Dying for the Truth (A Rockcrest Cove Cozy Mystery Book 4) (2 page)

He grabbed the chair opposite her and turned it around so that he could straddle it rather than just sit. He leaned his upper torso on his arms that had settled across the back of the chair.

“Ms. McDougal,” he started. “Why don’t we start at the beginning? How did you know the victim?”

“What victim?”

Connors raised his eyes in exasperation. He got the message quickly: Maddie was not going to give him any information unless she had to.

“Evan Foster.”

Maddie didn’t answer for a minute. She was trying to decide how much she should say. Without knowing why she was considered a suspect, she didn’t know what could put her at a higher risk. “We were friends when we were in school,” she finally said.

“When was the last time you spoke with him?” Connors asked.

“I don’t know. Quite a while ago,” she said after thinking about it for a moment. “We stopped speaking to each other, you know, after he was caught stealing my recipes.” She let her thoughts drift back to the time when they were in culinary school together and the three of them had been the best of friends. While they had been rivals for the last few years, it had not always been that way, and if it had not been for Emma’s crafty manipulations, they would probably have remained friends. And now Connors was opening the same old wounds all over again. As strong as she had been over the ordeals of the past years, she felt the sting of a tear begin to form behind her eyes.

She remembered when she had first heard about the time that Evan and Emma had started a rival business and how she felt. It was sad and hurtful to hear that those she thought had been her friends for so many years had betrayed her so. She tried to think about what she could have possibly done differently so that things would not have turned out as they had, but she could think of nothing.

Connors was asking her even more questions now about her relationship with Evan and Emma, but Maddie refused to answer. First, she realized that this was all information he already knew, and second, she just didn’t want to answer anything until she had a better understanding of what might have happened. The fact that Emma had stolen her recipes and given them to Evan, Rachel being found guilty of murder, and everything that happened after that was all public knowledge. It was clear that Connors had nothing substantial to hold her on and was using this merely as a fishing expedition.

She sat silently as Connors asked again, “When was the last time you spoke to Evan Foster?”

“I don’t know. Years ago, I guess,” she finally answered.

A slow, sinister smile spread across Connors’s face. “Well then, I would be most interested in knowing what you were doing at his bakery yesterday morning. We have you on a security camera with a box of cupcakes outside of his store. This was less than an hour before he was discovered dead in the back of his shop.”

Maddie’s eyes slowly began to recall. In all the confusion of the morning, she had forgotten all about her visit to Evan’s office the day before.

Chapter Two

The surprise of Connors’s words struck a chord and brought back recollections of events that she had completely forgotten about. In the past few months her business had seen a lot of growth and success. She had already expanded her small bakery as much as possible and also had added on a new catering service as well. While the growth was very encouraging and gave her a strong and positive outlook for the future, it did not come without problems. Her attorney had reminded her that there was another business out there that was still selling and using her own creative recipes, which could lead to problems later on. The fact remained that there was still unfinished business that needed to be resolved between her and Evan. Emma and Evan had stolen a lot of her recipes and had developed quite a successful business from it.

With her growing success, two bakeries using the exact same recipes could very well become a problem in the future, so she was encouraged to find out exactly how many recipes had been stolen and make a decision about what to do with them.

While confronting Evan and demanding the return of her trade secrets was completely out of character for her, she decided to visit Evan in an attempt to bury the hatchet. She thought a friendly gesture would be much more welcome than an all-out attack on his character. After all, she had reasoned, he may not have known that Emma was stealing her secrets and could very well have been a victim in much the same way as she had.

Still, she knew that it was important to find out to what extent her creative ideas had been compromised, so she knew it was necessary to make the visit. Packing up an assortment of cupcakes she had made from entirely new recipes to give him, she chose to go early in the morning before he opened for business.

On the drive over, her mind ran the gambit of different emotions. Her attorney had suggested that an injunction be ordered for them to cease using her recipes or face a long, drawn-out lawsuit. Maddie couldn’t come to terms with such a harsh decision without knowing all of the facts. She did concede that Evan had continued to use the recipes after Emma’s death and Rachel’s arrest, but she was convinced that he must have had a reason and she needed to hear it.

She had arrived at around four-thirty in the morning just a few days ago, but she had not seen Evan that morning. She approached the bakery and found the storefront was completely dark, but when she peered through the window, she could see movement in the back of the store. The light in the kitchen was on—just the same as it always was in her bakery and perhaps every bakery in the country. It was important to arrive early so that all the baked goods were fresh for their first customers of the day. Maddie could see Evan’s head standing up over his workers as they began to prepare for the morning’s rush.

The storefront had not been changed since that day when she and Bailey had come to investigate after Emma’s death. It was clear to see that Evan had continued to run the business using her stolen ideas. She struggled to understand why and knew that the only way was to talk to him directly.

