The Mud Pie Murderess: A Bakery Detectives Cozy Mystery (11 page)

I
finally answered
Chloe's phone call.

"Rachael!" she said, sounding happy. "I'm so glad you finally picked up. I've been trying to tell you something!"

I was standing in the back of the bakery in the freezing cold. I stared blankly ahead, waiting for her to continue speaking and wondering if she could sense the frostiness coming from my end of the line. "You still there, Rach?" she whispered.

"Go on," I said flatly. "What do you have to tell me?"

"It's about Braxton Madison," she said gleefully. "Rachael, I finally found someone who is willing to say that they saw him in the bakery that day!"

I was silent.

"Rach? Isn't that good news?"

"Sure," I said flatly.

She sounded a little nervous as she kept talking. "While he and Olive were in the bakery, we had some mail delivered," she said excitedly. "I'd forgotten about it. It wasn't even in my notes."

I scoffed a little. Her notes.

"Anyway, yesterday when the mail got delivered to my place, I suddenly remembered! It was our regular postman Darrell that day, and he'd paused for a few seconds to chat with me. But I'd been so worried about waiting on Olive's table that I didn't have time to talk to him. But I got into contact with him, and Rachael! Guess what! He remembers seeing Braxton Madison in there. Said he recognized him well because he is intending to vote for him in the election."

I was still silent.

"Rachael, aren't you going to say something?" she asked. "This is great news for you! We can prove that Braxton Madison was there. It will get you off the hook," she said.

Suddenly I knew why Chloe had been so keen to help me out with my investigation. And it had nothing to do with getting me off the hook and everything to do with getting herself off the hook.

But I had to play along for just for a little while longer.

"Awesome," I forced myself to say in an excited tone. "Why don't you come down and meet me at the bakery? We can go over everything. Make sure that our case is water tight. Make sure that Braxton Madison doesn't get away with this," I added firmly.

She agreed to meet me in ten minutes. But as soon as I ended the call, another car pulled into the back of the parking lot.

"Pippa?" I asked in surprise as she stepped out of a car I'd never seen before.

"What do you think?" she asked proudly, pointing at the small red hatchback. "It's my new set of wheels! Well, new old set of wheels. It's secondhand, of course. But I'm going to need to be able to get around now with baby on the way."

"That's...that's awesome, Pippa. How did you know I was here?"

She raised her eyebrows. "I've been talking to Tegan. She filled me in on everything."

Oh great, it was good to know that everything I said to Tegan was in confidence then. "Hang on," I said. "So, how much do you know?"

A smug little smile played on her lips. "I know enough," she said.

I knew Pippa must be loving this. And she hadn't even heard what Simona had said. I quickly filled her in and every word was like music to Pippa’s ears. She was practically bopping about by the end of it. "She'll be here soon," I ended with a whisper. "And I'm not quite sure what to do."

"I knew it!" Pippa said, shaking her head. "I knew Chloe was trouble all along."

"Oh, you did not," I said a little teasingly, but I was too nervous to really commit. "You were just jealous of her, Pippa. You just didn't like her from the start!"

"And with good reason!" Pippa shot back. "She is a spy, and a killer to boot!"

I frowned. "I'm not sure about a spy," I said. "A lot of this still doesn't make sense to me."

"Of course she is a spy," Pippa said. "She is related to the CEO of Bakermatic, for crying out loud. She was obviously sent to destroy you and your business."

"So then why did she try to poison a Bakermatic customer?" I asked Pippa.

Pippa shrugged. "Because she's crazy? I don't know."

I heard a car pulling up and told Pippa that she ought to hide. "Get into the office and make yourself scarce!" I said. "She's not going to tell me anything if you're around."

Pippa ran inside just as Chloe pulled in. I straightened up and composed myself. I had to try and let her think that everything was normal.

"Hey, Rach!" Chloe said with her usual bright smile spreading over her face. Her long glossy hair was tied back in a ponytail and she was wearing a tailored jacket—ready for detective work. Ready to help me with the case. For a second, I felt guilt stabbing at my stomach. I actually felt bad for what I was about to do.

I had to stop and remind myself of two very firm facts.

1. Chloe had been sent to spy on me and set me up.

2. She had killed Olive Styles.

I approached her steadily, trying to keep my poker face on. I didn't want to alarm her. I wanted to at least give her a chance to explain herself. I at least owed her that much.

No such luck with the poker face. "What's wrong, Rachael?" she said. "You look like you've just seen a ghost."

"Let's go inside," I said. "It's freezing out here."

Even though I didn't want Chloe to know Pippa was there, I felt more secure having the conversation indoors, knowing that Pippa was nearby and could listen in.

"I thought we weren't supposed to go in here," Chloe said uneasily as she followed me.

"We're just going into the kitchen," I said. "We'll be fine."

I stood in front of a counter and spun around to look at her. It was time.

"Chloe, did you work for Bakermatic before you came to work for me?" I asked.

Now it was her turn to look like she'd just seen a ghost. All the color drained from her face. She shook her head. "No...no, Rachael." Her eyes started to fill with tears and for a moment. I felt sorry for her again.

I had to remain calm and firm. "I know you worked there. Chloe. And I know that you related to the CEO of the company. You're his niece. Simona told me everything."

"Please. Rachael," she started to beg me. "It was never supposed to go this far. Olive was never supposed to die. She was only supposed to get sick."

I shook my head. "So you wanted to make a customer so ill that no one would ever come into my store again? Is that right?"

Chloe looked crestfallen. "It was only supposed to get you a bit of bad publicity. No one was supposed to die."

"But you did want my bakery to shut down, didn't you?"

