Butterscotch Dream Killer Read online

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  BUTTERSCOTCH DREAM KILLER

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Butterscotch

  Dream

  KILLER

  Cupcakes in Paradise

  Book 7

  By

  Summer Prescott

  Copyright 2017 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.

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  Butterscotch Dream

  KILLER

  Cupcakes in Paradise

  Book 7

  CHAPTER ONE

  * * *

  “You’re gonna make me gain a hundred pounds,” Beulah shook her head, deftly swirling butterscotch cream frosting on top of her boss’s most recent cupcake invention. The cakes were white, with gooey butterscotch filling and decadent butterscotch crème frosting, and the entire small commercial kitchen at Cupcakes in Paradise smelled amazing.

  “It’s an occupational hazard,” Melissa Gladstone-Beckett laughed. “We can sample one with some coffee as soon as we finish up this batch,” she promised, her mouth watering at the thought.

  “You don’t got nothing to worry about,” Beulah commented. “You a skinny little thang, but big girls like me can’t be eating just cupcakes all the time you know.”

  “You’re right, Beulah. I guess I’ll have to eat your cupcake too,” Missy teased.

  “When you pry it out of my cold dead fingers, ma’am,” the elderly woman pursed her lips, still frosting while she talked.

  “I’ll make coffee,” Missy chuckled, heading for the coffee pot.

  She and Beulah had coffee with Missy’s best friend, Echo Kellerman, almost every morning before Echo went off to work and Missy opened the cupcake shop. They were all early risers and found that having a little coffee, cupcakes and conversation was a great way to start the day. Echo typically came in with her sweet baby daughter, Jasmine, snugly strapped across her chest, sound asleep.

  Echo owned an adjoining candle store and book shop in a funky little downtown building that had been willed to her by a former neighbor. She made the candles herself and the scents were inspired by Missy’s cupcakes. Beulah’s niece, Joyce, a highly educated, self-proclaimed bookworm, managed both of Echo’s shops, and was the reason that Beulah had moved to Florida a few months earlier.

  “Good morning ladies,” Echo came in the back door to the shop, speaking softly so as not to disturb little Jazzy. “Whatever that smell is, I want two of them, at least,” she sniffed the air on her way to the coffee pot.

  “Pour yourself a cup and have a seat,” Missy hugged her friend and shooed her out of the kitchen. “Beulah and I are almost done, we’ll join you in a second.”

  “Now, that ain’t proper, Miss Missy,” Beulah scolded her boss. “You got company and I’m the hired help. You go set down and visit, and I’ll be out there shortly,” she waved her hand at the door.

  “First…you are not the hired help, you’re family. That’s how it works around here, darlin’” Missy patted Beulah’s ample arm, her Louisiana accent evident. “And second, you have every bit as much of a right to a nice little break as I do, so let’s both finish up this platter and we’ll go out there together,” she picked up her frosting bag and started at the other end of the tray.

  “I’ll do it, but that don’t make it right,” Beulah muttered, swirling and twirling the frosting like the expert baker that she was.

  Echo was sitting, eyes heavy, at one of the bistro tables in the front of the shop when Missy and Beulah came out with their coffee and cupcakes a few minutes later.

  “Baby girl, you look all done in and it ain’t even six-thirty yet,” Beulah scrutinized the exhausted redhead with an eagle eye.

  “Jazzy is teething,” Echo yawned behind her hand. “She was up just about every hour last night.”

  “Poor little lamb,” Beulah said softly.

  “And poor mama who had to stay up with her. Was Kel able to help at all?” Missy asked.

  “I didn’t want him to. He’s working to finish up some sculptures this week and he’ll be flying to Switzerland to oversee the installation of it for a collector.”

  “Wow, that’s exciting.”

  “It is, but it also means he’ll be gone right before the festival. So now I have a teething baby who’s keeping me up nights and no husband to help, while I’m trying to bump up my candle inventory for the Fall Festival,” she sighed, tilting her head carefully to the side to sip her coffee without any danger of it sloshing onto her sleeping child.

  “What’s the Fall Festival?” Beulah asked.

  “The downtown area gets closed off every year and there are tons of fun events for families and kids, with live music and a petting zoo. The biggest chili cook-off in Florida takes place at the Fall Festival every year,” Missy explained.

  “I make a mean pot of chili,” Beulah raised her eyebrows.

  “You should enter the contest,” Missy encouraged. “I bake tons of cornbread muffins to go with the chili tasting every year.”

  “I entered a vegan chili last year that did pretty well,” Echo chimed in, covering another huge yawn.

