Thea didn’t even have enough time to utter a thank you before she was gone. In silence, she tapped her foot against the flooring and waited a few minutes until she heard footsteps approach from behind her. Turning her head, she was met with the sight of a chef, teeming with sweat from both the heat of the kitchen and the intensity of the workload.
“Hello, nice to meet you. I was told you wanted to speak to me?” he introduced himself, shaking Thea’s hand. “I’m Francis Oppel, the head chef of the establishment. Please, would you like a small treat?”
From on top of the messy desk, he retrieved a small bowl filled with peppermint candies. Thea shook her head, sending him a small smile.
“No, but thank you,” she said. “I wanted to talk to you about the former owner of Cuisine Maline, Marcel Faust.”
Francis perked a brow, before speaking slowly. “Yes, he was killed recently. It was the most heartbreaking news to us. Shocking, too. You never expect one of your colleagues to end up like… that.”
“I wanted to learn more about him. A close family friend of mine was named as one of the suspects of the case, so I’ve been doing my best to clear her name.”
“Wait… that’s all you’re here for?” Francis asked. When Thea reassured him with a nod, he let out a small sigh of relief as he wiped away the sweat from his forehead. “Oh, wow. Thank goodness. I thought you were coming in to complain that you hated the food or something.”
“I haven’t even tried the food yet, if I’m being honest,” Thea replied as he took the seat behind the desk. “But anyway… I wanted to ask about what’s been going on since Marcel’s death. Things looked pretty busy out there.”
“Of course,” Francis reaffirmed. “Following his passing, we could have very easily shut down the place for a while. After some talks with the team, no one was opposed to the idea of staying open. Maybe we should have, out of respect for his memory, but there were a lot of tourists still in town because of the Harvest Festival. It would seem silly of us to lose out on some much needed revenue.”
“Did you like Marcel?” Thea asked, resting her hands in her lap. “Was he a good boss to you all?”
Pressing his lips into a thin line, Francis thought about that for a few moments before answering. “I mean, he was pretty okay. The guy wasn’t perfect, that’s for sure, but he wasn’t some micromanager who was breathing down our necks every minute of the day. He could still be a little over the top sometimes. Very persuasive.”
“Did he…” Thea cleared her throat before continuing. “Did you think he had any enemies that might have… you know… had it out for him?”
“I’m not so sure,” Francis responded. “I didn’t know much about his business dealings behind closed doors, but to be honest with you, I’m not too surprised that he got shot.”
He didn’t stop speaking, even as Thea’s eyebrows shot upwards at his comment.
“He was a player, I think half the town knows that by now. He slept around with a lot of women and he never really cared if they were married or not. I’m guessing one of their husbands finally found out,” Francis explained, punctuating that thought with a shrug. “Or maybe it was one of his exes. Either way, Marcel wasn’t well liked by the people he dealt with in his romantic life.”
“One of his exes?” Thea asked. She recalled Pippa mentioning something similar to that in A Novel Idea.
Francis let out a short laugh. “Yes. His most recent one was a woman named Sandra. Sheesh, she was a real handful. Do you want to know what she–”
“Hey, Francis!” the waitress from earlier entered the room, wincing as she realized she interrupted the conversation. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” she said, mainly directed towards Thea. She soon turned back to Francis. “The kitchen needs you right now. It’s pretty urgent.”
He sighed, rubbing at his face. “I’ll be there soon.” Looking back to Thea, he smiled. “It was nice talking to you. You said you hadn’t eaten our food yet, right? Let me bring you something nice, I’m sure it’ll fill up your appetite.”
At that, she accepted his offer wholeheartedly. She was starving. By the time he returned with her order to go, she gazed down at the meal.
It was a sandwich, decorated beautifully. However, it was bite-sized. Literally. Eleanor had a point in criticizing the portion sizes of the meals served at this restaurant.
