Free One Cup Of Flour Two Cups Of Murder (Winnona Peaks Mysteries Book 2) by Emily Page Page A

be in the bake-off.”
     
    “OK.  So, bake-off.  What else?”  Gregory turned left onto Maple.
     
    “The last time I saw Anna was in the parking lot last night.  Lily’s car was still in the parking lot. He knew.”
     
    “Well, that’s a pretty big stretch, but okay.  First, the bake-off, second the parking lot.” 
     
    “He left―Oh my goodness! We have to go back.”
     
    “What?”
     
    “I left my purse on the counter.  I need to go back and get my purse.”
     
    “No worries.”  He turned into a driveway and looped around so he could return to the coffee shop.
     
    “What doesn’t add up is that the first night of the competition, Anna could have driven her car much closer,” Christy said. “Alexander was way out in the parking garage next to Lily’s car.”
     
    “So you don’t think Anna is gone?” asked Gregory.
     
    “No, I still think Anna is gone.  I’m just not sure why Alexander would kidnap Lily.  He keeps spouting about how great of a chef he is.  Well, maybe Lily is just as good or better.  He could be jealous and wants to win, not lose to a student,” said Christy.
     
    “Well then, why eliminate Anna?” Gregory yelled.  They rode together for a couple of minutes in silence as Gregory found his way back to the coffee shop.  Someone had taken his parking space on the street so he circled around the back of the building.  From the kitchen prep area in back they heard, “Can I get some service around here?”
     
    Gregory groaned. “Nick must be on a smoke break again. Stay here. Coming!” he snatched the apron off the hook and went up to the front counter.  Christy heard him say, “Well, hello, Fiona.” 
     
    Christy stood hidden, but she recognized a chipper flirting woman when she heard one.  The words “bake-off” and “parking lot” kept floating through her head and it was making less and less sense.  That was until she distinctly heard, “Oh, I’ll definitely win. When I do, you can come over for free pie!”  That’s when Christy remembered how desperate Fiona was to win.  Echoes of what Fiona said continued to play through her mind. 
     
    Gregory returned to the backroom after tracking down Nick and Christy changed her tactic.
     
    “We have to check out Fiona.”
     
    “Why?”
     
    “She’s desperate to win the $5,000 to keep her business afloat.  She even told us she would stop at nothing to win.”
     
    “That little lady? That’s nuts.  Maybe there’s just a simple explanation like they couldn’t take the pressure and blew off the contest.”
     
    “Both of them?” Christy inquired.
     
    “We don’t know if Anna is anywhere else or at her sister’s place.”
     
    “Never mind.  I knew you wouldn’t care.”
     
    “Whoa, whoa, whoa.  Look, I care.  I’m just confused.  You wouldn’t talk to me for weeks after the murder and now you want me to rush off and chase down some mystery kidnapper.”
     
    “OKAY.  I’m sorry.  Are you coming or not?  I have to follow Fiona before she gets too far.” 
     
    Gregory rolled his eyes.  “I’ll get my coat.  We don’t have to worry too much.  She just told me that she spends morning, noon, and night at Clyde’s Confections.  She was just getting a coffee before we closed so she could pull another all-nighter trying to remodel the bakery.”
     
    As they got in Gregory’s car, they discovered he was right.  It took her quite a bit of time to get her old truck started after she ordered the coffee and even then it kept backfiring every couple of blocks.  A blind man with a hearing problem could have followed her.  Gregory was right.  She parked behind Cornelia’s building.  They parked across the street and waited.  They saw lights come on from the back as Fiona soon scurried up front to sweep up some dust from people dry walling earlier that day.  She looked like she was going to either start sanding or painting once she was finished.  Gregory remembered