Free Chewy Chocolate Chip Murder: A Cookie Lane Cozy Mystery - Book 1 by Karen Sullivan

paced up and down
in front of her TV, ignoring the performance on the screen.
    This was it. With the help of her
friends, she’d gotten to the bottom of this murder case. Tara had had Beth
murdered.
    “Bradshaw speaking.”
    “Detective,” she said and rammed the
phone into her ear. She pressed a few buttons, and they beeped out a mini-song.
    “Ouch,” he said.
    “I know who the murderer is,” Cat
said, immediately.
    “Miss Kelley,” he sighed. “I don’t
have time for another wild goose chase. I assure you, I’m following all the
leads in this case, and I am aware of –”
    “It was Tara. Tara Walters and Jarred
Weaver. Please, you have to come to my place, right now. I have the evidence on
my laptop,” she said and injected as much desperation into her voice as possible.
“Please?”
    “Miss Kelley, if this is some kind of
hoax, I will lock you up for wasting police time and obstructing justice,” he
said. “Is that understood?”
    “Detective Bradshaw, I’m not wasting
your time. I swear on every cookie I’ve ever baked. Please, you have to come
see for yourself,” she said.
    “Fine. I’m on my way.” And then he
hung up.
    Cat dropped the cell on the sofa
again, then rushed through to her bedroom. She grabbed the laptop and brought
it through to the living room, then settled in to wait, eyes on the clock
instead of on the dancing, for a change.

Chapter 18
    “Here,” Cat said and jogged up the
stairs to her apartment. “This way.”
    Detective Bradshaw followed her up at
a walk, with no real sense of urgency. Perhaps he thought this was a waste of
his time. She’d sure prove him wrong. “You know,” he said, “for a baker, you’re
pretty light on your feet.”
    “I try to keep fit,” she called back
and held her front gate open. She stomped her heels on the landing. Impatience
rang through her core. This was a waste of time. He needed to be out there,
arresting Jarred Weaver before the man made a run for it.
    Detective Bradshaw reached the top
stair, then paused and met her gaze. “All right. I’m here. Now, what’s this
evidence you’ve got to show me?”
    “It’s on the laptop,” Cat said.
    She rushed ahead, then picked up Oreo
off his warm spot on the sofa, and deposited him on the wooden boards. He
meowed his complaint, then whipped his tail into the air and stalked off.
    “Don’t mind him. He’s just grumpy because
I haven’t done any dancing,” she said.
    “I, uh, okay?” The Detective walked to
the sofa and sat down beside her. His arm brushed hers, and she shifted away.
    Goosebumps rose on her forearm, and
she wiped them flat. “Here,” she said, then leaned in and clicked on the email
thread. “Read that.”
    Detective Bradshaw had come prepared
this time. He brought his reading glasses out of his top pocket, unfolded them
and placed them on his nose. He shifted forward on the sofa and focused on the
screen.
    Cat jumped up and strode to the TV.
She switched it off, then paced back and forth in front of it. Her mind jumped
from an answer to a question and back again.
    Tara had ordered a hit – wasn’t that
what it was called – on Beth, and Jarred had gone through with it. Tara had
clearly thought she’d be able to pay off Jarred with the money from the
inheritance.
    So, she hadn’t realized that the will
had changed, then. But, why had she needed the money in the first place?
    Detective Bradshaw sat back and took
his glasses off his face. “Well,” he said. “Well.”
    “I know, right? This is huge.”
    “May I ask how you got these emails?”
The Detective asked.
    “Rachel Walters sent them to me,” she
replied. “She wanted to look into what happened to Beth too. She loved her.
They were close. Beth even paid for her brother’s tuition.”
    “For Kevin’s fees?”
    “Yeah, that’s right. He was a Biochem
major at the College of Charleston,” Cat replied. She paused her pacing and
rammed her fists on her hips. “So, Beth provided for the