Strawberry Shortcake to Die For (A Liana Campbell Cozy Mystery Book 2) Read online

  STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE TO DIE FOR

  Alaine Allister

  Copyright © 2017 A. Allister

  This is a work of fiction. All characters and events depicted are products of the author’s imagination. The cover is for illustrative purposes only. All rights reserved.

  A scorned wife. A greedy lover. A bitter business partner.

  Chester Atkins was a terrible person. It’s no surprise he wound up dead. But who killed him? The list of suspects is long, but small town coffee shop owner Liana Campbell is determined to narrow it down.

  The amateur sleuth sets out to solve the case, but runs into some distractions along the way. For instance, her overbearing mother is determined to find her a boyfriend. And she isn’t subtle about it.

  Will Liana emerge with her dignity intact? Will she find out who killed Chester? Will her cat ever successfully catch his tail? Read the book to find out!

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Chapter 01

  Chapter 02

  Chapter 03

  Chapter 04

  Chapter 05

  Chapter 06

  Chapter 07

  Chapter 08

  Chapter 09

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Recipe

  Chapter 01

  “Oof!” Liana Campbell grunted as she summoned all her strength.

  Liana’s cat, Fluffy, looked on as she struggled.

  Inch by inch, the petite blonde dragged her new white, tufted sofa across the living room. Her face was scrunched up in an expression of determination and her face was red. She wanted - no, she needed to put the sofa in front of the window. Obviously.

  Why hadn’t she seen that it belonged there sooner?

  The thing wasn’t exactly easy to move. It was heavy and awkward. But Liana wasn’t going to let that stop her. With a mighty roar, she finally managed to position the large, bulky piece of furniture where she wanted it.

  “There!” Liana said to her cat with a proud flip of her ponytail. “I’ve rearranged the entire living room. Again. And this time, I’m sure I got it right! What do you think? The armchairs look much better now that they’re across from the sofa, don’t they?”

  Her whiskered companion offered a blank stare in response.

  Feeling good about what she had accomplished, Liana stepped back to admire her work.

  Her awesome new sofa sat directly in front of the window. And it was piled high with approximately ten million decorative cushions.

  Some of them were silver and sparkly, embellished with more sequins than any cushion truly needed. Others were covered in luxurious white faux fur. Every so often, Fluffy seemed to mistake the furry cushions for animals and heated standoffs would ensue.

  Sometimes he acted like he thought the sequined cushions were alive, too.

  He wasn’t the brightest cat in the world, but Liana adored him.

  Her oak coffee table had a gigantic, elaborate floral centerpiece on it. Liana had made it herself, spending a small fortune on craft supplies at the dollar store. She wasn’t quite sure what to do with the leftover supplies. At the moment, they were in a box by the entryway. Liana had nearly tripped over it on more than one occasion.

  But it was all worth it.

  The living room now looked just like the photos Liana had drooled over on Pinterest.

  She stood there and took it all in.

  Then her brow furrowed and she frowned.

  “This looks nothing like Pinterest led me to believe it would,” Liana complained.

  Fluffy looked up at her in confusion.

  “What am I doing wrong?” Liana grumbled as she plopped down onto the sofa, causing approximately half a million decorative cushions to fall onto the floor.

  When she realized she couldn’t even see the television, she let out a groan of frustration and moved the enormous centerpiece aside. It had seemed like a great idea when she had seen a photo of something similar in someone else’s living room. But maybe it wasn’t so wonderful after all.

  “Mew?” Fluffy asked.

  “I don’t get it, Fluffy,” Liana sighed. “I bought trendy, stylish furniture. I got an area rug because apparently no modern living room is complete without one. I even bought wall art that’s nearly identical to the stuff I saw on Pinterest. So why doesn’t my living room look like a living room from Pinterest?”

  The look of confusion of Fluffy’s sweet little face intensified.

  “You don’t even know what Pinterest is, do you?” Liana chuckled. “Consider yourself lucky. It’s like a lifestyle magazine, except it’s not a magazine. It’s a web site for sharing ideas. People use it to find recipes and style tips and other life hacks.”

  Fluffy caught sight of his tail and spun around in a circle. Liana had a feeling he wasn’t listening to her. But she decided to explain the concept of Pinterest to him anyway. She wasn’t sure why. A little voice in the back of her head started whispering that she was a pathetic cat lady with no real hobbies and no social life.

  That wasn’t true, of course.

  Liana had hobbies...Pinterest was a hobby.

  “Pinterest is a website that makes you feel like your home decor is completely inadequate. And don’t even get me started on Houzz! I thought joining that website would inspire me. Instead, it made me feel like I’m failing at life.”

  “Mrow?” Fluffy inquired, momentarily giving up on capturing his tail.

  “I don’t know. Maybe I’m just not meant to have a gorgeous, magazine-worthy home.”

  Fluffy sauntered over to the massive mountain of decorative cushions on the floor. The timid little cat hesitated for a moment, sniffing around to be sure it was safe. Then, without warning, he dove straight into the pile.

