Read Bonbons and Betrayal: Book 3 in The Chocolate Cafe Series for Free Online Page B

chest hitching.
     
    “That’s him. It’s him! Why would someone…why would…”
     
    “Honey, I need you to go back to the car,“ Mac said. Despite her best friend’s tears, despite the hollow, insane look in her eyes, she could think of only one thing. Call Louis.
     
    “Is he dead?” Brie, her tangled hair hanging like vines, her legs kicking out under her nightshirt, struggled to get free from Mac’s grip. “Let me see if he’s dead, Mac. He might be…”
     
    “Sabrina!” Mac hollered. She pulled out her most authoritative voice, despite her heartbeat thumping in her throat as if she’s swallowed a rabbit. “We need to get back to the car and get some help, ok?”
     
    In her arms, Brie suddenly shrank like a popped balloon. Mac felt the full weight of her against her smaller, reedier frame. Safely in her best friend’s arms, Brie turned her face against Mac’s shoulder and allowed herself to sob.
     
    “Call Louis,” Brie said, almost gagging against her sobs. “Please call Louis.”
     
     

CHAPTER EIGHT

     
    “It took a while, but she’s asleep.” Mac sighed, sliding into the window nook gratefully. She picked up the mug of tea Louis had made and cradled it in her freezing hands. Louis, his tall frame awkwardly arranged in the tight nook starred past Mac at the grey ocean pounding against the empty beach. He was deep in thought. Deeply troubled, was more like it. His tea was going cold in front of him, the cheerful cat mug in stark contrast to his dark demeanor.
     
    “I should’ve said something,” he said finally, more to himself than to Mac. “How many more indications did I need that he wasn’t the most well liked of all people.”
     
    Mac shook her head.
     
    “She was so happy,” she said. “It would take a special kind of coldness to ruin that.”
     
    Louis looked away from the view for the first time since Mac sat down. His mouth was a straight line, curving down into a slight frown. His beard hid it well, but lines had been etched along his face to match – worn like water against rock, from years of seeing things that would have sent anyone else straight to the psych ward.
     
    “I used to have that special kind of coldness,” he said, his eyes as hard as his mouth. “I don’t know what’s happened to me.”
     
    Mac took his hand across the table, intertwining her fingers with his.
     
    “Mackenzie Bay happened to you.” He scoffed and looked back at the water. A mist so thick it looked like a stone wall was slowly advancing toward the shore. On the small patch of grass that was Sabrina’s backyard, a congregation of gulls had gathered, seeking shelter from what was apparently going to be quite a storm.
     
    Mac was trying to welcome it. After the night they’d had and the emotional wreckage of the morning, she was reminding herself seemingly every minute that it was good to be sequestered in Brie’s house. Her best friend safely but exhaustedly sleeping upstairs, the sweet, chocolate scented warmth of the old house insulating them… It was probably best to be landlocked until the trauma began to fade.
     
    If only she could convince herself it was true.
     
    She was itching as much as Louis was to get to the bottom of Paul’s murder. Her mind hadn’t stopped running over the events of the weekend, over everything she knew about him, about his friends or lack thereof.
     
    Watching the detective ignore his tea, she felt like grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him into action.
     
    “Louis…” She began, squeezing his fingers slightly with her own.
     
    Louis let go of her hand and took a deep drink of his almost cold tea.
     
    “It’s not my district, so there’s really not much I can do. However…” he sighed. “However, I do have a few contacts. Useful ones apparently.”
     
    Mac’s heart flipped in her chest. He didn’t…did he?
     
    “They’re letting me take part in the investigation.” Mac gasped, her eyes shining. She had to