Chocolate Dipped Death Read Free Page A

majestically and cast a royal glance around the crowd. “Don’t listen to her, Abby. Tonight’s scores were fair, and I, for one, refuse to give in to Evie’s raging paranoia.” She caught her husband’s eye and beckoned him toward her. “Why don’t one of you take poor Evie out for a drink? I’m sure a little alcohol will make it all better. It usually does for her. I’ll see the rest of you tomorrow night.”
    She turned away, hitching her purse strap onto her shoulder and dismissing Evie’s protests at the same time.
    Maybe I should have stopped her, but I just wanted the argument to be over. At least this gave me a chance to look into Evie’s allegations without the whole town peering over my shoulder. If I was lucky, I could clear the whole mess up before tomorrow night’s segment of the competition.
    I couldn’t know it as I watched Savannah stalk out the door, but things were about to get a whole lot worse.

Chapter 2

    An hour later, I settled the last dirty plates and empty cups on Aunt Grace’s huge silver tray and started carefully down the steps into the kitchen. As I stopped to turn out the light with my elbow, I spied Evie’s red ribbon and the gold-edged box of candy she’d left behind. Guess she wasn’t kidding when she said the prize wasn’t good enough.
    Irritation stung the muscles in my neck, and pain burned in the small of my back. Even after nine months, I wasn’t used to working on my feet all day. How Aunt Grace had stood behind the shop counter for more than forty years without needing surgery was a mystery I’d probably never solve.
    But this wasn’t the first difference in the two of us I’d run across. Aunt Grace had definitely been made of sterner stuff. She’d been strong enough to buck the system in the sixties to open the store in the first place. Back then, when banks almost never loaned money to women (especially those without a man to back them), Aunt Grace applied for the loan on her own, got it, and never looked back. To the best of my knowledge, she’d never lost control of a situation like the one we’d had tonight. The fact that I was working cleanup detail alone proved just how inept I was at soothing ruffled feathers.
    Sighing with frustration, I hoisted the tray high and slowly descended the stairs, feeling for each step before trusting my weight since I couldn’t see around the mound of garbage and dirty dishes. I was so engrossed, I didn’t realize that I wasn’t alone until I reached ground level and a deep voice asked, “Need help?”
    I let out a startled yelp and wheeled around to find a man standing in the shadows of the two refrigerators we keep in our candy kitchen. My heart slammed against my rib cage, and I croaked, “Who’s there?”
    A figure wearing dark jeans and a black turtleneck sweater moved into the light, but when I saw the sheaf of honey-blond hair and horn-rimmed glasses, I laughed with relief. “You scared the daylights out of me, Marshall. What are you doing here?”
    He closed the distance between us and took the tray out of my hands before I completely registered what he was doing. “Sorry. I was clearing the snow from my windshield when I saw Karen and Evie leaving. I thought I’d better come back and see if you needed help.” He ran a glance over the pile of dirty dishes and grinned at me. “Looks like I was right. You’ll be here all night if you have to clean up by yourself.”
    His concern surprised me. Marshall and I might have been in the same class in school, but we’d never really been friends. He’d always been too bookish and quiet for me, and I’d probably been too much a tomboy for him. Until tonight, I’d seen him only a couple of times since my return to Paradise, and both times for only a few minutes. Never long enough to talk or get acquainted.
    “I’m fine,” I assured him. “I asked Karen to take Evie somewhere and calm her down.”
    “She’s still upset about tonight’s