Read Online Trick or Deceit by Shelley Freydont - Free Book Online Page A

barked. He recognized the word “cat;” he had an ongoing love-hate relationship with the cat from the bookstore, two doors down. All love on Whiskey’s part, all hate on Tinkerbelle’s, who wasn’t really friendly to anyone (which had earned her the nickname Tink the Stink).
    â€œEver since you started baking your Dolly Doggie Treats, he’s on a new exercise regimen, too.”
    Dolly slipped it into the bag, then leaned over and made kissy noises to Whiskey. “Is Liv making you run, too, sweetie?”
    Whiskey cowered on the floor.
    â€œI swear he understands what we’re saying.”
    â€œHe certainly knows a few words,” Liv agreed. “He’s also a sly manipulator. But we love you anyway, don’t we?” Liv rattled the bag at him and Whiskey immediately perked up.
    Liv thanked Dolly and was turning to go when the door opened and BeBe Ford ran through the door. BeBe was a lush thirtysomething, half country girl and half urban entrepreneur left over from her former life. She was Liv’s best friend in Celebration Bay. BeBe owned and ran the Buttercup Coffee Exchange, made a mean latte, had ridden shotgun on some of Liv’s wilder exploits, and was responsible for Liv and Ted’s caffeine well-being each morning.
    â€œDid you hear?” BeBe stopped mid-step. “Oh, hi, Liv. I wondered if something was wrong. I guess you heard about the contest-winning haunted house.”
    â€œShe was there,” Dolly said.
    BeBe looked to the ceiling. “Of course you were. Spill.”
    Liv told her about Whiskey finding the arm, calling Barry, and discovering the house had been ransacked.
    â€œWere you still there when they found the body?”
    â€œWhat body?” Dolly asked and came around the counter. “There’s a body? Who was it?”
    Liv sighed. Looked around. All the customers had left. “Lucille Foster.”
    Dolly stared. “Was it an accident? What was she doing there?”
    Liv shrugged. “I don’t know and I don’t know.”
    â€œDid Bill come?” BeBe asked.
    â€œYes. But he said he’d talk to me and Ted later. So you probably know more than I do, since I went home to shower and come here.”
    â€œWell, it wasn’t a heart attack,” BeBe said. “At least that’s what I heard. They took photos and enclosed the area in crime scene tape.”
    â€œNo-o-o,” Dolly said. “Really?”
    â€œThere
was
a crime,” Liv said. “Someone threw all the mannequins in the vacant lot. Doesn’t mean it was . . .” Liv lowered her voice. “Murder.”
    â€œOr manslaughter,” BeBe said. “She might have been driving by and saw someone breaking in and tried to stop them.”
    â€œMaybe,” Liv said. Except she realized that there hadn’t been any cars parked in the lot or on the street, just the ones in the theater parking lot, which Liv assumed belonged to the actors. Besides, if Lucille had been trying to stop a burglary, why would she have gone down the street to park?
    â€œLiv? Did you think of something?”
    â€œNo. I don’t know what she was doing there. Or why someone would want to kill her.”
    â€œMaybe we could pin this one on Janine,” BeBe said.
    Dolly pursed her lips. “That’s not funny. Janine is a pain in just about everybody’s patooty, especially Liv’s. But she wouldn’t murder Lucille just because of what Lucille did.”
    â€œI noticed last night that Janine and Lucille weren’t on friendly terms. What did she do?” Liv asked.
    â€œWell . . .” Dolly looked around the empty shop. She moved even closer. She smelled like pumpkin pie. Between that and the coffee aroma wafting from BeBe, the combination was enough to make Liv’s stomach growl. Which it did.
    â€œWhat did she do?” Liv urged.
    â€œYes, please hurry up, Dolly,” BeBe