Changing Fortune Cookies

by P. D. Workman

  Erin shook her head. “Everything is fresh, Mrs. Peach. I don’t sell day-olds unless it’s labeled that way.”

  “You never know,” Mrs. Peach advised. She paid for her purchases with cash money and left, wobbling a little, but perfectly capable of carrying her own bags.

  In a few minutes, the bakery was empty of customers. It was the lull between lunch and school letting out, so it would likely stay just a trickle until parents started to arrive to pick up their children from school.

  “Can you believe Melissa?” Vic whispered. “I can’t believe that she would be so… blatant about spreading her speculations around. And she and Mary Lou used to be best of friends. I can’t believe she’s spreading that garbage around about Joshua not really being missing and that Campbell is… some kind of drug lord now. Why don’t they fire her?”

  Terry had complained more than once about how Melissa gossiped and spread around the information she learned while working at the police department.

  “I don’t know why they don’t do anything about it,” she admitted. “It isn’t like they don’t know. There must be other people they could hire in her place.”

  “They have a duty to keep things confidential,” Vic said, shaking her head. “What if Mary Lou sued them for spreading stuff around?”

  Erin nodded. She liked Melissa. But the police department really should do something about her. It was getting more and more blatant.

  “I’m going to put together a basket for Mrs. Foster. You can handle things out here?”

  Vic looked around pointedly at the lack of customers. “I don’t know, Erin. You really want me to just jump into the deep end like this?”

  Erin grinned at her and went into the kitchen.

  The Foster family was growing. The new baby would be number five. That was a lot of work for a mom. She would be tired and sore after the baby came—she was undoubtedly tired and sore waiting for the event—and it would be nice if Erin could help her out a little bit. A few care baskets for those initial weeks, so that Mrs. Foster didn’t have to spend as much time on her feet and running around town.

  And Erin secretly hoped—maybe not so secretly—that she would be able to repair the rift between herself and Mrs. Foster. And she would start bringing Peter and the other children to the bakery again. Erin loved little Peter especially. He was very mature and well-spoken, advocating for himself and his celiac disease. Maybe arguing a bit too much with his mother, who was doing the best she could to ensure that he was both safe and polite and respectful. It wasn’t an easy thing for anyone raising kids in the present state of the world. Erin didn’t know if it were something she would ever take on herself.

  She packed bread and muffins, bagels, cookies, and some of the granola bars that Peter particularly liked for school. It was hard for a kid who was so sensitive to gluten. Before Erin had opened Auntie Clem’s Bakery, he had been limited to less-than-stellar loaves of commercial gluten-free bread from the grocer and boxes of stale gluten-free cookies. If the grocery store didn’t get anything in, Mrs. Foster would have to drive into the city to pick up what she needed. Or make something from scratch. Not easy for a mom of four. But otherwise, Peter had to avoid baked products altogether.

  Since the opening of Auntie Clem’s Bakery, Peter had been able to explore a whole new world of gluten-free baked goods. Erin was his new best friend.

  But Mrs. Foster was understandably wary of her son getting so close to a stranger. She taught him about boundaries, but Peter was inclined, like any other little boy, to break the rules when he was out of his mother’s sight and hearing. An observant little fellow, he had provided key clues to a couple of important police investigations lately. Something that would have been commendable in an adult, but Peter’s being interviewed by the police had produced considerable anxiety for his parents.

  And Mrs. Foster blamed Erin for that anxiety. If she hadn’t said anything to the police…

  Erin sighed as she wrapped everything carefully. It was depressing to have so many of the Bald Eagle Falls parents upset with her.

  Unlike Peter, many of the other children had not just been witnesses.

  Erin breathed slowly in and out as she looked at the Foster house. She hadn’t been there before. She wasn’t surprised to find the lawn littered with children’s ride ’em toys, the paint peeling from the siding and porch railings, and the gardens somewhat overgrown. People in Bald Eagle Falls were not wealthy, and having that many young children was enough to overwhelm any mother.

