by K E O'Connor
I’d also discovered dozens of amazing recipes that I planned to use to make delicious meals for Saracen. If I could do anything to help him get better, I would.
With my new recipes in hand, I grabbed Meatball his breakfast, settled him in his kennel, then hurried to the kitchen and whipped up two high-protein, smoked salmon omelettes. I’d join Saracen for his first meal to beat his condition.
I carried the plates to his apartment and knocked on the door.
It took a while, but he finally answered. His face was a picture of misery.
I held up the omelettes. “Rough night?”
He stepped aside and let me in. “I did a lot of thinking in the small hours. I’ve been dumb. I let my sweet tooth get the better of me.”
“Well, I take that as a huge compliment. You couldn’t resist my amazing desserts, despite knowing they’d make you unwell.” I set the omelettes on the table. “You’ll be pleased to learn there are lots of tasty recipes you can still enjoy while you’re getting your condition under control. You’re not going to miss out.”
“No triple chocolate fudge brownies with sugar sprinkles and chocolate dipped hazelnuts on top, though?” He stared at the omelettes.
My nose wrinkled as I shook my head. “We’ll find a workaround. And I figured since you’re out of active commission, I can still use that brainpower of yours to talk through the suspects.”
“I’m happy to help.” He gestured to the table. “Do you want a coffee with that?”
“That would be great.” I settled in a seat, and Saracen joined me a moment later with two steaming mugs of coffee.
“I wanted to say thanks for yesterday,” he said. “You could have told Campbell everything. I wouldn’t have blamed you if you had.”
“It’s not my secret to tell,” I said.
He dug into his omelette. “This is really good.”
“I do know a thing or two about cooking.”
“Ain’t gonna argue with that. Campbell’s a decent boss. He’s tough but fair. He demands the best from his team. I guess that’s why I was so hesitant about telling him about my diabetes. I didn’t want to look weak in his eyes.”
“Did you know Campbell before you joined the security team?” I asked.
“Our paths crossed a few times. We both served in the SAS. We were in separate squads sent on Operation Blade.”
“What’s that?”
He arched an eyebrow. “Top secret. Ever heard of Operation Barras in Sierra Leone?”
“Nope. Another secret mission?”
“Not so secret anymore. Operation Barras was basically a hostage situation that went wrong. Our mission was almost identical. We were sent in to stop the local military creating chaos. We got in, killed the bad guys, and rescued the good guys. Job done.”
I blew out a breath. Once Saracen opened up, he really opened up. “That’s impressively terrifying.”
“That’s me.” He grinned and ate more omelette.
“That’s how you came to know Campbell and his petrifyingly awesome skills?”
“Yeah, but don’t let him know I’ve been telling you about his past. He went on to bigger and better things after that. Campbell worked at the very top with some important people.”
“And now he guards the Audley family,” I said. “Is that a promotion or a demotion?”
“Neither. He decided he’d seen enough of the front line. He put his life at risk all the time. He calls this his semi-retirement, but don’t let anyone else know that either, or you might just disappear one night and never be seen again. The pay’s great, the work’s generally easy, and he’s got full control.”
“Campbell does seem to have a lot of control around here,” I said. “Including the investigations that take place on the estate.”
“That’s not Campbell’s influence. It’s historical privilege, and an amiable police force in the village whose budget keeps getting cut.”
“Of course, I should have thought of that. I did some work on historical privilege during my history degree.”
“You studied history?”
I waggled a finger in the air. “I did. And I remember that historical privilege is all about a landowner forming an agreement to manage crimes on their property.”
“That’s it. The agreement dates back hundreds of years. It was a different set up then, there weren’t even real police around, so it made sense for the Audleys to manage things. The agreement still stands, and the local police don’t mind. We don’t exclude them. I get the impression they’re glad to have an extra few pairs of hands. They’ve been briefed on the security team backgrounds and know we’re not out to cause trouble. Have you met the guy who runs the police around here?”
“Nope. I’ve not had anything to do with him,” I said.
“Nor will you, unless you play golf. Dudley Fabin’s on the road to retirement. He’s been that way ever since he joined as Chief of Police. He spends most of his time playing golf and the rest of it shoving paperwork onto other people. He was happy to hand over responsibility about any crimes on the estate, providing we keep him informed. It’s a win-win all around. Campbell likes to be in control of a situation.”
“Yes, I’d noticed that.”
Saracen grinned. “He only comes down hard on people because he expects the very best from them.” The grin vanished. “And I haven’t given that. I’ve hidden things from him. I’m not sure I’m coming back from this.”
“You will. You’ve been helpful, not just as my cake tester, but in this investigation.”
“I won’t be testing any more of your delicious cakes.” He blew out a breath and stabbed at his omelette. “You know, I figured you for a cake girl through and through, not a history buff as well.”
“Cakes and corsets, that’s me,” I said. “Baking was always a passion, but I also had this wild ambition to research and write amazing non-fiction books about British history. The trouble is, I can’t write for toffee. I had a few goes, but it was all over the place. So, I turned to my second love. After my history degree, I did two years in a catering college and worked part time in a couple of cafés to get lots of hands-on experience.”
