"What challenge?"
"He can't sleep with a woman before your wedding."
For a moment, Olivia just stared at her friend. Then, she threw back her head and laughed so hard that tears ran down her face. "That is never going to happen, but I don't think Brett's ever been challenged before. He might actually give it a go, and I can't wait to see what happens. You are a devil of a woman."
"I know. Don't you love it?"
They parked the car, and as Olivia stared at Patty Cakes, she instantly sobered. Jackie's relationship was going to have to go on the back burner. They had a job to do.
It saddened Olivia to see that there weren’t any customers in the small shop. Since Patricia was used to making money through big events, her bakery wasn’t really designed as a dine-in type cafe like Happy Endings, but Olivia could see where Patricia had tried to make some changes. A few tables were squeezed into a corner, and she’d set out some plants to make it look homey and welcoming. Where Janelle had recently painted her place a bright and cheery yellow, Patricia had gone with a soft cream color with green accents.
A stocky-looking woman with dark auburn hair and mean eyes glared at them when they walked in. “I know who you are,” she grumbled. “What do you want?”
“Not exactly Customer Service Representative of the Year,” Olivia muttered to Jackie. “And you thought that your employee was bad.” Still, the bad attitude didn’t deter her, and she sauntered up to the counter. The woman’s nametag read Jennifer, and she had a stack of papers in front of her. Olivia managed to get a look at the heading before Jennifer hastily pushed them out of view. “Patricia said that we could come by and get the receipts from yesterday.”
“Did she now? She didn’t tell me that,” Jennifer said, her tone challenging.
“That’s because Patricia is in jail,” Olivia said evenly. “I don’t think she’s going to use her one phone call to call you.”
“I know that,” Jennifer snapped. “But your sister is a spy. She’s been in here God knows how many times in the past few weeks. How do I know you’re not here to steal our recipes!”
“First of all, Janelle worked for Patricia for a long time. I guarantee she knows most of the recipes. And we didn’t ask for your cookbook. We asked for the receipts.”
Jennifer straightened her back and glared at them over her long, straight nose. “If Patricia gets out of jail, you can ask her for the receipts. Otherwise, the only way you’re getting them is with a warrant. This business is already in enough trouble without Happy Endings trying to take over.”
She turned on her heel and stalked to the back. Jackie giggled and shook her head. “I had no idea that we were corporate spies. What do you think that was all about?”
“Did you see what she was reading?” Olivia pushed the door open and glanced over her shoulder. “She was looking at the by-laws for business licenses. I think Jennifer means to buy Patricia’s business out from under her while she’s in jail. It’s a hostile take-over!”
Jackie’s eyes widened. “Do you think she killed Lacy?”
“It’s possible, but it’s a pretty convoluted plan,” Olivia muttered. “I need those receipts.”
A slow and sinister smile spread over Jackie’s face. “I know how we can get them.”
“Am I going to like this?”
“You’re going to love it,” her friend promised her. “But your sister is a different story entirely, and I’m pretty sure you’re never going to want to tell Andrew.”
“We’re breaking in, aren’t we?”
“We’re breaking in.”
Half-an-hour later, Jackie walked awkwardly along in Olivia’s too-big shoes, and Tucker, Snowball, Goodwin, Fender, and a Great Dane named Cisco bounded happily along the sidewalk. The difficult thing about walking so many dogs was that half of them were pulling while the other half were stopping to sniff the ground, trees, street signs, bushes, fire hydrants, whatever—mix and match. While her normal dogs were at least a little used to her commands, Cisco was still young and far too excited to be with other dogs to listen to her. The leashes tangled, and Olivia was nearly pulled in two different directions.
“I’d help, but then you’d have to pay me,” Jackie laughed as she pulled out her phone.
“You are not taping this,” Olivia panted as she struggled to keep the enormous puppy in line.
“It’s going to look great on your website!”
“I don’t have a website.”
“You will, once you buy the brownstone. When are you doing that, by the way?”
