by Cole,Lyndsey
Sliced Up
A Cozy Murder Mystery
Lyndsey Cole
Ginny Gold
Contents
Sliced Up
Copyright
Connect with me:
A note to our readers…
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
About the Authors
Also by Lyndsey Cole
Also by Ginny Gold
Sliced Up
A Cozy Murder Mystery
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 Lyndsey Cole
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author and/or publisher. No part of this publication may be sold or hired, without written permission from the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are a product of the writer’s imagination and/or have been used fictitiously in such a fashion it is not meant to serve the reader as actual fact and should not be considered as actual fact. Any resemblance to actual events, or persons, living or dead, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication / use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
Connect with me:
[email protected]
www.facebook.com/LyndseyColeAuthor
A note to our readers…
How often do you get the best of two authors? Not very. But that’s what mother-daughter team Lyndsey Cole and Ginny Gold bring to you with Sliced Up.
You may know that Ginny became a mom not long ago, and then you didn’t see much published from her. But she can’t stop the ideas from flowing! In stepped her own mom, Lyndsey, to make those ideas come alive.
We are excited to offer Sliced Up exclusively to our readers as a THANK YOU for your unending support!
Enjoy!
~Lyndsey & Ginny
1
“That isn’t really what you’re wearing, right?” Aria asked Piper, giving her an obvious once over.
Piper looked down at her worn-in jeans and purple plaid flannel. “Why not?” she asked, looking back up. “It’s not like it’s my pink windbreaker. I thought I was pretty put together.”
“Putting on makeup doesn’t automatically mean you’re put together,” Aria argued. She started pushing her clothes aside. “Here, wear this instead.”
Aria held an extra-long white tank in Piper’s direction. “It’s February. I’m not wearing a tank top.”
Refusing to be deterred, Aria turned back to the closet. “This black sweater will work with it. They’re both long.”
Piper shook her head. “I’m not changing. This is who I am. If Eli doesn’t like it then he’s not the guy for me.”
Aria shook her head but didn’t press. She hung her clothes back up in her walk-in closet and flopped onto her stomach on her bed. Piper sat on the corner of the bed and turned to watch her friend.
“What time are we meeting them?” Aria asked, picking up her phone.
“You made the plans,” Piper reminded her, falling backward onto the bed next to Aria and staring up at the ceiling.
Aria was quiet while she stared at her phone. “Mm … eight o’clock.”
It was only seven twenty. Piper left work at seven and biked straight to Aria’s. She’d planned ahead and brought a change of clothes with her—which Aria didn’t think was appropriate for their date.
“We’re meeting them at Spiced Up?”
Aria let her eyes leave her phone and she turned her head to make eye contact with Piper. “Do you remember anything?” she teased. “Yeah, Spiced Up at eight. Eli Smith-Michaels and Wyatt Brennan.”
Piper scowled. “I remember their names.” She paused. “How did you meet them, anyway?” It had taken plenty of convincing on Aria’s part to get Piper to agree to a double date.
Aria smiled mischievously. “I haven’t.”
Piper bolted upright. “You haven’t met them?”
Aria shook her head, her long, dirty blond curls swishing in front of her face. Her smile didn’t change. “It’s a blind date. I found Wyatt online and we thought it’d be fun to each bring a friend.”
“A double blind date?” Piper asked. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” She flopped backward onto the bed again, one arm falling over her face.
“Piper, all you do is work. This will be good for you,” Aria argued.
It was true. Piper hadn’t been on a date since before Christmas, and even that one didn’t last longer than a single dinner. “Yeah, yeah. You think I need to have more fun. But I work seven days a week at Gone Fish’n.”
“I know. You work really hard,” Aria said, more understanding of Piper’s place in life. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun once in a while. And neither of them have been on a date with Autumn.” Aria smiled and turned back to her phone.
The jab hurt. Piper’s last date was with one of her sister’s ex-boyfriends. Granted, their relationship barely lasted longer than Piper’s. But she still didn’t like going out with one of Autumn’s rejects.
“Let’s go. If we’re early, we can check them out before they know we’re there,” Aria suggested, getting off the bed.
Piper followed reluctantly. Suddenly she wasn’t so excited about this double date. She thought Aria had met Eli and Wyatt so there was a personal recommendation that they were worth her time. She didn’t know they were both going in blind.
Piper loaded her bike onto the roof of Aria’s car and got into the passenger seat. “What do you know about Eli?” she asked as Aria pulled out onto the street.
Aria didn’t take her eyes off the road as she answered. “Nothing.”
“What do you know about Wyatt?” Piper asked, switching tactics. If Wyatt had redeeming qualities, that might be enough for Eli to look more intriguing.
