Read Online Wedding Cake Killer by Livia J. Washburn - Free Book Online Page B

what she’d been taught and what she’d believed for years, and she wasn’t going to change now. Anyway, any scientist who didn’t think that a child ought to wear a hat when it was cold was a quack, as far as she was concerned.
    Phyllis opened the wooden door and watched Mike through the glass of the storm door. He didn’t look particularly cold . . . but he did look worried and upset about something, she realized.
    As soon as that thought went through Phyllis’s head, fear for Bobby gripped her. She loved her grandson dearly. Hard on the heels of that came concern for Sarah. She was the best daughter-in-law any woman could ever want.
    But if something was wrong with Sarah or Bobby, Mike would have looked even more upset, Phyllis decided. This was something else. Something bad, no doubt, but not the worst.
    Phyllis opened the storm door as Mike came up the porch steps. “Come in here out of the cold,” she told him.
    He summoned up a slight smile. “Hi, Mom.” He was a handsome, broad-shouldered man, especially impressive in his uniform. “Are Sam and Carolyn here?”
    “Sam’s out in the garage, and I believe Carolyn’s upstairs,” Phyllis said as she closed the door behind him. The fact that Mike had asked about them reinforced her feeling that something was wrong. “What is it?”
    “I want to talk to all three of you,” he said. “I’ll go get Sam.”
    “I’ll call Carolyn,” Phyllis said. “But can’t you tell me what’s wrong?”
    Mike shook his head. “It’ll be better if I can sit down with all of you.”
    So it was nothing to do with the family, Phyllis thought, but her heart was hammering harder than usual anyway as she went part of the way up the stairs and called to Carolyn. Maybe she was wrong, she told herself. Maybe the bad news was personal and it was so bad Mike wanted to have Sam and Carolyn there so they could support her when he told her.
    But nothing could be that bad as long as Mike and Sarah and Bobby were okay, she thought. It had to be about somebody else . . .
    Eve.
    Phyllis’s breath seemed to freeze in her throat, just as surely as water would freeze outside on a frigid day like today. Something had happened to Eve.
    They had been wrong all along to trust Roy.
    That was a terrible thing to think, she scolded herself. She had no idea what was wrong, but it wasn’t right to jump to such horrible conclusions.
    Carolyn appeared at the top of the stairs and started down. “What is it?” she asked.
    “Mike’s here, and he wants to tell us something.”
    Carolyn frowned. “Mike? Is he here as a deputy or your son?”
    “I don’t know, but I don’t think it’s good either way.”
    By the time they reached the bottom of the stairs, Mike and Sam were starting up the hall from the kitchen. Mike had gone out that way to fetch Sam.
    “What’s going on here, Mike?” Carolyn demanded.
    “Let’s go in the living room and sit down,” Mike said. “Then I’ll tell you all I know, Mrs. Wilbarger.”
    “This is pretty bad, isn’t it?” Sam asked.
    “It’s not good,” Mike admitted.
    “And it’s something about Eve,” Phyllis said. Her voice sounded strained to her ears.
    “Let’s just sit down,” Mike said as he herded them into the living room.
    Everyone sat, but no one relaxed. Phyllis said, “All right, you’ve frightened us enough, Mike. Tell us what’s wrong.”
    “One of our cars answered a 911 call an hour or so ago,” Mike said. “There was a call for an ambulance, too. Something had happened at a place out in the country, a little bed-and-breakfast—”
    “I knew it,” Carolyn said. She put a hand to her mouth. “Oh, my God. Eve—”
    “Eve’s fine, as far as we know,” Mike said. He took a deep breath. “It’s Roy. When the responding units got there, he was dead.”
    “Lord,” Sam said. “Heart attack?”
    Mike shook his head. “I’m afraid not. He’d been murdered.”

Chapter 9
     
    P hyllis sat back, stunned—although