by Lyndsey Cole
“Wait. Follow you where? You follow me home.”
Leona nodded. “Okay.”
Annie couldn’t help but see the excitement in Leona’s face. She also didn’t miss the envelope Leona threw in her car before she slipped in behind the steering wheel. Whatever she found better be good or else Leona just dug herself a little deeper in the Nelson Abbott murder sink hole.
Leona’s Mustang pulled out and left Annie’s car in a spray of road slush. She obviously missed the follow me part.
“What happened? Did Leona steal something? Where are we going?” Camilla asked in rapid fire sequence. “This is so exciting.”
Annie turned the radio station back to her favorite—oldies—she knew she was out of touch with her millennial age group but, whatever, it was what it was.
“We’re going back to my house. Do you want me to drop you off to get your car?”
“No way. I don’t want to leave this heated oasis and go back into the frozen wasteland again. I’ll get it later.” Camilla turned the music up and they drove to Cobblestone Cottage.
Annie was worried. What did Leona do in Cookies ‘n Dreams?
She’d find out soon enough whether she wanted to know or not. She turned into her driveway, parked next to Leona’s yellow Mustang, and took a deep breath. “Ready for damage control?” she asked Camilla.
Camilla placed her hand on Annie’s arm. “Don’t worry so much. You know she didn’t poison Nelson. I’d put my money on Cookie Snow. She wants Leona out of business so hers will grow. It’s simple, really. Find Cookie’s weak spot.”
“When you put it like that, I feel a whole lot more worried. Cookie already proved she can throw up smoke and mirrors to deflect attention away from herself. Look how easily she pointed the evidence toward Leona for clues that were in her own bag. Cookie is clever and determined and we have to find more than a couple of crumbs to get to the bottom of her motive.”
Camilla laughed. “With a name like Cookie, there should be plenty of crumbs to find! Kind of like Hansel and Gretel, only, Leona needs to follow the crumbs to find the killer.”
That comment did manage to get a chuckle from Annie. “Do you think the killer lives in a house made from pastries?”
“No. Christmas cupcakes.” Camilla looped her arm through Annie’s. “Come on. Let’s get inside before we freeze out here. Jason better have the fire roaring.”
Warmth blasted Annie’s cheeks but the fire wasn’t the only thing throwing off heat. Leona was steaming.
“I know Charlene and she didn’t poison her husband.” Leona spit the words at Jason. “I’ve known her for, like, my whole adult life. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“How well do you really know her, Leona?” Annie asked as she hung her coat up next to the door.
“Huh? What took you so long? I’ve been here for fifteen minutes already.” Leona walked to the refrigerator and took out her bowl of uncooked cookie dough. She turned the oven on and began to scoop blobs of dough onto a cookie sheet.
“Did you forget something, Leona?” Annie asked, pointing to the blobs of dough.
Leona smooshed the dough down a little with her hand. “Better?”
“Not really. You aren’t going to roll that dough out for Christmas cookies?”
“No. I have a new recipe and I’m planning to crumble these sugar cookies up for a crust. No point in going to all the trouble of rolling and cutting them into pretty shapes just to smash them up after they’re baked.”
Except to help get rid of some of your frustration. Annie kept that idea to herself. “As long as you have a plan. But let’s get back to Charlene. How well do you really know her?” Annie repeated.
Leona shrugged. “We don’t hang out like we used to. She’s married, I’ve got the café to run and Danny to keep me company, but we still talk.”
“Did she tell you she was planning to divorce Nelson?” Annie leaned on the counter and kept her eyes on Leona’s face. The surprise was evident. Leona didn’t know a thing about her ‘friend’ planning to file for a divorce.
“That doesn’t mean she killed him.” Leona shoved the cookie tray in the preheated oven and slammed the door. She kept her back to Annie. In barely a whisper she said, “Charlene asked me to pick up a fifth of gin for her. Is that what Nelson was drinking last night?”
“Whatever he had was in a flask, it wasn’t the original liquor bottle,” Camilla explained. She rolled her eyes before she continued. “I spent enough time near him to see that flask make the trip from his pocket to his mouth plenty of times.”
