I looked to Rose and she gave me a nod. She was alright for the time being. I turned my attention back to Charles and tried to keep his eyes on me. Mercifully, my phone stopped ringing and I dropped my hands to my sides. “What are you doing here, Charles? Just stopping by, too?”
He cocked his head at me, much like Dogspeare often did when a walk was mentioned. “I need to make sure she’s safe. And that she knows what I did for her and why I did it.”
“What did you do for her, Charles? I know you’re a very good friend to Rose. We all love her very much—” I had tried to shift a little further so his back was fully to the hallway where Logan was waiting but Charles slammed his fist on the small coffee table and Rose and I both jumped.
“No, Coco. No. I love her. More than anything. More than anyone. And Oliver...” His tone changed again and he laughed. “No one misses Oliver. He was a rat and a cheat and he treated his dog as badly as he treated every other woman in his life. I couldn’t stand it. I know Rose couldn’t either.”
I flinched as he spun back to her, seeing Logan barely duck away in time to miss his periphery.
“But the worst was that argument they had. Right in the open, in front of everyone. He was disgusting and vicious and I had to show Rose that she didn’t have to worry about people like that. Ever. That someone that loves her and would do anything for her.” Charles looked to Rose with something that wasn’t quite love in his eyes and brushed her hair from her cheek, heedless to the knife still in his hand.
“I set off the alarm in Sweet’s shop to distract her and I lured Oliver to Pawfectly Groomed. After I took care of him, I put that lens cap there to throw off the police. Plus, Clive’s only a half decent person too, and those stupid letters threatening Oliver would be easy to pin on Clive because they were written all snooty and with a man’s handwriting. Easily could have been Clive, and I could get that nuisance out of the way, too, and make sure no one thought it was me. I just wanted you to know I cared. To know I would help you. Protect you. I want to take care of you, Rose.”
Charles pressed a kiss to the top of Rose’s head and turned back toward me.
Very quickly, Logan came up behind him with his gun drawn and Rose screamed in surprise and fear. Way to let the cat out of the bag Rose. Charles turned and, far more agile than I expected, dove at Logan, hitting him hard in the stomach with his shoulder and laying him out. The gun went off and a shower of plaster exploded from the wall to the right of Rose.
I moved forward and Rose shakily pulled a heavy ceramic dog food dish from underneath a pillow on her lap and frisbeed it the short distance to me. I ran up to the struggling men and slammed the bowl down over Charles’ head.
It shattered and he fell limp on top of Logan. The deputy shoved him off and cuffed him before holstering his gun and jumping up to hug me in relief.
Chapter 29
Logan stayed close to the handcuffed Charles until backup could arrive. I stumbled over to Rose pulling her into a shaky hug.
“I thought I’d lost you,” I said, hugging her even tighter when I realized how badly she was shaking.
“Yeah, that was a close one.” She pulled away reluctantly, both of us smiling, as the dogs jumped around us in delight.
“It looks like Dogspeare is a little worried about his daddy.” I pointed over to where the dog whined, pawing at Charles’ hand to be petted.
“The way you cold-cocked him with that bowl, he’s going to be down for the count for a while.” Rose cocked one eyebrow at me, a smirk on her face. “Have you ever thought of a career in the major leagues?”
“Nah, too much drama for me.” I shot back, grinning from ear to ear, just happy that my friend was alive. Dogspeare was still pawing at Charles' hand, trying to wake him up.
“Here give him one of these,” I said, digging into my pocket, then tossing Logan a dog biscuit.
He caught it in mid-air, then whistled for the pup to come to him. Bending down to give him the treat, he patted the top of his head. “It’s going to be okay big boy.”
He turned to me, a smile on his face. “Dog biscuits in your pocket?”
As if the thought had just hit her, Rose sat up straighter, “You know I’m single, but I’m not that single.” This prompted a round of hysterical laughter from both of us and saved me from having to explain the dog biscuits in my pocket.
“Well, you’re always looking for the perfect catch,” I teased her, unable to stop the giggles that I was sure was a nervous reaction to my best friend almost dying.
“I think I’ll stay single for a while now, thank you very much.” Rose pretended to pout, then glanced over to where Charles was still slumped on the floor. “I kinda feel bad for him.”
“Yeah, he certainly had a few screws loose.” I patted her knee, “You can’t blame yourself though. There’s no way you could have known.”
“In all seriousness though, I’m not sure what we’re going to do with Dogspeare and Candy.” Logan gestured to the two dogs that were now without homes, pulling our thoughts to a new problem.
