Cheesecake and Chills

  Cheesecake and Chills

  No-Bake Cozy Mysteries, Book 3

  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

  “What on earth are all these people doing here?” Nessa asked herself as she pulled the beast of a moving truck she’d been driving for the last couple of hours into the driveway of her new home. The drive from Granger, Connecticut, her hometown, to Lake Wilawalo, Massachusetts, was one she knew like the back of her hand, but Nessa Pierce had to admit that driving a vehicle so large wasn’t something she ever wanted to experience again. It was a windy day, so driving on the highway made her feel like she was going to take off flying at any moment, and the back roads were somehow even worse, especially the ones that barely fit one compact car at a time, never mind a moving truck.

  Normally, when she drove, Nessa loved to blast her favorite music over the speakers, but the truck was too noisy to hear anything without turning it up so loudly that the speakers crackled and sounded terrible. Instead, she drove in silence, thinking to herself about how she was going to set up her new home. The sale and closing process had gone quicker than she’d expected, and now that she’d received the good news that her home in Granger had also sold, Nessa was feeling on top of the world.

  “What’s everyone doing here?” she asked, jumping down from the truck and swinging the door shut behind her.

  Standing on her porch was her grandfather, Lex, and several friends that she’d gotten to know over the years since she’d been visiting the town every summer for most of her life.

  “We wanted to help,” Lex said, gesturing toward the group.

  Daniel, a long-time friend, turned guy she was currently dating, spearheaded the group. He was already on his way to open the back of the truck. “If we don’t have enough hands, I’ve got a couple of guys from work willing and able to help out.”

  Nessa looked around at everyone, surprised to see them but thankful for the help. She knew she wasn’t going to be able to get everything moved on her own but had intended on paying a local company to help her.

  “I think this should be okay. Are you sure you guys don’t mind helping?” she asked.

  Even Mavery Gallo was there, and they were barely even friends. They’d met a handful of times, and while Mavery was a nice person, she didn’t know her well at all. Life in a small-town sure was different.

  “We can’t wait. I even brought a friend. This is Clint,” Mavery said, introducing them. “He’s looking for work and…”

  “Oh,” Nessa said, realizing that this guy expected to be paid. “I think I have some cash in my purse.”

  “What I think Mavery meant to say was that I’ve got a small construction company, and she mentioned that you might need some renovations done on your house. I’m here today to help, but I’d love to talk later about anything else you may need.” Clint stuck out a hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  Nessa breathed a sigh of relief. She’d planned to pay someone to help her unpack anyway, but being caught off guard like that wasn’t her favorite.

  “Sounds good to me. I do need to have some work done around here.” She nodded, standing back and looking at her new house.

  “From out here, it looks pretty great,” Clint told her as they met Daniel at the truck. He’d already opened it and began rummaging around in the back.

  “How do we want to do this?” Daniel asked, lifting a box. “I can pass them down, and we can do an assembly line of sorts to get all the boxes inside, and then Clint and I can start on the furniture. Or does anyone else have any ideas?”

  “I’m pretty strong,” Mavery said, hopping inside the truck. “How about I help you and Clint with the heaviest things, and Lex and Faye can work on the boxes?”

  “I can help with the heavy things, too,” Lex protested.

  Faye Tempco, Lex’s late wife’s best friend, huffed. “You can do whatever you want, but I don’t want anything to do with the heavy stuff. I’m no spring chicken.” She gave him a look as if to say, ‘and neither are you, old man’.

  “And what will I be doing?” Nessa asked.

  “Supervising,” Mavery answered, lifting her first box, checking the weight, and passing it down to Faye.

  “I’m not letting all of you do the work while I instruct you how to do it. That’s ridiculous. Now, someone give me a box, and let’s get this done. I’ll buy everyone lunch when we’re done.”

  Nessa, along with her friends and family, worked quickly and efficiently. It helped that she didn’t need to tell them where to put things. Chloe, her college-aged neighbor, who had done the majority of the packing for her, had done a wonderful job at organizing most of her belongings. The parts that Nessa had done herself weren’t pretty. She’d started out with a grand plan to be organized but quickly gave up and started packing random things in random boxes. It made the packing quicker, but the end result would leave her in a mess once she began unpacking.

  As they were just about done, she thought it would be a good time to get their food orders in so their lunch would be ready when everything was finished.

  “I don’t mean to sound ungrateful or like I expected him to be here, but where’s Ranger?” Nessa asked when it was Daniel’s turn to order.

