Read Buttercream Murder: A Frosted Love Cozy Mystery - Book 7 (Frosted Love Cozy Mysteries) for Free Online

Until then we won’t even know whether the poison was in the cupcake or in the ice cream.”
    “Or neither of the above,” Missy reminded him.
    “Yes, in the best case scenario, neither of the above,” Beckett agreed grimly.
    “Well, I’ve got my thinking cap on,” she assured him. She moved in and gave him a sweet little kiss on the lips, eliciting catcalls, whoops and hollers from the group that was too far away to hear their conversation, but close enough to see them. Chas blushed slightly, waved to the group and trotted back to his unmarked vehicle. Missy returned to the festivities making no mention of their conversation but eyeing her friend speculatively.
    After her guests had gone, Missy stocked the refrigerator with groceries that Echo had bought at the market, and the two women sat down on the couch to relax. When she tactfully tried to broach the subject of the vandalism, Echo said that she was tired and just really wanted to watch a movie and go to bed. Missy handed her friend the remote and headed upstairs to bed after taking Toffee out one last time. She turned to look back, seeing Echo staring blankly at the television, flipping through channels as though on automatic pilot.
    Things had settled down a bit, with no new occurrences over the past couple of days, and Missy was hopeful that there would be no further ugliness to endure while waiting for the murder to be solved. Her phone rang as she was walking Toffee back from the park on a crisp Fall morning, and when she saw an unfamiliar number, she sent the call to voicemail, not wanting to disrupt the pattern of relative peace that she’d been experiencing. Echo’s new windows were being installed today, so her friend would be returning home with the assurance from the Dellville PD that they’d be keeping a close eye on her home.
    Checking the message later, she heard from a very conciliatory Jonathan Michener, who was attempting to assure her that he only had her best interest at heart. He requested that she return his call at her earliest convenience. Missy sighed and deleted the message, wondering why he couldn’t just leave her alone. She’d made her position perfectly clear and was tired of having to deal with him on top of everything else. Whether he was the cause of recent events or not, she just wanted him to go away. She told Echo about the call when she got back to the house and was shocked at her response.
    Echo sighed, putting down her cup of coffee. “Maybe we should just sign the paperwork and be done with it,” she said numbly.
    “Just sign it? Are you kidding me? I never thought I’d see the day when Echo Willis was willing to turn her life’s work over to a corporate machine,” Missy shook her head in shock. “We are small-town business owners who care about their customers, that’s what makes us different…special. If we sign over our creations to a mass-producer, we’ll have sold out. Anything we’ve accomplished will no longer matter, because we’ll have shown the world that all we care about is money. Honey, we can’t do that!”
    Echo bowed her head, truly a woman defeated. “I have ideals too Missy, and I understand what you’re saying, but we live in the real world. If this mess drags on much longer, it could sink us both financially. What are we supposed to do then? Start over? With what?” she twisted her hands miserably in her lap. “I’m just so tired of struggling,” she said softly. “I thought I could come to this sweet little town and make a comfortable life for myself, be a part of the community, meet someone special, and all I’ve encountered is accusation and hardship. I just don’t know how much more I can take,” she admitted, tears rolling down her cheeks.
    “I know it’s difficult,” Missy sat down next to her friend, putting an arm around her. “But we’ll get through this…together. Hang in there honey, it’s always darkest before the dawn.”
    Echo nodded, wiped her tears with