“Fine,” I said. “I’m leaving.”
I walked out of Sam’s more convinced than ever that something was going on. Those two were acting suspicious, and I was determined to find out why.
I had tried to protect Angie from the investigation before, but that was over. She had betrayed me, and I had to start thinking of her seriously as a suspect. I didn’t know what she might be capable of.
I was determined to find out exactly what she and Sam had done and why.
Chapter 18
I went back to The Mad Batter and immediately searched for Scooter. I found him prepping some cupcakes in the back of the bakery.
“We need to talk,” I said. “It’s urgent.”
Scooter stood up quickly. “Oh Lord, what happened? Did someone else die?”
“No, no, nothing like that,” I said. “But I do need to talk to you about some things.”
“Okay. What’s up, Coco?”
“I need you to tell me everything you know about Sam.”
“Sam Porter? Why would I know anything about Sam?”
“Your girlfriend works for him, doesn’t she?”
“Well yeah, but—“
“But nothing. Just tell me what you know.”
He thought for a moment and then his face lit up. “Oh. I’ve heard a few things.”
“Like what?”
“Like, I heard he was going to open up an ice cream shop.”
“An ice cream shop? No, give me the good stuff. The interesting stuff.”
“Ah, okay. Well, I also heard that he worked for the government when he was in his twenties. Like, secret spy stuff.”
I had to try hard not to roll my eyes. I nearly forgot that Scooter believed everything he heard about people.
“Okay, what else?”
“He’s secretly really rich. Like I know it doesn’t look like it, but he has millions in an off-shore bank account. Oh, and he’s covered in tattoos.” Gah!
“Have you heard anything about his personal life?”
He thought for a moment. “Yeah, I heard he’s cheating on his wife, but I’m not sure if that’s true or not.”
That was exactly what I was looking for. I thought for a moment. Maybe that’s why Angie and Sam were such close friends.
“They’re both betrayers,” I said quietly to myself.
“What was that?” Scooter asked.
“Nothing, Scoot,” I said. “Thanks for your help.”
“Any time, Coco.”
I stepped outside and called Logan’s number.
“Hey, Coco,” he said.
“Hi, Logan. Listen, I have some things to tell you.”
“Is something wrong?” He sounded worried.
“No, nothing is wrong,” I said. “I just wanted to talk to you about a few things with the case.”
He sighed heavily over the line.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing. Tell me what’s going on.”
“Well, you see, Stella and Vivian got those pictures developed. They were photos of Daniel and Angie. They were having an affair while he was still married to me.”
“Oh gosh, Coco, I’m sorry. That really surprises me that she would do that.”
“I know, but that gives her a motive. And I went by to see her. She was with Sam. They were friendly together. They could both be in on this.”
“Oh, Coco, I don’t know...”
“No, listen, So then I asked Scooter about Sam, and he said he heard Sam has been cheating on his wife.”
“Scooter believes everything he hears, Coco. I’m not sure that that’s really credible.”
“Well, I thought it might not be either, but it makes sense that it would be true. A broken clock is right twice a day. Besides, I saw them.”
“You saw them together? Cheating on Sam’s wife?”
“No, but I saw them together at Sam’s place. They were having this weird conversation about not letting anyone else find out. And they’re probably friends because they’re both cheaters.”
Logan sighed again. “Okay, so for the sake of argument, all of this is true. What does it mean now?”
“It means that they could have been working together. Both of them could have killed Daniel.”
Logan was quiet for a while.
“Coco, I’m not sure getting involved with this case is actually the best idea.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Maybe we should listen to Spinner. I know you’re deep into this, but maybe we should just let this run its course. We can get all twisted up in rumors and revenge.”
“It’s not rumors and revenge, Logan.” I was starting to get mad. “Daniel died. This is really painful for me.”
“I know it is. I really do. But then wouldn’t that make it easier to let this go and let someone else take over?”
“I’m doing this for you, Logan. You’re the one being accused of something you didn’t do.”
“Coco, I really appreciate everything. I just wish that we could take this a bit slower. Maybe we should ease off of the investigation like Spinner said.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Do you really agree with him? Logan, he treats me like a meddling child. Is that really what you think of me?”
“Of course not, Coco. It’s just that this is all really complicated and—”
“And what? You think I wouldn’t understand?”
There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment. “Let’s talk about this later, Coco. Things are getting too heated.”
Putting the conversation on hold wasn’t going to stop the adrenaline coursing through my veins, but fighting with Logan wasn’t worth it.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll see you later then.”
“Yeah, I’ll see you later.” He sounded distant.
I hung up the phone before we could linger any longer. Almost as soon as I did, Laurel called.
“Hi, Coco,” she said, sounding cheerful. “I hope you’re having a wonderful day.”
It didn’t feel so wonderful, but I didn’t want to get into it. “I hope you are too. What’s up?”
“Oh, well I was just going over some notes I took after the viewing. Should we bring Alric in on this call too? He’s familiar with the property from when Daniel came in about it.”
