Chewy Chocolate Chip Murder: A Cookie Lane Cozy Mystery - Book 1 (8 page)

“Okay, you can come in, but keep your
eyes closed,” Cat said. “No peeking!”

“I’m not peeking, I swear,” Lacy
replied. She pressed her fingers to her eyes and walked into Cat’s Cookies,
guided by Catherine’s hand on her back.

“I hope you love this as much as I
do,” she said. Nerves tumbled through her belly. This was the biggest move
she’d made in the store since Beth had first given it to her.

She led Lacy to the front counter,
then halted. A grin seeped onto her lips. “Are you ready?”

“I’m ready,” Lacy whispered. “Show me
before I hyperventilate!”

“Okay, you can look,” Car replied.

Lacy dropped her palms from her eyes,
then gasped. Laughter bubbled up from the pit of her stomach. The most joyous
noise the woman had made in the store since she’d first started.

“Are you serious?” Lacy asked and darted
to the brand, spanking new coffee machine, complete with a red bow on top to
mark the occasion. “No more coffee wars and Everest?”

“I’m dead serious,” Cat said. “Oh, and
there’s one other thing.”

“What?” Lacy asked, and spun to face
her, excitement radiating off her in waves.

“You can come out, now!” Catherine
called.

Rachel popped out of the kitchen,
grinning from ear to ear. Her bright pink hair shone under the down lights in
the store, but she’d lost the grungy makeup and lipstick. “Surprise,” she
yelled.

Lacy shrieked, then laughed again.
“What? I don’t understand.”

“Rachel’s going to join us in the
store. She’s my new assistant. I figured you were already overworked, and with
Beth’s inheritance, I’ll be able to bring her on, keep you and up the number of
sales we make each day.”

“I can’t thank you enough for this
opportunity, Cat,” Rachel said. She’d had to move out of the Walters residence
since the bank had foreclosed.

She’d found a tiny apartment down the
street, within walking distance.

“There’s no need to thank me. We need
you as much as you need us, I can assure you. Poor Lacy has been running her
feet raw in the bakery.”

Lacy pressed her palm to the spot over
her heart and closed her eyes for a second. “Oh, but that’s over now. No more
coffee complaints or Starbuck swap outs or mean caffeine-deprived customers.
This is perfect. I’m so happy I could squirm.”

“I’m glad you are. So, starting
tomorrow, we’re bringing out an all new cookie. It’s going to be huge,” she
said. “And with Rach’s help, we can make it a week to remember.”

Lacy and Rachel grinned and walked up
to Catherine. Cat grabbed the two of them in a bear hug and the trio giggled.

She'd split the rest of Beth's money
down the middle. Half of it invested for the future of the store, and the other
half donated to a charity in need.

“Knock, knock,” a man said. “Am I
interrupting something?”

The women broke out of the hug and
turned to the door.

Detective Bradshaw strode into the
room. He wore a smile that made the squishy, romantic bit of Cat melt. She
hadn’t had a boyfriend since high school. She hadn’t bothered with the concept
of romance at all.

“Not at all. How can I help you,
Detective?” Cat asked.

Rachel and Lacy retreated to the new
coffee machine and proceeded to load it up with grounds. They pressed buttons
and made appreciative noises.

“You can’t help me,” Bradshaw replied.
“Trust me. You’ve done more than enough.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interfere
in your case. I just –”

“Not what I meant,” he said and chuckled.
“Look, I’ll level with you. I didn’t think you did it from the start, but I
needed to investigate every possible lead. It’s what a good detective does.”

“Oh,” Cat said, then cleared her
throat. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, I guess.”

“No problem,” he replied. “Honestly, I
couldn’t have solved this without you. Which isn’t a good thing to say. I don’t
approve of you investigating on your own time, but I couldn’t find the link
between Tara and Jarred Weaver. You provided that. Thanks to you, Beth’s
murderers are behind bars.”

Catherine blushed and fanned her face.
“Stop,” she said, then chuckled. “I’m not used to compliments.”

“I find that hard to believe,” he
said. “You’re beautiful. You must get them all the time.”

Eggs could’ve fried on her cheeks.
“Thank you,” she coughed. “I, um, is there anything I can get you? A cookie or
a cup of coffee? We’ve got a new machine.”

Detective Bradshaw smiled at her. His
green eyes lit up like the night sky on the 4th of July. “Yeah, that’d be
great.”

“Right this way, Detective,” she said
and gestured to the coffee machine.

“Please, Cat,” he said, then touched
her on the shoulder. “Call me Jack.”

A slow smile spread across his lips,
and she matched it with one of her own. No matter what the future held, no
matter how much she missed Beth, she’d made two new friends. Hopefully, they’d
be for life.

Catherine led the way to the machine
in the corner, happiness coursing through her for the first time in a week.

THE END

A letter from the Author

To each and every
one of my Amazing readers:
I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.
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Stay Curious,

Karen Sullivan