A Freshly Baked Cozy Mystery Box Set

by Kate Bell

  “I like it that way. It will give you that Alice Cooper look I love so much,” he said.

  I laughed and got up and gave him a kiss and then sat down again.

  “Okay, don’t make me cry all over the place and make people look at me,” I said and dabbed at my eyes with my napkin.

  “I won’t if you won’t,” he said.

  Our food was brought in gold bowls similar to the charger in the centerpiece, but they were more modern and practical. It smelled wonderful and my stomach growled.

  “This smells so good,” I said.

  “Bon Appetit,” the waiter said and left us alone.

  “This looks really good, too,” Alec said.

  I took a bite of my Lamb Navarin, making sure to get a bit of lamb and potato on my spoon, and groaned. “This is so good,” I said after I’d swallowed. “I mean, really, really good.”

  “That’s what I was going to say,” Alec said.

  Le Chemise wasn’t going to have any problem drawing a crowd. I didn’t think the novelty would ever wear off if they served food this good every night. I was enjoying the food, but I was starting to worry a little for Henry’s.

  “I hope this place doesn’t hurt Henry’s business,” I said to Alec.

  “I doubt it. It’s completely different types of food. Besides, the prices reflect the quality of the food and everyone isn’t going to be able to afford this place on a regular basis,” he replied.

  “That’s true,” I said. “Did you get a chance to look over Iris’s journal?” I was so excited about the restaurant that I almost forgot about the journal.

  “Not really. I planned on reading it tonight,” he said. “You?”

  “I did. And as I expected, Jennifer was her star student. Iris appreciated the shy student. It’s refreshing, really. So many teachers complained about her being so quiet, but Iris saw how wonderful she is,” I said.

  Alec smiled. “And you aren’t a bit biased. I think she is, too.”

  “And then there was Josh Stine,” I said, leaning closer to him.

  “Oh?” he said, taking a sip of his wine.

  I nodded. “She recognized that he had some issues, but didn’t really say exactly what they were. Just that he was overly emotional and cried for days before the last day of the year. He had issues separating from her, I think.”

  “Well, he hasn’t changed much. He’s still overly emotional. Anything else?” he asked.

  I shrugged. “I mostly skimmed, looking for Jennifer and Josh’s names. I need to re-read it. I want to take copies of the whole thing. I think Jennifer would like to have a copy. I don’t think Richard would mind, do you?”

  “I doubt it,” he said. “He seems reasonable.”

  The dinner portions were perfect. I normally left food behind at most other restaurants, but not here. It was too tasty to leave anything behind, and the portions weren’t too large.

  Our dinner plates were removed from the table and dessert was brought out. They were beautiful to look at. I looked at Alec over my Chocolate Religieuse. Wow, I mouthed at him. It was like a mini tower of pastry, ganache, and whipped cream. He nodded and smiled.

  I picked up my fork and dived in. When the ganache hit my mouth, I nearly cried. It was perfectly smooth and creamy. I moved it around in my mouth, and looked at Alec wide-eyed. He was staring back at me, equally wide-eyed. I swallowed.

  “Oh, Alec, I think I’m in trouble,” I whispered.

  There was a small mountain of glazed pastries and whipped cream sitting in front of him.

  “Stop that. You are not in trouble. This is really quite wonderful, to be honest, but so is everything you make. And your recipes are—well, they have that Southern twist, you know?”

  “They’re plain. That’s what you mean, right? My desserts are plain.”

  “Stop it, Allie. You have a following with your desserts. People love them. Everything will be fine,” he said as he forked up more pastry goodness and popped it in his mouth.

  I stared at the Chocolate Religieuse in front of me. This might very well be the undoing of me.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  I slept fitfully that night, and I wasn’t sure if it was because I was worried about baking my first pie for sale to the public in the morning, or if I suddenly felt like I had competition with the new French restaurant. I tossed and turned, with images floating through my mind, and occasionally dreaming. I dreamt about Iris at one point.

