Read A Zest for Murder (Sky High Pies Cozy Mysteries Book 5) for Free Online

I’d grabbed a half hour earlier were
untouched on a plate beside my laptop. It was around seven that evening. I was
in the office at Sky High, trying to focus on bookkeeping and invoices while
jagged imagery from the crime scene flashed repeatedly in my mind.
    After talking to Trent earlier, I’d
climbed into my car and sat behind the wheel for another twenty minutes,
sifting through my most recent conversations with Tipper. But no matter how
many times I replayed them, I couldn’t find anything suspicious or out of the
ordinary. It was as if my friend had suddenly plunged from her normal daily
life into a terrifying nightmare with an unknown ending.
    “It’s no use,” I finally muttered,
closing the computer and pushing away from the desk. “All of you pests can wait
until tomorrow.”
    I walked the tea and cookies into
the Sky High kitchen. The whiteboard on the wall forecast that the following
day would be busy with special orders and initial prep work on a catering job
for Gretchen Goode. She was the editor of The Crescent Creek Gazette , one
of the few small town newspapers still publishing a daily print edition. She
was also Zack’s boss, so I wanted everything to be especially perfect for the
luncheon she was hosting for several of the area’s leading entrepreneurs.
    After washing the cup and slipping
the cookies into a plastic bag, I headed outside and climbed the exterior
stairs to my apartment. The Victorian that housed Sky High Pies was my
self-contained universe: bakery café on the main level and a snug, comfortable
apartment directly above. My sister often asked if I was going to look for a
separate place to call home, but I liked the simplicity and ease of the
arrangement. I also liked the fact that I could hit the snooze button on my
alarm more than once in the morning and still get to work on time.
    The living room sofa looked more
than a little inviting when I came through the door, but I drifted past it into
the hallway. Although it was still early, a hot bubble bath sounded ideal. The
shock of finding the woman on Tipper’s kitchen floor had left knots of tension
coiled around my neck and shoulders.
    I went into the bathroom and peeled
off my clothes. As I poured my new eucalyptus and spearmint soap into the tub,
I heard the sleigh bells hanging on the front door chime as someone unlocked
the deadbolt and stepped into my apartment.
    “Yoo-hoo!”
    I grabbed my robe as my heart
crashed against my ribs.
    “Katie?”
    Even though it was my sister, the
unexpected disruption had already sent my pulse into the stratosphere. I
scurried into the hallway just as Olivia and her rolling suitcase came around
the corner.
    “There you are!” she exclaimed
cheerfully. “I was afraid you’d forgotten I was staying here tonight before
driving to Salt Lake in the morning!”
    I gulped. “Nope.”
    “Thank goodness! I sent you a text
about an hour ago, but you didn’t respond so…” She stopped and tilted her head.
“Why do you have that look on your face?”
    “What look? ”
    She moved closer, squinting and
craning her heck. “You know, Katie. It’s that, uh…”
    I folded my arms across my stomach.
“How was the drive?” I asked, hoping to change the subject.
    “Fine,” Liv said. “But why…it’s the
look you always get when something’s wrong. Like when dad fell and broke his
ankle and you didn’t want mom to know so—”
    “I’m okay!” I quickly swept both
arms into the air. “I’m absolutely fine!”
    She smirked. “You’re absolutely
lying.”
    I waited while she abandoned the
suitcase, dropped her purse on the floor and shrugged off her down jacket.
    “So?” Her eyes were narrowed again.
“What’s going on? Did Zack break up with you?”
    I laughed in response to the
question. Then I told her that Zack and I were still very much in love. And
then I asked how she and Cooper were doing.
    “No way,” she said. “This isn’t
about me. Whatever’s going on here is about