Catering and Kidnapping: A Bakery Detectives Cozy Mystery

by Alabaster,Stacey

  I pulled the door shut and sprinted to the car.

  "I grabbed what I could," I said to Pippa. "I think we should get home before we take a look at it."

  It was only mid-afternoon, but there were clouds out and it seemed much later. Time was running out. Harrison texted me not long after we got home. They've given me another day to come up with the money. But they haven't lowered the price. Three million dollars. Hurry Rachael. I can't pay that.

  I needed to try and keep that in the back of my mind though, so I could focus on the evidence in front of me. By evidence, I meant the crumpled bits of paper and notebooks I'd managed to pull from Anna's desk drawers.

  Pippa was rummaging through them while I paced back and forth. How could Anna have taken Angel? They were both girls, and rather slight-framed at that. If Anna had taken Angel, she must have had help. Whether that help came in the form of another person or some devious methods to get Angel to come with her, I wasn't sure.

  I ignored the blinking of my phone that showed I had another text from Harrison. I needed to think. And I needed him out of my mind.

  "Hey, look at this," Pippa said. She had a piece of paper in her hand.

  "What is it?"

  "It's a rental agreement," she said. "For a car rental place."

  "But Anna has a car," I said. "We saw it sitting in the driveway."

  Pippa shot me a look. "Exactly. She's hardly going to kidnap Angel in the car she owns, is she?"

  "Fair point."

  Pippa's voice grew grave. "Besides, it isn't a car she rented."

  "You just said it was for a car rental place."

  "Yes. But take a look at it." She handed me the piece of paper.

  "This is for a van," I said, my voice low.

  Pippa nodded. She looked even more worried than I did. "What does a teenage girl need to hire a van for?"

  The clouds out the window were growing darker and there was the first low sound of thunder in the distance.

  "This Ricky guy, this boyfriend of Anna's," I said. "What do we know about him?"

  Pippa shrugged. "Only what Melissa told us. Which wasn't a lot."

  I turned to her. "Do we know his star sign?"

  Pippa turned back to the table and opened up her laptop. "I can find out," she said. "Well, hopefully."

  She quickly and nimbly found Anna's Facebook profile. "Yep," she said out loud as she scrolled. "Says she's in a relationship with someone named Richard Pink. Ricky for short." She clicked on his profile.

  "Fourth of April," she said, turning to me. "He's an Aries."

  "Stop," I said as we passed the apartment building. Pippa was driving, which was a rare occasion. She said she wasn't feeling well and driving the car would stop her from becoming carsick on top of everything else.

  "Why here?" Pippa asked.

  "Please, just stop." We were in the front of Callum Jones' apartment building.

  "I thought we had dropped the Callum Jones surveillance. Aren't we supposed to be finding Anna?"

  "I just... There's something that didn't sit right with me here. A few things, actually. I need to speak to Drew."

  Pippa sighed and stopped the car. "I trust you know best, Rachael," she said, shooting me a look. "I just hope you really do know."

  Drew shot me a lazy look when I banged on the window. He didn't seem at all surprised to see me as he slid over to the door and pressed a button to let me in before retreating back to his desk. He was studying—or pretending to study—the screen with intensity.

  "Tell me, Drew," I said. "How did you know who I was that first day I came here?"

  "Hi, Rachael. I'm doing well, thanks for asking." He looked at his computer screen. "I didn't know who you were," he said flatly. "At least, not then. Not the first time you were here."

  I tried to read his face. A little difficult since it was scrunched up and he was looking at a computer screen. But there was something he wasn't telling me. "But you knew later, didn't you? You knew my name. You knew what number to call."

  He sighed and looked up at me.

  "There was this guy, this police detective. He came by here."

  I froze. "Jackson?" I asked. "Was that his name? Drew? What was his name? Was it Detective Whitaker?"

  Drew shrugged a little. "It might have been."

  My heart beat faster. What had Jackson been doing here? Why were the police involved? What did they know about Angel?

  They weren't supposed to know anything. I was starting to panic, thinking I might have led them right to Angel and put her life in danger.