  Daniel pointed at the cheesesteak on the menu and sighed. “Ranger and Raff were both supposed to be here. Raff couldn’t make it because he got called to the radio station’s office because of some missing money or something, and Ranger, well, I guess he decided not to come. I don’t think there’s a logical explanation, so I’m not going to try to offer you one.”

  Raff was never reliable for his friends. Not because he didn’t want to be, but because he had to put his work first, always. As the Chief of Police, Raff always had something to do, and no one could blame him. Nessa appreciated the fact that he’d even considered helping her. It wasn’t every day that a police officer made the rounds at an unpacking party.

  “Missing money doesn’t sound very good. I just heard the same thing when I was talking to Chloe. I guess some group she’s active in at college had this huge fundraising event, and everything they raised went missing. She’s pretty involved in the group and feeling a little wound up. If it weren’t for that, we’d have had an extra set of hands here today. She was going to come with me to explore the town and help out.”

  “One less mouth to feed, I guess. Are you sure you want to buy everyone lunch? It’s going to get pretty expensive,” Daniel said, looking at the piece of paper she’d written everyone’s order down on.

  “You do realize that if I’d hired a company to do this for me, that I’d be pay
ing way more than whatever this lunch is going to cost, right? Plus, I wouldn’t know them. I can’t really complain about enjoying a meal with friends and family.”

  Daniel agreed. “It was nice of Mavery to come, huh?”

  “Totally. I barely know her, so it’s quite a surprise but very nice of her. I will say, though, that there’s a good chance that the reason she came was because that friend of hers needs work.”

  “You’re probably right.” Daniel laughed. “Hey, Raff is here.”

  Nessa looked up and saw Raff pulling his police car into her driveway. “Guess I oughta feed him, too,” she joked.

  They waved to Raff just as Clint came over. “Do you mind if I get a look inside?” he asked. “I can’t wait to see the place.”

  Nessa nodded. “Sure thing. Head on inside. I’m just going to see what Raff wants for lunch, and I’ll be right there to show you around.”

  Chapter Two

  Nessa decked herself out in her favorite outfit, so glad to finally have all of her things. She was ready to go to Shelfies, the Internet-famous bookstore, for the first time since arriving in town. Not only was she excited to see what the fuss was all about, but she also couldn’t wait to see Faye.

  They’d seen each other the day before and would likely see each other again soon at Crumbs and Confections, the bakery Nessa now owned, but those were more working projects than a friendly visit. Even though Faye was working at Shelfies that day, Nessa hoped that she’d have at least a little time with the older woman. Other than her grandfather, Faye was the closest thing to family she had in town. She looked up to her and planned on asking for advice.

  Ever since Nessa arrived in Lake Wilawalo, she knew the bakery needed another employee. At first, it was to help her grandfather, but now it was to help them both. Never in her life had she expected to be running a bakery, let alone the one that had been part of her family for so long. After her grandmother passed, Lex couldn’t handle things on his own, and even though Nessa was around to help now, they still needed someone else. The problem was that every person who applied, which wasn’t many, Nessa hadn’t wanted to hire. She made up excuse after excuse as to why they weren’t the right fit, and she wanted Faye’s help in figuring out why. She wanted to know what her grandmother would have done.

  Her first step inside the bookstore changed all the plans she had. The place was packed. Faye moved as fast as her old legs would take her, trying to tend to the long line of customers looking for her help to find their book of choice. She dodged selfie sticks left and right, trying not to get whacked in the face as people took their photos for their social media pages. Nessa looked around. Aside from the insane amount of people in the store, there wasn’t anything that looked extraordinary. It was a plain old bookstore, and she loved it, but she couldn’t figure out why people traveled hours to take a photo there. She decided at that moment that even if she was only in her mid-thirties, that she was officially old and didn’t understand kids these days.

  She found a book on the bestsellers’ shelf that she’d been dying to read and searched for a relatively quiet place in the corner where she could read until Faye was free. She read for a few minutes before she heard a few loud voices in an aisle behind her.

  “Did you get your ticket for that radio show contest?”

  “I’ve been researching how people can count things from inside a jar without looking. Someone said that with jellybeans they…”

  “You’re crazy. There’s no way you can count money like jellybeans. It’s not like there’s just a little money in the box. I heard Robby has quite the large pockets, so I’m betting there’s at least five grand.”

  “No way! There’s gotta be way more than that!”

  Nessa put two and two together pretty easily. Those people were discussing the contest from the radio station that Raff had to deal with and was the reason he was late to her unpacking party. Only the reason he was late was because the money was missing, which obviously wasn’t public news yet. She kept her head down, afraid her facial expressions might give something away. She didn’t want to be the bearer of bad news, and she didn’t want Raff to be upset if she said something she wasn’t supposed to.

