The Tempting Taste of Danger: An Angel Lake Mystery (Walking Calamity Cozy Mystery Book 5)

by CeeCee James

  Stop it! She scolded herself and rubbed her arms briskly to smooth away the goosebumps. Without waiting for her eyes to adjust anymore, she walked in. Sometimes you have to show your imagination who’s boss.

  A long squeak behind her made her spin around. The door slowly began to close. Frantically, she sprang for the entry way, her fingers catching the door just before it met the frame. She swallowed hard, remembering how the door would lock from this side, leaving no way out but through the escape room.

  The pitch-black escape room.

  Elise untied her shoe and propped it under the door. Satisfied it was secure, she flipped on the flashlight app on her cell phone. What was she looking for? She had no idea. But there might be something.

  She flashed the light around, taking in the game, the pipes, and wires. There was the Cheshire cat smiling from its lounging place amongst a tree of branching pipes. His swirling eyes creeped her out. There was the dancing teapot, the tipped hat on top of a corkscrewed-eyed rabbit, a hookah pipe, and a many-shoed caterpillar.

  The light danced off the table that once held the plate of cookies. The cookies were long gone, having been taken into evidence. Elise shivered to think she’d nearly eaten from that plate. She flipped the beam up to the ceiling and traced from corner to corner. Then, crouching down to her knees, she did the same to the floor.

  Something glittered white under the peg machine.

  She glanced at the door to be sure it would stay wedged open and then climbed down to her belly. Stretching her arm as far as she could, she reached under the contraption for it. About four inches long, her fingertips brushed against it and pushed it along. With a grunt, she stretched more, her toes pushing for purchase against the floor.

  Just about had it. Almost there.

  It moved out of reach again.

  She released the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding and pushed back into a sitting position. Flashing the light, she searched around the room for anything that could help.

  The ladle came into view, the same one she’d used to fill the vase with water to retrieve the key. She snatched it up and returned to the cabinet.

  With her cell angled just right, she spotted the object again. Her tongue wet her lips. One more push and it could disappear behind the leg of the cabinet. She had to hook it carefully with the ladle.

  Carefully, she weaved the utensil under the carved embellishment of the trim. She pushed it along the floor, stopping just before the white glittering item.

  She had one chance.

  Her fingers trembled from the effort of moving slowly and carefully. This was like a game of Operation like she’d never played before. Her muscles tensed and the scoop of the ladle rose and rested on the item, pushing it another centimeter away. She’d never been very good at that stupid game.

  She got a finger around the handle and lifted the scoop part again. This time she was able to get it on the other side of the item. Slowly, she pulled the ladle towards her, dragging the item closer.

  Muscle fatigue caused her arm to shake, and her shoulder ached from being held at a weird angle. But the item was nearly within reach.

  Finally, she could grab it with her fingers and drew it out. It was smooth and carved at the same time. She held it under the light of her cell.

  A glass pipe. Where did this come from? She turned it over in her hands. Might it have DNA on it?

  Her eyelids fluttered close.

  Probably.

  Hers.

  Brad was going to kill her.

  Chapter 8

  Elise was exhausted when she got home from work that night. She opened her front door only to have it rebound off something on the other side. Frowning, she shoved at the door, feeling a bit sick as flashbacks of Steve’s body blazed through her mind. She shoved harder as she saw it still wasn’t opening. After a bit of effort, she finally created enough room to squeeze through. Her face flushed with frustration as she slammed the door closed and investigated what was on the other side.

  Shoes.

  Four pairs to be exact. Pink, white, yellow. All different styles of sneakers except for a set of ballet flats. All in a size four.

  “Lucy!” Elise yelled as she reached back to lock the door.

  No answer.

  Elise shrugged off her purse and chucked it on the end table, then walked down the hall to the guest bedroom. The door was shut. She lightly tapped on it. “Lucy?” she called again.

  From inside the room came the sounds of scuffling followed by a loud thump. A second later, the door was flung open to reveal a fifteen-year-old in a worn t-shirt and frayed jeans. The teen’s brown hair was pulled back into two slightly disheveled braids. “Hi, Elise!”

