SLAY PAIRS WITH ROSE (The Kelly's Deli Cozy Murder Mysteries Book 3) by Sophie Brent (books to read as a couple txt) 📗

as Kate turned to Erin and said in a trembling voice. “I didn’t want to say anything in front of the others, but are we really sure that this was simply a horrible accident? Fiona and Maya had known Emma since university, and they don’t want to even think that someone might want to hurt her.” She licked her lips and her gaze locked onto Erin’s face.

“What if Emma didn’t just slip in that freezer full of dry ice?” Kate said in a low voice which trembled with the intensity of every word. “Someone locked her inside. Someone who’s probably still at this hotel right now. And that scares me so much I can’t breathe.”

Kate blinked away tears as the elevator doors slid open and they stepped out onto the cream and ivory panelled corridor, but the instant they were inside Kate’s room, Kate hurled her bag onto the bed, and sat down next to it with a heavy thump.

She looked up into Erin’s face as though she was searching for some way forward. “I feel so helpless! What can I do, Erin? Do we leave it all to the police to sort out? Is that how it works?”

Erin’s mind flashed back to Constable Harris and their previous meeting only a few weeks earlier. She couldn’t believe that she was involved in yet another murder investigation but here she was and there was no escaping it.   Kate didn’t need to know how stretched the local police force was in this part of England.

“We have to leave the police to do their job, Kate. They’re trained investigators. They’ll get to the bottom of this. It was probably just a tragic accident.”

“But they could use some help, couldn’t they?” Kate pleaded.  “I don’t want Ethan to wait for months before he hears anything. This is going to break his heart!”

“You really love your brother very much, don’t you?” Erin smiled.

“There are only the three of us. Ethan is the oldest, Adam is three years younger, followed by the baby in the family. Me.” Her voice faltered a little. “Our parents split up six years ago and my mum never really recovered from the divorce. She died of liver cancer last summer. My dad flew over from Canada for the funeral, but he has a new life and a new family over there to think of.” She wiped her eyes and then smiled up at Erin. “The three of us look out for one another if we can. That’s why I was so pleased when Ethan and Fiona decided to get married. They’ve been together since university, through all of the rough times and even started a business together.  They deserve a chance of happiness. And now this!”

Kate squeezed her eyes tight shut, then shuffled forward on the bed and dropped her head between her knees. Her breathing was fast and shallow, and her skin was flushed at the neck.

“I’ll be okay in a minute,” she managed to sob.

“Take all the time you need,” Erin replied, and gently rubbed the back of Kate’s shoulders.  Her gaze locked onto the fuchsia silk bridesmaid dress hanging up on the wardrobe door on the other side of the room. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Chapter Four

Kingsmede was a fairly small village and the gossip grapevine reached far and wide, but even Erin was amazed at how fast the word got out that there had been a strange death at Abbotsdown Hall.

It was probably all Prisha’s fault, but the deli was well known to be the centre of Kingsmede news and Prisha could hardly be expected to keep it quiet after Erin had rung her to tell her what had happened, and not just about the fire and the wedding cake.

Erin could still hear the screams ringing in her ears. Since then, her phone had barely stopped ringing.

“Prisha Patel. Kingsmede doesn’t need a newspaper when it has you in charge of the gossip. Did you have to tell Carol’s dad? If the fine citizens don’t hear the latest in the deli then they can catch up in the pub!”

“Hey. How could I resist?” Prisha scoffed down the phone. “It isn’t every day that our girl goes to rescue a wedding cake and ends up finding a frozen bridesmaid in the freezer.  The whole town was talking about it for at least an hour before it hit the local radio station. Is it my fault that the hotel was unavailable for comment? I simply stated the facts to a charming reporter. That’s all.”

“What do people say about wanting their fifteen minutes of fame? I bet you stretched it out to at least twenty.”

“Twenty-five.” Prisha sniggered. “And I persuaded him to buy lots of delicious goodies so that he could review the excellent local deli on his doorstep. Your lemon polenta cake is now hot news across the county. Are you getting pestered by the media?”

“Ten phone calls in the past hour. I passed the one from that pushy reporter from the local newspaper on to Zoe, but for once she is way too preoccupied with her family to switch into photojournalist mode.”

“Well, that’s serious. How’s she holding out?” Prisha asked softly.

“Running around ragged. Cancelling a wedding is not an easy task, but someone had to do it and the bridesmaids are still in shock. To make it worse, Emma had all of the checklists and contact details, and right now they’re locked in her room and likely to stay there for some time. So, Zoe is having to just muddle through Kate and Maya.”

“Poor Zoe. Poor you! Are you having a rough time of it?”

“I’ve had better days, Prisha. Kate has just shown me a photo of Fiona’s wedding dress. The vintage lace is amazing.” Erin took a calming breath. “Fiona would have looked stunning in that dress.