One Dead Cookie (33 page)

Olivia couldn’t think of anything to say, though apparently her expression spoke for
her.

“You think I couldn’t do it, don’t you…totally subdue a killer, I mean. Making decorated
cutout cookies day in and day out isn’t for weaklings, you know. Plus I’ve been helping
Lucas out in the hardware store when I have Sundays free. You should see me wield
an electric saw.”

“Were you planning to bring an electric saw to your engagement party?” A vivid image
flashed through Olivia’s mind. She saw Maddie in her slinky satin dress, her hair
spiraling out like curls of flame…and an electric saw in her hands, aimed like a semiautomatic
rifle at a terrified criminal.

“You’re missing the point, Livie. I want to be an inspiration to my children and grandchildren…should
I ever have any, that is. And I don’t plan to just yet. Why is it always the guy who
saves the day?”

Olivia was excused from answering by a firm knock on the alley door. She checked the
peephole to be sure Sam Parnell wasn’t hand-delivering yet another package. “It’s
Del.” Maddie retrieved the paper towel package, while Olivia opened the door.

“You’re still in your uniform,” Olivia said as Del entered the kitchen.

Del took the paper towel from Maddie and slid it into a plastic bag. “This’ll have
to go right to forensics. Show me where you found it.” Maddie pointed to the kitchen
floor. “The drawer was stuck, so…”

“I get it,” Del said. “Leave everything as is, in case forensics wants to dust for
fingerprints. Sorry, Livie, but I’ll
have to meet you later, at the party. This goes straight to the lab.” He gave her
a peck on the cheek and reached for the door. “I keep forgetting,” he said, twisting
his head around. “Maddie, you said you could identify whether the cookie we found
in…whether the cookie was one you’d made.”

“I could, almost certainly. Give me the specifics.”

“The lab said it was a sugar cookie shaped like a girl in a dress,” Del said. “A light
blue dress. Ring a bell?”

“I decorated several girl shapes and iced them in different colors. Light blue was
one of the colors. If the cookie had lemon flavoring, then it was definitely one I
put out in the store in the morning, the same day Trevor, Dougie, and Lenora held
court here.”

Del’s face puckered as if he was thinking hard. “Thanks. I’ll double-check about the
lemon flavor.” He opened the alley door and left without another word.

“The last of the great romantics,” Maddie said.

Olivia grinned. “Oh, Del has his romantic moments. When he’s working, he’s working.
I can understand that.”

“But we have fun when we work,” Maddie said.

“Trust me, Del is having fun. It just looks different.” Olivia glanced up at the kitchen
clock. “We need to get going. Mom will already be at Bon Vivant, along with a cadre
of her friends, waiting for instructions.”

“I wish we could take Spunky along,” Maddie said.

“Way too many people. He’d take off, and we’d never see him again.”

“Speaking of all those people,” Maddie said. “What information do you want me to probe
for while I’m being giggly and charming?”

“I really, really want you to relax and enjoy your engagement party.” Olivia slipped
her cell into the pocket of her new gray linen slacks. “Where’s my sweater?”

“Right where you tossed it, on a chair.” Maddie lifted the thin gray sweater, bought
to match Olivia’s slacks, and handed it to her. “Nice silk blouse, by the way. You
look good in peach. I forgive you for not wearing a dress to my engagement party.”

“I didn’t want to outshine the bride.”

“Uh-huh.” Maddie threw a pale yellow silk shawl over her shoulders. “Do you honestly
think any outfit could compete with this?” She twirled around to show off the delicate
purple blossoms Aunt Sadie had embroidered on her shawl.

“No contest.”

“Wise woman. In this outfit, I figure I could wheedle information out of anyone, so
you might as well give me an assignment, Livie.”

Olivia slipped her sweater over her head. “Maddie, I honestly have no idea where to
go from here. My mind is filled with details that don’t lead anywhere. I doubt Dougie
or Howie will even show up for your party. Dougie will probably fly out tomorrow morning,
if he hasn’t already left. This case is too much for me. We’ll have to count on Del.”

“Poop head,” Maddie said. “Well, never mind. I’ll figure it out by myself.”

That’s what worries me.

*   *   *

T
he recently watered garden behind the Bon Vivant restaurant sparkled in the bright
sunlight, but Olivia barely noticed. Maddie and Lucas’s engagement party would officially
begin in five minutes. Bon Vivant staff and Ellie’s troupe of volunteers scurried
to and from the kitchen, toting appetizers and drinks to the serving tables on the
terrace behind the restaurant. Guests had begun to arrive.

