Bakery Detectives Cozy Mystery Boxed Set: Books 7 - 9

by Stacey Alabaster

  "The whole wild goose chase with Callum?" My next words were bleak. "I think Harrison is the one who did it. I think he's done something with Angel. And he is trying desperately to cover his tracks."

  Chapter 9

  Simona glared at me through the front window as I approached the bakery. I was getting used to people glaring at me through windows. I tried to ignore it and pressed on through the door, giving her a bright smile. "How has everything been going here?" I asked.

  She had her arms folded across her chest. "You mean, how have things been going while you've abandoned me for three days, to run the store on my own?"

  My mouth fell open a little. For one thing, we'd been closed for two of those days. For a second thing, I really didn't expect to get so much attitude from an employee I'd only just hired. "I'm sorry," I started to say but Simona interrupted me.

  "I'm not getting paid a manager's salary, Rachael. It isn't fair to lump all this extra responsibility on me while only paying me the wage of a casual employee."

  I gulped. She was right. I nodded and took a deep breath. "Pippa will be finished working soon. She's trying to pretend she's still fit to work, but I can tell she's not. She needs time off. I want you to be assistant manager, Simona."

  She pursed her lips and looked to the side like she was considering it. She clearly wasn't ready to jump at the offer and from the look on her face, she had other demands. She was about to speak, but my phone rang. I held up a finger. "One second."

  It was Harrison.

  "Actually," I said, ending the call. "I have plenty of time."

  Simona still had a pouty look. "I still get paid extra for the past week though, all the extra hours I've worked, I get paid a manager's rate for that, right?"

  I took a deep breath and nodded slowly. "Yes, of course. You've earned it." Though your attitude could have been much better.

  I walked behind the counter and put my apron on, glancing at the safe. Pippa and I had never needed to go on our road trip after all. And we wouldn't, now that I was handing the case over to the police. I'd have to remember to put the money back.

  "Well, I'm back for the day and here to work," I said to Simona as I straightened up.

  "Good," she said. "Because I need the afternoon off."

  Customers came in but I took a step back. As much as I was trying to focus, my mind was still somewhere else. Why was I avoiding making the call to the cops? If I truly believed that Harrison was behind his own daughter's disappearance, then it should have been an easy decision.

  But there was a thought stabbing me at the back of my mind. What if someone else really is sending those texts to Harrison? What if they really will hurt Angel if the police get involved?

  "Rachael!? Hello? Is there anyone alive in there?" Simona's voice. I blinked.

  "Huh?"

  "This customer," she whispered angrily, trying to keep a smile on her face as she side-nodded to a lady standing on the other side of the counter, "wants to know if we have any raisin bread in stock today. You know, the one we are advertising in the window as being our spring specialty?"

  I blinked and shook my head slowly. I'd neglected to order the raisins. I'd also neglected to bake the bread. "Sorry," I said quickly. "We've been having some stock issues."

  The lady tutted loudly and hurried out of the store. "You shouldn't advertise it if you don't have it."

  I let out a groan as soon as she was out of the store. "I really need to get back on track," I moaned.

  Simona raised her eyebrows. "You're telling me." She looked at her watch. "I've got to leave in half an hour, just to warn you."

  "Yeah, yeah, that's fine."

  I reached under the counter for the folder that contained all our supplier numbers and reached for the landline to make the call about the raisins, but it started ringing before I got the chance to make the call. I blinked at it a few times.

  "Aren't you going to answer that?" Simona called out.

  "Yes, of course I am." I picked up the receiver. "Hello, Rachael's Boutique Bakery," I answered cheerily, in my best business owner voice. "This is Rachael speaking."

  "Rachael. Why aren't you answering your cell phone?"

  My face turned stony. I wanted to hang it up, but Simona was watching me. I couldn't set a bad example in front of her. She needed to learn a few things about professionalism herself.

  I tried to keep my voice light and breezy as I replied to Harrison. "What can I help you with?" My teeth were gritted though. I wished Simona wasn't there staring at me. Didn't she have an appointment to get to or something?

  "Why aren't you answering your cell?"

