Bound To Be Dead: Cozy Mystery Bookshop Series Book 3 Tamra Baumann (new books to read txt) 📖

o’clock, and I’m itching to call Stella again to check on Brittany. But I left voice mails, so hopefully, I’ll hear from Stella soon.

I’m almost to the front door of the municipal building when Woo-Woo Beth appears beside me. Great. She’s all I need right now.

“Quitting time. Finally,” Beth says as she hitches her oversized purse onto her shoulder.

Since when does Beth make small talk with me? “Long day?”

“Always. Something wrong, Sawyer? You keep frowning like that and your forehead will stay that way.”

She probably wants to gloat about my uncle’s victory. “I’m fine. Have a nice evening.” I pick up the pace to put some distance between us.

Beth catches up to me at the park. “Just because I work for Frank doesn’t mean I agree with all he does, you know.”

I stop walking and face her. I have to look up because Beth is six feet tall. “Such as?”

“His affair with Tina.”

Beth’s eyes do that weird thing again and focus like lasers into my eyes. It’s as if she can see inside a person’s brain. Or worse, their soul. It gives me goose bumps. “Yeah. I feel bad for my Aunt Carol.”

Beth’s lips tilt. “Oh, don’t feel too bad for her. She might have accidentally gotten a few emails forwarded to her that she shouldn’t have.”

“She knows about the affair?”

Beth taps her index finger against her lips and nods. “I’ve been in your aunt’s shoes. Scorned women have to stick together, right?”

“Absolutely.” I want to hug Beth on my aunt’s behalf, but we have too much history for that. “I was going to tell her about the affair. If I can’t have what belongs to my mother, I’d rather she gets it than Frank. So, thank you, Beth. That was a kind thing to do.”

Beth rolls her eyes and starts walking again. “Let’s not start being nice to each other, Sawyer. I did it for your aunt, not you.”

And the old Beth is back.

Shaking my head, I cross the park to my store to be sure Nan locked up. The lights are off and the door is locked, so I head up the hill toward my house, still grateful to Beth. I didn’t want to have that difficult conversation with my aunt. And I hope Carol sticks it to my uncle, big-time.

Just as the sidewalk starts to get steep, my phone rings. My heart leaps in the hope that it’s Stella. But the screen shows it’s The Blue Hippo. Hopefully, Nat’s returning my call.

I poke the green button. “This is Sawyer.”

“Hey. It’s Nat. I’ll ping my contact info when I get a lull. I can look at your pictures after I get off work.”

“Thanks, Nat. I appreciate it!”

“No worries. But since you’re a chef and do catering events, can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Would you be able to cater my parents’ thirtieth wedding anniversary a week from Friday? The lady I hired flaked out this afternoon, and I can’t find anyone else who’s free on such short notice.”

I might have to enlist Madge’s and Renee’s help, but I’m sure I can do it. Especially because now I need the money more than ever. “Send me the menus you’d decided on, and I’ll see what I can do.”

Nat sighs. “Thanks, Sawyer. I really want to make this a nice surprise for our parents. I feel like fate brought you in today.”

More like murder. “I’ll do my best to make it happen. I look forward to seeing the menus.”

After I disconnect, I trudge up the hill to my front porch. My new pal Charlie has worked hard to bring it back to its original glory. As I rub my hand along the smooth railing, I wish my mom could’ve seen how nice it looks. She would have loved it. It would have been nice to see the rest of the old Victorian house restored to this level too. But that’s out of the realm of possibility for me now.

Cooper’s barking from inside breaks my little love spell with my new porch, and I unlock the front door. Not in the mood to cook for myself, but hoping Meg and Dad return soon, I’ll dig through my fridge and pantry to see what I can come up with.

I lean down to pet my dog. “Hi, Coop. Did you make friends with Deputy Ben?”

Cooper rolls on his back for some love. My dog would never make a good guard dog, but he’d be a fantastic B and B host. He thinks everyone is his friend.

After we’ve had enough of a hello, I head back to the kitchen and hit the lights. Pasta sounds like a fast and easy solution for tonight.

My phone dings with Nat’s contact info, so I add it and then forward the golf course photos. I hope Nat finds a match so at least one mystery is solved. Beth said Tina’s death was murder, and it had to do with jealousy and an affair, so I hope I’m on the right track. But if Beth’s wrong, I could be headed for a dead end.

Dylan was looking at my uncle’s recent golf course actions, so maybe Frank is still the number one suspect and not my father. But now that I know Aunt Carol knows about the affair between Frank and Tina, should we add my aunt to the suspect list? Could she have been so jealous she killed Tina?

No. My aunt wasn’t even at the talent show. Besides, she can’t even smash a bug, much less hurt a person.

In any event, it’d be good to check Pattie off the suspect list if possible. But her extreme reaction to having a secret boyfriend keeps my curiosity brewing.

My hunt inside the fridge reveals lots of veggies I need to use before they go bad, so pasta primavera it is.

I get the salted water in a pot and then start sautéing the veggies when my sister walks through the door. Over my shoulder, I say, “Hi. Where’s Dad?”

Meg slips into the nook and groans.