  Elise couldn’t help but smile. Gone was the sharp, bony cheek and jaw line that the teen first had when Elise met her living out on the streets. Lucy’s cheeks now were filled out like two pink apples. But, her hazel eyes still held a wariness that belied her innocent smile.

  Elise took a deep breath to temper her next words. “So, did you have a good day at a school?”

  “Turned in my homework and got a B on my Chemistry test. Oh, yeah! I finished in third place in practice today.” The teen flushed with apparent pride as she hung onto the door, swinging it slightly.

  “You had track today? I didn’t know that.”

  “Yep. And then I walked those dogs for you. Frodo and Winnie are such stinkers. They actually tied their leashes into a knot trying to chase after a squirrel!”

  Elise laughed. She was grateful that Lucy had taken over her dog walking business. It was good for Mrs. Perkins and Mrs. Campbell, too. The two elderly women doted on Lucy and always had snacks and a listening ear waiting for her when she stopped by.

  “So, listen,” Elise began cautiously. “About those shoes at the front door, they all ganged up on me and tried to keep me locked outside.”

  “Outside?”

  “Yeah. They jammed the door shut. I could barely open it.”

  Lucy’s cheeks went even pinker. “Oh, my gosh! I’m sorry! I’ll go get them right now.” The teen rushed out of the room for the shoes.

  “No worries,” Elise called after her. “But maybe we can keep the shoe gang secluded to your closet for the future.”

  “You got it.” Lucy returned with her arms full of sneakers. She chucked them into her room.

  Elise snorted. Teenagers. “Thanks. Now, how about some dinner?” She walked into the kitchen.

  “I’m pretty full. Mrs. Perkins fed me some Salisbury steak.” Lucy answered with a contented sigh.

  Elise’s stomach growled at the thought of the homemade meal. Gravy over mashed potatoes and seasoned meat. Mmm. She nearly whimpered as she opened the cupboard to look for a cup-of-soup.

  “Oh, by the way. She sent a plate home for you, too!” Lucy announced as she followed her. The teen opened the fridge and pulled out a tin-foil-covered plate. Elise took it from her with a heart warm from gratitude. Her smile grew even bigger as she peeled back the tinfoil. Two beef patties and a big mound of gravy-covered mashed potatoes. Enough for Brad.

  Without further delay, she got a couple of plates from the cupboard and divided the food. She licked her fingers and put her plate into the microwave.

  “Here’s the mail,” Lucy said from where she perched on a bar stool. She swiveled the stool back and forth. “The mailman comes late around here.”

  “Late?” Elise said, her brows furrowing. That was unusual. Usually, the mailman arrived early in the morning.

  “Yeah. And he was driving a brown truck.”

  Elise looked at her, startled. “Huh. That’s weird. Maybe he was a new guy?” She reached for the stack of letters on the counter and shuffled through them. Bill. Bill. An ad for an oil change.

  Wait. What’s this?

  Her address was typed across the envelope, not unusual. But what had caught her eye was that the return address consisted of a hand-drawn rabbit.

  “I noticed that, too,”
Lucy remarked as Elise ran her thumb over the drawing. “It’s pretty cool! Maybe something to do with the fair?”

  “Maybe.” Elise started to open the envelope when the microwave dinged. Her stomach growled again, commanding her attention with all the elegance of a bull in a china shop.

  The gravy and potatoes melted in her mouth at the first bite. Her eyes automatically closed as she took a moment to savor the home-cooked food. What was it about someone else’s cooking that tasted so much better? She didn’t know and didn’t care as she cut into the meat. Perfection.

  “You really were hungry, huh?” Lucy watched her, one thin eyebrow raised in question.

  “I forgot to bring my lunch today. And it was a pretty crappy day.” Then, fork poised, she turned her attention back to the envelope.

  “Okay, let’s see what this says.” She took another quick bite before opening it up.

  Inside was a simple folded piece of paper. She flattened it out to reveal another drawing across the top. This one was of a little girl in an iconic apron looking wide-eyed at a caterpillar curled up on a mushroom. Flowers with smiling faces trailed down both sides of the paper. The bottom of the paper was marred by a black hole. On either side of the hole were two more flowers.