  "I must have misplaced it," I said, still casting an eye at Simona, willing her to go out the back, to the kitchen or the office, just anywhere else. Why was she so interested in what I was doing, anyway?

  "Yeah, right," Harrison replied. "Don't you realize what is at stake, Rachael? I hired you to find my daughter."

  Yeah, I thought, I do know what is at stake. You've done something to your daughter and you don't want to get caught, so you've concocted a story.

  I needed to get off the phone. There was someone else I needed to be speaking to. I had to phone Detective Whitaker. I was about to hang up on him—Simona watching or not—but then he spoke again.

  "It's Anna."

  "What about Anna?" I asked. I saw Simona's eyebrow rise up. She knew I wasn't speaking to a customer or a supplier. "What's wrong with Anna?"

  "She's missing as well." Harrison stopped to swallow audibly. "Well, not missing. Not officially. I was speaking to her mother down at the shops earlier. She hasn't been seen since the day that Angel disappeared."

  "Well, has her mother spoken to the police?" Okay, now Simona's mouth was wide open. How was I going to explain this to her?

  "That's the thing," Harrison explained. "She doesn't think Anna is missing, per se. She just hasn't seen her in days. She's not worried and I didn't want to upset her. I made my excuses and got out of the shop. But she—Melissa, that is, Anna's mom—was telling me that Anna hasn't been home since Tuesday night. That's the same night that Angel went missing. You don't think that's just a coincidence, do you, Rachael?"

  I was still trying to take this all in. No, I didn't think it was a coincidence.

  "Rachael?"

  "I'll come up and meet you at your house," I said quietly. "Half an hour. Just wait."

  I hung up and took off my apron. Simona's mouth was wide open and she was shaking her head. "No... No way, Rachael. I can't work this afternoon."

  "Please, Simona," I begged. "I wouldn't ask if this wasn't an emergency."

  She crossed her arms. "What is going on?" she demanded.

  "I can't tell you," I said bluntly, throwing my apron onto the bench behind the counter. "It's sort of a need-to-know situation, Simona."

  "Well, if you want me to cover for you again, then I need to know!"

  I turned around, just as I was about to leave through the kitchen door. "Do you want this job or not, Simona?" I asked. I hadn't meant to snap but her attitude was just too much for me at that moment.

  She pouted a little. "Yes," she muttered.

  I sighed. "I promise this will be the last time, Simona. And I'm sorry you have to miss your plans this afternoon. I'll make it up to you."

  I called Pippa and told her what had happened and that I was headed home to get her. She met me on the doorstep as soon as she heard my car pull in. Her eyes were wide. "So, this person that kidnapped Angel...they have Anna as well?"

  I shook my head. "No, Pippa, think about it. Anna is the one who has Angel."

  She didn't look too well and this news only seemed to make her greener. "Would she really do something like that?"

  "I think I'd better find out." I pulled my phone out of my coat pocket. "Harrison? I'm not coming to your house after all." I had to pause for a moment and pull the phone away from my ear while Harrison started to go off at me. "Hey, listen to me, will you?" I interrupted him
. "I think I should go straight to Anna's mom's house. Melissa, isn't it? What is her address? Okay, just text it to me. Yes, I will be careful not to say too much to her. Calm down, Harrison. Goodbye."

  I shook my head and looked up at Pippa. "That's it," she said. "I'm coming with you." She ran back into the house to get her own coat. I knew I should object, I could see that she really wasn't feeling well, but I did want her to come with me. I didn't know what I was going to find at Anna's house, and I wanted Pippa for back-up.

  We passed Harrison Styles’ house and kept driving. I knew we were going too fast to see anything, but I could have sworn I saw his eyes staring at me through the window.

  Anna's mother, Melissa Burges, lived much closer to the top of the hill at Belldale Heights. I'd already figured out that the richer and more prestigious you were, the higher up the hill you lived. Olive Styles' mansion had been right at the top when she had been alive. Now Angel lived at the bottom, with her father.

  Still, even the houses at the bottom of the community were ten times nicer than the house Pippa and I lived in.

