Peach Cobbler Murder Read Online Free PDF Page A

with the Magnolia Blossom’s unlimited financing.
    Lisa gave a dejected sigh. “We can’t afford to give away three hundred dollars of free baked goods every day. And there’s no way I’m going to serve coffee in a short, low-cut dress and bend over a lot!”
    “No need for that,” Norman spoke up. “Not that it wouldn’t be scenic, but the way to a guy’s heart is through his stomach and your baked goods area quantum leap better than theirs.”
    “Then what do you think we should do?” Hannah asked, moving a little closer to Norman’s side.
    “Just hang on and don’t do anything.” Norman smiled down at her and then he repeated her personal mantra. “Once the novelty wears off, they’ll be back.

Chapter 3
    Hannah unlocked her condo door and braced herself for the onslaught. Her cat, Moishe, had been alone since daybreak and he would be eager for food and company.
    “Yow!” Moishe said, licking her nose.
    Since Moishe was purring with the same intensity as a lawn mower stuck on rough-terrain speed, Hannah knew he’d been waiting for her to come home. She shrugged out of her parka coat, juggling Moishe from one arm to the other in the process, and kicked off the moose-hide boots that had earned her a black mark with the Bambi lovers who’d never come within a mile of a moose.
    “Dinnertime,” Hannah announced, carrying her one-eyed friend into the kitchen and setting him down by his food bowl. Then she headed for the broom closet where she kept Moishe’s food, unlocked the padlock she used to secure the door, and frowned as she noticed the new bite marks at the corner of the narrow wooden door. It wouldn’t be long now. Her food-loving cat had chewed through the veneer on the corner of the door and he was well on his way to demolishing the wood. A lock is only as good as the door. Hannah remembered her father’s words, the wisdom he’d imparted to his customers at Lake Eden Hardware. The padlock had Moishe stymied, but he was smart enough to concentrate his efforts on the hollow-core door. Her cat was remodeling her broom closet by adding his own cat-size passage to the mother lode.
    Hannah estimated she had about a week before Moishe invaded the cat food stronghold. It was time to start thinking about another solution, preferably one that didn’t require an armed guard. She couldn’t really blame Moishe for trying to get at his food. He’d lived on the street, not knowing where his next mouse was coming from, and he’d been half starved when he’d arrived at her door. Even though almost two years had passed since that winter day and his girth had doubled with regular meals and then some, he still went into a panic if he could see Garfield’s picture on the bottom of his food bowl.
    “Kitty crunchies, or braised liver tidbits?” Hannah asked her furry roommate. “Or would you like both?”
    The moment Hannah had given him the third choice, Moishe’s purring intensified to a rumble so loud, she could hear it across the room. Hannah interpreted that to mean that her feline friend wanted both liver and kitty crunchies. She would serve them separately, of course. Moishe fancied himself a gourmet and he didn’t like to mix his dry food with his wet food.
    Once Moishe had gobbled down his liver tidbits and was happily crunching his dry food, Hannah headed for the bedroom to get into her at-home clothes. In the summer they consisted of lightweight pull-on pants in a nondescript shade of gray and one of several oversize short-sleeved T-shirts in her favorite color; bright red. The red color of the shirts clashed with her frizzy red curls, but there was no one except Moishe to complain. And even if cats were color-blind, a fact that she sometimes doubted, he was content with Hannah’s appearance as long as she kept his food bowl full.
    “Time for my dinner,” Hannah announced, entering the kitchen again. She was wearing her winter at-home outfit, a cardinal red long-sleeved sweatshirt with