“I know someone who wants to take Candy. The only problem is going to be Dogspeare.” I grinned, as the aforementioned dog sauntered over to Logan and promptly laid his head on his knee begging for more dog biscuits. “Or maybe not.”
“Oh no, I don’t have time for a pet.” Logan raised his hands in refusal. “I know what you’re thinking.”
Rose and I shared a good laugh at that thought. We both knew Logan was a goner. He just didn’t know it yet. I gave it two hours and Dogspeare would have a new home.
“What are you two laughing at?” Logan pretended to pout, then gave Dogspeare one last pat before getting up.
The sound of sirens wailing in the distance signaled an end to this nightmare. “I guess I better get this guy ready to go to his new home.” He hoisted Charles, who was just coming around, to his feet tugging him towards the door, as the squad cars squealed into the driveway.
Rose wrapped her arms around her middle, looking lost suddenly standing in the middle of the room, the impact of the last few weeks finally starting to hit her.
I wrapped my arm around her waist, noticing she was shaking still. “Come on, you need a nice cup of tea to warm you up and make you feel better.”
“Yes, Mrs. Baker.” She gave me a weak smile but followed me into the kitchen of the safe house. “A good cup of tea can fix anything.”
“Don’t forget a big plate of warm chocolate chip cookies to go along with it.” I teased her, then started digging through the pantry and cabinets for cups and a box of herbal teabags.
After the tea was done, I handed Rose a cup and then sat at the kitchen table cradling my own in my hands. The heat of the cup felt good, making me realize just how shaky I still was myself.
Logan stepped into the kitchen, went to the window, and watched the squad cars drive away. Rose took her cup of tea and wandered back into the living room, making me think she needed to be alone with her thoughts.
“It’s been quite a night hasn’t it.” Logan came over to where I still sat at the table, sinking into the chair across from me for just a moment, rubbing his eyes.
“You look tired. I’ll fix you a cup of tea,” I said, starting to get up.
He put his hand over mine to stop me, causing me to try and hide my blush at his touch. “No tea. I’ll grab a cup of strong black coffee on the way back to the station.”
“You do know you need to keep your nose out of any more cases, right?” He asked, more as a matter of habit than a warning.
“Yeah, yeah, I hear ya,” I teased, then grew serious. “Hopefully, this is the last of these types of cases we have to deal with in our small town. Enough is enough already.”
“Amen to that.” Logan caressed my hand lightly, causing another blush to form, then stood, his chair scraping across the linoleum floor. “Guess I need to head on into the station and book Charles for Oliver’s murder.”
Shaking my head, I followed him into
the living room, still a bit stunned that Charles was the murderer to begin with.
Going over to Rose, who was standing by the window, Logan pulled her in for a light hug. “I’m glad you’re okay and that you were exonerated.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Rose grinned, then returned his hug. “You know I better get front page coverage in the paper to make up for this. “We’ll see what we can do.” Logan teased, giving both women a kiss on the cheek.
Chapter 30
I used some scissors to cut the tape on the box that had been shipped to The Mad Batter. I pulled back the cardboard to reveal Angie’s and my shiny new cookbooks. I pulled one out and held it triumphantly over my head.
“We did it,” I shouted to the rest of the shop.
The Mad Batter was filled with my friends. They all wore party hats and had put up streamers. I told them it wasn’t necessary, but Masie had led the charge on insisting we celebrate the momentous occasion of having an actual, physical copy of my book.
Truthfully, the cover of the book was mostly Angie’s face, and my name was small and at the bottom of the cover. But it was still there. My chest swelled with pride.
Everyone hurried forward to grab a copy. Masie and Rose quickly flipped through the book.
“Coco, this is amazing,” Masie shouted in glee. “All the pictures look so good.”
Stella flipped to the back of the book. “Was I thanked?” she asked.
Vivian chimed in. “If we weren’t you have to let us go on all the exciting murder investigations. You left us out this time.”
Red laughed, and Henry shook his head. “You two are incorrigible,” Henry said.
As we were in the throes of celebrating, the door opened. My quinceañera client, Mrs. Riviera, walked in. I smiled and waved. She waved back and walked over.
“My, Miss Coco, I didn’t realize I was interrupting a celebration,” she said with a laugh. “I just wanted to thank you for that beautiful cake. It was just perfect. With the exception of my beautiful daughter, it was the highlight of the party.”
“Oh, I’m so glad you liked it,” I said. “I was really pleased with how it turned out. And you were right about those flowers! I liked the brighter color much better.”
Scooter walked by with a cupcake I had made to celebrate the release of the book.
“Scooter, will you grab another cupcake for us?” I asked.
