Murder and Chocolate Cake

by Meredith Potts

  Instead of calming down, Felicia snapped at me. “You don’t know what I’m going through. You don’t know how hard it is—”

  “Felicia, calm down,” I said.

  Felicia gritted her teeth and waggled her pointer finger at me and David. “You two leave me alone from now on. Got it?”

  I had no idea what was going to happen next. Was the confrontation going to turn violent?

  Thankfully, instead of lashing out, Felicia decided to dash off in a huff.

  ***

  My muscles remained tense until Felicia was completely out of my view. When I felt like it was safe to let my guard down, I breathed a sigh of relief.

  David had a different reaction. He let out a big groan and vented his frustration. “Just when you think the day can’t get any crazier.”

  “While being berated by a former suspect was certainly an unwelcome surprise, I’m just glad things didn’t come to blows,” I said.

  “I’ll be glad if I never run into Felicia again. There’s already enough on my plate without having to try to talk some sense into that piece of work.”

  “She clearly has a great deal of unresolved anger.”

  “That’s what therapy is for. No rational person sneaks up on a police detective in a parking lot.”

  “Maybe she already tried therapy—”

  “She should try harder,” David said. “Or if she really wants to vent her frustrations, she could always take a trip to Treasure Cove Penitentiary to visit the man who killed her husband. After all, if anyone deserves to bear the brunt of her anger, it’s Trevor Franklin.”

  “I know that. And you know that. But I’m not sure that option has occurred to Felicia.”

  “Clearly not,” David grumbled.

  “Then again, that isn’t really surprising. I mean, her emotions were really raw.”

  “She’s not the only one who is dealing with a lot of emotions right now,” David said.

  As I stared into my husband’s eyes, I knew there was more that he wanted to get off of his chest. But he decided not to elaborate.

  “I know what you mean. She scared me half to death there. When I first heard the footsteps behind us, I was worried that Kyle Lipinski had tracked us down,” I said.

  “I thought the same thing,” David said.

  “I feel relieved that we were wrong,” I said.

  David stared out into the distance. “I’ll feel relieved when we catch Kyle.” He took a deep breath. “Speaking of, we need to get back to the case.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  David and I worked on the case for a few more hours, but ended up with nothing to show for our efforts. That evening, we arrived home—exhausted, desperate, and in need of a recharge.

  It felt so strange coming back to an empty house. With our corgi, Sebastian, and our daughter, Jessica, out of town, it didn’t exactly feel like home sweet home. Instead, I was struck with a very hollow feeling. That said, I was glad that Sebastian and Jessica were both out of harm’s way.

  I grabbed my laptop, took a seat on the living room couch, and fired up a video chat with my mother. At first, my mom was anxious to hear the latest developments in the case. But once I filled her in on all the details, she couldn’t keep from grimacing.

  “Kyle is still out there then?” my mother said.

  I nodded. “Unfortunately. But at least Wade is back behind bars.”

  “I can’t really rest easy until they are both in jail again.”

  “I’m with you on that,” I said. “We’re working on it.”

  “I know you’re doing your best. The problem is, you can only do so much.” My mom winced. “Oh dear. What a nightmare—”

  I usually let my mother express herself, but with the stress of the case weighing on me, I was desperate for a change of subject.

  “How is Jessica doing?” I asked.

  “She’s great,” my mom said.

  “Really?”

  My mother nodded. “Oh yeah. Your father and I are really spoiling her. She’s treating this like a regular vacation.”

  “I’m glad someone is having fun.”

  “I know,” my mom said. “Unfortunately, I’m not having quite as much fun as she is. With all the worrying I’ve been doing…” She stopped herself. “Let’s just say I wish I was young and oblivious to how dangerous the world truly is.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “That would be nice.”

  My mother got a faraway look in her eyes. “It sure would.”

  Before my mom’s head drifted too far into the clouds, I grabbed her attention. “Will you put Jessica on?” I asked.

  My mother nodded. “Of course.”

  My mom then turned around and called for Jessica.

  A few seconds later, Jessica came running into view.

  “Mommy, I miss you. When can I come home?” Jessica asked.

  Apparently, my mother had exaggerated about the level of fun that my daughter had been having. I didn’t blame my mom for trying to sugarcoat the truth. She knew how much pressure was on me.

  “I miss you too,” I said. “Unfortunately, you can’t come home quite yet.”

  David came up behind me and stared at my webcam. “Jess, just know that we’re doing everything we can.”

  Jessica exhaled. “I know.”

  “Do you like the water slide at the hotel?” I asked.

  Jessica’s eyes lit up. “I love it. Can we get one like that at home?”

  I shook my head. “Nice try.”

  Jessica became deflated.

  “If I were you, I’d spend as much time as possible using that water slide at the hotel,” I said.

  Jessica’s enthusiasm level continued to sag.

  “Honey, why do you look so down? You didn’t honestly think I’d say yes to installing a water slide in our back yard, did you?”

  “No.”

  “Then what is it?”

