Read Online Sweets Forgotten (Samantha Sweet Mysteries Book 10) by Connie Shelton - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Connie Shelton
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of the house once more.
He stood at the sliding door to
the greatroom and dialed Josephine Robinet’s number again. Sure enough, a faint
tone came through and he noticed that the screen on the phone on the kitchen
counter lit up.
“What woman goes anywhere these
days without her cell phone?” Taylor asked.
Beau told him about the other
number. “She must have two of them.”
Still, it didn’t make much sense.
The neighbor’s information was undoubtedly older than that of the in-laws, but
when someone gets a new phone the old one normally ends up in a drawer
somewhere, not out on the counter. And, the service would have been discontinued.
Beau got a ring and voice message. Maybe she had some reason for keeping them
both active. Only a few possibilities came to mind.
Chapter
7
Sam reviewed the photos of
possible Jane Doe matches once more, but none of them were hers. The face with
the closest resemblance was a case more than five years old and the woman was
last seen near Buffalo, New York. She set that one aside in case Beau wanted to
look at it, but Sam held little hope. She turned out the lights in his office
and locked the door. Walking back to Sweet’s Sweets would be the best way to
take the crick out of her back and would return her to work quicker than
waiting for Beau. She covered the few blocks in less than fifteen minutes.
In the sales room Jen was seated
at one of the bistro tables discussing a new order with a customer. It took
less than sixty seconds in the room with them for Sam to feel the tension. Jen
had an order form in front of her and a few penciled sketches, but Sam noticed
other pages off to the side. Lots of entries had been made and crossed out.
Jen’s normally cheery demeanor looked as if it was stretched pretty thin and
her smile was tight.
“Anything I can do to help?” Sam
asked as casually as she could.
“Mrs. Salazar wants an interesting
birthday cake.” Jen held out the order form.
“Our specialty,” Sam said to the
customer. “When is the occasion?”
“I leave for Santa Fe in the
morning and need to take it with me.” The woman’s eyes flashed in challenge. “I
thought your shop could provide what I wanted but it looks like I’ll have to
take my business elsewhere.”
Sam looked toward a photograph on
the table. The cake in the picture was a variation on a Mad Hatter theme with
three tiers set at cockeyed angles, intricate fondant bows, and loads of
sugar-paste flowers, in addition to a lot of piping and quirky little add-ons
that Sam didn’t happen to have in her inventory. Sam knew at a glance this cake
would take a minimum of three days to construct because the flowers alone had
to be made a day ahead and then allowed time to set up. Baking the layers and
trimming cake and fondant to fit was a whole separate operation.
“I suggested some modifications
to make it feasible,” Jen said.
“To make it entirely different,”
Mrs. Salazar replied.
Sam took a breath. “If you need
an exact replica of this cake, I’m afraid we have to decline. I want you to
know that we always do our best to accommodate every customer. With four or
five days notice, we could have done this one easily. But overnight? No. Overnight,
most bakeries are going to be able to provide you a sheet cake with Happy
Birthday, Somebody written in script.”
Sam turned sideways to the woman
and picked up Jen’s sketches. The ideas were good and they were innovative.
Even so, it would be a push to make anything like this theme cake for the
specified number of guests and to have it done by mid-morning tomorrow. Sam
thought again of the carved box in her safe at home.
Clearly, this lady was used to
getting her own way and pushing sales girls around to do it. But when the owner
handed her photograph back and said ‘good luck’ she caved.
“That one,” she said, pointing at
the sketch in Sam’s hand. “If you can have that one for me before noon
tomorrow, I’ll take
He stood at the sliding door to
the greatroom and dialed Josephine Robinet’s number again. Sure enough, a faint
tone came through and he noticed that the screen on the phone on the kitchen
counter lit up.
“What woman goes anywhere these
days without her cell phone?” Taylor asked.
Beau told him about the other
number. “She must have two of them.”
Still, it didn’t make much sense.
The neighbor’s information was undoubtedly older than that of the in-laws, but
when someone gets a new phone the old one normally ends up in a drawer
somewhere, not out on the counter. And, the service would have been discontinued.
Beau got a ring and voice message. Maybe she had some reason for keeping them
both active. Only a few possibilities came to mind.
Chapter
7
Sam reviewed the photos of
possible Jane Doe matches once more, but none of them were hers. The face with
the closest resemblance was a case more than five years old and the woman was
last seen near Buffalo, New York. She set that one aside in case Beau wanted to
look at it, but Sam held little hope. She turned out the lights in his office
and locked the door. Walking back to Sweet’s Sweets would be the best way to
take the crick out of her back and would return her to work quicker than
waiting for Beau. She covered the few blocks in less than fifteen minutes.
In the sales room Jen was seated
at one of the bistro tables discussing a new order with a customer. It took
less than sixty seconds in the room with them for Sam to feel the tension. Jen
had an order form in front of her and a few penciled sketches, but Sam noticed
other pages off to the side. Lots of entries had been made and crossed out.
Jen’s normally cheery demeanor looked as if it was stretched pretty thin and
her smile was tight.
“Anything I can do to help?” Sam
asked as casually as she could.
“Mrs. Salazar wants an interesting
birthday cake.” Jen held out the order form.
“Our specialty,” Sam said to the
customer. “When is the occasion?”
“I leave for Santa Fe in the
morning and need to take it with me.” The woman’s eyes flashed in challenge. “I
thought your shop could provide what I wanted but it looks like I’ll have to
take my business elsewhere.”
Sam looked toward a photograph on
the table. The cake in the picture was a variation on a Mad Hatter theme with
three tiers set at cockeyed angles, intricate fondant bows, and loads of
sugar-paste flowers, in addition to a lot of piping and quirky little add-ons
that Sam didn’t happen to have in her inventory. Sam knew at a glance this cake
would take a minimum of three days to construct because the flowers alone had
to be made a day ahead and then allowed time to set up. Baking the layers and
trimming cake and fondant to fit was a whole separate operation.
“I suggested some modifications
to make it feasible,” Jen said.
“To make it entirely different,”
Mrs. Salazar replied.
Sam took a breath. “If you need
an exact replica of this cake, I’m afraid we have to decline. I want you to
know that we always do our best to accommodate every customer. With four or
five days notice, we could have done this one easily. But overnight? No. Overnight,
most bakeries are going to be able to provide you a sheet cake with Happy
Birthday, Somebody written in script.”
Sam turned sideways to the woman
and picked up Jen’s sketches. The ideas were good and they were innovative.
Even so, it would be a push to make anything like this theme cake for the
specified number of guests and to have it done by mid-morning tomorrow. Sam
thought again of the carved box in her safe at home.
Clearly, this lady was used to
getting her own way and pushing sales girls around to do it. But when the owner
handed her photograph back and said ‘good luck’ she caved.
“That one,” she said, pointing at
the sketch in Sam’s hand. “If you can have that one for me before noon
tomorrow, I’ll take
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