  But these flowers were not so pleasant. Instead of smiles, their mouths were open to reveal sharp teeth. Tendrils rose from the flowers and snaked up the page to secure around the little girl’s ankle.

  Words written in calligraphy danced in between the vines.

  Tic-Toc the clock’s about to stop.

  What if Alice never returned from the rabbit hole?

  Would she, could she have married?

  The hare may be calling her back.

  Underneath the words were four hearts.

  Elise swallowed hard and looked at Lucy. The teen had just put a piece of gum in her mouth and was snapping a bubble.

  “What?” she asked at Elise’s expression. “Is it a bill after all?”

  “I think it’s something worse.” Elise laid the letter down and unconsciously wiped her fingers on the side of her pants with a shudder. “Much worse.”

  Chapter 9

  The next morning, Elise watched a laughing troop of teens ascend the stairs for the Escape Room. They’d heard about the murder on social media and obviously were thrill seekers. A shiver ran lightly down her arms and she reached for her sweater. How could Jake and Thomas just open back up for business like nothing ever happened?

  She glanced at the clock and noted the time. The teens would be back down in a little over an hour.

  Another tremor shook her. A lot can happen in an hour.

  In fact, just two hours before, the construction workers had been working in the room, which had been cleared earlier from the investigation.

  She frowned as she remembered one of the contractors, a short man with curly hair, who’d winked at her every time he passed. One or two winks, fine, but he’d come up and down the stairs winking like his eye had a tic. It even bugged his co-worker, Harry, who finally shoved him in the shoulder to get him to quit, yelling, “Knock it off, you little maggot.”

  The bell above the door rang and Lavina breezed in, looking like an actress walking straight off of the set in her fitted dress and rhinestone sunglasses. She carried a bag over her arm, along with a giant, yellow purse.

  “Darlin’!” she trilled, crossing over the wood floor with mincing steps.

  “Hi, Vi,” Elise said. “You here for some coffee?” She smirked, knowing how Lavina liked her sweet tea. And her Manhattans.

  “Oh, aren’t you just the cutest thing,” Lavina drolled. She lifted her glasses and set them on top of her head. “No, I’m here to show you my latest and greatest.” She set the purse on the counter and looked at Elise expectantly. A small frown appeared at Elise’s lack of reaction. For good measure, Vi turned the purse slightly. “No?” Lavina said. “You aren’t going to say anything?”

  “Say anything?” Elise glanced at the purse. “Is this new? Lovely color.”

  “Darlin’, I know you are insistent about embracing a bohemian fashion sense, but surely…” she looked at Elise in astonishment. “Surely you realize this is a Birkin?”

  “Oh….” Elise tried hard to look suitably impressed.

  Lavina narrowed her eyes, not buying it.

  Elise gave it a second attempt. “Wow! A Birkin?”

  A long sigh issued from Lavina. “What am I going to do with you?” She glanced at Elise. “Don’t answer that. At any rate, my honeybear, Mr. G, decided to surprise me. And tonight I’m going to surprise him.” She gave a lascivious wink.

  Elise shook her head. “Too much info, Vi. What’ve I told you about that?”

  Lavina laughed. “You know how I like to tease you. At any rate, since I was the recipient of such generosity, I wanted to pass it on. If anyone deserves a prize after the other day, it’s you. Here.” She set the bag on the counter.

  Elise opened it and pulled out a cerulean-blue silk scarf. Her mouth dropped open. “Wow! It’s gorgeous!”

  Lavina preened. “It’s Hermes. We picked it up at the same time. Put it on!”

  “Okay….” Elise felt a twinge of awkwardness as she tried to wind the scarf around her throat. Something like this. She wound it around again.

  Lavina watched with a look akin to horror. Her hands fidgeted as she gave Elise a stiff smile. Finally, it seemed she couldn’t stand it any longer.