  "He came here, asking questions about a particular male resident," Drew said.

  Shoot. So Jackson did know something. What did he know about Callum? Had Harrison been in contact with the police after all? Had he been going behind my back, playing me this entire time?

  "But I told him there'd already been a detective snooping around that day. Or, at least, a person I suspected of being a detective."

  Now my heart wasn't beating at all. It was frozen. "You told Jackson I'd been here?"

  His face was full of guilt. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. Once I'd given a description of you, he seemed to know exactly who you were."

  I scoffed. "I bet he did. Then what happened, Drew?" My voice was frantic.

  "He told me to let him know if you turned up here again."

  I stared at Drew, about to jump over the desk and grab him by the collar of his shirt. "And did you tell him I came back?"

  Drew shook his head. "No. Especially because you were so interested in Callum...or, at least, you claimed you were." Drew peered at me. "I never quite believed that part."

  I shook my head. "What do you mean?"

  He shrugged. "It didn't matter to me that much. I never liked the guy. Callum, I mean," he said, keeping his voice low. "He's always bringing a different woman home and he never speaks to me with any respect. Never tips. When this detective asked after you, I figured you were sticking your nose in where you shouldn't be. Now, I don't trust the cops," Drew said. "So I didn't call him back after you'd been here. But I wanted to help you catch Callum, if he really was doing something wrong." Drew looked at me plaintively. "That's why I called you."

  I let out a heavy sigh. "But I don't think he was actually doing anything wrong," I said. "I think we got set up."

  Drew looked disappointed. "I'm sorry I couldn't be more help, and I'm sorry that you couldn't get Callum Jones for anything. I guess he's not the guy you should have been focused on." What did he mean by that? "When you kept coming back, I thought maybe you really were just an angry girlfriend."

  I nodded. "You've still been helpful, Drew." I started to walk toward the door, but something still bugged me. "If Callum was so innocent," I said, thinking out loud. "Then what was Detective Whitaker doing here, asking about him?"

  "Oh, it wasn't Callum Jones that he was asking about," Drew said, shaking his head. "Sorry, I think I must have confused you. He was asking about some other guy."

  I stopped. "Huh?" I took a step back toward the desk. "What guy?"

  Drew looked around to make sure no one was watching us. I thought for a minute about how much trouble he would probably get in if someone found out he was spilling building secrets and letting people in uninvited. But this was no time to worry about that. I needed answers.

  I stared at him. "What guy, Drew? What is his name?"

  "Richard. Goes by Ricky for short. He's Callum's next door neighbor."

  "We gotta go," I said to Pippa as I climbed back into the car. "I'll explain everything on the drive."

  She looked unsettled. "Where are we going?"

  I looked at her. "You might want to let me drive. We're going out to Pottsville. I've got an address, thanks to our good friend Drew."

  We got out of the car and switched places.

  "Looks like we're going to need those supplies we packed after all," I said to Pippa as I climbed into the driver's seat and looked into the back. "Hop on in, Pippa. We'
re going on a road trip."

  Chapter 10

  The drive to Pottsville from Belldale took about two hours if you didn't hit any traffic along the way. Pippa and I had been there before when we'd been solving another case, involving a painting and an alleged curse. We'd been visiting an antiques dealer at the time. It's the sort of quaint, tiny, country town that attracts that sort of thing. It was also the home town of a guy I'd briefly been out with when we'd been on vacation upstate. Things hadn't worked out. It was a shame, he'd been cute. I wondered if he lived anywhere near Ricky Pink's cabin.

  I shook my head; there wasn't time to focus on that right then.

  "So what do we know?" Pippa asked. We had plenty of time to chat during the drive. I needed to get my own thoughts straight as much as anything.

  "I knew something wasn't right," I murmured. "Ages back, or at least it seems like ages ago, when I asked Drew whether Anna had been in the apartment, he answered yes. He said he'd seen a tall, blonde woman."

  Pippa frowned. "Yeah, that woman we saw Callum Jones with."

