A Freshly Baked Cozy Mystery Box Set

by Kate Bell

  “Do you think the intruder is hiding in there?” I whispered.

  “I doubt it, but, you never know,” he said, pushing the door wide open.

  The living room light was still on, but the rest of the house was dark. Had we turned off the lights? We stepped into the living room and it was empty.

  “Do you think it’s okay?” I asked nervously.

  “I think you should have stayed behind at your mother’s house,” he said.

  “I’m going to stick with you,” I said, and followed him closely as he walked down the dark hallway.

  He reached up and flipped the hall light on and I jumped reflexively.

  He chuckled lightly. “Take it easy.”

  “Shouldn’t you have your gun out?” I whispered. “You know, just in case?”

  “Stop it,” he said, and flipped on the bedroom light. “See? Nothing here.”

  “Fine, but there are more rooms in this house,” I pointed out as he opened the closet door.

  “Nothing here, either.”

  We went from room to room, turning on all the lights, but the house was just as empty as it had been the first time we had entered it.

  “There. Nothing here, nothing to be afraid of,” he said when we had finished.

  “Well, that’s good news,” I said. “Let’s get back to the house and get something to eat. All this being scared business has made me work up an appetite. And I’m sure spaghetti will make my knee feel better.”

  “Oh, I’m sure,” he agreed.

  “It’s a well known fact that carbs make booboos heal faster. And tomorrow, why don’t we drop in on Leslie Warren? Just to see how she’s doing?” I suggested.

  “I’d thought you’d never ask,” he answered.

  Chapter Twenty

  Leslie’s house looked the same as when we were last here, except now the wreath that had been on the door was on the ground, to the side of the door. We had had a little wind the past couple of nights, but not enough to knock the wreath down.

  I knocked on the door. I had brought her some white peppermint fudge and had carefully wrapped it up in a cute white box with snowmen all over it. I could smell it through the box and was wishing I had brought extra to eat on the way over to her house.

  “Maybe she isn’t home,” Alec said, taking a step back so he could see into her window without making it too obvious.

  I knocked again. “Persistence is key here.”

  After another minute, I heard movement in the house, then footsteps.

  “See?” I asked him, and the door slowly opened.

  Leslie looked bad. She hadn’t brushed her hair in a long while, and she had dark circles under her eyes. There was a stale odor that told me she also hadn’t showered for several days. I smiled at her.

  “Hi, Leslie. We were in the neighborhood and thought we’d stop by to check on you,” I said brightly. “And I made you some white peppermint fudge.” I held up the box so she could see it.

  She stared at the box, trying to focus. I could smell alcohol, but I wasn’t sure how fresh it was. Warily, her eyes went to mine. “Sorry, I haven’t been feeling very well lately,” she whispered. Her voice was hoarse, and she looked away.

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” I said sympathetically. “May we come in? We won’t stay but a minute.”

  She looked at Alec, her eyes hooded from either grief or alcohol. I couldn’t tell which.

  “Hello, Leslie,” Alec said softly. “We’d like to speak with you just for a moment.”

  “Okay,” she said hesitantly, and took a couple of steps back, allowing the door to open further. “I’m afraid I haven’t had a chance to clean up the place.”

  “Don’t you worry about a thing,” I said, following her as she led the way to the living room.

  She was right about not having a chance to clean up. There were newspaper pages scattered about the room, used paper plates, and empty Styrofoam soft drink cups. Three whiskey bottles sat on an end table, each one at a different level of almost empty. A very pregnant calico cat lay on one end of the sofa, and she picked it up and set it on the floor.

  “Sorry for the mess,” she said, not meeting my eyes.

  “Oh, no reason to apologize,” I said, and sat down on the end of the sofa the cat had just vacated.

  Alec sat on the over-stuffed chair across from me. “Leslie, how have you been doing?” he asked.

  “Oh, I guess about as well as I can,” she said, avoiding his gaze.

  “We were just concerned about you,” I said. It looked like she was really struggling since her father had died. “It’s hard losing a loved one.”

  She let out a soft snort. “If you can call it that.”

  The box of fudge was still in my hand, and I considered putting it down on the coffee table, but something had been spilled across most of the surface of the table, so I held onto it.

  “Relationships can be difficult sometimes,” I said softly. “But a parent never stops loving their child.”

  She looked up at me, her eyes blazing. “That might be true for a lot of people, but not for my father. I can tell you that much. He, he….” she said and trailed off.

  I glanced at Alec, not sure if I was pushing too hard, and Alec was looking back at me.

  “He what?” I encouraged, turning back to Leslie.

  She looked down at her hands, and her face softened. “He was a good dad. When I was younger. I don’t understand why that changed. Or maybe I do. Maybe when I started using the drugs, he was ashamed of me and he just couldn’t love me anymore.” She looked up at me. “I never meant to get involved in drugs. It just, it just happened.”

  I reached a hand out and put it on hers. “A lot of people that try drugs end up addicted. And there are a lot of hard things we go through in life. There isn’t a guidebook to tell us how to handle it when it’s one of our loved ones.”

  “He should have loved me anyway,” she pleaded with me. “Shouldn’t he?”

