Read Online Scrappily Ever After by Mollie Cox Bryan - Free Book Online

home.” He started to walk away.
    â€œNow, Sheriff,” Pamela called to him. “I can’t let you leave without a couple of pies. You said we’ll have to close today and I have all this pie that needs to go. Please grab one or two.”
    The sheriff looked liked he knew his way around pie.
    â€œWhy, thank you,” he said. Pamela had several already boxed up. A young man with dark skin and sullen, almost black eyes, stood next to her, helping box the pies. He was the same man Annie had spotted a few moments ago holding the older woman. Where was the sobbing woman? Annie’s eyes searched the room to no avail. She was gone.
    â€œThat coconut cream?” Bixby said, mulling over the boxes.
    â€œIt’s actually pumpkin cream. A fall special,” Pamela said.
    Annie surveyed the scene. The sheriff and a few others gathered around the counter, where Pamela doled out her treats.
    â€œI’d just have to throw it away,” she said. “You all may as well take some.”
    Annie turned and looked out the window at the dead body of the young woman being slid into the back of the ambulance. She glanced back at Pamela handing out boxes of pie and the sad-looking young man next to her. This had to be the oddest crime scene she’d ever witnessed.
    â€œAnnie?” Pamela said. “Do you want some pie? I have the cherry that you like so much. I also have some of my special mincemeat.”
    Annie knew the special mincemeat was only available for two weeks during the fall. It was one of Annie’s favorites—a delicious mix of hard-to-find local seasonal ingredients, the kind that was barely legal. Pamela always remembered everyone’s favorites.
    Annie’s stomach tightened. “Thanks but not today. I just couldn’t.”
    â€œWell now, young lady, are you a little queasy?” the sheriff said with a patronizing tone.
    Why, yes, I think I am. I just saw a frozen person with her throat slit being carried out of here on a gurney. But on second thought, Annie took a deep breath. “Never mind,” she said, ignoring the sheriff and speaking just to Pamela. “I’ll take whatever you’ve got there.”
    The sheriff turned with his boxes of pie and started to walk out of the Pie Palace.
    â€œSheriff,” Annie called out as she followed him. “Might I have a word?”
    He turned to look at her just as he started to open the front door to the restaurant. His tan uniform stood out against the black and white tile floors and red booths. Annie found the place kitschy and cute, but for some reason, this morning all of the cuteness looked menacing. Murder amid the kitschiness. She didn’t like it.
    â€œWhat can I help you with, Ms. Chamovitz?” he asked, smiling.
    Oh this was different. Very different indeed. A smiling law official. No Adam Bryant with his sideways, smirking grins.
    â€œWhat do you think happened here?” Annie said.
    â€œI don’t speculate,” he said. “Call my office later today. We might know something then. But it being Saturday, you never know.”
    â€œA freezer is an odd place for murder,” Annie said, watching him tense.
    â€œWell, now, who said anything about murder? It could have been an accident or suicide,” he said. “As I say, Ms. Chamovitz, I don’t speculate. I deal with facts.”
    An accidental throat slashing? Let him think I’m that gullible.
    â€œI’ll call you later, then,” she said, noticing that the medical examiner was getting ready to leave. Annie wanted to catch her before she left. She extended her hand to the sheriff. “Later, Sheriff Bixby.”
    He could not take her hand—his arms were full of pie boxes. But he nodded back at her, turned, and left the building.
    â€œMs. Jones?” Annie said as she walked over to the ME.
    Ruth Jones looked up at her. She was an older, studious woman who had run into Annie frequently