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

by Stacey Alabaster

  In the time we'd been sitting there, even more vans had pulled up to join the circus, more tents pitched, and even more vats of coffee set up.

  So much for Jackson's plan to keep the town out of the spotlight.

  So much for his plan to make the town feel safer.

  I checked the time on the dash. We were going to be late to open.

  "Let me see what I can do," Pippa said, pushing her door open. I picked up my phone and used it to quickly scroll through the day's news.

  Yep. Pierre Hamilton's death was the biggest breaking story in the entire country. It was the featured story on countless local and national news websites.

  This was not going to be a good look for Belldale.

  I glanced up to see Pippa arguing with a reporter in a blue suit who had hair that looked too grey for his fresh looking face. I rolled down my window so I could hear what was going on. He was shaking his head at her before he threw up his hands and shouted, "I don't know what to tell you! I'm not in charge of this whole thing! Us moving our van isn't going to make much of a difference."

  Pippa turned in a huff to a different reporter, a smiley looking blond woman whose smile died as soon as the news camera turned off. She scowled at Pippa and told her to get out of the way.

  "Out of your way?" Pippa exclaimed. "You're the one in our way! We actually live in this town! We work on this street. And we need to get past!"

  I almost jumped out of my skin when I heard a tapping on my window.

  "Jackson," I gasped. It was the first time I'd laid eyes on him in what had to have been three months. During that time, I had managed to not only avoid solving crimes, I'd also managed to avoid seeing him. So I was doing well.

  He looked different. Slimmer, I think it was. Or maybe his hair was longer. It seemed to sit up on his head in more of a bouffant than the last time I'd seen him. And was it my imagination or was it a little grayer than the last time I had seen him?

  "Rachael?" he asked, and I jumped again as he interrupted my thoughts.

  "Um, hi," I said, straightening up. I self-consciously reached up and touched my hair, wondering if the professional styling I'd received before filming yesterday was still holding up under the damp of the soggy morning. "How are you?" I asked stupidly, not really knowing what else to say.

  "Well," Jackson said with a raise of his eyebrows as he shoved his hands into his pockets, his badge dangling down the front of his torso. "As you can imagine, busy."

  I nodded. "We went so long without a murder too, bit of a shame." Another stupid thing to say. I was nervous. I didn't know what was escaping my mouth. I stared at the steering wheel while Jackson fidgeted back and forth on his heels.

  "I heard that you were there when it happened."

  "Nearby," I corrected him. "In a different room."

  "Hmm."

  I kept staring at the steering wheel. Another murder in Belldale happening while I was less than a hundred feet away. There had been talk for a while—from Pippa mostly, who doesn't always have her feet firmly planted in reality—that I was cursed. Silly, right?

  I wasn't so sure.

  "Do you need me to answer any questions?" I asked quietly.

  "We'll take a statement later," Jackson replied quickly. I took note of the 'we,' not an 'I.' That meant he'd be sending some uniformed officer to ask questions, not himself.

  There was that distance again.

  Jackson cleared his throat. "It's good to see you again anyway, Rachael."

  "Is it?" I asked.

  He looked away. "Let me see if I can clear this road for you."

  He stomped away toward the hoards of vans and reporters like a man on a mission. Waving his badge like a sword, he was quickly able to part the sea of cars and news crews. Pippa came sprinting back to the car, breathless from arguing with people. "I almost got punched!" she exclaimed, pulling the door shut quickly. "Rach, some of these people are VICIOUS."

  I eyed them slowly as we finally managed to pull the car through the crowd. "I'm sure they are."

  "Why are they all staring at us?" Pippa whispered, slumping into her seat so that she was almost on the floor of the car.

  "Maybe because you were out there trying to fight them two minutes ago?"

  But I wasn't so sure that was the reason. They didn't seem to be staring at Pippa.

  They seemed to be staring at me.

  My new baker-come-assistant-manager Bronson had matters well in hand by the time we finally got to the bakery. I heaved a heavy sigh of relief as I pulled the door open and was hit by the sweet smell of breads and cakes baking.