  “Allie,” she called.

  I was sitting on a lawn chair at the lake in Goose Bay, Alabama. I have no idea how she knew how to find me there or why I was even there in the first place.

  “Allie,” she called again.

  I looked up at her. “Iris. How are you?”

  She ignored my question, which was probably best. “Allie, you know who did it.”

  “I do?” I asked. I was puzzled by that statement because at this point, it could have been anyone.

  She nodded. She was wearing a pink business casual outfit that consisted of slacks and a blouse with one of those big bows at the neck that were so popular in the early eighties.

  “Remember?”

  I shook my head.

  “You can do it!” she said emphatically.

  “Well, I’m trying,” I said.

  “You can do it!” she said again, just as emphatically as the first time.

  I nodded slowly as the sun behind her got brighter. “Okay. I’ll try.”

  “You can do it!” she shouted.

  “Oh, okay,” I said as the sun blinded me. I put up my hand to shield my eyes from the sun.

  “You can do it!” she shrieked and was gone.

  I blinked and the sun disappeared.

  The dream as forgotten when my alarm clock went off and I jumped out of bed. It was 6:00 AM and I had just enough time to bake a couple of pies and a cake and get them down to Henry’s before the lunch time crowd came in.

  I jumped out of bed and hurried to get dressed. I had so much to do.

  I had decided on a dark chocolate cake and the blueberry sour cream pie recipe I had been working on. I thought when we got closer to spring I would try and convert the blueberry sour cream recipe to cherry in honor of cherry blossoms being in bloom.

  As I worked, I kept one eye on the clock. I may have set some kind of speed baking record. I put the finishing touches on the chocolate cake, making swirl patterns in the frosting and then shaving dark chocolate to sprinkle around the top. I had bought a pretty crystal cake stand to display the cake on and loaded everything up in my car and headed to Henry’s. My stomach did flip-flops on the way over.

  ***

  I sighed when I got back home, tossed my purse on the sofa and sat down for a minute. It was after 1:00. I had been so excited to see if my pies and cakes would sell, I had hung out at Henry’s a lot later than I had planned. My feet ached and I needed a nap.

  I decided instead to get on the treadmill. A nap would leave me groggy and I had skipped my workout the day before. I went to the mudroom and laced up my running shoes and grabbed a bottle of water from the kitchen. It was better to get it done without thinking about it or I would change my mind and take that nap and fall further behind in my training.

  I put my phone on the shelf on my treadmill and started it up. I plugged my earbuds into the phone and popped them into my ears. Brown Sugar was first on my playlist. I stepped onto the deck, starting out slowly, letting my mind wander as my body warmed up.

  The dream from the night before drifted across my mind. It was nice that Iris had given me encouragement, but I was baffled as to who the killer was. Why hadn’t she just told me in the dream? And what was I doing at the lake in Goose Bay? I had never enjoyed going to the lake. You never knew what was swimming in that murky water.

  I kicked the treadmill up a notch.

  You can do it!

  I smirked. “Sure I can, Iris.”

  I needed to get to work on the blog. I was already baking and I didn’t want
to let it all go to waste. I wondered if taking pictures on my old digital camera would be good enough or if I should buy a new camera. Probably needed a new camera, I thought.

  You can do it!

  “Sure, Iris.”

  I had also been looking at pretty tablecloths online. I wanted to get an assortment as backdrops for my pictures. But as far as that went, I could just go to the fabric store and buy a yard or two of different prints and patterns. I turned the treadmill up a couple more notches and felt my breathing deepen.

  You can do it!

  “Oh shut up, Iris. I’ve got planning to do,” I muttered.

  You can do it! You can do it! You can do it!