  "Except she wasn't young," I said. "Drew said young. He had seen Anna there. It's just that it wasn't Callum she was dating. It was Ricky."

  Pippa placed her head back against the headrest. "Ohh," she murmured. Then she shook her head. "Angel must have been there as well!"

  I nodded. "We know that Ricky is AriesBoy," I said. "And that he was seeing both of them at the same time. So most likely she had been at that apartment building as well." I shook my head and gripped the steering wheel, trying to navigate the car down the dark winding roads. "Now if that's not a motive for one teenage girl to hurt another one, I don't know what is."

  Pippa nodded slightly. "And knowing the kind of overprotective parent that Harrison is…"

  "He likely followed Angel one night, saw where she went, and assumed that she was seeing Callum Jones. So, he thinks this guy is seeing his teenage daughter, and fires him."

  "Then when Angel goes missing and he gets the text..."

  I sighed. "Yep. Of course he thought it was Callum Jones. Maybe I shouldn't have been so harsh on him."

  We were getting closer and closer to Pottsville. The storm had fully broken and the road ahead was illuminated by flashes of lightning every few minutes. Not an ideal time to be driving so far or so late at night.

  There was a flash of lightning and I swerved the car a little, causing Pippa to squeal. "Sorry," I said. "I should keep a little more control." I took a deep breath. "I think Anna is using Ricky's cabin to keep Angel in. She would have taken his key and used it without his knowledge, most likely."

  "Do you really think Anna is capable of doing all this, though?"

  "Think about it," I said. "Anna knows Harrison Styles well. She knows how much money he has."

  Pippa frowned. "Yes, but Harrison said he can't pay what the kidnappers are asking."

  I thought about that for a second. Huh. "You're right," I said. I slowed down a little as I thought it over. "Actually, maybe that's exactly why Anna set that price. Precisely because she knew that Harrison couldn't pay it."

  "I don't get it," Pippa said.

  "This was never about the money for Anna," I said. "This was about jealousy." I took my foot off the brake and we started to move faster again. "This is personal, Pippa. She doesn't want Harrison to pay. She wants Angel to pay."

  Pippa nodded then proceed to nap for the next twenty minutes. I used the time to fill Harrison in, calling him to tell him that I believed that Anna had his daughter and was keeping him in Ricky Pink's cabin.

  He sounded relieved. "Thank you, Rachael," he said.

  "Don't thank me just yet," I said before hanging up. We finally reached the address that Drew had given us.

  It was looming up ahead of us. A log cabin. The perfect place to a keep a kidnapping victim.

  "Shh!" Pippa said, waking up, cautioning me. "Stop the car here. Quietly. There's someone there, Rachael, to the side of the cabin."

  Someone was chopping firewood.

  It was a man.

  Ricky.

  I frowned and slowed the car down, turning off the lights.

  "So, he's in on this as well?" Pippa asked. She seemed a little confused.

  I did my best to stay confident. "Maybe he is," I said, pulling the car to the side of the road so it couldn't be seen. I turned the engine off so that we were sitting in silence, aside from the thunder and lightning. "Maybe he didn't appreciate all of Angel's advances towards him. Maybe they weren't wanted. Maybe her affections were entirely one-sided?"

  "Well, if Ricky didn't like her back, then what was Anna so worried about?"

  I shrugged. "I don't think teenage girls think rationally in these situations. They take anything like this as the biggest betrayal. Their best friend flirting with their boyfriend? It's about the biggest crime you can commit as a teenager."

  Pippa stared at the cabin. "Well, besides kidnapping."

  "Good point."

  "So," Pippa said. "Are we actually going to get out of the car at any stage?" We had been sitting there for at least five minutes, just staring.

  I'd been procrastinating on that part. I wasn't sure what we were going to find on the other side of that cabin door, and I suddenly felt hopelessly out of my depth.

  "Maybe we should call Jackson," I said softly.

  Pippa's jaw was practically down to her waist. "Rachael, have you lost your marbles?"

  Jackson, or Detective Whitaker as he is known officially, was probably the last person in the world we should call at that moment. Pippa had a point. Not only was he a cop, he was someone I shared a very stormy history with. "It's just that..." I started to say.