  Bronson emerged from the kitchen covered in flour. "I figured you'd have issues getting here on time this morning. I rode my bike," he explained, wiping his hands on a tea towel, which he then flung over his shoulder. "Pippa!" he exclaimed as she followed in behind me. "Welcome back!"

  Pippa grinned and ran up to him with her left hand outstretched.

  "You're kidding me," he said, mouth agape as he took in the rock on her finger. "Who is the lucky man?"

  Don't ask, I thought as I walked around to the cash register to check that we had enough change for the day. The bank was at the end of the street, and I didn't like our chances of getting through that crowd unscathed again.

  Pippa continued to rattle off a list of Marcello's plethora of charms while I counted the change in the till. We didn't have enough. We had almost none in fact. And I doubted that our customers were all going to pay for five-dollar desserts with credit cards. I was about to interrupt the other two to check if either of them had any change I could use, when my phone started to flash with a call.

  Justin.

  I frowned and wondered whether I should answer it or not. After all, the whole reality show casting thing was all on hiatus now...wasn't it?

  It would be stupid of me to think he was calling to tell me that I got on the show. Obviously that's not his priority right now, I told myself.

  But what if it is about the show and my place on it, and I don't answer his call?

  I pressed 'accept.'

  "Rachael?" His voice sounded hurried and desperate, not that unusual for Justin, but it was missing its usual air of superiority mixed in.

  "That's my name, don't wear it out." Boy, I was really saying some dumb stuff that day.

  "Rachael, where are you right now?"

  "At work," I said flatly. "Where else would I be?"

  "You work?" He sounded momentarily flummoxed.

  "Yes. As a baker! You know that!"

  "Oh." Justin paused. "I thought that was just made up for the TV show. You're an actual baker?" He let out a little surprised sound. "Most of the time, the people on the show can't even bake, they just get cast because they're good for TV and then we put them through a two week intensive course to bring them up to speed. Otherwise, we just get someone else to bake the stuff for them." I could practically hear his disaffected shrug from the other end of the line. It hadn't taken him long to go from desperate sounding to dismissive.

  "Justin, why are you calling me?"

  He seemed to remember and the desperation returned to his voice. "You've got to leave work. You've got to come here immediately."

  "I can't just leave work." I stared out the window and sighed. "Literally. I'm trapped here. But even if I wasn't, I can't just up and leave."

  "Rachael, I need your help."

  He always needed something from me, but usually it involved me sitting in a makeup chair for hours or memorizing an asinine script. Something told me this was a completely different matter, though. "Why, Justin?" I instinctively lowered my voice so that Pippa and Bronson couldn't hear me. "What's going on? Where are you?" I turned so that my back was to the others. Pippa is a pretty good lip reader. Luckily, she still hadn't grown tired of talking about how great Marcello was.

  "I'm in my hotel room," he whispered, as though he also had someone waiting nearby on his end that he didn't want overhearing the conversation. "I'm hiding."
/>   "What are you hiding from?" I whispered back.

  "Take your pick," he whispered, exasperation entering his voice. "The press, the production crew, the police." He gulped. "Rachael, they think I did it."

  Chapter 4

  "Hey, where are you going?" Pippa turned, the jingle of the door giving me away before I could escape.

  "I have to go get some change. For the register."

  Pippa stomped over to the window. "But the press are blocking the bank." She looked me up and down. "Besides, they didn't seem to like you."

  "Yeah? What was that about? Anyway, I'm sure they'll make some room. I just really need to get to the bank." I tried to push past her.

  "Hold up." Pippa stared at me sternly. "I recognize that look on your face." Her eyes went wide. "You're going off to investigate."

  "Shh," I said, checking to see if Bronson was overhearing us. "I am not. I'm going to the bank."

  "Ohhh, shoot," Pippa said, pointing out the window. "Your boyfriend's on his way over."

