my shoe. It was some of Vanessa's trash. I lifted my foot and pulled it off. It was a small strip of paper with a phone number written on it. I jammed it in my pocket.

Lending a hand was always the best tactic to work my way into a friendly chat. "I can help with some of that," I called as I walked across to the truck. Lucille was pulling a large box down to the end of the bed. She looked back to see who was offering a hand.

"Miss Taylor, you seem to be everywhere. Here. This one isn't too heavy. Just take it to the side door."

I lifted the box that was marked canned tomatoes. It was a little heavier than anticipated, but it was a short walk to the side door. Rosemary's eyes rounded when she saw that it was me rather than Lucille ready to hand off a box of tomatoes. "You," she said in a short tone. "You're the reporter," she added with an equally brusque tone.

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