But this was only physical, wasn’t it? I thought he wanted to keep things professional, and who knew, maybe he was one of those men who could compartmentalize really well.
Maybe to him what we were doing physically had absolutely nothing to do with any other part of his life. He was very much a masculine man and he’d said so himself that he was not used to having relationships.
I wasn't going to fool myself into thinking this was anything more than it was. We had a professional arrangement, we were going to solve this case, and because we both stayed in the same cabin, every now and then we'd benefit from each other's company. There was no way of knowing if Cade would eventually think I wasn't good enough the same way as Mark had.
I just wanted to take things slow, and I wasn't certain if Cade wanted things to progress at all. I couldn't help thinking, though, that I could get used to the consideration he extended. That maybe I could get used to him.
The moment Cade entered in behind me, a woman wearing an apron with red stripes and white pants that looked like a candy cane, and a red shirt, greeted us. She tucked her thumbs inside her apron strings as she talked. “Welcome to Betty's Cookies, Chocolates, Cakes, and Caramel. I'm Betty. We have the best chocolate in three counties. Our notable bestseller is Bourbon chocolate.
I was aware that we weren't really telling anyone outside of Shadow Falls that the Arcane Affairs Agency had opened up this case on Slade and Odra. There was no badge Cade flashed around. At least I didn't think there was.
Cade plastered on the most polite, most charming, most panty-dropping smile that Betty and I had probably ever witnessed. “We're just passing through, and we were inspired by that chocolate on the stick you have outside, to stop in and look around.”
She brightened visibly. “What’s it? New love or old romance?” Betty waved one hand in front. “The reason I ask is because we have it all. Whatever the occasion, we've got a chocolate just perfect for it.”
I pasted a sweet smile on my face. Honestly, her energy was contagious, but the truth was we needed to find out about one kind of chocolate in particular.
“So kind of you, Betty,” I said. Cade flashed me a neutral glance and put his hand on my shoulder. I wasn't fooled. He wanted me to keep quiet. “Is it possible, Betty, that whatever chocolate we pick out, we can take home with us?”
Her eyebrows arched to her hairline, and I could see her light brown eyes clearly. “Oh well, I suppose you could. But normally, if you want to take chocolates to go, you put them in a bag like so.”
She ran over to one of the glass chocolate boxes, opened it, used the tongs nearby, and grabbed a bag putting the chocolates inside. “See, easy-peasy.”
I glanced at Cade, and his mouth twitched, almost as if he was holding back a smile. At least that got him off of stopping me from questioning her. Because frankly, I had another one.
“Your boxes are just so cute, Betty,” I said.
Carefully, she replaced all the chocolates that she had taken out and turned around. She stared at me with the widest grin. “Do you think? In my spare time, I'm an artist, and one night I just woke up, and I was inspired.”
On every box of chocolate, she had featured an enormous chocolate with a huge grin reminiscent of the one she’d just given us. I wondered if her inspiration really had come from a dream.
“What would a person have to do, to get one of those boxes?” I asked innocently.
“Wow. That person would have to put in a large order. We have a four box minimum. But we're not only the best chocolates in three counties, we’re also the most affordable.”
A four box minimum.
I looked at Cade and he looked at me, and we must have been thinking the same thing. Only one box had arrived at the office. Where had the other three gone?
“Betty, what if we were interested in getting four boxes, heck why stop there, maybe eight,” Cade grinned and winked.
She lit up like a firecracker.
“When can we expect the delivery?” And as if he was just thinking of the thought, he tagged on the real question. “Who do you use to deliver the chocolates?”
She turned away from me, and all of her attention was on Cade. “Is this for her? Because if it is, do you think she should maybe step out? Normally, when my customers want to surprise their girl, you know with big things like a big order, they don't just blurt it out in front of her.”
I think she was trying to be helpful, but I could completely see where we were about to blow our just passing through, a couple wanting to buy chocolate cover. It was time for me to step in, and fix this.
Slowly, I walked around Betty. I smelled no preternatural being here. She was just your average run-of-the-mill shop owner. But there was no doubt that she was very astute, and I didn't want her asking us questions. I had a lot more she needed to answer.
“The sad fact is, I'm not very good with surprises. The last time he gave me one, I thought he was hiding something from me. There I was all upset, thinking he was about to leave me, and all he was trying to do was by me a dozen long-stemmed roses and some wine.”
Yep, can’t forget the wine.
I ran my arm through Cade’s stiff one. He stood there for a moment looking at me strangely, and then slowly he lifted his arm so that I could move mine more securely through his. He said, “I thought we discussed this, though. You weren't going to say anything.”
I poked him in the side, gently. “Well honey, we did discuss that, and in all fairness, I have just one more question about my surprise chocolates, and then I think I'll leave you two and go look around.”
He stiffened beside me but didn't say anything, and I took it to mean that I had the floor. I wanted to ask where she was on the night of Slade’s and Odra’s murder.
If she had an alibi, then did she remember who had purchased chocolates on the night of their death? Wait a minute, she’d just said that boxed chocolates had to be ordered and delivered by fours and that there was a specific amount of time for the delivery.
