Baking is Murder (A Bee's Bakehouse Cozy Mystery) (Bee's Bakehouse Mysteries Book 1) Read Online Free

leaped after Toby. Jessie gasped in amazement. For such a small dog, Toby was surprisingly fast. But the tall stranger had managed to catch his leash and stop him in his tracks.
    By the time Jessie reached them, Toby was safely wrapped up in the man’s arms.
    “Thank you so much,” Jessie said, her voice jagged and cracking. She bent over and dug her fingers into her sides in an attempt to ease the pain of the stitch that had formed there.
    “Put your arms behind your head.”
    Jessie frowned and looked the man over again. He was about her age; maybe slightly older. He was wearing a suit and shirt, but she didn’t see a badge or anything else that would have marked him out as a cop.
    “Who are you?” she asked as calmly as she could. It was difficult given her breathlessness. “Are you arresting me?”
    His face broke into a boyish smile. “Arresting… oh no,” he laughed. “I meant you should put your hands behind your head to help get your breath back. You look like you’re struggling.”
    “Oh,” Jessie said, feeling foolish. She pointed at the police tape. “I thought with the tape and all…”
    His expression grew serious again at the mention of it. “Yes. It’s a nasty business. You should get home. I’ll give you a ride if you need.”
    “What’s going on?” Jessie asked, peering in the direction of the crowd. It was difficult to do so for long thanks to the positioning of the glaring lights.
    She wondered what could have drawn out such a large crowd of law enforcement officers. Springdale didn’t exactly have a high crime rate. She shivered as she ran through the likely options in her mind. She’d been too busy chasing Toby to notice that they had almost reached the town limits.
    The man’s eyes widened. “They’ve found a body.”

Chapter 6
    Jessie didn’t know how, but Aunt Bee had already heard about the murder by the time Jessie arrived back at the cottage. Jessie shook her head ruefully. She hadn’t known it at the time, but she’d stumbled across the scene only twenty minutes after the cops had arrived. She knew now why Toby had been so spooked.
    She had tried to drop him back at Clarice’s, but they found the house dark and unoccupied. Jessie had offered to take Toby, but the man (who’d introduced himself as Mike) had vetoed the idea, saying Bee would only fatten him up with treats and he had plenty of puppy food back at his home. She’d been too shocked by the murder to wonder how he’d known who she was.
    “Yeah, I took Toby for a walk and he obviously sensed something was up. He broke away from me and dashed to the scene.”
    Bee glanced up from the crossword she was working on. “He broke away?” she laughed. “Clarice can’t have been pleased about that. She’s big on training and obedience. Though I often wonder why on earth she breeds pugs. Silly dogs.”
    Jessie shook her head, still unable to believe she’d allowed him to get away. “She wasn’t there.”
    “Oh?”
    “Yeah. When we got back there, the lights were off and she didn’t answer the door when we knocked.”
    Aunt Bee’s lips curved into a smile. “We?”
    Jessie shrugged. “One of the guys at the scene. Mike. He very kindly offered me a ride home. I guess he could see I was spooked.”
    Bee widened her eyes.
    Jessie turned away. She could tell what her aunt was getting at and she didn’t want to respond. “Mike took Toby for the night. Said you’d only feed him cake.”
    Bee tutted. “He’s mocking me, the dear boy. He knows quite well I’d take damn good care of that dog.” She shook her head. “Very strange about Clarice, though.”
    Jessie switched on the kettle. She was suddenly exhausted after chasing Toby and the shock of stumbling across a murder scene. “How do you mean?”
    “Well, the woman’s virtually a recluse. You wouldn’t believe how much coaxing it takes to get her to come to the café once in a blue moon.”
    Jessie shrugged. “Maybe she went to the grocery