by Emily Greene
“Harper! It is so good to hear from you! How have you been?”
“Oh, I guess you didn’t hear.”
“I literally flew in a few hours ago. What is going on?”
“There has been another murder in Prairie Cove.”
“You’re kidding! Who?”
“Courtney Laidig, the owner of the bakery across the street from mine.”
“Oh my goodness, how awful!”
“Yes, it is. I overheard her speaking with someone who is new in town and wanted to know if you knew anything about them.”
“I will see if I can help. Who are you wondering about?”
“Connie Blair. Do you know her?”
“I do know her, she and her family just moved here a couple of months ago but she is also going through a nasty divorce right now. Apparently, infidelity was involved.”
“wow, I heard that same story, but was not sure that it was true.”
“As far as I know, it is. She hasn’t shared very much but she is admittedly a little bit bitter that an affair occurred in her marriage and she find a tells anyone who will listen about it.”
“I know you just got in town but do you have any idea if she was around the last week? I only ask that because I assumed that she would’ve made an appointment with you for her kids and you would have to put that on your calendar. Maybe she meant to you certain dates that she might be out of town and could not schedule appointments on those dates?”
“As a matter of fact, she is in Aspen right now. She took the kids there for winter break and they will be there until this Friday. I know that because they are scheduled to have cleanings on Saturday.”
“Do you know how long she has been in Aspen?”
“I think she said they were going for eight days so they would have left last Thursday.”
That would put them out of town during Courtney’s murder because Courtney was alive and well last Thursday when I ran into her at the grocery store. The only person left to investigate was Katarina Slavik. How in the world was I going to find her? I would have to think about that a little bit later.
“Thanks for your help, Matthew, I knew that you would be able to help me. Do you want to get together for lunch one day next week to catch up?”
“I would love to, I need a little bit of love advice.”
“Oh, things not working out with Geneviève?”
“oh, things are great with her, I just want to get her nice gift and need a little bit of advice.”
“Okay, I would be happy to talk with you about that when I see you next week.”
“Great, how is Tuesday afternoon?”
“Tuesday sounds great!”
“Perfect, I will call you over the weekend to finalize details.”
“Sounds good, have a great afternoon, Matthew!”
“Thanks, you too, Harper!”
Matthew is such a nice man and I was so happy that he was in a relationship with a wonderful woman. Genevieve was the manager at the local apparel store and was really nice. I thought the two of them were a perfect fit together.
I had to get to the bottom of what happened to Courtney so I had a crazy idea and called Carrie.
“Oh, Harper! Are you okay?”
“Yes, still a little freaked out, but I will be okay. I need a favor. Are you busy right now, Carrie?”
“I can spare some time, what did you need?”
“Can you meet me over behind Courtney’s bakery in 15 minutes?”
“Behind the bakery?”
“Yes, I need to look for something and I have to make sure that no one sees me.”
“Okay, I will see you in 15 minutes.”
That was one of the many things I love about Carrie, she was there when I needed her, no questions asked.
We pulled up about the same time and both parked in the alley.
“Harper, what on earth is this all about?”
“I want to see if I can find any clues about what happened to Courtney in her dumpster. You know they say your trash can tell a lot about you.”
“I have heard that, but are you serious? You’re going to get in that nasty dumpster?”
“Carrie, I have to. I have to know what happened to Courtney. I feel so guilty because the only reason she was at the middle school was because I suggested that we do the bake-off.”
“Harper Madison, you cannot possibly be blaming yourself for Courtney’s death.”
“Well, no, I don’t blame myself, but on some level, I feel partially responsible because she would not have been there if it wasn’t for me.”
“Please don’t think that way, because we have no idea why she was even really in Prairie Cove. Do we really think she was here to live in a quaint little town and run a bakery? No. I bet she was running from something and it finally caught up to her.”
“You might be right, but I have to see if I can find any helpful information. Can you give me a boost and watch to make sure no one sees me?”
“Sure, but hurry up, it is still light outside, but the sun will be going down soon.”
Carrie helped me get in the dumpster and I expected to see bags of flour and evidence of other baking ingredients, but they were not there. I saw several boxes with the label Wincie’s on them. Wincie’s was an online bakery delivery service and I wondered why Courtney would have so many of their boxes in her dumpster. I didn’t have time to dwell on that because I only had a few more minutes before the sun went down. At the very bottom of the dumpster was a small, light blue plastic trash bag and it was filled with cards. I grabbed a bag and hopped out of the dumpster, showing it to Carrie.
