by Lyndsey Cole
Easter Buried Eggs
Lyndsey Cole
Contents
Easter Buried Eggs
Copyright
Connect with me:
Book Description
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
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
About the Author
Also by Lyndsey Cole
Easter Buried Eggs
A Black Cat Café Cozy Mystery Series
by Lyndsey Cole
Copyright © 2017 Lyndsey Cole
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author and/or publisher. No part of this publication may be sold or hired, without written permission from the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are a product of the writer’s imagination and/or have been used fictitiously in such a fashion it is not meant to serve the reader as actual fact and should not be considered as actual fact. Any resemblance to actual events, or persons, living or dead, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication / use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
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Book Description
The smell of burnt cake is not a good omen for Annie when she arrives at the Black Cat Cafe. But little does she know that her Aunt Leona’s cooking disaster is only the first of many problems she’ll be served in a big basket of cracked Easter eggs.
Annie quickly learns that being in charge at the Black Cat Café isn’t all chocolate-covered strawberries and carrot cakes. In addition to the variety of tasty pastries she needs to make for Easter, she stumbles on a body and what appears to be a robbery.
With money disappearing from bank accounts, snooping seniors appearing out of the blue, and clues turning up in the most unlikely places, Annie’s problems sizzle more than Leona’s hot cross buns.
Determined to help her new friends, Annie and her therapy dog land in the middle of a murder investigation. Clues pile higher than a basket of Easter eggs, all pointing to one of the seniors. Annie searches for something to keep her friend from landing in a jail cell but instead, Annie ends up right in the killer’s crosshairs.
1
Annie ran to the Black Cat Café door with the smell of burnt sweetness filling her nose and panic surging through her body. One look at Leona’s face told Annie that her aunt was right on the edge of a meltdown, following close behind the smoky mess she held in her hand.
A pan flew across the kitchen, barely missing a window before it crashed against the wall. A string of words that no one should hear first thing in the morning followed the ear-tingling clang. Annie considered turning around before she was sucked into whatever disaster was cooking in Leona’s world.
“The Golden Living retirement home will be the death of me,” Leona said after a wooden spoon landed on top of the growing mess on the floor.
Annie poured two coffees and sat at the counter. “Time out, Leona. Take a deep breath and sit down for five minutes.” She glanced out the French doors to the view of Heron Lake with New Hampshire’s White Mountains beyond. The lake sparkled with reflecting sunshine.
“A break is exactly what I need.” She threw her apron on the floor which, at least, landed silently.
Annie couldn’t help but wonder what Leona’s words meant—a five-minute break like Annie suggested, or a longer break which would create many problems at the Black Cat Café.
“And I plan to take it,” Leona added without making anything clear at all. “I’ve been working seven long days a week and I’m fed up. You’ve been helping me here, Annie, and it’s time you step it up and run the place while Danny and I take a few days off.”
Annie swallowed, but a lump somewhere on the way down choked her. Her eyes watered as panic set in. How could she say no? Leona was right about needing some time off, after all, but Annie wasn’t sure if she could handle all the responsibility. Sure, she was comfortable working with Leona, but being in charge was a completely different pile of eggs.
And she didn’t think she could handle all that delicate juggling.
“Maybe you should wait until after the Golden Living Easter dinner. You know, when it slows down a little,” Annie tentatively suggested, hoping to feel out Leona’s level of desperation.
A glare met her words. Okay, Leona’s need for some time off must be a nine-and-a-half out of ten.
“You’re not up to it, Annie?” Leona demanded to know.
“Of course I am.” She silently added a not at the end of the sentence as she smiled at her aunt. She mentally went down the to-do list for the rest of the day—dye eggs for the Easter baskets, prepare and organize the food for the Easter dinner, and cater the dinner for the seniors at the Golden Living retirement home. Plus, all the normal baking and daily café operations to take care of. No, of course she wasn’t at all sure if she could handle it alone. “You and Danny take a day off, I’ll be fine.” The words came out of her mouth unbidden.
Leona’s glare turned into a glower. “We’re leaving until Friday. Deal with it.” She picked up her apron and handed it to Annie. “And, by the way, I burned the cake for the dinner tonight, so you’ll have to start from scratch to get the Easter bunny cake done, frosted, and ready to go with the ham, pineapple, scalloped potatoes, and green beans.”
Leona sighed and sat next to Annie. She picked up her cup of coffee. “Good idea. I feel better already.” She sipped the hot coffee. “Now I’m ready to take a five-minute break with you before you get to work.”
Annie stared at Leona. This couldn’t be happening. How did she let herself get steamrolled into this burden when a simple ‘no’ would have saved her?