  Beulah stared at her. “Making chili with no meat just ain’t right. My chili is so thick with meat that the spoon stands up by itself.”

  “Well, I won’t be entering this year. I’ll have my hands full making enough custom candles to sell. I do them in fall colors and scents.”

  “Good, I need a new cinnamon one for my living
room. I keep cinnamon candles burning from October to December, it’s tradition,” Beulah declared. “Maybe I will enter the chili cook-off. It might be a good way to meet some folks.”

  “And the winner gets to travel to the national cook-off in Montana,” Missy supplied.

  “I don’t much care to go to Montana, but I’d sure like to have me a blue ribbon,” Beulah shrugged.

  “I think you’ll be great,” Echo encouraged.

  “You know, I’d be happy to watch that precious baby for you in the evening if you need some time to make candles,” the elderly woman offered.

  “Really?” Echo was filled with relief. “If you could just do that for a couple of nights between now and then, it would really help me out.”

  “I’ll sit in my rocking chair and lull that child into the sweetest sleep she ever had,” Beulah promised.

  As if on cue, Jasmine started rubbing her little button nose against the fabric of her baby sling and making little whimpering noises.

  “That’s my cue,” Echo rose wearily.

  “Here honey, let me put some cupcakes in a bag for you. You may need a little boost later today,” Missy jumped up to do exactly that.

  “Thanks, I’m going to need all the sugar and caffeine that I can get,” the new mother sighed.

  “You know where to find me,” Missy handed her friend the cupcakes and gave her a quick hug as Jasmine started to rev up her wailing engine.

  “I make some mighty fine chili,” Beulah mumbled, her mind clearly elsewhere.

  Missy laughed. “Let’s go to the computer. We can sign you up online.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  * * *

  Echo’s husband, Phillip “Kel” Kellerman was a world-renowned artist who had lived in Calgon his entire adult life. She was so proud of him this morning, as he bustled around, making sure that he had everything that he needed for his trip to Switzerland.

  “I hate leaving you before the Festival like this,” he murmured, arms around her, kissing her forehead, his cab waiting outside their home.

  “I know, but this is a wonderful thing for your career, so go make the most of it,” she hugged him tightly.

  “I’m going to miss my family,” he sighed.

  “We’ll miss you too, but we’ll stay busy to make the time go faster,” she promised with an adoring smile.

  The baby monitor on her hip suddenly came to life as Jasmine let out a pitiful wail in the nursery. The couple gave each other a rueful glance and chuckled at the interruption.

  “Goodbye, my love,” Kel kissed Echo soundly, then watched her as she hurried inside to their waiting daughter.

  **

  With Beulah looking after Jasmine, and Kel somewhere between Florida and Switzerland, Echo heated up her vats of wax and dressed in work clothes, ready to make as many candles as she could, while she had the chance. She had just begun dipping the first one of the new batch when her doorbell rang. Expelling a frustrated breath, she contemplated just ignoring it, but then it rang again. Hanging the unfinished candle on a drip rack, she rubbed her hands on her jeans and headed for the door, which was quite a trek across the house from her secluded studio. Fortunately, she was pleasantly surprised when she opened the door.

  “Spencer!” she exclaimed, hugging the tall, well-muscled young man. “Come in.”

  Spencer Bengal worked for Missy and her husband Chas in a couple of different capacities. He provided personal security for the couple, since Chas was the heir to a massive fortune, and he worked directly with Chas as a partner in the Private Investigation firm that he’d opened. The Marine veteran was an outstanding young man who had been embraced like a son by the couple.

  “What brings you over?” Echo asked, delighted to see him.

  “I heard that you were making candles tonight, so I came over to see if I could lend a hand,” he shrugged.

  “Oh, you angel of mercy!”

  Echo grabbed his hand and led him to the studio. Spencer had helped her make candles in the past when she’d been in a pinch and the talented young man was quite good at it.

  “How many are we doing?” Spencer sat down at one of the stools next to the dipping bins and grabbed a wick.

  “As many as we can. I’m a little bit behind in inventory. Last year I sold out in two days, so I want to make sure that I have more this time,” Echo explained, going back to work on her candle. “So…how’s Joyce?” she asked, with a mischievous lilt in her voice.

  Joyce Rutledge, Echo’s manager at the Book and Candle shops, made no secret of the fact that she had a big-time interest in Spencer, and they’d been spending a bit of time together lately.

  “You see her more than I do. Shouldn’t I be asking you that question?” he grinned, dipping his candle into a vat of brightly colored wax.

  “Nice try buddy,” Echo teased. “I know that she’s been luring you over to her place with good home cooking.”

