A Killer Deal (A Seagrove Cozy Mystery Book 1) (7 page)

She stepped out the back and took Mr. Bradshaw in through her back door. The door she’d been avoiding. She explained to Lucy about the shop next door and Lucy volunteered to help.

When the two of them arrived back at the bakery, Chief Woodstone had his sleeves rolled up and a pair of bright yellow rubber gloves graced his hands. A huge trash bin had been pulled into the middle of the floor.

“What are you doing?” Sadie asked. “Don’t you have to be back at work?”

“I’m helping you. And also Lucy. Hello, Lucy.” He waved a bright yellow hand.

“Hi, Chief,” Lucy said. “I’ll start with the front case.”

While Lucy went into the storefront to clear the glass cases, Sadie and Chief Woodstone dumped the fermenting and moldy doughs into the trash can. Then Lucy loaded the dishwasher while the chief wiped down the counters and cutting boards. It wasn’t long before they were finished.

“It’s a good thing he didn’t have anything in the oven,” Sadie said. “Or the whole shop could have burned down. And mine too.”

“And my lovely China,” Lucy added.

“Actually, the officer who secured the scene would have turned off any ovens,” Chief Woodstone said.

They all three turned to look at the wall of ovens. Sadie started opening oven doors, but they were all empty.

“Thank goodness for that,” Lucy said. “If this garbage can gets any fuller we’d never be able to shift it.”

As it was, it took all three of them to move it out the door and down the stairs to the trash pick-up area.

“Are you going to put it in the dumpster?” Lucy asked. The chief shook his head.

“It’s not worth straining a back over. The garbage guys will take care of it. Now I’m headed back to the office, and I suggest that you ladies pour a couple of glasses of wine. You’ve done your good deed for the day.”

A few days later Sadie was polishing English brasses when Chief Woodstone came in. She wiped her hands on a clean rag and went through the shop to greet him.

“Hi Chief,” she said. “What’s up?”

“I thought you would like to know the story behind Olivia Brown’s meltdown,” Chief Woodstone said. He held up the bag he was carrying. “I brought coffee and scones.”

“It’s such a nice day, let’s go sit up on the balcony,” Sadie said.

The Chief followed her up the staircase and through her apartment to the balcony overlooking the street. They sat on either side of her café table and the chief pulled the coffee and pastries from the white bakery bag. The sun filtered through the trees and provided just the right ratio of sun to shade on the balcony.

“Look,” Sadie said pointing to a group sitting on the grass in the park across the street. “There is Professor Ive’s college class. They’ve met on the green several times this week.”

“I can’t say I blame them. I would guess you could discuss history and philosophy just as well outside as in,” Chief Woodstone said. Sadie sipped her coffee.

“So what is the story with Olivia Brown?” she asked. “Has she been found to be mentally ill or something?” She didn’t know what ‘or something,’ might be, but she had a vague idea that there were different legal terms for being unfit to stand trial.

“Apparently, she was using two different weed killers, or a weed killer and a fertilizer – I don’t know. But when you combine those two compounds in the human body they cause you to go stark raving looney toons – and more specifically paranoid. Which she did, obviously.”

“Can the effects be reversed?” Sadie asked. “Will she ever be the same again?”

“Yes, as soon as the drugs clear her system she should recover,” he said. “She will still have to stand trial, though.” A wave of relief flowed through Sadie.

“I’m glad she’ll be okay,” she said. “I’d hate to think she’d been permanently brain damaged.”

“You do remember that this woman threatened to kill you?” the Chief asked.

“I do. But she wasn’t in her right mind at the time.” Sadie remembered the produce. “Did you ever find out if she was violating the organic regulations? Was she still organic?”

“It’s hard to say. Her employees say that the weed killer was for the grass in her walkway and that certain pesticides are allowed if you can document that they are necessary. But I don’t know what she was doing for certain. Luckily, it’s not my call. The regulatory board gets to look into Olivia’s practices. I get to stick to law enforcement.”

After they had finished their coffee, she and Mr. Bradshaw walked Chief Woodstone down to the sidewalk outside her shop.

“It’s going to be a gorgeous day,” Sadie said. “I think Mr. B and I will spend some time in the park today.”

“Don’t forget to lock your door when you do,” the Chief said. “I worry about your safety.”

“I’ll be fine,” Sadie said. She opened the door and let Mr. Bradshaw back in the shop ahead of her. “See you later, Chief,” she said and shut the door behind her. As she walked to her workstation at the back of the shop, she heard his parting words through the door.

“For God’s sake, Sadie. Call me Zack.”

She grinned to herself. She might one day call him Zack, but when she did, he wasn’t going to know what hit him. He’d probably end up wishing she was still calling him chief.

“Come on, Mr. Bradshaw,” she said. “We’ve got work to do.” And they did.

~~~

Find out what Sadie discovers in book 2 of The Seagrove Mysteries here:
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