Burned to a Crisp (Cookies & Chance Mysteries Book 3)

by Catherine Bruns

She leaned in closer and took the piece in her hands, examining it. "Looks like some kind of heel to me. It might be the one that Sarah lost."

  A light bulb clicked on in my head, and the room started to spin around while my inner thoughts began to sicken me. No, it couldn't be. But the more I thought about it, the more I had to admit that it all made sense.

  "Who do we know that's left-handed?" I asked.

  She furrowed her brow. "You mean as in Bernardo's killer?"

  I nodded. "Anyone who comes to mind. Just throw it out there. Of course, there's Gianna."

  Josie frowned. "I think Sergio might have been, but I'm not positive."

  "Who else can you think of?"

  "Well, Sarah is, but what does that have to do with—?" Josie's face went pale beneath her freckles. "Shut up. How could you even suggest such a thing?"

  Bile rose in the back of my throat. "I'm literally getting sick thinking about it," I confessed. "But it does fit, and another thought occurred to me. What if Julie is Bernardo's child?"

  Josie covered her mouth in horror. "Sal, you don't have any proof. Just because we found Sarah's heel doesn't make her a killer. She worked here, for God's sake. Of course we'd find some of her stuff around."

  I placed a hand over my chest to steady my intense heart rate. "Hear me out, okay? First off, Sarah's left-handed. We found her heel with what I think is blood on it. She never made it to my party the other night, remember? She had time to commit the crime. I've been racking my brain over and over all week, wondering how Bernardo could have gotten back into the bakery."

  "But Gianna told you she wasn't sure if she'd locked the door," Josie protested.

  "No, but Sarah is the only one of us besides Gianna and Mike who has a key to the building."

  Josie rubbed her arms as if for warmth. "I don't believe it, Sal. Hell, I don't want to believe it. Please come up with another conclusion. We've worked side by side with the woman for months, and now you want me to think she's a cold-hearted killer who set the bakery on fire? No freaking way."

  I drew my phone out of my jeans pocket. "Come on. Let's get out of here. I'll call Gianna from your van."

  "What for?"

  "I want to see if she can check out Julie's birth certificate. Then we'll have our answer."

  "There's no need," a voice sounded softly from behind us.

  Josie and I both whirled around. Sarah was standing there, eyes wild, her face devoid of color. She regarded us in silence as she held a large sharp butcher knife in her hand.

  "What are you doing?" Josie asked shakily.

  Sarah stepped forward and motioned us away from the front door. "There's no need to call Gianna. I'll tell you everything you want to know."

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  My legs went numb. This had to be a bad dream. Here I was being confronted by a killer yet again. From knives to guns to being duct-taped and left to die, I'd pretty much seen it all by now. Was there a sign on my back that read Please try to kill me?

  "Sarah." Somehow I managed to keep my voice steady. "Put down the knife."

  Her eyes, which had reminded me of a frightened doe's when I'd first met her, were now cold and angry as they gazed into mine. She gestured toward the back room. "Both of you in there. Don't try anything funny, either."

  We both backed up into the kitchen area, exchanging a quick glance between us and then at the knife. Once we were pressed up against the table, Sarah reached for Josie's arm and yanked it behind her back, pressing the knife to her throat.

  "Sarah, stop it!" I started forward, but Josie's fearful eyes kept me rooted in place.

  "I'm sorry." Sarah's voice was monotone. "You've been good to me, Sally. God knows you're one of the few people in this life who has. I'm sorry you had to be involved."

  "Sarah, the structural engineer's going to be here any minute," I lied. "You're not going to get away with this."

  She smiled. "Who do you think called him to cancel?"

  I was perplexed. "How did you even know who he was?"

  "You left his name and number on the counter earlier," Sarah replied. "The flip side of the note had a recipe Josie had written out for me, so I wound up taking the paper home and a good thing I did. After Julie said she'd talked to you, I knew I'd have to come out here, and Dave would have been in the way. Lucky for me he was running late when I called and pretended to be you, so it worked out well." She waved the knife up and down. "Piece of cake—oops, I mean cookie. Ha-ha, get it?"