Leona slumped onto one of the stools at the counter with her head resting between her hands. “I can’t believe this. And you think she’s trying to frame me? Will she use that bottle with my fingerprints to give to the police?” The log in the fireplace shifted and sparks flew onto the hearth rug. “That’s how I feel,” Leona mumbled into the counter, “like an exploding, burning log about to turn into a pile of ashes.”
“Don’t fall back into your pity party. That won’t solve anything. You still haven’t told us what you were doing in Cookie Snow’s shop,” Annie said.
Pushing Leona to face reality but keeping her motivated and not giving up was proving to be more difficult than Annie imagined. This potential betrayal was hitting Leona harder than Annie expected. It’s always difficult to let yourself trust someone in the first place, but then to get stabbed in the back? Or in this case, poisoned at the party. Not good.
Annie’s question did manage to perk Leona up a bit. “I thought what I found would point the murder in Cookie’s direction, but now I’m not so sure. It could be something or just a coincidence.” She slid her purse closer and pulled out the envelope Annie had seen her throw in her car earlier. “Take a look and tell me what you think.”
Annie pulled two pieces of paper out. It was a print out with a list of poisonous holiday plants including holly, yew, mistletoe, and poinsettia. She skimmed the list. “None of these are deadly poisonous, except maybe the yew.”
“Right,” Leona said with excitement in her voice. “But why would Cookie have this list unless she was up to no good?”
“I don’t think there’s much doubt that she was up to no good as far as discrediting you with Mrs. Delaney, but did she plan to kill Nelson, too?” Annie asked.
The timer on the oven dinged and Leona pulled out the tray. The mouthwatering scent of warm sugar cookies sweetened the air around Leona. She got out cups and poured tea for everyone. “Just-baked cookies and tea to help us sift through the information. Then I have to get back to work baking so I’m ready with something to sell when I can open the Black Cat Café again.”
Annie pounced on Leona’s need to keep baking. She had to keep Leona close, and this gave her the perfect opportunity. “That sounds perfect, Leona. You can use the kitchen in the apartment. Spread out. Even sleep there if you don’t want to run back and forth to your house.” Annie tilted her head and raised one brow. She crossed her fingers, hoping Leona would jump on the idea and not find an excuse to go home and stay there instead.
Leona slid the cookies from the tray onto a cooling rack. One draped over the edge and a corner broke off. She popped it in her mouth and smiled. “I sure do know how to make the perfect sugar cookie. Who wants to help me get my stuff over to the apartment?”
Annie exhaled and helped herself to a warm cookie. That went much easier than she expected. “No disagreement in the cookie department. Mrs. Delaney’s guests will be beating down the door of the Black Cat Café to order your delicious confections.” Money will pour into your cash register and somehow we’ll manage to put all this drama far behind.”
Jason zipped his down jacket and pulled on a hat and gloves. “I’ll help you. Let’s go.”
“Wait for me. I need a ride back to my car.” Camilla put her layers on and stuffed a cookie in her mouth on her way to the door.
“Annie?”
She stopped chewing and looked at Jason.
“Don’t eat all of th
em, okay?”
Chapter 13
Annie cleaned up the kitchen and grumbled to herself. “There’s no doubt that Leona is the best cook around but she sure does whip up a mess at the same time. I deserve another cookie, don’t you agree, Roxy?” She bit into another cookie and shared a corner with her dog as a bribe to get her off the couch.
“Time for a walk before Jason and Leona get back and we have another episode to deal with.”
Annie trudged along the Lake Trail while Roxy dashed ahead, zig-zagging along with her nose following scents only she could smell.
Thelma Dodd was not at her window when they passed her house. Probably enjoying a late afternoon nap, Annie thought. She chuckled. All the Christmas cookies must have put her in a sugar coma.
Smoke floated out of Paul’s chimney but there was no activity to be seen outside or through any of his windows.
