“I got it!” Jackie gasped as she triumphantly held up the small stack of receipts. Olivia eagerly plucked them from her grasp. “You and Janelle look those over. I’ll see if I can’t find the poison in the closet.” She hurried to the doorway—and suddenly gasped and stepped back into the room.
Just then, they heard the sound of the door opening. Telltale blue lights flashed into the building, and a familiar voice cut through the darkness. “Freeze! Police!”
Hurriedly stuffing the receipts into her jacket pocket, Olivia glared at Janelle. “I thought you disarmed the alarm!”
“I thought I did, too!”
“I know you’re in there,” the deputy demanded. “Come out with your hands up.”
Slowly, the three sheepishly walked out of the office. When Olivia got a good look at the deputy, relief washed over her.
“Derek!” Janelle said happily. “Hi. What are you doing here?”
He shone the flashlight in their faces and frowned. “It’s Detective Jameson,” he growled in a low voice. “And I believe that I should be the one asking the questions.”
“Sorry,” Olivia said smoothly as she stepped forward. “I’m sure this looks suspicious.”
“Really?” He cocked an eyebrow. “Breaking and entering does tend to look suspicious. I’m fairly certain that Sheriff Limperos warned you off this case, Olivia. I'm sure you have a good reason why the three of you are breaking the law.”
Jackie suddenly laughed. “This has nothing to do with the case, Deputy. This is Olivia’s bachelorette party!”
Even Olivia was stunned, but she and Janelle held it together. Her heart was beating so loud that she could have sworn the others could hear it. After what seemed like forever, Derek finally lowered the flashlight. “Excuse me?”
“You’ve never heard of a bachelorette party?” Jackie waggled her eyebrows suggestively. “You know, all those things that Olivia needs to do before she gets married since she’ll never be able to do them again?”
Derek reddened. “I know what a bachelorette party is. It usually involves strippers and heavy drinking.”
Janelle huffed. “Do we look like strippers and heavy drinkers?”
“You look like three women that I should arrest! So help me, God, if you’re here to remove evidence—“
“We would never!” Olivia gasped. “Besides, this isn’t a crime scene. Technically speaking, our arrest would just be breaking and entering and have nothing to do with the case.”
“Not helping,” Jackie hissed.
Olivia waved her away. “Derek, Patricia gave us permission to come in. The cupcake that the killer sent me came from her bakery. She keeps them in her display case, but she said that she'd only baked a dozen. We’re hoping the killer bought it with a credit card. We’re just going through her receipts to see if we can narrow it down.”
“Why didn’t you turn on the lights?”
“You arrested her,” Janelle wailed. “We know how this looks. We were trying to keep this from happening. Jackie and Olivia came in here during the day, but Patricia’s manager refused to help. We think she’s hoping Patricia gets incarcerated so she can take over the store.”
"And you thought that gave you grounds to just come in and help yourself?"
The three women just stared at him mutinously. "You can't have us arrested if the owner doesn't want to press charges," Jackie pointed out.
Derek just shook his head. “Did you get what you needed?”
Olivia hesitated. If she told Derek the truth, then he’d be obligated to make her put the receipts back since, technically, the items didn't belong to them. At the same time, she didn’t want to outright lie to him. “We’re still looking around,” she said vaguely. That, at least, was true. They were still looking around. They just weren’t looking for the receipts anymore.
“I’ll escort you ladies home.” He put a heavy emphasis on home. “If you still want the receipts, all you have to do is ask. I’ll come back tomorrow.”
“Not necessary,” Olivia said quickly. Now she felt bad for deceiving him since he was being so nice. “It was a long shot, anyway.” Plus, they already had the receipts.
Derek narrowed his eyes, but he didn’t say anything. If they could put the receipts back before the manager noticed, then hopefully Derek would never find out that they’d taken them. “Next time you ladies decide to have a bachelorette party, might I suggest not breaking the law?”
“Are you offering to strip for us, Deputy Jameson?” Janelle asked innocently, batting her eyelashes.
