Murder in Cottage #6 (Liz Lucas Cozy Mystery Series Book 1) Read Free Page B

like peanuts or shellfish, so I’m very careful
to always check each guest’s registration form and make a note if they have any
food allergies. Barbara wrote on her registration form that she wasn’t allergic
to anything. The people who work in the spa also have each guest fill out a
general health form, and one of the questions asked is if they’re allergic to
any beauty products or chemical substances. According to what she filled out on
her form, she wasn’t allergic to anything.”
    “Well, we probably won’t
know anything until I complete the autopsy tomorrow. I have another one I need
to do today. Dave been told yet?”
    “No. I wanted to wait
until I talked to you. I’m planning on going to his insurance agency and
telling him shortly.”
    “Liz, be happy to do it
for ya’, course you’d owe me somethin’ in return, if you know what I mean,”
Seth said suggestively.
    “No. Since it happened on
my property, I should be the one to tell him.”
    Wes took a gurney out of
the back of the van and rolled it into the cottage. He and Leroy carefully
transferred Barbara from the bed to the gurney and then pushed the gurney out
to the van and loaded her body into it through the open rear doors. When they were
finished, Wes drove back down the lane to the highway leading to town with
Leroy following.
    “I’ll be goin’ now, Liz,”
Seth said. “Ain’t no more I can do ‘til I get the results of the autopsy from
Wes. Nice seein’ ya’, and don’t forget about that invitation to dinner or my
offer to get ya’ a little somethin’ from Victoria’s Secret.”
    “Believe me, Seth, I won’t
forget. Thanks for getting out here so fast.”
    Liz looked around as he
drove down the lane, thankful that it looked like no one had seen the police car
or the unusual activity going on at cottage #6.
    When she returned to the
lodge, she called Bertha. “Would you please tell Sarah to clean up cottage #6?”

CHAPTER 4
     
    Red Cedar was a small town and even
though Liz had never been to Dave Nelson’s office, she knew that the office in
the early 20 th century building with the red awning and the words
“Dave Nelson Insurance Agency” was his. On her way she passed Gertie’s Diner,
known as the “in” place to find out the latest rumors about anything happening
in the small town. People from as far away as San Francisco were known to come
to Gertie’s for the rich chocolate malted milk shakes and thick juicy burgers.
                She smiled as she drove
by the other shops that were owned by some of the more interesting and colorful
townspeople of Red Cedar. There was the Custom Candle Shop, run by Nate, who
had retired from his job working on the docks of San Francisco. Everyone who
entered the shop was startled to see that it was owned by one of the biggest
and hairiest men around with a smile that could light up a city block.
                Then there was Walt’s
Western Shop, a wannabe cowboy shop owned by Walt, a former Chicago stock
broker, who at age sixty decided to do what he’d always wanted to do – play
like he was a cowboy. The shop was stocked with anything and everything a
customer who had dreams of becoming a cowboy could want – from spurs to Stetson
hats.
                When she passed Susie’s
Hair Salon, she made a mental note to make an appointment to get her hair
colored. At age fifty-two Liz was still a very attractive woman, short and
full-figured, but her auburn hair had always been her best feature, even if she
did need a little help from Susie to keep its deep rich color. Thick and
lustrous, it framed her alabaster complexion and accentuated her sea green eyes
and dark double fringed eyelashes.
                As she pulled into the
diagonal parking space a few shops down from the Dave Nelson Insurance Agency,
she noticed the sign for Red Cedar Antiques and Art and remembered that Barbara
Nelson and her partner owned the