“Sorry for the outburst. I guess something snapped when I smelled that burnt cake and you were the one to walk in…wrong place at the wrong time.” The new and improved Leona smiled. “Don’t look so worried. You’ll be fine.” She gave Annie a quick hug. “And thank you.”
Annie sipped her coffee, the only activity she could manage after the shock she just received. “I wish I had the confidence in me that you have. To be honest, I’m not sure I feel up to the responsibility. What if I completely muck it all up?”
Leona swiveled her seat to face Annie. “You think no one ever makes a mistake?”
“Of course not.” But she added to herself that she didn’t make mistakes. “I don’t want to disappoint you.”
“I think the only one you will disappoint is yourself. Put on the apron, turn on the radio, and pretend you’re me if that helps you get through the
day.” Leona laughed. “Boy, I feel like a weight fell off my shoulders. I sure am looking forward to leaving so I can get back.”
Leona turned on the radio to her favorite oldies station. “There, one less thing for you to do.” And with her parting optimism, Leona said, “What could go wrong?”
Annie mumbled several thoughts in that department as she fastened a green apron decorated with black cats, curled up napping. “I could burn the cake or I could trip and break my leg, or I could crash on my way to Golden Living with the whole dinner getting destroyed and all the seniors waiting for hours for food.”
“Or everything will go smooth as chocolate pudding,” Annie’s mother said as she more or less snuck up behind Annie. “Leona told me the change in plans on her way out. Where did all this doubt come from?”
Annie shrugged.
“Well?”
“Apparently, I hide it well.”
Mia snorted. “It’s high time you get yourself out of that comfort zone of letting Leona make all the decisions around here and see that you are more than capable of handling anything that comes along.”
Annie frowned.
“It’s not the end of the world if everything isn’t absolutely perfect. You just move on and make the most of it.” Mia tied a red apron with jumping black cats around her waist. “What are we starting with?”
“The cake.” A small grin bloomed into a big smile before a giggle escaped. “Did Leona tell you about her disaster?”
“Nope.”
Annie pointed to the floor next to the window. “She burned her cake and had a meltdown.”
“Ahhh. So you’re afraid that’s where you’ll be heading if something goes wrong?”
“I guess so.”
“Let me tell you something about my sister: She could never handle any type of disaster and I had to clean up her messes.”
“Too bad you didn’t walk in before I did,” Annie said as she took the broom out of the closet. “That would have saved me a lot of stress.”
Mia fixed herself a cup of coffee while Annie cleaned up the smashed cake. “Leona wouldn’t have asked me to take over so she could leave. She knows you can handle the responsibility. You just need a little push. Don’t worry, I’ll help.”
“Everyone keeps saying, ‘don’t worry,’ but I do worry. I worry that I’ll forget something important. I worry that I’ll screw up her business. What then?”
Mia waved her hand dismissively. “Just do your best. That’s all anyone can expect.”
Annie dumped the ruined cake in the trash, got a mop, and washed the floor. Mia got out the ingredients for the cake but left it for Annie while she turned off the radio and attended to the first arrivals for their Wednesday morning.
It was normally Annie’s responsibility to handle the pastry display and the drink cart, but Mia took all that over so Annie could work on the cake and food for the seniors’ Easter dinner. She actually enjoyed the concentration and lack of interruptions.
While the carrot cake baked, she sliced what felt like a ton of potatoes for two huge trays of scalloped potatoes. “If these disappear I’ll be surprised, but this is how many Leona said to make.”
“The staff can dig in, too. It’s always a good idea to think about the help. They appreciate it and you never know when they might be able to do a favor back,” Mia told Annie.
Annie felt some of her earlier trepidation disappear as the morning flew by. Maybe she’d overreacted when Leona dumped all this in her lap. Maybe she was better at managing than she realized.
The phone rang.
“The Black Cat Café,” Annie answered in her most professional, cheerful voice.
“Ms. Cross here.”
“What can I do for you, Ms. Cross?” Annie held the phone between her shoulder and her ear while she covered one tray of scalloped potatoes with foil.
“You were supposed to call me to find out how many seniors signed up for the dinner.”
Apparently, Leona forgot to mention this little detail. Her brain buzzed while she tried to figure out how to deal with this angry woman.
“Is this Leona? I need to talk to Leona.”
“No, Leona can’t come to the phone.” Annie’s heart fluttered with anxiety. “This is Annie Hunter.” Ms. Cross, who Leona usually only referred to as Dawn, was impatiently waiting on the other end of the phone. The stern image of the manager of Golden Living popped into Annie’s head. “How can I help you?”
“Are you sure you’re capable of helping me? It doesn’t sound like you have a clue about the dinner Leona promised to cater tonight.”