She gave a quick rap on the glass doors and peered inside. It was awkward to stand there with her big canvas bag on one shoulder, holding Astoria, who was certainly no lightweight, and a box of cupcakes in the other hand. Trying to knock on the door under such circumstances proved to be rather complicated.

She knocked on the door once again but still no response. She was sure that someone would have heard her, because she knew that no matter how busy it was in her back room, everyone always heard when someone was at the door. She peered into the window and found herself locking eyes with Evan, who had come around the corner to see who it was.

She thought she saw recognition fleet across his face and gave him her most genuine smile. Evan’s face looked as if it was in conflict, and for just a moment he seemed to be in a quandary of indecision. He took one step toward the door before he stopped and reconsidered his move, and instead he gave her a finger shake through the window before walking back into the kitchen area.

Shocked, Maddie stood rooted to the ground where she stood, not sure what to do. Embarrassed, she looked down the street to see if anyone had actually witnessed the exchange. Satisfied that no one had observed her, she knocked once again, more insistently this time, but Evan did not come out again.

Unaccustomed to being ignored, her temper began to get the better of her.

“Ignorant fool,” she muttered to herself. Her mind began to rethink taking the advice of her attorney and suing Evan for his bakery. After all, it was built on her ideas, her recipes—and even when she looked inside the shop, her own decorations. She had every right to claim back what was hers.

With her ego bruised, she shouted through the door. “You’ll talk to me, Evan Foster, or I’ll make you pay for what you’ve done!”

Even while shouting, she knew she didn’t really mean what she had said. Feeling completely out of character and tired of standing on the street with a stupid box of cupcakes in her hands, she let out an exhausted sigh of exasperation. Her arms tired, and her good intentions rebuffed, Maddie just felt lost and confused. Why would he be so reluctant to talk to her? After all, she was the victim here, not the other way around.

Her arms tired, she let Astoria’s bag slip to the ground, and the quiet little feline peeked her head out of the bag to figure out what was going wrong. She took a wary step onto the sidewalk and gave Maddie a sideways glance to see if any reprimand would come. Over the years, Astoria had learned that only on certain occasions was she allowed to venture into unknown territory, and this was certainly something new to her. She peered around the dark street and ventured down the sidewalk, making sure to keep Maddie in view.

Maddie looked at her box of cupcakes, trying to decide what to do. “Oh, to hell with it!” she said out loud. She shoved the entire box of cupcakes on top of a garbage can already filled with yesterday’s throwaways.

“Come on Astoria,” she said, picking up her canvas bag and walking back toward her car.

By now, the street was still deserted, lone for a solitary figure walking toward her on the sidewalk. She couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman, as they were bundled up to protect themselves from the winter chill. With sunglasses to shield their eyes and a ball cap on their head, she would have hardly paid any attention to them until she saw them also peering into the window of the bakery.

“I wouldn’t trust their services if I were you,” she said, still fuming from Evan’s effrontery. “This is the most unethical business I’ve ever had to deal with.” The other individual never responded, and Maddie continued on her way without giving it a second thought.

Now less than twenty-four hours later she was sitting in the police station, accused of murdering someone she’d never even gotten to talk to. Maddie tried hard to make some sense of the entire scenario, but without more information she found she was only frustrating herself even more.

She started to return fire with Connors, but before she could utter a word, Bailey, Kyle, and Eleanor burst into the room.

“This interview is over,” Kyle announced.

Connors raised his mighty bulk from his chair and fixed his bushy eyebrows on Kyle. “What is the meaning of this?”

“I’m sure even you, Chief Connors, recognize that the questioning of a suspect is not to be done without an attorney present.”

“She never asked for an attorney.”

“Was she given a chance?” He turned to Maddie. “Do not say another word to him on this subject.”

“You can’t just come into my station and …”

“Yes, I can. You need to keep up to date with the laws and regulations. It may come as a surprise to you that there have been a few changes since the sixties. You may want to read up on it.”

Connors looked up, speechless as he tried to find the right response to Kyle’s retort.

“Maddie, you’re coming with us.”

Maddie rose from her seat, relieved to see her friends come through once again for her. The four of them walked out the door, leaving Connors standing in the middle of his empty interrogation room with his mouth agape.

Chapter Three

Moments later, the group found themselves on the steps outside of the police department. A nervous chuckle escaped Maddie’s throat, and finally she found her voice and her strength again.

“I’m glad to be out of there,” she said as she breathed a sigh of relief.

“I don’t get it,” Bailey added. “Why would they think you’ve killed Evan Foster?”

“Well, apparently he was poisoned and someone used one of my Pink Passion cupcakes to do it.”

