Fairy Tales, Fruitcake, and Murder: A Cozy Magic Midlife Mystery (Silver Circle Cat Rescue Mysteries Book 4) by Leanne Leeds

Author:Leanne Leeds [Leeds, Leanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781950505869
Publisher: Badchen Publishing
Published: 2023-12-06T16:00:00+00:00

Evie poked her head into my office, an uncertain look flashing across her face. “Um, Mom? Jessa Winthrop is here asking to see you,” she said.

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. Jessa Winthrop rarely made personal appearances these days unless something was seriously wrong, or she seriously intended to draw attention to herself by unleashing her awful personality on someone undeserving.

Mario and Landon exchanged concerned glances.

“It’s fine. What’s she going to do in the shelter’s lobby?” I assured them, though my shoulders had tensed at the sound of her name. I stood. “I’ll go see what she wants.”

“I don’t think you should go out there, especially in the middle of all this—that woman is nothing but trouble,” Landon said.

“I know how to handle Jessa,” I said with confidence.

Though, in truth, our past encounters had been relentlessly thorny.

Jessa Winthrop—the former mayor of Tablerock, mistress of the late (and corrupt) Beau Blackwell, and mother of murderer Joel Winthrop—rarely dropped by to see me. Though her son Joel was safely behind bars and she was no longer in charge of the town, Jessa continued haunting Tablerock like a specter clinging stubbornly to a realm she should have departed from long ago.

On one occasion, she had hinted that she knew about Fiona’s enchanted cat communication platter. Her possible knowledge meant I could not afford to ignore her requests, veiled as they often were behind a polite veneer.

When she commanded attention, it was safer to provide it.

“Well, look who finally showed up,” Jessa said, her words dripping with disdain. She looked me up and down with a sneer as the lobby Christmas tree twinkled merrily behind her.

I said nothing, refusing to take the bait.

I could see the hint of a smug smile playing on Jessa’s artificially glossed lips, the pursed pucker ready to pounce on any reaction I gave her. Everything about the woman oozed entitlement, from her ostentatious jewelry to her self-important tone, but I kept my expression neutral and my gaze focused straight ahead.

This may be her game, but I wasn’t going to play by her rules.

“Hello, Ms. Winthrop,” I said evenly. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”

“Oh, Ellie. Always so formal.” Her tone oozed false congeniality. She clasped her hands together. “I simply wanted to stop by and see how things were going. And check in on Belladonna, of course. You know, Beau always thought highly of her.”

If that were true—and I doubted it was—it was a one-sided affection.

Belladonna despised him.

“She’s doing well, thank you,” I responded politely.

She waited for me to continue.

I waited silently for her true purpose to emerge, refusing to make idle small talk. No need to indulge Jessa’s pretense of caring one whit about the cat. When it became clear I would not fill the tense silence, Jessa adjusted her posture, looking irritated. She idly examined her manicure.

“I also wanted to discuss a delicate matter with you,” she began casually. Too casually. “It’s regarding a certain... let’s say, involvement, that you keep having with the Tablerock police department.

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