  “The best home cooking,” Spencer nodded appreciatively.

  “So…how are things going with you two?” she couldn’t help but ask.

  “We’re friends,” was the firm reply. “It hasn’t been that long since Izzy moved to New York, you know?”

  Spencer had been dating a best-selling horror author, Izzy Gilmore, and they’d parted recently when Izzy moved back to her home in New York.

  “I know. It just seems like you and Joyce have so much fun together.”

  “We do. She’s terrific actually,” Spencer smiled.

  “Yes, she is,” Echo agreed. “I don’t know what I’d do without my beloved bookworm. She takes care of both stores by herself when I have too much going on.”

  “She’s a go-getter, that’s for sure.”

  “She’s got her sights set on a certain Marine that I know…”

  Spencer blushed. It was adorable to see the huge, powerful man blushing and dipping candles. “Oh, I don’t know about all that,” he hedged, not looking up from the vat of wax.

  “Right, you didn’t notice her attention at all, that’s why the tips of your ears are glowing,” Echo laughed.

  Spencer cleared his throat. “So, have you heard from Kel yet?”

  “Nice change of subject,” Echo commented. “No, he’s still en route to Switzerland I believe. He flies into Zurich and then the client is sending a private plane to bring him up to his home for the installation.”

  “Pretty cold up there this time of year,” the Marine remarked.

  “Yep, it’ll be beautiful with all the snow. I made him take a topcoat and a scarf and gloves in his suitcase.”

  “He’ll need them.”

  “Definitely. His Florida blood won’t keep him warm in that climate,” Echo chuckled.

  “I want to make this one cinnamon and vanilla,” Spencer held up his rapidly enlarging candle. “Does that work for you?”

  “Sounds delicious. The scents are over on the table, just keep track of which colors have which scents, so we know how to combine things. I already have pumpkin in the orange vat and apple in the light green one,” she pointed.

  “So that’s what I smelled when I came in. It’s making me hungry,” he moved toward the fragrance table.

  “Well, I’ve got cupcakes with your name on them when we need a break,” she promised.

  “Sounds good to me,” Spencer chuckled, finding the two bottles that he was looking for.

  The two worked in companionable silence for a while, until the buzzing of Echo’s cell phone intruded into their peace.

  “What now?” she sighed, pulling out her phone to look at the screen. “Interesting, that’s a strange-looking phone number,” she showed it to Spencer.

  “International,” he said at a glance. “My guess would be that it’s Kel, calling from Switzerland.”

  “Hmm…wonder why he isn’t using his cell phone,” she mused, hitting the answer button.

  Spencer didn’t listen to her end of the conversation until she suddenly paled and staggered backward.

  “Wha
t?” she whispered shakily. “Where? What do you mean you don’t know?” she sobbed, as Spencer moved toward her, reaching for her hand.

  After a few more minutes of disjointed conversation over what was clearly a bad connection, she hung up, stunned.

  “What happened? What’s going on?” Spencer asked, as she collapsed against him, sobbing uncontrollably.

  “Kel’s plane went down somewhere in the Alps. They can’t find it because of weather conditions,” her knees buckled and Spencer swept her up into his arms, taking her to the living room and placing her gently on the couch. As soon as she was settled, he hit speed dial to get Chas on the line.

  “Chas, I’m going to Switzerland.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  * * *

  “Honey, everyone will understand if you just close up the shop and don’t participate in the Festival this year,” Missy brushed a lock of hair from Echo’s furrowed brow.

  She shook her head. “I can’t skip the Festival. If I don’t have something to focus on, I’ll keep thinking about him out there wandering around in the snow somewhere and I’ll slowly and certainly go mad.”

  A tear tracked slowly down her cheek and she brushed it away impatiently.

  “Okay,” Missy took her hand. “Spencer was one of the best government operatives in the world. He’ll find Kel and bring him home. In the meantime, make a list of what you need to do in order to get ready for the Festival, and you and I will make it happen.”

  “Thank you,” Echo reached across the table and clutched her best friend’s hand like it was a lifeline, because in so many ways…it was. “Beulah has been a godsend.”

  “She definitely has a way with the little ones,” Missy smiled.

  “Speaking of little ones…have you heard any news about Kaylee yet?” Echo asked, needing something else to focus on.

  Missy and Chas had applied to adopt a beautiful three-year-old girl whose parents had been the victims of a brutal murder. Their local social workers were trying diligently to move the process forward, but relatives in another state had been throwing a wrench into the works after having learned that adopting the child would generate a monthly stipend.