Brownies & Betrayal (Sweet Bites Mysteries, Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

I nudged Honey and gestured to it. We both began looking again.
    Another camera was directed out the entrance to the conference center hall, but when we entered the conference room, there were none in sight. Of course that would have been far too easy. If there had been a camera in the room, Detective Tingey would have known whom to charge with murder and he wouldn’t have bothered coming to ask me more questions. The area where the murder took place was still blocked off with police tape, so we went through the other side to where the ceremony was supposed to be held, looking for another entrance to the ballroom.
    We checked the hall where the catering people came in. There was a way for patrons to enter that hall from down by the stairs instead of through the normal doors. I looked closer and shook my head. “There aren’t any cameras on this entrance.”
    “Great. So that’s how both Valerie and the killer got in without being caught by cameras.” Honey rubbed a finger over her lips, studying the halls.
    “We don’t know that Valerie didn’t come in the same way we did,” I corrected Honey. “She might have used the front door, headed for the conference room, then met her killer in there. Only the second person had to slip in undetected.”
    “We need more information,” Honey said.
    That was for sure. I considered our options. At this time of night, there weren’t many. “All right, let’s go pick the desk clerk’s brain.”
    When we arrived, we found the clerk had stepped away. I called out, but no one answered. I really wanted to get a look at Valerie’s room, but doubted anyone would let me in. “Do you think they’ve emptied Valerie’s room yet?”
    Honey’s brows lifted in question.
    “It would be valuable to get in there and see if there’s anything useful, wouldn’t it?”
    “I don’t know. This isn’t like sneaking into Collin’s room when we were kids,” she mentioned her older brother.
    I grinned, warmed by the memories from our childhood. “It’s not like we’re planning to steal anything or compromise evidence. We just want to look.” I waited to see if she would argue; she didn’t, though she didn’t seem convinced, either. “So, do you think the stuff’s still there?”
    “Could be, I think the room was paid for through tonight. How do you think we’re going to get up there?”
    I glanced at the key card machine. Working in a hotel for so long, even though I hadn’t been stationed behind the front desk, I’d learned how the machine operated. This one was identical to the one at the hotel in Chicago. Without lifting my face to the camera, I glanced up at it, judged the angle and directed Honey to stand in the way. I slid behind the counter and picked up an empty key card. “Millie said Valerie was in room 327.” I punched in a couple of numbers, and slid the key card through the machine. It lit up and I pocketed the card.
    I got out from behind the counter and we headed for the elevators.
    “I can’t believe you did that,” Honey hissed at me, without moving her lips as soon as the elevator doors closed behind us.
    What, did she think the security people could lip-read? Or that they’d be sitting around watching the videos as if there was nothing more important to do? I’d be surprised if they had a security guy at all, and they definitely wouldn’t look at the tapes without a good reason.
    “Wait and see if I did it right when we test it in the door. They may have already checked her out of the room. A lot of hotels are cracking down to keep employees from using the rooms without paying.”
    Honey stared at me, fascinated. “People do that?”
    “Bronson had to fire a clerk a year or so back because he found out the guy took dates up to a room. He’d add the room to the cleaning list and no one was the wiser. They weren’t sure how long he’d been doing it.”
    “He probably insisted he’d never done it before,” Honey said.
    “Naturally.” The door