Bakery Detectives Cozy Mystery Boxed Set (Books 1 - 3)

by Stacey Alabaster

  A groaning sound came from the ground and I was relieved to discover that Deena was still conscious. "Carl was in deep debt," she said, trying to sit up.

  "Deena, don't move suddenly," I scolded her. "Just hold tight until..."

  "Until what?" Pippa whispered. "How are we going to get out of here?"

  Deena didn't heed my warning and kept talking. "He was getting more and more desperate all the time, cutting corners, not paying staff properly, even borrowing money from me, as I told you." Deena pulled herself to her feet. "A few months ago, when things were really bad for him, he agreed to do an interview for Colleen's food blog."

  I rolled my eyes. I remembered Colleen's promise to review my black forest on her blog. I guess that never happened.

  "She promised Carl that it was going to be a positive review, but then she ripped him apart, gave him one star, and things just got worse for Carl from there on." Deena let out a loud sigh. "I thought it was Carl I saw painting 'Killer' on your store front. I couldn't be sure, but I did think it was him at the time."

  "That's why you said 'he' when we were talking about it," I said, realizing.

  "Rachael, all of this is what I was trying to tell you when you came to see me yesterday. But you said you'd given up investigating."

  "So he decided the best way to right his business was to follow Colleen's lead and give every business in the area a bunch of bad reviews. And then, when the opportunity presented itself to get revenge on Colleen, I guess he took it. I'm sorry, Deena. I should have listened to you. Maybe I'm not so great at this detective stuff after all."

  Deena shook her head. "No, you are good at it. You figured out it was Carl, even without my help. You just shouldn't have stopped, that was the problem."

  Pippa reached out and gripped my arm. "Rach, can you hear that?"

  I nodded. "Footsteps."

  I glanced around the closet. "Okay, you take this," I said to Pippa, handing her a block of wood.

  "What are you going to take?" Pippa asked frantically.

  I took off my red peacoat. "I'll wrap this around his neck, and you hit him with that. You ready?"

  "No?!"

  The lock turned swiftly and suddenly bright sunlight streamed into my eyes as I stumbled back into the closet, blindly throwing my coat at the body there. "Go on, Pippa, hit him!" I shouted.

  "I wouldn't do that if I was you, ma'am," a deep voice boomed. "Or you'll be guilty of assaulting a police officer."

  "Jackson?" My eyes adjusted to the sunlight and I threw my arms around his neck as Pippa looked on with her mouth wide open.

  "Ahem, sorry," I said, pulling away. "Not sure what came over me then. I'm just glad to see you Jackson—I mean, Detective Whitaker—I'm really glad to see you right now."

  He grinned at me. "It's okay, 'Jackson' is fine under the circumstances. Are you ladies all right?"

  I stood back and allowed him to take a look at Deena, while Pippa and I were helped outside by a pair of uniformed police officers.

  "I got your message," Jackson said once he'd finished with Deena. "I knew something was wrong. I tried your bakery first, then Bakermatic, then they told me you'd come here. One of the customers told us that they'd seen Carl pulling you and Pippa down the alleyway. But we didn't know about Deena."

  I glanced over my shoulder as one of the paramedics attended to Deena. "I'm sure glad she’s okay," I mentioned to Jackson, as he reached over to adjust the blanket on my shoulders, which someone must have given me at some point.

  "I have to admit, I'm glad you're okay," Jackson said. "We've suspected Carl right from the start and when I saw that paint on your bakery the other day."

  "I know, I know," I said. "Carl did it. That's why you came to check on me. You thought I was in danger."

  Jackson nodded. Checking first that no one was watching, he reached out and gently squeezed my arm. "That's why I told you to stop snooping around. To let us do our jobs. Not because I didn't think you were any good at it, but because this is exactly what I was worried would happen."

  I looked up at him. "I assume you've arrested Carl. But do you know that he was writing fake reviews for all the businesses in this neighborhood? About the fact he underpays his employees, or doesn't pay them at all?"