  “Here! Give me that.” Lavina disentangled the scarf and soon had it draped around Elise’s neck. “Much better.” She smiled with satisfaction. The smile quickly dropped as she glanced at Elise’s T-shirt. “Well, it seems to prove a scarf truly can dress anything up.”

  “Do I look okay?” Elise asked.

  Lavina’s smile was back at full wattage. “Stunning.” She picked up her purse. “Now, I’m off to lunch. I just wanted to peek in on you and make sure you were okay after that dreadful nonsense the other day.”

  Elise cringed. Only Vi would word it that way.

  Lavina waggled her fingers in goodbye and daintily stepped to the door. “See you soon!” she promised as she left the store.

  Elise smiled and touched the scarf. Good friends were like gold, and she couldn’t imagine her life without Lavina.

  Because right about now, she needed all the support she could get. Sighing, she wiped the counter with the towel and picked up a few scattered sugar packages. She hadn’t heard back from the detective, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t planning on dropping in on her later like a bomb.

  Her life as she knew it, suddenly felt very fragile. The struggles and stresses that she’d faced in the past seemed minuscule in comparison to being investigated for a murder.

  But, like Brad had tried to remind her the night before, they hadn’t arrested her. That meant they didn’t have enough evidence.

  Yet.

  All right, Elise. Focus. You can’t always go to worse case scenario. When has that ever helped, anyway?

  Brad had been much more concerned about the letter and took it with him to the station today. Lucy described the truck that she’d assumed had been the mailman, and Brad was doing an off-the-clock investigation on who it could be.

  Something was stuck to the counter and she tried to scrape it with a fingernail.

  “What are you looking at?” A male voice caused her to jump.

  It was the tall construction worker, Harry.

  “Whoa, sorry to scare you.” He put his hands up in the air. “I thought I’d grab a coffee before I left.”

  “Sorry, I was concentrating on getting that off.”

  He scraped at it with his thumb. “Looks like that Liquid Weld stuff.”

  “Oh, yeah?” she said rinsing her hands. “What’s that?”

  “A type of glue—really, really strong stuff.” He continued to pick at it before giving up.

  “So, what can I get you?” she asked, drying her hands.

  He frowned as he studied the menu
on the wall. “You have something that isn’t all fru-fru?”

  Elise bit her lip to keep from laughing. She hardly dared repeat his word in case the giggle escaped. “You mean you want a plain coffee?”

  “Yeah. They serve that here?”

  “Of course. It is a coffee shop.”

  His eyes twinkled as they caught hers. “Go ahead and laugh. I can see it on your face.” He settled onto one of the barstools and pulled out a plastic-wrapped cookie from the basket. He turned the cookie over in his hands.

  “I’m not laughing,” Elise said, with a grin. “Now, what size do you want?”

  “I don’t know. About this big?” He demonstrated with his hands.

  Good grief. Had this guy ever ordered a coffee before? “A large then. Okay,” Her gaze flickered to the basket. “You want a cookie too?”

  “Nah. I was just curious.” His mouth curved into a half-grin. “Is this the type of cookie that killed the dude?” He returned it to the basket.

  Elise almost dropped the coffee cup. She straightened her shoulders and finished filling the cup from the carafe. “How did you hear that?” she asked calmly as she grabbed a lid. “You want room for cream?”

  His eyebrows quirked in confusion.

  “Would you like it filled to the brim or have me leave some room for cream.”

  “Ah, no. Black is fine.” His good-natured grin was back. “Dave told me this morning. He said the cops took the entire batch from yesterday so he had to pick up new ones for today.”

  “That’s just creepy,” she said as she pushed the plastic lid on the cup and slid it toward him. “You guys are still working up there? I thought the construction was done.”

  “Jake and Thomas had me and Hamish doing some last minute repairs.”

  “Hamish?” Elise tried to get an image of a cartoon pig out of her mind.

  Harry laughed. “I know. It’s a weird name, huh? He’s a good guy. Anyway, the cops really did a number on the Escape Room when they were shaking it down for evidence.”

  “Makes sense.” Elise nodded. But I’m the one that found the pipe. I wonder if they’re considering Thomas and Jake as suspects too?