Just beyond Paul’s property line, Roxy darted along a set of footprints that went through the snow onto Charlene’s land between Paul and Cookie Snow’s homes. Being careful to step in the existing footprints to keep snow from spilling over the tops of her boots, Annie followed Roxy’s barking into the deserted land. As she trudged farther, she noticed specks of red hanging above the white snow. A chill passed through her body. Did Cookie find her poisonous berries right here next to her house?
“Hey. Get your noisy dog,” an angry voice called from behind some trees.
“That’s what I’m trying to do but the snow is kind of deep.” Annie’s foot missed the existing footprint and plunged into snow that sank her leg almost to her knee, filling her boot with snow. “Just what I was trying to avoid,” she mumbled.
Her frustration with a boot full of snow turned to a suppressed laugh when she saw Cookie’s boyfriend backed against a tree with one hand extended toward Roxy. His other hand held a few branches of holly and some other greens.
“Is your dog gonna bite me?”
“Not unless I tell her to,” Annie bluffed. “What are you doing back here?”
“Just getting some fresh air.”
Right. She didn’t believe that for a minute. He didn’t have gloves on. Or a hat. And his thin jacket wouldn’t keep him warm for long. He clearly wasn’t a winter outdoor person.
“Does Charlene know you’re cutting her holly?” Annie didn’t know Charlene all that well, but maybe this guy didn’t either. She could bluff when necessary. Plus, Roxy had him backed into a corner so to speak. He obviously wasn’t a dog person or he would have realized that Roxy was barking and wagging her tail. She could tell a lot about someone based on how they responded to animals. Daryl wasn’t passing that test with flying colors.
“What Charlene doesn’t know won’t hurt her. Cookie asked me to clip this stuff for her. What’s it to you anyway?”
“Those berries are poisonous, in case you didn’t know.”
Daryl shrugged. “I have no intention of eating them.”
That may be true, Annie thought, but maybe Cookie or Daryl had some plan to feed them to someone else. She made a mental note to add Daryl to the suspect list, although she had no idea what his motive could be.
She decided to try a different tactic to make the most of this opportunity to learn something about him. “This sure is a nice piece of land.”
Roxy finally lost interest in Daryl and wandered away to sniff some other tracks.
Daryl dropped his arm and switched his bunch of greens from one hand to the other and jammed his free hand into his jacket pocket. “Yeah. Cookie was working on an agreement with Nelson to buy it.”
“And now he’s dead.”
“Minor inconvenience.”
Daryl’s comment shocked Annie but she recovered quickly before pushing for more information. “Not a fan of Nelson?”
Daryl had already started to walk toward Cookie’s house but stopped and turned back toward Annie. “You look familiar. Were you at that Christmas party last night?”
“Sure was. What a shame about Nelson.” Annie certainly didn’t want Daryl to connect her with Leona or that would be the end of his conversation, but she wanted to know more about his flippant comment about Nelson.
“Maybe, maybe not. The guy was a loser. Didn’t you see his behavior last night?
“Yeah. Awful. He was drunk.”
Daryl shook his head. “That’s no excuse. He groped women all the time, whether he’d been drinking or not. Someone did this town a favor by getting rid of that predator.”
“Wow.” Annie mocked surprise. “Did he make some moves on Cookie? Like maybe offer to sell the land for a favor from her?” Annie put up her gloved fingers as air quotes. Her heart raced. This conversation was taking a path she hadn’t expected and opening up a whole new line of possible suspects.
Daryl’s eyes narrowed. “You work with Leona, don’t you? The one who poisoned Nelson.”
Annie straightened and stuck her chin out. “As a matter of fact, she’s my aunt, and I’d be careful if I were you about who you’re calling a murderer.”
Daryl laughed. “Is that so? And what are you going to do about it, break into Cookie’s shop and leave some incriminating evidence?” With that remark, Daryl turned away from Annie and disappeared into the trees on his way to Cookie Snow’s house.
Did he know something she didn’t? Did Leona leave something at the shop when she took the papers about the poisonous plants?
Dread filled Annie’s chest as she looked at Daryl’s footprints. The melting snow in her boot numbed her foot, and when she started to walk it felt like a block of ice.
