French Silk & Cyanide (Sky High Pies Cozy Mysteries Book 16) by Mary Maxwell

Author:Mary Maxwell [Mary Maxwell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2017-06-29T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 22

During the next two hours, I answered emails, called to check on pricing for customized paper placemats and organized the clutter on my desk into a three neat piles of invoices, envelopes and folders. By two-thirty, I was back in the kitchen, watching Julia as she decorated a three-tier chocolate cake with coffee-coconut frosting.

“Is that for Brianna?” I asked.

She stopped swirling the spatula around the top of the cake. “Yes, she’s hosting a baby pig shower for Alice Whitney and her husband.”

“A baby what shower?”

Julia’s eyes flared with mischief. “Isn’t it wild? I guess that Alice always wanted a pot-bellied pig for a pet.”

I held my tongue, hoping there was more to the story. But before Julia could continue, the door opened and Walter Trask stepped inside from the back deck.

“Katie?”

I gave Julia a little nod and went around the center island as Walter closed the door.

“Hey, there. What’s going on?”

His smiled apologetically. “Can you spare a few minutes?”

“Sure, of course,” I motioned toward the door. “How about out on the deck? It’s a beautiful day.”

“Yeah,” he said glumly. “That’s fine.”

He stepped aside, opened the door again and waited for me to pass by. Once we were outside, I sat on the rough-hewn log bench beside the door and asked about Darla.

“She’s doing better,” he said. “Daisy dropped her off at the office this morning around eight. She was planning to work until at least one o’clock to see how it went.”

“That’s good to hear. Sonny’s death really…” I saw his eyes narrow, so I decided not to finish the sentence with a reference to his ex-wife’s grief about her long ago love. “Well, it’s been such a shock for everyone in town. Don’t you think?”

Walter turned and walked across the weathered oak planks. He put his hands on the craggy wood railing and stared into the distance. I was getting ready to join him when he slowly rotated back around.

“I think that I know who killed Sonny,” he announced with the dry precision of an attorney in court.

I got up from the bench and walked toward him, but Walter held out one hand.

“Wait,” he said. “Before I lose my nerve, I want to apologize to you.”

The declaration brought a faint smile to my face. “What on earth for?”

He crossed his arms and stood up straighter. “I wasn’t entirely honest with you,” he said. “About the money that I said I’d borrowed from Barry.”

“Okay. Was there more to the story?”

“It wasn’t for me,” he said. “I asked Barry for the cash because he wouldn’t loan it to Max.”

“And who is that?” I asked.

“He was the original bass player for Cyanide,” answered Walter. “Actually, it was when we were calling ourselves The Mountain Men.” He stopped and laughed. “Could it get any lamer than that? Four pimply punks from Colorado start a band and call themselves The Mountain Men.”

“Could’ve been worse,” I said. “What if you went with The Mountain Boys?”

“Yeah, that’s true.”

“So the bass player?” I said, steering Walter back on course.

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