Chocolate Cream Cupcake & Murder (A Dana Sweet Cozy Mystery Book 3) by Ann S. Marie Page A

crime.
    Before long she pulled up at the Berry Cove Medical Center. She got out of her car and closed the door. Then she walked up to the steps and opened the entrance door and walked into the foyer.
    “Hello, can help you?” the secretary asked politely. The woman had red-rimmed glasses and dark blond hair that was pinned up into a bun. She also wore pink-flowered scrubs and a white cardigan.
    Dana went up to the desk and showed the piece of paper to the secretary. “Actually, maybe you can help me. I’m Dana Sweet.”
    The secretary looked very uncomfortable and eyed Dana suspiciously.
    Dana would have to play this carefully. “I just wanted to find out if this was delivered to Mr. Renaldo on Saturday.” Dana didn't want to say on the day of his death just in case to avoid raising any suspicions.
    “To Mr. Renaldo?”
    There was no one in the reception area at the time. The secretary took off her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose.
    “Yes, I delivered that note myself.”
    Dana’s heart jumped.
    “You did?”
    “Yes, I did.”
    “Did you tell the police this?”
    “It's very sad what happened to Mr. Renaldo. I really had no idea he would have reacted to this note or not.”
    Reacted to the note? What was in the note?”
    “Well since he passed away, I guess there's no confidentiality issues. And it will come out sooner or later anyway,” she mumbled.
    “Yes,” Dana probed gently, her heart thrashing about in her chest. That must have meant that Dana was getting closer to the truth, right?
    “Well, you’re the same Dana Sweet from the Cozy Cupcakes Café, right? The famous baker and mystery riddles blogger.”
    “Yes, I guess you could say that. But I’m not famous. Far from it.”
    “Well, you solve riddles, though.”
    “Yes, I guess I can't escape that.”
    “Well, I presume that you want to get to the truth. Well, the truth is Mr. Renaldo didn't have much time to live.”
    “He didn't have much time to live?” Dana was stunned. She felt her heart squeeze inside her chest.
    “No he didn't. He was desperate to receive the results of a test anyway, even though the doc told him to his face in person. Mr. Renaldo insisted on receiving it in writing, too. And Dr. Hatchett said it would be okay to give the note and results to him as soon as possible since he’d already had the face-to-face discussion. Well, I came by to deliver the note personally and I woke up the butler. I gave the butler the note.”
    Dana was stunned.
    She wondered if the butler opened the note.
    “So the note pretty much restated what the doctor had already told him but it also provided some lab results?”
    “Yes, that's right.”
    Dana began to wonder. Was this a suicide then? But nothing made any sense. Were they all in on this?
    “What is it?” the secretary asked, curious.
    “Nothing. I'm just running through some things in my mind. But the more I think about all the pieces of the puzzle the more confusing it seems. Nothing seems to make any sense. So Mr. Renaldo didn't have much time. Then he ends up being poisoned?”
    The receptionist shrugged apologetically.
    So what did this all mean? Did Mr. Renaldo poison himself?
    But he couldn't have.
    Or could he? Either way, somebody was hiding something. She couldn't wait to question George further. In the meantime she had to pass on this bit of new information to Troy.
     
    *    *    * 
     
    “Thanks for this information, Dana. But I don't think it has anything to do with his death.” Troy sat across the desk from Dana at the precinct. She’d just shown him the piece of paper and admitted to him that she’d gone to Dr. Hatchett's office.
    “You know you really shouldn't have gone there on your own like this.” His voice was stern.
    “But I just had to find out either way, Troy. Something is very fishy there. Somebody's cooking up a real mystery up there and I really want to find out what happened to Mr. Renaldo.”
    “Yes, but you don't want to be