I pulled out my cell phone and called Stella. I knew she would be with Vivian. The phone rang a few times before she picked up.
“Hello, Coco,” she said into the phone. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Would you and Vivian be able to do some distracting for me?” I asked, hoping they were available.
“Oh, I think we’re up to the task,” she said. “Distraction is one of our specialties.”
“Great. Agnes has one of her goons blocking the gate to the retirement village, and I need to get in.”
“Oh that is just like her,” she said. “You give some people an inch... Don’t worry, Coco. We’re on it.”
Sure enough, after a few minutes, Stella and Vivian walked up to the entrance to the retirement village, talking loudly. They called out to Agnes' personal assistant and beckoned her over. She walked over to them, and I took my move.
I snuck out of my car and past them into the retirement village. Stella and Vivian were still animatedly arguing, making the perfect distraction.
Admittedly, I wasn’t sure where exactly I needed to go to find Polly. I walked down the street looking for some sort of sign that would lead me to her.
Then, as if my prayers were answered, I saw it. One of the small houses towards the end of the lane had the name Polly over the mailbox.
I had hit the jackpot. I walked up to the front door and knocked. There was no answer. I knocked again and it was the same result.
This was certainly putting some kinks into my master plan. I desperately needed to talk to Polly, and her not being home was not boding well for my investigation.
I decided to take a look around the house. I saw through the sheer curtains near the front door that none of the lights were on. Still, I had to make sure she really wasn’t home.
I snuck around the house, looking for any indication that Polly might be there. I tried to stay low. I was worried that nosy neighbors might think I was some sort of prowler however.
The last thing I needed was the police showing up and causing a big scene. Why did I think it was such a good idea to spy on an old lady? Even if I explained what I was doing truthfully, sneaking around to spy on someone sounds worse than a bunch of lies.
I tried to shake my anxious thoughts away. I needed to focus on getting whatever information I could from Polly.
I ducked around the side of the house and walked towards the backyard. I saw a light through a window shining off of the grass. I could hear Polly talking, but I couldn’t make out the words.
I crouched down even lower than before and slowly made my way over to the lit up window. Even from the low angle, I could see it was her bedroom. Her window was cracked open.
“Oh yes, but you know how Franklin was,” she said. I waited for a response from the other person, but heard none. I realized she must be on the phone.
“Well, it was done before I could do anything,” she argued. Her voice sounded tense. “I left the message like you said, but there was only so much I could do given the circumstances.”
I wondered what sort of circumstances she was talking about. I moved even closer to the window.
“What do you mean I’m not doing my job? I am doing my job,” she exclaimed loudly. Then, she continued much more quietly. “This has been harder than you would think.”
I held my breath as Polly continued to talk. While it sounded like she had nothing to do with his murder, there was certainly something else going on.
“I know. I know. He got close to Clive before I could really do anything. Before I could properly warn him to stay away, he dropped dead.”
There was a long silent pause. “Well, you can look at it that way, or you can see how it is. I don’t know how far he got because I can’t talk to him anymore. I did my best, and it’s your problem if you can’t see it my way.”
Polly was sounding really frustrated. It sounded like neither she nor the person on the other end of the conversation was happy with how things progressed. It seemed like they were upset about more than the murder, however.
“Yes, I know I was sent out here for that purpose. I don’t know what you want me to say. Dead men can tell no tales. He won’t be talking to Clive anymore.”
I could hear her pacing around the room and I saw her shadow pass back and forth over the light on the lawn. “Well, I suppose if that’s how you feel, then there’s nothing more for us to discuss. Goodbye.”
Another light flickered on as Polly left her bedroom. I quickly made my way out of her yard. I didn’t want to be caught listening in on her private conversations.
As I got back to the sidewalk, I reflected on what I had learned. Someone was determined to keep Franklin from talking to Clive, and they were willing to send Polly all the way out here to do it.
Most importantly, unless she was a very convincing actress, I could cross her off of my suspect list. She was clearly involved with some sort of shady dealings, but she wasn’t the killer.
However, there was something that she knew and I didn’t. I was determined to find out what that was.
Chapter 16
As I was on my way out of the village, I was stopped again by Agnes' personal assistant, Zinnia. It seems Vivian and Stella’s distractions wasn’t enough to cover me both times.
“Stop right there,” Zinnia exclaimed. “How did you get in here? What is your business here?”
“Well you see...” I began. My words trailed off as I tried to think up a believable lie. I couldn’t tell her the truth, and I couldn’t say I was with Vivian and Stella. They both shot me an apologetic look.
I was preparing to accept whatever punishment was coming my way when I heard a voice next to me.
“Oh, Coco was with me. Don’t you worry your pretty little head.”
I turned and saw Lorraine Blake standing next to me. She was the retirement village’s nurse, and right now she was also my alibi.
“That’s right,” I said. “I was with Lorraine.”
