1 Nothing Bundt Murder Read Free

everything."
    I was about to refuse the offer but then the delicious smell of the braised chicken and mushrooms and garlic seduced me. “Are you sure?” I asked.
    “Yeah. Think of it as a peace offering. Goodnight, Rosie.”
    I watched as Doug took his plate of food in one hand and his beer in the other and headed back to the den.

 
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER FOUR
     
     
    At Nana’s condo, I took a quick nibble of the Coq au vin, then placed it into the stainless steel refrigerator. Then I pulled a pretty serving plate out of the cupboard and arranged the assortment of mini Bundts I’d brought home from the store.
    “Nana, I’m home! With cake!” I called out, walking into the living room with the plate.
    “We’re in here doll,” she called out. “I hope you brought enough for Birdie too!”
    “I sure did,” I said, putting the serving plate down gently on the glass coffee table. Then I hurried back to pour three glasses of cold milk and handed them out to the ladies. I gave my Nana kiss on the cheek, grabbed a triple chocolate chip Bundt off the plate and curled up on the sofa to eat it.
    “You’d think that after a full day of working at a Bundt store I’d be sick of the cake. But you would be sooo wrong.” I licked some chocolate off my fingers.
    “How’s the job going, sweetie?” Birdie asked. She and my Nana were neighbors in the San Coronado retirement community of Sunrise Palms. They’d met the day my Nana moved in and had become fast friends and partners in crime.
    “It’s great. A lot of drama, though,” I gobbled another mouthful of chocolate.
    “So I heard,” Nana nodded. “But I don’t like to gossip."
    “True, she doesn’t like to gossip,” Birdie nodded knowingly to me. “She loves it!”
    “It’s true,” Nana laughed. “I do!" She shook her head and nibbled on a bit of red velvet Bundt.
    I smiled and looked at the two ladies. Both had stylishly died hair, Birdie’s was red and Nana’s was blonde. Both wore Capri pants and metallic-colored ballet slipper flats and bot h had the metabolisms of twenty-year-olds.
    It just didn’t seem fair. Here I was, practically a twenty year old (give or take six years) and I had to b e careful of what I ate and to make sure I exercised daily, while they, it seemed, could eat whatever they wanted.  
    “So what’d you hear?” Birdie asked, motioning for Nana to spill the beans.
    “Well, as you know,” Nana said in an authoritative tone. “Babette’s husband Doug’s has been cheating on her with Dahlia Wiggins, who is apparently, pushing him to divorce Babette and marry her.”
    I looked at Nana shocked. Of course I was relatively new in town but I hadn’t heard any of that. It only made me dislike Doug even more.
    “Everyone knows that. That’s old news,” Birdie said with a wave of her manicured hand.
    “I know,” Nana continued. “But did you know that Doug thinks that Babette has been cheating on him as well?"
    “No!” Birdie picked up her glass of milk and dunked a bit of cake.
    “How do you know this stuff?” I asked, frowning. “I mean, where’d you even hear it?”
    “Barney’s son Victor, the one that own that electronics store down near the new Whole Foods? He said that Doug was trying to catch Babette in the act. So to speak.”
    I nodded realizing that might be what Doug had been alluding to earlier. When I’d told him Babette was working late at the store, he said, “Ha, we’ll see about that,” or something to that effect. I realized he must have hired someone to watch or follow her.
    I looked up and took a sip of my milk, then realized that both ladies were looking at me with interest. They were obviously hoping that I might have some info to add to this gossip-fest. I loved my Nana and Birdie, but that wasn’t going to happen.
    “Well, Doug might suspect her,” I said. “But the only thing Babette cares about is her store, her cakes and her cat.” I nodded with finality, hoping to put an