  Jackson shook his head. "No, we didn't know about any of that. I have to admit, your snooping will help put him away. Not to mention the fact that we can get him on a bunch of other charges now." Jackson raised an eyebrow.

  I smiled at him. "When do you get off duty, Jackson? Can I perhaps interest you in another one of my brownies?"

  Jackson looked over his shoulder again before turning back to me. "Sounds great, and I would love to sample one of your many treats, but I'm afraid, for the time being, that will have to be as a customer only—at least until this case is wrapped up. I hope I can trust you not to get involved in any police matters in the future, Miss Robinson."

  Jackson shot me a wink before he began to walk away.

  "I can't quite go promising that just yet, Detective Whitaker," I said quietly, once I was sure he was out of earshot.

  I walked back over to Pippa, who was standing there, grinning at me from ear to ear.

  “What was that all about?” she asked, punching me in the arm.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I replied coyly.

  Pippa laughed and grabbed my shoulders, looking me square in the face. “You get in a lot of trouble, Rachael. Are you sure you want a cop following you around on a regular basis?”

  She was right. But maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if that cop was Jackson Whitaker.

  Epilogue

  I cleared my throat. "Ahem. I would like to welcome to Rachael's Boutique Bakery, our newest member of staff: Pippa McDonald!"

  I clapped as Pippa spun around and bowed to the crowd of one. Placing the pink apron over her head proudly, I said, "I can finally afford to have an employee, now that business is booming again. And I couldn't be more pleased that my first employee is my best friend in the whole world."

  The smile on Pippa's face faded a little. "Oh, Rach, are you sure? I hope I don't screw things up for you."

  I placed my hands on Pippa's shoulders. "You're going to do fine."

  We both spun around as a person wearing a yellow polyester shirt walked sheepishly through the door. "I just wanted to wish you guys good luck on your reopening," Simona said, before pulling something out from behind her back.

  She handed me the basket of muffins. "It's a good will gesture," she explained. "I was hoping in the future our stores could work together, rather than competing all the time. After all, you did help to clear our name as well. And you got all those fake negative reviews removed from online."

  I smiled at her. Even though I had no intention of eating those prepackaged cakes, I did appreciate her extending the olive branch.

  She turned to face Pippa. "And Pippa, even though you were a terrible employee, I wish you good luck in your new job." Simona shot me a look before she walked out the door. "You too. You're gonna need it."

  We both stopped and stared, watching Simona's ponytail bounce behind her as she walked down the street.

  "Hey," I said, turning to Pippa. "What was up with that red paint on Simona's hands that day?"

  Pippa's mouth dropped open. "You know what? I don't know. Maybe she was throwing red paint at her ex-boyfriend's car or something? Or, maybe, she was the one who did it."

  I glanced up at the spot on the window where the paint had been. Even though it had been well scrubbed a dozen times, I could have sworn I still saw a pink sheen to it. "After all, Deena was never one hundred percent sure it was Carl she saw that day."

  "I guess we'll never know if we can ever really trust Bakermatic," I said, setting the gift basket down on the floor behind the counter. "But I've got bigger things to worry about now." I leaned against the counter and pondered as Pippa starting piling a tray high with glossy donuts.

  "I'm starting to wonder, Pippa, i
f this should be my new calling."

  She glanced up at me, a donut stuck on the end of her tongs. "What, running a bakery?" she asked.

  "No!" I said, laughing as I stuck my tongue out at her. "I mean, solving mysteries."

  "The Bakery Detectives," Pippa laughed.

  I nodded. "The Bakery Detectives."

  Donuts, Antiques and Murder

  Chapter 1

  I leaned over and inspected the rows of flaky pastry topped with thick, hard vanilla frosting. My personal favorite: Vanilla Slice.

  But not my personal recipe.

  Pippa held her breath. "Well?" she finally squeaked. "What's the verdict?"

  "Hmm, they smell good, but I think I'm going to have to sample one just to make sure." Pippa almost turned blue as she waited for me to sample the dessert. The pastry was perfectly crisp and flaky, and the custard was soft but firm without being gelatinous.

