Burned to a Crisp (Cookies & Chance Mysteries Book 3)

by Catherine Bruns

  "There was a frying pan sitting on the counter," Gianna said. "I managed to grab it and smacked him in the head with it. Then he released me."

  "That wouldn't have killed him." At least I hoped not. "How many times did you hit him?"

  "Only once. But if that didn't kill Bernardo, then what the heck happened to him?" Gianna asked. "I've been over this a million times in my head."

  "Tell us what happened after you hit him," Josie said.

  She sighed. "I was so angry. I told him to get the hell out of my house and never come back."

  Josie and I both raised our eyebrows. My sister hardly ever swore.

  "Wow," Josie said. "You were mad."

  Gianna nodded. "Furious. That guy could have ruined my career. I practically pushed him out the door and down the stairs."

  "This doesn't make any sense," I said. "His body was found in the back room of the bakery."

  Gianna's mouth fell open in amazement. "What? They didn't say on the news where he was found, only that he had died. I guess I had hoped it was all a bad dream. I thought maybe he'd gotten behind the wheel and tried to drive away and then suffered an aneurism or something because I had hit him." She examined my face closely, as if looking for a sign that I believed her.

  There was no doubt in my mind that she was telling the truth, but finding Gianna had not cleared things up as I'd hoped. Instead, I found myself even more confused. "Okay. Let's go over this one more time. You pushed him out the door of the apartment. He went down the stairs. Did you see him leave?"

  "Yes. He said I'd be sorry and that he wasn't going to split the—"

  "Wait a second," Josie interrupted. "You saw him leave the bakery?"

  Gianna nodded. "He slammed the glass door so hard I was afraid it might break. Then I ran back upstairs to my apartment. I felt like I was suffocating and needed to leave, fast. So I threw some things into a suitcase and took off. I've been here for two days trying to decide what to do next." Her face was full of misery. "At first I didn't even know where I would end up. I just drove, needing to put some distance between me and everything in my life." She studied me. "But I can't run from my problems forever. Has that ever happened to you?"

  "Yes." While Colin and I were married and living in Florida, I'd come home early from work one night and found him in bed with another woman. My high school nemesis, in fact. I'd calmly shut the bedroom door, retreated to my car, and proceeded to drive the entire night. "I once drove to Georgia in the middle of the night, remember?"

  Gianna threw her arms around me. "I shouldn't complain, not when you've been through so much."

  "Forget about me. Did you lock the bakery door when you left?"

  My sister looked at me in surprise. "Why, of course I did."

  "I'm not mad, Gi. But please try to concentrate for a moment. You were upset. You were angry. The man tried to take advantage of you. How else could he have gotten back in? You're certain you locked it?"

  She started to shake again, and I found myself wishing I hadn't asked the question. Still I had to know. Something was not adding up here.

  A tear rolled down Gianna's cheek. "When I came down the stairs, I left through the back room because my car was parked out in the alley. He wasn't in there. I swear it."

  "I believe you." Although this also made no sense.

  She shut her eyes, trying to remember. "I thought I locked the front door at the time, but I was so upset. You're right—I can't be positive, Sal. All I heard on the news was that he had died. They probably didn't reveal a lot of details because it was suspicious. So somehow he snuck back into the building. Or maybe he broke in and then collapsed."

  I wondered if Brian could tell if Bernardo had somehow broken into the bakery. With all the damage that had occurred, I didn't know if there was a way to find out. "He didn't die from the fire. There was blunt trauma to the right side of his face. Someone hit him with an object, several times."

  She stared at me, puzzled. "Like I said, I only hit him once. What fire are you talking about?"

  When I told her about the bakery, Gianna started to cry again. "Oh my God. This is all my fault."

  I couldn't stand seeing my sister fall apart like this. Gently, I cupped her face between my hands. "Listen to me. You did nothing wrong. You were only defending yourself, and I don't believe you killed him. So you're in the clear."

  She blew her nose into a tissue. "Maybe according to you guys, yes. But how do I prove it to the police?"

  "We'll talk to Brian." Josie grinned at me. "Your sister has an in with him."