  “At least one of us gets use out of those,” Liana joked. “I don’t know why I felt the need to run out and buy a whole new living room set, anyway. I guess I figured it was long overdue. I’d been living with hand-me-downs and garage sale finds for as long as I could remember.”

  Liana tipped her head to the side and stared off into space thoughtfully.

  “You know, I own a house and a business. That’s a lot to take on. Until recently, I didn’t have the disposable income to redecorate. But I’m making good money at the coffee shop these days. I figured it was time to treat myself a little, you know?”

  Fluffy, of course, didn’t reply. Why would he? He was a cat.

  “Ever since I moved out on my own, I felt like a little kid playing house,” Liana confided. “I don’t know why. I mean, I’m nearly thirty! I’m not exactly sure how that happened, come to think of it. Where has the time gone?”

  Fluffy rolled around contentedly atop his giant pile of decorative cushions. Either he had no concept of time or he simply didn’t care. Either way, Liana was envious. Being a cat seemed like a good deal.

  “Buying brand new furniture seemed like an adult thing to do,” she explained. “I think I expected to feel different once I did it, you know? But instead, all I’m doing is rearranging the furniture night after night. And no matter where I position it, it never looks quite right.”

  Fluffy was no longer paying any attention to Liana - that much was clear. He was having far too much fun bouncing around from cushion to cushion. Where did he get all that energy? And how was he so easily
amused? Give the little guy a cardboard box or a sheet of tissue paper and he could entertain himself for hours.

  Liana looked at the cat wistfully. “I wish I was as carefree as you,” she smiled. “I’m nearly thirty and I’m just barely starting to get my life together. I’ve already switched careers once. When I told Mom and Dad I wasn’t doing freelance graphic design gigs anymore, they sounded so relieved.”

  “Mrrr,” Fluffy replied. He was staring at one of the furry cushions now, and the tip of his tail was wildly flicking back and forth. He had probably convinced himself the cushion was an animal again. Any second now, he would most likely attack it.

  “Freelance graphic design was always too unstable for Mom and Dad’s liking. They wanted me to get a regular job with a predictable salary and benefits. They nearly had heart attacks when I told them I’d up and bought a coffee shop!”

  The cat hopped off the pile of cushions and jumped onto Liana’s lap. Purring loudly, he began to prance around in circles as he kneaded her thighs.

  “I’m just relieved the coffee shop is doing so well,” Liana remarked as she scratched the top of Fluffy’s head. “I’m pretty sure Mom and Dad thought buying it was another one of my crazy, impulsive decisions. Thankfully, it worked out. I love what I do and business is good.”

  “Mrow,” Fluffy replied, his eyelids growing heavy.

  Liana opened her mouth to speak. Then she shut it again. Something was nagging at her, but she couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was. She felt like some important thing had slipped her mind...but what? Was there something she was supposed to be doing?

  Then it hit her.

  “I’m supposed to pick Mom and Dad up at the airport!” Liana gasped.

  She nudged the snoozing cat off her lap.

  He let out a snort. Then he opened his eyes and glared at her.

  Fluffy could be temperamental, but he usually recovered fairly quickly. Immediately after giving Liana an angry scowl, he curled up on the sofa and went back to sleep. The urge to shoo him away was strong, but Liana resisted.

  Cats and expensive new furniture didn’t mix. To make matters worse, the sofa was white. That was almost certainly a recipe for disaster. But there was no point in trying to keep Fluffy off of it. Liana reasoned it was his home as much as hers. Besides, he rarely obeyed her.

  Come to think of it, the white sofa had been a really bad decision. Who bought a white sofa? Fluffy was going to shed all over it, and every single hair would show up. Yes, the white sofa had definitely been a mistake...but there was no time to dwell on that.

  Liana raced through the house in search of shoes, a jacket and her purse. Then she quickly put some food out for Fluffy. After refilling his water dish, she turned on the television to keep him company. Once that was done, she ran out to her car and hit the road.

  Sugarcomb Lake didn’t have an airport. The town was far too small for that. The nearest airport was in Green City, the urban center closest to the quaint community. Liana had a bit of a drive ahead of her. She was grateful the worst of Minnesota’s winter was over with.

  As Liana drove past the lake, she couldn’t help but think about what had been discovered there. She shuddered involuntarily.

  It was a beautiful, scenic area. It was heavily treed, serene and boasted several walking trails. In the summer, people loved to boat on the lake and picnic on the shore. In the winter, ice fishing and tobogganing were popular activities.

  But now all Liana could associate it with was death.

  Chapter 02

  “Mom! Dad!”

  When Liana spotted her parents by the baggage carousel, she couldn’t stop smiling. It had been a while since she had seen them, It had been three weeks, to be precise. She raced across the airport as she called out to them.

  Her mother turned around first.

  With her shoulder length blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes, Anne Campbell looked like an older version of Liana. Her face lit up at the sight of her daughter. She dropped her bags and nudged Liana’s dad.

  “What?” the somewhat stocky, recent retiree asked.

  “Liana’s here!”

  “Huh?” he asked, cupping his hand to his ear. “Say that again?”

  “Rusty! Why won’t you just admit you’re getting hard of hearing?” Anne asked.