  I nodded. “I’m sure he did, he just might not have been able to express it,” I said.

  “Why did he leave my mother? I can see him leaving me, but her?” she asked.

  I was starting to feel anxious. She needed so many answers and I was scrabbling to find them. She needed professional help, and all she had was me at that moment.

  “Are you sure he did? Maybe he was still going to see her?” I asked, hoping she would tell more about that.

  She sat back and there was anger in her bloodshot eyes again. “No, he took her to that horrible place and dropped her off and that was the end of it. He never went to see her again.”

  I looked at Alec for help.

  “Leslie, we weren’t around when all this happened. If what you say happened, then we believe you,” he said, and gave me a look.

  I was surprised he was saying this after what Mama and Shelby had said. She obviously didn’t remember things accurately because of the drugs.

  “Well, it did happen!” Leslie insisted.

  Alec nodded his head. “Okay. But we can’t go back and change things. Now, what about getting you some help? You need to look forward to the future and not back at the past. Maybe you can get some help with the drinking and drugs?”

  She shook her head. “Oh, I don’t do drugs no more. And that?” she said, indicating the whiskey bottles. “My boyfriend Stan was over and he drank most of that. I hardly ever drink.”

  “Okay,” Alec said. “What about some grief counseling? It can help tremendously to have someone guide you through this process.”

  She looked at him, considering. “I don’t know about those kind of things. Do you think it’s a good idea?”

  “I do. Before we leave to go back to Maine, we’ll see if we can find a counselor someplace nearby and maybe get you set up with some therapy sessions,” he said.

  “That’s a really good idea,” I agreed. My man had a heart of gold.

  “That would be real good,” she said, looking a little brighter.
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br />   “Leslie, can I ask you, did you have a key to your father’s house? Or were you over there at any time this week?” Alec asked.

  “No. He asked me for the key back a couple years ago. Said he didn’t want me around,” she said, her voice cracking. “Why?”

  Alec shrugged. “Just wondering. It looked like someone might have been by there.”

  “Oh. Well, I didn’t. My aunt and uncle might have. I haven’t talked to them though. They don’t like me either.”

  “Do you know of anyone else that might have had a key to your father’s house?” I asked.

  “Could have been most anyone. He had lots of girlfriends. And there was a cleaning lady, I think. You know, Mabel Townsend? She was very rude as I recall, but I haven’t spoken to her in years. She had the nerve to tell me my father wasn’t my real father,” she said, looking at the floor.

  “Why would she say something like that?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “She’s just mean, I guess. But I knew it wasn’t true. I look too much like my father.” The last part, her voice softened almost to a whisper.

  That was the truth. Leslie looked too much like Tom to deny it. It was an odd thing for Mabel to say though.

  I felt the phone in my pocket vibrate, and I resisted the urge to pull it out and look at it. It was probably one of the kids texting and asking what we were going to do today.

  “Well, Leslie, we don’t want to tie up any more of your time,” Alec said. “We appreciate your taking the time to speak to us.”

  She looked up at him. “Oh, it’s no trouble. I, well I, really wanted to say. Thank you. For helping me out at the funeral like y’all did that way.” She looked away again, and color sprang to her cheeks.

  “You’re welcome,” I said. “Sometimes people just need a little help through the hard spots in life.”

  She looked up at me. “I don’t usually act that way. I guess I was just feeling out of sorts or somethin’.”

  “It’s perfectly understandable. It was a stressful situation,” I said and started digging through my purse. “I have a blog on grief. I don’t update it much anymore, but there are a lot of articles there. It might help.” I handed her a business card with the blog address on it.

  “Thanks,” she said, looking at the card.

  I handed her the box of fudge and we said our goodbyes as we walked to the front door. My heart went out to her. I didn’t know if her boyfriend Stan really existed or not, and if he did, I had to wonder if he was any help to her with her grief. He certainly hadn’t shown up for the funeral when she needed him most. But we would find a counselor for her before we left, and maybe that would help. I felt my phone go off again, and this time it was someone calling, but I left it in my pocket. I didn’t want to be rude.

  Once inside the car, I asked, “Do you think she really believes her father abandoned her mother?”

  “I think she does. And it isn’t fair to her for anyone to try to force her to believe the truth,” he said, starting the car. “That’s something she has to come to on her own.”

  “No, I suppose not. Do you think she had anything to do with the missing dagger?”

  He shrugged and pulled away from the curb. “It’s hard to know for sure, but I don’t think so. I think she’s telling the truth about not having a key to Tom’s house.”

  “Well, we need to find that counselor for her,” I said. “I think it will help her a lot.”

  “We do. If we can, we’ll find one that also handles drug and alcohol abuse. Maybe she’ll decide during the course of grief counseling that she needs help with that, as well.”

  I couldn’t help feeling as if we had let Leslie down, just like her father had, as we pulled away. I hoped counseling would be what she needed to get her life back on track.

  Then I remembered my phone. I pulled it out of my pocket and looked at it. There was a missed phone call from Thad as well as a text.

  Mom, we can’t find Jennifer. Call me.

