Free Chocolate-Covered Crime by Cynthia Hickey Page B

to get April to help me, or Aunt Eunice. Between the three of us, we’d have this case solved in no time.
    A shadow fell across me. I glanced up to see Renee smirking down at me.
    “What are you doing on the ground?”
    I pushed to my feet. “Waiting for you. You finished quick.”
    “What are you writing?”
    “Personal stuff.” I shoved the notebook and pen back in my bag. “Where were you on the day Mae Belle died?”
    “Stop digging, Summer.” Renee turned and sashayed away, the heels of her boots beating against the sidewalk. In comparison, my gym shoes were as silent as a wraith.
    “What did you need to see Joe about?”
    She spun. I stopped so fast that I found myself closer to her than I’d ever been before.
    “You are as tenacious as a bulldog.” I didn’t think Renee meant the statement as a compliment. “That is none of your business, Summer. As for where I was when Mae Belle was killed—also none of your business, but you won’t stop until I answer, will you? I was on a satellite call with Bill.”
    “Any alibis?” Who told her when, exactly, Mae Belle had been attacked? Excitement raced through me. Another fact for my notes.
    She sneered. “Still fancy yourself a detective? Why couldn’t you have permanently gotten lost in the fair’s fun house? Would have saved everyone a lot of grief.”
    Why did she have to bring that up? Getting lost in the fun house at the annual county fair had not been my idea of fun. I hated clowns, not to mention getting chased by a madman with a gun through the maze of mirrors. Renee was plain mean to mention the incident. “So you think I deserve a letter opener in the back?”
    “Look, Summer. I’m not saying any such thing, but I’m not going to stand aside and let you dirty my name around town just because I didn’t like the poor service Mae Belle gave me. Take your snoopy little nose somewhere else.”
    Okay. Those words stopped me. Sounded like another threat. First Mason, now Renee. Not being a stranger to danger, I didn’t fall into a terrified faint, but the words did give me pause. I’d have to be sneakier about obtaining my information.
    I turned and headed back to the candy store.
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    I’d been so surprised to see Renee that I’d forgotten to ask Joe whether he had any leads on my threatening letter. I entertained the thought of stopping by the station again, then shrugged it off. I’d ask him later. He’d be over for dinner, along with April. And Ethan. That bright thought put a skip in my step. A skip with a limp. My knee throbbed all the way to my car.
    Several customers browsed the store when I entered, and I breathed a sigh of relief that Aunt Eunice wasn’t spending the entire day at Mae Belle’s apartment. If I could make it to the dipping machine before Aunt Eunice saw me limping, I might be free of her questioning. The marble slab we used for candy making hid beneath a mound of what looked like new fan mail. I sighed and wondered when I’d have time to go through it. I grabbed an ice pack from the freezer. I’d study my notes while I waited for the chocolate to melt.
    With the bag of ice balanced precariously on my knee beneath the worktable, I spread papers in front of me. Two names from the appointment book had been questioned, leading me nowhere except into more threats. That left Hubert Smith, Edna Mobley, and Larry Bell. All middle-aged or older. They couldn’t be too difficult, could they? And I didn’t want to forget Sherry. She needed more investigating if for nothing else but her lack of compassion.
    Remorse riddled me. I’d grown bitter and presumptuous since Mae Belle’s death. Being unfriendly did not make a murderer. To have chosen to work for Mae Belle, Sherry must have desperately needed a job. She could have a difficult life or suffer from self-esteem issues. Who was I to judge?
    “You going to dip with that melted chocolate or daydream all day?” Aunt Eunice plunked down a tray of