Jackie snorted, and even Olivia had to struggle not to laugh.
The deputy ducked his head in embarrassment and muttered under his breath. “Just for that, I’m walking each of you to your door,” he threatened. Jackie laughed, but Janelle and Olivia exchanged nervous looks. Patrick and Andrew were not going to be happy when they discovered what the sisters had done.
Derek dropped Olivia off last. As he escorted her to the porch, he shook his head. “I don’t want to see Patricia in jail any more than you do,” he murmured. “She and my mother were good friends, and I practically grew up in that bakery. At least tell me that you found something that could help her.”
“I don’t know yet, but talk to Patricia. If she verifies that she gave us permission to be there, you can’t tell Nick about this. If you do, anything that we do find won’t hold up in court. Please, Derek.”
Andrew opened the door and glared at them. “Really?” he muttered. “The police?”
“It would appear that they were having a bachelorette party,” Derek said finally. It was obvious he thought he was helping her out, but Andrew just raised an eyebrow.
“That’s interesting. They told me that they were working on a new recipe. Thanks for escorting her home. I’ll make sure she doesn’t leave this house—ever.” His voice was casual, but his eyes held the promise of a threat.
Derek nodded his head, sketched a salute, and turned to go.
Closing the door behind the deputy, Andrew crossed his arms. “Well?” he said finally. “Are you going to tell me what you were really up to?”
Olivia pulled out the stack of receipts. “We’re trying to figure out who really killed my wedding planner, and this is going to help.”
18
There were only two cash receipts that day from customers who had just been buying red velvet cupcakes. When Olivia tried to get Patricia’s manager to remember who had been there that day, the woman was mutinously silent. When she asked for the videotapes, the woman told her that she’d already recorded over that day.
“Basically, I’m nowhere closer to solving this case,” Olivia complained as she and Andrew headed home. “I’m starting to think that Jennifer did it, just to get her hands on the store.”
“Really?”
“No,” she sighed. “I don’t think she’s smart enough. I’m so frustrated. Rachel killed Lacy, but I don’t know how to prove it.”
“Are you sure?” Andrew prompted. “Or do you just want her to be the killer because she fits the bill?”
Olivia was quiet. Rachel had plenty of motive, and she had delivered the cake, but if there was one thing she knew about Rachel, it was that the woman was smart. If she’d really wanted to kill Lacy, she probably wouldn’t have done it in a way that pointed straight to her. “I guess I just want it to be her,” Olivia admitted.
Andrew pulled into the driveway and kissed her on the top of her head. “Let’s see if we can’t dig into Lacy’s past and see who was angry enough to kill her.”
“I think you’ll find that everyone was.” Olivia shook her head. “I’m usually so good at reading people. How could I have been so wrong about her?”
“It seems to be that you were in such a hurry to plan the wedding that you didn’t care who helped you,” he pointed out. “Maybe now you can understand why I wanted you to slow down in the first place.”
“I thought you wanted me to slow down because we couldn’t afford it.�
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When Andrew didn’t immediately agree, she sent him a nervous look. There was something going on in that head of his that he just wasn’t sharing. Certain that she didn’t want another fight with him, she switched the subject back to the investigation. “What should we do now?”
“If there’s one thing that people are good at, it’s airing their grievances on social media.”
As they turned the corner, a sharp bark caught their attention. Looking down, Olivia groaned inwardly. The toy poodle was all too familiar, as was the woman holding her leash.
“Delilah,” Andrew said politely as he bowed his head in greeting. “How are you?”
A look of delight crossed her face. “Andrew,” she purred. “It’s such a delight to see you. Seeing you has just brightened my whole day. I had a rough morning when I got the wrong delivery. I wanted the printed scarves to go with the new collection, but they sent me solid scarves. Absolutely boring. I spent all afternoon on the phone with them, and I’ve just finally gotten it straightened out. How was your day?”
