I pulled the letters out and handed them to him, watching his face change as he quickly flicked through them. When he looked back at me, he was very serious.
“Coco, why didn’t you show me this before? It could have really helped to take the heat off you.”
I shrugged, touched by his concern. I could tell just from his tone of voice that he cared what happened to me and I felt a small blush creep up onto my cheeks.
He shook his head. “The toxicology report came back and it’s pretty complicated.”
“What do you suggest then?”
He looked up, expression far more serious than before.
“I think we should go and see the local pharmacist, see if he has any ideas.”
I nodded slowly, ideas of my own flying around my skull and battering at my temples like bats.
Chapter 20
I insisted we take my car, Daisy, to talk to the pharmacist, but as Logan gingerly sat down on an inexplicably flour covered seat, I started to regret it.
“I don’t know where it came from but it’s definitely just flour,” I assured him.
“Hmm. You do a lot of baking in your car, huh Coco?” He teased me, dusting off his pants.
“Oh, you know, just cookies and croissants,” I shot back, biting my tongue and grinning over at him.
“Oh of course, I heard the best pastry chefs in Paris make their croissants in Fiats. It makes them extra buttery.”
I laughed and Logan chuckled from the passenger seat. I glanced over to find him staring at me, and quickly looked away again. We shouldn’t get distracted from the task at hand.
Poppy’s Pharmacy had the only pharmacist in town. As I pulled up outside and we got out of the car, I rushed around and helped Logan dust himself off. When I realized what I was doing I dropped the back of Logan’s coat like it was a hot coal. We looked away from each other, both blushing furiously, as the air between us turned awkward.
“We should, ah, we should go in and talk to Poppy. Before they close or...something,” Logan trailed off lamely, scratching the back of his neck.
I nodded, deciding not to point out that it was the middle of the day and Poppy rarely closed the pharmacy before 6pm. “Yeah, you’re right. After you, you’re the detective.”
“I wish you’d remember who the detective is the rest of the time, when you go running off by yourself,” Logan muttered, breaking the tension between us and causing us both to grin at each other.
We entered the pharmacy as Poppy was finishing up serving her last customer, one of the older men from the nursing home in town. We hovered by the door while they argued about whether the guy was taking his pills correctly. Finally, he seemed satisfied and turned to leave.
“I’ll see you at the bingo won’t I, Poppy?” He said over his shoulder as he tipped his cap at me and Logan.
I wasn’t expecting the packet of aspirin to come flying at us from behind the counter.
“Don’t you dare mention the bingo to me, Graham Sharkey. You know I won’t stand for it. Not with that woman.”
“Oh, come now, I think you and Vivian are making a big fuss over nothing.”
“Bingo is not nothing. And she’s cheating, I know she is. She’s got one of those pens that changes the numbers.”
Logan made eye contact with me and I struggled to keep myself from laughing out loud. Vivian and Poppy had a well-known rivalry that started when Vivian won four games of bingo in a row and then told everyone she’d bought a pen from a witch. Most people had laughed at her joke.
Poppy, clearly, had not.
At last we were the only people in the store, and we approached the counter. Poppy beamed at Logan, though her smile dimmed slightly when she noticed me behind him. I took this as my cue to wander the shelves while Logan did the intensive investigating.
“So Poppy, I was wondering if you could tell me whether Coco here has been in to buy any dangerous chemicals recently.”
Poppy scoffed and I turned to look at them. “She doesn’t even buy hair products here. Not for lack of me trying.”
I shuddered as I remembered the time when Poppy chased me down the street with a can of mousse. For an old lady she was certainly fast. And I had to admit that her dyed bright red hair was probably in much better condition than my own locks.
“Perfect. Now, I have a list of chemicals here I want to talk to you about.”
As they started discussing various scientific names and formulas, I couldn’t help but zone out. Doris was wrong when she talked about her aunt – baking was nothing like chemistry. I had no idea what either Logan or Poppy were talking about.
I perked up when I thought I heard a familiar term. “Oh. Formaldehyde was in the cupcakes, was it?”
Logan looked at me blankly, and I realized I might have misheard.
“No darling, formaldehyde is used by undertakers, not bakers,” Poppy chipped in.
I wanted to reassure her that I knew that, but Logan’s warning glare made me turn around and browse the hair products again.
“These are all very serious, Detective. No one can just come in here and get them, you’d have to order them specially from the city.”
“Who might know where to get them from?”
“You could try Lyall Prewitt. He’s very into his science, he might have some contacts.”
Logan thanked her and turned to leave, motioning for me to follow.
“You should take that mousse, dear. It’ll work wonders.”
Logan snickered as I smiled painfully and picked the mousse up again, thanking Poppy. We finally escaped to the car and I warned Logan not to say anything. He held his hands up in surrender but didn’t stop smirking.
The mood in the car was lighter as we drove to Lyall’s house, but as we pulled up I shivered slightly.
“This looks...cozy,” I remarked. The garden was overgrown, and the windows were dirty. The gate creaked as Logan pushed it open and I jumped.
“Kind of creepy, huh?” Logan agreed.