  I narrowed my eyes at her as I leaned against the counter, stringing out my verdict like I was the judge on a reality show.

  "I give them a nine out of ten."

  Pippa heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. I was so worried that Romeo wouldn't be up to the job. Oh, I'm so glad you like them, Rach."

  Romeo was Pippa's first hire in her role as assistant manager. One of the perks of expanding was that I could hire an apprentice baker, and one of the other perks was that I could outsource some of my managerial duties. I'd been a little nervous leaving Pippa in charge of hiring, but not as nervous as she had been about finding the right person. Romeo was a talented baker, even though he could be a little grumpy, but that could have just been due to the early hours that bakers had to keep. I could cut him a little slack on that. Been there, done that. I was grateful that I occasionally got to sleep in these days.

  Speak of the devil, Romeo trudged out of the kitchen, wiping his flour-covered hands on his apron as he scowled at the two of us. His dark curly hair was sticking out from underneath his cap and I could tell from the bags hanging under his eyes that the 3:00 A.M. alarms were already taking their toll on him.

  "Good morning," I said, smiling brightly at him.

  "I need coffee," he said back, heading straight for our espresso machine. I placed my hand gently in front of the machine, stopping him.

  "You don't need to do that. How about I run and get coffee for all of us from that new place down the road, the Red Ribbon, I think it's called, as a treat?" I asked cheerily. "They've got some amazing flavors..."

  Pippa nodded eagerly and told me she'd take a cookies and cream iced coffee. Romeo was still scowling but he reluctantly said he'd take a short black. "You sure you don't want anything a bit special?"

  "Short black," he said gruffly.

  Pippa and I looked at each other as he stomped back to the kitchen and we both burst into laughter as the door swung shut behind him. "He's only twenty but he acts like a grumpy old man."

  Pippa agreed. "Sorry that he's so...tempestuous, though. I swear, at the interview he was a lot more friendly."

  "You don't need to apologize for his every action, Pippa. You can't be held responsible for his attitude. Besides, as long as he keeps baking like this, he can give me all the attitude he likes...just don't tell him that," I added, before I grabbed my purse to head out the door. "I'll be back in ten!"

  There was a long line at the Red Ribbon when I arrived. Maybe I was going to be little longer than ten minutes. I glanced over my shoulder at the bakery, wondering if Romeo could go that long without his coffee before he started murdering people.

  Poor choice of words.

  "Hey!" a voice called and I jumped. "You look like you're a million miles away there."

  "Jackson...Detective, I mean," I said, straightening up. "Just hoping that everyone at the bakery is okay without me." Not thinking about murder.

  He grinned at me. "I'm sure they'll manage just fine without you. Why don't you sit down and join me for a little while?"

  I really shouldn't.

  But I did have an ulterior motive for wanting to chat with Jackson, and it wasn't just to sit down and take a break. I was hoping that he might let some details of the case slip out if I could get him to relax a little. I couldn't just come straight out and ask him for police information, but over coffee, I might be able to get something out of him.

  But I kept thinking about Pippa being stuck on her own with Romeo on a rampage.

  Jackson seemed to sense my hesitation. "Come on, I'll even buy your coffee.”

  He placed our order and I ordered Romeo and Pippa's to-go in half an hour.

  I settled into a booth. "I'll just tell them the line was long. Really, really long."

  "You don't have to feel guilty for taking a few minutes to yourself, Rachael," Jackson said as he slipped into the seat across from me. "You've worked non-stop the last few years to get that bakery to the point where it can take care of itself."

  "It's not that,” I said, stirring even more sugar into my vanilla latte. Romeo wasn't the only person that morning who needed a pick-me-up, but I relied on sugar over caffeine for my morning hit.

  I chose my next words carefully. "I'm just a little on edge after everything that happened yesterday."

  Jackson sat his coffee mug down. "Right," he murmured. "That would be a huge thing for you right now. Has business been affected?"

  I shook my head. "Not like last time." Last time someone had been murdered on this street, I'd almost gone out of business. But last time the murder weapon had been a pie. This time it had been…that was just one detail I needed to get from Jackson.