  Willie looked over the seat into the back of the king cab, raising his brows at Erin. “We’re here.”

  His face was reassuring. She remembered how leery she had been of him when she had first arrived in Bald Eagle Falls and he had offered to help her with her groceries. She had taken him for a dirty homeless man. She hadn’t known back then that his skin was perhaps permanently stained by the mining and processing he did on his own. Now that she knew him, she didn’t even notice. It was only brought to her attention when other people saw him for the first time and treated him like a second-class citizen.

  “Yeah. I’ll just be a minute.”

  Erin still didn’t move. She knew what she needed to do, but she was nervous of the reception she would get. Mrs. Foster wasn’t expecting her and might not be happy to see her, even if she was there bearing gifts.

  Vic gave Erin a reassuring smile. “Just this one thing, and then you can go home to Terry and relax for the evening.”

  Erin nodded. She took one more deep breath, pushed the anxiety away as best she could, and climbed down out of the truck. She rang the doorbell, listening for the sound of the bell on the other side of the door so that she would know it worked and she didn’t have to knock or press it again. She heard children playing, a dog barking, and footsteps approaching the door.

  There was a scuffle and some yelling, Peter’s voice over the girls’, insisting that he was in charge and they had to let him answer the door. Then the doorknob turned and Peter peeked cautiously around the door.

  His face broke into a grin. “Miss Erin!” He pulled the door open the rest of the way. The little girls stood back and looked out at Erin, uncharacteristically quiet.

  Erin smiled back at Peter. It was good to see him again. But she knew she wasn’t supposed to be visiting with him. “Is your mom available?”

  “She’s having a nap,” Peter informed her.

  If she had slept through the sound of the doorbell and the children fighting to see who got to answer the door. Erin was surprised that Mrs. Foster hadn’t been right behind the children.

  She was surprised that the children were allowed to answer the door while Mrs. Foster was lying down. Or maybe they weren’t supposed to.

  “I brought some things from the bakery.” Erin handed the basket to Peter. “You put that in the kitchen and none of you open it. It’s for your mom.”

  Peter took the basket and peered at the goodies through the plastic wrap. “But this isn’t all for Mom,” he protested. “It’s for me.”

  “I don’t want you eating cookies or anything else before dinner and ruining your appetite. You aren’t to open it until your mother says so.”

  Peter opened his mouth to argue with her. He could negotiate like a lawyer. Erin raised her finger at him, trying to look stern.

  “Peter. You listen, or I’m not going to bring any more. You aren’t to open it. Your mom will open it when she wants to.”

  Peter rolled his eyes and shook his head a little, giving Erin attitude. “I wouldn’t ruin my appetite. Mom says I have a hollow leg. I’m always hungry.”

  “No arguments. You aren’t allowed to open it.”

  “But if Mom says. Then I can.”

  She could just see him sneaking into her darkened bedroom and whispering to her as she was in a state between sleeping and waking, trying to get her to say yes to him so that he could open the basket of goodies.

  “When she’s up from her nap and wide awake. Then if sh
e says you can. Until she’s up, you’re not allowed.”

  Peter huffed, but he couldn’t hide a little smirk from her, acknowledging that she was on to him. “Okay,” he said with a note of exasperation. “Fine.”

  Chapter 10

  She felt much lighter with the job out of the way. Now, as Vic had said, she could go home and relax for the rest of the evening.

  She opened the front door quietly, not wanting to wake Terry up. She walked in and closed it behind her, punching the security code into the burglar alarm so it wouldn’t start shrieking. Terry was not sleeping on the couch in front of the TV. That was a good sign. If he’d been restless or had a migraine, that was usually where she would find him.