“I asked her to stop by, and she came right over. Isn’t that sweet? She was helping me with my Valentine’s Day decorations. Her bakery looked so well-decorated. I just had to have her help me make my home just as festive.”
She linked her arm with mine. “We were actually just on our way to the store to pick up a few more things,” Lorraine continued. “We’ll be on our way.”
I waved goodbye to Stella and Vivian as we walked away. I was amazed we weren’t stopped again.
Once we were out of earshot, I turned to Lorraine. “You’re a lifesaver,” I said. “I wouldn’t have been able to get through there without you.”
“Oh it’s no trouble at all. I think it’s so silly that Agnes has people watching our comings and goings.”
“Where are you headed?” I asked. “I’ll walk with you in case they decide to follow.”
“Oh, I really am going to the store,” she said with a laugh. “Running into you happened to be a happy coincidence.”
“Perfect. We can talk about Agnes' latest power-grab along the way.”
“It’s always something with her,” Lorraine said. “If she’s not campaigning for something or another, she’s trying to make up a bunch of rules for everyone.”
“It felt like being back at school. I needed a parent or guardian to sign me out so I could leave,” I said. “I want to say she’s nervous about the killer still being at large, but really I think the power just got to her head.”
Lorraine nodded. “That sounds like our Agnes. I think she’s trying to put on a show too. She thinks it will get her a better position.”
“The only thing that could make everything worse right now is Agnes getting her hands on more political power. It’s bad enough that she’s turned running the senior center into a dictatorship.”
“Isn’t that awful? Instead of focusing on real issues, she’s instituting martial law.”
“Has she enlisted anyone else to help her with her plans?” I asked.
“As a matter of
fact, she has,” Lorraine said. “You know, she enlisted Clive into her little schemes. She knew he was talking to Franklin. She hoped it would bring attention to the village and therefore help her rise in society. Isn’t she an odd bird?”
My mind started to whirl with possibilities. It seems that Agnes was involved with this ever-thickening plot.
As I thought about what this could mean, we arrived at the front of the store.
“I really can’t thank you enough for your help back there,” I said. “And I hope you don’t mind, but I’d rather keep it between us that I wasn’t actually visiting you. Is there anything I can do for you in return?”
“Oh, Coco, you don’t have to do anything for me. I’m sure you would have done the same for anyone else. Someone has to stand up to Agnes.”
“I can’t even offer you some fresh baked cookies?”
She thought for a moment. “Why don’t you reserve me one of your famous chocolate cupcakes on Valentine’s day? Since it will be free, I can pretend I have a handsome beau who bought it for me.”
“You got it,” I said. “One chocolate cupcake will be waiting for you on Valentine’s Day. And, really, thank you again for everything.”
She smiled brightly at me. “It’s really no trouble at all, Coco. I’ll see you on Valentine’s Day.”
I waved goodbye to Lorraine and made my way back to where I parked Daisy. The whole way there, I couldn’t help but think about what I overheard with Polly and what Lorraine told me.
It seemed that more people were involved with Franklin talking to Clive than I had originally anticipated. Polly and Agnes seemed to be situated on opposite sides of the issue.
On one side, Polly was clearly sent here to stop Franklin from talking to Clive. I had learned at least that much from her strange phone call. I wondered who was on the other end of the call.
What did this mysterious figure want? Did Franklin have some dirt on powerful people? I couldn’t imagine what would be so important that they would have to send Polly out here.
And then there was Agnes. I wondered how aware she was of what was really going on. Did she know about Polly? Did she know who sent Polly?
I wanted to believe that Agnes was ignorant to most of this and her motivations were simply that she wanted to obtain more power in the community.
However, even if this was her true motivation, it didn’t mean she wasn’t capable of doing truly horrible things. But it seemed that she wanted the expose to come to light. It wouldn’t make sense for her to be the one that harmed Franklin.
I couldn’t believe that there was so much turmoil. It all seemed to be caused by Franklin. Maybe he had an interesting life, but his death was making that interesting life seem more and more complicated.
I had to wonder if Franklin’s book was really worth killing over.
Chapter 17
As soon as I got home, I called Stella and Vivian. They immediately put me on speakerphone.
“Oh, Coco, we were so worried,” said Vivian as soon as she answered. “I’m truly sorry that we weren’t able to hold her attention longer.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “It all worked out. It’s Agnes' fault for having that patrol going. I know she’s in charge of the senior center, but I have a feeling that’s not one of her listed duties.”
“If you ask her, her duties include everything under the sun,” Stella interjected. “She’d make rules for the whole country if they’d let her.”
“Luckily they don’t,” I said. “And extra luckily, Lorraine managed to get me out of there without too much trouble. I ended up walking her to the store after that, but I’m home now.”
“Did she give you any good gossip?” Vivian asked. “Medical gossip is especially interesting.”
“No medical gossip, but she did mention Agnes and Franklin actually. Do you guys know anything about that?”
“All we really know is that Agnes likes to put rules into effect just to feel powerful,” Stella said.