  "Remember, Pippa, we've got to be careful. Don't mention Angel, or give away anything that suggests that Anna might have Angel. Whether it's a bluff or not, whoever is texting Harrison is threatening to hurt Angel if any of this gets out. And we can't take that chance."

  She nodded. "Got it," she said firmly.

  We pulled up beside a car that clearly belonged to Anna. It had all the interior decor of a teenage girl's car, with its flowery car seats and cartoon air freshener hanging from the window. It was still far nicer than mine. I stopped the car and looked at Melissa Burges' house. I squinted, trying to figure out what was 'wrong' with it. It had too many windows, maybe that was it. The entire bottom floor was just glass. Plenty of room for people to stand there and stare back out at me.

  And there was Melissa, sitting at her dining room table and reading a magazine. It was so bright inside her house that she had sunglasses on to read. She looked up at us in surprise as we approached the door.

  I didn't fully have my cover story prepared but I improvised. "Hey there! We're friends of Anna's!" I did my best to sound youthful and cheery. Pippa and I were both in our mid-twenties, but maybe, in the right light, we could still pass for teenagers.

  Melissa looked like her daughter, thin with long blonde hair. She had her eyes focused on Pippa's belly. "You're friends of my daughter's?" she asked, aghast.

  Maybe that hadn't been the best plan. Melissa Burges didn't look like the kind of woman who approved of teenage girls being pregnant. Or hanging out with those that were.

  Maybe Pippa should have just stayed at home.

  "Is Anna home?" I asked, my voice more serious this time.

  "Why are you asking?" she asked, suspicious.

  "I'm a friend of hers. I just wanted to see if she wanted to grab a coffee."

  "I've never seen you before in my life. I know all of Anna's friends."

  I looked at her heavily. "Do you know Angel Styles?"

  She frowned. "Of course I do. She's Anna's best friend."

  "Have they seen much of each other lately?"

  She let out a heavy sigh. "I'm not sure what business this is of yours." But after a few seconds, she answered anyway, reluctantly. "They haven't been speaking much recently. I think they had a fight. You know what teenage girls are like."

  She said it in a way that made it clear that she didn't believe that we were teenage girls.

  I cleared my throat. "So can I see Anna?" I asked. "I've really been wanting to catch up with her...thought I'd surprise her. I'm sure she'll be happy to see me!" Surely Melissa couldn't be as overprotective a parent as Harrison Styles was. Surely she would let her eighteen-year-old daughter have visitors, even ones she didn't "approve" of.

  "Anna isn't here," she said simply. "I'm not really sure where she is."

  At least we were finally getting somewhere.

  "When was the last time you saw Anna?" I hadn't meant to slip back into detective mode so quickly. I had planned to act the part of the disappointed friend. But I couldn't help myself. I'd turned serious and Melissa could sense it.

  Melissa looked confused. "I...I guess it was a few days ago. That's nothing unusual, though. She's often with her boyfriend, Ricky."

  "Ricky?" I asked. Huh. So, Callum Jones definitely wasn't Anna's boyfriend then. "It's important," I said. "When did you last see Anna? What day was it?"

  "I suppose it was Tuesday evening."

  The same night that Angel had been kidnapped. Just as Harrison had said. I realized, suddenly, that I hadn't completely believed him until I heard Melissa confirm it.

  "You haven't seen her at all since then?" I asked firmly.

  Melissa shook her head. "Who are you, really?" she asked.

  "We're just friends of Anna's," I replied quickly. "We haven't heard much from her this week is all."

  "Well, I haven't seen her. She's been in contact with me, though," Melissa said. "She's sent me texts. Is something wrong?" She looked at me like I might have the answer.

  I shook my head. "I'm sure Anna is safe," I said. "Can we come in for a moment?" I nodded towards Pippa. "She needs to use the bathroom. You know, pregnancy and all."

  Melissa sighed but nodded and let us in. "Use the one on the bottom floor," she said. "It's just around the corner."

  "I'd better go with her," I said to Melissa. "She doesn't like to be left alone in strange houses."

  Melissa shook her head. "Okay, whatever."