“Daniel came in about it? When?”
“Well, it was shortly before he passed, I suppose. He thought he was obtaining part of the property through the divorce. You didn’t know about this?”
I huffed a bit. “No, I didn’t. That sounds just like him though. I don’t know what he was thinking. That was all settled years ago.”
“He must have been mistaken then. But, as I said, Alric is familiar with the property as a result.”
I couldn’t believe it. Alric seemed so upstanding. However, with Logan acting the way he did too, maybe the men in town weren’t as nice as I originally thought.
Chapter 19
I went back into the store frustrated. It seemed that everyone was not who I thought they were initially.
However, I didn’t get much time to myself before Ernestine walked in.
“Hello, Coco,” she said. She was already far friendlier than she was in our other encounters. It turns out that a few pastries can sweeten anyone up.
“Hi, Ernestine,” I said. “How can I help you?”
“Well, I’m looking for more pastries for Laurel. She’s had so many tough things happen recently. I’m just looking to perk her up a bit and help her see how well things are going.”
“So she’s doing okay then?”
“She is. She doesn’t entirely want to believe it yet, but this is the best thing that’s ever happened to her. I wish that man would have never come into our lives, but at least now he’s out.”
Masie practically danced in from the back. “What sort of samples are you looking for?” she asked. Scooter followed close behind.
“Oh, something for the season, I supp
ose.”
Masie smiled. “Oh we have great things for that. We’ve been trying out all sorts of recipes for the harvest festival. They’re just divine.”
“And they look really cool too,” Scooter interjected. Masie rolled her eyes at him but continued on.
“Do you have any toffee apple?” She asked. “I must admit that I have a particular love for toffee apple. I have to have one every fall.”
Toffee apple, I thought to myself. Suddenly inspiration struck. I knew now where I wanted my harvest festival idea to go.
“No toffee apple, unfortunately,” Masie said.
“But there may be some in the near future,” I interrupted. “You’ll have to keep an eye out. We’re always coming up with new things.”
“Well, if you get something toffee apple in, please let me know. I just adore them.”
“We definitely will,” I said. “You’ll be the first to know. Until then, do you want us to make a sample tray for you?”
“Yes, I think that sounds nice.”
Masie smiled. “I’ll get a box together for you. Some of our usual stuff and some new fall things. You’ll love it. I promise.”
“I suppose we can do that,” Ernestine said.
“Do you and Laurel have anything fun coming up?” I asked as Masie got the order together.
“Oh, well I’m hoping to convince her to go to the city council ball. I think she’ll have a wonderful time, and I’m sure she’ll move on from Daniel quickly after that.”
Laurel was right. Her mother really is trying to set her up with the city councilman.
“That sounds nice,” I said. “If you go, I hope you both have a wonderful time.”
“Oh, don’t worry. She’ll go.”
The tone in her voice was sure and demanding. I was taken aback but quickly brushed it off.
“Did you have any trouble getting into town?” I asked. “I know parking can sometimes get out of control here. And it’s starting to get even more hectic now that the seasons are changing.”
“I never have trouble with that. I always find parking.”
Really? That’s incredibly lucky. I wish I had that superpower,” I said with a laugh.
“It’s easy really. Just put your car where you want it.”
I started to laugh, but then I realized she was serious.
“Don’t you get parking tickets for that?”
“Of course I do.”
“That seems like an expensive way to get around.”
“Well, I don’t pay them.”
“You don’t pay them?”
Ernestine sighed exasperatedly. “Of course I don’t pay them. What are they really going to do?”
I could think of a lot of things the city could do to make you pay parking tickets, but clearly Ernestine thought she was on to something.
“They don’t do anything if you don’t pay your parking tickets?”
“Darling, no one wants to use the man hours to track down every unpaid parking ticket.”
“And that’s always worked out for you?”
“One time it didn’t.”
“Really? What happened?”
“An officer with too much time on his hands tracked me down and made me pay. He showed up everywhere I went until I finally just wrote a check so he would leave me alone.”
“Wow. That’s some dedication.”
“I believe you know about this man’s dedication. It was Officer Owensby.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “That does sound like Logan. Well, unfortunately it seems like I’ll never be able to use that parking ticket trick. He’d track me down too easily.”
“That’s unfortunate. Maybe if you go to another city it will work.”
Masie handed her the bag. “You’re all set,” she said.
Ernestine pulled some money out of her wallet to pay for the samples.
“One more thing while you’re here,” I said. “I hate to be the one to bring this up, but I think you and Laurel should know. I saw Clive the other night taking down a camera pointed directly into the front window of the real estate office. I think he’s been spying on Laurel.”
She sighed. “Oh, that Clive. Why do journalists have to be like that? I’ll take care of it, Coco. Thank you.”
“Of course, Ernestine.”
She took her samples and left. I immediately grabbed my sketchbook and started to plan out my toffee apple idea. However, it wasn’t long before Logan came into the bakery.
