Cupcakes and Crime by April Browne

Author:April Browne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Corbett Publishing

9

“All right, Daisy. Off.” Doris pointed at the ground by her feet. “That’s enough pets. I’ve got a cupcake to eat.”

Daisy hopped off the bench and lay half under Sophia. Sophia would have to brush the leaves out of the girls’ fur when they got home.

“How’d you know I found the body?” Sophia asked. “That wasn’t in the paper.”

Daisy’s ears perked up when she caught sight of a robin hopping along the rough edge of the path under the trees. Sophia braced herself for Daisy to misbehave.

“Oh, Vera’s daughter’s boy is a server there.” Doris licked the frosting off the cupcake. It had already started to melt in the awful heat. “These are to die for.”

“Well, don’t you die on me yet. I couldn’t handle another loss.”

“Sophia, dear, none of us is immortal.” She took another bite of cupcake and reached out for a napkin Sophia already had waiting. She patted her mouth then smiled.

Some leaves rained down on them, and Daisy’s ears flicked toward the tree for a moment before returning to the bird. Sophia double checked the leashes were around her wrist.

“Now, you know all of us old biddies know that you had nothing to do with that burglary, right?” Doris folded the napkin carefully and set the remaining three-quarters of the cupcake on it.

Fur covering her eyes, Minnie stretched her nose toward Doris’s cupcake.

“I mean, I know you know that but everyone else?” Sophia gave Minnie the look and Minnie dropped her head into her paws. Food thief Daisy’s ears swiveled like twin satellite dishes after the robin.

“Oh, come on.” Doris reached for another handful of scratchers. “Isn’t it obvious? Amy Thompson’s temper is legendary.”

Sophia blinked, not following Doris’s train of thought. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

“After their last blowup, even her own mother sided with him.” Doris shook her head. “Can’t say as that I’d—”

A squirrel chittered in the tree behind Sophia. Minnie leapt over the bench. Her leash jerked tight, pulling Sophia half over the bench.

Doris’s lotto tickets scattered everywhere.

In front of the bench, Daisy hopped up and down, barking at the squirrel.

Minnie let out a strangled noise. She dangled from her collar.

“Control those dogs!” a woman shouted.

“Sorry!” Sophia could feel the heat rising in her face again. “Leave it! Leave it!”

“Don’t mind her,” Doris said, pulling her blanket out from under Minnie’s flailing back paws. “Her chihuahua never stops yapping.”

Sophia tugged Daisy’s leash and put her into a down, then let go of Minnie’s leash making her drop the rest of the way to the ground. Panting, Minnie scrambled at the tree, but Sophia snatched her leash again. The leash jerked tight, making Minnie’s head spin back toward Sophia.

“Sorry about this mess, Doris.” Sophia knelt to pick up Doris’s lotto tickets.

“At least you’re not skiing behind them anymore.” Doris snickered. “That was quite a show.”

Sophia’s cheeks burned even hotter. “Better collars.”

“And only a squirrel, not a rabbit this time.” Doris sorted out the scratched lotto tickets from the new ones after Sophia handed them back to her.

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