“Busy,” Olivia jumped in. She wanted to wave her hands in front of the woman’s face and say, Hi? Remember me? Andrew’s fiancée? “We’ve just got so much to do before the wedding.”
It was a little vindictive, especially since they’d done nothing for the wedding, but Olivia couldn’t help herself. She hated the way Delilah looked at Andrew as though he was a piece of meat that she could just gobble up.
Over my dead body.
“Olivia,” Delilah said flatly. “I almost didn’t see you there.”
“Really?” Olivia took a step back. “Because your dog is trying to climb up my leg.”
Delilah actually turned her whole body so she could ignore Olivia. “Andrew, I’ve been meaning to ask you. I need to have a check-up at the hospital, and I wanted to get your opinion on some of the doctors there. Is there a good time that we could chat?”
Andrew frowned. “I don’t really speak to the doctors much. I just deal with the department administration. I’m not sure that my opinions will be worth much.”
“Nonsense!” Delilah bent down and picked up the yappy dog. It took all of Olivia’s self-control not to wrap her body possessively around Andrew. “I would always value your opinion.”
As Delilah batted her eyes, Olivia finally stepped between then and grabbed Andrew’s hand. “Unfortunately, we have something to do, don’t we, honey?”
His eyes flitted between the two women before he seemed to realize what was actually going on. “Yes, I’m afraid so. Delilah, there are ratings on the hospital website where you can check out each doctor. That will probably be better than asking me.”
Olivia was already pulling him away. “Bye, Delilah. So sorry we have to run,” she called over her shoulder. Turning back to Andrew, she grumbled, “I swear, I’m going to murder that woman one of these days.”
“She’s harmless,” Andrew said with a smile. “And you need to be careful using that word around this town. Someone might actually believe you.”
“I wouldn’t be the only suspect,” she muttered under her breath.
An hour later, they had a whole list of people who had vented their rage on their profile pages. In fact, the only person who didn’t announce that Lacy needed to go was Patricia. Although there were a few people who had posted their support to the page, Patricia had remained silent on the subject after their argument went public. It was classy and professional. Or maybe it was the act of someone plotting a murder.
Pushing the thought aside, Olivia leaned back in her chair and looked at the list. Ken Nguyen wanted to give that bitch a taste of her own medicine after Lacy had told everyone that his flowers were second-rate.
Kitty Minozzi thought that Lacy should shove her pretentious face in the oven since she thinks she knows so much about cooking after Lacy called her appetizers tasteless.
David Thorn wanted Lacy to shrivel up and die like the witch that she is after Lacy gleefully humiliated his album of wedding songs in a recent review.
The list went on and on. Over the years, Lacy had whittled down the group of vendors until she’d had her own private collection, and she’d had no problems steamrolling over anyone who tried to get in her way. Some businesses shut down completely. Others were still struggling, and a few had just given up and moved to Lowell.
Rachel was another one who hadn’t turned to social media after her incident. Despite her anger, she didn’t say anything about the feud even though all of her friends had been asking why she’d started working for Candlelight Farms.
“Look at this,” Andrew said in a low voice, and he passed his laptop over to her. “You said that Tina and Lacy used to work together? This was filmed two years ago.”
The video had been published anonymously, but the views were in the hundreds of thousands, and the comments were cringe-worthy. With some trepidation, Olivia clicked play.
The video filled her screen. Lacy and Tina stood in the middle of Lacy’s shop with a bride Olivia didn’t recognize. The bride’s parents were also present, and there was nothing but anger on their faces.
“What do you mean, the tents that you ordered aren’t here? How are we supposed to have an outside wedding with no tents?” the bride shouted. Tears filled her eyes.
Lacy calmly turned to Tina. “Tina, I don’t understand. You did order the tents, didn’t you?”
Tina leaned over, and the camera zoomed in. “You told me that they’d changed their minds,” she whispered. “You said that this was an inside wedding.”
“What?” the bride shrieked. “What are you saying?”