"Yes," she finally whispered in defeat, her head hanging. "Rachael, for what it's worth, I am sorry." She looked up at me with huge watery eyes. "I am sorry you got hurt in the crossfire."

I was in shock. Even though all the evidence had pointed to Chloe, I'd still been hoping that she might have had a logical explanation for everything. I realized I'd still been holding out hope that Braxton Madison was to blame. It was preferable to being betrayed by someone I'd thought was my real friend.

"I can't believe you did this, Chloe," I said, shaking my head in disbelief and disappointment. "I really, really can't."

"Please," she said, reaching out to grab my arm. "You can't turn me into the police, Rachael."

"Of course I can!" I cried, trying to shake her off me. But she had my arm in a death grip.

"I was being blackmailed," she said, wiping mascara-stained tears from her cheeks with her free hand. "Rachael, I had no choice."

"Of course you had a choice." I managed to shake myself free this time.

She shook her head. "I didn't," she said.

I stared at her. "Who was that woman you tried to poison at Bakermatic? With the chocolate milkshake?"

Her face went white. "Her name was Brooke," she said. "She was...she was the woman that my boyfriend was cheating on me with."

My eyes flew wide open. "And so you tried to kill her?"

She shook her head. "Not kill, no. Just make sick." She looked at me in despair. "But Simona caught me and then I got fired. She didn't know about the poison but my uncle found out what I had done. He said he'd turn me into the police unless I came here and, well..." She looked up at me guiltily. "Used some of my same special skills here. To try and put you out of business. I didn't mean for anyone to die, Rachael!"

She burst into tears and buried her face in her hands.

For a moment, I again felt sorry for her. I even had to fight the urge to go over and hug her, tell her that everything was going to be all right. But I didn't know if it was going to be all right for Chloe. And I kept having to remind myself that she did a terrible, terrible thing. Someone was dead.

And as for my own life, my own career, my bakery? They all seemed like they were over and done for as well. The damage had been done now. The die had been cast.

Chloe took her hands away from her face. It was a total mess of mascara and smeared makeup now. "Come on, Rachael," she whispered. "Let's just let Braxton Madison take the fall for this. He was cheating on his wife. He bought off the witnesses. He's a corrupt politician. He deserves to be punished."

I just stared at her in disbelief. Was she serious? Maybe Pippa was right, maybe the girl really was completely crazy.

"He might deserve to be punished, but he does not deserve to go to jail for a murder he didn't commit," I said firmly.

Chloe stared at me and a dark look came over her face. She grabbed me by the arm and using her free hand, reached out for the knife block. She pulled the biggest knife out of the wood triumphantly, like Arthur retrieving the sword in the stone, and held it up. It caught the light just before she started to bring it down, and I screamed.

"Someone help!" I screeched, yanking my arm free and jumping to the side before the knife pierced my flesh.

Chloe laughed. "There's no one here to help you, Rachael."

"Help!" I called out again, keeping one eye on the blade Chloe still wielded. She was a complete psychopath. "Pippa! Help!"

"Pippa?" Chloe said, turning around just as Pippa ran into the room.

"Rachael!" Pippa cried, then stopped when she saw that Chloe had a knife.

Chloe burst out laughing and took a step towards Pippa. "Funny seeing you here. Finally helping your friend after you abandoned her for months?"

Pippa shook her head as she looked at the blade in terror. She held a hand instinctively over her belly as she backed away.

I gasped. The baby.

I lunged forward and used the full weight of my body to push Chloe onto the ground. The blade fell from her hand and slid across the floor. Pippa quickly reached for it while I sat on Chloe's back. I wasn't sure how long I could hold her, though.

"Quick!" I gasped. "Call the police! Call Jackson!"

Pippa already had her phone to her ear and she winked at me.

"I'm already on it," she said. Then she turned her scowling face towards Chloe. "We're the real team, Chloe, Rachael and I. And thanks to us, you'll be going to prison for a very long time."

* * *

O
ne Week Later

I turned the sign around to "Closed." There was no point having it to open now. It might never be pointed to "Open" again.

Once the door to the bakery was locked, I shoved my hands into my jacket pockets and started the long walk down the street to the bank, where Mr. Brooks was waiting for me to admit defeat.

I was stopped by a figure with a long black ponytail.

Simona. Great. Not exactly the first person I wanted to see right then.

She didn't look very happy to see me either, though.

"I suppose you'll be happy now," Simona said. "You got what you wanted in the end."

"Happy?" I asked with my eyebrows raised in shock. Happy that someone died? Happy that I almost went to prison? What was there to be happy about? "You're going to have to explain that one to me, Simona."

Now it was her turn to raise her eyebrows. "I suppose you haven't heard the news yet then."

"The news?" I shook my head.

"The Belldale branch of Bakermatic is closing down, effective immediately."

I just stared at her. Could this really be true? Bakermatic, gone in a flash? My only true direct competitor, vanished?

A large smile gradually crept over my face. Then I caught the look on Simona's face.

"See?" she said. "I told you you'd be happy. Too bad not all of us have jobs to go to tomorrow," she said pointedly.

She was hurt and she was bitter, but she had reason to be. Simona was never high enough in the Bakermatic food chain to cause any real damage to me. She just managed her own store, and did the best she could. It was never about politics or espionage with her. It was just about getting a regular paycheck.

I felt bad for her, I really did, but the news for me was great. Bakermatic closing would not only be a public admission of guilt over the Olive Styles’ murder, it would also mean that I would be the only bakery on the street. I could stay open. I could march right back into the bank, right up to Mr. Brooks and demand that loan. And I'd get it. I may still have been at rock bottom but the only way was up, and the way ahead was suddenly, unexpectedly clear.

"You know I fired Chloe when I saw that she was up to something dodgy, " Simona said. "I had nothing to do with any of this."