COZY MYSTERY: Trail Mix Murder: A Cozy Mystery in the Mountains (Book 2) Read Free

competition in Calgary next month.” He said.
    “That’s really amazing.” Amanda said, unable to resist adding, “Especially at your age.”
    “I’m only twenty-seven.” Declan protested. “I’m in my prime.”
    Amanda smiled. “So this party, it’s LeeLee’s birthday this weekend isn’t it?”
    “Her sixtieth, yes,” Declan said.
    To his credit, he never looked anything but fond when he talked of LeeLee. Of course, in town, quite a few eyebrows had been raised last year when LeeLee had announced that she was going to marry her personal assistant, a man about half her age.
    “She looks absolutely wonderful,” Amanda said. “I would have loved to look at twenty the way LeeLee does at sixty.”
    “Oh, well, she puts a lot of effort into it,” Declan said. “That’s one of the reasons we fell in love. Both of us love to go to the gym together. I actually taught her quite a few exercises. I was a personal trainer back in Chicago, you know.”
    “Do you still give classes?” Byron asked, from next to Victoria. “I’d love to know how to pack on some muscle.”
    Leaving the two of them to talk, Victoria wandered back to her place behind the counter, while Amanda moved out of the café.
    An Egyptian Sci-Fi themed party! Victoria sighed. Well, LeeLee was certainly creative and it kept Victoria busy. On a notepad, she began jotting down her initial ideas of party food, cupcakes perhaps? She’d decorate them with icing that alternatively looked like astronomical symbols (planets, spaceships?) and Egyptian symbols such as pyramids and the sphinx.
    As for the servers, she’d have to ask LeeLee for extra money, of course, but she’d try and order Egyptian costumes for them all. Maybe I’ll go as Cleopatra, the great queen, Victoria laughed to herself.
    Declan seated himself on the counter, and Victoria served up his chocolate chip mint smoothie as he talked on the phone.
    From the other end, she could hear LeeLee’s shrill voice as the woman cried out. “and I ordered turquoise but these absolute animals sent me an ocean green shade.”
    “I’ll talk to them dear,” Declan sounded resigned.
    “Animals! I tell you there isn’t a half brain in that entire firm.” LeeLee sounded more and more indignant.
    “Yes, dear,” Declan said, following up a few minutes later with. “I know dearest.”
    Victoria served her other customers, feeling slightly amused, and watching him from the corner of her eye. Declan’s voice remained sweet and his words remained smooth but she saw his face grow redder and redder. She saw his nostrils flare with rage as he continued to talk with LeeLee. For a minute, Victoria paused, shocked at the naked display of his anger. Then, she caught his eye, and all the anger seemed to slide off his face, replaced with a blank slate.
    Hastily, Declan tossed a few bills on the counter, and stormed out of the café, leaving Victoria to gape at him. What was the matter with the man she wondered? He had looked like he was at the end of his rope. LeeLee Brunt might think that she had the right to push Declan around as much as she wanted but she had better be careful. Going by the look on his face, Declan wasn’t going to tolerate much more from his beautiful, rich fiancé.

Chapter 3
    The party was everything that LeeLee considered cool.
    First, the house was decorated to what LeeLee considered near perfection. They’d hired a projectionist from Barcelona to project Egyptian symbols and runes on the sides of the LeeLee’s massive white marble bungalow. The bungalow was already made in what some considered a roman style mixed with gothic influences, and it seemed to fit right in with the theme.
    Then, as guests entered through the large, Italian crafted mahogany doors, they would witness a hallway that was lined with gold-gilded pillars. It had been cleared to include only authentic looking Egyptian furniture. In one corner, a band was playing very trance-like music. In another, beautiful