A Time to Live and a Thyme for Murder! (Outer Banks Baker Mystery Series Book 3) (10 page)

Back at the bakery, Melissa and Logan were cleaning up the mess the DEA had left behind in their search for indications of the X15 drug. A note taped to the counter issued an apology for the mess, as well as an offer to pay for cleaning services. Melissa rolled her eyes and threw the note in the trash. With nothing else to do, with her own restaurant still closed, Cheryl joined her friend at the bakery. They worked together to get the place in working order again. Maddie, Melissa’s assistant, had taken the opportunity to visit her grandkids while the bakery was closed but would be back in a couple of days for the re-opening.

Logan had been sent to the local farmer’s market for a long list of supplies so the women had the place to themselves for a while. Initially, Cheryl teased Melissa about shacking up with her handsome boyfriend and had been disappointed to hear her friend had moved out at the first opportunity. She knew Jason was head over heels for Melissa. She also knew Melissa still mourned her late husband, but she held out hope that she would embrace a new life and chance at long-lasting love with the right guy. All indications were that Melissa felt the same for Jason, but Cheryl had never heard her mention the word ‘love’.

Of course the conversation drifted to the ongoing investigation. Cheryl was anxious to have the whole thing resolved so she could get her restaurant back, but she was fearful that they would discover someone who worked for her was involved. Although the clear front runner for that spot appeared to be Krissy, Cheryl didn’t believe that for a second. The girl put forth a tough exterior, but she was highly intelligent and hard-working. Anyone that could quote Shakespeare, Maya Angelou, Walt Whitman, and Edgar Allen Poe as Krissy did on a daily basis, had better things going on in her brain than to allow drugs into her life. Cheryl had found it quite pleasurable listening to the young woman as she delivered trays of food to customers with a smile and a quote for the day. Yes, the choice of Derek as a boyfriend was questionable, but aren’t all young girls attracted to the bad boys?

Cheryl asked if the cops had figured out how everyone came to have X15 in their systems since it was highly improbable all the victims were drug users. Melissa answered that it appeared Derek stuffed the bread bowls with small bags of the stuff, but wouldn’t someone notice a bag in their bread? They tossed around a few theories as they continued to clean up when they were surprised by a knock at the front door.

At the door was Dr. Richard Wiggins, the county coroner and Tanner’s father, with a load of file folders under his arm. They had gotten to know each other better over the last couple summers as Tanner and Logan became better friends. He was also very well aware of the past troubles they had with the law. He had performed the autopsies on both Linda Stevenson, who was killed inside Melissa’s bakery, and Williams Hawkins, who had died of natural causes but it had been suspected he was poisoned by her lemon sage bread.

After a polite greeting, Dr. Wiggins got down to business. He needed Melissa’s help. He had run every test he knew to figure out the puzzle how everyone became sick from the drug. It was presumed, after finding the loaves Derek stuffed with bags of the drug, that the drug was consumed somehow. “That’s funny,” Cheryl interjected, “We were just pondering that same question.”

The coroner laid out his files on the counter with a nervous glance towards the front windows. “Neither the DEA nor Chief Monroe would ever condone me consulting a civilian on such a high profile case, but since you made the bread I was hoping we could work together to solve this mystery,” he stated. “Without, of course, letting anyone else know.” The women readily agreed so the three sat down to peruse his files and brainstorm. All test results indicated the drug had been ingested, but no one would purposefully eat a bag. Cheryl was sure someone would have noticed a bag in their bread and complained.

Melissa asked if he had one of the bags they could examine. Maybe the bags had holes in them or were porous. Dr. Wiggins looked around a little nervously again, so she suggested they adjourn to the back kitchen area where no one could see them from the street. This helped put the doctor at ease. Once the swinging doors closed behind him, he pulled out a flimsy, nearly clear bag. It was entirely too delicate. Not at all like your normal plastic storage bag. It almost had the consistency of cloth. “Do you mind if we run some of our own tests?” Melissa asked. Because he only had the one bag, they agreed to cut the bag into small pieces for the tests.

First, Cheryl held the material over a clear measuring cup as Melissa slowly dripped water onto it. Once the material was soaked, it started to leak water into the cup below. “Interesting,” Dr. Wiggins noted. Plastic was not known to become saturated with water at all.

Next, Melissa grabbed a loaf of bread from the refrigerator and defrosted it in the microwave just enough to bring it to room temperature. “Not the most scientific approach, I know,” she quipped. Taking a small knife, she cut an incision in the bread and placed a swatch of the material inside. “Cheryl, how hot would you say your soup is when you ladle it into the bread bowls?” she asked. Her friend simply shrugged. “Well, I guess we can do this in small increments and see what happens,” Melissa stated as she placed the loaf into the microwave and hit the “30 Seconds” button.

They continued this process for a while. Heating the bread for thirty seconds and then checking the bag. Not much happened except the bag shrunk a bit. Deciding to move on to the next experiment, Melissa repeated the water test with the heated piece of the bag. The result surprised them all. Water immediately flowed through the material. The heat had made the swatch smaller and porous.

The trio ran more tests to see what else affected the consistency of the bag, until they ran out of samples to use. Dr. Wiggins would have to run more scientific tests to show the police in order for it to be used as evidence, but at least they had a working theory. Heat from the soups in the bread bowls caused the bags with the drug to become more permeable than normal plastic bags. The drug would then be able to leach out into the bread bowls and possibly even into the soups. Since most people don’t eat the entire bread bowl their soup is served in, perhaps no one consumed the actual bag. Assuming Derek cut miniscule razor slices into the bread bowls, it was possible that the cuts went unnoticed by anyone preparing the bowls, too. At least it was something to go on and it could vindicate everyone that worked for Cheryl, including Krissy.