“So, who would have given Evan your cupcake?” Bailey said, thinking out loud.

“That’s not the question you should be asking,” Kyle interjected. “The real question is who would want to kill Evan in the first place.” He stopped for a minute. “I know you don’t care much for Connors and his tactics,” he said to Bailey and Maddie, “but he has drawn some pretty reasonable conclusions here. First, you’ve been long-time rivals; it was one of your cupcakes that poisoned him; and you were seen outside his bakery less than an hour before he died.”

Maddie took Kyle’s words with a little trepidation. For the first time she felt genuinely concerned. “Do you really think he has a solid case against me?” she questioned.

“Of course not,” Eleanor interjected. “As far as I can see, it’s all circumstantial. A good defense can punch holes in his theory in an instant.”

“True that,” Kyle agreed. “As far as I can tell, you don’t have a thing to worry about.”

“Well, he did warn me not to leave town.”

“That’s just a standard warning in case you might decide to skip town,” Eleanor said.

“Where would I go?” Maddie asked. “All of my friends are here.”

“And family,” Bailey offered.

“And family,” Maddie agreed. The two locked eyes for just a moment before Maddie blinked and decided to get back to the business at hand. “Well, the situation is far from over,” she told her group. “And I need to have a plan to work on my defense. Why don’t we all meet at the bakery to discuss what I should do?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Kyle agreed. “The sooner the better.”

“I just need to tie up a few loose ends at school,” Eleanor added. “How about we meet in about two hours?”

They all agreed, and Kyle and Eleanor left and went their separate ways while Maddie and Bailey left together to head directly to the bakery.

“You know, Bailey,” Maddie said as the two walked toward Bailey’s car, “this whole thing feels oddly familiar. It wasn’t too long ago when I was faced with the same accusation when Emma was murdered.”

“I know,” Bailey concurred. “I remember that. And if I’m not mistaken, it was Connors who was behind that accusation as well.”

“Yep. That man has been the bane of my existence ever since the day we first met,” Maddie complained.

“Kinda like déjà vu, don’t you think?”

“Mmm hmmm.”

The two walk together in silence, contemplating the need for them to launch their own investigation into Evan’s death.

Two hours later, the four of them were sitting together in Maddie’s back office. Astoria was clearly perturbed at the change in her routine and was meowing loudly by the door as if to tell the intruders it was time to leave.

“Hush, Astoria,” Maddie reprimanded, but her feline friend refused to accept the situation that had been thrust upon her. Leaping into Maddie’s arms, she turned and looked defiantly at the visitors, hoping to guilt them into obedience to her every wish. Instead, Maddie felt compelled to open the office door and put her out in the hallway while the four of them discussed their options.

“Now,” Kyle said. “Let’s get down to business.”

They all took a seat around Maddie’s much larger offices (expanded during the renovation she had made last year).

“I was able to get the evidence file they have put together against you, Maddie, and it isn’t very much,” he said encouragingly. “It seems that they have you on video camera outside Evan’s store about an hour before his death. They also see you carrying a box of cupcakes in your hand. The report states that you appeared to be in an agitated state as well.”

“That’s true,” Maddie conceded. “I went over there to find out if they were still using my recipes that Emma stole from me a while back. Mr. Murphy, my business attorney, suggested that we address that issue before I continued to expand my business. He had told me that if I let too much time pass, then it could cause me problems later on.”

“Well, he’s right,” Eleanor commented. “However, it may have been best if you didn’t go there alone and if you had gone during business hours.”

“Well, I hadn’t planned on it being a problem. After all, Evan and I had been friends once.”

“That may have been true at one time, but remember, Evan was implicated in Emma’s death, which can definitely bruise some egos and cause harsh feelings,” she added.

“I suppose that’s true.”

“All in all, they don’t have the proverbial ‘smoking gun’ that definitively proves you had anything to do with his death. Their arrest of you seems to be merely a fishing expedition,” she added.

“Well, we all know Connors’s pattern in these types of cases. He doesn’t want to work very hard, so the most likely suspect is the one he intends to prosecute.”

“In that case, it’s our job to provide him with a much more likely suspect than you,” Kyle suggested. “In order to do that, we all need to be working toward that end.”

“I do know one fact that should help us,” Maddie offered. “I didn’t do it. I know how it might look to an outsider, but I had nothing to do with Evan’s murder.”

“We believe you,” Bailey offered. “But we have to convince everyone else of that. For that we’re going to need every bit of help we can get.”

“I can review a few similar cases from the past to see how other defense teams protected their clients,” Eleanor suggested. She turned to Kyle, who was still holding the file in his hand. “So, what you’ve told us is pretty much speculation, but what does the file say that we know is definitive and accurate?”