  Orange Blossom jumped down from the back of the couch, yowling at her. Erin picked him up and cuddled him and asked him about his day. He was eager to tell her all about it. She had been astonished when she had first rescued him, at how loud he was. She was used to it now, and he wasn’t quite as noisy now that he was no longer a kitten but a more mature, settled adult. But she still winced at how loud he was when Terry was sleeping.

  “Let’s get you a treat and put something in the oven,” she whispered to Orange Blossom. “Then maybe you’ll be quiet so that Terry can sleep.”

  But as she got Orange Blossom’s can of treats out of the pantry and grabbed a couple of cans of food to make them some supper, Erin could hear Terry moving around and K9’s dog tags jingling in the bedroom in the far corner of the house.

  In a few minutes, he wandered into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes.

  “Hey,” Erin greeted. She kissed him when he got close enough and searched his face for signs of how he was feeling. Had she woken him up too early? Had he gotten in a few solid hours of sleep before she had arrived home? “How was your sleep?”

  Terry nodded. “Not bad. How was your day at work?”

  “Fine. The usual. Except, of course…” she trailed off.

  Terry waited, not contributing his own details.

  “We heard about Joshua’s disappearance,” Erin told him.

  Terry nodded. His arms were still around her body, resting and holding her casually close to him. “I figured you would by the end of the day.”

  “It’s so terrible for Mary Lou,” Erin said. “I wish that everything would just go right for her. Joshua would get on track, Campbell would come back home or at least get himself straightened out, and they would find something that would work for Roger. For her to have to deal with all of this stuff, one thing on top of another, it’s just not fair.”

  “Tell that to Joshua,” Terry said, shaking his head.

  “You don’t really think that it’s just a prank, do you? When Mel—when I heard that—I just couldn’t believe it. Joshua wouldn’t do something like that to his mother. He loves her. He’s good to her. He tries to help her out and to do the things she wants him to. He wouldn’t do something like this.”

  “We don’t know yet. There isn’t a lot of evidence one way or another.”

  “You don’t think he wrote that note himself.”

  Terry grimaced. He sat down at the table. “I can’t really say what I think or discuss any details about the evidence. Let’s just say… we have yet to establish that a crime has been committed.”

  “But you are looking for Josh, right? You’re not just blowing it off.”

  “Anything that involves minor children needs to be taken very seriously. Yes, we do end up having to deal with pranks, especially with kids Joshua’s age. We’re not just blowing it off… you know I was investigating all night and most of the morning today. I wasn’t just going through the motions.”

  Erin nodded. She busied herself with opening cans and trying to pull together something that would be both tasty and good for them. Baking was her forte; she was not as good with the main course, especially when it was just the two of them at the end of a long day at the bakery.

  “I know. I didn’t mean that you’re not doing what you’re supposed to. I’m just saying that… if you start with the wrong assumption, you might go the wrong direction.”

  “Investigative bias,” Terry agreed. “I know. We try to be careful of that.”

  Erin didn’t say anything for a few minutes. She wanted to know all of the details of the investigation, but she had to be just as careful about what she asked as he did about what he revealed to her.

  “Do the police really think that he might have written the note himself?”

  “It’s a possibility.”

  “He wouldn’t do that.”

  “I have to look at all the possibilities. It is possible he wrote it himself. It’s also possible that someone else wrote it, either trying to imitate his writing or just someone with similar writing. It’s not a very big sample. Not a lot of points to compare. And kids these days… they don’t handwrite anything. It’s all on the computer. So there aren’t a lot of samples of Joshua’s handwriting to make a comparison.”

  “You haven’t asked me if I know where he is.” Erin turned from her pots and leaned against the counter, looking at him.

  “Come sit down.”

  She joined him at the table. Terry took her hand.

  “Do you know where Joshua Cox is?”

  Erin shook her head. “No.”

  “How did you know what the note said? Melissa?”