We needed to be asking who had been in the shop at the time of the order, but first, we had to know how long normal deliveries took in between ordering the chocolates and getting to the customers that they were intended for.
“Do you next day them?” I asked.
“Not only don’t we, but we think delaying getting these gifts means the one who ordered them put a little extra thought in timing it. Nothing shows love better than forethought.”
“But how long?” I asked.
She looked at me and twisted her lips. Finally, she said, “That would just destroy the surprise entirely, but I guess I can tell you. It normally takes three weeks.”
“Three weeks? How do you keep them fresh?” I asked.
She patted her flat chest with pride. “We put them on ice.”
Dry ice? Like from the bar-b-que place across from her shop?
“Where do you keep dry ice?” I asked.
“Because you guys are just too darn adorable, I'm going to let you in on a little secret, I don't tell anyone.” She leaned close as if someone else could hear. Which I thought was more for affect considering she was the only person who was working in the store at the moment.
Betty whispered, “I searched high and low for a good deal on plain brown boxes that could be fit with those dry ice packs that travel very well? Couldn't find any anywhere. But across the street there, at Badger Town’s Barbecue? Cody who works there is sweet on me. He gives those boxes to me.”
“You like their bar-b-que,” I asked. That tangy taste? It’d smelled just like the mysterious smudge. But then again, if the box had come from the bar-b-que place, that smudge could have come from anyone. Still, it was good asking her just to be on the safe side.
“Oh darling, I’m allergic to their sauces. Puff up like one of those little blowfish. I just stay away from eating there entirely.”
“Honey,” Cade said. “Why don’t you go look around? Re
member, you promised I’d get my turn?”
I sighed knowing that was my cue to leave.
Cade took Betty to the back of the store. I couldn’t hear anything—even straining to use my sensitive hearing. It was strange, almost as if he had some kind of muting ability to his voice. Betty answered clearly and her answers were mono-syllable. So she wasn't giving me anything.
Left on my own, I explored the shop. On one shelf, I saw a bottle of cleaner. Opening it, I smelled the same ionized substance I’d smelled in trace amounts in the chocolate box at Odra’s. I understood, now. Betty used it to clean and that’s how small amounts had made it into the box. Carefully, I put it back where I’d gotten it. I shuddered. Didn’t want any of that stuff getting on me.
As I walked around, I noticed that in one corner of the store, there were ants. I wondered if they were the kind of ants that liked to eat sweets because they certainly seemed interested in a section where she had the pine nuts. On closer inspection, I blinked. These weren’t the regular run of the mill ones. They were carpenter ants.
Carpenter ants? In the winter?
Quickly, I took out my phone and did a search. There were so many articles that all said the same thing. As I quickly went through them, I found out that these ants were dormant in the winter unless they were given a reason to become active. That must have been why they were so busy right now.
They also used damp and decomposing wood for their toasty little homes. Cold weather didn’t bother them if the walls were warm from a furnace or the sun.
But those ants being busy in winter was not the most curious part at all. What I found strange was that they seemed very interested in trying to forage for their nest along one wall in particular.
It had candy and they couldn’t get to it, but I could tell they could smell it. I chewed on the side of my lip and moved forward to read it. It seemed, there were all kinds of mixed chocolates in that case.
Betty had pine nuts, walnuts, and almonds at the center of those chocolates. The closer I got the more amazing that case smelled. Whiffs of some of them were even a little familiar.
What a shame if they got in and destroyed that candy.
Those ants weren’t getting in so I believed those chocolates were safe. By the looks of the holes drilled in the walls, I was fairly certain Betty knew she had a problem.
Shaking my head, I decided to concentrate on the chocolates. I looked high and low for my very favorite. Red velvet. My weakness.
Finally tucked in a corner, away from all the rest, I found the twelve chocolates on a glass shelf. I grimaced. Out of her entire store, Betty only had twelve.
I stared at them longingly, and then Cade and Betty came back to the middle of the store. Pulling myself away, I went to go rejoin them.
“You ready to leave, love?” he asked.
Of course, I knew we were under cover, and that we were supposed to be acting like we were into each other, but I didn't have to pretend to show the pleasure that him calling me love gave me.
We said our farewell to Betty and he escorted me back to the truck. He fumbled to put his keys in the ignition, and I buckled up. Just as I snapped myself in, Cade dropped the keys and groaned.
“It’s being in such a place. It reminds me of times when I used to eat a delicious sweet in my home village. We had great desserts there. We didn't have chocolate, but we had a dessert so scrumptious it would make your toes curl.”
His keys were between my feet. “Here I'll get them, Cade.” I unbuckled myself and leaned down to get them. The moment I did, there was a knock on my side of the window. Not expecting it, I jumped, and just barely managed not to hit my head on the console. Slowly, I straightened, handed him his keys, and turned towards the window-knocker.
I widened my eyes as I saw Betty standing there with her big grin and holding a bag of chocolates. I rolled down the window, and she shoved her arm through. “These are for you and thank you both so much for coming to Betty's Cookies, Chocolate, Cakes, and Caramel. It was a pleasure doing business with you.”
