by Emily Greene
“So, Courtney Laidig, I have been looking for you for the past year. You are a very difficult person to track down. Luckily for me, I caught wind of your little bake-off. Google alerts are the most amazing tool.”
“What do you want Katarina? The court already determined how debts were going to be settled. I don’t owe you anything.”
“Wrong!” Katarina whispered forcefully. “You owe me everything! What happened is all your fault and I am here for payback!”
My eyes were as big as saucers as I strained to hear more. It sounded like Courtney had done something really bad. Katarina was not a happy camper.
“Katarina, I have no idea what you are talking about!”
“Courtney, you know exactly what I am talking about! I want what you owe me! Now!”
“You are crazy! I can’t do that!”
They were both pretty heated and I stood still, listening, soaking it all in.
“You can, and you will! You have 24 hours to give me what you owe me or else. Don’t test me, Courtney, I am not playing around.”
Katarina’s voice was completely deadpan in that last statement and I could tell that she meant business. Whatever Courtney had done had left a very bitter taste in Katarina’s mouth. From the tone of her voice, I would have been shaking in my shoes if I were I dreamt you had a hot and dirty an explosion along dialogue Courtney. I heard footsteps and realized that one of them had walked away. I walked to the end of my aisle and peeked around to see Courtney standing there, her face in her hands, shaking uncontrollably. I was not going to dare go over to her for fear of having her sling nasty comments at me again so I quietly stepped back and continued my shopping. Like Andrew said, it was none of my business. Little did I know, those were going to be famous last words.
Chapter Six
The morning of the bake-off was a whirlwind of craziness and my mother showed up at my house at 7:00 that morning.
Her frantic knocking jarred me out of bed.
“Mother, what on earth are you doing here this early?”
She pushed her way right into my house and went straight to my kitchen to make a pot of coffee.
“This is a very big day, honey. You are going to be on television so we have to make sure that you look beautiful. I am sure that you already know what you’re going to wear, right?”
“Yes, I have selected a dress.”
“I certainly hope it is a flattering one, Harper. Thousands of people are going to see you today and you don’t want to look unkempt.”
“Unkempt? Mother, please.”
“Okay, maybe that word is a bit much, but just to make sure you look perfect I have asked Nomi to meet us at the Middle School and hour before the contest.”
Nomi was my hairstylist.
“Why? I am perfectly capable of doing my own hair, Mother.”
“Of course you are, dear, but this is a time when your hair needs to look more than just, well, capable.”
I rolled my eyes as I smiled at her and shook my head. There was no point in even arguing with her because it was already a done deal.
“Okay, thank you for doing that, Mother.”
She practically beamed at me and I could see that it meant a lot to her that I accepted her offer.
“You’re welcome, honey. Now, what do you need help with? What can I do? Do you want me to take anything over to the school?”
“No, I have everything covered. If you can just be there for support, that would be wonderful.”
“Of course. Well, I guess I will let you get ready and I will see you over at the school a little bit later this morning. Don’t worry, honey, this is going to be a piece of cake.” My mother started to giggle at her joke and the giggle went on almost a little too long as she walked out the door, so I could tell that she was nervous. “Oh my goodness! I said piece of cake! Too funny! Bye, darling!”
I shook my head at her and smiled. “Goodbye, Mother.”
I was ready to leave around 8:45, but before I left I crouched down and gave Gracie a kiss. I gently stroked her fur as she purred softly.
“Gracie, mommy has a very big day today. Wish me luck!” I gave Gracie a big nuzzle and a kiss and dashed out the door.
My sisters met me at my car around 9:30 when I pulled into the middle school parking lot and help me carry in if you small items that I needed for my display table. It was so strange to see such a long line of people outside the middle school and even stranger when they applauded as I walked in.
Katie looked at me and smiled. “Boy, I am with a local celebrity now!”
I look at her and playfully rolled my eyes. “Oh please, hardly!”
We all giggled as we walked into the gymnasium and I was really pleased with what Carrie, Molly and Natalie had done to set up the display table; it looked perfect. Mark and Evelyn were in the basement cafeteria making the apple turnovers and hot chocolate from my recipes. Carrie and I put the finishing touches on the display table and at 10:00 Nomi arrived.
I was getting my hair and makeup done when around 10:30 Mark and Evelyn came upstairs to let me know that the Apple turnovers were ready and they were warming in the oven. I wanted the pastries to be the perfect warm temperature when the judges tasted them so my plan was to take them out of the warming oven for five minutes before we went on air.