Chapter 10
It took Thea approximately three bites to finish her sandwich. Although it was delicious, she would have preferred it to have been more filling. She was never one to complain about food in any capacity, but there was a first time for everything.
Just as she was wiping away the stray crumbs left on her hands, her phone rang. When the caller ID revealed that it was Pippa, she didn’t hesitate to answer.
“What’s going on, Pippa? Did you find something new?”
Even through the phone, Thea could tell that her friend was bursting at the seams with excitement. She could hear it in her voice.
“Of course I found something new! I managed to talk around and find some more information about Marcel’s ex. Or at least one of them. The most recent one.”
“Go on, Pippa, I’m listening,” Thea said as she made her way to her car.
“Her name is Sandra Holden. She was the one I was referring to while you were in here, remember?”
Thea was satisfied to realize that the information about Marcel’s ex girlfriend was all adding up. First with Francis, who worked directly with Marcel. Now, Pippa was confirming this knowledge.
“Yeah, I remember,” Thea replied. “You said something about how she caused a scene during one of their services.”
“Yep, that’s her. Turns out, she stormed into the kitchen of Cuisine Maline and started yelling at Marcel while the staff was trying to get their orders done. Can you believe it? She was shouting at him for twenty minutes.”
“Yikes,” Thea mumbled under her breath. “I wonder what he could have done to make her so mad.”
“Who knows at this point. But honestly, she does sound like a person who wouldn’t have minded to see Marcel turn up dead shortly afterwards.”
“I think you’re right, Pippa. She’s definitely one of the people we need to consider as a suspect. There were probably a lot of witnesses that day, too,” Thea said. When she mentioned witnesses, her mind trailed back to the conversation she just had with Cuisine Maline’s head chef. “Hey, Pippa, do you know who Francis Oppel is? Does that name ring a bell?”
“Francis who?” Pippa repeated loudly. “I have no idea who you’re talking about. Is he important?”
“Kinda. He’s now the head chef of Cuisine Maline. He runs the place now that Marcel is gone. Do you think you can find some more information on him?”
A loud sigh followed. “I’ll do my best, Thea. You better be enthusiastic when I find something new about this guy. This takes a lot out of me.” Oh the drama.
“Of course I will. I’m just a little grumpy right now because I’m still hungry. Things will be different next time around, I promise.”
Only a few seconds after finishing her phone call with Pippa, another name flashed up on her screen. Granny was calling her since she wanted to get picked up from Witt’s End. It didn’t take long for Thea to hop into her car and head over.
When she entered the diner, she definitely felt more at home than how she felt at Cuisine Maline. In the latter, she felt almost asphyxiated by the cramped design of the restaurant. Witt’s End was much more open and lively, even if there weren’t as many customers present.
“Here you go,” Granny said, passing her a small white box as she headed towards the passenger side of the car. “Got you a little something.”
Opening it up, Thea was grateful to see a slice of blueberry pie and a plastic fork awaiting her. Considering her meager lunch, it was a pleasant sight. Her mouth almost watered immediately.
As she drove Granny back home, she decided to fill her in on the information she learned. She hoped that it would
calm her, knowing that some people were eyeing a new suspect in Marcel’s case.
“I’ve been learning a little more about Marcel, you know,” Thea mentioned casually as she turned onto a busy Ardensville street. “I think a lot of people might have had it out for him.”
“Do you think so?” Granny asked, perking up at the news. Thea nodded. “I’m so glad. That makes me so relieved for Eleanor. I know that she isn’t the killer, no matter what those police officers and detectives say.”
“You really care about her, don’t you?”
“Of course I do. I’ve known her since childhood,” Granny explained, settling comfortably in her seat. “She doesn’t look my age, I know. That’s because fairies age differently than we do, but I’ve still known her for almost all my life. She’s always been there for me and I plan to do the same for her.”
Thea responded with a small smile. “I’ll try to do my best to help her out, then.”
