Free A Lime To Kill: A Key West Culinary Cozy - Book 1 by Summer Prescott

about
what?” Marilyn’s heart was beating so fast she thought it might burst. The cold
was seeping into her bones and she felt the tiny interior of the freezer
closing in around her like an icy cave.
     Somehow
knowing that her life depended upon how she handled the next few minutes of
this interaction, she smiled sadly and spoke in a low, comforting voice, trying
hard to keep her body from giving in to fits of uncontrollable shivering.
     
    “I know what
happened Susan…I would be upset too. I can’t even imagine how difficult things
have been for you…” she began, only to be abruptly interrupted.
     
    “Which is why
I need that,” she demanded, extending her hand for the container of filling.
     
    “Why don’t we
step outside,” Marilyn suggested, trying hard not to panic. “We can talk about
what happened, we can talk about Wyatt—”
     
    “—don’t say
his name,” Susan hissed, furious. “Don’t act like you knew him. You didn’t. You
have your family so you couldn’t possibly understand,” the enraged woman
snarled.
    She reached
for the container but Marilyn stepped back, bumping into the strawberry shelf.
     
    “Please, Susan,
let’s talk outside,” she pleaded. It felt as though Susan must have turned the
temperature down before she opened the door, and if she had…that could only
mean one thing.
     
    “You can’t do
this, Susan, my daughter is innocent, and you have let the police know that. If
you don’t, you’ll be doing the same thing to me that Fergus did to you. You’ll
be taking away the person that I love most in this world…You’ll be just like
Fergus Susan, only you’ll be doing it on purpose. Please…for Wyatt,” Marilyn
said quietly, remembering in vivid detail the story that she’d seen on the
internet earlier.
     
    Tears welled
in the unbalanced woman’s eyes. “Stop saying his name,” she screamed, spittle
flying as she became even more unhinged.
     
    “You loved
Wyatt, and I love my daughter,” Marilyn persisted, her teeth chattering. She
had to get out of the freezer soon, she was so cold that it was beginning to
affect her ability to think.
     
    “Stop!” Susan
lunged, hitting Marilyn with the full force of her weight. Marilyn slammed into
a shelving unit, her head knocking into the edge of the shelf as her feet slid
out from under her. The deranged woman ran for the door and slammed it behind
her as Marilyn stumbled, trying to get to her feet. She launched herself at the
door, trying desperately to open it from the inside. She heard the bolt click
in to place, her body wracked with pain and uncontrollable shivering. She
forced herself to focus, despite the numbing cold that seemed to be overtaking
her. There had to be a way to get out, a safety panel or an emergency system.
     
    She felt along
the cold edges of the door and felt nothing but the searing pain jolting
through her fingertips. Tucking her hands under her arms, in a vain attempt to
bring some warmth back into them, she sat on the floor, conserving body heat,
her eyes scanning the other walls. Too cold to even cry, she banged her pitiful
fists on the door, screaming in frustration.
     
    Hearing a
noise outside the door, Marilyn didn’t move, hoping that Susan hadn’t come back
to finish the job personally. Her face lifted to the handle as she heard the
bolt unlatch. The door swung open with amazing force, and towering above her,
the light illuminating him from behind was Detective Bernard Cortland.
     
    “I…I’m…sssssooo…glad…ttttto…ssseeee…you,”
she shivered, tears of relief streaming down her face.
     
    The handsome
detective lifted her effortlessly to a standing position, then moved her out of
what could very well have been her frosty tomb.
     
    “Well, you
left a message saying you were about to break the law by tampering with
evidence. I couldn’t exactly ignore that, now could I?” he teased,
surreptitiously looked her over to make sure she hadn’t suffered any