Cupcakes and Killing: A Cozy Mystery (Sweet Shoppe Mysteries - Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

uppity wedding reception.
    Chris and Daniel finally returned with our drinks at the same time Kaye returned with snacks, and Chris handed a champagne flute to me before noticing Zara.
    “Oh, sorry, would you like me to go and get you a drink?” he asked.
    “No, it’s fine, I have a glass already. I left it on that table over there before I came over here to chat,” she said, pointing behind us. “Anyway, I better go and grab it before someone else drinks it. I’ll be back in a minute.”
    She smiled and vanished into the crowd, and then reappeared again with a half-full glass. “Cheers!” she said.
    We all toasted her and gulped down mouthfuls of champagne, and Chris began to tell us some story about a crazy neighbor he had to deal with in Boston not long ago. As he spoke, Zara’s eyes suddenly widened, and she clutched at her chest.
    “Zara? Are you okay?” I asked, my eyes wide with concern.
    Kaye grabbed Zara’s arm, seeing as it looked like she was about to collapse, and her chest heaved as she tried to catch a breath.
    “I…I… what…”
    She was trying to speak but couldn’t seem to get a full sentence out, and then her knees buckled and she crumpled forward.
    “Oh my God!” I said. “Chris, call 911!”
    Chris hastily pulled out his cell phone and dialed. By this stage, Zara was lying on the ground surrounded by me, Tori, Kaye, and Daniel, and I wished I’d taken a first aid course so I’d know what to do. I felt utterly helpless, and I couldn’t imagine how Zara must have felt as she lay there struggling to breathe.
    “Zara, try to breathe!” I said, squeezing her hand. “Paramedics are on their way.”
    “Are you allergic to anything?” Kaye added, her eyes wide with fear. “Zara? We need to know what you’re allergic to!”
    Zara was panting heavily now, trying to breathe, and her lips were beginning to turn blue. “I think…I think it was the…the…”
    With that her eyes closed and her head lolled forward, and Tori stood up and shouted at everyone in the crowded marquee. “Everyone out, please! We need to make space for the paramedics!”
    The place was so loud and crowded that barely anyone heard her, and only a few people close to us seemed to have realized that Zara had even collapsed. Chris dashed to the front of the marquee, where a microphone for wedding toasts and speeches stood, and he grabbed the mic and spoke it into it. As his voice boomed out, everyone finally stopped to listen.
    “Everyone, there’s been an accident! I think Ms. Keilson is having some sort of allergic reaction, and we need to make space for the EMTs!”
    The guests went into a sudden panic, and there was sheer pandemonium for a moment as everyone made a run for the marquee exits. Poor Mrs. Barnaby looked crushed that her reception was falling apart, but there wasn’t time to worry about that right now.
    “Oh God…where are the paramedics?” Kaye said, her finger on Zara’s neck. “I can’t feel a pulse!”
    “They’re on their way,” Chris said as he returned. “Does anyone here know CPR?”
    A tall grey-haired man appeared beside us a moment later, and I recognized him as one of the local doctors. I couldn’t remember his name in my panicked state, but he told us to stand back.
    “I’m going to try and resuscitate her while we wait for the paramedics,” he said.
    He knelt down next to her and began chest compressions, leaning close to her face every few seconds to breathe into her mouth. Despite his best efforts, Zara didn’t wake up, and then her body began to convulse. Sirens in the parking lot outside alerted us to the arrival of the paramedics, and the doctor looked up at us, still compressing her chest in regular intervals.
    “You need to call the police as well,” he said.
    “I saw Deputy Ted and Officer Bobby here earlier,” Tori said. “I’ll go find them.”
    “Why do we need the police?” Kaye said, her voice shrill.
    “Because,” the doctor said, pausing to