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

take double quantities of all of it. Half to eat now and the rest as a takeaway for tomorrow. Or have you started opening on Sundays?

“Not going to happen,” Erin waved her hand from side to side. “Prisha you are a saviour. But not cake. I don’t think I could face cake right now.”

“Blimey. That is serious. I have never, ever, known you to refuse your own baking.” Prisha gasped.

“First time for everything, Prisha. My first professional wedding cake from Kelly’s deli, my first wedding cake crushed and burnt and,” she swallowed, “the first time I have seen someone dead inside a freezer. That poor woman.”

“I couldn’t believe it when you phoned me about the hotel fire,” Prisha replied. “I thought that was bad, but then when you told me about the bridesmaid? I had to go and sit upstairs for ten minutes.” She pointed to her cheek. “Real tears. So sad. For everyone. Did she die of the cold?” Prisha whispered and sat down opposite Erin.

“Not just the cold,” Erin whispered. “The hotel had opened some packs of dry ice to keep the freezer cold after the fire. Basically, it’s frozen carbon dioxide which is designed to melt into gas and escape into the open air. But it’s lethal in enclosed spaces. The dry ice sinks to the floor and cools all of the food on the lower shelves.  When she fell, Emma didn’t have a chance. Once she was on the floor, she would be breathing in the carbon dioxide instead of oxygen.”

A cold shiver ran across Erin’s back and she wrapped her arms around her waist to warm up.

Prisha gasped and then pushed her hand forward. “Stay right there and I’ll put the water on to boil. You need hot food, and you need it now. Matt, you’re in charge of the coffee. This girl needs warming up and fast!”

“I’m on it, boss,” Matt replied and winked at Erin. “And I thought you were demanding.”

“I heard that,” Prisha’s voice sounded from the kitchen. “Mine’s an Americano, thank you!”

“Erin Kelly. You know that I love you as my best friend in the whole world, but there is a simple explanation. This really was a tragic accident. Horrible, but an accident.”

Prisha put down her fork and spoon and raised both hands in the air. “How about this? Emma stepped inside the freezer, she slipped on some ice on the floor in her posh silly sandals, breathed in the dry ice fumes, fainted and knocked her head on the metal shelving. That’s still awful, but isn’t that more likely than skulduggery?”

“You’re right,” Erin admitted and took another sip of a really quite good Californian Merlot. “It’s totally possible. In fact, I remember reading about a case in the newspaper where that happened to a local butcher last year.”

“So why am I seeing that look on your face? That look you have right now. The look that says that you think someone else was with Emma when she went to look inside that freezer.”

“I just have this nagging feeling that I owe it to Fiona and the girls to make sure that you’re right and nobody else was involved,” she replied, looking from Prisha over to Matt.

“What makes you think that it could have been deliberate?” Matt asked. There was a slight tone in his voice that than as an interested neighbour.

“All I know is what Kate told me. When the fire alarm went off, everyone went outside to the main lawn. It’s on the other side of the hotel from the kitchen and the fire. Emma was very worried about the food and the ice sculptures and she left the other three girls on the lawn the second they got the all-clear from the hotel manager.  The girls headed to bed to catch up with their beauty sleep, but she went to the kitchen. Fiona said that she was so tired that she decided to leave Emma to go on her own. So now she is feeling double the guilt.”

“Fiona was going to get married today, so she wouldn’t want to lose any more sleep. That makes total sense to me.” Prisha shrugged.

“Me too. But it means that Emma went on her own. There are no witnesses to say what happened to her after that.” Erin put down her fork and sighed. “Here’s the real issue. All the chefs are trained to never lock the freezer door. It’s way too dangerous. Some kitchens even take the keys away for safety so you can still get out if the door closes on you when you are inside.”

Matt loaded his plate with more red peppers. “Isn’t there some sort of emergency escape system?”

“That’s one of the first things that they show you when you work in chillers and freezer rooms. Sometimes it’s a latch, but I saw an emergency release button inside the freezer, high up on the wall.”

“But Emma wouldn’t have been able to reach it if she was on the floor.” Matt nodded. “She couldn’t have got out.”

“Human nature.” Prisha replied and waved her fork in the air. “What if one of the kitchen staff locked the doors for some reason and is too scared to come forward and admit it? I would be.”

“I asked the chef while we were waiting for the police to arrive,” Erin whispered. “The last time he checked the cold rooms was around one this morning to make sure that the power was back on. Someone locked the freezer doors after he had checked and not one of the chefs on duty last night say that they did it. There was no need to.”

“Okay, so not the kitchen crew. You said yourself that there were cleaning crews running around everywhere this morning and it must have been mayhem when the fire fighters were working during the night. They still would have