Olivia grimaced. “I did turn in all the paperwork, so we’re just waiting to hear back from the real estate agent, much to Janelle's everlasting surprise. I guess I have been dragging my feet on things, but she acts as though I've made things way more difficult than they need to be. Did she thank me for getting her new roofing and pipes? Of course not. In any case, if everything goes through—and I don’t know why it wouldn’t—we’ll just need to sign the papers.”
“Aren’t you freaking out?”
Olivia shrugged. “Believe it or not, the brownstone is the last thing on my mind. Goodwin, what is wrong with you today?”
Rather than listening to her commands, he and the others were far too busy checking out Cisco. As the dogs started trying to wrestle in the middle of the sidewalk, Olivia waded into the fray and forced them to separate. “Time out!” she shouted.
Suddenly, Tucker gave a sharp, high-pitched bark of joy and lunged forward. Olivia looked up just in time to see a familiar blonde walk out of the stationery shop. In a panic, she shoved Tucker’s leash into Jackie’s hand and pushed her between the buildings. “It’s Mary! Hide!”
“What?” Jackie hissed, but Mary had already turned around.
“Olivia!” A huge smile broke over Mary’s face and the older woman hurried toward her. This time, Olivia let the dogs pull her forward a few feet so she didn’t accidentally give away Jackie’s hiding spot.
Tucker continued barking.
“Hi, Mary! It’s been a while,” Olivia said awkwardly as she tried to hug Nick’s wife. It was no easy feat, considering that the dogs were also trying valiantly to jump on her.
A true dog lover, Mary leaned down to scratch each of the dogs behind the ears. She gave Goodwin a kiss on the nose and frowned at the Great Dane. “And who is this?”
“This is Cisco, the Reynolds’ new dog. He’s sweet but just a little too mischievous.”
“Aren’t they all?” Mary laughed. “I’ve been sending Tucker to the sheriff station with Nick every morning. I think it helps his blood pressure to have the dog around, plus it means Nick has to carve out some time to exercise. I do miss him when he’s gone, though. I swear, I think I hear him barking, even now.”
Olivia forced a laugh. “I’m like that, too. When I’m away from Goodwin, I think I hear him barking all the time!”
As if on cue, her shaggy dog barked in agreement. Mary cooed and rubbed under the dog’s chin. “I’ll be so glad when this murder investigation is over, although I’m shocked to know that it was Patricia. We used to be such good friends until that horrible scene with Lacy happened. Patricia just seemed to withdraw from the community, but I never thought she would resort to such extreme measures.”
“Patricia didn’t do this,” Olivia said firmly. “And I mean to prove it.”
Mary frowned. “Nick would not like to hear that. I heard about what happened the other night. You shouldn’t get involved, and you shouldn’t be out here alone.”
Resisting the urge to look over her shoulder, Olivia smiled brightly. “I’m not alone. No one would try anything with all these monsters hooked up to me!”
“I suppose that’s true.” Mary still look troubled, but she reluctantly backed away. “All right, well, I should get going. I have some errands to finish up.” She took a few steps toward Jackie’s hiding place, and Olivia immediately stepped to the right to block her.
“Have you tried Janelle’s new bl
ueberry scones? She just rolled them out yesterday, and they’re to die for. I think you should head over to Happy Endings and grab a few on the house to take home to Nick. He’s going to deserve a treat after working so diligently on the case.”
“That does sound nice. Maybe I’ll do that after I go to the post office.”
“No, you need to go now,” Olivia practically bellowed. Mary stepped back in alarm, and Olivia forced herself to relax. “What I mean is, they may not last that long. You know how busy Janelle gets around this time. I wouldn’t wait.”
“Oh, okay,” Mary said slowly. “I guess I’ll go now. Have a good day.” She shot Olivia one last look of concern, no doubt thinking that the dog walker had lost her mind, but she did turn around and start walking in the opposite direction. When she’d turned the corner, Olivia sighed in relief hurried back to snag Tucker’s leash from her friend. Tears were running down Jackie’s face as she finally released the bubble of laughter that she’d been holding.
“I see you’re still keeping Nick’s secret,” Jackie finally gasped.
