A Twist of Murder

by Gretchen Allen

  A Twist of Murder

  Book 3 in The Sundae Afternoon Series

  Gretchen Allen

  Summer Prescott Books Publishing

  Contents

  Author’s Note

  Contact Summer Prescott Books Publishing

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Also by Gretchen Allen

  Copyright 2018 Summer Prescott Books

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication nor any of the information herein may be quoted from, nor reproduced, in any form, including but not limited to: printing, scanning, photocopying or any other printed, digital, or audio formats, without prior express written consent of the copyright holder.

  **This book is a work of fiction. Any similarities to persons, living or dead, places of business, or situations past or present, is completely unintentional.

  Created with Vellum

  Author’s Note

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  Also…

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  1

  Yvette Lockhart settled in at one of the several new ice cream cone shaped tables that were scattered around the dining area of Sundae Afternoon. While she’d known her father, Charlie, had been making the tables and had even seen them herself, Yvette was stunned when she’d walked through the door earlier in the week and saw just how lovely the shop looked with them set up. Glancing around, she was grateful for how everything had come together so nicely. She may have been the manager of the little ice cream shop for over two years, but there was something so meaningful about being able to add a personal touch to the already cozy and inviting atmosphere.

  Emma Kline, the owner of Sundae Afternoon, was currently in Florida scoping out a spot for a new location. She received the photos of the tables that Yvette had sent her and loved them. Emma requested that Charlie make enough for each of the shops and Yvette couldn’t wait to tell him. Hoping he’d agree since there was no doubt that he would be compensated well, but this was also a chance for more people to get to enjoy his beautiful work.

  “Hey, Yvette. Can I get you anything?” Stella, the newest of all the staff, asked, once she reached the table.

  “You know what? I think I might try one of our new flavors. How about a White Chocolate Lime milkshake? I’ve sampled the flavor and it’s great on its own, but I think if you use coconut milk, a little lime zest and coconut shavings on top of the whipped cream, it’ll be perfect.”

  Stella shook her head. “I can’t believe you can just come up with these creations on the spot like that. It’s impressive really.”

  “I guess that’s a perk of the job. I get to spend hours thinking about fun ways to make ice cream taste better,” Yvette laughed.

  “Speaking of the job, what are you doing here? I thought you were off today?”

  “I am. I’m actually only here to tie up a few loose ends before I leave. I wanted to make sure all of you are good to go before I’m gone for the week.”

  Yvette was going to be working at Sundae Afternoon’s second location in Townsend, Connecticut while their manager, Henry, was on vacation. She’d agreed to take over for him after Emma had asked her to do so, but she was nervous that the job would be more than she could handle. The shop had been having its fair share of hiccups lately and it needed some tweaking as far as how things were being handled. Yvette hoped that there was something she could do to help. She always treated her shop as if it was her own and she’d definitely do the same for any of the other locations.

  “We’ll all miss you when you’re gone. Even though I haven’t been working here for very long, this place just won’t be the same without you.” Stella offered a genuine smile.

  “I won’t be gone forever. If I can, I’ll stop by here in the mornings before I leave for the Townsend shop. They don’t open until noon over there, so I should have plenty of time to check in on you guys.” Yvette winked at her employee, knowing they’d be just fine without her.

  Stella crinkled her nose at her boss’s teasing. “Hey, ya never know, we could get super busy!”

  “I’m sure of it,” Yvette agreed. “There’ll be a delivery order arriving on Tuesday morning and the town council meeting is Thursday evening, so you can expect to see quite a few people popping in here afterwards.”

  Stella’s eyes were getting wider as Yvette continued.

  “It will probably be busier than normal, honestly. It’s the last full week before school comes back in session on top of everything else.”

  “And this is the week you decided to leave?!”

  Laughing, Yvette sat back in her chair. “I didn’t really pick the date. It’s just when Emma needed me. You have no reason to worry. It’s almost as if you’ve been working here for as long as I have. You caught on to this whole ice cream thing a heck of a lot faster than most people do.”

  “If you say so, but I’m just having fun. Being here doesn’t even feel like work to me. I’m going to make your drink. I’ll be back in two shakes of a lamb’s tail. Get it? Shakes?” Stella turned on her heel, and marched off, cackling away at her own humor.

  Yvette knew it had been a risk when she’d all but hired Stella on the spot at Brew’s coffeehouse a few weeks back, but she was thankful that she’d brought on the quirky older woman to her team. Stella was a hard worker and seemed to never stop or sit down. Vanessa had to tell her multiple times that she needed to take a break every now and then. Even Joey, one of Sundae Afternoon’s other employees, someone that stayed to himself more often than not, seemed to warm up to her rather quickly. Yvette was happy that the two of them had become friends. Neither seemed to have many people in their lives and it never hurt to have someone to rely on.

