Free Football is Murder (Bee's Bakehouse Cozy Mysteries Book 4) (Bee's Bakehouse Mysteries) by Kathy Cranston Page B

That was because barely two hours had passed since she had—it had been close to dawn when went back to bed and it was just after five now. All she wanted to do was roll over and trap herself within the comforter. Instead, she threw the covers off and jumped out of bed before she could talk herself out of it.
    There was too much to do at the café. She had no time for a lie-in.
    Especially not when she was helping the chief with a case in her spare time. She smiled as the events of the previous night came back to her. The phone call from the chief. This was one day where she didn’t want to dawdle around.
    * * *
    Less than fifteen minutes later, Jessie was closing the front door behind her. It felt strange not to have Toby’s leash in her hand, but she didn’t mind. It was nice for him to have company during the day. She walked him at least once a day, but she still felt bad having to tie him up outside the café while she worked.
    “Rules are rules,” she muttered to herself as she passed Chad's house at an even more rapid pace than usual.
    She walked on, not allowing herself to think about the case. She’d focus on it once all of the morning’s prep work at the café was finished. All the same, she had to fight to keep her focus on the café and not on her neighbor’s involvement in Johnny Cooper's murder.
    To her surprise, the lights were already on in the café when she arrived. She hurried inside and through to the kitchen.
    “Is everything okay?”
    Aunt Bee had her back to the door and was bent over the sink. Jessie rushed across the kitchen, alarmed. Relief flooded through her when she got closer and saw that her aunt was carefully rinsing petals she had picked to make candy flowers.
    “What are you doing here so early?”
    Aunt Bee spun around. “Charles called me. He thought you might be distracted with the development in the case.” She tsked. “Not that he’d tell me the details or anything.”
    “I guess he knows better than to share that information with the town gossip,” Jessie said, jumping well out of her aunt’s reach as she said that.
    “Town gossip,” Bee clucked. “I’ve never heard anything so ridiculous.”
    “Chief Daly didn’t tell you? Really?”
    Bee shook her head. “Believe it or not, Jessie, I didn’t pry either. If the man doesn’t want to share something with me, then I respect that.”
    “I know,” Jessie said.
    “Anyway, what are you doing here? Charles said you’re the one who found the new information.”
    Jessie shrugged and reached for her apron. “We’ve got a lot of prep to do.”
    Bee stared at her.
    “What?” Jessie protested. “You know this. That’s why we’re both here at crazy o’clock in the morning.”
    Bee folded her arms across her chest. “Jessie Henderson. Can you tell me you’re not itching to go to the police department and find out what’s going on?”
    Jessie shook her head. “I’m not a cop. I’ll finish prep and then I’ll call the chief. See if I can stop by.”
    And she did. Jessie was aware that her first several weeks in Springdale had seen her careening around the town, abandoning her duties in the café. Sure, sometimes that had been necessary—like when she herself had been implicated in a crime. But most of the time? She’d been trying to prove her friends’ innocence. Now it was a perfect stranger. It wasn’t that she felt less involved, but that she was capable of staying on the right side of the line this time.
    And that was important. Jessie had been tossing around an idea for some time now. And it would never work if she became known as the woman who breathlessly ran around Springdale freaking out every time there was a break in a case. No, it was better to be clever about it. Her job was in the background, not in interviewing suspects. An observer there to find snippets that the others might have missed.
    For now.
     

Chapter 10
    The phone buzzed at nine. Jessie immediately knew who it was, but Aunt Bee