Scones, Skulls & Scams Read Online Free Page A

The Brew and Bake and made a beeline for the dumpster .
    “What are we looking for?” Cassie whispered.
    “I don’t know, but if she looked in our dumpster, it’s only fair we look in hers. There must be something one can find out by looking in your competitor’s dumpster, but I guess we won’t know until we find it.”
    Lexy eyed the dumpster. It was one of the smaller ones and she could see over the edge without having to get up on anything; except it was hard to see anything in there in the dark.  
    “Did you bring a flashlight?” Lexy asked.
    Cassie answered by snapping on a small light and aiming a thin beam into the dumpster.
    “What is all this … It looks like just a bunch of cardboard boxes.” Lexy heaved herself up on the side, balancing like a seesaw on her hipbones. She reached into the dumpster lifting one of the boxes to flip it over. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw the lettering.
    “These are from the grocery store!” She picked one up and tossed it out to Cassie.
    “That scammer! Do you think she’s buying baked goods at the grocery store and passing them off as hers?” Cassie asked.
    Lexy rummaged through the pile to see if she could find anything else, but the only things in there were more boxes along with something gooey and sticky which made her thankful she was wearing gloves. She slid off the side of the dumpster before answering her friend’s question.
    “Well, it sure seems like she has a lot of grocery store bakery boxes, but why would she open a bakery and then try to pass off grocery store goods?”
    Cassie frowned down at the box in her hand. “I have no idea—”
    “Shhhh.” Lexy heard a click coming from the direction of the back door and cut Cassie off.  
    She pulled Cassie behind the dumpster in a crouch. Lexy craned her neck to peer around the end of the dumpster just as a slice of light spilled out from the opening door. She jerked her head back and leaned against the cold metal.
    “…figure out a way to get access across the street,” a man’s voice said.
    More boxes clanged into the dumpster causing the girls to cringe. Lexy’s heart hammered in her chest, her breath came out in short puffs of condensation. Beside her, Cassie rubbed her arms, her nose was red from the cold.  
    “That’s going to be hard. But I have an idea. Maybe we can…” The woman’s voice was cut off by the door shutting behind them as they went inside.  
    Lexy exchanged a wide-eyed look with Cassie. Across the street? Did they mean her bakery?  
    “Let’s get out of here before they come back out.” Cassie ventured a look over the top of the dumpster.
    Lexy nodded and the two girls ran for the side of the building, then across the street to the safety of The Cup and Cake .  
    “What was that about?” Lexy unlocked the back door to her bakery.  
    “Sounded like they want to get into your bakery.”  
    “Yeah, it sure did.” Lexy looked around the gleaming stainless steel kitchen. “But, what could they possibly want in here? And who was that guy?”
    Cassie shrugged. “Maybe he is her business partner. My guess is they want your scones recipe. If they can win the contest it would lend a lot of credibility to their bakery … even if it is full of repurposed grocery store items.”
    Lexy pressed her lips together. Winning the contest would give the bakery credibility, but surely, they couldn’t want to run a bakery that bad. She knew from experience the bakery business was no road to easy riches—it required a lot of hard work for very little money. And if you don’t like baking in the first place, which it seems the people over at The Brew and Bake didn’t, then what was the point?
    She grabbed her purse and wool navy blue pea coat from the coat rack where she kept the vintage aprons she liked to wear. She hadn’t wanted to explain her dumpster diving plans to Jack, so she’d told him she and Cassie were going out for some “girl time” after work.