“And I’ll do the same,” Granny added on. “You know, your parents were frequent customers of Witt’s End. It was their favorite diner when they were in high school. Before Selena headed off to college, she and Alister were always spending their time there. If I remember correctly, they had their first date in that diner.”
Thea’s heart fluttered at the mention of her parents. She blinked a few times, hoping that her eyes didn’t water while she was driving.
“He even asked her to prom in there with balloons and a special pie that Eleanor baked for them. They loved that little place.”
Before they knew it, she parked her car in front of their home. Granny made her way inside, but Thea decided to stay in the car and finish the pie. After hearing how much her parents loved Witt’s End, she savored each bite even more. That small fondness in her heart for Eleanor only continued to grow.
Once she finished her snack, she tucked away the trash somewhere in the back seat of her car. She reignited the engine of her vehicle again, needing to head back to A Stitch in Time.
As she drove through the roads in silence, her mind kept drifting back to the thought of her parents. Although Granny and Aunt Tiegen tried to fill in the gaps over the years, she still didn’t know that much about them. There was so much more to learn and Thea wanted to know it all.
Chapter 11
Once she returned to A Stitch in Time, she tried to send Jesse home for the rest of the day. He had taken care of the shop all morning, so she decided that he deserved a break. He was insistent that he was fine, so she ultimately failed at convincing him that he needed to take some time off.
“Besides, I don’t want my favorite boss overwhelming herself,” Jesse said.
“Flattery will get you nowhere,” Thea returned, though she did concede to let him stay.
She reorganized some items around the shop, doing her best to keep her mind off things. She was antsy, knowing that Blaine was going to show up sooner or later to talk about the case. The eagerness was getting to her. Thea wanted to tell him everything she learned about Marcel and his ex-girlfriend, Sandra. If this was going to get him a few steps closer to solving this case, she wanted to help him.
Considering he was a detective, he was the best person to investigate more about her past. They needed facts about her, beyond mere gossip and rumors. If she was the one who pulled the trigger and shot Marcel in that maze, they were going to find out eventually.
Before she knew it, the familiar jingle rang at the front of her shop, indicating that someone had entered. The skies outside were already darkening and A Stitch in Time was nearing its closing time. However, Blaine managed to make it on time.
Despite the darkness under his eyes, he still smiled when he saw Thea. “Hey, can I ask you a favor?”
She raised a brow. “What’s in it for me?”
Jesse’s gaze flickered between Thea and Blaine. He opened and shut his mouth, swallowing down the words he was going to say. Instead, he jutted his thumb towards the door.
“All right, well, my shift is over. See you two later,” he called out, waving as he exited the shop.
Blaine and Thea watched him as he left, laughing at his awkward nature. Still, Jesse had a charm to his actions that the both of them enjoyed.
“What was that favor you wanted?” Thea asked as she settled down from her laughter. “It managed to scare off Jesse.”
“That’s what I wanted,” Blaine replied, giving her all of his attention. “I wanted to talk to you alone. It’s about the case.”
She nodded. “I tried calling you earlier about it. What was going on? What happened?”
Just by remembering all of the events that transpired in that day alone, he let out a sigh. “It’s a long story. I couldn’t answer your call because I was dealing with some guy I found creeping around in the morgue.”
“The morgue? What was he doing down there?”
“He was one of those robed tourists from the Harvest Festival. Do you know which ones I’m talking about?”
Thea scoffed. “They were pretty hard to miss.”
“He wanted to see Marcel’s body. He kept mentioning something about ‘proof of his lord,’” Blaine said, putting air quotes around that phrase. “Odd stuff.”
“Did you manage to find out who he was?”
“He kept calling himself Thorn.”
Thea let out a small laugh. Poking up two of her fingers near her forehead, she mimicked Marcel’s horns. It was enough to make Blaine chuckle.
“So did Marcel have some weird, cultish followers or something? Do they all have names as weird as Thorn?”