  After finishing up the last bit of paperwork, Yvette pulled out her phone and began to dial her best friend Amelia’s number. She paused mid-dial, and her jaw dropped as she took in the sight of the massive milkshake that Stella was about to deliver to her table. “You talk about me coming up with the ideas, but what you have there looks like a piece of edible art. Do you mind if I take a picture of it, so we can feature it in the next Inside Scoop?”

  “Mind? I’d be honored!”

  Yvette motioned for Stella to pick the shake back up and directed her toward the counter, in front of the refrigera
tor that held all of the shop’s ice cream flavors.

  “Perfect. Say, Sweet Life!” Yvette smiled and took the shot with her phone. “I’ll upload this as soon as I get home tonight. This looks insanely delicious. Thank you.”

  Sitting back down, she noticed that Stella had used a green, coarse sugar to coat the rim of the frosted glass. Where has she been all my life? Yvette thought to herself. She adjusted the purple and white striped straw and took a large sip of her decadent treat before calling Amelia. She’d hoped that her friend would want to take a ride with her over to the Townsend shop later that afternoon, so she could see what the actual drive time was. It’d been months since Yvette had been there and she wanted to make sure that she got to work with plenty of time to spare every day. Putting her best foot forward was important, she wanted to make her boss proud.

  2

  Thanks for taking the ride with me. I know it’s not that far, but I thought we could find something to eat when we’re there.” Yvette shot a quick glance to her friend who sat in the passenger seat of the SUV.

  “I have to be back in Heritage by four but other than that I’m happy to help. I’ve got a meeting with the Downtown Neighborhood Association at five. I can’t be even a minute late. You know they’d never let me live it down.”

  Yvette thought back to when she’d been a member of one of the Neighborhood Association branches herself and recalled just how time-consuming it had been. She’d stepped down after she began managing Sundae Afternoon and felt for Amelia knowing just how much work she had to put in. Each of the associations relied on her since she was the Director of Tourism and Activities at the Visitor’s center. Anything they’d planned for the town had to go through Amelia first. Sometimes that meant she’d had to turn down some of their suggestions and some of the more outspoken members of the group tended to hold some serious grudges.

  “We’ll definitely be back by then. I wasn’t even planning on going inside the shop. I figured we’d do a quick drive by to see how long it’ll take me to get there and then I’ll add on five or ten minutes in case there’s traffic. Other than that, I was thinking we could find a little snack somewhere.”

  Amelia looked out her window and pointed to the long stretch of shops and restaurants that lined the busy streets of Townsend. “Seeing as how I love snacks, and they don’t seem to be lacking variety around here, I think that sounds like a wonderful idea.”

  Yvette chuckled at her friend but as they drove closer to the downtown area, she realized that Amelia wasn’t kidding. It looked as if the town was completely made up of shopping and food. She supposed there wasn’t anything wrong with that, but she wondered if it had something to do with why sales were down lately. Often, areas that were similar to this brought in locals and tourists that wanted to poke around and get some retail therapy which was great for many businesses. On the other hand, though, with so many options, there was a chance Sundae Afternoon may not be where they chose to go.

  “Alright, what time is it?” Yvette looked at the clock on her dashboard. “I’d say it took us about thirty-seven minutes to get here, right? If I leave Heritage about an hour before I’m scheduled to work, I should be fine.”

  “You’re the boss,” Amelia teased. “Now, what about those snacks? We can go inside and get something if you want.” She nodded towards the ice cream shop.

  “Are you kidding? You can get ice cream any time at home. I say we leave the car here and walk around a little and see what else we can find.”

  Amelia opened her car door and stepped out, clearly on board with Yvette’s plan. “It looks so different around here,” she said, taking in her surroundings as the two began to walk up the street. “Feels like a whole new world compared to Heritage. I know we aren’t that tiny of a town, but this place has more people that live here than we have locals and tourists combined during our busiest season.”

  “I could never understand how people enjoy the hustle and bustle of it all. I know we have our share of busy weekends, but for the most part, we have such a small-town feel. I’d never give that up,” Yvette said, once she met Amelia on the other side of the car.

  “Not everyone feels that way, though. You have no idea how many people come through the Visitor’s Center surprised that we even have one at all. Some of our tourists only come to see our half a mile “downtown” area and make jokes about how we don’t even have a traffic light. Small town living isn’t for everyone. Some of those big city folks wouldn’t know what to do if they had to drive on our roads that force one vehicle to pull to the side to let another pass.”

