Free Cream Pie Murderous Intent: Kim’s Cozy Mystery - Book 2 (Kim’s Cozy Mystery series) by Tom Soule, R Taylor

Chapter 1
     
    Stacy was haunted by the night of the Governor’s Ball. She couldn’t get the detestable image of the dead body on the gurney, coming down the gothic staircase at the Johnson Resort out of her head. The thought sent chills down her spine. She remembered a brunette patch of hair sticking out and flopping in the wind as the coroners were carrying the body away. Jasmine had died on a night when Stacy had much to celebrate. What a cruel twist of fate…Stacy thought to herself.
     
    Stacy had never liked Jasmine. She felt that Jasmine was an outsider who moved too fast to earn the heart of the town. Stacy had lived in Huntington all her life and had never received the honor of winning a competition, especially the famous annual bakeoff. Jasmine created an unprecedented upset when she was tied for first place with Kim. Kim was Stacy’s tall, slender best friend and the town’s darling. She was the mayor’s daughter and a favorite to win the bakeoff.
     
    Jasmine emerged as Kim’s foe after the competition. However, even Stacy knew that Jasmine didn’t deserve to die in such a brutal manner. Stacy’s hatred for Jasmine transformed into great empathy, regret, and guilt. She felt like her venomous actions had somehow contributed to Jasmine’s demise.
     
    Stacy began to recall the night of the vandalism. She had been wailing down Baker Street on a chilly night and felt quite vindictive, so she decided to pay Jasmine a late, unpleasant visit.
    “This Yankee won the bake off while Kim and Sharon killed themselves for weeks just to make the perfect pie for the contest. This girl bats her eyelashes and walks away with the entire first prize,” Stacy mumbled to herself as her eyes spotted the white mailbox in front of Jasmine’s house. Stacy was carrying one of her father’s golf clubs. She started to grip it as she walked closer and closer to Jasmine’s house.
    “Jasmine!” She yelled sharply, pounding her hands on the wooden front door. “Jasmine, I need to speak with you!” When Stacy got no reply, she kicked the door, and it flew open. “What do we have here?” Stacy hatefully asked. “Jasmine, are you here?” She poured farther into the living room toward a wall close to the fire place. She saw Jasmine’s first place ribbon from the bakeoff. She knocked it off the wall with her white golf club.
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    With a mad dash of rage, Stacy pulverized everything in sight. She smashed lamps, vases, ornaments, and picture frames. The broken glass scattered, and got lost in the beige carpet. She couldn’t stop; she got lost in her pit of fury. Once she came to her senses, she saw the trail of destruction, and bolted out the front door with her golf club in hand. Stacy broke down in tears recalling those memories. Her past actions gnawed at her heart strings.
    Stacy was not the only one in this predicament. The entire town of Huntington was in a complete uproar.
     
    The once festive, lovely town was now up in arms over the murderous act. Huntington had never had a murder before and was not equipped to deal with the emotional trauma of one. The days following the murder were the worst. Many parents refused to send their little ones to school. The business district in town was silenced; no one dared go to work with a murderer on the loose. Even the governor seeking re-election cut his visit short after the grand ball, due to the murder right in the middle of an event hosted in his honor. The grey-haired, scruffy man hid himself in his private car right before the media circus arrived the night of the murder. The media frenzy stretched from local news to bigger networks. The news networks shoved microphones and cameras in the faces of any citizen they could find, harassing them for information. It was a crazy time for Huntington; people were closing their doors and a mandatory curfew was enacted. Mistrust among the citizens started to grow and gossip about the murder ensued.
    “The Henrys never