Sprinkle With Murder by Jenn McKinlay

Author:Jenn McKinlay [McKinlay, Jenn]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Adult, Contemporary, Mystery
ISBN: 9780425233429
Publisher: Chivers
Published: 2010-03-01T13:00:00+00:00

Eleven

Once class was dismissed, Mel locked up the bakery, gave Angie a bracing hug, and trotted up the stairs to her apartment.

She decided to skip dinner; it was late, and anxiety about losing her business was making her stomach roll. There wasn’t much she could eat that would soothe her nerves right now. She made herself a mug of ginger tea and grabbed her cordless phone.

Instead of tracking Phoebe on the Internet as she had Alma, she decided to call Alma and ask her for Phoebe’s information directly. She hoped that Alma could give her a heads-up on how to approach Phoebe.

Alma answered on the third ring. “What?”

“It’s Melanie Cooper.”

“I know, I have caller ID. What do you want?”

Mel was surprised she’d even picked up.

“How’d the job interview go?”

“Really?” Alma asked. “Is that what you wanted to ask me, or are you being polite?”

“Polite.”

“Don’t waste our collective time,” Alma said.

“Okay, then, how can I get in touch with Phoebe?” There was a pause on the other end.

“Same way you contacted me,” Alma said.

“Or you could save me an hour and give me her information.”

“Why have you waited this long to contact her?” Alma asked. “I’d have thought you’d talk to her right after talking to me.”

“She seemed really upset,” Mel said. “I wanted to give her some time.”

“Yeah, she had a real worship thing going for Christie. It’s sort of ironic.”

“Ironic how?” Mel asked.

“Phoebe was way more talented than Christie. In fact, every award Christie won was because of Phoebe. She gave her all of her best designs and never held anything back.”

“Whereas you . . .”

“Kept my best work in a vault where Christie couldn’t get to it,” Alma said. “I wanted to have a future when I was released from my contract.”

“Do you think Phoebe’d be willing to talk to me?”

“Hard to say,” Alma said. “She’s pretty torn up about Christie, and she knows you’re a suspect. She might not want to have anything to do with you.”

“Encouraging.”

“I’m just saying.”

Alma read off Phoebe’s phone number while Mel scribbled the information on the back of an empty envelope she found on her desk.

“Thanks, Alma.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Mel knew she was probably feeling oversensitive with half of her class not showing up because they thought she was a murderer, but still, Alma’s tone had sounded ominously like a threat.

Undaunted, she dialed the number, hoping to catch Phoebe before she went to bed. She waited through two rings before a very faint voice answered.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Phoebe, it’s Melanie Cooper from Fairy Tale Cupcakes.”

Mel heard a gasp. Hard to know what to say to that, so she forged ahead as if it hadn’t sounded like Phoebe had just fainted. “I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions.”

There was a pause, and then Phoebe’s meek voice asked, “Why?”

“Well, the police seem to think I have a strong motive for murdering Christie,” Mel said. “But I didn’t do it, and I need to find out who did.”

There was another beat of silence, and Mel wondered if Phoebe had hung up on her.

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