  I swallowed hard, still trying to come to terms with everything. How were we going to get out of this without someone getting hurt? Josie, always so full of energy and sarcasm, had practically gone limp in Sarah's arms as the knife was pressed against her throat. Was there a chance anyone would come here? No. My parents were off at the beauty pageant event doing God knows what. Gianna might be with Johnny or still at work. Mike thought I was on my way home. There would be no reason for anyone to come by. We were on our own.

  "Sarah." I tried to appeal to her motherly instinct. "You don't want to hurt Josie. She's got four little kids. You're a mother too, so you know what it's like. Don't do this."

  She blinked back tears but tightened her grip around Josie's throat, pointing the knife at her with the other. "I don't want to, but there's no other choice for me. It all just spiraled out of control."

  "Bernardo was Julie's father, wasn't he?" I asked gently.

  She let out a long, ragged breath and nodded, her gaze even with mine. "He was so handsome and suave. I met him at a bar one night. I was new in town and out with a couple of girlfriends. He approached me, and then we talked for hours. We really hit it off, you know. After the bar closed down, we went back to my place for a nightcap. And then, things happened."

  Sarah's face flushed a bright red as she continued. "When I found out about the baby, he said he'd help, but it was all a lie. He never paid me one red cent. God, I was such a fool. I even took the baby over to his house one day, and he refused to let us in. Wouldn't even look at our beautiful little girl. He said it was all my fault for not using birth control, so why should he help? I decided she was better off without him back then." Tears streamed out of her eyes, and I watched as one landed on the blade of the knife, where it glistened.

  Josie whimpered like a child, and that seemed to jar Sarah out of her flashback. She paused for breath then continued.

  "At first, I was going to fight him for child support but never had a test done. Stupid, I know. So after a few months, Julie and I left town to live with an aunt of mine. When she relocated last year, I decided to come back to Colwestern. Julie's been asking questions about her father lately, and I thought maybe he'd want to see her. I called Bernardo a few months ago, thinking maybe his feelings had changed, but no. I even threatened to tell his new wife, and he laughed and said go ahead, that she wouldn't care less. He said he had no interest in seeing me or Julie ever again and to leave him the hell alone."

  I glanced anxiously at Josie's face. Her blue eyes were filled with terror, pleading for me to help her. If I made a sudden move, Sarah could slice Josie's throat in one quick motion. I had to keep her talking for a while and hope that an opportunity to disarm her might arise.

  "How did you know he was here that night?" I asked.

  "I didn't at first," Sarah admitted. "When I got home, I realized I'd left my cell phone behind. I stuck Julie with one of my neighbors and ran back out. I pulled up in the alley and saw Gianna's car leaving. Once I got inside, someone was banging on the front door. I think Bernardo thought I was Gianna, until the door opened."

  "So you let him in," I prompted.

  Sarah smiled. "Yeah. You should have seen the expression on Bernardo's face. But that didn't stop him from mocking me. He said he was leaving town and that he had plenty of money with him. Wasn't it too bad I'd never see any of it? Not even a single dollar. 'Nothing for my so-called bastard,' is how he put it." She blinked back tears. "His own flesh and blood. Well, I got even with him."

 
That explained the one-dollar bill in the briefcase. After Sarah had killed Bernardo she must have taken his car keys and removed the money from his briefcase.

  The room was silent except for Josie's labored breathing. I felt completely helpless. At that moment I heard a strange noise coming from above. It almost seemed like the building had moved. We needed to get out of here soon.

  Sarah seemed oblivious to the noise as she continued to hold the knife against Josie's throat. "He walked toward the door, laughing, and I just kind of lost it. I took my shoe off and hit him in the head with it. He was stunned for a minute but then reached out and lunged for me. I ran into the back room to try to leave through the alley. He picked up the rolling pin and hit me in the shoulder. Then he grabbed me by the throat, like this." She squeezed Josie's neck until she made a gurgling sound.

  "Stop it, Sarah!" I screamed. "You're hurting her."

  She looked up at me angrily. "What about all the times I've been hurt? What about my daughter who's never had anyone to call Father? Don't we deserve some happiness?"