  I pulled Pippa into the bathroom and told her my plan. "Right, as soon as we come out of here, you need to distract Melissa."

  "With what?"

  I shrugged. "I don't know...mom stuff. You're both mothers, aren't you? Ask her about pregnancy stuff."

  Pippa shook her head. "All right, all right." She looked at me pointedly.

  "What?" I asked.

  "Are you going to get out of here? I really do need to use the bathroom."

  "Right. Okay. Bye."

  I wandered back into the hall and found Melissa there, waiting for me. "Where is Anna's room?" I asked her.

  "Upstairs," she said casually.

  "The second or third floor?"

  She looked at me suspiciously. "The second. Why are you so interested?"

  "It's just that she has a few books of mine...school books. I thought I might be able to get them back."

  Melissa just stared at me. "I don't believe you really go to school with my daughter. Look, I don't know who you are, but as soon as your friend is done in the bathroom, I need you to leave my house."

  It was going to suck when Pippa was no longer pregnant. It was a good excuse to get into people's houses and get out of trouble.

  Maybe I'll just have her stuff a basketball up there once she's given birth, I thought, while we waited for Pippa to emerge.

  "Oww!"

  Pippa came tumbling back into the hallway grabbing at her stomach. Melissa looked alarmed and I was as well for a second until Pippa gave me the subtlest of winks. Right. This was the distraction.

  "Are you okay?" Melissa asked, rushing over to Pippa, who was doubled over.

  She let out a weak laugh. "I think I just need to sit down for a bit. Is there anywhere upstairs that I could lay down?" She gave me another wink.

  Melissa sighed. "Yes. There's a spare bedroom." She didn't sound the least bit pleased about it but she was hardly going to throw a pregnant woman in pain out onto the street.

  Melissa helped Pippa up the stairs while I followed behind, uninvited, of course, but I figured that Melissa wasn't going to expect me just to wait in the car.

  We passed a room that clearly belonged to Anna. Even from the outside, I could see the walls lined with photographs of her, and plenty featuring Angel as well.

  There was a spare room right next to it and, thankfully, that was where Melissa deposited Pippa, onto a freshly made single bed with a blue bedspread. I shot Pippa a look, a meaningful one that was supp
osed to say, keep her occupied.

  Pippa cried out in mock pain again just before Melissa was about to leave the room. "What is it? Maybe you should be in the hospital instead. Should I call an ambulance?"

  Uh-oh. We might have overdone it.

  Pippa shook her head. "No," she said. "I think...I think I've just been a bit stressed." She looked up at the ceiling with a pained expression on her face. "I'm just worried about everything." She looked at Melissa with a little pout. "Did you go through this before you became a mother for the first time?"

  Melissa nodded a little and her face softened as she made her way over to where Pippa was laying.

  I winked at Pippa and backed out of the room, heading straight for Anna's bedroom. I knew I didn't have long.

  I snuck into the room and started riffling though the drawers while Pippa kept Melissa occupied on the other side of the wall.

  I didn't have much time, but I grabbed what I could, hiding it in my coat pockets and slammed the drawer shut, cringing at the sound it made. I hoped that Pippa was speaking loudly on the other side of the wall.

  I exited and found Melissa standing there, looking at me in a way I'd become very familiar with. Simona, Harrison, Callum, Drew... They had all looked at me with very similar faces recently. I wasn't making a lot of friends that week.

  "What were you doing in there?" Melissa's face was full of shock and distrust.

  I saw Pippa hobble out of the room behind her. I gave her a little nod and she nodded back at me. "I'm feeling a lot better!" she called out. "Thanks for letting me rest, Melissa!"

  Melissa turned back to Pippa in shock. "I thought you were..."

  I started to hurry down the stairs before Melissa turned back to me. "Hey, you still haven't explained what the heck you were doing in my daughter's room!"

  "Got lost! Gotta go!" I said. We both bolted down the stairs and ran through the foyer to the front door.

  "Hey! Who the heck are you two? If you come back here, I am calling the police! I ought to call them right now!''

  I pulled the door shut and sprinted to the car.