Olivia finished arranging a plate piled with lavender-lemon flower-shaped cookies.
She stepped back from the table to inspect her work, but her mind refused to pay attention.
She wished she could take her own advice and forget about Trevor Lane, at least for
the duration of the party. But her dear friend Stacey Harald, through no fault of
her own, was in hiding with her kids, because she’d been set up to look complicit
in Trevor’s murder. Time was running out. Soon the suspects would scatter, and Stacey
would have to come home to face the stares and the gossip and…Binnie Sloan.

Olivia’s mother, Ellie, floated across the patio toward her, wearing a flowing dress
of teal silk, tied at her slender waist with a pale yellow silk scarf. Her husband,
Allan, tagged along behind. He looked sharp in a three-piece pinstripe suit he’d once
worn as a corporate executive.

“Livie, dear,” Ellie said, “you are looking lovely, yet glum. The refreshments are
under control. Perhaps you would feel better if you began to mingle.”

“Helping Stacey would make me feel better, Mom. Or baking and decorating cookies.
But mingling? That would make me cranky.”

“I know this is a tough situation for you,” Allan said. “Anything we can do to help?”

“Maybe…Allan, your knowledge of the Internet is pretty sophisticated, right?”

“Oh, well, I—”

“Allan’s knowledge of the Internet is superb,” Ellie said. “What do you need him to
do? Hack into the police files?”

Allan glanced nervously at a young couple approaching them. “Ellie, I don’t think—”

“But dearest, it’s for the greater good,” Ellie said. “You are so clever.”

“You wouldn’t have to do anything illegal,” Olivia said. A group of party guests,
filling their plates with goodies, had moved close enough to hear their conversation.
Olivia led her mother and stepfather farther away from the serving tables. “Allan,”
she said, once they were out of earshot, “is it possible to post something anonymously?”

“Depends on who’s reading the post,” Allan said with a grin.

“If you were reading it?”

Allan’s grin widened. “Unlikely. Back when I worked for…” He glanced at Ellie. “Back
when I worked for bloodsucking corporations, I was the one they called upon to trace
hackers to their lairs. I got pretty good at it.”

“Oh excellent Stepfather, thank you for marrying my mother. Here’s what I need: have
a chat with Howie Upton, assuming he shows up here.”

“Howie is already here, Livie.” Ellie pointed her head toward the chow line. Howie
Upton was dressed in a three-piece suit that hung loose on his thin body. He was piling
his plate with a little bit of everything.

“Just have a chat with him,” Olivia said. “Bring up the subject of posting online.
I want to know if he has the expertise to post something in such a way that your average
hacker, like Maddie, couldn’t trace the source of the post.”

Allan grinned. “Intriguing. And here I thought I’d be bored at this shindig.”

“Please be casual about it,” Olivia begged. “Howie is smart. I don’t want him to get
suspicious about why you are talking to him.”

“Livie, Howie and I are the only guests wearing three-piece suits. It’s entirely natural
that we would cluster together.”

“Why do I think the rest of us have just been insulted?”

Allan winked at her, bent over to give his petite wife a peck on the cheek, and strode
toward Howie.

“It was kind of you to send Allan on assignment, Livie,” Ellie said. “He does love
to feel his expertise is useful.”

“I wasn’t being kind. Believe me, I don’t know what I’d do without him.”

“Me neither, dear.” Ellie tapped her daughter’s arm with teal-polished fingertips.
“You seem so distracted, Livie. Surely you can count on Del to resolve this troubling
murder. In time, that is.”

“That’s my worry, Mom. Del is a great cop, I know that. He’s careful and thorough,
which takes time. Only we don’t have much of it left. We need to resolve this mess
soon for Stacey’s and her kids’ sakes, and also for ours.” Olivia told her mother
about the gavel cookie cutter she and Maddie had found at The Gingerbread House, stuffed
in a kitchen drawer. “We could get added to the suspect list, too, along with who
knows who else. And here I am, too busy and flustered to think straight. My mind is
so crammed with bits of information, and I can’t make any sense of them.”

As Olivia reached up to run her hand through her hair, Ellie’s quick, strong arm grabbed
her wrist and forced her to stop. “You will figure it all out, Livie. There’s no need
to ruin your hairdo.”