  My mind went to Iris. I didn’t particularly want to dream about her. I hated dreaming. I preferred to be in control of where my mind went and dreams were out of my control. I turned the treadmill up faster and stretched my legs out. I liked running fast better than long, but the marathon would stretch me both physically and mentally. It was going to take a whole lot of self-control to keep from giving up before I hit the finish line.

  My mind wandered to Iris’s journal. It was a real treasure to have her words about Jennifer. Any parent would be proud of their child and this was just the icing on the cake.

  I breathed in deeply, and took a swig of water. I can do it. I can do it. I needed to keep this frame of mind during the marathon.

  Then it hit me. My stomach dropped and I lost my footing and slipped off the treadmill, pulling the red plastic key on the lanyard out of the machine and stopping the motor. I hit the treadmill deck, landing on my side. My head hit the side rail on the way down and I lay there, stunned.

  You can do it.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  I must have passed out because when I sat up and looked at my phone that was still attached to me by the earbuds, it was 3:02. I sat for a minute, trying to remember what I was supposed to be doing. Did I have pies to bake? And then I remembered, and stumbled to my feet. My head was aching and I had lost a layer of skin on the underside of my right forearm.

  My mouth was dry and my tongue felt glued to the roof of my mouth. I found my bottle of water lying by the side of the treadmill and I struggled to get the lid off. When I had managed to unscrew the lid, it slipped out of my fingers and rolled beneath the treadmill deck. I took a deep drink from the bottle and forced myself to my feet. I managed to limp into the kitchen and set the water bottle down. I looked at my phone, trying to remember what I was doing.

  I grabbed my keys from the kitchen counter and went into the living room and found my purse. I hobbled out to my car and got in.

  ***

  My head was pounding as I pulled up to the elementary school and parked. There were only three cars left in the teacher’s parking lot. I headed to the double front doors and pulled one open. The halls were empty, but I saw lights on in two classrooms. Iris would probably have been working late had she still been alive. I was still wearing my running shoes and they squeaked on the tile floors. I tried to walk lightly, but it didn’t help much. There was no way to sneak up on anyone in this place.

  I turned down the hallway leading to Iris’s classroom and that’s when I saw him. Josh was sitting on the floor next to Iris’s closed door. The room was dark. His head was in his hands and he didn’t look up as I approached him.

  “Josh?” I said quietly.

  He was rocking slightly, but didn’t look up.

  “Josh?” I said a little louder.

  He slowly looked up at me. His face was bright red and his eyes swollen from crying.

  “Hey,” I said, trying to sound friendly. My heart pounded in my chest. Now that I was here, I realized I didn’t have a plan. “Are you okay?”

  He shook his head.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” I asked.

  He shook his head again.

  I wanted to call Alec, but I didn’t want to do it in front of him.

  “Do you want me to call your mom for you?” I asked. Maybe if she came down here, he would tell her what happened. His emotional state didn’t look good and he might talk to her.

  “You know, it’s not my fault,” he suddenly said.

  “What’s isn’t your fault?” I asked innocently.

  “That Mrs. Rose is dead,” he said. His voice cracked on the word dead.

  “No one thinks it’s your fault,” I said. “I’m sure of that.”

  He looked up at me. “That’s not true. You and that detective think it’s my fault.” He said it quietly, but his eyes blazed with anger.

  “You shouldn’t worry about that. That’s just how detectives are. They don’t mean anything by it,” I said, wishing I had texted Alec before coming to the school.

  Before I knew what was happening, Josh had launched himself at me and I fell backward on the hard floor, hitting my head. The thick knit cap cushioned the blow very little, and I felt things go black again. I woke up a few moments later and I wondered where Alec was before I realized I was being dragged.

  “Wha?” I mumbled, trying to find my words.

  My head rolled to the side as we passed a classroom with a light still on. I moaned, and tried to call out for help, but all that came out was a mumbled, “Wha?” The door was closed and no one came.

  I heard Josh sobbing, and tried to get a look at him. He had hold of both of my legs and pulled me along the waxed floor. I couldn’t lift my head high enough off the floor to get a good look at him. I groaned.

