The Sweets of Doom (Sweet Shop Mystery Book 3) by Wendy Meadows

Author:Wendy Meadows [Meadows, Wendy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Majestic Owl Publishing LLC
Published: 2020-04-07T16:00:00+00:00

9

The next day, I pace up and down behind the counter at the candy store, casting sidelong glances around the street outside. I don’t like to admit it even to myself, but the events of the last twenty-four hours really are freaking me out.

I don’t want to be alone even in my own candy store, but I refuse to tell Zack or David that. I put on a brave face and muscle through.

The whole town seems to cower under a cloud of apprehension and uncertainty. Hardly any customers come into the store, and I don’t see anybody on the street outside, either.

While I make one lap after another back and forth behind the counter, a familiar bony figure emerges from my right. A tall gaunt woman in a tweed riding suit takes a few steps down the sidewalk, stops to cast a wary look over her shoulder, and then proceeds the rest of the way to my door.

Simone Peretti, the proprietress of the antiques shop down the street, steals inside. Instead of greeting me, she peers through the windows at nothing in particular.

I do my best to sound cheerful. “Good morning, Simone. How are you today?”

She doesn’t answer. She stalks down the windows without taking her eyes off Main Street. I wait.

After a few minutes’ silence, she casts an anxious look around the store. “Have you experienced anything… anything unusual lately, Margaret?”

I have to chuckle. “Nothing more unusual than anything else, now that you mention it. Why? Did something unusual happen to you?”

Her scrawny hand drifts to her pinched mouth. I’ve never seen her so pensive and on edge before. She always carries herself about seven miles above everything around her.

“I was in my shop just now…” She pauses to take another long, nervous look up and down the street.

“You were in your shop just now,” I prompt. “Did anything happen?”

“I was making myself a cup of tea the way I always do, and you know that big mirror behind the front desk?”

I nod.

“I poured the boiling water into my teapot, and I looked up into the mirror the way I always do. I could swear I saw a face in the steam looking back at me. It was a most distinct human face with hard, bitter eyes…” She drifts off. Her voice dwindles to a whisper.

I study her from behind. This is definitely out of character for her. I always rely on her dry sense of harsh reality to counteract some of the more flighty and suggestible members of the community.

If all this witch stuff is getting to Simone, what might the other residents of West End be thinking?

In answer to my thoughts, a door slams across the street. Simone and I both turn to see Mr. Stewart hustle out of his dog grooming parlor directly opposite the candy store. He checks both ways and tears across the street.

He bolts through my door before he notices Simone standing there. He barely gives her a passing glance. He barges right up to the counter and lowers his voice to a husky whisper.

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