  I chose to ignore her statement. "He knows you didn't kill him, Gi."

  "But we can't prove that I didn't," Gianna protested. "I should go right back and fill the police in, but there's more, Sal."

  Oh, jeez. "Tell me."

  Gianna paused for a moment and put a hand to her chest, as if trying to steady herself. "After Bernardo asked me to go away with him, he confessed that he needed to get out of town right away. He said something about having enough money to tide us over for the rest of our lives."

  Icicles formed between my shoulder blades. Bernardo must have been talking about Luigi's money, or shall we say Luigi's illegal funds from his racketeering business. I racked my brain, trying to figure out what to do next.

  "Sal?"

  Gianna's pale face watched me, and I grabbed her hand. "Bernardo's stepfather, Luigi, came to see me. He wanted to know where you were. He knew about the money. It sounds like Bernardo stole it from him."

  Gianna's face was now the color of powdered sugar. "Oh my God. Bernardo told me stories about his stepfather. He said the man used to beat him as a kid. When his wife—Bernardo's mother—died, he always complained that she'd stuck him with a loser for a stepchild. I confess I didn't like Bernardo, but I was sorry for him when he told me that story."

  "That may have been all it was, just a story," Josie muttered.

  What should we do now? I wanted Gianna to come home, but maybe she was safer here for the time being. If Luigi thought she had something to do with the theft, or maybe even that she'd killed Bernardo for the money—well, it was too awful to imagine what he might do to her.

  Gianna wound a strand of hair around her finger. "It's my job to uphold the law. And now I can't even make a decision by myself. What a crappy lawyer I am. Maybe it's not too late for me to try a different profession. Spike likes me. Hey, what if I became a dog groomer or something like that?"

  "Okay, stop it," I demanded. "This is what we're going to do. You will lie low here for a couple more days. I'm going to do a little snooping on my own and see what I can find out about Bernardo and what may have happened to him that night. Somehow someone else got into the bakery, hit him—maybe with my rolling pin—and killed him. His family is all looking for you. I'm not taking any chances with your safety."

  "Sal." Gianna's expression was pained. "I'm not going to let you put yourself in danger for me. You're getting married in a couple of weeks."

  "Piece of cookie," I grinned. "Gee, don't I sound like Grandma now?"

  She didn't laugh. "I don't want you involved in this. Mike would hate me if something happened to you. Heck, I'd hate myself."

  "The court would see that you had protection if you came home, right?" Josie asked.

  Gianna shrugged. "They might send a patrol car by a couple of times a day but probably wouldn't do more than that. It doesn't matter, I need to go back. I'll move in with Mom and Dad for now." She rolled her eyes at the ceiling. "Lord, help me."

  I shook my head. "No way. I don't trust this Luigi character. He'd find a way to get to you." Plus, if Gianna went back, maybe my entire family would be in danger. "It's better this way for now. Promise me you'll sit tight for a day or two while I try to find out some more details."

  "This is my problem, Sal. I said I don't want you involved."

  "I'm already involved. Bernardo died in my bakery. Another day or two won't make much difference." I reached into my purse and gave her my
iPhone cable, which I had used earlier at Mom and Dad's to charge my phone. "Take this. I'll buy another. But don't text me or anyone."

  I didn't want the police to find her yet. Then again, maybe I should tell Brian, and he could come back with me to get her. But where would she stay?" What if Luigi and his goons were watching my parents' house? "Josie and I will make a trip back to see you, if not tomorrow then on Wednesday. Hopefully we'll know something more by then."

  Gianna pressed her lips together stubbornly. "I hate not taking responsibility for my own actions. I never should have become a lawyer. This is more difficult than I ever imagined."

  Baffled, I looked over her head at Josie, who raised her eyebrows in return. "Don't say that. You were born to be a lawyer." I thought of the countless times when Josie, Gianna, and I had played court as children. Gianna had always been the attorney, Josie either the judge or the juror, and me the criminal Gianna was defending. I hardly ever went to jail back then, though.