  A few chapters in, Faye ducked her head around the corner Nessa was hiding behind.

  “You found yourself quite the little nook back here, I see.”

  “Faye! I’m so glad to see you. I thought you’d be busy forever.” Nessa jumped up and hugged her friend.

  “Me, too. This has been the craziest day I’ve ever had here. People were waiting at the door when I got here. In tents, Nessa. They had tents set up, so they’d be the first ones here.” Faye’s eyes were huge. She couldn’t understand the fuss, either.

  “Are you done with your shift?” Nessa asked.

  “Heather asked me to stay longer because we’re still busy. I told her I’d do it but that I need a break first. I’m not used to being on my feet like this.”

  “What about the bakery? It’s busy there, too, and you worked long days there before.” Nessa didn’t mean to play devil’s advocate, but it was the truth.

  “Yes, but the bakery is much smaller, the people leave faster, and they’re much nicer than they are here.”

  Nessa didn’t like the sound of that. “Are people being rude to you? That’s not okay if they are. You should say something.”

  “They aren’t rude, necessarily. They’re here to take pictures and roam around, not just quietly look for a good book to read. At the bakery, people come in to enjoy a dessert or to take something home with them. There, I get to bake and catch up with friends. Here, not so much.”

  An idea occurred to Nessa that she had no room having. She’d seen Faye run around at the bakery like she was twenty-years younger more than once, but seeing her at Shelfies was something completely different. Her always perfect hair was frizzy, any trace of makeup she’d had on at the beginning of the day was long gone, and her eyes looked tired. She didn’t want to push or even ask because she knew if she did, Faye would tell her yes, but Nessa thought that Faye would be better off working at the bakery with her and her grandfather instead of at Shelfies. They were looking for a worker, and Faye didn’t seem all too happy with her current situation. Nessa worried that Faye would say yes because she felt she had to and not because she wanted to. Before she said anything to her, she’d talk to her grandfather and see what he thought.

  “I have to agree that the bakery does feel cozier. I’m surprised to say that, too, since bookstores are usually one of my favorite places to be,” Nessa said.

  “It used to be that way for me, too. Ever since things blew up, Heather has been trying to make the place what it isn’t. We lost so many regular customers after all these people started showing up. Sometimes I wish it was just a plain old bookstore, and sometimes I wish I didn’t work here.” Faye sighed and looked around. “My break barely started, and I already feel guilty. I should get back out there.”

  Nessa watched her go, left with the thought that asking Faye if she wanted to work at the bakery wasn’t such a bad idea, after all.

  Chapter Three

  Lex slid the door to the display case closed and turned to face his granddaughter.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, snapping her out of whatever daydream she was having.

  “Huh?”

  “Is everything okay? You seem to be somewhere else rather than enjoying this glorious day at work.” Lex grinned.

  “I’m fine. My mind is wandering today, but I’m here and ready to work. Did I mess something up?” Nessa worried. She knew she’d been thinking about everything but work and had been functioning on autopilot. That was odd enough in and of itself, considering she had no idea how to run a bakery on autopilot in the first place.

  “You didn’t mess anything up, but I do think maybe it’s best that you stay out of the kitchen today. I’d hate for you to try out a new recipe and have it not go well and then get down on yourself about it.”

&nbs
p; She knew he meant well and was trying to be kind to her. He was right, she’d be upset if she tried something and failed, but she figured he was also looking out for the good of the bakery. The truth was, her name would legally be attached to the business in less than a week, and while she knew nothing was going to change on a day-to-day basis technically, it did mean a change for her life. She couldn’t wait for it to happen and was terrified just the same.

  “Thanks, Grandpa. You’re probably right. Plus, I really want to start learning some of our regular customers’ orders. I want to know everyone’s names and what they like.” She thought it was good for business, and it might even help her make some more friends. Even though Nessa had been visiting and working in the bakery since she was a child, most of the people in town were mere acquaintances. They knew her, and she knew them, but there weren’t any relationships to speak of. It was something she wanted to change.

  “That’s a great idea. You can also go through the applications and check to see if anyone replied to your Internet stuff. You did set that all up, right?” Lex asked.

  “I did.” Nessa laughed, thinking of the time her grandfather asked her if the Internet closed early on Sundays. He’d come a long way since then. “I wanted to talk about that, actually. Do you have a minute?”

  “Tell me you found someone! Not a student with limited availability, I hope.”

  “Not a student.”

  “Not someone as old as me then.” Lex laughed.

  “Maybe older.” Nessa winced, waiting for his reply.