  “Oh no,” I said. My heart pounded in my chest, and I suddenly couldn’t breathe.

  “What?” Alec asked.

  “Jennifer’s missing.”

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Alec sped along the highway, headed back to my mother’s house. Adrenaline coursed through my body and all I could think of was that I wanted to jump out of the van and run for all I was worth.

  I called Thad’s cell phone, but there was no answer. I hung up and called Jennifer’s, but no answer there, either. Last, I called Sarah.

  “Hello!” she said in a rush. “Allie, Thad is out looking for Jennifer.”

  “Where is she? What happened?” I shouted, and then put the phone on speaker so Alec could hear.

  “She walked down to the corner store. She said she’d be back in twenty minutes, but she’s been gone for over three hours. Thad went to the store to look for her, but she wasn’t there. I don’t know if she went into the woods or not, but I don’t think she would after we had that prowler,” she said. “Where are you?”

  “We’re almost home. We’ll be right there,” I said.

  “Don’t worry, Sarah. She’s probably found something interesting to do and lost track of time,” Alec reassured her.

  “Okay,” Sarah said uncertainly.

  “We’ll see you in about three minutes, Sarah. I’m going to hang up,” I said.

  “Okay, bye,” she said.

  “It’s okay, Allie. We’re almost there,” Alec said, after I hung up. “Everything will be fine.”

  “I don’t think she would go into the woods. She’s afraid of her own shadow,” I said.

  “Call John. Tell him to get backup out here,” he said. “I’m sure she’s just lost track of time, though.”

  I called John’s personal cell phone and relayed the information to him.

  “We’ll be right there,” he said and hung up.

  I bit my lower lip and prayed. Every bad thing I had ever seen in a movie danced across my mind as we drove. She had to be okay. She had just gone for a walk and would be home soon.

  After what seemed like forever, we made it to Mama’s house. She and Sarah stood out on the porch, waiting for us. I jumped from the van as soon as it stopped and ran to them.

  “Have you heard anything?” I asked.

  Mama shook her head. “Not a word. I don’t know where Thad is now.”

  “All three of you search every inch of this property. Keep your phones on. I’m going into the woods. John and some backup will be here soon. Let them know what’s going on,” Alec said and sprinted out of the yard and toward the woods.

  “Let’s go,” I told Mama and Sarah.

  “We’ve already searched the house,” Sarah said.

  “I know, but humor me,” I answered. We split up and went through all the rooms, calling for Jennifer. A couple of minutes later, we met back in the living room.

  “Okay, let’s try outside,” I said, trying not to break down. We headed to the storage shed, but it only contained a few boxes and an old abandoned bicycle. Mama didn’t have a garage, only a carport, and we were out of places to look.

  “We didn’t look in the cellar,” Mama said, looking at me wide-eyed.

  “Let’s go,” I said, and we headed around to the back of the house. Mama’s house was old, and the cellar was just that. A room under the house, that was only about half the size of the floor of the house. It had double wooden doors that opened from outside the house and wasn’t accessible from inside the house.

  I pulled open one door, and Sarah took hold of the other. The doors creaked on their hinges, and I peered into the darkness. Mama had stopped using the cellar nearly ten years earlier because of her hip, and spider webs covered part of the entrance.

  “Jennifer?” I called.

  There was no answer back. I picked up a nearby stick to beat down the spider webs and stepped down two concrete steps and called her name again. I tore down more spider webs with the stick and hesitated. The cellar had had no improveme
nts since the house had been built and there wasn’t a light switch near the entrance like more modern rooms would have. The only light in the room was a single bare hanging light bulb that turned on with a pull string. And it was in the middle of the room.

  The sun was on the other side of the house and provided little light into the cellar. I went down three more steps, into the darkness. “Jennifer? Please answer if you’re down here,” I said. Silence was the only answer.

  “I’ll go in,” Mama said from behind me. “I’m used to it.” I could hear a tremble in her voice.

  “It’s okay, I’ve got it,” I said. “I’m sure she’s not in here, anyway. There’s no reason for her to be in here.”

  I hadn’t mentioned the fact that one of Tom’s daggers was missing. And I suddenly realized that it was dark the night Jennifer had seen a face in the window and Alec hadn’t known about the cellar. I had forgotten all about it and thought Thad probably had too, since he hadn’t mentioned searching it. I heard sirens coming down the road and it gave me some measure of comfort.

  I took a deep breath and stepped down three more steps stopping when I felt spider webs in my hair. I swung the stick madly into the air, and forced myself to not scream. The cellar smelled damp and suffocating.

  My knees trembled, and the bruised one ached. It’s now or never, I thought. And I forced myself to take the rest of the steps down into the bottom of the cellar.

  “You okay, Allie?” Sarah asked from above me.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” I said. I swung the stick in front of myself and tried to remember how far into the room the string for the light was. It had been years since I had been down here. I could remember running down here to fetch canned peaches for Mama on hot summer evenings, and never feeling afraid.

  I was not going to be afraid now. I forced myself to move forward, lightly swinging the stick until I hit something that felt different than a spider web, and I reached out for it, feeling the string. I held my breath and pulled the string and the cellar was flooded with light.