Shortbread and Shivers Read online

  Shortbread and Shivers

  No-Bake Cozy Mysteries, Book 5

  Ramona Ransom

  Summer Prescott Books Publishing

  Copyright 2021 Summer Prescott Books

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication nor any of the information herein may be quoted from, nor reproduced, in any form, including but not limited to: printing, scanning, photocopying, or any other printed, digital, or audio formats, without prior express written consent of the copyright holder.

  * * *

  **This book is a work of fiction. Any similarities to persons, living or dead, places of business, or situations past or present, is completely unintentional.

  Contents

  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

  Also by Ramona Ransom

  Author’s Note

  Contact Summer Prescott Books Publishing

  Chapter One

  Nessa Pierce hopped up into her spitfire orange Jeep and rolled the windows down. She pulled out of her driveway, about to turn her music up, when she saw her neighbors out of the corner of her eye. Melanie, the older woman who lived right next door to her, and Percy, the man who lived one house over, were both waving their arms wildly at one another. She slowed down, trying to get a glimpse of what was going on.

  Melanie had one of those green expandable hoses in her hand, and she was yelling at Percy, pointing back and forth between the hose and a line of bushes between their homes. Nessa tried slowing down even more to see if she could hear what they were saying.

  The only thing she could hear was about every three words. Bush, disease, spread, and cut down. Nessa knew zero things about bushes, but to her, it sounded like one of the bushes had a disease and needed to be cut down or it would spread. Of course, she had no earthly idea if bushes could contract diseases, so it was entirely possible, and maybe even very likely, that she’d heard wrong.

  Shaking her head, she left the neighborhood and turned the music up. She typically waited until she was out of the residential area to blast her radio as not to bother her neighbors. However, Melanie and Percy didn’t seem too bothered by causing a scene, so maybe she didn’t need to worry so much. Nessa drove the rest of the way to Crumbs and Confections, the bakery she now owned and worked at with her grandfather, Lex.

  Lex, and Nessa’s late grandmother, Maude, had owned the bakery for over thirty years, and after Maude passed, Lex did his best to run the place on his own. When he called for Nessa to visit, she hadn’t expected the visit to become a permanent move to Lake Wilawalo, Massachusetts. She loved living there, loved being near her grandfather, and had met so many wonderful people that she couldn’t imagine her life any other way, even after only being there for a short time.

  She’d spent summers in Lake Wilawalo for all of her childhood and had worked at the bakery nearly every day that she was there. She answered the phone, took orders, and even did some light cleaning to help her grandparents. But the one thing she seldom did, and for good reason, was bake. She didn’t have whatever the equivalent to a green thumb was when it came to baking and certainly hadn’t acquired it as she’d aged.

  Now that she owned the place, she had to get creative in how she did things. She no longer worked the opening shift since whoever worked it was in charge of doing the majority of the baking for the day. She wasn’t remotely ready for that part of the job. She worked six days a week serving customers and working on what she was slowly learning she was good at. No-bake recipes. Nessa loved being able to be creative and make different desserts without having to actually bake them. Between her, her grandfather, and their two employees, Chloe and Faye, the bakery was in good hands.

  Nessa pulled into the parking lot and sat there for a moment, admiring all the vehicles around her. Crumbs and Confections was busier than ever. She went inside, quickly putting her long, black hair into a ponytail, and washing her hands before diving into the job. She moved with a sense of urgency that she didn’t know she had, to get the tables cleaned for more customers to sit down. She helped refill the bakery case and even managed to put a batch of brownies into the oven without hurting anyone. As far as she was concerned, that meant it was going to be a good day.

  “I’m so glad you came in early!” an out of breath Chloe said, standing beside Nessa in the stockroom.

  “Me, too. This place is packed!”

  “I know, and I can’t find the stupid plastic forks.” Chloe stomped her feet.

  Nessa, unable to contain her laughter, looked over at Chloe, who was throwing a toddler-sized tantrum.

  “Isn’t that them right there?” Nessa asked, pointing to the box right in front of them.

  “Ugh. Yes. That’s them.” Chloe snatched the box and went back out front.

  Knowing that Chloe and her grandfather had everything under control now, Nessa stayed in the back, trying to get everything organized. When things got busy at the bakery, every one of them tended to toss things wherever and worry about it later. One of the best things she could do was tidy up so they didn’t have to. As she worked, she thought more about Melanie and Percy, wondering if Chloe had ever seen anything going on between them before.

  Since Chloe lived with her and worked fewer hours, she might have known more about it. Nessa knew that Percy hadn’t been back in town for long and that he was a seasonal resident. She’d met him a handful of times before when he’d come into the bakery, and she knew that he liked honey bran muffins, but that’s the extent of what she knew about him.

  As Nessa was finishing up, Chloe returned, this time looking much more relaxed. “It’s over,” she said. “The rush is finally over.”

  “I’m glad.” Nessa laughed. “Hey, while you have a minute, I have a question.”

  “As long as you don’t want me to work a double, I’m all ears.” Chloe grinned.

