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

was stocked full, and all of the pastries and baked goods were on cooling racks in the kitchen, filling the air with the tantalizing aroma of freshly baked rolls.

Prisha had promised to arrive around seven for an early breakfast so that Erin could get ready for the wedding reception in plenty of time. Emma might be the wedding planner, but Fiona had agreed, in writing, that nobody was going to touch that wedding cake until Erin got there!

Erin pushed up and strolled back into her kitchen for another slice of toast. She was just about to reach for the marmalade when her phone started ringing out the theme tune about Mambo Italiano.

Strange! Who would call her at six in the morning? She quickly checked the number and grinned. “Hi, Zoe. How are you this bright Saturday...”  Then she winced and held the phone at arm’s length for a moment. “Zoe? Calm down and stop shouting. What’s going on? What? Are you there now? Is anyone hurt? Right. I am on my way. Stay where you are.”

Ten minutes later, Erin was dressed and running towards her ancient white van, scrolling down the numbers on her phone as she went. Please be out of bed, Prisha. Please.

“Prisha. Are you awake? Yes, I know it’s crazy early, but I have to get to Abbotsford Hall. There was a fire in the hotel kitchen last night and Zoe is totally panicking about Fiona’s wedding. Nobody was hurt, but I delivered the wedding cake yesterday.”

Scrabbling to insert the key into the ignition, Erin tossed her bag onto the passenger seat and started the engine as she talked. “I don’t know, Prisha. I’ll call you back as soon as I can, but you’re going to have to open the deli without me. Is that okay?  Everything is prepped and ready to serve. Thanks. What’s that? Yes, I hope the wedding cake is still there too. Bye for now.”

Erin closed the call and sat with her forehead resting on the steering wheel. She didn’t have time to make another wedding cake. It had to be okay. It simply had to.

“I’m really sorry, Miss Kelly. The fire started in the special events storeroom around midnight, and it took ten minutes for the fire brigade to arrive. It didn’t take long for them to put the fire out, but the smoke was quite intense... Well, come and see for yourself.”

“Do you know how it started, Mr. Blake?” Erin asked the hotel’s deputy manager who had come out to see her only moments after she had arrived at the reception desk.

“They are telling us that it was almost certainly an electrical fault in a catering fridge,” he replied and guided her around the outside of the building towards the kitchen delivery area, which she recognized from the day before.  “We lost power to the entire bottom floor of the hotel, including the kitchen and stores.”

The bright warm sunshine couldn’t warm the growing pool of icy water that was starting to form in the pit of Erin’s stomach.

Erin sucked in a breath to try and calm her racing heart and instantly started coughing. The smoke might have gone, but the air in the car park still carried the stench of burning electrics and soot.

“What about the kitchens?” She choked. “My friend’s cousin has her wedding reception booked here for this afternoon.”

“The Hanson-Peters wedding,” he nodded. “That’s in hand and we expect the restaurant to be up and running again by lunchtime. There shouldn’t be a problem with the reception at all.”

“You’re going ahead with it?” Erin gasped, amazed at what she had just heard.

The young man in the smart suit paused and turned to face her. “We had a lucky escape. The fire was limited to the store area we use for special events. It’s filthy and waterlogged from the sprinkler system, but the fire doors did their job, and the fire was completely contained. None of the equipment or food in the main kitchen were damaged at all. The main walk-in fridges and freezers held temperature. We had plenty of dry ice in store and the power was only out for about an hour.”

He gave a small shoulder shrug. “The kitchen might smell a little from the smoke, but we’ve brought in extra air conditioning units and our cleaning teams are loading the dishwashers as we speak. They should start steam cleaning the work areas in the next hour or two.”

He glanced at his wristwatch. “We plan to inspect the kitchen about ten and get the chefs back to work in plenty of time for the reception later this afternoon.”

Then he looked up and nodded his head towards the store area where Erin had stood the afternoon before. She turned around and stood in silent horror, totally shocked at what she was seeing.

The entire store area was a burnt-out shell.

The door had been taken off and was leaning against a nearby wall so that the blackened ceiling and walls were open to the air for all to see.

And standing right in the middle of the doorway at a weird angle, was the large double-door catering fridge where she had so lovingly placed her cake boxes. It was covered in black soot and had obvious scorch marks all around the back and sides.

“The fire brigade dragged the fridge out last night so that they could tackle the smoke at the back of the room,” Mr. Blake commented. “That’s when they saw the damage to the switch and motor, which had melted away.  We only use that fridge for special events, so it is normally turned off.”

He must have noticed how reluctant Erin was to go anywhere near the fridge and find out just how bad things were. His right hand flicked towards the store. “It’s quite safe now. The entire wiring system to the store area was