A Cookie Before Dying Read Online Free Page B

tracking down some information, so I should be able to fill you in tomorrow. You’re still closed on Mondays, right? Great. Meanwhile, keep your doors locked.” Del left before Olivia could ask who the suspect was.

Chapter Two

    The small kitchen at the back of The Gingerbread House had acquired two new items since Olivia received her inheritance: a window air conditioner and a new freezer, which hummed with state-of-the-art efficiency next to the bruised old refrigerator. Without good air conditioning, August in eastern Maryland was not conducive to long, happy hours of cookie baking and decorating. Olivia preferred feeling connected with the outdoors, but not when the heat and humidity made her feel like a boiled potato. Besides, she’d told herself, controlled humidity was better for consistent cookie quality.
    Olivia loved Mondays, when the store remained closed. She and Maddie could catch up on business chores and get a jump on preparing the various cookies they would need for the coming week. Now that they could afford to hire some help in the store, they’d begun to supply special-order cookies for private parties, in addition to their themed store events.
    “Ready to roll,” Maddie said. “If I can find my trusty rolling pin.”
    Olivia looked up from her paperwork. “Cupboard next to the sink, second shelf from the top.”
    “How’d it get there? I swear, Livie, you hide things on purpose so you can torture me.”
    Olivia reached into a drawer and tossed Maddie a clean towel to wipe the dough off her hands. “Nonsense,” she said. “You are the resident genius, and I am merely your short-term memory.”
    “Did you remember to get more flour? This dough is a tad sticky.”
    “Top shelf, next to the sugar. Are you starting on the cookies for the Tucker baby shower this week?
    “Um, sure, that’s on the agenda.”
    Something in Maddie’s tone made Olivia suspicious. “That event is special to me. If it weren’t for Gwen and Herbie’s contacts with animal rescue groups, I wouldn’t have found Spunky.” At the sound of his name, the little Yorkie lifted his head a few inches from his blanket, then dropped back to sleep. “The lazy bum.”
    Maddie studied a package of meringue powder as if she’d never seen one before. “I’m making an extra batch of dough to try out some ideas. Anyway, I mixed two batches yesterday, and they’re rolled and chilling in the fridge, so there’ll be plenty to work with. Don’t fuss, Livie, all will be well. Don’t you have errands to run or something?”
    “I thought I’d—” A knock on the alley door interrupted her. “Are you expecting Lucas?”
    “Not really,” Maddie said as she opened the door. “Hi, Del, what’s up?”
    The sheriff dropped his uniform hat on the counter and mopped his forehead with his shirtsleeve. “You two have the best air conditioning in town.”
    “Well, don’t let it escape into the alley,” Maddie said.
    “Do you only want us for our air conditioning?” Olivia asked.
    “It’s a start,” Del said, with a lopsided grin.
    Maddie rolled her eyes. “Honestly, you two, get a room. I have cookies to cut.”
    “Look who’s criticizing.” Olivia felt a little ping of pleasure whenever she and Del flirted, but it had been all too rare since late June. Her ex-husband, Ryan, had shown up uninvited with his grand scheme to open a clinic to provide affordable surgery for poor patients. It was a nice idea, but Olivia knew Ryan too well. Surgery was all he really enjoyed doing. He’d get bored and frustrated with the administrative demands of a clinic. She found it hard to believe that he had really turned over a new leaf.
    Olivia poured a glass of iced tea from a pitcher in the refrigerator, added a few ice cubes and a wedge of lemon, and handed it to Del. “Any news about the break-in next door?”
    “Thanks.” Del swallowed a large gulp of tea. “We do have a suspect, but no real proof. When Charlene called the family