Bell, Cook, and Candle by Joanne Pence

Author:Joanne Pence
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins US
Published: 2002-01-24T10:00:00+00:00

“Any moving violations?”

“Just parking tickets…for the last three years, anyway.”

“About those references,” she began, when she heard a knock on the door. Paavo’s knock.

She should have realized he’d come over today to check out Zoe. Last night, he’d been convinced Zoe was the cause of all her problems.

Zoe was close-mouthed and private. Even though they’d worked together for five days now, she was still as much a mystery to Angie as when they first met.

One thing that wasn’t a mystery, though, was why Zoe couldn’t find another job as a pastry chef. After five minutes in the kitchen with her, Angie had realized Zoe knew nothing more about pastry than what was written on the back of a Betty Crocker piecrust box. Although her lies had been disappointing, Angie had to admit that if she’d been in Zoe’s predicament, with no place to live and no food, she’d have lied, too. That was the one reason she hadn’t fired her on the spot. As they worked together, she saw that Zoe worked hard, learned fast, and had a great eye for whimsical decorating.

Angie liked Zoe and refused to believe she had been behind any of the strange goings-on.

“Zoe, Rysk,” Angie said as she led Paavo into the kitchen. “I’d like you to meet my friend, my very special friend, Paavo Smith.” She often forgot how big and intimidating he could be. One glance at Zoe’s and Rysk’s expressions reminded her.

A glance back at Paavo told her what he was seeing as he inspected her helpers—pale, emaciated, sooty dyed hair, weird makeup, and strange clothes on both.

She gulped, then forced a big smile. “Paavo, I’d like you to meet Zoe Vane and Edward Bowie, who goes by the name Rysk.”

Paavo was shaking their hands when Angie added, “Paavo is a homicide inspector.”

Rysk’s eyes darted a moment toward Zoe. “Ah…interesting work,” he said.

“Yes, it is,” Paavo responded, giving each a long, piercing look.

“Nice to meet you,” Zoe said quickly, then to Angie, “I can handle everything here if you’d like to visit with your friend. It’s no sweat, girl.”

Paavo didn’t give Angie a chance to reply. “Are you new to the city?” he asked Zoe.

“Chicago,” she answered with all the friendliness of someone hooked to a lie detector.

“What brought you here?”

She concentrated on washing a cake pan. “Earthquakes, fires, floods, power brownouts, gangs. All the things that make life worth living.” She glanced at him. “What’d you expect? Oh, yeah, and it’s a pretty city.”

“An expensive city,” he added.

“Chicago’s no walk in the park either. Why, do you know about a cheap vacancy?” Angie could see a glint of fire in her eye at all these questions.

“No. I’m just glad you haven’t had to join the ranks of our homeless.”

At Zoe’s pursed lips, Angie jumped in. “Rysk is here to talk about a job delivering cakes for me.”

“Really? Business is even better than you’ve indicated,” Paavo said.

“Well…” Angie murmured.

The full force of Paavo’s cold gaze turned on Rysk. “Interesting name,” he said.

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