  "Of course you do." Although you don't go around killing people in the process, despite how rotten they might be. "But you don't set people's buildings on fire or let other people take the rap for murder, like my sister."

  She stared at me, open-mouthed. "I didn't know what else to do. I hit Bernardo again with the heel of my shoe, and he fell down. I hit him over and over. Too many times to count. The blood was running down the side of his face, and then I realized that he wasn't moving. I knew he was dead and was afraid somehow they'd figure out it was me. I had to try to cover the whole thing up. Then I remembered the gasoline in the shed." She shrugged her shoulders. "So, I had no choice but to set the place on fire. I was going to send you some money after I went away. Honest."

  The callous manner in which she talked about Bernardo's death and the arson sickened me. I wondered, with a pang, if Julie had ever been the victim of her psychotic behavior, but this wasn't a good time to ask. I exchanged glances with Josie, whose eyes then darted back in the direction of the knife resting against her throat.

  Sarah had become completely unglued, and I was afraid of ticking her off any further. I also did not want to be in this building any longer.

  "Sarah, you were going to let Gianna take the blame for what you did." Another thought crossed my mind. "That day when I told you to go up to her room and get yourself some clothes—that's when you found the necklace, wasn't it?"

  She narrowed her eyes at me angrily. "I did what was necessary to throw suspicion off me. Gianna would have gotten out of it somehow. She's a lawyer, for God's sake. Plus, she's beautiful and will make tons of money defending scumbags like Bernardo. I saw them together once, you know. Outside the courthouse. I knew he was in love with her—it was so obvious. Gianna's probably got guys throwing themselves at her feet. She deserves to suffer a bit, like I have."

  What was this woman thinking? Gianna had always been sweet to Sarah, even lending her money one day for lunch when she'd forgotten her purse.

  My reasoning skills went right out the window, and anger surged through me. If there was a Guinness world record for most psychos encountered in a year, I'd definitely win, hands down. I couldn't let this woman destroy us. Josie's life and mine were both at stake here.

  "And even you," she said bitterly. "Your fiancé is gorgeous and adores you. I've watched the way he looks at you. It's like there's no one else in the world. Why can't I have that? You have no idea what it's like to raise a child on your own. You don't know what it's like to suffer."

  "That's not fair," I said quietly, taking a step toward her. "My ex-husband cheated on me and put me through hell. He never wanted children, and I'd gladly give my arm for…" I broke off as I watched the knife waver in her hand. "Colin was murdered, and they arrested Mike for the crime. You know all this. Now I have to rebuild my entire business. My life isn't perfect—no one's is. But you can't give up, Sarah. Sometimes you just have to pick yourself up and continue to put one foot in front of the other, no matter how painful it is."

  "But it's not right," Sarah wailed. "I've waited and waited, but my prince charming has never come. Every time I meet a guy who seems interested, they find out about Julie, and it's good-bye Sarah, nice knowing you."

  "Their loss," I said.

  "Well, I don't need a man anymore. I have all I want—a suitcase full of money and my little girl. Everything else is unimportant."

  My heart swelled when I thought of that sweet child. She deserved so much better than this. "Did you leave Julie home by herself again?"

  Sarah's face contorted with rage. "I do what I have to. As soon as Julie got off the phone, she couldn't wait to tell me that you were bringing her fortune cookies. She also mentioned that she'd told you we were going away and that I didn't have to go to work anymore. I was afraid you'd figure it out before we left tomorrow, so I had to come and find out for myself."

  "You put the note in my mailbox last night, hoping that I'd think it was Luigi who'd killed Bernardo," I said.

  Sarah's mouth twisted into an evil smile. "Correct. He was in the bakery last week buying genettis while you guys were out. I recognized him immediately, although he had no idea who I was. I caught the scent of that Aqua Velva a mile away. There's no way I could pass up an opportunity to try to frame him for the murder of his stepson."

  "So you'd been planning this for a while?" I kept hoping for an opportunity to charge her. We were running out of time.

  "Ever since Bernardo dumped me and my precious little girl, I've wanted revenge. I'm a patient person, so the wait didn't bother me."

  Also crazy, but I wisely kept that part to myself.