There were the remnants of some science experiments in the grass and I almost shrieked as a rat ran past my foot. The house itself looked lopsided, like one half of it was sinking into the ground leaving the rest behind.
“Yeah. It’s weird, alright.”
Logan rang the doorbell and banged on the door, but there was no answer. We stood there trying for a few minutes, before Logan gave up.
“No one’s home.”
“I guess that means we have to break in, huh?”
Logan stared at me. “What? No, absolutely not. We’re not entering without a warrant.”
I started to argue but Logan got a call and held up his finger to shush me.
“What? Right, I’ll go. I need a squad car to come pick me up.”
It must be the precinct. Logan reeled off our location and hung up. “Listen Coco, I have to go, and you need to go as well. I’ll let you know when we have a warrant and we can come back and get in but until then this is done.”
I nodded and got back into my car. Logan looked suspicious at the lack of fight I put up, but when I waved, he waved back. As I drove off, I saw the squad car pull up in my rearview mirror.
I drove around the block for 20 minutes before returning to the house. There’s something in there, a clue that’s important. I knew it.
I jimmied the window lock the way Stella taught me and climbed in. If the house was empty I just needed to find the clue. I snuck through the rooms, feeling more and more uncomfortable the further I got.
I was rooting through Lyall’s desk when I heard shifting in the darkness behind me. I stiffened. There was the noise again and my heart beat wildly.
I wasn’t alone.
Chapter 21
I heard the shifting again and my body lurched into action. I crouched under the desk, heart thudding. I sat there for what seemed like an eternity, holding my breath and waiting for a hand to come out of the darkness and grab me.
Why didn’t I listen to Logan and just leave the
whole thing alone? Why was I in such a hurry to get arrested or killed? It's like I didn't think Logan was up to the task of saving me.
I waited in the darkness as the minutes stretched by, but I couldn’t hear anything else. I had to act quickly. Maybe if I had the element of surprise then I could take out whoever was here and have a chance to run.
I crawled out from under the desk as silently as I could, holding my breath. The house was still quiet, and I wondered if whoever was here was already gone. Or maybe I had just been hearing things.
Maybe. I wasn’t going to risk it though.
I grabbed a vase off the desk and felt its weight in my hand. It would do to hit someone with if they were still here. I took a deep breath and tried to stop my hands from shaking.
This was not how I envisioned my night going.
I crept slowly back towards the hallway, where I was sure the noise had come from. My brain screamed at me that this was a bad idea, but I didn’t have any other options. It’s not like I could hide under a desk for hours until someone came and found me.
I was concentrating so hard on wielding the vase and trying to stay as quiet as possible that I didn’t notice a corner of the rug in the hallway had been kicked up. I tripped on the edge and screamed as I staggered forwards. I fell flat on my face, the vase spinning out of my hand and skittering across the floor, just as there was a loud pop of noise from somewhere above me and a picture frame shattered just millimeters above where my head had been.
I lay there, stunned. My chin hurt from where it had hit the floor and my ankle had twisted when I tripped over the rug. But my injuries weren’t my biggest concern.
I was pretty sure someone had just taken a shot at me.
Oh, crumpets!
I lay perfectly still in the darkness, trying my best not to breathe. I hoped that if whoever was upstairs thought they had hit me they’d maybe panic and leave without checking.
Footsteps clamored down the stairs and I resisted the urge to squeeze my eyes closed tighter. The footsteps raced past me and out of the back door into the darkness. I debated staying there longer just in case, but the awful thought of the shooter bringing someone else back to check whether I was dead dawned on me.
I had to get out of there, and fast.
As soon as the house fell silent again, I pushed myself up. I massaged my jaw and checked my teeth with my tongue to make sure that I hadn’t loosened any in the fall. Then, I hurried out to my car, checking to make sure nobody was out on the street before I left the house.
I noticed I was limping slightly due to my twisted ankle, but I ignored it as I ran into the street and unlocked good old Daisy. As soon as I was inside, I turned on the engine and locked all the doors.
I thought fast about where I should go. I could head to the police station and wait for Logan?
But no, something held me back. I didn’t need to be admonished for breaking in. I needed my family.
I broke all the speed limits on the way to Rose’s house and ran three stop signs. I screeched to a stop outside her house and almost forgot to lock Daisy again as I slammed the door and hobbled up the path to the front door.
As I hammered on Rose’s door, I saw the curtains twitch in the house next door and knew her neighbor was no doubt curious about the disheveled and panicked looking woman currently crying on her street. Well, let her look. It’ll only feed into the gossip about me going around town.
“What the heck? Oh, Coco, it’s you.” Rose had sounded angry when she first wrenched open the door, but upon seeing me crying on her front porch she quickly grew concerned instead.
“Coco? Answer me, what on earth has happened?”
“Someone shot at me. I think they were trying to kill me.” I sniffed and wiped my eyes with my sleeve, trying to tell her everything that had happened all at once.
At some point during my ramblings, Rose had maneuvered me into her house, sat me on the couch and put a bag of frozen peas on my ankle. She stared wide eyed as I explained what had happened, and when I finished with a high pitched sob she cuddled me close.