  “I wouldn’t do that to you,” Nessa said. “When I was on my way here, I saw Melanie and Percy in some sort of argument. They were yelling at each other and acting insane. Have you seen them do that before?”

  “Yes. Actually, I have. Last night when you were out with Daniel, I went for a walk around the neighborhood because my mom called, and I knew the conversation was going to be long, and I just wanted to walk around when I talked. Anyway,” she said, cutting herself off from her rant, “I walked by Melanie’s, and she was outside staring at some bush. It was the weirdest thing. At first, she was standing up, then I looked over again, and she was kneeling. Her body was like halfway inside the bush. I couldn’t stop staring at her. Then, when I realized I probably looked as weird as she did, I walked away but went by again a few minutes later. At that time, she was lying on the ground, looking up at the bush. I heard a door slam, which brought me back to reality since I was gawking at the poor woman.”

  Nessa interrupted Chloe. “Was it Percy?”

  “Slamming the door? I have no idea because I saw someone sitting on the dock across the street who was even more intently watching Melanie than I was. The whole thing was weird, and I ended up going home because I got myself all panicky. Here I was thinking we lived in this quiet little neighborhood.”

  “Me, too. But I guess it could be worse. A friendly tiff between neighbors isn’t so bad.”

  Chloe shrugged. “As long as that’s all it was.”

  Chapter Two

  Nessa was sitting in her bed an
d going over the schedule for the bakery when she heard yelling outside. She’d had her window open, always preferring a cool breeze when she slept and thought she could enjoy it while she lounged around as well. She got up and went over to the window, looking outside. She couldn’t see anyone or anything, and before she could hear what anyone was saying, the voices died down, and she was left with silence.

  Waiting for a minute to see if it started back up, Nessa stood there, nearly jumping two feet in the air, when she heard a knock on her door. She looked at the clock on her bedside table, seeing that it wasn’t all that late, but still later than she’d expect a visitor to show up.

  She padded down the stairs, mentally thanking Clint, her contractor, for removing the hideous yellow shag carpet that covered the stairs when she’d bought the place, and went to the door.

  “Bizzie. What are you doing here?” Nessa asked, seeing her neighbor, and least favorite person on the planet standing in front of her.

  “Did you hear Melanie and Percy fighting?” Bizzie asked, letting herself inside the house.

  “Why don’t you come on in?” Nessa muttered, waving Bizzie through and rolling her eyes. “I heard yelling a minute ago, but I didn’t see anyone. How do you know it was them?”

  Nessa suspected it was them solely based on what she’d seen earlier and what Chloe had told her, but apparently, Bizzie knew something she didn’t.

  “I’m thirsty,” Bizzie said, walking into the kitchen. “Want something to drink? I can make hot tea.”

  Nessa stared at her like she had three heads. “Sure, Bizzie, I’d love for you to make me a cup of tea in my own house.”

  “Awesome.” Bizzie started opening drawers and cabinets until she found what she was looking for. “So, I’m sure you already know about what’s going on, so I thought you might want to talk about it. Since you’re new to the neighborhood and all.”

  Nessa, still stunned by Bizzie’s abrasive nature, sat down. “I have no idea what’s going on, to tell you the truth. I saw Melanie and Percy arguing about something when I passed by on my way to the bakery earlier, and it seemed to be about some bush or plant or something.”

  “The bushes.” Bizzie threw her arms up in mock disgust. “Okay, so, Melanie hasn’t lived here long, maybe five or six months, and Percy has been gone for just as long. I guess his daughter had some trouble keeping up with her business, so he went to help her. When he got home, he saw that Melanie had trimmed the bushes that went along the property line.”

  “Are they not hers to trim?” Nessa asked.

  “That’s the problem. No one knows. The person who owned the house before Melanie bought it was really old and ended up having to go to a nursing home. Her kids didn’t do anything with the house for a long time, so Percy ended up taking care of things just for the sake of doing it. I guess she wanted to keep up with the bushes because they were close to his house, or maybe they are his. I don’t know that part, but what I do know is that Percy was madder than a wet hen when he got home and saw what Melanie had done.”

  “Is it really that big of a deal?” Nessa asked. “I heard Melanie say something about a disease. What if she was right, and the bush had some sort of disease? Had she not trimmed them, everything would have spread, and even more things would die.”

  “When did you become a gardening professional?” Bizzie waited for the water to boil and searched the cabinets further. “Do you have any shortbread cookies?”

  “I don’t think so,” Nessa said, trying to keep up. “I’m not a professional. It’s what I overheard them saying when I drove by.”

  “Whatever.” Bizzie dismissed her with a wave. “I think there’s more to it than just the bushes, though. Percy is really upset with her. Have you seen that little setup he has?”

  “Setup for what?”

  “Girl, you have to check it out. He’s got this tent thing set up on the property line. He sits out there all day watching and waiting for her to step over the line to his property.”