“Come on Roxy, I need to warm up in front of the fire.”
Roxy charged back through the snow to the Lake Trail and waited for Annie as she carefully walked back on the footprints. With every step, her numb foot threatened to give out on her but she made it without any mishap.
The house was still empty when Annie shrugged out of her coat and made a beeline to the fireplace. She added a couple pieces of wood and poked the fire to get it flaming. As she rubbed her hands together, the warmth worked its magic of warming her from the outside in.
What next, she wondered. And what was taking Leona and Jason so long?
She fixed herself a hot cup of tea and dashed across the driveway with it to keep her hands warm. She ran up the stairs and into the apartment over the garage as quickly as she could without spilling a drop. This had been her first home when she returned to Catfish Cove, running for her life, and it still calmed her when she looked out the window over the frozen Heron Lake.
She turned the thermostat up a couple of degrees before she looked out the window at the birds busy at the feeder hanging on the deck. Two people walked quickly along the Lake Trail toward town. The woman glanced at the window where Annie stood. Their eyes met before Cookie Snow picked up speed and continued along the path.
That was odd. Why were they walking to town instead of driving on such a cold day?
Footsteps clomping up the outside stairs diverted Annie’s attention to the door. Finally, Leona and Jason pushed through, loaded down with bags.
Leona dumped her purchases on the counter and threw her coat on the couch. “I had to buy all new supplies since the police confiscated everything. I hope this apartment is stocked with enough bowls, pans, and other baking utensils because if I have to buy all that, too, I’ll be broke.”
Jason added several bags to the counter. “This is temporary until you can get back into the café. Detective Crank said probably tomorrow.”
“Unless something else turns up,” Leona added. “Those were her words. Like what could turn up that would be worse than a body?”
Leona busied herself with unpacking while Annie offered to go back to the house to bring over more bowls and pans. Just in case Leona needed extra.
“I’ll help with that,” Jason said.
They left Leona alone to get organized. “You stopped at the café?” Annie asked Jason after they were back inside Cobblestone Cottage.
; “Leona insisted.”
Annie opened cupboards and pulled out mixing bowls while Jason found an empty box to pack everything in.
“I had an interesting conversation with Daryl Hansen.”
Jason stopped packing and looked at Annie. “Who?”
“Cookie Snow’s boyfriend. He was at the Christmas party with her.”
“I didn’t notice. You talked to him at the party?” Jason was obviously confused.
“No. I took Roxy for a walk and she ran onto that piece of land next to Paul’s house. The land that Charlene and Nelson own. Well, I guess Charlene owns it now.” She dropped a handful of measuring cups and spoons in the box.
Jason sat on the counter stool. “Don’t tell me he gave you information about Nelson’s murder. Like, maybe he saw who put the berries on the Christmas cookies?”
“Unfortunately, nothing that definitive. But he did tell me that Nelson and Cookie were working on an agreement to buy the land.”
“I guess that’s null and void now with Nelson dead.”
“And Daryl didn’t seem too unhappy about it. He thinks whoever murdered Nelson did this town a favor. I got a sneaky suspicion that Nelson put some demands on Cookie in exchange for selling the land.”
“Demands? Like sexual favors?”
“That’s what it sounded like to me. He does have a reputation as a womanizer. No wonder Charlene wanted to dump him.”
Annie closed the box. “Want some tea or something else before we head back to the apartment?”
Jason went to the refrigerator. “How about hot chocolate with a splash of Kahlua? That’ll warm us up.”
“Perfect. I left my tea in the apartment. Leona can reheat it if she wants.” Annie handed two mugs to Jason. “And another thing, Daryl was picking holly out in the woods where I bumped into him. So Cookie had easy access to those berries that ended up on Leona’s Christmas cookies.”
“If they were holly berries. That hasn’t been determined yet. And they aren’t poisonous.”
“They can make you sick, though, and if Cookie is trying to make Leona look bad, having her customers get sick after eating her cookies would do the trick. We’ve got to find out what those berries are.”