Whack The Mole (Lucy McGuffin, Psychic Amateur Detective 2)

Everyone within hearing distance stills.

Sarah’s face goes red as she realizes what she’s just said.

“Bugs!” Betty Jean makes a gagging sound.

“No, no bugs,” Sarah says quickly backtracking. “I was talking about something else. My bad!” She catches my gaze and winces in apology.

“Nice try,” says Phoebe, “but it’s not gonna work.” She gathers Victor and the other members of her group. “C’mon let’s go find somewhere else to eat breakfast.”

“Let us know when you get the place cleaned up,” Victor yells on his way out the door. “And next time, make sure you have blueberry muffins!”

“What was that all about?” Travis asks suspiciously.

“You know the Sunshine Ghost Society.” I twirl my finger around in a circle next to my ear making the universal crazy sign. I’m not sure Travis buys it, though.

“Are there really bugs in your flour?” Tara asks. Man Bun zeroes in for a close up of my face. “Because we have another show you might qualify for. It’s called Dirtiest Kitchens in America. Don’t let the name put you off. There’s no such thing as bad publicity! You’d be surprised how many people will still want to come and eat here. Especially if you win.”

“There are absolutely no bugs in our flour,” I announce firmly.

I get Rusty’s order ready, tossing in a couple of the stashed away double chocolate chip muffins for Joey since I know they’re his favorite.

“See anything unusual this morning?” Travis asks in a low voice as I hand him the bag.

“Not yet, but I’m expecting things to look up soon.”

“Why don’t I like the sound of that?”

“Don’t worry. I have everything under control.”

“Now I’m really worried. What are you up to?”

“Let’s just say I have a feeling that by the end of the day, all will be revealed.

The next couple of hours go by at a snail’s pace. Good thing this is Jill’s day off because there’s barely enough business to keep Sarah and me busy. I hope Victor and his gang haven’t been running around town spreading rumors about my muffins.

By ten o’clock, there’s still no sign of Mike and his delivery truck. Even though business has been slow, I’ve sold all our muffins, including the double chocolate chip I had on reserve. I probably shouldn’t have been so hasty tossing out all that flour, but I thought Mike would have been here by now. I practically declared a state of emergency in my email to Rocko. What do I have to say to these people to get them to bring me my flour?

I’m about to give Rocko a call when Brittany shows up. But instead of freaking out because Tara is here filming, she seems perfectly poised, like she was expecting this.

“Tara!” Brittany smiles and waves to her.

“Act like we’re not here!” Tara shouts from across the room.

Brittany does a double take of the dining area. “Where is everyone? It’s usually packed this time of day.”

“Yeah, well, we’re out of muffins.”

“What? How can you be out of muffins?”

Man Bun lays down his camera. “It’s on account of the bugs in the flour.”

Brittany’s jaw drops.

“How many times do I have to say this. There are no bugs in the flour!”

Brittany marches around the counter and pulls me off to the side. “Lucy, what’s going on? Do you know how hard I worked to get Tara interested in Whispering Bay again? Do not blow this for me. Do something! This place is like a tomb.”

“Don’t worry. Everything is fine.” Only it isn’t. Nothing is working out according to my big plan. And Brittany is right. The Bistro looks sad and empty. We look like losers. “I have an idea.”