Olivia laughed in spite of herself. “I forgot to brush my hair before we left. Maybe
I should leave it tangled more often. Besides, tangled is what my mind feels like.”

“Oh, Livie, you are too close to the details. As your father used to say, data collection
is essential, but at some point you must stop and look for the connections. Maybe
you need to step back to perceive what is truly important.” Ellie tucked an errant
wave under the pale yellow ribbon that held her hair away from her face. “Now, I believe
I will
select a cookie and mingle a bit. I see that Herbie Tucker has kindly brought his
aunt Lenora to the party. I’m sure Lenora is devastated by Trevor Lane’s death. I’ll
go chat with her…if you are okay?”

“I’m fine, Mom. You go mingle. Let me know if you learn anything interesting.” Olivia
followed her mother to the cookie display, where she chose a yellow tulip with lavender
sprinkles.

Ellie picked up two identical daisy shapes, grape purple with bright yellow outlined
petals. “I might as well bring an extra for Lenora,” she explained. “If I only have
one cookie, those sad, hungry eyes will con me into giving it to her.”

“She reminds me of Spunky,” Olivia said.

“I suppose that’s why we love her.”

“Speak for yourself.” Olivia bit off a chunk of her yellow tulip. “Wow, this is good.
I wish I could take credit, but Maddie is the real genius behind her own wedding cookies.”
Ellie didn’t respond. “Mom?” Olivia followed her mother’s gaze to one of the restaurant’s
small gardens. She saw a man in tan slacks and matching sweater, possibly cashmere,
over a white shirt. His back was to Olivia, but she recognized the broad shoulders
that stretched the sweater across his back.

“I’m rather surprised to see Dougie Adair here,” Ellie said.

“I’m stunned,” Olivia said. “I thought for sure he’d be on a plane headed for Los
Angeles. Is it possible that Lenora talked him into coming?” She searched the terrace
and found Lenora, with her nephew Herbie beside her, talking to Maddie and Lucas.

“This is quite fascinating,” Ellie said. “I’ll go chat with Lenora now.”

“Report back, okay? Mom?” But Ellie’s powerful little
legs had already carried her out of range. Olivia considered tagging along behind,
but she saw her stepfather barreling toward her like a confident bull.

“Mission accomplished,” Allan said, a shade too heartily.

“Let’s move out of earshot.” Olivia took two more cookies and led Allan to an isolated
table close to the restaurant, where they could keep an eye on the crowd. After they
sat down, she handed him one of the cookies.

“Is this my reward?” Allan took a bite. “Yum. Almost as good as money.”

“Glad you think so. What did you find out from Howie?”

“Fascinating young man,” Allan said. “Sociopathic, of course, but in the right environment,
that would be a plus.”

“I think I’d be happier not knowing about that,” Olivia said. “It sort of makes my
skin crawl.”

Allan threw back his head and guffawed. “You and your mother,” he said, “two peas
in a pod. That’s a compliment, by the way.” He bit off a large chunk of cookie and
made appreciative sounds as he chewed.

“So what do you think? Could Howie create an anonymous post?”

“With his eyes closed,” Allan said. “Mind you, a real expert could probably track
the path, but that boy has impressive computer skills. Back in the day, I’d have been
tempted to hire him, if he weren’t so…” Allan frowned as he searched for the right
word.

“If he weren’t so sociopathic?”

“Hm? No, that’s not the problem, though I’d sure keep an eye on him. He’s too arrogant,
too certain of his own genius. Not to say he isn’t a genius, he surely is, but…Well,
there’s such a thing as too much confidence, if you know what I mean.”

“I know what you mean.”

*   *   *

A
n hour later, the engagement party was in full swing, and Olivia felt as confused
as ever. She’d been so focused on helping the festivities run smoothly, she’d barely
spoken to anyone but the restaurant staff. The time had come for her to mingle. She
hung her apron on a hook in the restaurant kitchen and returned to the patio. She
ought to check in with Bertha and Jennifer before abandoning her post.

Olivia waved to Bertha, who was restocking the cookie supply. Bertha motioned Olivia
to join her. Seeing the concerned look on Bertha’s face, Olivia hurried to her. “Is
something wrong?”

“I hope not,” Bertha said. “It’s just that I haven’t seen Jennifer in some time. She
agreed to keep the cookie platters filled, but I found them all practically empty.”