“He works at the Emerald Island Bulletin—”
“With Lydie Jackson?” Piper asked, already wishing she wasn’t on her way to meet him.
Aria shrugged and glanced at Piper. “I don’t know. I guess so. Does she work there?”
Piper huffed. “Yeah. And she doesn’t have any morals. That newspaper is full of lies.”
“Are you thinking about what she wrote about you in December?”
“Yeah.” Piper crossed her arms. She knew she was being immature by lumping Wyatt in with Lydie just because they worked together. “It’s not like I can forget it. At least once a day a customer at Gone Fish’n asks me about the article.”
“Really? Don’t they know you weren’t even arrested?”
“Who knows? No one really cares about the truth when the lies are more entertaining.”
Aria didn’t respond so Piper was left t
o fume until they parked downtown. In anticipation of probably calling it a night before Aria was ready, Piper took her bike off the roof and locked it to a tree. She threw her messenger bag—a Christmas gift from her parents—across her chest and followed Aria to Spiced Up.
Piper silently followed Aria to two open chairs next to the food truck. The fire pit glowed with enticing flames and Piper leaned forward to stay warm. For February, it wasn’t too cold, but there was still a chill in the air.
“That’s them,” Aria whispered, pointing. “They must have had the same idea we did. They’re here early, too. I was hoping to watch them arrive.”
Piper followed Aria’s gaze and her eyes landed on two stunningly good looking men. Her skepticism melted and she smiled. “Who’s Eli?”
“The one in the flannel.” There was no irony in Aria’s voice but Piper chuckled to herself.
Eli was tall and lanky. His fingers wrapped around a bottle of beer and Piper thought they looked like piano-playing fingers—long. Wyatt looked like a rugby player.
“Let’s go,” Aria urged, pulling on Piper’s hand. “We’re all here. No sense waiting for them to make the first move.”
Piper wasn’t as confident but she stood up to follow her friend. Before they reached them, both men stood and turned away from Piper and Aria.
Piper’s heart sank. Wyatt must have recognized Aria, not liked what he saw, and they were making a quick exit.
Piper put her hand on Aria’s arm to slow her down. “Where are they going?” she asked.
Aria shook her head. “I don’t know.” Aria stopped and they both watched the two men approach another group of three men, happily eating their Spiced Up sliders.
To Piper’s horror, Wyatt aggressively pushed one man’s shoulder. “What is he doing?” Piper whispered in Aria’s ear. No one else seemed to be paying any attention to the possible fight about to break out.
“I don’t know,” Aria said again, her expression growing concerned. She didn’t take her eyes off of her date.
“Should we go?” Piper asked.
“No way. Let’s see what’s going on.” Aria pulled Piper closer to the confrontation.
As Piper and Aria watched, Eli retreated from the group of men. He obviously didn’t want anything to do with Wyatt’s plan, whatever that may be. But he made no move to join Aria and Piper. Wyatt must not have seen them before he decided to pick a fight so Eli was still in the dark that they were being watched.
Suddenly, Wyatt was on the ground with a bloody lip and some personal items were scattered among the tables. One punch was thrown and that ended the fight. The three men Wyatt had approached packed up their food and quickly left the area. Wyatt stood, picked up what must have fallen from his pockets, staunched the flow of blood from his quickly ballooning lip, and returned to Eli’s side.
Wyatt’s eyes lit up when he spotted Aria. He raised one hand in greeting and smiled, the blood flowed from his fresh wound again.
Aria pulled Piper toward the men, her confidence in their blind dates returning in full force.
“Wyatt Brennan,” Wyatt said, his hand outstretched in Aria’s direction. “You must be Aria Bankston.”
“The one and only,” Aria answered, complete joy in her voice. “And this is Piper Carson.” Aria didn’t let go of Wyatt’s hand—the unbloodied one.
Piper raised one hand and gave a small wave toward Wyatt. He looked behind at Eli.
“Eli Smith-Michaels,” Eli said, waving back.
Piper looked at her shoes. She’d never been on a blind date. She didn’t particularly love meeting new people she was supposed to make small talk with.
“Don’t mind the fat lip. Just a misunderstanding,” Wyatt said, pulling his hand away and checking the napkin for fresh blood. There wasn’t any.
“Shall we?” Aria asked, turning her body to face Spiced Up again. “Piper and I could use a drink.”
Wyatt and Eli took the hint and escorted the women back to the food truck. They ordered more beers, which had to be consumed in the small area just next to the truck, and a variety of sliders—barbeque brisket, cheesesteak, and chicken delight—to share between the four of them. A picnic table opened up and they grabbed it before another group could.
“This is my first food truck experience,” Eli told Piper. Aria and Wyatt were already engrossed in a conversation so they were on their own to figure out what to talk about.