With the phone securely anchored between her shoulder and ear, Annie wiped her sweaty hands on her apron.
A long sigh blasted in Annie’s ear and Dawn continued. “I guess you’ll have to do. There’s been a change. We need a vegetarian entrée for two added in. The total number for the dinner will be thirty-five. The bunny starts in the photo booth at three-thirty while you serve the hors d’oeuvres and drinks. Dinner at four-thirty. I want it all wrapped up by six. Understand?” A sound like someone tapping long fingernails against the phone met Annie’s ear.
Annie scribbled all the last-minute instructions in Leona’s daily diary, hoping she didn’t miss anything but refusing to ask Dawn to repeat herself.
“Well?”
“Yes. No problem.”
“Oh, and add chocolate and vanilla ice cream for the cake. Everyone has requested ice cream. With those little chocolate sprinkles. They probably won’t even eat the cake; hope you didn’t go to too much trouble on that.”
Right, the cake that started all the trouble. Annie began to say okay but realized the call was disconnected. She looked at the phone. Great. This was exactly what she was worried about. The dinner at the Golden Living retirement home was going to be a disaster.
2
By the time Annie parked the Black Cat Café van at the Golden Living loading dock, she was already exhausted. How did Leona do it day after day? She had never realized how draining all the work plus thinking about every single detail actually was. She did feel an itsy-bitsy spark of pride, though, in managing to get all the food prepared without mishap and packed in the van without spilling a drip of anything.
“Need help?” a voice asked.
Annie turned and stared into a huge fake smile, forever set in a white face with two long white fuzzy ears with pink in the middle, bobbing over the entire fuzzy white outfit.
“The Easter bunny?”
“No kidding, were you expecting Santa, maybe?” The Easter bunny stuck his fuzzy paw toward Annie. “Forrest. And please, no jokes about my name, I’ve heard them all. Dawn told me to help you.”
Annie shook Forrest’s hand. “Maybe you could show me where I’m supposed to set everything up. I can manage once I know where I’m working, and I’d hate to have anything spill on your bunny fur.”
Forrest quickly looked down and brushed an imaginary piece of something off his fake fur. “Don’t worry about it. Glad to have something to do before the seniors start pawing all over me.” He tipped his bunny face back to reveal a grin. “Get it? Paw all over me?”
Annie rolled her eyes. “You probably make their day. A cute bunny making silly jokes. What more could they ask for?”
“Delicious food? I think that’s really the highlight of their existence.” He moved toward the door. “Come on. I’ll show you where the kitchen is and help you move all your stuff. Don’t you have anyone helping you?”
Annie glanced down the driveway. “A couple people should be here any minute.” As she followed Forrest, she did wonder where her mother and Martha were. Mia was picking up the jelly beans for the last-minute cake decorations that Leona seemed to have forgotten or misplaced—or took with her on her impromptu vacation—and two flower arrangements from The Enchanted Florist. Martha, her sixtyish, always-ready-for-anything friend, had volunteered to help since her childhood best friend, Sylvia, lived at the Golden Living retirement home. Apparen
tly, the two of them managed to cause some drama whenever they were together. Annie silently made a wish that they would be on their best behavior tonight.
Forrest held the door open to a gleaming, stainless steel kitchen with all the bells and whistles that any cook would love to have. Annie whistled her approval. “And which door leads to the dining area?”
Forrest laid his bunny head, paws, and floppy feet on a counter. “Right through here.” He pushed open a swinging door to a lovely room with round tables, each covered with a white tablecloth, a potted hyacinth, silverware, and water goblets for four people. Around one side of the room, long folding tables were available for Annie to set up her warming trays for the dinner.
“And over here,” Forrest gestured, “is the photo booth. You brought Easter eggs, didn’t you? That will make a nice prop for people to hold while they have their picture taken with me.”
Annie nodded. “Colored eggs, chocolate eggs, and plastic eggs with surprises inside. Plus, little baskets to set at each place filled with grass, one chocolate Easter bunny, and a couple of those marshmallow peeps.”
“Sounds like sugar overload but, when you’re retired, I guess you should be able to eat whatever you want.”
The door from the kitchen opened. “Here you are,” Martha said. “I never came in through the back door before.” She looked around the room. “Nice set up, don’t you think? Sylvia is very excited for this dinner.”
“Great, let’s get the van unpacked.” Annie walked toward the kitchen.
“Forrest? You’re the Easter bunny?” Martha asked. “You did such a great job as Cupid for Valentine’s Day, I’m not surprised to see you here again.”
“I’m pretty sure I wasn’t Her Highness’s first choice, but,” he shrugged, “I take what I can get.”
