We had kept our promise and found Brianna Madison.
While we’d failed to stop her assault or the killings of Sam, Jayden, and Cathy, we had the evidence that would put the culprits where they belonged.
In prison.
Where I hoped they all would receive their just desserts.
Justice.
That was all that mattered.
Back in New York
Two Days Later
Chapter Sixty-six
It was a beautiful, sunny day in Harlem.
The bakery was bustling.
Sarah and Rosalie were at the counter, sifting, mixing, and whisking.
I knew from the roster in my office that Bibi, our delivery queen, had just finished transporting a five-tier wedding cake to a celebrity event.
Luc, my head baker, was putting the finishing touches to the scones and tarts for the British ambassador’s afternoon tea party that day.
They didn’t see me watching them through the bakery door. This was the busiest time of the day, and I knew Luc didn’t like his team getting interrupted midmorning.
I hovered by the doorway, taking in the warm, buttery smells of cinnamon, nutmeg, and icing sugar swirling in the air. I could almost taste the sweets melting in my mouth.
This was what home smelled like.
Katy and I had had a long and rough week.
We’d given our statements to the FBI, handed over the laptop and the video and audio recordings, and had escorted Brianna to the hospital for an examination and then to her aunt’s home in Boston.
Standing at the threshold of my bakery, I felt the last vestiges of stress from the past week leave my body.
“Hey,” said Luc, jerking his head up as he spotted me. “You’re back!”
Squeals of excited hellos came from the kitchen.
I stepped in and gave everyone a long hug. I held on to Bibi a little longer than the others, as the thought of her lookalike whom we had just rescued from horror flashed to mind.
This was my family.
I didn’t know what I would have done if it had been any of them in Brianna’s place.
“What happened?” cried Rosalie, turning off her mixture and turning on the kettle.
“Saw the news last night. Pretty crazy stuff. In a highfalutin private school too,” said Bibi.
“Aren’t you going to tell us?” said Sarah, leaning over her bowl. “Tetyana was all hush-hush. Said it was a top-secret mission.”
I smiled. For Tetyana, everything was top-secret.
“Hey, guys,” came a perky voice from behind me.
I turned around to see Win, her laptop snuggled under her arm. That woman never went anywhere without her devices. She even had a waterproof e-reader for bath time.
I walked up to give her a hug.
“We couldn’t have done it without you,” I said. “I know work is busy now, but if you hadn’t done your magic, we’d still be at the school scratching our heads, and who knows how many more would have died?”
“Glad to have been of service,” she said with a smile.
Sarah’s eyes widened. “Died? I thought you went to find a runaway kid.”
Bibi rolled her eyes. “Don’t you watch the news, girl?”
“Last time, you went to find a poison pen writer, and three people died,” said Rosalie. “Then you delivered a cake to an island and four people died. This time, you were supposed to find a missing girl. How many people died now?”
“True dat,” said Bibi, grabbing a can of soda and settling herself on a kitchen stool. “I swear serial killers are following you around the country.”
“Katy’s back!” said Luc, looking up with a smile.
Katy was sauntering in with her husband, Peace, and little Chantelle skipping in between them.
Another chorus of hellos and a round of hugs followed.
I turned to Luc with a wistful grin. The kitchen was getting crowded at peak time.
He shrugged.
“The British embassy can wait for their tea. I’m just glad you came back in one piece. You deserve some cake.”
Just the words I wanted to hear.
I tried to watch what I ate, but I never denied myself one small reward for completing my missions. That reward was invariably a slice of a Red Heeled Rebel cake.
While Luc and his team did all the baking now, I’d carefully crafted these recipes based on my mentor, Chef Pierre’s gourmet techniques. It was these recipes that had made my bakery popular among our celebrity clients in town.
These were the same celebrity clients who called on me when life got rough, and they had no one else to turn to.