“Oh Coco. Why did you break in, you could’ve been killed. That was so stupid.”
“I know. I’m sorry, I just wanted to find a clue and crack this case. I never thought that anything like this could have happened.”
We sat in silence for a while, Rose’s arm around my shoulders, before she went to make us mugs of hot chocolate and I went to the bathroom to clean myself up. We huddled on the couch together and Rose put some bad rom com on the TV.
“What could this all mean? You’re right, there must have been something in that apartment, something that someone didn’t want you to find. Is Lyall behind all this?”
I had to admit that I didn’t know. This whole affair was getting more and more confusing. Who tried to kill me, and why? What had I been so close to finding?
“You’ll stay here tonight. I don’t want you by yourself in your house,” Rose said firmly. She poured some bourbon into my hot chocolate and went to fetch a blanket and some pillows.
I didn’t argue with her. Whoever was at Lyall’s house knew who I was, and there was a fair chance they knew where I lived too. If they went back and saw I was gone, they might try to find me.
“So my stepmom called today to talk about her new boyfriend and how awesome the shops are in LA. Her new life is unreal, apparently. Isn’t it the children who are supposed to leave home to seek fame and fortune, not the parents?”
I knew Rose was just trying to distract me with her stepmom drama, but I obliged her. I was grateful for her soothing presence. “How’s she doing out there?”
“Apparently she got a bit part in that new superhero movie, she’s Bystander #12. She’s very excited about it. She gets crushed by a car.”
“Wow. Tell her I expect her autograph next time I see her.”
“I asked her if she’d take me as her plus one to the premiere, but she said she has a few guys to choose from so she’ll just have to add me to the shortlist.”
I snorted. Rose’s home life was always the very best kind of dysfunctional and has given us many laughs over the years. Rose smiled, pleased that her distraction worked a little.
We watched two episodes of a trashy reality show, both shouting for different contestants to win and booing loudly when neither did. I saw Rose stifling a yawn and assured her I would be okay. She hugged me tightly and tucked me into a nest of blankets on her couch.
I wasn’t lying when I told her I felt better. Rose had a special knack for always knowing exactly what someone needed, and she had worked her magic on me. I fell asleep, still shaken but feeling much safer.
Chapter 22
I jolted awake a few times during the night, drenched in sweat and with the sound of the gunshot ringing in my ears. When I finally woke mid-morning to the harsh sunlight on my face and the sounds of Rose banging coffee pots in the kitchen, the events of the previous night seemed incredibly far away.
I took a long hot shower and by the time I’d dried off and changed into some of Rose’s clothes, it all seemed like a crazy bad dream. Surely someone hadn’t actually tried to kill me last night...had they? My head was spinning and even two cups of coffee and a store-bought cinnamon Danish didn’t help.
I called Logan first thing after breakfast and waited nervously for him to pick up. I was dreading having to tell him that I disobeyed his direct instructions as a police officer to leave the place alone, but I knew he needed to know. Besides, I wanted him to go over there and say that there was a smashed picture frame, bullet holes, anything that would confirm to me that last night had happened and that I wasn’t going crazy.
“Hello?” Logan’s voice pierced my thoughts and I bit my lip.
“Hey Logan. It’s Coco. I’m sorry.”
“Uh oh. It’s never good when someone begins a call with an apology, and it’s never good when you call me before ten with an apology, Coco.”
I had to chuckle a little at how well he knew
me but I got fast back to reality as he asked me what was wrong.
“Listen Logan, you remember when you said we couldn’t break into Lyall’s place and that I needed to go home and wait for a warrant?”
“You broke into Lyall’s place.” Logan’s voice was matter of fact and steady, not angry like I had feared.
“How did you know?”
“Because it’s becoming a recurring theme with you Coco, isn’t it? Breaking the law, getting into trouble and then me having to get you out of it.”
I opened my mouth to argue that he was being unfair, but slowly closed it again. Logan was right, as usual.
“Yeah, well someone shot at me Logan. With a gun.”
The silence on the other end of the line stretched on for so long that I had to check Logan was still there and that he hadn’t hung up on me.
“Are you okay? Coco, are you hurt? Where are you? Why didn’t you tell me yesterday?”
“I’m fine, I’m at Rose’s place. I was scared, and I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t want to be alone, so I came here and then we had some drinks to calm down and I slept on the couch and I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. I’m just glad you’re not hurt.” I was touched by the sincere worry in Logan’s voice, and felt even guiltier that I had lied to him yesterday.
“Listen, Coco, you need to stay with Rose, okay? Don’t go out by yourself right now, let Rose take you to the bakery or your place and ideally have someone with you. I’ll check Lyall’s house again for signs that anyone was there, and I’ll call you later.”
I thanked him and hung up, and Rose poked her head through the door. I relayed what Logan had said and just nodded when Rose suggested going to fill Masie in on what happened.
Predictably, there were no customers in the bakery, though I was slightly surprised to see that Vivian and Stella weren’t there making mischief. We headed to the back room to find Masie and Scooter and were greeted with a cloud of icing sugar and the sounds of aggressive bickering.
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