Maddie's Recipe Of Mysteries (A Rockcrest Cove Cozy Mystery Book 1) by Emily Page

trio a bag of treats before they left. It was apparent that he was quite ecstatic at the prospect of a business relationship with Madeline.
     
    Evan proved to be extremely punctual, arriving at the store at precisely five thirty. He was clearly eager to find out what Madeline had to say. She ushered him into her back office, where Bailey was already waiting. Bailey gave him a friendly greeting and gestured for him to take a seat across from Madeline’s desk.
     
    “I have to admit, Madeline,” Evan started, “that I could hardly sleep last night thinking of the possibility of joining forces with you on a new business venture.”
     
    “Well, Evan, my proposition is not anything as grand as that.
     
    “Oh really?” He looked a little disappointed. “Then what is it?”
     
    Bailey rose from her seat and walked over to Evan and tossed the little red notebook onto the desk in front of him. “It’s this,” she said.
     
    Evan’s face clouded over as he looked at the book. Confused, he stared at it as though he wasn’t sure if it would bite him or not.
     
    “What is it?” he asked.
     
    “Why don’t you tell us?” Bailey said, her tone switching from slippery sweet to cutting.
     
    Surprised, Evan gingerly picked up the book and turned it over in his hands. “I don’t know what it is.”
     
    “Open it,” Madeline said. “Look inside.”
     
    He opened it, and the surprise that ran across his face was genuine. After only a few seconds of flipping through the pages, he said,
     
    “These are all the ideas that Emma gave me for my store.”
     
    “Correction,” Madeline countered. “Those are all the ideas that Emma stole from me and gave to you for your store.”
     
    Evan’s mouth flew open. He was appalled at the accusation. “What are you trying to say?” he questioned, obviously hurt.
     
    “Well, Evan, I’d like you to take a walk around my store and tell me if you see anything familiar about it.”
     
    “Why would you want me to do that?” he asked.
     
    Madeline rose from her seat. “I insist,” she said. “My attorney, Kyle, will escort you.”
     
    Kyle appeared in the doorway precisely on cue, standing erect and buttoning up his jacket with an air of sophistication.
     
    “Go on,” Madeline said. She waved her hands in front of him as if to send away a small child. “Shoo. Shoo. I’ll be here when you get back.”
     
    Evan thought about refusing, but one look at Kyle standing there looking like the mafia made him think twice. He rose and followed Kyle around the store.
     
    A few minutes later, the two men returned, and Evan’s face was distraught. “I don’t understand,” he commented.
     
    “My store has been here for more than ten years now, and as you can see, Evan, all the ideas you got from Emma were stolen from me.”
     
    “What are you saying?” he asked. “Are you implying that Emma and I had some arrangement to steal your business?”
     
    “That’s exactly what I’m implying,” Madeline continued.
     
    “But something happened between you two and she threatened to expose you as a fraud.”
     
    “What?”
     
    “So, you lured her over here, set a trap, and killed her in my store so that I would get framed for it.”
     
    Evan’s face evolved from shock to horror. He was appalled that the woman he had such high esteem for would believe such a thing. He spread his hands out in front of him as if to plead for her to understand.
     
    “Madeline,” he said, “you know me. We’ve been friends for so long. How could you think this of me?”
     
    “Evan, it is obvious from this book that Emma was stealing from me and feeding you my ideas. Are you saying that you knew nothing about it?”
     
    “Yes, that’s what I’m saying,” he said defiantly. His voice was beginning to tremble a little.
     
    “I didn’t know she was stealing from you. I swear!” he said with a little more trembling and a sniffle to add to it.
     
    Madeline and Bailey sat