I took the phone with me to my bedroom and got into bed. Rose’s cat immediately jumped up on my chest and curled up. Her purring and warmth was making me feel sleepy.
“Is that all you guys have heard?”
“I’m afraid so, Coco. I’m sorry we can’t give you better information. It sounds like Lorraine gave you something to go off of at least.”
“She did. I just hope I get more soon.”
I could hear Vivian yawn in the background. “It’s late,” I said. “I’ll let you two go.”
I said good night to both of them before drifting off to sleep.
When I woke up, I felt groggy, but I knew I had a busy day ahead of me. It was the day before Valentine’s Day, and I knew I would be slammed even with Masie and Scooter back.
When I arrived at The Mad Batter, I found a record number of orders in our system. I felt my stomach drop. I wondered how on earth I was going to get through all of them.
I did my best to prepare all of the orders. However, I felt like I was barely making a dent in the work. It didn’t help to calm my fears that our regular supply was being worked through by customers as well.
I was always happy when The Mad Batter was doing well, but I didn’t know how I was going to keep up. Luckily I had Masie at the front of the store to handle customers.
I was half way through piping a rose onto a petit four when I heard Simon’s voice.
“Hello,” he said. “I have an order for Simon Abernathy.”
I peeked through the doorway. He was standing next to a woman who was holding onto his arm. She looked to be around his age. Her gray hair was in a braid over her shoulder.
Masie came to the back. “Is your order for Simon Abernathy ready?” She asked.
I grabbed the cake box and handed it to her. “It’s right here,” I said. “Listen Masie, I need you to keep him talking for a while. Try to work Franklin into the conversation.”
Masie’s face broke out in a mischievous grin. “You can count on me,” she said, practically skipping back to the front. Masie did enjoy her recognizance missions.
“One cake for Simon Abernathy and his lovely lady,” she said. I listened to their conversation from the back room.
“I suppose I should introduce you two,” Simon said. “This is my girlfriend Emma.”
“Oh, it’s so nice to meet you,” Masie said. “Is this cake for you? You’ll just love it.”
“I suppose it’s a cake for both of us,” said Simon. “Now that all of our barriers are out of the way, we’ll be moving in together.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful news. Congratulations.”
“Yes, we’re very excited. We’re looking forward to the future. No more looking behind us. We’re only looking ahead.”
Simon’s comments seemed odd to me. Could he have been talking about Franklin?
“Speaking of looking behind us, I was sorry to hear that you and Franklin were close. It has to be hard losing a friend like that.”
“Well, if I’m being honest, Frank was kind of a dog. He tried to steal Emma from me when he knew we were in a relationship. Honestly, that was the last straw for me. I was worried about his partying ways for a long time, but I couldn’t handle it anymore.”
“Oh, that must have been so hard.”
“It was, but like I said, there’s no point in looking back. There’s only looking ahead from now on.”
“Well, you know what they say. Love conquers all. Oh, I just remembered that we have some cookies that say that. Here, let me get you some. On the house.”
I wondered to myself if Simon could have killed Franklin over him trying to steal his girlfriend. People have done extreme things for love before.
After Simon and Emma left, I went to talk to Masie at the front of the store. She sighed dreamily.
“Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a great romance like that?”
“Yeah,” I said. “It sounds nice enough.”
She gave me a small smile. “I really do l
ike Mark. Even though I’m divorcing him, I really like him. Isn’t that a shame?”
“Sometimes we have to separate the things we want from what we can do. I wish I could work on this case with Logan.”
“Why don’t you?”
I shrugged. “He’s a detective. A real one. He has to keep these things separate.”
“I suppose so. I guess we’re just destined to not have these things work out for us.”
I thought about Logan. He was the only man I wanted.
“It will work for us,” I told her. “I know it will.”
Chapter 18
There was no avoiding how swamped we were with orders even though I was part way through a murder investigation. After Simon left, I had to go back to getting everything ready, but Franklin’s murder still weighed on my mind.
As I worked through making the orders for Valentine’s Day, I became more and more convinced I knew who the killer was. There was only one person with a clear motivation.
I knew that Henry and Red were still due to drop by. When they did, I was going to confront them about what they knew about Simon.
When they arrived and sat down in their favorite seats, I came out from the back with some red velvet cupcakes and a mission.
“You were ready for us,” Red said with a laugh. He took his cap off and placed it on the table in front of him. I pulled up a seat to sit with them.
“Truthfully, I have a few questions to ask you two,” I said.
“What can we help you with, Coco?” Henry asked.
“Well, I overheard earlier that the reason why Franklin and Simon stopped being friends was because of a conflict over Simon’s girlfriend.”
“Oh yes, that’s true,” Henry said.
“Yeah, Franklin got jealous there for a while,” Red commented. “I don’t know if he actually liked Emma. I suspect that he didn’t. He just wanted to show the world that he had more charm than his old friend.”
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