“Beats me,” Blaine replied. “But it was really suspicious and creepy to find him down there by himself. He didn’t do anything illegal, but it was still worth looking into.”
Thea crossed her arms over her chest. She wasn’t convinced. There was something more to this Thorn fellow.
“Did he have an alibi for what he was doing on the night Marcel was killed?” she asked.
“The rest of those people in robes backed up his story pretty well.”
As she observed his expression, Thea narrowed her eyes. “I’m guessing you don’t think their testimony is very reliable.”
“Well, would you be quick to believe some random group of people who sulk around in robes?”
“Of course not,” Thea said with a small smile. She shook her head, changing the topic of their discussion. “I wanted to talk to you about a new potential suspect to the case. Her name is Sandra Holden and she was Marcel’s ex. A lot of people keep mentioning how she wasn’t happy about their break-up. She turned up to his diner one day just to yell at him about it.”
Blaine looked interested by that information. “Really? I’ll look into that. It might lead somewhere.”
Happy that she managed to help, Thea grinned widely. She watched in amusement as Blaine turned around and kept searching for something near the ground.
“Did you drop something?” she asked, more than willing to help him if he needed it.
“No, I was… I was just looking for Sybil,” he admitted, scratching at his chin. “Do you still want to help me out with that favor I mentioned?”
On cue, she nodded. That was a no-brainer.
“I need help finding the bullet in the corn maze. We still haven’t been able to locate where it’s at, and since it’s such an important part of this case, it would be a great help if we can retrieve it.”
“Of course I’ll help you, Blaine,” Thea reassured him. “We can do that tomorrow, if you’d like.”
“That would be perfect.”
Checking the time, Blaine’s eyes went wide. He bid her good night and told her to be safe when she closed the shop. As he headed towards the door, he paused when Thea asked him what the rush was for.
“I’m working extra security at the festival,” he explained. “The police station decided it was necessary. Having someone murdered at the event hasn’t been sitting well for a lot of people. It’s for extra precaution.”
That
made a lot of sense. Thea waved good-bye.
“See you later, Blaine. Be safe!”
She tried to say this last bit as casually as she could.
In truth, she couldn’t help but worry at the thought of Blaine, working security at a festival when there was a killer on the loose.
Chapter 12
Thea decided to close the shop early that day. She wasn’t going to have her much needed worker, since Jesse was working at the festival face-painting booth as well as helping the kids out with their crafts.
Most people were going to be preoccupied with the Harvest Festival goings on anyway. A Stitch in Time looked as barren as a ghost town when she turned off the lights and locked the front door behind her.
“The spiderwebs certainly don’t help it look any livelier,” Sybil remarked, peering into the darkened shop through the front window.
“Oh, hush,” Thea said, laughing.
Sybil headed home, but Thea decided to use her free time to visit her Aunt Tiegen at the mayor’s office. Because of the flurry of activity in Ardensville, Tiegen was met up to the eyebrows with work to take care of. She barely had any time to talk with Granny and Thea anymore, but she decided to change that today.
Entering the lobby of the mayor’s office, it didn’t take long for her to find her aunt’s assistant. She was busy, typing away at the computer while a phone was cradled between her shoulder and ear. As Thea’s gaze trailed down to the name plaque atop her desk, her eyes went wide.
Sandra Holden.
Thea had forgotten Tiegen’s assistant’s last name. Was it a coincidence? How many Sandra Holdens could one small town have?
Although Thea didn’t mean to stare at her for too long, it managed to get Sandra’s attention all the same. She placed her call on hold.
“Hello, Miss Beal,” Sandra said stuffily. “Are you here to see the mayor?” she asked, still focused on typing.
“Yes, I am,” Thea replied.
“Have a seat.” Sandra nodded. “I’ll let you know when she’s available.”
Creature Magic (Tabby Kitten Mystery Series Book 2) Page 4