Devil's Food Cake Read Online Free Page A

in order to access the stairs. An instant vision assailed Sadie: what if Gayle had tried to assist Mr. Ogreski with the microphone? She felt her stomach clench, and she hurried to push the horrible thought away.
    “Did you see it happen?” Sadie asked.
    Gayle nodded and fresh tears spilled out of her bright green eyes.
    Sadie wasn’t sure crying with contacts was recommended, but then maybe if Gayle cried enough, she’d wash the mascara off completely. One could only hope.
    “He—he pulled on the microphone, and then he flew backward, and the . . . cord and the . . . blood.” She closed her eyes while Sadie tried to picture the scene from Gayle’s perspective, standing only a few feet away. It wasn’t pretty.
    “The cord,” Sadie repeated, focusing on the part that spoke of the mechanical aspect of the trap. “Did you see it come out of the hole on the podium? I mean, it was tied to the trigger, right?” It seemed so Wile E. Coyote.
    Pete cleared his throat, reminding Sadie he was there. He gave her a look that made her clamp her mouth shut and then smile innocently. “Sorry,” she said after a moment. Pete continued to look at her.
    “Perhaps you could let us speak together privately,” he said.
    “Oh, okay,” Sadie replied, trying not to look offended at being left out. After all, she was dating Pete, she was Gayle’s best friend, and she’d played a part in the investigation of two other murders—which was as many as Pete had investigated in the last ten years. Arguing those points, however, likely wouldn’t work in a high-stress situation like this or help her relationship with Pete.
    She turned away, letting her mind race toward what else she could do. Her eyes were drawn to the row of chairs set up on the left side of the stage—the side of the stage where Thom would have been standing when Mr. Ogreski was shot. There was something sitting on the middle of the three chairs. It looked like a small box. Sadie narrowed her eyes, trying to make out what it was, but she was too far away. Immediately she thought that whenever she went somewhere to give a speech, she took a bag with her to hold her notes, lipstick, some breath mints, and a bottle of water in case she became parched. Not that she gave a lot of speeches, but she thoroughly prepared for the ones she was asked to give. Last summer she’d spoken to the ladies’ auxiliary club about being a lifelong teacher and the blessings of educating others. She’d done a really good job, if she did say so herself, and had a very nice article about the presentation written up in the weekly paper.
    Back to the subject at hand, however—she wondered if what she saw on the chair could be a briefcase. It seemed too small, but Sadie was certain that Thom’s hands had been empty when he ran from the room.
    Sadie glanced around the room nonchalantly, lifting a hand to rub her neck so it wouldn’t seem obvious that she was scanning the room. Assured that no one was paying her any particular attention, Sadie made her way toward the left side of the stage. She was about four feet away when she realized that the item that had sparked her curiosity was nothing more than a copy of Thom’s book— Devilish Details.
    She closed the distance between herself and the book, trying to swallow her disappointment. What important information was she going to get from a book? But she picked it up and looked it over anyway, just in case.
    The cover featured what looked like the face of a stone gargoyle, like those she’d seen on the medieval castles in London. Its mouth was open and showing large, sharp teeth. Except that while the face was stone, the eyes were not. Human eyes glared out from the gargoyle’s face—kinda creepy.
    Sadie, like everyone else in Garrison, had read the book when it came out, excited to have known someone who had actually published a novel. The library had ordered an astonishing five copies—one or two copies of any given title had been the