  Yvette threw her head back in laughter at the thought. She never considered that her life, or where she grew up was anything less than perfectly normal. Of course, she’d traveled and had experienced larger areas and even booming metropolises, but she’d never stopped to think how big of a shock it would be to some once they arrived in Heritage and felt like they had to navigate their way through her quaint and cozy hometown.

  “You’re right. I don’t see that sort of thing at Sundae Afternoon. Most of the people I serve are locals that I already know. Then we get out-of-towners that are happily visiting to see the fall foliage, partake in one of our events, or are just passing through on their way from one of the beaches and they rarely have anything to complain about. I bet you meet a lot of people that have both good and bad things to say.” Yvette looked to her friend.

  Amelia nodded. “I like to think that once they drive through town and take in its beauty that if they come back again, it’s not to make fun of it but to join in on the fun.”

  “Look!” Yvette stopped in her tracks. “Have you ever been to one of those before?” she asked, pointing to a small building that looked nearly abandoned.

  Amelia grimaced. “What is it?”

  “Looks like one of those Pop-Up Restaurants. Let’s go check it out!” Yvette eagerly grabbed her friend by the arm and led her across the street.

  Amelia peered in one of the windows. “I see lights on and some people in there, but the place looks kinda rough from the outside.”

  “This building used to be Mama Leoni’s Bakery, remember? We came here a few times back when we were in college.” Yvette pointed to the worn sign above the building’s entrance that had never been taken down.

  “Okay, so what is it now? That’s been closed for a while now, hasn’t it?”

  Yvette shrugged. “Let’s find out.”

  The women turned around just in time to bump into someone that had been walking near the restaurant.

  Yvette stepped back in surprise when she saw who it was. “Henry?”

  “Hey there, gals. I saw you peeking in the windows like a buncha weirdos. Go ahead, go inside. It’s a Pop-Up Dessert Bar. We’ve been getting them around here more often lately. This is Oh Hey Ganachery. Normally, the Pop-Ups come around for a couple weeks or so and take off, but this one is back for the second time.” Henry shrugged, peering in the window himself. “Guess I oughta get back to work. Gotta make sure everything is perfect for when my replacement shows up.” He winked at Yvette and waved as he walked off.

  “And we’re the weirdos?” Amelia asked incredulously.

  Yvette rolled her eyes. “He’s a little eccentric but a pretty okay guy, I guess. Anyways, let’s go try this place out. I’ve never been to one before, only read about them online.”

  Yvette and Amelia headed inside hoping they’d find the tasty treat they’d both been looking for.

  * * *

  “That was the biggest piece of chocolate cake I’ve ever seen in my life. I didn’t think we’d ever finish in time for me to get back here by four,” Amelia said, getting out of the SUV.

  Rolling down the passenger side window so she could hear her friend, Yvette’s eyes lit up at the memory of her massive hunk of cake. It sat nearly six inches high and had a generous helping of ganache between each of the four layers of cake. The top of the cake was drizzled with a raspberry sauce that had been to die for. She’d n
early asked for another slice to go but knew she’d regret it when she tried to eat it later that night. Chocolate gave her a sugar rush, and she knew she’d need her rest for her upcoming week.

  “Say what you want about my dessert but yours was out of this world, too. I couldn’t believe the portion sizes.”

  “Can’t go wrong with salted caramel or brownies. When they handed me that plate, I barely knew what to do with it. I didn’t expect it to be hanging off the edge.” She laughed. “They gave me like, a half a pan of brownies and I was so surprised to see that they’d topped it with crushed potato chips. Taking a page out of your book.” Amelia gave her friend a knowing look, recalling the sweet and salty treat Yvette had served at Sundae Afternoon the year before. She’d topped a maple bacon ice cream with salty potato chips to add just enough texture and crunch. The customers were still raving about it, waiting for the fall when she would bring it back.

  “All us foodies have the same good ideas, I suppose.” Yvette smiled. “Thanks for coming with me and good luck at your meeting,” she snickered.

  “Ha ha. Thanks. I’ll be sure to let them know you’re thinking about rejoining.”

  “Don’t you dare!” Yvette yelled, glaring at Amelia’s back as she strutted away, clearly egging her on.

  3

  After having woken up feeling refreshed and ready for her day, Yvette decided to skip going to her shop and go directly to Townsend. She wanted to get to work and try not to focus on how nervous she really was. Pulling into the parking lot, she noticed there were no lights on and no other vehicles around. There’s no way I’m the first one to arrive, she thought to herself before getting out of her SUV.