With a conspiratorial wink at Luc, I ambled over to the refrigerator and pulled out two Black Forest chocolate cupcakes.
After a quick glance at Katy and Peace to make sure they weren’t looking, I slipped the biggest one to little Chantelle. She’d been watching me, following me, anticipation in her eyes. She knew this game now.
With a grateful grin, she gobbled the cake before her mother could catch her.
“Oi, there!” said Katy, seeing Chantelle and me giggling next to the fridge. “What are you two doing? She has to have lunch, Asha.”
“It’s just a little treat,” I said. “Come on, if it wasn’t for me—”
“If it wasn’t for you, she’d be a healthy weight. All that sugar and butter?”
“There’s fruit in it,” I said, pointing at the glazed red cherry Chantelle was licking.
Peace ruffled his daughter’s hair. “Let her enjoy some sweets once in a while.”
Katy gave an annoyed huff.
Chantelle was the only kid in our close circle, my found family. We couldn’t help but spoil her. While Win and Luc were her favorite aunt and uncle at the moment, I knew I could steal my way to the top of that list with an occasional chocolate cupcake or two.
“Hey,” came a familiar voice.
I whirled around to meet my fiancé, David, who was walking through the door, still in his white martial arts uniform. I jumped up to give him a hug.
“How’s my favorite investigator?” he said as he pulled me close for a kiss. “Still in one piece?”
Tetyana was behind him, a lollipop in her mouth.
“Class over already?” I asked, peeking at her over David’s shoulder.
“Done, and about time too,” she replied, rolling her eyes. “That idiot tech CEO asked me out again.”
“Did you say yes?” asked Katy, her eyes shining. “Please tell me you said yes. He’s such a nice guy.”
We all secretly hoped Tetyana would find her soul mate, a good man for a change, from the usual bad boys she seemed to date these days.
I never ragged her about it because that gave her permission to rag on me. I knew everyone was waiting for me to announce David and my wedding, and I was the hold out.
Was I scared of committing forever too?
“I put him in an anaconda choke hold,” replied Tetyana, breaking my ruminations. “That shut him up.”
“One day, we’re going to get sued, I swear,” said David, shaking his head.
Tetyana grabbed a stool next to Chantelle and poked the girl in the back.
“Someone got a treat today,” she said.
The girl shot her a cheeky grin, chocolate crumbs still around her mouth.
“Guys,” said Luc. “I don’t come barging into your investigations or your dojo. This is my workspace. I only said you could stay if you tell us what happened.”
“I wanna hear all the juicy details on these grisly murders,” said Sarah, rubbing her flour-dusted hands in glee. “It’s better than watching reality TV.”
“You’re morbid,” said Rosalie, giving a friendly punch to Sarah.
“How come you get to do all the fun stuff, while we stay stuck here?” grumbled Bibi.
“You’re welcome to join us next time,” I said, turning to her. “You’ll have to take a few more weapons training classes with Tetyana and David, but
I’d love to have you on board.”
“No way are you going anywhere,” said Luc, giving Bibi a stern look. “I’m short staffed as it is.”
Bibi tossed her empty soda can into the recycle bucket by the door. “Nah. It’s all fun and games until the guns turn on you. I’ve enough adventures fighting New York traffic every day.” She turned to Katy and me. “So are you gonna give us the deets or not?”
I walked over and took the stool next to her.
The kitchen turned silent.
There were certain parts of our story we couldn’t share, like what had happened to Brianna. I was the one who’d pushed for that video to be sent to the authorities, and I couldn’t invade her privacy any more than I’d already done.
I glanced over at little Chantelle, leaning against Tetyana, watching a cartoon on her tablet now. Katy had given her headphones.
Good.
“We thought we were going to look for a missing schoolgirl,” I started, “but we ended up finding a jewelry thieving racket, a horrible kidnapping, and a triple murder.”
“I saw a girl in a uniform get into a police car in handcuffs on TV,” said Bibi. “Was it she who did all that?”