“Hey, Coco,” he said, coming up to me. “Listen, I’m really sorry about that phone call. I’ve just been overwhelmed about everything, but I know you’re helping. I feel really awful about how I reacted.”
I smiled. Maybe things weren’t so topsy-turvy after all. “It’s okay. I’m sorry for overwhelming you with information. I know you’re not in agreement with Spinner about me being a meddler.”
“So, a mutual forgiveness?” He held his hand out.
I reached out and shook his hand. “You are forgiven if I am.”
He smiled at me and sat down at the counter. “So, I’m all ears. Tell me what you’ve learned.”
“Well, after we hung up, Laurel called. She said that Alric and Daniel were planning to go over to The Grove before his death. He thought he could get part of it through the divorce. He planned this well in advance.”
“It looks like we have somewhere to start then. Let’s go back to the house and formulate a plan.”
I smiled. It felt good to have Logan back on the team.
Chapter 20
I was reluctant for Logan to leave but we were in the middle of our first actual batch of Harvest Festival pastries and with the new toffee apple idea and the amount of boiling sugar around, I really didn’t want to leave my crew.
He must have sensed my indecision because he glanced at his watch and smiled. “How about I grab some lunch at Shirley’s, and something to go for you, and I’ll be back in another hour?”
I nodded, gratefully. “That sounds perfect, we’re just getting a handle on these delicious buggers.” I gestured vaguely toward the kitchen. “An hour should be about perfect. Thanks Logan.”
Masie was watching me when I turned and she raised her eyebrows at me a couple times which I pointedly ignored. “Okay, let’s get this dough rolling.”
An hour found us cleaning the tables and watching the pastries through the oven door. Logan walked in with a small brown bag and held it up. “Delivery for Coco?”
Grinning, I took off my apron and tossed it in the hamper and brushed off the last vestiges of flour from my forearms. “Ready to check out The Grove?” I asked him, then turned to Scooter and Masie, “You guys are good if I take the rest of the afternoon off? Just check the pastries every five minutes after the first 20 minutes and send me a picture if you’re not sure, okay? In the meantime, Scooter can start working on the chocolate decorations and Masie, would you get a few sheet pans of spice cake ready so we can start cutting circles for the mini-mousse cakes?”
They both nodded and Masie came up to brush at some extra flour on my shirt. “You know, the only time you usually take off work is when there’s a murder. This is a nice change.”
I returned the gesture, as she was much more covered in flour, then turned her around with a fake scowl. “Go on, get back to work, you.”
Logan drove us over to the house while I shoved a sandwich in my mouth. It was so nice to be back on the same side and working together again. As he drove, Logan talked about what could be in the Grove that both Daniel and Alric might be interested in. Bonds from the 1950s? Cover up of an old crime? A Picasso in the attic? He stopped speculating when I sprayed bread crumbs over myself laughing and he laughed too, admitting that perhaps the Picasso was a stretch.
The Grove cut an imposing silhouette against the afternoon sky and the trees around it seemed to have been there for hundreds of years. It looked a little like the house on a hill in every horror movie ever but in the warm sunlight with Logan at my s
ide it really was beautiful.
The doors only creaked a little as we cautiously entered and apart from being a little run down, the entryway was clear of debris and very stately. It seemed like the people responsible for closing up the house only got about halfway through before they decided that there was way too much house. The larger pieces of furniture, the couches and chairs in the living room each had a ghostly dust cover but much of the decor was left as it had been when my great aunt lived in the house. Rose and I hadn't gone through the entire house the other day so I was anxious to see the rest of it.
Logan quickly found the study and sat in the large padded swivel chair like a bond villain before getting distracted by the black bear pelt on the opposite wall. I had to admire the kitchen, the six-burner gas stove and the miles and miles of counter space. Honestly, I probably could have moved most of the Mad Batter production into The Grove and I would have been fine.
The bedrooms were clean and comfortable, if a little outdated. The hardwood floors were dark and gorgeous and another room had those pressed tin ceiling tiles that I suspected were original. There was an attached greenhouse which Logan immediately dubbed The Conservatory and made a show of looking for secret passages to the billiard room. He burst out laughing about a half hour later when we stumbled across a small room with an inset bar and a covered pool table across from the third fireplace in the house.
We eventually made it all the way up the long meandering staircase that stopped off at the second floor before continuing to the attic. The attic was the first place that actually showed the age of the house, it was relatively bare but there were obvious signs of damage and repair as well as some water spots that Logan pointed out. There were several stacks of forgotten boxes and storage tubs but not a Picasso to be found. It was still a beautiful space, despite the dust and I could imagine soft yellow walls and a little reading nook with one of those ridiculously overstuffed chairs.
We looked through a couple of the boxes and found some old photos, some old schoolwork, and some moth-eaten sweaters that looked handmade. I called the search short when we also found a large spider lurking over a box of ceramic figurines. If there was one thing I completely despised, it was spiders. And this one was black and hairy. Blech!
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