by Deany Ray
I instantly gulped. That was not the answer I was expecting.
“When my uncle sets his mind on acquiring a new location for his business, he likes to have all the available data from the people involved. He has names, dates of birth, former training and pictures.”
My jaw dropped as I heard this.
“So one day I was in his office and I saw this picture on his desk and I couldn't take my eyes off of it,” Houston continued. “It was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. And I told myself, 'I have to meet her no matter what.' That picture was of you.”
I suddenly felt a rush of adrenaline and my heart pumped like crazy. And I'm pretty sure my cheeks were glowing red.
“Becky, I didn't tell you this before, because I know how insane it sounds. I didn't want you to be afraid of me. It was just something I had to do. I had to come here and see you.”
He was right about that. It did sound insane and I would have been more than scared if he'd told me this sooner. Like if he'd come to the café on the first day and said to me "Hi, I'm Houston. I'm here because I saw a picture of you."
I can't say that my first thought just then wasn't an image of him being a stalker, because it had certainly felt that way in the past couple of days. However, his presence made my heart jump up and down and I chose to believe him. The only problem was that I had no idea what to say to all of that. That was the greatest compliment I'd ever received. So I said the only thing one can say after a compliment.
“Thank you.” My cheeks were burning and I just hoped he hadn't noticed.
Houston just smiled warmly and helped me get out of the chair.
“And just for the record, taking pictures of other people for business purposes is just creepy,” I said while I straightened my t-shirt.
“I know. That's what I told my uncle too,” Houston said.
He was still holding my hand and had his brown eyes set on me. We were so close to each other, I could feel the warmth coming from his body. He leaned in closer and grabbed my waist in his other hand. Our lips were only a few inches apart and I let out a low sigh of pleasure. I was about to close the distance between us when the door sprang open.
“Gooood morning,” Maia chirped as she entered the café.
Houston and I immediately spread apart like two reindeer in the headlights as Maia stopped short.
“Oh. Sorry, Becky. I didn't know you had company,” she said and plastered a large grin on her face.
“No, that's okay, Maia. We were just...drinking coffee. And talking. Yes, we were talking while drinking coffee.” Omg, I guess I was really nervous. I didn't know what else to say.
“Well, I need to go anyway. Still have some work to do,” Houston said then turned to me.
“Becky, please be careful. If we're in luck, this is just a mean prank. But I think you should report everything to the police. There may not be enough justification for them to start an investigation. The broken window and the dead flowers are not exactly reasons enough, but maybe they'll go for the phone call. Either way, they should be notified,” he looked at his watch. “I gotta go. I'll call you later, okay?”
I nodded as he brushed his lips over my cheek. Then he left.
Maia watched him leave then fanned herself with her apron.
“Oh my, if I only weren't married,” she said with a big laugh.
We started getting everything ready for opening and my mind was racing between the bliss of being close to Houston and the shock of the phone call. Although I knew Houston was most likely right and I should report everything to the police, I just couldn't do it. Roger would immediately be on my doorstep asking questions and I dreaded seeing him.
It was enough that we lived in the same town and encounters with him were inevitable, but I wanted to minimize them as much as possible. Besides, Roger could easily have been the culprit since he knew about the anemones and that I would be at the café before opening so he could have been the one to call. Just thinking about me accepting the Yearly Official Brunch to take place at my café on Saturday made my stomach twist. I was going to have to force myself to be as professional and nonchalant as though nothing ever happened.
Later in the afternoon, Rosalie decided to visit me, which was just what I needed: a good friend with a comforting word. We went to the back and I told her everything that happened. The phone call, the pictures of Mr. Hayes and Houston and I almost kissing.
“Whoa! You've had an exciting day,” Rosalie exclaimed. “I mean, the thing with Houston. Not so much the thing with the phone call. That's just whack. Who would do such a thing? That would have scared the bejesus out of me.”
“It did scare the bejesus out of me too. I can't get that voice out of my head. Whoever did it probably used one of those voice changing devices and it sounded horrible. I get shivers down my spine just thinking of it,” I said shaking it off.
After we debated if the caller was a man or a woman, since a voice changer could also turn a female voice into a basso profondo, I realized I couldn't stand any longer just waiting for the next hit. I decided to take matters into my own hands. And Rosalie knew just where to begin. Her cousin, Marie, worked for the phone company in Ouna Bay. Rosalie was positive that Marie could get us the location of the caller. I had my doubts, but Rosalie was sure her cousin could tap into the records. I tried not to think about the illegalities of this procedure. Since it was Friday afternoon and Marie had already gone home, we could only meet her on Monday morning.
