Deadly Pumpkin Slice (A Sinful Sweets Cozy Mystery) Read Online Free PDF

business over, she’d been an infrequent visitor. Who could blame her with the kids she was constantly juggling.
     
    “I just had lunch with Austin—Detective Massey—and I thought I’d update you on what he told me.”
     
    “ Austin , huh?” Sydney asked, resentment in her voice that she didn’t want to feel. She questioned her sister’s loyalty, but knew she should give her the benefit of the doubt.
     
    “Come on. He told me he doesn’t want to believe you did it.”
     
    “Doesn’t want to believe or doesn’t believe? Those are very different.”
     
    “I know. He doesn’t want to believe you did. But right now you’re their main suspect.”
     
    “How did that happen?”
     
    “Well, the pies for one. Your business card was also on the table. And your fingerprints were there,” Mia finished, a real blow.
     
    “My fingerprints? Maybe on the box the pies were in, or the business card, but I was never there!” Sydney was getting riled up. She knew she shouldn’t shoot the messenger, but she couldn’t help it right now. “Did you guys just talk about me over lunch?”
     
    “No. We also talked about my relationship with Aaron. But then he asked about your breakup.”
     
    “What’d you tell him?” Sydney asked, panic rising up from her stomach.
     
    “I couldn’t lie. I told him what you’d told me. That it hadn’t been an amicable breakup, but that you hadn’t heard from him or contacted him in the six years you’ve been apart.”
     
    Sydney let that sink in. Now he knew that they’d had a messy breakup.
     
    “Maybe you can keep clear of him until this all blows over?” Sydney requested.
     
    “Come on Syd, he’s my neighbor. The kids love him. I’ll try to help clear your name.”
     
    “I hope so,” she said. “You know anything about Levi? He seemed really off yesterday.”
     
    “They just found out Leah’s pregnant again and they haven’t been trying. In fact, they’ve been trying to not have any more kids. I think she told him yesterday morning, I found out on the hayride at Jake’s before you got there. I’ve gotta go get Addison and then pick up the other kids from the playgroup. Leah was very accommodating and let me leave them under her watch so I could come update you.”
     
    “Thanks, Mia. I’m sorry if I was coming off too harsh. I do appreciate you helping. It just doesn’t make any sense how I’m ending up on their list of suspects!”
     
    “I know. I’ll keep you posted if I hear anything else,” Mia promised and walked out of the bakery.
     
    Sydney leaned over the counter and rested her forehead on her arms.
     
    “Any news?” Grace asked as she walked through the bakery to turn the sign back to closed.
     
    “It’s not Levi. He was acting all weird yesterday because he just found out they’re having another kid. I don’t know the details of his past with Aaron, but he had an alibi for the pies he bought last week. We have to keep digging.”
     
    “Let’s go get a bite to eat and see if we can’t track down Allison. It’s not like her to miss a morning here. We can finish up the fulfillment after lunch.”
     
    “Thanks Grace. That’d be great. Let’s pack things up just in case we don’t make it back for a while.”
     
    They worked efficiently, like the well-oiled machine they’d become over the years. Grace had been the first customer Sydney had served when she started working under Mia. They’d hit it off immediately and bonded over late night marathons of rerun TV shows from their youth. Now they could work side by side without saying a thing and knowing exactly what needed to be done.
     
    Not that they often worked in silence. It was tough for them to stop talking for even a whole minute. There was always something more to share that the other would surely need to hear.
     
    When the pies and pastries were put away, Sydney and Grace left through the back door. Sydney put Maple on a leash, something she only did when they