Free Scone Cold Dead by Kaitlyn Dunnett

if she followed her own inclinations. Grudgingly, she allowed Liss to enter.
    The living room was littered with toys, but there was no sign of either Adam or his mother. Liss followed the soft murmur of voices toward the back of the trailer where the bedrooms were. Sherri and her son were in the smaller of the two rooms, a bedsheet stretched out between them. Adam kept dropping his end but gamely tried again and again until they’d managed to fold it into a neat square.
    â€œNow go put it in the linen closet,” Sherri told him, and he raced off toward the other end of the trailer.
    â€œLinen closet?” Liss asked, amused, as she shrugged out of her jacket. It was warm in the trailer, especially after coming in from the chill outside, and the room smelled of bleach and flower-scented fabric softener.
    â€œAll-purpose storage closet.” Sherri shrugged and pulled a pillowcase out of her laundry basket. “Today it’s the linen closet. So, what’s up?”
    The glance Sherri sent Liss’s way was a trifle wary, as if she wasn’t sure how much Liss knew about her activities the night before. She also looked tired. No—exhausted.
    â€œDid you get any sleep at all?”
    â€œMaybe four hours. I’ve managed on less.”
    Liss reached for the matching pillowcase and they folded laundry together in companionable silence until the task was complete.
    â€œI thought you had houseguests,” Sherri said.
    â€œI do. They’ll be okay on their own for a few hours. I thought it was more important to check on the rest of the company. I wondered if you’d like to go with me, but if you’re too tired, I can—”
    â€œI’m not too tired. And you probably shouldn’t go on your own.”
    Liss felt a twinge of guilt. She knew how hard it was for her friend to carve out blocks of quality time with her son. There was no husband in the picture—never had been—and between Sherri’s full-time job at the jail, changing shifts every seven days, and her part-time job at Moosetookalook Scottish Emporium, she had little free time. It wasn’t as if Sherri had a choice about working that much, either. Even with two jobs she only just managed to make ends meet.
    â€œThere’s no danger,” Liss assured her. “I’m just going to . . . talk to people.”
    â€œYou’re going to meddle in an official investigation.” Sherri put the last of Adam’s T-shirts away in a drawer and turned her sharp-eyed gaze full on Liss.
    â€œYou’re a fine one to talk! There wouldn’t be an investigation if you hadn’t stuck your nose in.” Liss clapped her hands over her mouth, horrified. Her words had come out in an accusing tone, as if she blamed Sherri for finding out the truth about Victor’s death. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. Honest. It’s just that . . . well, now I’ve got a lot of friends who are suddenly under close scrutiny by the law. Been there. Done that. I wouldn’t wish the role of prime suspect on my worst enemy.”
    â€œI have a feeling you would have started to think something was fishy before long yourself,” Sherri said. “You knew there were no mushrooms in the food, yet that’s what must have killed him.”
    â€œI was trying not to think about Victor’s death one way or the other, but that’s a lost cause now. Gordon Tandy came and talked with me this morning.”
    Sherri’s grin was impish. “Cute, isn’t he? He’s one of those guys who just gets better looking as he gets older. If I wasn’t already engaged to Pete, I might be sorely tempted.”
    â€œHe’s not married, then?”
    â€œNot that I know of.” Sherri’s eyes narrowed. “Oh-ho! So you think he’s cute, too.”
    â€œI don’t think ‘cute’ is precisely the word I’d use. And that’s not the issue here.