“That’s Isabella,” said Katy, pouring us tea. “The principal’s daughter. A principal’s salary is not a lot, even one who works in a private school. Seems like this girl felt left out among her wealthy classmates and was looking for ways to buy designer jewelry, bags, and shoes.”
“She looked like a stuck-up snot, even in those handcuffs,” said Bibi. “I’d have known she was the one, the minute I spotted her.”
“She’s what?” said Luc, in a shocked voice. “Sixteen?”
“Seventeen,” said Katy.
“She killed those people?” said Rosalie, her eyes wide.
“Isabella was a red herring,” I said. “She was the biggest bully in school. She used her status to make herself into the popular girl. What we didn’t know was she was involved in everything.”
“It was Sally Robertson who planned it all,” said Katy. “She’s the one who came back as a nurse, and got rid of the people who got in her way.”
“Was it that nervous woman who visited us last week?” said Luc. “She looked so normal.”
“It’s the normal-looking people you gotta watch out for,” said Tetyana, pulling her lollipop from her mouth.
“Isabella and Sally partnered with Nick Davies, the school assistant, who was a bona fide thief. He’d got himself the job just to steal those rich girls’ jewelry.”
“The three amigos,” said Win, looking up from her laptop.
“They all had their personal motivations,” I said. “Together, they wreaked havoc at the school.”
“I was wondering why all that money was being siphoned from the school’s accounts,” said Win. “They blackmailed the principal.”
“How do you blackmail your own mother?” asked Rosalie, her eyes wide.
“When Sally’s friend was killed by a bunch of bullies at school, Martha stopped the investigation before it concluded,” I said. “She didn’t realize a murder had happened and was only trying to protect her school’s reputation. But Sally saw her bribe the local police chief, and that was a big mistake.”
“So she, with Isabella and Nick’s help, blackmailed her,” said Katy. “They sent her an anonymous letter saying Clara had been murdered, and she was guilty of covering it up. They said they had evidence of her paying the cop, and they knew where Clara’s body had been buried. Martha panicked and promised the money.”
“It started with five thousand dollars a month to a bank account Nick set up using an alias,” said Win, looking up from her screen. “That shot up to ten, then fifteen, and finally to twenty-five grand every month this year. They squeezed her dry.”
“That was Sally Robertson’s plan,” I said. “She wanted to bankrupt the school and make Martha pay for covering up her friend’s murder. The deaths of the cook, the gardener, and the Phys Ed teacher were just collateral.”
“Sally did have a rough childhood,” said Katy, shaking her head.
“She killed Sam,” I said. “Don’t forget Jayden and Cathy. They didn’t deserve that.”
“That makes the woman a serial killer,” said Tetyana, wagging her lollipop at Katy. “You’re too soft for this business.”
“How did they do it?” said Bibi.
“They killed Sam because he saw them take Brianna into the woods,” I said. “Nick injected an overdose of drugs into Sam, enough to kill him, saying it was to help with his arthritis.”
“That’s terrible,” said Peace with a shudder.
“They tried to ram Jayden’s car to shut him up,” said Katy. “When that didn’t work, Sally took the old guard’s sidearm and shot poor Jayden in the head point-blank when no one was around.”
“What about the cook?” asked Luc.
“Sally went to the kitchen one day, pretending she wanted something to eat. When no one was looking, she added a small vial of cyanide into Cathy’s coffee. Everyone knew Cathy had a cup of coffee just before the lunch serving.”
“How evil can you get?” said Rosalie, shaking her head.
“Did they find out more about this Nick guy?” said David, with a frown.
“He’s a career jewelry thief,” I said, turning to Win, who had her head down in her laptop now. “Win dug his background up. Nick’s been preying on wealthy communities and getting away with it for years.”
Win nodded. “He was a slippery one, but his last stop was the Red Lake Academy.”
