A Deadly Delicious Delivery (A Chocolate Centered Cozy Mystery Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

Charlotte rounded the counter, the door to the shop swung open. Mrs. Cale raised a nut cluster to her mouth and was about to chomp down on it. Luke Elm bolted through the door and ran right up to Mrs. Cale. He slapped the chocolate out of her hand before she could put it into her mouth.
    “Luke!” Ally gasped as she watched the chocolate bounce across the floor.
    “What are you doing?” Mrs. Cale demanded and grasped her purse as if she might take a swing at him. Ally ducked between them before she could.
    “No one eat any chocolates! Or anything else made in this shop!” Luke looked over at Ally and then at Charlotte. He then turned to the three customers. “Ladies, if you’ll please leave the shop I need to discuss some things with the owner.”
    “No more chocolates?” Mrs. Cale’s chin trembled. “But, but…”
    “Mrs. Cale, listen to the detective. I’ll make sure you and the others each get your own box of chocolates for free.” Charlotte settled her gaze on Luke with such heat that Ally winced. She knew that look from many years of experience.
    “All right.” Mrs. Cale nodded. She and the other two women made their way past Luke just as several police officers flooded into the shop after them.
    “Ally, I need to speak to you,” Luke said.
    “Why? What is going on here?” Ally looked at the officers that began to pick up different items around the shop.
    “We tested the chocolates that Myrtle ate. The ones from this shop. They tested positive for antifreeze.”
    “What?” Ally grabbed the counter to hold herself up. “That’s not possible.”
    “I don’t know how it happened, Ally, but it’s true. I saw the test myself. I insisted on it.”
    Ally stared at him and slowly shook her head. “Then test it again, and again.”
    “Ally, there’s no point. I was there for the testing. The chocolates were in a box from this shop. Myrtle didn’t die of natural causes, she was poisoned. We have to shut the shop down just in case there are any more poisoned chocolates here.”
    “You’re shutting us down?” Charlotte scowled at him. “Luke, you should know better. Of course none of our chocolates are poisoned.”
    “Actually, some of them are.” He frowned, but his tone remained respectful. “Now, I don’t believe that you and Ally would have anything to do with that, but somehow those chocolates ended up filled with antifreeze, and now a woman is dead.” He plucked a napkin from the counter and leaned down to pick up the nut cluster that Mrs. Cale had almost eaten. “We don’t want two deaths on our hands, do we?”
    “Well, I never…” Charlotte started to respond, but she was interrupted by another voice.
    “Detective.” One of the officers stuck his head in from the back room. He held up a bottle of antifreeze. “Found it on the back step.”
    “It’s for the van!” Ally’s heart began to race. “I bought it for the van!”
    “Log it into evidence.” Luke nodded.
    “Are you going to arrest us?” Ally looked over at her grandmother. “Just take me okay, Luke?”
    “Wait a minute.” Luke rested his hands on the curve of her shoulders and looked into her eyes. “Try to relax, I’m not arresting anyone. We’re here to make sure that you and Charlotte are safe just as much as we are here to make sure the rest of the town is. No one is being accused of a crime, right now we are just trying to gather evidence and figure out what happened here and make sure no one else gets hurt.”
    “This is unreal.” Ally shook her head and started to pull away from him, but his hands tightened on her shoulders.
    “Ally, look at me.”
    Ally met his eyes as anxiety boiled within her. “Luke, I…”
    “It’s okay. Just calm down. We’re going to figure this out. All right? You have to trust me.”
    Ally pursed her lips. She wasn’t sure how she could calm down while police officers were combing through everything in the shop. Charlotte snatched up a wooden cat before it could