I had not seen Courtney that morning and her display table was still empty at 10:45. It was strange because I knew that she was looking forward to being on television, and I doubted she would miss it for anything.
When Andrew arrived, I asked him to go with me downstairs about five minutes before we were going to be live to help me bring up the large batch of apple turnovers that were warming in the oven. As soon as I opened the door to the kitchen, I stopped in my tracks. Courtney was lying on the ground and Andrew rushed over to her and asked me to dial 911.
Chapter Seven
I could not believe that another murder had happened in Prairie Cove and come out once again I was the person to discover the body. I nearly got sick to my stomach when I saw Courtney lying there, her face turning blue. The paramedics arrived but it was already too late.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, a news crew was on the scene for the bake-off, so they were downstairs with cameras within seconds of hearing my scream. Andrew didn’t want me to have to endure another minute of the gruesome scene so he walked with me back upstairs, and found my mother. He had to investigate but told me that he would be back as soon as he could.
To say my mother was frantic with worry when she heard what it happened, is an understatement. She would not leave my side and kept hugging me to make sure that I was not going to go into shock.
“Harper, look at me, are you okay, honey?”
“Yes, mother, I just can’t believe this happened again!” I said in frustration. “Why am I always the one to stumble upon on these tragedies?”
“I don’t know, honey, she said as she gently rubbed my shoulder.”
Two seconds later Kerry and the rest of my staff rushed over to me.
“Harper, what happened? Is it true? Is Courtney dead?” Carrie asked.
I slowly nodded my head, my tear stained eyes searching hers. “It certainly looks that way. She wasn’t moving, Carrie, and her face was blue,” I said as tears rolled down my face.
Carrie reached out to hug me and I cried softly on her shoulder.
“Oh, wow,” was all Carrie and the others could say.
The sheriff’s office did a great job of clearing everyone out of the School also within a few minutes the only people remaining were me, and my mother, Nomi, and my staff. The police wanted to question us individually to see if we had seen or heard anything.
By the time Andrew questioned me everyone else has gone except for my mother.
“Harper, did you see anything out of the ordinary when you arrived?”
“No, the only thing I noticed is that Courtney’s table was not set up. It was completely blank as if she had not yet arrived.”
“What time was that?”
“We got here around 9:30, so it was somewhere around that time.”
He scribbled some notes on his notepad and then looked around the gymnasium.
“Did anyone mention to you that they had seen Courtney this morning?”
“I feel horrible, but I didn’t really ask very many people. Do they know what happen to her?”
“Not yet, but we do suspect foul play.”
I turned sad eyes to Andrew. “I can’t believe this has happened again.”
“I know, but don’t worry, we will get to the bottom of it. I am going to need you to go over the two stories you told me about the strange people you saw with Courtney on those two separate occasions.”
“Oh my goodness! You think they have something to Do with it?”
“It is definitely a possibility, but we don’t know anything yet so I am going to explore all avenues.”
“Okay, just let me know when you want me to come down to the station.”
“Well, since the bake-off is obviously canceled, do you have time to come right now?”
My mother had been silent until that moment.
“Detective Sloane, is that really necessary? Can’t this wait until tomorrow?”
“Actually, the sooner we discuss this, the better because tomorrow the information will be in Harper’s brain 24 hours longer than it is right now and she may forget something that she would have remembered today.”
I looked at my mother and patted her hand. “It is okay, Mother, I want to do anything I can to help.”
“OK, darling, but if you need anything call me and I will be right there.”
“Thanks, Mother.”
Andrew looked at me and gently held my hand.
“Honey, are you okay?”
I slowly shook my head no, and laid my head on his shoulder as tears rolled down my cheeks.
“We don’t have to do the questioning today if you are not up to it.”
I set up and wiped my tears away.
“no, I don’t want to put it off. I think you were right that I might not remember something tomorrow that I no today. Also, I overheard a pretty vicious argument between Courtney and another woman in the grocery store two days ago.”
“Okay, let’s go down to the station so that I can get all this information in the system.”
We are at the station within minutes and once we were in Andrew’s office he shut the door behind us.
“Okay, let’s start with the first person you heard arguing with Courtney.”
“That was Connie Blair. She and her family just moved here a couple months ago.”
“Okay, and for some reason you believe Courtney was Connie’s husband mistress, correct?”
“It appears that way but, of course, I could be wrong.”
“Did you hear Connie say anything threatening to Courtney?”