  I waited for Jackson's reaction. "The last time. Right. Trouble sure does seem to be following you lately."

  "So how was the man killed?" I interrupted him, speaking far more bluntly than I'd intended. Great, Rach, I scolded myself. Way to be subtle about getting info.

  He narrowed his eyes at me. "We don't know that yet." He picked up his mug again and took a sip, watching me closely. "Do you?"

  "Of course not," I replied quickly. "How would I know that?"

  He shrugged. "Like I said, trouble seems to be following you lately."

  "Pippa has this crazy idea that I am being haunted," I said, rolling my eyes.

  I expected Jackson to laugh, but instead he just gave me a long look. "Weird things do seem to happen around you, Rachael.” Now he looked suspicious. "Things like people getting killed."

  I was outraged. "Are you suggesting I might have been in some way responsible for that guy’s death?" We'd been down this road before. Last time a person had died on this street, I'd been a prime suspect in her murder, until I'd been able to solve it and clear my own name.

  Jackson sighed. "I would have already brought you in for questioning if you were. Don't worry, you'll know about it if you become a suspect."

  That was reassuring. "I have an alibi you know. I was with Pippa all night." This wasn't exactly how I'd wanted the conversation to go. I'd wanted to get information from him, not become a suspect.

  He told me to take a breath, relax. Which was easier said than done.

  It wasn't that I believed Pippa's haunted house stories. But Jackson was right: death seemed to be following me.

  I shivered.

  "Here, I'll order you another coffee."

  I shook my head. "I need to go," I said, standing up abruptly. Jackson looked disappointed. "Sorry, there's just something I need to do."

  "Shoot," I said, stepping through the door as I realized I'd forgotten Pippa and Romeo's coffees.

  "Where have you been?" Pippa asked. "You've been gone for over half an hour."

  "The line was massive." I threw my empty hands up into the air. "So I just gave up. I hope Romeo isn't going to kill me."

  Pippa sighed and crossed her arms, glancing back over her shoulder at the kitchen with a worried look on her face. "Well, I think Romeo's coffee is the least of your problems right now."

  "What do you mean?" I heard a crashing sound and then the back door slamming shu
t. "Pippa,” I shouted, running towards the kitchen. "Is that the sound of Romeo leaving? What’s going on here?"

  She chased after me as I opened the door to find a kitchen in absolute chaos. There were overturned bowls everywhere, flour and pastry and cake mix covering every surface, including the walls and floor. "Has something exploded in here?" I asked Pippa.

  "Yeah," she answered. "Romeo."

  My jaw was open wide. "I've heard of people getting grumpy because they don't get their morning coffee, but this is just insane. Pippa, what happened?"

  I turned to find her huddled against the door looking guilty. "I don't know, Rach, but I think whatever was upsetting him, it was something more serious than coffee. I don't think he got any sleep last night. He was in a rotten mood all morning. I mean, he's always a bit surly but today it was on another level."

  I looked at the mess all around me in horror. "Well, is he coming back?"

  Pippa threw her hands in the air. "I'm sorry, Rach. I don't know." She hung her head. "This is my fault. I should never have hired him."

  I turned to leave. "Just try and get him back, by this afternoon preferably. Otherwise, we're going to have to find another apprentice baker. Or have nothing to serve this afternoon."

  "It's the curse," Pippa said as our meager supply of cakes ran out shortly after lunchtime.

  "What is?" I asked.

  Pippa shrugged and looked down at the empty display cases. "This," she said, pointing to them.

  I turned towards her slowly. "Are you trying to blame Romeo's unprofessionalism on a curse? I'm pretty sure that was all just due to him being a bad employee. And young. Not everyone can handle the stress of the early hours. There’s nothing paranormal about it. In fact, it's very normal to react badly to poor sleep."

  Pippa shook her head. "I told you, the twins will do everything they can to stay in their home." She grabbed me by the shoulders. "And they will do everything they can to stop you from taking over. Screwing with your staff, and your cash supply, so that you can't buy the store!"