  “As much as I love the water slide at the hotel, I’d much rather be back home,” Jessica said.

  “I understand. But I’m afraid you’ll be at the hotel for at least one more day.”

  Jessica let out a sigh.

  “Trust me. The minute it’s safe for you to come home, we’ll let you know,” I said.

  “All right,” Jessica said.

  “Now go to sleep. Just because you’re at a hotel doesn’t mean that it isn’t bed time,” I said.

  “Okay,” Jessica said.

  I blew a kiss to my daughter. “I love you.”

  “Love you too. Bye,” Jessica said.

  Jessica walked away from the webcam.

  My mother then took a seat in the frame again. “You two be careful.”

  “You said that earlier,” I replied.

  “Given the circumstances, I think it bears repeating,” my mom said.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  That night, I slept very poorly. At one point, a noise outside my window made me fear the worst. I worried that Kyle had tracked David and I down. Thankfully, the noise I heard ended up just being a tree branch falling to the ground.

  When morning came around, I didn’t want to get out of bed. But I knew I had to. I couldn’t sleep in. Not with Kyle still out there somewhere.

  I reluctantly dragged myself out of bed. After a quick stop at the bathroom, I made my way to the kitchen. I knew that getting some caffeine in my system was the key to shaking off my grogginess. Normally, David and I headed off to Daley Buzz to start our day. Then again, I was used to getting much better sleep.

  I was too desperate for caffeine to get changed and head over to my family’s coffee shop. Instead, I fired up the coffee maker in my kitchen. While I waited for the machine to warm up, David stumbled into the kitchen, wiping his eyes.

  “Morning,” he said.

  “I can’t help but notice that you didn’t say good morning,” I replied.

  “That’s because this morning is far from good.” He groaned. “I seriously need coffee.”

  “I know w
hat you mean. I can’t tell you the last time I slept that poorly,” I said.

  “Yeah. It wasn’t exactly the best night of sleep I’ve ever had,” David deadpanned.

  I chuckled. “You have a flair for understatement.”

  “Fine. You want the brutal truth? Last night was a train wreck.”

  “I know what you mean. I probably only got four hours.”

  He nodded. “Same here.”

  I shook my head. “It’s crazy to think that we only got eight hours of sleep between us. That’s the recommended daily amount for one of us. Not both. ”

  “Don’t remind me.” He groaned as his eyes shot daggers at the coffee machine. “What’s taking so long?”

  “It has to heat up first.”

  He gritted his teeth. “Everything is taking longer than usual right now.”

  David waited for me to respond, but I didn’t. I was too busy staring off into the distance.

  David followed my eye line and looked out the kitchen window. A few seconds later, his eyebrows knitted. “What are you seeing that I’m not?”

  “Nothing. I was just thinking about these nightmares that I had last night.”

  He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in close. “That’s terrible. I mean, it’s bad enough that you barely slept. But for you to have nightmares is adding insult to injury.”

  “Honestly, right now, that’s the least of my concerns. The fact is, now that I’m awake, I’m staring down a whole different nightmare. And this one is a lot scarier than the ones I had in my sleep.”

  “Yeah. Because this one is real.”

  “Exactly.” I let out a sigh.

  The machine made a beeping sound. Coffee then began to percolate into my cup.

  David started to pull back from the hug. Before he had a chance to fire up a cup of coffee of his own, I pulled him in close again. I just wasn’t ready to let go quite yet. I just felt so comfortable in his arms.

  But the hug wasn’t meant to last.

  A ring at the doorbell saw to that.

  My muscles tensed up. My mind raced. Who was at the door? What did they want?

  Before I was able to find out the answer to either of those questions, my reflexes went to work.

  I pulled back from the hug and instinctively grabbed the closest object to me as a protective measure. That proved to be a comical decision when I realized that I had picked up a spatula, instead of something useful like a knife.

  David tried not to laugh at the sight of me holding the spatula like a weapon. “Sabrina, why don’t you just put the spatula down?”

  I looked through the kitchen doorway and stared at the front entryway. “Who could that be? We’re not expecting anyone.”

  “I’m pretty sure it’s not Kyle Lipinski, if that’s what you’re thinking,” David said.

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “Do you really think he’d ring the bell?”

  “Probably not,” I said.

  “Besides, if it was him, what good do you think that spatula would do?” David asked.

  “Fair point.” I put the spatula down on the counter.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  David walked to the front door and looked through the peephole.

  I lowered my voice as I lobbed a question his way. “Who is it?”

  He turned back to me. “It’s Melissa Maxwell.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief.

  David returned to kitchen as I walked out into living room and headed to the entryway.

  After taking a moment to run my hands through my hair and straighten out my T-shirt, I opened the door.

  “Melissa, what are you doing here?” I asked.

  I looked down at her hands.

  She held out a wrapped present. “I wanted to give you this.”

  “What is it?”

  “A belated birthday gift for your daughter.”

  “Oh.”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t come to her party the other day. With everything that has been going on in my life, I completely blanked out. I ended up stumbling across the party invitation yesterday when I was going through the pile of paperwork on my desk,” Melissa said.