  “I’m not,” he protested. “I can hear perfectly fine. I can hear you nagging me, can’t I?”

  “I’m not nagging,” Anne protested.

  “You’re not? Then there must be something wrong with my hearing after all, because it sure sounds like nagging to me!” Rusty quipped. “But in all seriousness, I’m fine. My ears are popping after being on the plane, that’s all.”

  “Why don’t you go get your hearing checked out anyway?” Anne urged. “Now that we’re home from our cruise, you have the perfect opportunity to make an appointment.”

  “I won’t hear of it,” Rusty retorted, crossing his arms in defiance.

  Then he stared at his wife expectantly, waiting for her to acknowledge his truly terrible pun.

  Rusty was somewhat of a jokester. He loved nothing more than to “entertain” his wife and daughter with stupid puns and dumb punchlines. It seemed he derived some sort of sick delight from making them roll their eyes in irritation . It was sadistic, really.

  Though she would never admit it out loud, Liana had missed her dad’s unfunny jokes.

  It seemed her mother had completely forgotten she was there. And her father was still completely oblivious to her presence. Liana had to grin to herself. Then she loudly cleared her throat and, for good measure, tapped her dad on the shoulder.

  “Oh look!” he exclaimed as he turned around, grinning from ear to ear. “Our ride is here!”

  “How was the cruise?” Liana asked as her parents both tried to hug her at the same time.

  Rusty and Anne were both recently retired. They had decided to spend their golden years vacationing. They had just returned from their third Alaskan cruise...or was it their fourth? Liana had lost track.

  “It was lovely,” Anne smiled. “I’ll never get tired of the gorgeous scenery in Alaska. We went on a whale watching tour and even splurged on a helicopter ride when the ship was docked in Juneau! But mostly, we sunbathed on the deck and indulged in amazing food.”

  “We didn’t go overboard,” Rusty chimed in. He was sporting a sunburn. It was only a mild one but it was very noticeable, especially now that his blonde hair had started to go white.

  “We didn’t go overboard? What are you talking about?” Anne asked. “Have you forgotten about the night you ate four desserts? Or the omelet station we got our breakfast from every single morning? We both overindulged and you know it!”

  “Yes, but we didn’t go overboard,” Rusty repeated, waiting for his wife and daughter to catch on.

  “Ugh,” Liana groaned when she got the pun. She looked at her mother. “Is Dad still at it?”

  “Your father cracked terrible jokes the entire trip,” Anne complained.

  “You noticed?” Rusty asked.

  “Unfortunately, yes.”

  “Huh.” Rusty scratched his head in confusion. “I didn’t think you noticed. You didn’t laugh.”

  “Your jokes weren’t funny!” Anne retorted. “Anyway,” she said, turning her attention back to Liana, “Dad and I had a fabulous time. We went to shows almost every evening. We took in a couple plays, went to a few concerts and even saw a magician.”

  “You forgot the stand-up comedians,” Rusty interjected. “Hey Liana, do you know what a group of comedians are called when they’re standing at the front of the ship?”

  “What?”

  “A deck of cards!” Rusty quipped, cracking up at his own joke.

  Anne made a face. “Unlike your father, the comedians were actually funny.”

  Liana smiled. “I’m glad you two had a nice time.”

  “You’ll have to come with us next time,” Anne said as Rusty loaded their bags onto a luggage cart. “You
’d love it, Liana. There are usually at least a dozen decks on the cruise ships. They have everything - high end shops, swimming pools, fancy restaurants, movie theaters, a gym…”

  “And a Bob, a Joe, a Bill…”

  “Rusty, please! Will you stop?” Anne hissed. Clearly her husband’s lame puns were getting on her nerves. Perhaps they had been spending a bit too much time together lately. Or maybe they were simply worn out and irritable from a long day of traveling.

  “Sorry,” Rusty apologized.

  “Anyway, Liana, will you come with us on our next cruise?” Anne asked hopefully.

  “It does sound fun,” Liana admitted, wondering why in the world a cruise ship needed a gym. “But I can’t drop everything and go on a three week cruise, Mom. You and Dad are retired. I’m not. I have a business to run!”

  “Yes, but you have to live a little,” Anne insisted. “Not every cruise is three weeks long. There are shorter ones. Maybe you could take a ten-day cruise with us. It would be wonderful to take a family vacation together, don’t you think?”

  “I can’t take ten days off work,” Liana chuckled, amused by the thought. “Who would run the coffee shop?” Clearly her mother had no idea what her job entailed. Maybe being retired had made Anne forget what it was like to punch the clock.

  “Surely you get days off?” Anne asked.

  “Well yeah, sometimes. But right now my only employee is a high school student who works part-time. She comes in most evenings and some weekends. The rest of the time, it’s entirely up to me to run the place.”

  Anne pursed her lips. “You need more employees.”

  “I know!” Liana agreed. “Unfortunately, good employees are hard to find. I’m looking, Mom. Believe me, I’m looking. But I’m not going to hire just anyone. It has to be the right person. Until I find what I’m looking for, I won’t be in any position to go off on a ten-day cruise!”