“You’re perfect as a baker. I’m gutted I won’t be able to enjoy your food.”
“Sure you will.” I pointed my knife at his omelette. “It will just get better. You can be my experiment.”
He grunted. “I’m not sure what I think about that.”
“You won’t feel any pain, and you’ll get to try lots of delicious experiments. How does that sound?”
“Hmmm. Not bad.”
“Perfect. And we can still figure out this murder together. The next step is to find Dennis. I was wondering if he had something to do with Pete’s missing laptop. The fact it was there when Pete was alive and gone once he’d been murdered suggests there’s a connection. Whoever has the laptop could be the killer.”
“Let’s track it,” Saracen said.
“I’ll get out my super spy laptop detecting kit, shall I?”
“Funny girl. If you’ve got the IP address, we can find the location of the laptop.”
“How do we get that?”
“We need Pete’s email address. That should be linked to the laptop. I can make a call if you like. We’ve got access to a team of super geeks who operate offsite. They do just this sort of thing.”
Why wasn’t I surprised to hear that? “Before you do, there might be someone closer to home who has the information we need. Maisie did all sorts of work for Pete. She must know his email address.”
“Good thinking.”
“You stay here and finish your breakfast. I’ll speak to Maisie and see if she can help us.”
He nodded as he cut off a large piece of omelette. “Thanks again, Holly. For the food, and for, well, everything.”
“Any time.” I left him to his food and hurried over to the vendors’ parking lot. I walked over to the open back door of Pete’s truck and poked my head inside. Maisie was t
here, studying six pies sitting on a shelf.
She glanced over and smiled. “Morning, Holly.”
“Hard at work?” I asked.
“I’m wondering which one of these to use for the contest. Did you hear, I got through to the finals?”
“That’s great news,” I said. “Same here.”
“Oh no! I’ve tried your cakes. They’re amazing. You’ll be hard to beat.”
“There’ll be an overall winner, but there are also commendations and smaller prizes for other entrants. I’m not guaranteed a win.”
“You sound like you know you’re going to win. Don’t tell me you’re pulling strings from inside the castle?”
I tried not to feel affronted. “My food speaks for itself. Besides, the final taste test will be done blind. The judges will have no idea who’s made what. It’s a level playing field.”
She shrugged. “That sounds fair. Is there something I can do for you?”
“This might sound a bit strange, but can you tell me what Pete’s email address is?”
“Of course. I use it all the time. Actually, I even have his password. He was always getting me to reply to people about orders or deliveries that needed to be arranged. Is there something you need to see on his emails?”
“If you wouldn’t mind me having a look, that would be great, but I’m mainly after his email address.”
“Do you think there’s something in the emails connected to his murder?” She flipped open the netbook on the counter and tapped on the keyboard.
“There might be, but I’m also interested in tracing his missing laptop. We can track it based on his email.”
“You don’t say? Okay, here’s his email. He gets a lot of inappropriate emails so skim past those. Some of the jokes his friends send him are filthy. From a brief look, there’s nothing strange in here. How quickly can you track the laptop?” She moved to the side, and I had a look through Pete’s emails. There was nothing that stood out as odd.
“I imagine it’ll be instantaneous. Honestly, I’ve no clue how it works. The castle security does some kind of magic to track things that go missing.”
“Will the laptop need to be turned on?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe.” I stepped back. “Have you got a pen and paper? I’ll take down Pete’s email.”
“Sure.” She handed me what I needed, and I scribbled down the information. “Let me know if you hear anything. It’s weird Pete not being around. Much quieter, though. He was always shouting orders. I’d gotten used to it. It’s sort of nice now to do my own work and not chase around after him all the time.”
“Do you think you’ll stay in the catering business now he’s gone?”
“Absolutely. Although my days on a food truck and racing from one food fair to another are over. Now I’ve got experience, I might look around for a sous chef position in a restaurant.”
“Good luck with that,” I said. “And thanks for letting me look at the emails.”
“I just hope it helps.”
“Me too.” I waved her goodbye and hurried back to Saracen’s apartment with the information he needed.
He’d washed up our plates and mugs and was pacing around the lounge as I entered. “You got it?”
“I did.” I passed him the information.
Saracen settled in front of his own laptop. “Let’s see what we can find.”
“You can track it from here?”
“Of course. The complicated stuff is left to the real tech geeks, but we’re trained in how to track people. It can come in useful during kidnappings, or when people go missing. Our VIPs like to escape our notice. Some of them have embarrassing hobbies they don’t like us to see. Real kinky stuff, sometimes.”
“Huh! Tell me more,” I said.
“I’d love to, but then I’d have to kill you.”
I was pretty sure he wasn’t joking.
After a few minutes of tapping information on the keyboard and running through searches, Saracen slapped a hand on the table. “We’ve got it. It’s a Lenovo Model S12.”
“Where is it?”
“The laptop’s still in the village.”
I stared at the pulsing red dot on the screen. “That’s not far from here. It’s maybe twenty minutes away. I should go take a look.”
