Free The Case of the Missing Mascot (A Sherlock Shakespeare Mystery Book 1) by Sydney Katt Page B

and storage area with a small office. While there was clearly no room in the kitchen to keep a teacup pig, or information on its whereabouts, the storage area held a lot of promise. And since the entrance was off the same hallway that led to the restrooms, she wouldn't think anything of it when I came around the corner to the counter to pick up my juice.
    I acted like I was heading to the restroom and dodged quickly into the storeroom, just in case anyone at the one full table glanced my way. I didn't have long before I had to be at work, and had even less time before Irene might notice my absence, so I'd have to make this quick. No time for time-warp black holes today.
    At first glance, that wouldn't be a problem. Champers clearly wasn't in here. Well, I guess he could be here if he'd figured out how to make a nifty box fort for himself, but that didn't seem likely. The combination of being tiny and not having opposable thumbs didn't bode well for redecoration.
    I made a quick search of the boxes. It was mainly a bunch of non-perishable bulk baking ingredients that wouldn't fit into the kitchen's storage area. A few of the boxes had extra receipt paper for the cash register and an entire corner was devoted to to-go containers.
    Basically, it was just what you'd expect to find in a cafe's storeroom.
    The office was a different story. Its appearance was every bit as chaotic as Irene's mind seemed to be. Little piles of crystals were in each corner of the room and the faint smell of white sage and something sweet clung to the air. That might be the best theft deterrent out there. If I didn't absolutely need to be in this room, the smell would've been all it took to keep me out.
    Irene's workspace looked like a bomb had gone off in a paper factory. Invoices, sales receipts, menu ideas and recipe clippings from magazines were spread across the desk with no rhyme or reason to their placement. The way my parents ran the bookstore was my only frame of reference on what it was like to own a business, but from what I could tell, tax time was going to be a bitch for Irene if she didn't figure out a filing system at some point.
    Since I wasn't going to luck out by finding a file dedicated to Champers' location tacked to the wall, I sat down in the office chair and resigned myself to rummaging through the paperwork on the desk first. I used to think that the ninety seconds I'd devoted to sex with Tom were the most wasted moments of my life, but now I could honestly say it was this search. Not only did I not find any clues in the mess, but I was also now forced to agree with LePort about Irene's food not really being food.  
    Seriously. Never look at gluten-free, dairy-free, flavor-free recipes unless you're mentally prepared to handle the list of ingredients you'll find.
    I was halfway through my folder-by-folder search of the bottom desk drawer when the door closed loudly behind me. "What do you think you're doing?"
    Okay, this was bad. I hadn't counted on Drew coming straight here after school when the football team's booster club was putting on some sort of cookout tonight that the school's two remaining cheerleading squads would be required to attend. I'd need to come up with a good excuse for what I was doing.
    Unfortunately, I couldn't think of one.
    When I spoke, I used a low, gravelly voice I'd heard a cop use in a movie once. "Health department inspection."
    "Health department?" I could hear the incredulity in Drew's tone.
    "Surprise inspection. Wait for me in the kitchen."
    "Sherlock, health inspectors announce themselves and they don't go through desk drawers." After a beat, he added, "And they never wear local high school hoodies."
    I removed my hand from the file it was in and slowly closed the drawer. Since I didn't have a time machine or a super power to get me out of this, I swiveled around in the chair and said, "You caught me."
    He didn't look amused. "What are you doing?"
    I stood up and started to move toward the