“That is all you found?”
“Well no, she has a ton of boxes from Wincie’s in the dumpster. Isn’t that strange?”
“Wincie’s? Why on earth would she have boxes from Wincie’s in the dumpster behind her bakery where she claims to bake the, oh my goodness! Harper! Do you know what this means?”
I look at Carrie and it clicked. Courtney did not bake the pastries at her bakery, she ordered them online! That proved to me that she did not move to Prairie Cove to open a bakery. Carrie was probably right. She was running from something and it looked like it had finally caught up with her.
“What a fraud! I knew there was some other reason that she was here!”
“Let’s look in the bag, maybe what is in there will tell us something,” Carrie suggested.
“Okay.”
I opened the bag and it filled with business cards.
“Oh, it’s just business cards,” Carrie shrugged.
I took a closer look.
“Wait a minute. Carrie. Read this.”
I handed her a card and her grew just as big as mine. Splashed across the card was the sign Pastries Galore, in small letters underneath it said, Anaheim’s Favorite Bakery, and at the very bottom at had a woman’s name and Courtney’s name.
We looked at each other, totally confused.
“Did she own a bakery in California?” Carrie asked.
“It’s certainly looks that way,” I said.
“I wonder what happened to it, and I wonder who Katarina Slavik is.”
“Oh my goodness, Carrie! That is the woman who was threatening Courtney at the grocery store! She told her she had 24 hours to return what Courtney had taken from her. Maybe it had something to do with the bakery!”
“Harper, I bet you’re right! Do you know what this means?”
“Yes! We have to go to California to find this lady!”
It was not was Carrie expected. “Huh?”
“What? What were you going to say?”
“I was going to say this means that she may have had something to do with Courtney’s murder and we need to tell detective Sloane right away.”
“Oh no, we can’t do that! Not yet, not until we have more information.”
“I see amateur sleuth, Harper Madison, is on another case. California is a long way away, Harper, and if something goes wrong, we have to have so
meone there to protect us. I think we need to tell your boyfriend.”
“Okay, you might be right. Do you think your husband would let us use the plane again? I will ask him to make sure that he doesn’t need it for anything, but it probably won’t be an issue. How soon do you want to go?”
“As soon as possible. If we could fly out tomorrow and come back Tuesday that would be great. Molly can handle the bakery for a couple of days by herself. Does that work for your schedule?”
“Yes, I will call Greg right now to see if the plane is available.”
While Carrie was on the phone with her husband I was trying to think of a way to convince Andrew to go to California with us to find Katarina. The more I thought about it the more I realized it was going to be nearly impossible, so I had to make up another reason for him to want to go with us. I couldn’t tell him the real reason because he would not be on board with me snooping around in his investigation. Once we are in the air, I would tell him the real reason we were going to California.
“Okay, we are all set to fly to Anaheim California tomorrow morning at 10:00.”
“Yay! Thank you, Carrie and please thank Greg for me.”
“You’re welcome, and I will. Have you thought about how are you’re going to tell Andrew that we are all going to California?”
“Well, I’m going to have to tell a small fib in the beginning, but once we are in the air I will tell him the real reason we are going. To get him on the plane, I’m going to tell him that you and I are flying to California to pick up a surprise for Greg and it is so heavy so we are going to need his help transporting it from the store to the plane.”
“Do you think he will agree to do that?” Carrie asked.
“Yes, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Okay, let’s get out of here because we both have packing to do and you have a detective to talk to. I will see you tomorrow morning!”
“Okay, sounds good.”
As soon as I got home, I called Andrew.
“I have a really big favor to ask you,” I said to him.
“Of course, what can I help you with?”
“Well, it involves a little bit of travel.”
“Travel?”
“Yes, Carrie and I need to go to California tomorrow for a couple of days and it would be great if you could come with us.”
“California? Tomorrow?”
“Yes, she has a big surprise for Greg and it is very large and heavy and she needs help transporting it from the store to the plane.”
“I don’t know that she is going to be allowed to put some large heavy object on a domestic airplane.”
“Oh, I forgot to mention that it is their private plane.”
