A Frothy Fiasco: A Cozy Mystery (Sweet Home Mystery Series Book 3) by Constance Barker

applause from the crowd.
    “Do you have any words for the crowd, Jerry?”
    Jerry reached out and took the microphone. Then he walked over to Martha White, took her hand, and led her back to the winner’s circle. The crowd gasped as he got down on one knee.
    “Martha…”
    You could cut the anticipation with a knife. Martha looked extremely ill-at-ease.
    “…will you go steady with me?”
    The crowd laughed and clapped and whistled. Then he handed her the microphone and they all fell quickly silent, waiting for her response.
    “Jerry Thatcher, you old coot,” she said, “I don’t even know if that’s your real teeth or hair, so how can I go steady with you?”
    There was a groan of disappointment from the crowd, and Jerry looked down at his shoes.
    “But if you’ll invite me on that trip you just won to Universal Studios, I’ll sure think about it.”
    A great cheer went up, drowning out Martha’s final comment.
    “Separate rooms!” she hollered into the microphone.
    As the crowd dispersed, the aunts and Jules, with her bicycle, found me at the smoothie stand.
    “How were sales,” Hildie asked. “Did they like the drinks?”
    “You did a great job making them, Hildie. We sold 120 at five dollars each. A hundred dollars for the Children’s Hospital, a hundred for the campfire Girls, a hundred for the cost of the ingredients, a hundred for the Coffee Cabana, and…” I said handing a stack of bills to Moira, “a hundred for the best workers in the world. Thanks, Moira. You share that with your mother now.”
    Carmen opened her mouth to protest, but I stopped her with a serious look and a shake of my head. “You two did a lot more work than I did and clearly deserve it. In fact, we’re going to start a new partnership deal on the morning coffee too.”
    “Let’s switch to 16-ounce cups for four dollars,” Moira said. “A lot of people ask if we have a large size.”
    That sounded like a pretty good idea. Her dad pulled up on his bicycle just as a text came in from Eli. He wanted Jules and me to meet him at the Sleepy Palms courtyard where people were gathering for the results of the silent auction.
    Essie and Hildie went to open up the coffee shop. Eli had dropped me here, so I didn’t have a ride. It wasn’t too far, but further than I wanted to walk.
    “Here,” Albert said. “Take my bike. Carmen’s got the car, so I can just ride with her.
    Things have a way of working out. Jules and I biked over to the courtyard in front of the retirement village.
     
    The ice cream social was being dismantled, and people were crowding the tables at the front to see if they had won any of the auction items.
    “Just like the old days,” Eli said as we rolled in. “A pretty girl on a bicycle riding by trying to get my attention.”
    “Ha!” I protested. “I was always going somewhere. It was you that practically twisted your head off gawking at me.”
    “Well, you were just a little kid most of my school life, since I was a whole three years older. But then around the time I graduated you started getting a little more interesting.”
    We jumped off our bikes and put down the kickstands. Eli was there with Officer Karen Crenshaw and Toe Thompson. That seemed a little odd.
    I looked at the group. “So…what’s up? How was the crime business today?”
    Eli had a serious but pleased look. “Three break-ins today during the festivities. Each time it was within a few houses of where Toe’s truck was parked.”
    I was in shock. My eyes were wide and my mouth partly open. I looked at Toe’s wrists, but he was not in handcuffs.
    All three of them had looks on their faces like the cat that just ate the canary.
    Jules piped up. “So, what aren’t you guys telling us? And there must be a reason that Toe isn’t under arrest.”
    “There is,” he said, and looked at Karen.
    “I was driving Toe’s truck,” Karen said, “and Toe was with Eli all day.”
    No wonder I hadn’t seen him around anywhere.