Picnics, Pies and Lies by Cindy Bell

Author:Cindy Bell [Bell, Cindy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-05-22T04:00:00+00:00

* * *

As Ally stepped inside the shop, she was greeted by the buzz of many customers crammed into the fairly small space. She jumped in right away to help reduce the crowd. When the rush died down, she began to wipe off the counters.

“Sorry to call you in, Ally, but I want to get to the courthouse before it closes.” Charlotte pulled off her apron and walked over to the sink to wash her hands.

“The courthouse? Why?” Ally finished wiping the counters, then began to look over the display case to see if any of the chocolates needed to be replenished.

“Remember, I told you I had a friend there? Meritza. I’m going to see what she can tell me about that lawsuit Billy filed against Josh. Sometimes there are more details in the documents than you would expect.” She grabbed her purse from the hook on the wall near the entrance of the kitchen. “You don’t mind, do you?”

“No, of course not. Do you think she’ll be able to tell you anything?” Ally raised an eyebrow. “I thought those kinds of things were pretty private.”

“Not necessarily. Most records are accessible to the public. She’ll tell me as much as she can, as long as I bring her some dark chocolate pralines.” Charlotte winked at her as she picked up a box of chocolates. “I’ll try to be back before closing.”

“Don’t worry about that, I can handle things here. Do you want to come over for dinner tonight?” Ally added a few chocolates to the display case. The aroma of the sweet treats wafted right under her nose.

“Sorry, I can’t. I already made plans with Jeff.” Charlotte cringed. “I’ve canceled on him the last few times we had plans.”

“Oh, that’s good, enjoy yourself. It’ll be a nice break from all of this.” Ally popped one of the chocolates into her mouth.

“Love you!” Charlotte blew her a kiss, just before she stepped out through the side door. As she walked over to the van she checked her phone. Jeff hadn’t called to cancel. She felt some relief about that. Lately, it had been tough to get together with both of their busy schedules. But she knew it was important to make time for him in her life.

The drive to the courthouse didn’t take long, which was a good thing, as it was close to three. Charlotte knew the courts shut down by four, and sometimes the employees left earlier than that if there were no more cases to deal with.

A blast of air-conditioning struck Charlotte as she walked through the thick, sliding glass doors. It didn’t matter what the temperature was outside, the air-conditioning seemed to always be on. It caused a deep shiver to run along the length of her spine. Once she adjusted to the temperature she approached the front desk.

“Hi, is Meritza available? I’d like to speak with her if possible.”

“She’s in her office.” Ed pointed over his shoulder. “You know the way.”

“Thanks, Ed.” Charlotte smiled at him, then made her way down the hallway.

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