  "Growing up, you and Grandma were the only ones who didn't laugh when I said I wanted to be an attorney. Mom and Dad thought it was so cute. A passing phase." A look of agitation crept into my sister's face. "All I want is for people to take me seriously."

  "Hey. It was one bad case. Things will get better," I assured her.

  Gianna shook her head. "No one takes me seriously in the courtroom." She hesitated and twisted the tissue between her hands as if groping for the right words. "I never told you guys this before, but the first day I showed up for court, the bailiff thought I was in the wrong building. I'll never forget his words. 'Sweetie, the modeling agency is down the street.'"

  I winced. "Ouch."

  "Yeah, ouch is right." Gianna's nostrils flared. "And then there was the time I was questioning a witness in Bernardo's case, and one of the spectators yelled something about how nice my butt—insert different word here—looked in the suit I was wearing. He was thrown out of court, of course, but I was beyond humiliated."

  My heart ached for Gianna. It was both a blessing and a curse to be as beautiful as she was. "You can't let that stop you, honey. You've worked so hard your entire life for this."

  She leaned her head against my shoulder. "I wish I was strong like you."

  Her statement both shocked and pleased me. If Gianna had seen my meltdown at the fire the other night, she might feel differently now. "I'm not as strong as you think."

  "Bull," she spoke quietly. "You're one tough cookie."

  We all laughed, and then she lifted her head to look at me, her tone serious again. "How would you even find out who might have killed him? Or where the money is now?"

  "Brian might know something," I said. "I can always reach out to him. Josie and I should try to get back into the bakery tomorrow if we have time. Maybe the cops missed something. There might be a clue to the killer's identity somewhere. Or maybe Bernardo left something behind that could incriminate the person."

  Josie snorted. "Yeah, like a couple of million bucks. Mike will be pissed if you go in there again without a police escort, you know. He's not convinced the place is safe."

  "Well, maybe Brian will take us." I really didn't want to call and ask him. He might think it was an attempt to spend more time with him, and I didn't need that aggravation right now.

  I tucked a few loose strands of hair back behind Gianna's ear. My voice shook. "I don't know if we're going to be able to use the building again, so you may have to find a new apartment. At the very least, you'll need some other type of accommodations for a while."

  "Don't worry about that," she assured me. "I feel so bad about the bakery. It probably never would have happened if I hadn't taken him there. What will you do until you have another location set up? Can you run something from yours and Mike's house? Maybe some kind of to-go business?"

  I shook my head. "The kitchen is way too small, and there's not enough counter space." Then I told Gianna about relocating the bakery to our parents' house. She stared at me as though I had two heads.

  "You are kidding, right? Why on earth would you choose to run a business from there? I love Mom and Dad, but they're not exactly normal, Sal."

  "Gee, whatever gave you that idea?" Josie asked in mock disbelief.

  "It's just temporary," I assured my sister.

  Gianna snorted. "Yeah. Temporary insanity."

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  "So, what's the plan, Stacey?" Josie asked when we were on our way home.

  I glanced at the clock in the van. It was nearly midnight, and we had an early day ahead of us tomorrow. "Stacey who?"

  "Cagney and Stacey, remember? God, I love your grandmother."

  I smiled in the darkness. "If we have a lull in business tomorrow at some point, maybe we can break away and get over to the bakery. Do a little investigating of our own. If Sarah doesn't mind covering, that is. If it's too busy, we'll figure out another time."

  "Might as well use Sarah to our advantage while we can," Josie agreed. "I can't believe she's ditching you when you need her the most."

  I pulled my phone out of my purse to check for messages. "I don't blame her. She has a child to think of, and it's got to be really tough for her making ends meet every month." I'd given her a raise awhile back, but the poor thing wore the same clothes nearly every day and the same pair of shoes all the time.

  "Sarah really needs some new clothes," Josie said, as if reading my mind. "How do you think she'd feel if I gave her some old ones of mine? I think we're about the same size."

  I hesitated. It seemed like a touchy subject. "I don't know. She's kind of proud. Maybe it would offend her."