Back at Melissa’s house later that evening, she filled in Krissy and Logan about the tests conducted on the bread bowls with the bags. The young woman claimed she never saw any slits in the bread bowls, but she also admitted she wasn’t that observant when it came to ladling soup into large chunks of bread. Actually, she regretted she had not been there to help with the experiments. Would’ve been infinitely more interesting than sitting around the house the majority of the afternoon. After her interview with Agent Garland, her new police escort made sure she went straight to Melissa’s cottage and stayed there.

The group spent a most welcome uneventful evening of watching Mystery Science Theater and gorging on homemade gourmet caramel and chocolate covered popcorn. Jason called once to check on everyone, but had to stay at work late reviewing the new test results presented by the coroner. Apparently, Agent Garland liked to burn the midnight oil. Jason wasn’t sure the man ever left the precinct. He did remark to Melissa that, based on an earlier conversation with the man, the agent seemed highly intrigued by her attorney, Janice. After a couple comments in front of Cory, Jason decided to fill the agent in on the woman’s relationship status before his partner lost his cool. 

Cheryl showed up bright and early the next morning with extra-large espressos and cinnamon buns. The two friends relaxed on the back deck while the teenagers slumbered away. Melissa wanted them to get as much sleep as possible. It was probably the first time in weeks anyone had gotten a decent night’s sleep. Taking a long sip of the steaming hot liquid, Melissa sighed. “Now this is heaven!” Cheryl eyed her friend suspiciously. Her tense expression did not go along with her statement. Something was bothering Melissa. She hoped to hear that Melissa simply missed living with Jason. When asked teasingly about it, she didn’t get the response she wanted.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Melissa began. “I love Jason, but the last few weeks have been rather stressful. Not exactly the ideal romantic situation. It was rather a relief to get back to my own place.” Although disappointed in her answer, Cheryl realized it was exactly what she should have expected.

Seeing that Melissa was not in the mood to discuss her relationship with the delightful detective, Cheryl shifted gears to talk about the ongoing case. She remarked that Krissy’s security detail wasn’t doing such a great job since he was completely snoozing away in his car when she approached the house. Suddenly she asked, “Hey, have you been able to figure out what Krissy’s peek-a-boo tattoo says? After spilling salad all over her trying to get a closer look, it’s been killing me not to know.” Melissa shook her head. She had completely forgotten about the tattoo.

Krissy soon joined them on the deck. She was wearing pink pajama shorts and a matching tank top. Melissa thought the young woman looked lovely, especially in a color that wasn’t black or denim blue which was her usual attire. She almost commented that the pink hue suited her skin tone, but refrained once she realized it would probably cause the girl to run back in to put on something in dreary black. The girl grabbed a cinnamon bun and curled up on the loveseat her father had purchased for Melissa.

After initial “good mornings” were exchanged, an awkward silence followed. Being the more outspoken one, Cheryl decided to bravely ask the big question about Krissy’s tattoo. The poor girl turned a shade of pink similar to her pajamas, but she smiled coyly. “Well, see for yourself,” she said as she stood up, turned around and tugged the shorts down just a smidgen to reveal the small of her back. Both women laughed when they saw the inscription. It certainly suited the young woman. In beautiful calligraphy were Shakespeare’s words from “Hamlet”:

“This above all: to thine own self be true.”

“That’s perfect!” Cheryl cried. Krissy sat back down but pleaded with them not to tell her father. Both held up their right hands and swore silence. They spent the rest of the early morning talking and laughing about everything and nothing. It was a nice change of pace from the tension of the last few weeks. Too bad the good mood was spoiled when Jason called to check in on his girls and to deliver the news that the police and the DEA were no closer to catching up with Derek’s X15 contacts then they had been yesterday. After promising to drop by that evening for a family dinner, he ended the call. The smiles were gone off the women’s faces. It had been nice to forget about their troubles for a while. Too bad, it couldn’t last. They all realized they were no closer to an end to their predicament than before.

Krissy stood up and let out an ear-splitting scream which brought Logan running. Apparently the guard posted for Krissy’s protection was either still asleep in his car or simply not doing his job. The young woman paced furiously across the small deck, muttering to herself. Melissa couldn’t hear most of what she said, but there were definitely a few select curse words in her ranting. After explaining to Logan that the cops had no new leads which caused Krissy’s outburst, Melissa decided it was time to take action herself; her family and friends were at stake. Even though Krissy may not view her as a friend, Melissa cared about her tremendously and knew she would do anything to help the young woman. If someone didn’t do something soon, the poor girl could end up paying the price for Derek’s malfeasance. “Well, that’s just NOT going to happen,” she told herself.

Once Krissy stopped pacing, Melissa motioned for the group to move inside to discuss something she didn’t want prying ears to hear – especially Krissy’s bodyguard. She had a plan to help the cops find the real criminal(s), but she needed everyone’s help. For the next couple hours, they hammered out their strategy. First, they had to get by the cop out front without notice. It was decided that Cheryl would leave out the front door. Melissa and Krissy would sneak out the back way and meet up with Cheryl a few blocks over. Logan had to stay behind to cover if the cop decided to check in on Krissy. If he knocked on the door, Logan simply had to report that the girl was still asleep. He doubted the cop would insist on seeing the sleeping teen. However, he wasn’t excited about being left behind. Melissa countered that he already had his kicks when he decided to crash the warehouse party without telling her where he was going. This time, he was sidelined.