Read Online Pistols & Pies (Sweet Bites Book 2) (Sweet Bites Mysteries) by Heather Justesen - Free Book Online Page B

started to read:
    I know you’ve been investigating the murder of Eric Hogan. You know Gary Roper is to blame. He’s hidden the murder weapon in the tack room of his barn. If you hurry, you’ll find it before he tries to get rid of it.
    A friend.
    Chills crawled across my shoulders. That was seriously odd.
    Lenny came in carrying a tray of chocolate cupcakes, and his brow furrowed. “What’s going on?  Is something wrong?”
    I realized my expression showed my consternation and put on a smile, still not sure what I was going to do, and not wanting to drag him into it. “No, nothing’s wrong. How are those cakes for the wedding coming?”
    “Fine. They just have a few minutes left in the oven.”
    “Great. Did you package up the rest of those cupcakes for the customer?”
    “Of course, they’re on the counter.”
    “It’s so good having you here,” I told him. His lips twitched half-heartedly, though I wondered if he was getting bored with so much grunt work on easy stuff instead of working on our craft, or if it was the lingering sadness and depression from leaving Kat behind. He hadn’t been himself at all since he arrived in town.
    “What else is on the docket?” he asked.
    “I need to make a quick delivery of our day-old stuff to the food bank and run a couple of errands. I shouldn’t be long.” I’m not sure what it meant that I was keeping him in the dark and going to Honey to talk about the note I’d just gotten. After all, it wasn’t like Lenny would lecture me on following the law to the letter and turning the email over to the cops. But he would be worried about my safety, and I didn’t want him to get in trouble for knowing about the note and not stopping me if I decided to check it out.
    I didn’t want to get so wrapped up in the case that I let things with my business slide, so I made myself finish my other errands before stopping by Honey’s with a few cookies as bribes.
    I found her hunched over her computer, typing code as fast as I could sprinkle cupcakes with chocolate jimmies. The dishes were still all over the kitchen counters and table, the milk and cereal set out, and a dirty pan—probably from George’s morning eggs. In addition, there was a box on the corner of the kitchen counter with a picture of a bird house on it.
    “You planning to start feeding birds, too?” I asked when she looked up from her computer.
    Honey blinked twice in surprise, as if trying to come out of her frenzy, then shook her head. “Cub Scout project. Jerry’s supposed to come over later this week and help Chance with it. George is helpless with tools.”
    Jerry did woodworking in his spare time. He’d made the built-in shelves in her parlor shortly before I returned to town. “It’s good Chance has someone to help him. What are you working on?” I poured myself some coffee, and topped off her cup as I watched her type a few more incomprehensible phrases into the program, before saving it.
    She turned to me. “A site for a family who raises show pigs.”
    “Show pigs?” It took me a minute to figure out what she meant. “You mean like at the county fair?”
    “Yeah, they’ve been major winners on the county and state level for years.” She shrugged and drained half her cup, before swiveleing her chair to face me. “Okay, so spill. What’s going on? I mean, I know Lenny’s at the shop so you don’t have to be there every second of every day, but you’re here for a reason.”
    I pulled a chair over from the table and filled her in on the email I’d received.
    “You think it’s legit? I mean, it sounds kind of fishy to me,” she said. “Why would they send the tip to you instead of Detective Tingey if it were legitimate?”
    “I don’t know, but it sounds hokey enough that I know he’ll laugh it off. I don’t want to bother him unless it’s really there.”
    “You sure about that?” Honey asked.
    “Yeah. Care to go for a stroll on the east side of town tonight? I could pick