  In classic Treasure Cove fashion, the jailbreak was just the latest bad news to take place in town. In addition to the manhunt for Kyle Lipinski, people were still reeling from the murder of Melissa’s brother a few months ago. Understandably, Melissa was having an especially difficult time trying to pick up the pieces of her life.

  “You didn’t have to get this present,” I said.

  “I wanted to,” Melissa said. “Besides, bringing that gift over for Jessica isn’t the only reason I’m here.”

  “It isn’t?”

  She shook her head. “No. I also wanted to check up on you.”

  “Really?”

  “Absolutely. You’ve been so sweet about doing that for me.”

  “That’s what friends are for.”

  “I couldn’t agree more. Which is exactly why I’m here. At a time like this, I figure you could use a friend.”

  “Don’t get me wrong. That’s a really sweet gesture. But right now, what I could really use is a lead,” I said.

  Melissa grimaced. “I’m afraid I can’t help you there. Is there anything else I can do?”

  “Not unless you happen to know where Kyle Lipinski is.”

  “I wish I did.”

  “So do I.”

  “I guess this case is really giving you a hard time,” Melissa said.

  “A miserable time is more like it,” I said.

  “It’s that bad?”

  I nodded. “It’s just awful.”

  “I’m so sorry to hear that.”

  “So you and David don’t have any good leads?”

  I was in no mood to revisit the frustrations of this case.

  “You know what? Why don’t we talk about you?” I said.

  “Are you sure you want to do that?”

  “I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t want to know. So, tell me. Are you doing all right?”

  “Not particularly,” Melissa said.

  “I’m sorry. I was hoping one of us would be doing better.”

  “Nope. It seems to be a bad day all around.”

  I grimaced. “That’s a shame. Especially since it’s still just breakfast time.”

  Melissa exhaled. “Yeah. There’s no telling where the day might go from here.”

  “Don’t remind me,” I said.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  A few minutes later, David and I headed over to Zelda’s Diner. It was our favorite breakfast place in town. It was a no-frills kind of restaurant. While the owner of the place paid very little attention to aesthetics, she put a great deal of care into crafting high-quality meals.

  Since the place didn’t look like much from the outside, it didn’t draw the attention of tourists. That was fine by me. It wasn’t like Zelda’s was starving for business. The diner was a favorite amongst the locals. But without heavy tourist traffic, it was much easier to get my order without having to wait for very long.

  When David and I arrived at Zelda’s that morning, my husband headed directly for our usual booth. Instead of immediately joining him, I found myself focusing on a corner booth where I saw Wally Tuttle sitting alone. I had no idea that Wally would be at the diner right then, but I was glad to see him. There was something I needed to tell my brown-haired, clean shaven, tall, forty-seven-year-old friend.

  I walked over to his booth and spoke up. “I just want to thank you again for that hotel deal you got my family.”

  Wally worked at the Treasure Cove Beach Resort. He had been recently promoted to front end manager. As one of the perks of his employment, he had access to special rates for his friends and family. And not just at the Treasure Cove Beach Resort. His employee discount was valid at a number of networked hotels within the state.

  Wally gave me a smile. “Of course. It was my pleasure.”

  “I owe you one.”
>
  “No you don’t,” he said. “Not after everything you’ve done for this town over the years.”

  I grimaced. “I wish this town would do something for me—”

  “You mean, be a little less crazy?” Wally said.

  I nodded. “Exactly.”

  “Maybe one day.”

  I took a deep breath. “I sure hope so.”

  “I’d ask how things are going, but it speaks volumes that you felt it was necessary to send your family so far out of town.”

  “You know the old saying about how it’s better to be safe—”

  He nodded. “It’s definitely better than being sorry. Although, there is one thing I’m sorry about. That you and David are even in this position in the first place.”

  I winced. “You know, in all my years of investigating, I’ve seen some jaw dropping things. But I’ve never encountered a case like this before.”

  “I guess there really is a first time for everything.”

  “Unfortunately.”

  “Do you wish that you and David had left town with the rest of your family?”

  I shook my head. “No.”

  Wally’s eyes widened. “Really?”

  “I wish that this jailbreak never happened in the first place.”

  “I’ll tell you what. When this is all over, I’ll set you up with another hotel deal. This time, for you and David.”

  “Thanks,” I said.

  “No problem. Besides, I figure you two will be in serious need for a vacation after you catch Kyle.”

  “You mean, if we ever catch Kyle.”

  “Sabrina, I can’t pretend like I know how frustrating this case is,” Wally said. “But I know you have to keep at it. Eventually, a break is bound to come your way.”

  “Normally, I’d believe you. But this is the most unusual—and unsettling case I’ve ever investigated.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “I’m used to chasing after killers,” I said. “This is the first time one has put a target on my back.”

  “That has to be terrifying.”

  “It is, but I’m trying not to focus on that. I’m doing my best to keep my mind squarely on catching Kyle. The problem is, this case is so much different than any I’ve ever worked on.”