“Everything is going to be okay,” Lacy said soothingly. “Tina just forgot to order them. I know you wanted an outside wedding, but think about how stressed you’ve been about the unpredictable weather. I’ll speak to the Grandview Hotel and see if they can accommodate us. It’ll be a little extra, but I promise that your wedding will be breathtaking.”
The bride whirled to confront Tina. “You did this? You call yourself a wedding planner? You’re too stupid to order tents for an outside wedding! I want you removed from my wedding. I want you fired! This is my dream, and you’ve ruined it. Ruined it! If I have my say, you will never work as a wedding planner in this town, ever again!”
The video stopped, and Olivia looked up at Andrew. “She told me that she’d had a falling out with Lacy, but that’s more than a falling out. Lacy did the same thing to Tina that she did to Patricia. She lied to Tina—and humiliated her!”
“I’ll bet she made more money hosting the wedding inside, but she couldn’t risk upsetting the bride, so she made Tina take the fall for it,” Andrew mused. “That’s cold.”
Olivia nodded. “It is cold, but why would Tina wait two years to get revenge? She has a fairly successful business at Candlelight Farms.”
“Maybe she was concerned that Lacy’s new business model was going to take away Tina’s clientele. After all, she had the most popular vendors signing exclusivity clauses, she had the venue—“
“The venue!” Olivia shot up in her chair. “Lacy told me that she had to beat out several bidders to get her share of the property.”
“What are you thinking?”
Shaking her head, Olivia reached for the phone and the stack of brochures. After flipping through the information, she found what she was looking for. Holding up her finger in a signal to Andrew to wait, she waited until the receptionist answered. “Hi! This is Olivia Rickard. I was a client of Lacy’s, and I’d planned on hosting my wedding there next month.”
“Of course,” the bubbly voice on the other end said. “Congratulations on your upcoming wedding. How can I help you?”
“With Lacy’s terrible demise, I wasn’t sure if I’d still be able to host my wedding there. Could you tell me who has access to your venue now? I’ll need some help with the final details, and I want everything to go as smoothly as possible.”
When she’d heard the receptionist’s answer, Olivia thank
ed her and hung up. “This isn’t about revenge,” she told Andrew. “This is all about the venue. Lacy had to sign a contract saying that all of her inside weddings had to take place there, and in exchange, she'd be their exclusive wedding planner. It meant a huge influx of business for her because anyone who wanted to get married in the ballrooms or even on the grounds would have to go through Lacy. Tina put in the first bid for it, but Lacy beat her out.”
“You’re telling me that Tina killed Lacy over a wedding venue?” Andrew asked skeptically. “I had no idea the competition was that fierce.”
“Tina knew that she had two perfectly good scapegoats for the murder. Rachel would be looked at first since she delivered the cake—but Patricia baked it. With those two suspects, no one would even look at her.” Excited, Olivia got up and started pacing. Fender rose lazily from his bed and started following her around, clearly hoping that she was going to give him a treat.
“That’s not evidence,” he reminded her. “It’s not enough to free Patricia.”
Frustrated, Olivia stopped and balled up her fists. Andrew was right. There had been a far more compelling argument for Rachel’s guilt, and Nick hadn’t released Patricia over that. “We’re going to have to get her to confess.”
“And how are you going to do that?”
Biting her lower lip, Olivia sorted through the problem. Tina was meticulous and logical, but buried somewhere deep down had to be rage. She had to be angry over what Lacy had done, but she’d been burying it for all this time. What would happen if she let some of that anger out?
An idea formed in her mind, and she turned and gave her fiancé a big smile. “Darling, I hope you’re ready—because we’re going to plan the wedding of the year.”
19
The whole town was talking about the newest blog post on the newspaper website. Patricia had been charged for Lacy’s murder, and the curse hovering around Olivia had been lifted. Not only was the wedding back on, but Mayor Henderson had been quoted as saying that the wedding would be published on the town website. Everyone in the state would know that Lexingburg was the place to be for weddings.
Till Death Do Us Bark (Happy Tails Dog Walking Mysteries Book 2) Page 14