“For the amount that he’s paying me, I’ll keep all his secrets, but it works out in my favor. You think he would have let Janelle and me see Patricia this afternoon if I didn’t do this for him?”
“Good point. How is Janelle going to feel when Mary tells her that she’s due free blueberry scones?”
Olivia smiled and pulled out her phone. “I’m about to let her know right now.”
“Invite her out tonight. We may need her.”
“Need her?” Olivia stared at her friend. “I’m sorry, do you not remember what happened the last time we took Janelle out to investigate?”
Jackie just shrugged. “If everything goes to plan, we won’t be meeting anyone tonight, so she won’t have to lie. Besides, if Patricia has an alarm in the store, Janelle might know the code to disarm it.”
Olivia hadn’t even thought of that. When did Jackie get so smart at breaking and entering? With one last suspicious look at her friend, Olivia called her sister and filled her in.
While she and Jackie finished walking the dogs, Olivia tried to figure out just what she was going to say to Andrew when she went out late tonight.
She had a feeling that telling him that she was breaking into Patricia’s shop just wasn’t going to cut it.
17
The handcuffs were cold around her wrists. "You can't do this!" Rose cried out. "He's going to get away with it. Please, Hank. You have to let me go."
"Damn it, Rose, what do you expect me to do? You broke into a crime scene and stole evidence!" The lieutenant’s eyes flashed in anger.
"You told me that you'd help me," she accused. "You told me that you loved me!"
His lips pressed together in a thin line, and he glared at her. "Weren't you the one who told me that we had to keep things separate? The man in your bed had to be different from the man in the uniform. I'm just doing what you asked."
He hated her because she hadn't said the words back. For the first time in her life, she regretted not telling him how she felt. Maybe they could have made things work, but now he was letting his own ego get in the way, and a killer was going to go free.
She'd never forgive him for this. Never.
When Janelle and Jackie showed up at Olivia’s door, Andrew stared at them suspiciously through narrowed eyes. Olivia stood in the doorway to the kitchen and watched nervously. After dinner, Andrew had volunteered to do the dishes, but she’d told him that she would be happy to clean up. Since Olivia never wanted to clean, she had a feeling that Andrew was already suspicious, but she wanted him to be in a good mood when the girls showed up. They'd worked on their plan all afternoon, and it was still pretty flimsy.
“You need Olivia’s help for a top-secret recipe?” Andrew echoed with disbelief in his voice. “You do know that Olivia doesn’t bake, right?”
“Janelle can’t seem to get it just right, and she knows that Olivia has such a sweet tooth. We thought we’d get together and help Janelle out. It’ll help keep Olivia’s mind off the case, and Janelle needs to bake. She’s such a mess over Patricia,” Jackie explained sweetly.
Olivia cringed. Jackie was never sweet. Andrew was going to see through the charade. She cleared her voice and stepped forward. Feigning innocence, she smiled. “What’s going on?”
“I can’t say that I’m a hundred percent sure,” Andrew said dryly. “According to Jackie, you’re needed for some midnight mission dealing with baked goods, but since Janelle hasn’t said a word since I opened the door, I’m not entirely sure that I believe her.”
Crap. He was on to them. Jackie looked at her in alarm, and Olivia leaned over and hugged her sister. “You poor thing. You’re still upset about Patricia, aren’t you? Andrew, you shouldn’t pick on Janelle. She’s been crying for half the day. You know how close they are.”
To his credit, he did manage to look chagrined, but his eyes still held suspicion. Andrew’s gaze moved from Olivia to Janelle and Jackie. Olivia could see the wheels in his head turning. Janelle was obviously the weaker link, and if he leaned on her, she’d crack like an egg. Finally, he just sighed and shook his head. “You are not to leave her alone for a single second, do you understand me?”
“Of course!” Jackie hooked a protective arm around Olivia’s waist. “We would never put her in danger!”
“Danger, no, but I can’t help but wonder if you three are about to stir up some trouble.”
“Trouble? We would never,” Jackie declared, but her face wasn’t quite as convincing.
