Free Cupcakes and Killing: A Cozy Mystery (Sweet Shoppe Mysteries - Book 2) by Cora Wilkins

Cupcakes and Killing
    Looking outside at the blue sky, I took a deep breath and inhaled the clean fresh air that was coming through the door to the Sweet Shoppe. I’d picked up the habit of leaving it open most of the day now just to let the spring breezes in. The start of spring in the country had always been my favorite time of the year; newly-blooming flowers, crisp green grass everywhere, days that weren’t too hot or too cold.
    Unfortunately, I wasn’t getting too much time to go out and smell the roses and enjoy the weather at the moment. In the last ten months, I’d been utterly swamped with work. Since I’d met with Fudgy Frobisher’s current owner, the late Mr. Frank Frobisher’s son, I’d sold my fudge recipes to him and made a tidy sum. I’d then invested that tidy sum into setting up a cupcake bakery across the street from the Sweet Shoppe, and now I split my time between the two stores.
    My best friend Kaye helped me out as she always had, and I currently had six other staff members working for me across the two locations. It was hectic, but totally worth it. Since I’d always loved making sweets, it had only been a matter of time before I became interested in baking as well. Cupcakes had been trendy for the last few years, and I’d finally had the means to bring that trend to York, our sleepy New England hometown.
    For the most part, York had returned to normal after Mr. Frobisher’s murder the previous summer, and while some still gossiped about it, the majority of the town’s residents had written it off as a singular tragic event that would never occur again. After all, how many cold-blooded killers could there possibly be in one town?
    After the whole tumultuous incident, it was nice to be back to normal…serving customers in either one of the stores, listening to their stories and filling them up with sweet morsels. Right now I was at the Sweet Shoppe, filling up the candy jars on the shelves and listening to a table of little old ladies discussing the latest fundraising effort for the local fire station.
    “Sorry I’m late!” Kaye panted as she burst into the shop a moment later. She dumped her handbag down behind the counter and looked over at me. “I overslept. Let’s just say Daniel and I enjoyed that new red wine we tried last night a little too much.”
    “It’s okay,” I replied with a grin. Her husband Daniel worked a lot, so it was nice to see them spending quality time together whenever they could.
    “Anyway, guess what I heard from Linda Davis at the grocery store?” she said, marching over to the shelf with a duster.
    “What?”
    “Well, remember how Mrs. Barnaby and Mr. Armstrong have been seeing each other?”
    “Uh-huh.”
    Mrs. Barnaby owned the local beauty parlor. She’d been dating Mr. Frobisher not long before his untimely death, and while she’d been broken up over the whole incident, she had eventually moved on with the help of her affectionate neighbor, Mr. Armstrong. He’d always had a crush on her, and when he’d helped her through the difficult time, she’d developed feelings for him too.
    “They’re getting married!” Kaye said, her eyes sparkling. “Isn’t that so sweet?”
    I clapped a hand to my mouth. “Oh, that’s wonderful!”
    “Sure is. I almost fainted from happiness when I heard the news; they’re so adorable. What time are we heading over to the bakery today, by the way?”
    “Tori’s opened up for me, but I’ll head over there soon,” I replied.
    Tori was one of my new employees who alternated between working at either one of my shops. Out of all the new workers I’d hired, she was my favorite. A young, petite blonde with innocent blue eyes and a shy yet friendly demeanor, she was always punctual and customers loved her. Fingers crossed she didn’t turn out the same way one of my last employees had. Rosie was still in prison for killing Mr. Frobisher, and she’d be there for a very long time.
    “I’ll try to help you