  “What the heck is wrong with people? You and I aren’t even friends, and you’re inside my house. Granted, I didn’t invite you, but still. I wouldn’t be on the defense if you stepped onto my property.”

  “Obviously,” Bizzie said, smirking. “But we’re from a different generation and aren’t in the headspace to wag our fingers and tell people to get off our lawn. Do you want milk and sugar?”

  “Sure,” Nessa agreed, looking at Bizzie, who was now sitting across from her at the table. She let Bizzie settle in, barely sure why.

  “So, about that shortbread… You really should keep some handy for when you have guests.”

  Nessa closed her eyes, trying to compose herself. She wondered if there was such a thing as a no-bake shortbread and vowed to herself that as soon as Bizzie left, she’d research to find out. If she could figure out how to make it, she was going to, and then she’d drop off a batch to Bizzie, who, hopefully, would be at her own house.

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” Nessa said, sipping her steaming hot tea, and waiting to hear what Bizzie was going to say next.

  Chapter Three

  Nessa rolled over in bed and rubbed her eyes. She’d been having a dream about everything going on with her neighbors. Only it wasn’t Melanie and Percy fighting over bushes. It was her and Bizzie. She had enough going on with Bizzie and was thankful they hadn’t yet had any concerns over property lines.

  She stretched and groaned, her body cracking and popping despite her age. Nessa forced herself out of bed, still half-asleep, and went downstairs to get her caffeine fix. It wasn’t until she got downstairs that she heard hammering. She listened closer and then heard a drill of some sort going off every few seconds.

  As her coffee brewed, she looked out the window to see what was going on. The only thing she could see was a large work truck parked in front of Melanie’s house. She moved the curtain back, trying to see the words on the side of the truck. The only thing she could make out was FENCING. Intrigued, Nessa ran upstairs to make herself look moderately human and then poured herself a travel mug full of coffee. At that point, she’d never wished harder that she had a dog. She could take Fluffy out for a walk and snoop on her neighbors. Instead, she took her travel mug, looked down at her attempt at exercise gear, and called it sufficient.

  When she got outside, she went down to the end of her driveway, seeing two men hammering away and setting up fence posts between Melanie and Percy’s house. She sipped her coffee and started power walking, hoping she looked nothing like the ladies at the mall who flailed their arms around while wearing pink and purple wind suits.

  Nessa reached the end of Melanie’s driveway and slowed down. It wasn’t the workers or even Melanie who had her attention. It was Percy. He was standing across the street from Melanie’s house, arms crossed and his gaze fixated on the fence.

  “Do you believe this?” he asked.

  Nessa looked all around, hoping he wasn’t talking to her. She’d only wanted to be nosy, not involved.

  “What’s going on?” Nessa asked, coming to a complete stop in front of him. She wanted to be polite and talk to Percy while getting his side of the story, but when she saw the glare Melanie was giving her, she wasn’t sure it was such a good idea.

  “Miss Make-Believe Melanie seems to have created something in her imagination that has her thinking she can do whatever she wants. This is an eyesore, a monstrosity, a… a… I don’t know,” Percy huffed. “It’s going to ruin the look and feel of the neighborhood. We don’t do privacy fences around here. We just don’t.”

  Nessa couldn’t argue that it was a bit of an eyesore. She was all for privacy but had to admit that it seemed maybe Percy was more upset about the bushes being on her side of the fence than it was about the actual fence.

  “She certainly works fast. I thought someone had to come out to survey the property first.”

  Nessa jumped, hearing the guttural sound that came from Percy. “Get this. When she bought the house, she had
someone come out and do a survey. She had the gall to knock on my door this morning to show me the papers proving that the bushes were hers and said that I was no longer allowed on her property. Meanwhile, she’s standing on mine like it’s no big thing.”

  “Isn’t that common? I thought it was pretty normal to have a survey done.” Nessa hadn’t done it herself but didn’t think it was out of line or anything.

  “Common if you want to have trouble with your neighbors. We never needed to do stuff like that until she came around. We all help each other out, and now, after she cuts down my prized bushes, she puts up a fence to keep me out. Like a dog. I tell you, like a dog!”

  Percy wasn’t happy, and Nessa didn’t have the heart to remind him that those weren’t his bushes at all.

  “I’m sorry about all of this, but maybe it’s for the best. You can stay on your side, and she can stay on hers.”

  “There aren’t supposed to be any sides. Don’t you understand?” Percy stormed off, retreating to his yard.

  Nessa winced and looked over at Melanie, who was still glaring at her. She waved, hoping to make the woman smile, but when she got nothing in return, Nessa headed home to see if Chloe was awake yet.

  On her way, she saw another set of her neighbors outside watching. She waved to them, and they waved back, restoring her faith in human kindness, at least for a minute.

  Once she was back inside, she knew she had to get ready for work. She desperately wanted to talk to someone about what she’d just experienced and couldn’t wait because Faye would be at the bakery. It pained Nessa to realize that she actually wanted to talk to Bizzie about things, so she rushed to get herself ready and ran out the door before she acted on it.