Saracen scrubbed his chin. “It’s not safe for you to go out and find it on your own. The killer could still have it.”
That was true, and it was a concern, but if I found this laptop, it could lead us to the killer. The answer was almost within my grasp.
“I’ll take a quick look,” I said. “I’ll be careful. If there’s any sign of danger, I’ll back off and get help.”
“I could always come with you,” Saracen said.
“Absolutely not. You’re under the doctor’s orders to rest. You don’t want the stress of going hunting for this laptop. It might mess up your blood sugar again. How about I do a little recon mission? I won’t go in anywhere alone; I’ll just take a look around. Maybe the laptop was stolen and dumped in a ditch. I might find it on the side of the road smashed beyond repair. That would solve this particular mystery.”
“I’m not happy about this,” Saracen said. “Don’t put yourself at risk.”
“We’ve almost got the killer,” I said. “I’ll be on my best behavior, but we can’t waste any time. I’ll take a look and report back to you.”
“Do that. But be careful. If you wind up dead on my watch, Campbell really will fire me.”
“I’ll try not to die. I wouldn’t want that on your conscience.”
“Holly! I’m not joking about this. Be sensible.”
I grinned as I headed to the door. “I’ll stay out of trouble.”
As I headed away from Saracen’s apartment, I uncrossed my fingers. I felt a bit guilty for not telling him the complete truth, but we were so close to solving this. Find the laptop, find the killer. If I had to face a little danger while that happened, then so be it.
Chapter 13
I decided to use my delivery bike to get to the location of the laptop. The IP address showed that it was on Threadneedle Lane. It was a narrow road, and you could just about squeeze one car along it until you got to the end where it widened out. It might take me a bit longer to get there, but the bike was more discreet. I could sneak about more easily than I could in a noisy vehicle.
“Woof woof.” Meatball bounced out of his kennel when he spotted me and wagged his tail.
“It’s best you stay here, boy. This could be dangerous.”
“Woof.” His tail drooped.
“I’ll make it up to you with a big lunch.”
He turned away and stomped into his kennel.
“Stop right there!” Alice appeared, her cheeks red as she gasped in air.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“I’ve just been with Granny. She told me that there’s a high chance you’re about to die.”
I blinked rapidly, and my mouth went dry. “Another one of her predictions?”
“And you know how good they are. I’m not leaving your side. I’ll protect you.”
I climbed off the bike and walked closer. “Exactly how are you going to do that?”
“Prop the bike up,” Alice said.
I leaned the bike against the wall. “Why? What are you going to—”
She grabbed my arm, flung her weight against me, and flipped me over her shoulder. I landed on my back, staring at the sky in a stunned silence.
Meatball launched himself out of his kennel. “Woof, woof, woof, woof, woooooof.”
“Your mommy is fine. I’d never hurt her.” Alice stepped over me and grinned. “Impressed?”
“I’m okay, Meatball.” I gestured at him to stop barking and sucked in a breath. “What just happened?”
She giggled as she held out her hand and pulled me to my feet. “We’re trained to protect ourselves. It’s in case we ever get kidnapped by some underhand sort. I’m a green belt in tae kwon do.”
<
br /> “How did I not know about this?”
She pressed a finger to her lips. “It’s top secret. If anyone comes after us, we need to appear as if we can’t look after ourselves. It puts them on the back foot and they lower their guard. That’s when I’d strike. Take them out with a sucker punch and run for it. Well, I’d try running away. That’s one thing I’ve never been good at. Oh, that and drawing, sewing, playing the piano, and singing. And dancing. Other than that, I’ve got some killer moves.”
“I’m not going to disagree with that.” I brushed mud off the back of my pants. “Okay, you’re my backup.”
“Excellent. I’ll go grab the tandem bike.”
“Tandem what now?”
“It’s much more fun when you ride in tandem. There’s even a basket on the front for Meatball.” She petted his head as he bounded around us, checking I was okay after Alice’s surprise attack.
I pinched the bridge of my nose as Alice bounced away. This recon mission had just gotten complicated.
Alice wheeled out a huge bright pink bike with a large basket on the front. “You get on the front, and I’ll do the back.”
I’d never ridden a tandem bike. I adjusted the seat and hopped on. It felt a lot heavier than my usual bike.
“Meatball must come too,” Alice said.
“Woof woof.” He wagged his tail and danced on his back legs.
“Okay, he can be extra backup.” I raced to my apartment, grabbed our helmets, and hurried back, carefully securing Meatball’s before placing him in his new basket.
He gave it a good sniff before he turned around and settled, seeming quite happy.
“Ready when you are,” Alice said.
I turned to see she’d hitched up her long blue dress and tucked most of it into the waistband. It looked like she was wearing a giant pair of flappy blue knickers. “Are you sure about this?”
“Absolutely. Granny’s never wrong. As soon as she told me you were about to leave and your life was in danger, I ran down the stone steps to find you and save you from your doom.”
“It’s probably only going to be a tiny amount of danger,” I said, really not sure I should take a princess into a potentially deadly situation.