Two Scoops of Murder (Felicity Bell Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

in the seventies.”
    Felicity bit her lip. It was true that her mom looked a little funky. “I think you should give it a go.”
    “But I can’t!” Mom cried. “What will the customers think?”
    It was her eternal cry of anguish. Having stood behind the counter at Bell’s Bakery & Tea Room for thirty years now, the thought foremost in her mind was what the customers would think. In her defense she represented the store—the first and last person the customers saw. “I might as well quit now and apply for a job at Marcel!”
    “They wouldn’t take you,” said Bancroft. “They’re not in the market for chemistry experiments gone wrong.”
    Felicity wished her cousin would just put a sock in it. “I think the customers will like it just fine. Just give it a try and you’ll see it’s not as bad as all that.”
    “You think so?” Uncertainly, Mom stared in the mirror and patted her hair.
    “I know so. You just go out there. I’m sure you’ll get tons of compliments.”
    “Or requests for My Old Piano ,” murmured Bancroft, while liking all the Kim Kardashian updates he’d missed since last checking her profile five minutes before.
    “I don’t know,” muttered Mom, looking forlorn.
    “You’re a revolutionary, Mom,” Felicity said. “People admire you for the bold choices you make.”
    “It’s not my bold choice,” protested Mom. “It’s Rita’s and I don’t see why I have to suffer the consequences.” In spite of her misgivings she finally relented. “Oh, all right. I’ll give it a whirl.”
    Bancroft laughed, and when two angry stares hit him squarely in the midriff, he cried, “What? It’s funny. Give it a whirl? With cotton candy hair?” He rolled his eyes. “Am I the only one in this family with a sense of humor?”
    “You’re the only one in this family with a lack of heart,” Felicity said critically. “Mom needs our support, not silly little jokes.”
    He gave Mom an appraising look. “I guess it’s not that bad.”
    Mom raised her chin. “Thanks, Bancroft. I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve said to me all day.”
    Bancroft gestured to Felicity. “Don’t blame me. She made me.”
    While Mom headed down the stairs to return to the tea room, and Bancroft was once again absorbed by his social media updates, Felicity lingered behind for a moment. She was thinking about Alice and wondering if she hadn’t agreed too quickly to that crazy bet. Reece Hudson was engaged to be married, and she just hoped Alice wouldn’t get it into her head to try and stop the wedding.
    “Do you know Dorothy Valour?”
    Without looking up from his phone Bancroft muttered, “Who doesn’t?”
    “So you know she used to go to Happy Bays High, right?”
    Bancroft frowned. “No, she did not.”
    “Oh, yes she did,” Felicity said, proud to know a celebrity factoid her cousin didn’t. “Alice and I used to know her back then. She was one grade ahead of us.”
    Bancroft’s face betrayed the admiration he felt for the socialite. “And? How was she?”
    “Bitchy, even then. She once attacked Alice for wearing the same dress. Said she’d copied her style and she would file charges with the fashion police.”
    Bancroft laughed heartily. “That’s hilarious!”
    “Alice didn’t think so. She even asked Virgil if there was such a thing as fashion police and if she could be sent to jail for breaking fashion law.”
    Bancroft chuckled freely. “That’s a silly thing to ask, even for Alice. I would have thought she had more sense than that.”
    “Virgil assured her that the fashion police weren’t real and Alice was so upset she went over to Dorothy and poured her cranberry juice all over her dress.”
    Bancroft’s face contorted into a horrified frown. “But those stains wouldn’t have come out!”
    Felicity smiled at the recollection. “She told Dorothy that since their dresses were now a different color she didn’t have to bother the fashion police. Dorothy didn’t think it