Free Boston Cream Killer: Book 8 in The INNcredibly Sweet Series by Summer Prescott

on Spencer’s doorstep. A very startled and clearly unhappy Izzy Gillmore was ringing the doorbell.
    “Hi Chas,” she said, attempting a smile. “You looking for him, too?”
    “Yep. Is he gone?
    “Apparently. Not that I’m surprised. He’s always disappearing,” she sighed.
    Chas pursed his lips, considering how that statement must sound in light of what Missy had just said.
    “Izzy, this is Detective Jim Reubens. He has some questions for you.”
    Izzy’s eyes immediately turned from frustration and went straight to concern.
    “What?” she demanded. “Did something happen to Spencer? Oh my gosh, is he okay? What’s going on?” the horror author’s mind was working overtime and her imagination was profound.
    “I just need to ask him some questions. There’s nothing for you to worry about, as far as I know,” Jim reassured her.
    Izzy sagged with relief, but her eyes were still wide and she chewed her lower lip nervously.
    “Okay, anything I can do to help…”
    “Let’s go inside,” Chas suggested. “I’ll text Spencer and see if I can find out where he is. When was the last time that you spoke with him?” he asked Izzy, steering her toward the inn.
    “When did you see Spencer last?” Jim asked, as they seated themselves at the dining room table.
    “Last night. We met for a drink, but we ended up fighting, so I didn’t stay,” she said, looking down at her hands.
    “What time did you leave?”
    “Around eight.”
    “Did you hear from Spencer any time after that?”
    “No, I wanted to text him because I felt bad about being so mean, but I didn’t.”
    Jim looked at her closely. “Why are you here so early in the morning?”
    “I didn’t sleep very well, and I didn’t want to put off apologizing anymore. I knew that Spencer gets up early to go run, so I wanted to catch him before he left,” she blushed. “I feel awful for the way that I treated him.”
    “What time does he typically leave for his running?”
    “I think around five, so that he can be showered and ready to help out with breakfast for the guests.”
    “So you arrived here an hour ahead of when he normally leaves?”
    “I… I wanted to make sure that I caught him,” she blinked, confused and worried.
    “Melissa said that you thought you might have recognized a woman who came into her shop a few days ago. Does the name Hannah Folsom ring a bell?”
    Izzy’s eyes lit up immediately, and she sat up straight, realization dawning. “Yes, that’s it! That was her, but… how do you know Hannah Folsom and that she was in Missy’s store?”
    “That’s irrelevant,” Jim dismissed her question. “What I’d like to know is how you know Hannah Folsom, and if you had any idea why she might be in Calgon.”
    Izzy frowned. “I have no idea why she’s here, but if I had to guess, I’d say that she was probably chasing a story. That’s her motivation for everything that she does. She works for the NYC Reveal . It’s a newspaper that blows open the biggest scandals in the country, and somehow, she has an uncanny knack for ruining people’s lives with the truth, whether it’s an affair, or drugs, or dirty money… she’s on top of it all,” she explained, with a touch of bitterness.
    “And do you know of her by reputation only? Are you a fan of her work?” the detective probed.
    “Hardly. She read one of my books and gave a review, saying that it was so bad that I couldn’t possibly have written it. She accused me of stealing tired old plots from other writers and then she dug up a writer who stepped forward, trying to claim my work. I don’t know if she actually thought it had happened, or if she was just trying to lash out at me for dating one of her ex-husbands, but she tried everything that she could to take me down.”
    Jim scribbled several notes on his pad, circling something.
    “And did she?”
    “Not even close. I sued her, the paper, and the writer and they settled the case before it went public. She