“Yes, their entire conversation was threatening. Connie told her to stay away from what did not belong to her or she was going to be sorry.”
Andrew was furiously typing away.
“Okay and the next person was a man that you saw in her coffee shop and then again possibly accosting her at her car?”
“Yes, she said he was a weekly customer and she did not tell me much more than that, but when she looked over at him I did notice that she looked extremely uncomfortable.”
“Did you happen to get a good look at him so that you can give some sort of description of what he looks like?”
“I didn’t get a good look at him in the coffee shop and he has dark hair and dark eyes, a very slim build, wears a big diamond pinky ring, and, if he is the same man who I saw bothering her near her car, he looked to be about 5’11” or possibly 6 feet tall.”
“Okay, I will have to do a better digging about him. Tell me who this latest altercation involved.”
“Well, I was in the grocery store, ran into Courtney, and as we made small talk a woman walked up to her, put her arm around her, and I could tell that the grip was pretty hard because Courtney looked extremely uncomfortable. Actually, it was more than that, Courtney look terrified, but she was trying to hide it.”
“And did the woman say anything to you to make you I got something suspicious was going on?”
“No, not to me, but she did say something to Courtney. We said goodbye and I overheard them talking in the next aisle over.”
“You overheard them or you were eavesdropping, Harper?” Andrew said in a teasing scolding voice.
“Well maybe a little bit of both,” I smiled. “Anyway, she told Courtney that she had been looking for her for a year and she at come to collect what Courtney owed her.”
“Did she happen to say what it was that Courtney owed her?”
“No, she did not, but she did tell Courtney that she had 24 hours to give it to her or else.”
“She actually said the words ‘or else’ to her?”
“Yes, she did.”
Andrew continued to type away.
“Okay, this is all a really good start. Thank you, Harper, you have been very helpful.”
I smiled at him. “You are very welcome. Well, I should probably let you get to work.”
“Okay, I will give you a call to see how you’re doing a little bit later this evening. And, Harper?”
“Yes?” I asked as I headed out the door.
“Let the professionals handle this. I can see that familiar twinkle in your eyes and I know that you are itching to start snooping around, but please don’t. We don’t know who killed Courtney, if it was in fact murder, and we don’t know how dangerous the person is who is possibly still out there. We also don’t know anything about the three people you told me about so we have to be very careful with how we approach them. Stay out of it, okay?”
“Okay,” I said as I crossed my fingers behind my back.
As I got in my car the first thing I thought about was that I needed to find out who the mystery man was. Once again I went to Edna and the girls for the information since they had spent a significant amount of time over at Courtney’s bakery.
I found Betty and Doris over at the local café and they were both pretty distraught.
“Oh Harper, this is just awful! I can’t believe it has happened again!” Betty cried.
“Yes, this is just terrible!” Doris added.
“Yes, ladies, it is horrible what happened today. That is why I am here. I wanted to ask you if you have noticed anything out of the ordinary, or anyone that you normally would not see around Prairie Cove.”
Betty thought for a moment and then I could say lightbulb go off in her head.
“Well, there is that strange gentleman that sits in Courtney’s bakery every week. He does not speak to anyone, all he does is sit there for the entire day one day a week. It is very odd.”
“Do you have any idea who he is?” I asked.
Doris leaned in, as she usually did when she had a juicy piece of gossip.
“I heard that he is her loan shark and he would come once a week to collect what she owed him. Apparently, last week, she missed a payment so he was there at the bake-off this morning, bright and early like me at 8:00, probably to collect what was owed to him.”
My eyes grew as big as saucers. “He was there today? This morning?”
“Yes, he stood in line right behind me all morning.”
“Doris, do you remember what time you went into the middle school?”
“Yes, I do, because I had to take a pill. It was 10:55.”
“Are you sure he was behind you the entire time?”
“Positive, because I felt that he was standing too close to me, and it was quite annoying.”
My heart sank because that meant there was no way that man could’ve been the person who murdered Courtney.
“Okay, thank you ladies for your help. Hopefully we will get to the bottom of this very soon and we can resume our Nice little lives here in Prairie Cove.”
Chapter Eight
Over the next few days I was racking my brain, trying to figure out who could’ve killed Courtney when I decided to delve a little deeper into the story I heard about Connie Blair. Matthew had just returned to town from a month-long dental convention and I knew that all of the people in town took the kids to see him so I was going to ask him if he knew anything about them. I called him that morning and asked him to lunch.