“Hopefully his permanent stop,” said Katy. “They’re all charged with murder now.”
“I wish I’d seen Nick for who he truly was,” I said. “He came across like a weak man scared of his boss, but he was a world-class manipulator who could smell desperation a mile away.”
“Sally and Isabella made perfect targets,” said Katy. “Sally wanted Martha May to lose her job and school. Isabella wanted money and popularity, and all he wanted was a cut of whatever he could squeeze out from anyone.”
“A trifecta of evil,” said David, shaking his head.
“The school’s closing for good,” said Win. “The board is planning to auction the estate and the building to a charity. All’s well that ends well.”
Katy and I exchanged a discreet glance.
Soon, everyone would hear of the town mayor’s evil deeds. The evidence against him was indisputable.
But that stomach-churning story would have to wait for another day when only the adults were present.
The bakery phone rang, startling all of us.
Luc jerked up, like he had just realized where he was.
Bibi groaned.
“If it’s those stupid fashion magazine people again, tell them I delivered their damn cake. I swear their front desk doesn’t talk to their event planners. They’re the most disorganized….”
Luc shooed us out.
“Got lots to do here, people. See you at dinner. You can tell the rest of the story then.”
We stumbled out of the kitchen to let them finish their baking and deliveries.
My phone buzzed. It was a text message. I squinted at the screen as I walked out of the bakery.
“Need security escort for VIP from Black Eagle Mines to Anchorage. Discretion important. Come as caterers but bring your sidearms. Call to discuss payment.”
Anchorage?
Isn’t that is Alaska?
My eyes widened.
It seemed like my work was slowly but surely getting recognition among Madame Bouchard’s friends. Who else would send such a strange request?
“See you at dinner, Asha!”
I jerked my head up and waved at Katy.
“Bye!” I called out.
She and Peace stepped out of the front door to go for lunch at their favorite bodega around the corner, with Chantelle skipping in between them.
I knew how much Peace and Chantelle had missed Katy while she was at the Academy wi
th me. Peace got little free time with his family because of work, so it warmed my heart to see them together.
David and I watched as the three of them strolled hand in hand, crossing the same walkway where I’d bumped into Sally Robertson.
That had been over a week ago, but it felt like an eternity now.
I slipped my phone in my pocket, closed the bakery door and turned to face David with a sigh. He leaned over to push a strand of hair from my forehead.
“Next time, call me before you walk into a remote cabin with a bunch of mad people with guns, okay?”
My mind instantly went to the text message I just received. I didn’t think we’d have to worry about such things in Anchorage, but I didn’t bring it up.
This was not the time.
That will have to wait for later.
“We did fine, didn’t we?” I said, reaching over to put my arms around his neck. “We got the bad guys and came home safe, just like we promised.”
David shook his head.
“There was a killer roaming around that school.”
“She wasn’t targeting us.”
“She could have, if she felt you were a threat. What happened there was beyond crazy.”
I hadn’t fully come to terms with what had happened myself.
My mind dredged up the memories of the midnight party with Ruby in her garish Cleopatra costume.
Hours after handing over the videos from that party to the school board, Ruby and Tom had been unceremoniously arrested in front of a news crew for interfering with minors.
They’d be lucky to find jobs in schools again, if they ever get out of jail. The state laws were tough, as they should be. Anyone convicted of abusing a child under sixteen could get a life sentence in a state prison. Good riddance, I thought.
Martha’s fall from grace had also happened in public. The board was unhappy and were distancing themselves from her.
Donations were being withdrawn hastily, and students were returning home en masse.
She was now under investigation for fraud and tampering with financial statements, and her daughter was being held in a juvenile detention facility.
“I feel bad I didn’t stop Sam, Cathy, and Jayden getting killed,” I said, sadness welling inside of me. “They were such good people.”
Merciless Crimes: A Thrilling Closed Circle Mystery Series (Merciless Murder Mystery Thriller) Page 28