  Sarah's nostrils flared. "Who did he think he was to try to make us disappear? What, did we embarrass him? Well, he learned the hard way." She pulled Josie's head back roughly by the hair, forcing her to cry out in pain. "Once I get rid of you two, I'm out of here."

  My heart stuttered in my chest as I watched Josie's eyes roll back in her head. Then I thought of Julie, and the rage boiled over. "Shame on you. I thought you were a good mother, Sarah. I'd give anything to have a little girl like Julie."

  "Don't you dare judge me," Sarah said fiercely. "You don't know what I've been through."

  Sure, this woman had been through a lot. But she'd also killed a man and shown no remorse for it. She was more upset about burning down my bakery than the murder. I'd worked by her side for the last five months and never once suspected she was capable of such a crime. When had I become such a crummy judge of character?

  My heart continued to pound against the wall of my chest. Outside of my family, Josie, and Mike, was anyone trustworthy anymore? I wondered what was running through Sarah's mind. Then again, I probably didn't want to know.

  Stay calm, Sal. Don't screw this up. Pointing out what Sarah had done to Bernardo wasn't going to help, so I tried another angle. "I'm not angry about the bakery."

  The knife moved away about an inch from Josie's throat but not enough so that I felt comfortable making a move. "You're not?"

  "Of course not," I said. "This is all material stuff. All I want is for you to let Josie go. You don't want to hurt her, Sarah. Let me try to help you. Killing us won't do any good. Maybe Gianna can help too."

  Sarah's lower lip trembled. "No one's ever wanted to help me."

  I tried to soothe her. "Don't say that. I'll do what I can. But you need to let Josie go. And then I'll go back with you to your house to get Julie."

  Josie looked at me in alarm but didn't dare speak, afraid the sound might trigger a reaction in Sarah.

  Sarah laughed. "You're lying. You just don't want to die."

  Well, that part was true enough. "Please let Josie go. You don't want her kids to be without a mother, do you?"

  "What does it matter?" she shrilled, tears streaming down her face again. "If they find out what I did, they'll take my Julie away from me."

  The knife wavered in her hand as the emotions too
k over, and then another noise from overhead was heard almost simultaneously, and the building moved. When Sarah glanced upward, I sprang forward to try to grab the knife, feeling the blade slice into my hand. Josie screamed and managed to insert her elbow backwards into Sarah's stomach. Sarah doubled over in pain, and the knife slipped from her grasp. Josie and I were both distracted for a split second too long by the blood flowing from my hand. I sprang forward to grab the knife off the floor, but Sarah reached it ahead of me. She backed up against the new door, holding it high above her head in triumph.

  "Try anything again," she hissed, "and you're both dead."

  Before she could continue, the back door was pushed open from the outside. It smacked Sarah right in the head. She let out an oof as the impact knocked her to her knees. The knife flew out of her hands and landed at Josie's feet, and she quickly grabbed it.

  We both looked up to see Grandma Rosa standing there, a puzzled look on her face. She glanced down at Sarah sitting back on her haunches, sobbing. Josie was standing next to her, shaking the knife wildly as she stared at my hand in horror. "Sal, are you okay?"

  An intense pain traveled through my right hand and up my arm. "It stings like crazy." The blood continued to drip on the floor as I spoke.

  "After all that Sal has done for you," Josie rasped. "This is how you repay her, Sarah?"

  Sarah covered her face with her hands. "I'm sorry. I never meant for it to turn out this way."

  Josie gritted her teeth. "You're just sorry you got caught." She continued to grip the knife tightly in one hand and reached the other into her jeans pocket for her phone to dial 9-1-1.

  Grandma Rosa took some tissues out of her purse and wrapped them around my hand while she examined it. "You should go to the hospital. It does not look very deep, but we still need to have it checked."

  I winced from the pain but managed a smile for her. "Your timing was perfect. But what are you doing here?"

  "Nicoletta had some of your fortune cookies," Grandma Rosa explained. "She had a chemo treatment yesterday and has not been feeling well. So when she asked me to open one, I could not refuse her." Her eyes regarded me solemnly. "I still do not believe in those silly things, but when I saw the message, I decided to come anyway."