“Oh yeah? I actually work at one,” Piper said. “Gone Fish’n.” She took a bite of the barbeque brisket slider so she didn’t have to elaborate right away.
“No way!” Eli’s eyes widened in surprise and curiosity, easily pointing their conversation in a direction Piper could handle.
Piper nodded while she chewed. “We sell sea food.”
Eli laughed. “I would have guessed that from the name. Where’s the truck? I’d love to eat there.”
Piper watched Eli wipe his lips with a napkin. She imagined those fingers flying over piano keys. She was a sucker for live piano music.
“Downtown. Corner of Eighth and Edison.”
Eli couldn’t take his eyes off Piper. “I can’t believe I haven’t seen it. I work at Emerald Alternative Energy. It’s at Seventh and Edison.”
Piper looked away from Eli’s hands. “In that giant building? Isn’t that kind of ironic? You work for an alternative energy company but you use tons of electricity in an office building.”
Eli held up one finger. Piper could tell he was gearing up for a long-winded story. “Actually, our company helped design our building so it’s carbon neutral. In fact, on sunny days, it puts energy back into the grid. There are solar panels on the roof, super-efficient skylights—but those only help the top floor—tons of windows for natural light. It also runs on geothermal energy which covers all of our daily energy use.”
“Okay, I get it,” Piper said, interrupting him. “What do you do there?”
“Geographic information systems. I analyze placement of windmills.”
Piper nodded. She decided to change the direction of the conversation before he got bogged down in too much of the technical part of his job. “Do you play the piano, by any chance?”
Eli chuckled. It was a sudden turn in the conversation. “I do.”
Piper had no idea how much longer she and Eli talked before Aria said, “Let’s go do karaoke.” Her eyes were wide with excitement. “There’s a place around the corner. And they do a pub quiz on Saturday nights. We could try to win.” She glanced at her phone. “If we didn’t miss it already.”
Piper stifled a yawn. She was exhausted. Spending eight hours on her feet at work took its toll on her body.
“Don’t you dare say you’re too tired,” Aria warned, her eyes narrowing and her finger pointing in Piper’s direction.
Piper let the next yawn escape, covering her mouth with her hand. She nodded. “I am too tired though. You guys probably all have the weekend off. I have to work again tomorrow. And I worked today.”
“You don’t have to be at work until eleven,” Aria protested. “Come on.”
Piper shook her head. “I’ve gotta go take the dogs out.”
Before Piper could extricate herself from further conversation, Wyatt asked her, “What kind of dogs?” His enthusiasm to talk about dogs was way beyond a normal level of interest.
“Pomeranians,” Piper answered. “They’re kind of annoying.”
Wyatt shook his head. “You’re just thinking of them as big dogs. But they’re not. Small dogs have a whole different personality—well, dogonality.” He chuckled and Piper caught Aria’s eye. Aria suddenly didn’t seem quite as interested in Wyatt.
“Well, I’ll try my best to change my perspective. Have fun at karaoke. It was nice meeting you, Eli.” She waved and headed toward her bike before anyone else put up a fight to keep her out longer. She was already dreading the ride in the cold and dark to her current house sitting job, which was longer than usual.
Jacqueline and Giovanni
Moretti lived well outside of Emerald Island. Their massive house was in a gated community that made Piper feel completely out of place. For the life of her, Piper couldn’t figure out what the young couple did with all the rooms in their house. Their two Pomeranians sure didn’t take up much space.
With fingers freezing inside her insulated cycling gloves, Piper unlocked the Morettis’ garage and stowed her bike inside. She could already hear the two small dogs yipping and yapping inside the house. They were locked in the sunroom just inside from the garage when they were home alone. There was no doggy door to give them access to the small yard, but they had boxes of grass where they could take care of their business.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Piper called to them but that did nothing to allay their barks of protest. It only made their yapping grow more intense.
She opened the door and they danced on their rear legs, their front paws coming only up to her knees.
“I know, you want some food.” Piper moved as quickly as possible to their food bin and filled up two bowls with dry food.
The dogs turned their noses up at the offering and started jumping on her legs again. They followed her to the living room where she removed her layers of clothes, her Ugg boots, scarf, gloves, and messenger bag. Everything landed in a heap on the floor so she could come to the dogs’ rescue.
“You want better food, I know.”
Piper acquiesced to their demands, opening a previously frozen container of fresh meat, vegetables, and rice. Jacqueline and Giovanni treated their dogs like kids. The Pomeranians ate better than Piper did some nights.
Finally, Piper settled onto the couch, the dogs burrowing their way into the crooks of her arms, and turned on the TV. She wanted to tune out after her double blind date.
The sound of her phone ringing and the vibrations it sent through the couch woke her hours later. The only light came from the TV—a dull glow of early morning infomercials.