As an afterthought, she looked at me. “And you might not like surprises, but your young man certainly likes to give them.”
Stunned, I took the bag from her. I thanked her, and she bobbed her head and trotted back inside.
Cade was silent, but there was almost a quality to him, like a little boy waiting for someone to discover something that he’d done secretly.
“Cade?”
“Open it,” he said.
Carefully, I unfolded the bag, and my mouth dropped open in astonishment. Sitting there like delectable little mouthfuls were twelve red velvet chocolates. I couldn't believe it. He’d gotten them for me? But how? I was standing in the store the entire time.
“I do have a muting ability when it comes to speaking. I gained that talent somewhere around three hundred, Augusta. I checked and they’re not poisoned,” he said.
He'd gotten me chocolates, and even more than that, he'd surprised me. I hadn't thought anyone could. Picking one out of the bag, I daintily dropped it into my mouth. I hadn't expected him to do this. I moaned. Honestly, these were amazing. They were truly my favorite.
“These are incredible,” I said looking at them and then at him. “Thank you.”
He shrugged, putting the truck in reverse, and we headed out of town. “They were the only chocolates in the store you couldn’t stop looking at.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
*Augusta*
WE’D BEEN BACK HOME FOR two days. We were making little headway in this case, but something was about to change. I could feel it. It was as if something big was about to happen right around the corner.
I sighed. I was going to help Cade take down the sneakiest, most manipulative, most slippery criminal I'd ever encountered. Okay, I hadn’t met very many criminals. This one I was certain deserved to be right up there with those in maximum lockdown.
I wondered, though. After the case, would that be the end of Cade and me? Giving me the chocolates had been so thoughtful. But when we’d returned, it was as though he’d doubled up the initial distance between us. One, he hadn’t moved me into his room. I’d waited. Two, he’d all but locked himself inside of his workroom the last couple of nights. He’d only come out to discuss the case.
Not only had he put a physical distance between us, he’d also cut himself off from me emotionally. What was going on with him? Was there something about me that was beginning to bother him?
I tried not to stare at him. We were both puzzling over everything we’d learned. The two of us had gone over every possible person that we had on our suspect list and all of their potential motives. Thorley, because he had argued with his brother the night before the murder.
Diana, but we’d mostly struck her off because she’d seemed so genuinely hurt over Odra’s loss and her story did make sense.
But other than those two, nothing. After our visit to Betty’s gift shop, it seemed the trail had gone cold. We couldn't figure out why there was another carrier involved. However, that was the piece of the puzzle that we knew we were missing and what we were focusing on tonight.
I closed my eyes and visualized Odra’s cabin. Something that day had stood out to me. There was a sigh beside me.
What is it that you’re trying to remember, Augusta?
Despite Cade’s very recent unreachability, we’d gotten to the point that we didn’t need to press our foreheads together. I had to admit, we probably never had to, but a girl had to have training wheels before she took them off and rode a bike.
The day we were both at Odra’s. Wasn’t there something strange? I asked.
Yes, there was wine there, and I think we both realized there was no wine at Betty’s shop. There was a tired frown in his words coming at me. I was betting he hadn’t had a chance to refresh his mind.
I kept my mind open still talking to him telepathically and visualizing at the same time. Exactly. That and the four b
ox minimum means those chocolates weren’t sent from her. But I definitely smelled the residuals of her fragrant chocolates in the box at Odra’s.
His inner voice held a question. What I can’t understand was why all the sawdust was in the air. I didn’t think termites would make it that hazardous for me to breathe.
Mine was full of tension. How about the poison? We know Odra died horribly. Do you think someone bottled fire, somehow? Or bottled a stake?
I began to shake my head at my grasping at straws.
He was quiet for a moment and then his voice was less tired and more alert. What if you’re right? What if the killer found another way to put fire in the chocolates or a stake?
I thought about it and then my eyes flew open. “Cade, what if it wasn’t termites who made all that sawdust? What if it was ants? I saw carpenter ants at Betty’s and they really seemed to like the chocolates in one case in particular.”
I was about to give the rundown on what I believed to have taken place when the phone rang. Cade started. “What?” he answered with a growl “Dayle? Where are you?”
My fingers grew numb with dread and concern. Dayle had answered he’d returned to town.
“You were supposed to stay put,” Cade said. “We have not caught anyone yet.”
There was some frantic yelling on the other end. Dayle sounded frightened, and more than a bit on edge. Whatever had happened had spooked him.
Cade shook his head, clearly concerned about Dayle himself now. “Alright, Dayle, I'm on my way over.”
I'd heard bits and pieces of it. It seemed that Dayle thought that he was in danger. He’d heard someone rattling his door, and he was thinking that possibly the person was trying to get in.
Cade confirmed it when he said, “Dayle’s back in town. He thinks the person trying to kill him knows. He's positive that the attacker has been trying to get into his house. He's locked inside with his gun and he wants me to come check it out for him.”
The Vampire's Alpha Mate: A BBW Tiger-Shifter Romance (Arcane Affairs Agency) Page 16