“The only thing that seems to be evident is that Evan was poisoned by a cupcake that came from Maddie’s bakery. But even that needs to be confirmed by a toxicology report from the coroner. And that may take a while,” he added.

“So, what do we do now?” Bailey asked.

“We need to start a fact-finding mission,” Kyle pointed out. “We need to know a lot more information if we plan to serve up a new suspect in Evan’s death.”

“So basically, we need to know who may have wanted Evan dead.”

“At least,” Kyle confirmed.

“But how do we do that?” Maddie asked.

“I have a few friends in the police department. I can enlist their services in feeding me new intel as it comes up in relation to the case. This will help me to actually build up a plan of defense in case this goes to trial,” Kyle pointed out.

“Do you really think it can go that far?” Maddie said, concerned.

“As it looks right now, it’s very possible. It’s not that the evidence against you is very strong, but that you’re the only one they have anything on at this point.” Kyle lowered his gaze and fixed his eyes firmly on Maddie.

“But, I’m innocent. I didn’t do anything,” she said with a hint of despair in her voice.

“We believe you, Maddie. But we’re your friends. What we need to focus on is convincing everyone else that you’re innocent.”

“With you laying out the defense, and I’m checking on legal precedents, I think we’ve got you covered from the legal side of the law,” Eleanor assured her.

“Then I’ll take the less legal approach to find evidence.”

They all stared at Bailey. Their blank stares told her that they were not completely aware of what she was getting at.

“I’ve learned a few things over the years,” she added. “Like for example, I know how to pick locks and disable security systems, redirect cameras, etc., etc., etc.”

They still stared at her with blank and confused looks on their faces. No one responded to her words. It as was if they were trying to but found her language had gone way over their heads. “Evan’s shop?” she hinted, hunching her shoulders and raising her hands in the air. “If anyone was trying to get to Evan, additional evidence might be found at his shop.” When she got no response, she laid it out plain and clear. “I can break into his bakery and snoop around a bit.”

“Oh no you won’t,” Madeline protested.

“It’ll be a breeze. It’s closed anyway since the murder.”

“I don’t care. It’s too risky.”

“I’ll go late tonight,” Bailey suggested. “No one will be around. I can be in and out in a jiff.”

“It’s too dangerous. They have security cameras and all that stuff. That’s how they tagged me as a suspect. They won’t hesitate to tag you too.”

“Well first of all, the murder has already been committed. They’re not going to look at footage after the fact. You know Connors—he’s not going to do more than he feels he has to. Looking at footage after the crime would seem like a waste of time to him.”

“That may be true, but the fact remains that I don’t want you to go,” Maddie continued to protest.

“Well Gran, I don’t usually defy you, but if there’s evidence to be found in the case and it’s in Evan’s bakery, I think I need to go. The police won’t go looking for it nor will anyone else. I think I have to do it.” She paused for a minute. “And besides, I already told you, I’m pretty savvy with gadgets, tech, and stuff, so I think I can get in and out without being seen.”

Maddie looked at her granddaughter with a mixture of appreciation and concern. “I’m going with you,” she finally said.

“No you won’t,” both Eleanor and Kyle spoke up. “You would be putting yourself in more danger if you do.”

“What? It’s ok for Bailey to take the risk but not me?”

“Bailey is not a suspect in a murder case. You going with her could actually put her at a higher risk than you might think,” Kyle suggested.

“How?”

“Because you’re the prime suspect. You can pretty much bet that Connors has got someone keeping close tabs on you every minute of every day.” Kyle got up and walked to the front room, beckoning the others to follow. He peered out of the front window and pointed at an unmarked car parked just a few blocks down the street. The windows were heavily tinted but not enough to hide the two men that were sitting inside.

Maddie’s eyes followed his finger and she knew he was right.

“My guess is they have another one parked outside the back door as well. Face it, you’re going to have to spend all of your time at home or here at the store doing what you do best. Baking.”

“Just continue doing what you always do every day, and perhaps after a while they’ll get tired and forget about wasting taxpayer dollars to follow you around town,” Eleanor reassured her. “In the meantime, you need to stay put and stay visible.”

It was much harder than Bailey had anticipated to break into Evan’s bakery. Because the place opened so early in the morning it also closed earlier than usual. If she waited until two or three in the morning when the streets were deserted, chances were she’d run the risk of running into an employee coming in to set up for the next day. She wasn’t sure if the bakery would be closed down for continued investigation, but she didn’t want to take any chances.

Still, coming in at ten or eleven at night put her at risk of being noticed by the night owls who frequented the area looking for a great place to eat, catch a movie, or just stroll the quaint little street under the old-fashioned gas lamp lighting of the area.