Masquerade Mystery by Kathi Daley

Author:Kathi Daley [Daley, Kathi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kathi Daley Books
Published: 2025-10-07T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

When Paisley and I delivered the cakes Paisley donated to the elementary school yesterday, we’d been invited to attend today’s activities as honored guests. The woman organizing the cakewalk was thrilled to have the cakes donated and wanted to honor Paisley with a public thank you to show her appreciation. If we both attended, it would mean closing the bakeshop a couple of hours early, but Paisley and I had discussed it and decided that since one of the goals we’d discussed early on was to be a real part of the community we’d embraced, a public thank you in a room full of parents of elementary school-aged children was a perfect opportunity to gain some free publicity for the bakeshop.

“I had no idea it would be so crowded,” I said to Paisley as we loitered near the snack bar, where it was a bit less crowded than the center of the room. The cakewalk was only one event in the Halloween carnival, and the multipurpose room was packed with kids from toddlers through high school, as well as many of their parents.

“I can remember attending these sorts of events when I was a kid,” Paisley said. “The Halloween event, where everyone was encouraged to dress up, was my favorite. Of course, the choice of costume was important.” She smiled. “I remember this one Halloween I dressed as a Jack-o’-lantern, and my costume was really round. I spent the whole night bumping into people, and I even knocked the fourth-grade teacher into the punch bowl when I bumped into her while trying to get in line for the pizzas that had just been delivered. It wasn’t my best Halloween carnival, but it may have been my most memorable one.”

“I’ll bet.”

“Did your school have events such as this?” Paisley asked as I reached into the bag I’d slung over my shoulder and gave Penelope a quick scratch on the head.

“I guess the school must have done something similar to this, but I never attended. My mom worked a lot, and she liked me to go straight home after school.” I glanced across the room to a side door, where a nice-looking man of average height walked into the room with a giant black cat on a leash. “Who’s the guy with the cat?” I asked, realizing that the man with the cat was the same man I’d seen playing baseball with the kids yesterday.

Paisley looked in the direction I pointed.

“Oh, that’s Principal Sullivan. He took over for Principal Jeffries when Jeffries needed to take some time off to fly to California and spend time with his brother, who is having health issues. And, no, before you ask, he isn’t related to Abby.”

“And the cat?”

“Poe. Based on what I’ve witnessed, Poe goes everywhere with Sully.”

I watched the cat make his way from person to person, pausing as he went to accept a scratch on the head or a brief cuddle. With so many kids in the room, most of whom were

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