“Oh, okay, that makes sense. How long will I need to be gone? You know I’m right in the middle of a murder investigation.”
“Murder? You know for sure that she was murdered?”
“Yes, forensics found a partially eaten donut near her body and the lab was able to give us almost instant results of the ingredients. Everything was natural except for one that was poison. The powdered sugar was laced with cyanide.”
“Oh my goodness, I can’t believe it. Who would want to do that to her?”
“That is what I am trying to find out. When will we be back from California?”
“Tuesday. It is going to be a short trip.”
“Okay, if you really need my help, I can be there. What time do we leave tomorrow?”
“The plane takes off at 10 o’clock.”
“Okay, I will pack a back tonight and see you in the morning.”
“Thank you, Andrew, this really means a lot to me.”
“Anything for you, Harper.”
Chapter Nine
As I sat across from Andrew, waiting for the plane to take off, my heart was beating a mile a minute. The second the wheels are off the ground I was going to tell him the real reason we were going to California and I just hope that he would not be too angry with me. A few seconds later we were told to prepare for take-off and once we were airborne I left across at Andrew, and Carrie was sitting next to me. I glanced at her and she nodded her head.
“Andrew? I have to tell you something.”
He looked at me with a pleasant look on his face, his eyes smiling at me.
“Yes?”
“We are not really going to California to pick up a gift for Greg, we are going to find Katarina Slavik.”
I watched his face as my words hung it in the air and the pleasant look on his face was quickly replaced by confusion.
“Why didn’t you just tell me the truth from the beginning? I am not a fan of being lied to, Harper.”
I quickly responded to him. “I didn’t really like him I just told a small fib, because I was afraid that you would not come with us and we are going to need some sort of backup in California.”
“How do you even know where she is?”
“I found a bunch of old business cards that belonged to Courtney and, apparently, Courtney and Katarina owned a bakery together in Anaheim, California.”
“okay, so you found out that she on a bakery with her. Why are you going to California? Why couldn’t you just tell me this information let the department handle it.”
“I didn’t want to waste the departments time if it turns out to be nothing, so I decided that we should just quickly go there, and check her out, to see if we can learn anything more about her involvement in Courtney’s murder.”
He let out a deep sigh and ran his fingers through his hair.
“Harper, it really would have been better if you had told me the truth from the beginning. The only reason I am not more upset is because this is turned into a working trip and it will be helpful for me to be there in California to investigate Katerina however, when I tell you ladies just stay back, or to wait in the car if we find her, you have to promise me that you will listen to me. Are we clear on that?”
“Yes,” Carrie and I replied in unison.
“Okay, good. Now, tell me everything you have discovered.”
The remainder of the flight was spent discussing everything we learned about Katarina and where we felt it was best to start looking for her. As soon as we landed we went straight to the location of her bakery. We knew that it was closed but thought we might be able to find a few locals who could tell us something about the previous owners.
Luckily, the street was buzzing with people so we all just started asking strangers if anyone knew Courtney or Katarina who owned the bakery that was once there. Not a single person could help us. I was getting frustrated when I noticed someone who appeared to be homeless watching us. He smiled at me so I took that as a cue that I could talk to him.
“I’ll be right back,” I told Andrew.
“Where are you going?”
“Over there to talk to him,” I motioned with my head.
Andrew had a skeptical look on his face. “Be careful, Harper.”
The man continued to smile as I walked over toward him.
“Hello, I’m Harper,” I smiled.
“Hi there, yourself. My name is Ray. I see that the three of you are looking for someone. I think I heard you asking about the two ladies who used to own the bakery, am I right?”
“Yes, did you know them?”
He nodded his head and, for the first time in hours, I felt a ray of hope.
“I sure did. Katarina was the nicest lady I ever met. That other one was pure evil and I don’t know how she got stuck in a business with someone like that. Why are you looking for them?”
I had to be very careful with what I said because he clearly had an affection for Katarina.
“We want to help Katarina open a new bakery, because we know she’s been going through a tough time.”
“That mean Courtney person didn’t send you, did she?”
“No she didn’t, Ray, I can promise you that.”
That seemed to satisfy him. “Oh, okay.”
“Do you have any idea whe
re I can find Katarina?”
“Sure do.”
“I’m going to call my friends over to hear this, okay?”
“Sure,” he smiled.
I motioned for Andrew and Carrie to come over.