  If I could find my phone, I could call Alec. Except that I couldn’t speak intelligible words for some reason. My tongue felt swollen and foreign in my mouth and I couldn’t remember words. Pain surged through my head and I groaned again and willed myself to get my wits about me.

  After a few minutes, my head began to clear a little and Josh suddenly stopped dragging me. He sat down beside me. “It wasn’t my fault,” he breathed near my ear. “I just wanted to talk to her. To tell her how important she was to me. I told her I loved her, but she said she was married and didn’t want me. I bought her a ring, but she didn’t want it. But it wasn’t my fault. None of it was my fault.”

  He sat back, breathing hard. “She was the only person that told me I was worth anything. She told me I could do it. Whatever it was that I wanted to do, I could do it.”

  “What about your mother?” I said weakly, finally finding my words. “Didn’t she tell you that you could do it?” I slowly reached for my phone in my pocket. I couldn’t recall what had happened to my purse.

  He laughed bitterly. “No. She said to be careful. She said you’re different. You can’t do things other kids can do.”

  “Mothers worry,” I squeaked out, still trying to make my way to my jeans pocket without him seeing me.

  “She didn’t want me to leave her. She didn’t want me going to Texas. She was so glad when I flunked out. She was happy about it,” he said. “She got what she wanted. But I didn’t get what I wanted.”

  “It’s hard for a mother to let her kids go. It’s only because they love their kids,” I said, and felt the bump in my pocket. I gently slipped the phone out and hid it in my hand, keeping it by my side.

  “You don’t know what love is,” he said without emotion. “No one but me and Mrs. Rose know what love is.”

  He suddenly turned to me and shoved me. I grabbed for purchase, and realized I was at the stairs entrance. I felt myself falling, and I reached up and grabbed the chain that was strung across the entrance and I held on with all my might as he shoved me again. My phone flew down the stairs and I found my voice and screamed.

  “I didn’t want to do it,” he said, pushing me again. “Let go!”

  I screamed with everything I had and my head screamed back. I felt vomit rising in my throat and thought I might choke on it, but I kept screaming.

  “Hey! What are you doing?” I heard a male voice shout from what seemed far away.

  “Let go!” Josh hissed at me, and punched me in the side of the head.

&
nbsp; Everything went black as I felt myself falling.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  I lay on the hospital bed with Alec sitting at my side. The lights seemed so bright and my eyes swam with spots. There was a needle in my arm and a bag of fluids hung on a metal rack beside me. I hoped there were pain meds in there because I needed some. I moaned.

  “Hey,” Alec whispered, leaning toward me.

  “Hey,” I said back, my throat cracking.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked.

  “Horrible,” I squeaked out.

  He leaned over and pressed his lips to my forehead. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered.

  “What happened?” I asked, trying to force the memories to come.

  “Josh tried to shove you down the stairs at the elementary school. But one of the teachers, Mike Evans, heard you scream and he stopped him. Unfortunately Josh had already hit you in the head and that’s why you’re here,” he said, gently brushing the hair off my forehead. “You also took a tumble about halfway down the stairs.”

  I tried to smile, but the skin on my face felt tight. “Did he confess?”

  “He did. I just spoke with Sam Bailey. Josh said he accidentally knocked Iris down the stairs. It seems he went to see her and confess his love for her.”

  “He did it,” I said, already knowing that fact.

  “Josh had been making appearances at the school for a couple of weeks before her death. When Iris rejected him, he got angry and shoved her. He swears he didn’t mean to kill her, but he panicked and took her out into the woods and had a burial for her. That was his ring we found on Iris’s finger. He tried to give it to her that day. He said she wouldn’t take it.”

  “Poor Iris,” I whispered.

  “Why did you go to the school?” he asked.

  “Greggo,” I answered.

  Alec’s forehead furrowed. “Greggo?”