Death of a Wedding Cake Baker (Hayley Powell Mystery Book 11) by Lee Hollis

Author:Lee Hollis [Hollis, Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Books
Published: 2019-04-29T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

“Liddy, it’s kind of bad around here today,” Hayley said as the phone on her desk rang and rang and her boss Sal blustered about reporters missing their deadlines in the back bull pen of the Island Times office.

“Hayley, the news comes and goes. This is my life we’re talking about,” Liddy wailed, hugging herself, sniffing to keep from crying, as she stood in front of Hayley’s desk.

“Okay, hang on, let me just take this one call,” Hayley said, scooping up the phone receiver.

It was a reporter on the scene of a kitchen fire at a local restaurant that was under control but causing smoke damage at neighboring businesses.

“Hayley, where the hell is Jim? He should be getting photos of this!”

“Yes, Hank, I know, Jim’s on his way. Just hold on.”

The photographer had been getting a root canal at the dentist, but when he got a text about the restaurant fire, he had apparently discarded his paper bib, and with a mouthful of Novocain, dashed out to his car to race to the scene.

Sal roared into the front office just as the reporter told Hayley, “Never mind! Jim just got here!”

And then he hung up.

“Where the hell is Jim? I just got a text from Hank that he’s MIA!” Sal snarled.

“He’s there! He’s on the scene!” Hayley cried. “It’s handled!”

Sal tried calming down. He grabbed the coffeepot and poured himself a cup. “I’m going to need something stronger than this damn coffee before this day’s over!”

“Hello, Sal,” Liddy said, smiling.

He grunted a reply before brushing past her and stalking back to his office.

Hayley looked at Liddy apologetically. “I’m sorry, Liddy, I just can’t come with you today.”

“Then I’ll wait,” she said, plopping herself down in a metal chair near the coffee station.

“It’ll be another couple of hours before I can get away,” Hayley warned.

“That’s fine. It’s not a problem. I just can’t do this alone.”

Hayley understood why Liddy desperately needed moral support. Today was the day she was scheduled to pick up her wedding dress at a bridal shop in Ellsworth, where they had been painstakingly making alterations in order to meet her exact specifications. Now that the whole wedding had been called off, there was no need for the dress anymore. But since it had already been bought and paid for and could not be returned, like it or not, somebody had to drive up there and get it. Liddy was just too emotionally fragile to do it by herself, so she was pressuring Hayley to accompany her.

The fire story died down about twenty minutes later, and after a burglary call that eventually turned out to be a false alarm, the only pressing story the Island Times had to stay on top of was a town council meeting scheduled to begin at five o’clock.

Liddy sat quietly, a tight smile on her face, staring at Hayley, waiting for her to finally call it a day so they could make the quick twenty-minute drive to Ellsworth. Liddy’s presence was making Hayley extremely uncomfortable.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.