“Oh, sure. Oh hey, I remember you,” he said.
She laughed. “You were one of the cake decorators, yes? There was another woman too. Is she here? I want to thank all of you.”
“Oh, unfortunately Laney isn’t working here anymore,” I said.
“Oh, nothing bad I hope.”
“Not at all. She was a great employee. She got a good opportunity working at a five star restaurant as the dessert chef, and she decided to take it. Everyone here wishes her the best, of course.”
Scooter came over and handed over the cupcake. I gave it to our client.
“Oh, I couldn’t,” she insisted. “I just came by to thank you for your stellar work.”
“No, it’s okay, really. We have plenty to go around.”
She took the cupcake, and we said our goodbyes.
I turned around and saw Masie watching Rose organize our whole kitchen.
“I’m surprised you aren’t stopping her,” I said to Masie.
She smiled at me. “Well, after what she’s been through, I think she’s earned this one.”
“Is this going to become a habit?”
Masie held a finger up. “One. She gets one. It’s not my fault she decided to use it now. Don’t worry. I’ll go and mess it all up again when she leaves.”
Stella came over and grabbed my arm.
“So, Coco, you never did tell us how you discovered it was Charles,” she said, leading me over to Henry, Red, and Vivian. It was just like the three of them to always want the latest gossip.
I sat down at their table. They all leaned in to listen to what I had to say.
“Well, go on. Tell us,” Red demanded.
“I can’t believe you all haven’t already figured it out,” Vivian said.
“You know already?” Henry asked.
“Of course. It was so obvious.”
“Well, then what is it?”
“I thought it was Coco we were interrogating. Not me. I don’t want to pull the spotlight from her and spoil the surprise.”
The others sighed and chuckled at Vivian’s antics before turning back to me.
“Well, it had to do with Candy’s dog toys, believe it or not,” I said.
“The toys? Really?” Henry asked. “I suppose I’ve seen stranger things in my career.”
“Well, they were all her favorites. Only someone with that much attention to detail would have known to take those. Then I made the connection to how he had been acting towards Rose and I just knew we had our guy.”
“Exactly,” Vivian continued. “Attention to detail. I knew it all along. Thanks for picking him up for me, Coco.”
“No problem, Vivian,” I said with a laugh.
The door to The Mad Batter opened again. I turned, expecting to see another customer, but instead I saw Logan with a picnic basket and a bouquet of flowers.
I stood up and rushed over to hug him.
“Congratulations, Coco,” he said, hugging me.
“I’m so happy you’re here,” I told him. I let my hug linger for a bit before pulling away.
He held up the picnic basket. “I suppose I shouldn’t interrupt your celebration, but I thought we could have some lunch in the park.”
I turned and looked back to the rest of the shop. Everyone was watching us with smiles on their faces. Even Rose had been pulled away from her organizing long enough to give us a thumbs up.
“Go on, Coco,” Masie said. “We’ll take care of everything here.”
“Okay,” I said, taking the flowers. “Are you ready to go, Logan?”
“I just need one thing first.” He went over and took a copy of the cookbook. “I figure we could do some light reading over lunch.”
I smiled and linked my arm around his. We walked out of the shop and towards the park.
It was a gorgeous day. The sun was warm on my face. I smiled contentedly to myself and looked over to Logan. He smiled back at me.
All in all, things had come together at last.
Don’t miss the next book in the Mad Batter Cozy Mystery Series:
Pound Cake Predator
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Catalog of Books
Old School Diner Cozy Mysteries
Murder at Stake
Murder Well Done
A Side Order of Deception
Murder, Basted and Barbecued
Murder Ala Mode
The Candy Cane Killer
The Blue Plate Slayer
The Grumpy Chicken Irish Pub Series
A Frosty Mug of Murder
Treachery on Tap
A Highball and a Low Blow
Cursed With a Twist
A Whiskey Sour Wipeout
Hops and Homicide
THE HAPPY BLENDINGS Cozy Witch Mystery Series
The Potion Commotion
A Pumpkin Potion Explosion
A Drop in the Potion
A Notion of a Potion
A Deceptive Potion
A Formidable Potion
CALAMITY CORNERS COZY Witch Mystery Series
Calm Before the Witch
Storm
The Witch is in the Details
Better the Witch You Know
A Witch Axe to Grind
A Cauldron of Witch Tricks
TRIPLET WITCH SISTERS Mystery Series
Two’s Company, Three’s a Coven
Resting Witch Face
Bewitched and Bewildered
Triple Toil and Trouble
A Cake Caper Page 11
