A Mouthful of Murder: A Frosted Love Cozy Mystery Book 4 (Frosted Love Mysteries) Read Online Free

tremendous
hit in California, and Missy just hoped that she would be as successful here.
The grand opening would be going on tomorrow, and since Echo’s shop would be
busiest after Missy’s had already closed for the day, she was looking forward
to going over and supporting her new friend.
    Missy
was going over a shopping list with Ben at the front counter, when she saw the
scraggly-looking man who had left a lemon cream cheese cupcake at Cora
Nesbitt’s house on the day of her murder. By the time Missy came around the
counter and ran out the front door, the man was halfway to the corner. When she
shouted to him, he looked over his shoulder and started running. She followed
him as closely as she could, not knowing what she would do if she ever caught
up to him, and wondering if he was leading her somewhere that would endanger
her. He ducked into an alley that was a little too private and a little too
dark for Missy’s common sense, and she called Detective Johnson to report the
encounter. The police arrived within minutes, but the strange man was already
gone, nowhere to be found. Missy gave the officers a description of what he was
wearing, and headed back to her shop, feeling alone and sad.
    Sitting
alone on the couch yet again, watching Netflix, with Toffee curled up under the
coffee table, Missy missed Chas so much that it hurt. He’d called occasionally,
even though he technically wasn’t supposed to, but they confined their
conversation to small talk, so he wouldn’t be breaking the rules, and it just
ended up making her feel even more empty. She wanted to share with him, laugh
with him, snuggle into his embrace during a movie, but she had to be content
with just hearing his voice on occasion for now, and it was wearing her
patience thin.
    Missy
was startled when suddenly Toffee raised her head and growled a warning,
looking toward the bay window in the dining room. She tapped the button on the
remote control to turn the sound of her movie down, and listened as the dog
continued to stare and growl into the darkness. Staying clear of the windows,
she moved stealthily into the dining room, peering out the bay window by standing
beside it so that she couldn’t be seen from the outside. The click of Toffee’s
claws on the restored hardwoods rang out like gunshots in the eerie stillness
of the house as the alert animal crept slowly toward the window, head lowered.
Missy strained hard to see, but couldn’t make anything out in the darkness.
Toffee sat directly in front of the bay window, staring and emitting a growl
low in her throat. Missy flipped the switch for the floodlights on that side of
the house, not knowing what to expect, and not disappointed when she still saw
nothing. She went back to the couch, and called Toffee over, stroking her silky
coat until she was soothed into returning to her place beneath the coffee
table.

Chapter 7
     
    Missy
sighed deeply in annoyance. “Well, now I know what Toffee was growling about
last night,” she grumbled aloud as she surveyed her car. The air had been let
out of all three tires, and her little blue car was, for the moment, immobile.
She made a quick call to Ben to let him know that Cheryl would have to help him
open this morning, because she was going to be late, then she called a tow-truck
to have her car transported to the tire center. Happy that the air had just
been released, rather than the tires themselves being destroyed, Missy pulled
out of the tire center and headed for work. The entire process had taken a
couple of hours, so Cheryl and Ben would still be in the midst of the morning
rush when she arrived.
    The
cupcake of the day, Bittersweet Chocolate with Espresso filling and Buttery
Pecan Crème topping, was quite the hit, and Missy had to pull two more trays
out of the back when she arrived, jumping into the fray. Exhausted after the
morning rush finally cleared around 1 p.m., she, Ben and Cheryl sat around a
table in the seating area to recover for a