  "Well, can I at least offer her a pair of shoes?" Josie asked. "The pair she has is so worn out that the dang heel broke off on one, and not to mention how ugly those Oxfords are. Who wears chunky heels like that these days? They look like something Mrs. Gavelli would own."

  "We don't all have your size five foot," I said tartly. "If it makes you feel better, offer her some. But please try not to embarrass her in the process."

  Josie pointed a finger at herself. "Me, embarrass people? That would never happen."

  "Right," I mocked then straightened up in the seat. "Maybe we could give her a new pair of shoes and an outfit as a going away present. We'll say it's for her job at the supermarket. She might accept it then." Lord knows I didn't have much money to spare these days, but Sarah had been an excellent employee, and I wanted to do something nice for her.

  Mike had sent a text about a half an hour ago. Just got home. Where are you? I was debating about what to say. I'd hoped to beat him back to the house, but no such luck. "I'm telling Mike we found Gianna."

  Josie stopped for a red light and made a face. "Fine. As long as he doesn't tell Rob where we went. If I were you, I wouldn't bring up about going to the bakery tomorrow either, unless Mike can manage to go with us. Do you think he could break away from his job? What's he working on, by the way?"

  "I think it's unlikely he could meet us. He's got a roof to finish, and he just started another job. He's working fifteen-hour days so he can get caught up before our honeymoon."

  Josie put her blinker on to turn left onto my street. "Did you guys decide where you're going yet?"

  I shook my head. "We can't afford much of anything right now. Maybe we'll go to Cape Cod for a few days. I'd love to go to Hawaii someday, though." It wasn't about to happen, but I could dream, right?

  "Bad choice," Josie said. "A complete waste of money."

  "Why? It's gorgeous there. And I'd love to tour the islands."

  She kept her eyes fixed on the road, but a sly smile formed at the corners of her mouth. "Honey, let's be realistic here. You two lovebirds would never leave your room all week, if you catch my drift."

  My mouth fell open in surprise. "You are bad."

  "No. Just honest."

  Josie pulled into my driveway. Through the open living room window I could hear Spike bark once in greeting. Mike had left the porch light on for me, and I could see a lamp
on in the living room as well.

  Josie grinned and cocked her head in the direction of the house. "No fooling around with the sexpot in there tonight. We've got a long and strange day ahead of us tomorrow."

  I laughed. "Well, that's one way of putting it."

  "See you in the morning, kiddo."

  I shut the van door and dug my house key out of my purse. I was surprised that Mike wasn't at the front door to greet me, but Spike was.

  "Hi, big guy." I leaned down to pet him then shut and locked the door behind me. Mike was stretched out on the couch, snoring softly. The television was tuned to a ballgame that was currently in extra innings. I shut it off and looked down with admiration at the man I loved. He was quite the vision, dressed in jeans and nothing else, feet bare, and his arms crossed over his chest. Desire spread through me as I watched his well-sculpted chest rise and fall slightly. Poor baby was all worn out. Well, I'd find a way to wake him up in a hurry.

  Smiling to myself, I took a quick shower to get rid of the smoke smell from the casino and donned one of the new pieces of lingerie I'd bought for our honeymoon. It was pale blue, trimmed with lace, and very sheer, leaving little to the imagination. I fussed a bit with my hair then went back into the living room.

  I leaned over Mike and rubbed his arm then kissed him softly on the lips. "Hey, Sleeping Beauty. Wake up."

  Mike's eyes flickered open. He looked exhausted but smiled as his eyes met mine. "Hi, baby. When did you get in?"

  I ran a finger down his smooth chest seductively. "About twenty minutes ago."

  He yawned and raised himself into a sitting position. "Everything okay with Gianna?"

  The answer was no, but I didn't want to tell him about my plans to snoop around further. He wouldn't like it. "It will be. She's coming home soon, I hope. Why were you working so late? I thought the roof was almost done?"

  "Not quite. I ran into some problems, and the guy who was helping me got a more permanent position, so I'm on my own. Plus, I started another job today, and I'm on a tight deadline to get it finished." His dark blue gaze glinted with mischief as he focused on me—or more specifically, my nightie. "Oh, wow. Is that new?"