  “I don’t reveal my sources,” Erin said with a smile. He could interpret that as he liked. He would probably assume that she was trying to protect Melissa. Not that she was trying to avoid telling him anything that was Mary Lou’s business. Mary Lou had apparently not told him that she had talked to Erin and Vic about it a full day before talking to the police. And if Mary Lou didn’t tell them that, Erin couldn’t very well reveal it. That would make Terry suspicious of Mary Lou. They didn’t need to investigate Mary Lou. They needed to spend their time tracking down the real culprit, whoever that was.

  “I don’t know why someone left that note,” Terry said slowly. “I don’t think that anyone seriously believed it would throw suspicion on you. No one thinks that you snuck off in the middle of the night and met Joshua or did something to make him disappear.”

  “Good. Because I didn’t.” Erin pulled her hand out of Terry’s grasp. She was too anxious to sit still. She got up and checked the pots on the stove, giving everything a quick stir. She opened the fridge and started to pull out the makings of a salad. She was trying really hard to eat salad at every meal. Or at least, at every dinner. Marshmallow hopped over and started to nibble at her pant leg. He knew the rustle of vegetables in plastic just as well as Orange Blossom knew the sound of his can of kitty treats.

  “Hello, bun. How are you doing?” Erin murmured to Marshmallow. She cut off a few vegetable ends for him. She bent down and scratched his ears after giving them to him. She washed her hands and continued assembling the salad.

  “I think that something really did happen to Joshua,” she told Terry. “I don’t think it’s just a joke.”

  “It seems like it’s been going on a bit long if it was just intended to be a joke,” Terry agreed. “Any sensible person would understand there is a big difference between pretending someone has been kidnapped for a couple of hours and making them disappear for a couple of days.”

  “Yeah. And Josh wouldn’t participate in something like that. Maybe someone else would cover and say that it was just a joke because they didn’t want Mary Lou to know what really happened, but… Joshua wouldn’t do that. He knows how much Mary Lou worries about him.”

  “Sometimes that’s exactly the reason kids rebel. They find it suffocating, parents always worrying and trying to make sure that nothing happens to them.”

  “Well… yes. I think Campbell is more like that. He needed to get out of there… to find a way he could make his own decisions.”

  Terry nodded.

  “Did Mary Lou—or you—did anyone get ahold of Campbell? To see if Josh was with him, or if he knows what Josh’s plans were?”
<
br />   “Mary Lou spoke with him on the phone. Stayner was going to drive into the city to have a chat with him this afternoon.” Terry worked his phone out of his pocket and tapped through a few screens. “No messages. I guess I’ll find out later what the results of that trip were. But if Josh had been found, there definitely would be a message on my phone.”

  And word would have quickly spread through Bald Eagle Falls too.

  “I’m really worried about him. What do you think happened?”

  “We don’t have enough information to make an educated guess at this point. Maybe nothing.”

  “But he might have been kidnapped. Or hurt. You don’t have any evidence that he wasn’t either.”

  “There are no indications that anything violent occurred.”

  “No?”

  “No.”

  That was a little reassuring. If someone had come into the house and kidnapped Josh, then there would surely have been some sign of that. Someone couldn’t just grab a teenager and cart him off without knocking a few things down.

  “So you think… he just walked away, under his own power.”

  “That is the most logical explanation. But why? And what happened next? Where did he go?”

  “Maybe he met someone…” Erin tried to visualize it. It wasn’t that long since she’d been a teenager herself. And she had been around a lot of other teenagers, kids who had very different personalities from hers. Who had grown up with different rules and had different experiences from hers. “A girlfriend. A party that he knew Mary Lou wouldn’t let him go to. Even just… feeling restless and going out for a walk…”

  “Exactly. There are lots of different possibilities, and not all of them would suggest that something happened to him.”

  “He could have planned to drive into the city with someone. Or Campbell might have been coming over for a visit.”

  Terry’s lips pressed together.

  If Joshua had gone somewhere to meet with Campbell, then they should know that by now. Campbell would have told Mary Lou when she called him, or Stayner would have found out when he went into the city to talk to Campbell.