Read Creamed at the Coffee Cabana: A Cozy Mystery (Sweet Home Cozy Mystery Series Book 1) for Free Online

it!
     
    “Only for a little while,” I replied. “Wouldn’t it be better for us to chat with Mildred first than to give this button to the police and have her hauled down to the police station? At least this way she won‘t be caught unaware and scared half to death.”
     
    Jules sat with her head in her hands. “Or give her a chance to come up with an alibi.”
     
    Jules you’re supposed to be helping me here. “But she can’t come up with an alibi if her button was found here.”
     
    Jules nodded. “Let’s give her a call and have her come in.”
     
    “We can’t all be here though,” I said. “She’ll clam up tight.”
     
    “I’m not going anywhere,” Essie huffed. “I want to know what her button was doing here in our shop.”
     
    “Fine, I’ll leave,” Hildie announced pulling off her apron. “You men can come with me. I need to get some items at the hardware store and I need your advice.”
     
    Toe and Harvey were happy to go with Hildie. They loved sitting outside the hardware store on one of the city’s benches, drink soda pop, and people watching.
     
    After they left Essie called Mildred and told her we found something that may belong to her. She wanted to know what it was and Essie told her. Essie said her tune shifted from friendly to guarded immediately. She told Essie she’d be right over. While waiting Essie and I served a few customers and chatted with Jules about her parents and her trip to Miami. Not 15 minutes later, Mildred rushed into the Coffee Cabana.
     
    Essie and I took her into the back while Jules stayed out front to take care of the customers. I took the button out of my pocket and showed it to Mildred.
     
    “So is this your button?” I asked.
     
    Mildred tried to take it from me but I pulled it back.
     
    “Well I have to look at it.”
     
    “You can see it from here,” I answered. “What do you think?”
     
    Mildred hesitated. “Where did you find it?”
     
    I pointed between the stove and cabinet. “It was wedged in there.”
     
    Mildred nodded her head.
     
    Essie walked up beside Mildred. “I don’t remember you ever being back here - but this button says otherwise.”
     
    Easy there Aunt Essie. I didn’t want to scare her away. Just nudge her gently.
     
    “You can tell us Mildred. We all know how Fannie was.”
    Tears welled in Mildred’s eyes. I pulled a stool over and had her sit down.
     
    “I thought she was my friend. We’d been pals since grade school. Then I learned she put something in her special edition paper about me. It wasn’t a big deal, but hurtful all the same.”
     
    “What did she say,” Essie asked.
     
    “She said that a certain red haired lady in town was sweet on a lifelong bachelor in town.”
     
    I looked at Essie. She was getting it from all angles today. “You and Toe?”
     
    Mildred nodded. “See, everyone would have guessed it was me. It was so embarrassing. Fannie said she was telling me so I’d have a heads up. My, wasn’t that sweet of her. Anyway, I saw her that day during the parade. She was walking up the street so I followed to try to talk some sense into her. She then ducked down the alley and I did too. I saw her slip into the back door of your shop so I followed her in.”
     
    Okay, now we have Mildred in the shop.
     
    “She was snooping around in your trash and looking through the cupboards. I startled her and she was none too happy with me. I pleaded with her not to hand out those papers at the festival. That we’d been friends for all these years and how could she be so mean. She didn’t care though. I think at that moment I finally saw her for what she was. A mean spirited evil woman who didn’t care what misery she bestowed on people. She turned away from me, but I wasn’t about to be stopped. I grabbed her arm and swung her around to face me. That’s when she seized the front of my jacket and pulled me forward. She said she didn’t need me as a friend. That she wanted Toe for