“I guess you can figure it out,” she said. “He stole my book and started passing the recipes off as his. I was so scared and shy back then I couldn’t open my mouth in front of others. Charles in his disgusting way was making my recipes, and his many friends devoured them. Eventually, they encouraged him to open a bakery.”
“And he did,” Margot said.
“Yes, taking full credit. Not once—not one single time did he ever tell anyone I was the one that created the recipes.”
“You poor dear,” Nancy said. “Did you confront him and demand he stop?”
Peter looked at Nancy, and she pinked and fell silent.
“Yes, I did. He laughed at me. He said, go ahead and tell everybody, Pamela. Can you do it? He knew I couldn’t.”
“You can talk to us,” Margot suggested.
“Do you know how long it took for me to get over my anxiety to the point that I could take care of myself? By the time I was able to function better, he was already in business. It was too late. Besides, I didn’t have any evidence.”
Margot dug into her pocket and pulled out the slip of paper. She handed it to Peter, who examined it. “This didn’t come from a notebook. Is it a new recipe?”
Pamela nodded. “I hadn’t spoken to Charles in years. I gave up on my dream and hoped he would one day fail, that everybody would find out what a fraud he was. Then he called me out of the blue and asked me to create a new, special recipe for him!
“I told him I would do it only if he gave me credit. He said he couldn’t. It was too late and that if he did, it would ruin him. As if he had much of a reputation in the first place.”
“How cruel,” Margot said.
“He said he would secretly hire someone to create a recipe for him and I would never get credit. I…I snapped.”
“Where did you get the gun?” Peter asked.
“The only thing we were left from our dad, an unregistered gun. I had it all this time. I dreamed of being brave enough to use it on him, but I never was.”
“But you were, eventually,” Peter coaxed her to admit.
She sighed. If possible the poor thing’s shoulders slumped even more. “Yes, I was. I killed him, detective, and I closed the bakery because I wanted to erase all evidence of his lies for good.”
Peter took a step toward her, but Margot rushed to ask, “Pamela, dear, did you bake the catnip biscuits at the center?”
Tears filled her eyes, but she blinked them away. “Yes, and I asked them not to tell anyone, to let it be from an anonymous donor. I didn’t accept any money for them.”
“What about Tom?”
“He doesn’t know anything. At least he didn’t before today. I asked him to lie about where I was that night. He did because he’s a good person. He’s gentle and kind. Before I left to come here, I told him everything.”
Margot glanced at Nancy. “It was him calling on the phone.”
“He called?” Worry touched Pamela’s expression.
“Maybe he thought you were going to do something you would regret again.”
“I was,” she admitted and then seemed to change her mind. “No, if I hurt you old ladies, I would have regretted it. But not Charles. I don’t regret him.”
Margot huffed at being called an old lady. Peter grasped Pamela’s arm to inform her everything she said could and would be held against her. She didn’t appear to care.
After Peter left with Pamela in custody, Margot sat back on the couch with Nancy sitting across from her. Odds climbed onto her lap and curled up. “I feel sorry for her, Nancy. Her brother was such a horrible man. Yet everyone seemed to love him.”
“That’s the way of the world sometimes. There are those that shine very bright but are false stars.”
“Indeed.” Margot sipped her coffee. “Oh, how I wish we could go back in time and somehow have helped her. That’s a life ruined when it didn’t have to be. If only she had known she could overcome her limitations, maybe even own a bakery with help. After all, she made the catnip biscuits. There were other ways!”
Nancy leaned over and patted her hand. “Calm down, dear. There’s nothing we can do about it now.” She looked at Odds. “Unless Odds is psychic and he can predict these things ahead of time.”
Odds stood and jumped off Margot’s lap to run out of the room. Margot and Nancy laughed.
“I think that means leave him out of it, Nancy. Odds was against my taking the dog-walking job from the beginning.”
“Will you continue?”
“No, I think I’m finished with that. I wonder what else I can do.”
“You’ll find something, Margot. You always do.”
“That’s true, and there’s still Zabrina’s secret.”
“Hmm, there is that.”
The End
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- Audrey Claire
Odds Against (Margot and Odds Cozy Mystery Book 2) Page 10