  Pippa interrupted. "The text said no cops, remember. Even if it is just Anna and Ricky sending them, we don't know how serious they are. Besides, do you really think you should be seeing Jackson right now? If you're going to call any cops at all—which you shouldn't—at least call one who doesn't know you!" She exhaled deeply.

  "I know that Jackson and I have had a bit of a thing in the past..."

  She stared at me and shook her head. "I'm not talking about your personal life, Rachael. I'm talking about the fact that you were charged with trespassing recently and you can't afford to face another arrest."

  Oh, right. I'd thought Pippa was talking about my love life. She was actually referring to something far more sensible. My police record. My freedom.

  "Fine," I said, taking off my seat belt. "Let's go in then." But I waited, just a few seconds more, until Ricky was done chopping firewood and the axe was back on the ground.

  I knocked on the door and waited for the footsteps approaching to reach it.

  Anna's face flashed with recognition as she looked me up and down. We'd met before, at her high school graduation. Very briefly, but she clearly had a good memory. "What...what are you doing here?" she asked, taking a step back. Ricky walked up behind her and placed an arm around her protectively.

  "Where is Angel?" I asked. "Angel Styles."

  Anna scoffed. "I haven't spoken to her in weeks," she said, her eyes icy. "After what she did." She pulled away from Ricky and crossed her arms. Clearly a very sensitive topic. He tried to put his arm around her again but she moved out of reach.

  "She's missing," I said. "She's been kidnapped and whoever has her is asking for three million dollars."

  I had to study Anna's face very diligently in that moment, looking for any signs of guilt, trying to ascertain if her surprise was genuine.

  For her part, Anna didn't seem to know quite how to react. "What do you mean, missing?" She shook her head. "She can't have been kidnapped."

  I narrowed my eyes. "Why do you say that?"

  It took Anna a while to gather herself. "Harrison has no money, he lost it all. Went bankrupt when his law firm started losing clients soon after Olive's death, actually," she said, looking at me pointedly.

  Pippa and I exchanged a glance.

  "So why would anyone kidnap Angel when
they know that her family isn't worth anything anymore?" Anna asked again.

  "Well, someone has her," I said. "She's missing, Anna."

  Anna's eyes were defiant. "Good," she said, in a stubborn, sulky teenage way. "I'm glad!" But she was putting on a pretense, I could tell. Unless she was just a very, very good double bluffer, she was worried. More than that, she was upset.

  "Anna, I don't want to upset you. I just want to find Angel."

  "Look," Anna said. Her eyes were shining with tears. "Angel and I were in a fight, I'm not going to deny that." She swallowed. "I hated her when I found out what she did. I called her some names and told her that we were no longer best friends, but I haven't done anything to hurt her!" Her voice was suddenly shrill. "I— Please, I would never do something like that."

  "Can we take a look around?"

  Anna didn't even look at Ricky for permission. She just nodded. "You can look anywhere you like. She's not here. It's just me and Ricky, that's all. Come in and see for yourself."

  Ricky still hadn't said anything to either of us. He was clearly in Anna's bad books and had to do whatever it was she said to try and make things up to her. He followed her around like a naughty puppy while she showed us from room to room. There wasn't much to the cabin. Just a dining/living room that backed right onto a kitchen, all "open plan" and one single bedroom.

  "Why did you hire a van?" I asked Anna.

  She frowned. "How did you know?" She shook her head. "We needed a van because we are on vacation. Both our cars are small. We wanted space to fit a canoe and fishing equipment."

  We walked into the bedroom.

  "See?" Anna asked as she showed us through the bedroom. She pulled open a cupboard. It was lined with shelves and had no space to hide a person, or a body. "You can even check under the bed if you like."

  I hesitated for a moment, then thought perhaps I should actually do that. I caught Anna rolling her eyes as I got down to the ground, right onto my stomach, pressing against the cold floorboards and peering under the bed.

  Nothing there except dust.

  It was a short, humiliating trip back up as I dusted myself off.