  "Who?" I looked to see Jackson striding toward the bakery. "Very funny, Pippa. Don't call him that." I undid my coat buttons, suddenly feeling hot and flustered. I'd blame it on the sun that was rapidly rising and melting away the dew if anyone asked.

  He at least did the courtesy of knocking on the door, even though Pippa and I were both frozen there in the window like statutes.

  "Detective. I wasn't expecting you."

  "I did tell you one of us would be by to take a statement." Jackson glanced down at Pippa and asked if he could speak to me alone.

  "Sure, I guess."

  "Do you have somewhere else more important to be?" There was no hint of humor or amusement in his voice. I glanced at Pippa for help.

  "No," Pippa said. "She was just heading to the bank. Isn't that right, Rach?"

  "Right," I muttered. "Nothing more important than that. Why don't we go sit in my office then?"

  Ever since I'd expanded the bakery by purchasing the shop next door, I'd been able to spread out a little more. The extra space meant a big kitchen, larger cool room, more space for stock, and even a little room for an office. Not that it looked like an office per se, it was really just a desk cluttered with unopened bills and unwashed coffee cups with a mini fridge shoved next to it. The whole thing was really no bigger than a cabinet, if I was honest.

  "Sorry," I said, trying to shove the piles of bills to one side as I quickly hid the dirty cups. "It's a bit messy in here."

  Jackson glanced up at the ceiling and nodded. "It's good to see you've expanded, though. You never had an office before. Next step will be to franchise out."

  "Not quite up to that point yet," I said, sitting down. I was surprised by how casual and friendly he was suddenly being, compared to how serious he'd been in front of Pippa.

  My phone flashed. A text from Justin.

  Where are you???

  I quickly turned the screen face down. Time to get this interview over with, quickly.

  Jackson didn't seem to be in any hurry to get to the point, however. He was twiddling his thumbs and shifting in his seat, trying to get into a more comfortable position. I didn't blame him. It was plastic and from the thrift store. Still.

  "I didn't see anything," I volunteered, hoping that might move things along more quickly.

  Jackson frowned. "Well, that's not a very good start, unfortunately."

  I supposed it wasn't, but he was confusing me. From my experience—and I had a lot of it—the cops usually do most of the questioning in these situations. But it was me that had to ask Jackson what exactly was going on.

  That's when I saw it. The faintest of eye rolls and a look on his face as though he'd rather be anywhere else, asking anyone anything else other than what he was about to ask me.

  Suddenly, I got it.

  But I wanted to hear him say it.

  "Rachael," he started to say, every syllable dripping with reluctance. "This has to stay quiet, you understand? Unofficial."

  "What does?" I still needed to know what he was 'unofficially' asking me.

  Jackson swallowed. "Any...involvement, of yourself. In this case."

  I opened my eyes wide, acting like I was shocked by the proposition. "You want me to be involved in the case?"

  "As I said. Unofficially."

  I leaned back in my seat. I could barely control the satisfaction emanating from me. "Well, well, well. This is a first." I leaned forward and stared at him, a little more serious now. "Does anyone else at the station know that you are asking me this?"

  Perhaps it was going to be our little secret.

  "Emma does," Jackson replied. "Detective Crawford," he added, in case I was confused about who he was referring to. I wasn't. "It was actually her suggestion."

  Oh.

  I was feeling slightly less satisfied. "I will have to think about it."

  Jackson looked surprised. Not just surprised. Disappointed. "You seemed pretty happy about it a second ago."

  Even with the screen face down against the desk, I could see it flashing every couple of minutes with a new text. I had to go see Justin.

  Jackson didn't need to know that I was already investigating the case. In that moment, I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of saying yes. Especially when it had been his girlfriend's suggestion. I mean, I knew it was petty, but in my opinion, he was being petty as well—even pointing out that it was Emma's suggestion. Couldn't he at least have pretended that he was on board with the scheme?

  I stood up and pulled on my coat. Big mistake. The mercury was already rising. It was hot in that cramped office even in just a blouse, let alone a heavy coat. But I needed to show Jackson that I needed to leave.