“Of course not,” Andrew muttered. “And the fact that all three of you are dressed in black is just a coincidence.”
Olivia leaned up and gave him a kiss on the lips. “Don’t worry,” she whispered. “We’ll be back soon.”
“I didn’t used to have to worry about you,” he reminded her gently. “But now it seems like every time I turn around, you’re getting yourself into more and more danger.”
“I love you.”
He studied her intently for a second before smiling in submission. “I love you, too. I expect to be the first to taste this new top-secret baked thing. It better be out of this world!”
Olivia grabbed her raincoat—the skies were overcast again—and followed the girls out.
When Andrew had shut the door, Janelle gasped. “He’s going to want to taste something amazing! What am I going to do? How do you two always get me in these messes?”
“Relax,” Jackie laughed. “We’ll brainstorm on the way over there and come up with something amazing. You never know, it might be a huge hit, and you’ll be thanking us!”
“You’ll definitely be thanking us once Patricia’s out of jail,” Olivia reminded her. “Remember why we’re doing this.” She changed the subject. “Do you know if Patricia has an alarm in the store?”
Janelle nodded. “She has a silent alarm, but the code to disarm it is her daughter’s birthday. I doubt she’s changed it.”
“Easy as pie,” Jackie announced.
They parked several streets down so they wouldn’t stir up suspicion. The sidewalks were deserted, and as Jackie and Janelle talked cupcake recipes, Olivia couldn’t help but remember the last time she’d walked the streets late at night. She’d just ruined Andrew’s engagement proposal dinner at L’Amore, and they’d drunk the bottle of champagne as they walked under the moonlight. Not only had it been a wonderful and romantic evening, but it had also turned out to be instrumental in exonerating Janelle from Yvette’s murder. Andrew had spotted a second security camera facing the food truck that night.
Remembering that night made Olivia feel at ease. Everything had worked out then, and everything would work out now. Despite the chaos around her, if there was something that she could never doubt, it was that Andrew would be by her side.
They finally stopped outside Patricia’s bakery. To Olivia’s surprise, Jackie pulled out a lock-picking set. “Seriously? Why do you have that?”
Jackie star
ed at her. “We’re breaking and entering. How did you think we were going to get past the locked door?”
“Put that thing away,” Janelle said in a hushed tone. “I still have a key from when I used to work here. Let’s see if it still works.”
It did, and Olivia felt her spirits lift even more. This was going to be so easy. Janelle punched in the code to disarm the silent alarm, and Jackie pulled the shade down over the door. Turning on their flashlights, they moved to the office.
Janelle was right. Patricia had converted the office space into storage. A desk was shoved in the corner, but based on the piles of papers and office supplies on the desk, it was obvious that it was rarely used as it was intended. The shelves against the wall were full of flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, and other dry-goods items. Customers had to walk by the office to get to the bathrooms, so anyone could have ducked in during a busy hour and not been noticed.
Her sister and Jackie rifled through drawers as they tried to find the receipts while Olivia shone her flashlight on the other side of the office. “What are you doing?” Janelle whispered. “The receipts aren’t going to be up there.”
“Patricia’s manager said that they keep rat poison here. I’m curious to see if she stores it in here. It’s where they kept the cake.”
Janelle shook her head. “It wouldn’t be near the food. There’s a small closet in the back of the store where she keeps cleaning supplies. It’s usually there.”
Olivia cocked her head. “There were a lot of people who wanted Lacy dead, but this was premeditated. No one had access to the closet except an employee, which meant that someone must have brought the cyanide with them and laced the cake before Rachel picked it up. If it wasn’t Rachel, then it was someone who knew about Rachel’s visit.”
“I think that it had to be Rachel,” Janelle muttered. “You heard her today. She obviously wanted Lacy out of the way.”
“That’s true,” Olivia agreed, but something was still bothering her. From the way that Rachel had spoken, it sounded almost as if she’d wanted to humiliate Lacy. Most people who commit murder don’t go around making themselves the obvious suspect.
Till Death Do Us Bark (Happy Tails Dog Walking Mysteries Book 2) Page 13