Mallory Beck Cozy Culinary Capers Box Set 2: Humorous and Heartwarming Mysteries - Books 5 - 8 (A Mallory Beck Cozy Culinary Caper) by Denise Jaden

Author:Denise Jaden [Jaden, Denise]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Denise Jaden Books
Published: 2021-12-23T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-one

When Amber elbowed me, I looked up to see Sheila Blakely leaving through the front door of Bella’s Boutique.

Sheila did a double take when she saw me. “Mallory? Is everything okay?”

“Oh, yes, yes.” I pasted on a bright smile. “We dropped a casserole off to Dylan today. He mentioned you worked here, and Amber and I got a hankering to do a little shopping.” I motioned between the two of us, and Amber wore the cherub-like innocent look that seemed as easy for her to slip on as a spare purse.

This immediately disarmed Sheila. “Well, I’m just off work, and I’m afraid the mall is closing.”

“No worries.” I waved a casual hand. “We got what we came for.” Before Sheila could notice we had no bags, I went on. “Hey, while I have you here, I just need to ask you a couple of questions regarding your dad.” I motioned to the bench I’d been about to sit on earlier, but Sheila’s eyes darted in every direction.

“Here?” she asked.

“I promise it won’t take long.” The Juniper Mills outlet mall was an open-air mall. While the stores would all be closing, we would be in no rush to leave the aisles or benches, even if it was a bit chilly.

Thankfully, either exhaustion or our authority won out because Sheila lowered carefully onto the bench around her belly.

“Are you planning to work right up until your due date?” Amber asked. We already knew the answer to this, but it was the kind of disarming question Amber was great at.

Sheila nodded. “Dylan wants me to take mat leave early, but I’m learning so much here, and after the baby comes, I plan to get in the works of opening my own store in Honeysuckle Grove.”

“With a newborn baby?” I asked, my eyebrows spiking up on their own.

“Well, sure. I mean, I’ll need a few weeks to recover…”

A few weeks? Even though I’d never had a chance to have my own babies, my sister, Leslie, had demonstrated how all-consuming they could be. Leslie had finally gotten back to work last year when her kids were all into their double digits.

I couldn’t seem to help myself from driving this point home. “Oh, is Dylan going to stay home and help with the baby, then?”

I knew the answer before she shook her head. “We’ll figure it out.”

Would they? Or was she just delusional? “I understand your dad’s will didn’t contain everything you expected?”

Sheila leaned sideways on the bench and rubbed her lower back. “That tramp of his must have really done a number on him to make him change his will and leave her everything. Doesn’t matter. I’ve already talked to my lawyer, and she assures me we can fight it.”

I wondered what grounds Sheila’s lawyer figured she could fight on. Or perhaps Sheila was only believing what she wanted to believe again.

“So you think Jackie Reed convinced your father to change his will and then plugged in his generator inside his office to kill

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