Read Online Deadly Pumpkin Slice (A Sinful Sweets Cozy Mystery) by Carol Lee - Free Book Online

as she stared at her phone and they paid their bill.
     
    ***
     
    Sydney and Grace didn’t have to consult each other about where they’d be heading next. They both knew they’d be going to that meeting. Everyone they were looking for would be there—Allison, the Pages, the Jeffreys and Kevin and Jordan.
     
    Outside the library, they spotted Allison.
     
    “Sydney, Grace! What are you doing here?” she asked, a look of questioning on her face that they both took for suspicion.
     
    “Oh, we were just in the area conducting customer feedback interviews.” Sydney was glad she wasn’t lying. “What are you doing here?” Sydney asked, playing dumb.
     
    “I got transferred after Aaron’s death. Didn’t you know him?” she asked Sydney.
     
    “Yes.” She wasn’t willing to give more information than was explicitly asked.
     
    “It’s really a shame what happened. Killed in Twin Peaks. It’s unspeakable, really.”
     
    “Mmm hmm,” Sydney and Grace commiserated with her.
     
    “And to be poisoned. I can’t imagine who would do that.”
     
    “It really is terrible. You knew him, too, didn’t you?” Sydney asked, needing to turn the conversation around.
     
    “We’d worked together for years in the same library district. But I wouldn’t say we knew each other well.”
     
    “Is this a good move for you?” Sydney was digging.
     
    “It’s a great move. Of course, I’ll miss working right down the road from my house. But the resources of this library! I didn’t even know the half of it! Kenneth Jeffreys left a trust fund when he passed away. It’s grown since then! Unbelievable in this market. But it means I’ll be able to have a lot more interaction with the community because of the funds he’s made available.”
     
    “Kenneth. . . Jeffreys? ” Grace asked.
     
    “Yeah, you know of him?”
     
    “No, but I’ve heard his name before.”
     
    “His daughter-in-law is a local illustrator for children’s books,” Allison offered.
     
    Grace knew, then, that Arthur must be his son. If he’d known someone was skimming off the top of his father’s legacy, could that have driven him to kill?
     
    “I have to get inside, did you want to join us? There’ll be a quick ceremony to introduce me as the new librarian, likely a short statement about Aaron, and I could introduce you to Marilyn, the illustrator, if you want.”
     
    “We’d love to join you,” Grace answered for both of them.
     
    Sydney and Grace took a seat at the back of the small room. It was clear that everyone else knew each other. Westhedge was about the same size as Twin Peaks, and Sydney hoped beyond hope that she wouldn’t be recognized. It’d been six years since she’d moved, but had she changed that much to be unrecognizable to the community?
     
    “Thank you all for joining us this afternoon,” a man in a business suit began. He exuded wealth. This could have easily been Lewis or Arthur. “We’re here today to welcome Allison to our community. She comes with years of experience and will be an asset to Westhedge and the library. As you know, we lost our long-time friend and librarian, Aaron, this week. Tonight is his wake and his funeral will be this weekend. If you’d like more information about either, please approach any of the Commissioners you see up front. I’d now like to hand the mic over to Lewis, the chair of the Library Commission.”
     
    That cleared things up for Sydney. Now she knew who was who.
     
    Lewis stood at the front of the room in another business suit. “Thank you, Arthur. We’re all very pleased to have Allison joining us today. As was already mentioned, she has years of experience. She has also already been active in our community, creating an initiative to get iPads into the kids’ section of the library here. . .”
     
    Lewis continued talking, but Sydney’s mind was reeling. Why had she been creating programs in Westhedge when she was still working in Twin Peaks? Had this