  "I'll have to think about it," I said.

  Jackson stood up after me. "What is there to think about?"

  I shrugged. "I don't know if I want to get involved in all this stuff again. Especially with my reality TV career about to start."

  Jackson just stared at me. "Is this really what this is about? You care more about being famous than helping us catch a killer? You care more about your image than justice?"

  I placed my hands on my hips. He wasn't right, of course—I was lying—but I didn't like his self-righteous indignation considering I was pretty sure I knew why he was there. "It's a bit rich to accuse me of caring more about image than justice when there's only one reason you're here, begging me for my help."

  "I'm not begging!"

  "And that reason is that you are concerned about the image of the police force. Especially with yet ANOTHER killer running around." I waited for him to dare to argue with that.

  He let out a little scoff. "And you think that you running around solving this crime is GOOD for our image? If I really cared about any of that, why would I be asking you for help?"

  "Secretly asking me," I pointed out. "Unofficially."

  His neck seemed to tense up. "Like I said, it's not a good look."

  Fine. So he was happy to ask for my help as long as no one knew about it. "And if I solve the crime?" I asked. "I suppose all the credit goes to you."

  Jackson rolled his eyes just slightly again. "Solve the crime? No one is expecting you to do that. We just thought you might be able to offer a few crumbs of help, considering you were at the audition yesterday."

  "You know what?" I asked, sweating in my red coat now but unwilling to take it off. "I have thought about it. And my answer is no."

  Jackson's mouth dropped open as I pushed past him.

  "Now, you'll have to excuse me. I've got some important business to attend to."

  As soon as Pippa and I were back in the car, I yanked my coat off and cranked up the air conditioner. "Geez it's like a heat wave."

  "It is when you're wearing a winter coat." Pippa looked me up and down. "Now, are you going to tell me where we're going?"

  I glanced in my rearview mirror waiting until Jackson became the size of an ant. "We are going to go talk to Justin."

  "Who is Justin a
gain?"

  "The producer of Baking Warriors." I still had my eyes trained on the rearview mirror. "He was the one who discovered Pierre's body."

  "I knew it!" Pippa gasped, slapping her hands together. "I knew you were going to investigate!"

  I turned to face her. Deadly serious. "Not a word of this to Jackson, understand? In fact, not a word of it to anyone." I leaned back in my seat. "All I'm doing is talking to Justin. I can't make any promises about what will happen after that."

  But Pippa wasn't listening to me, she was already bouncing up and down in her seat with excitement. "I thought life back here in Belldale might be boring after my travel adventures. Especially now that I'm old and married."

  My eyes widened.

  "But investigating the death of a reality show judge?" Pippa shook her head. "Rach, this is far from boring."

  "Just stay calm, Pippa," I tried to say. "I can't guarantee anything."

  "Come on, Rach. You KNOW you're gonna do it."

  I sighed and looked at her.

  "Pippa," I said. "If I take on this case, and I do mean IF, will you help me?"

  "Are you kidding me?" she exclaimed. "The bakery detectives, back together? Just try and stop me."

  Chapter 5

  "Wow, this place is pretty flashy," Pippa murmured as we stood in front of the Glassview Hotel. "I didn't even know Belldale had a place like this."

  "I don't think production spares any expense," I said. "On the crew at least." I'd already had a sneak preview of the dormitory I'd be sleeping in if I actually got selected to go on the show. I'd be sharing a room with another contestant, and a bathroom with another four. At least during the first weeks of shooting. If I managed to remain until the end, the herd would thin out a bit and I might get my own room.

  But it was nice to see that Justin was staying in luxury.

  "Who is it?" he whispered from the other side of the door.

  "It's me, Rachael. Who do you think it is?"

  He yanked the door open. "It took you long enough." He stopped when he saw Pippa standing next to me. "Who is this?"

  "This is my best friend, Pippa. She helps me when I do this sort of stuff."