I just hoped the weekend was going to pass incident-free as I put all my hopes on Monday and on finding some lead that would help me find the culprit so I could have peace in my life again.
Chapter Nine
I woke up the next day feeling restless and agitated. In a few hours, the invitees of the Yearly Official Brunch would be gathering at the Blue Bay Café. Roger would be there, and her too. My stomach did a twist. I tried to ignore this queasy feeling and concentrate on the benefits of the brunch. This was good business for the café and I had to act professional. I only hoped the front window was not smashed again when I got there.
The only comforting feeling came from thinking about Houston and his call the night before. He held his promise and wanted to make sure I was alright. I told him there were no more incidents after the horrifying phone call. He reminded me to report everything to the police and it broke my heart that I couldn't tell him the reason why I couldn't do that. Nor could I tell him about the plan to go to Marie at the phone company. This was something I had to do on my own. With the help of Rosalie, the one person I trusted the most. I would eventually tell him everything.
On my way to the Blue Bay Café, I drove by the beautiful bay and took it all in. I realized I was so caught up with the happenings lately, that I haven't even noticed the bay anymore. I never got tired of the magical view over the crystal blue water and the warm sun brushing my skin. Once again, I didn't have the time to enjoy the calming view, since a busy day was ahead of me.
After arriving at the café, I started with the preparations. Twenty minutes later Rosalie came in.
“Hey hon. How are you feeling?” she asked as she took a seat at the counter.
“I'm trying to encourage myself that everything is going to be fine,” I said while arranging the tables with coffee cups and little silver spoons.
“Everything IS going to be fine. We'll get this whole mess figured out and you'll see that in a week everything is going to be forgotten.”
Rosalie looked at me with her bright eyes and I thought again, how lucky I was to have such a good friend.
After I finished decorating the tables with sunflowers in small vases, I took the cake I baked the previous day out of the fridge for the last adjustments. For the brunch I decided to make a spice cake with coffee toffee crunch. Goes perfectly with coffee, it's elegant and very brunch-worthy for the people of Ouna Bay. To make everything ready to serve, I cut the cake into even pieces and placed them on hand-painted plates.
“Becky, that looks
so delicious,” Rosalie said and I think I saw drool coming out of the corner of her mouth.
She reached out for one of the plates but got a gentle snap on her fingers.
“Hey, why can't I have some? There's more than enough,” Rosalie whined.
“This cake is only for the guests. You can have anything else but this one. Remember what we talked about the other day?” I said in a very motherly tone.
“But I'm your best friend. I have dibs on all your cakes,” she said with a sheepish smile and quick as a cat, she took a piece and stuffed it all in her mouth.
I looked at her and let out a sigh.
“What? I haven't eaten all day,” Rosalie said in the most innocent voice ever with her mouth full.
That made me burst into laughter.
There we were, both laughing out loud and for a second she took my mind off the brunch and the crazy harassing stalker.
After Maia started her shift, we made sure that there was enough coffee and that everything was in its place for the invitees to have a pleasant time and enjoy the brunch.
At eleven am, the guests started coming in. The lieutenant and captain of the police department took their seats at the table followed by Roger and some other guests. I kept myself busy so as not to run into the possibility of having to chat with him. She was also there and I shivered at the thought that she was going to have one of my cakes, that I had baked with care and attention. I couldn't say that Rosalie was as professional as I tried to be, since she occasionally cast a hostile look towards both of them and was not hiding it.
After they all settled in and started chatting and drinking coffee, I took the plates with the cake pieces out of the fridge one by one and placed them on the counter for Maia to take to the tables.
As I turned around, I saw Rosalie's eyebrows frown and her hand settling on her stomach.
“What's wrong? You don't look so good,” I said as I approached her.
“I don't feel good either. I suddenly got this nauseous feeling,” she said still rubbing her stomach. “Which is weird, since I only ate that piece of cake today. And you know I almost never get sick.”
And then it downed on me. The cake. The can of paint thinner I found. My heart started racing. I looked at the tables and saw twenty pieces of cake ready to be eaten.
Chapter Ten
If my intuition was right, I was going to have twenty people with nausea and God knows what else in my café. So without thinking any further I jumped from behind the counter and dashed towards the tables where the guests sat.
“Stop!” I shouted with both hands up.
Forty pairs of eyes instantly looked up at me in stunned confusion. I had to come up with something quickly.
“I mean...” I staggered. “I mean, this is the wrong cake. You were brought the wrong cake.”
“The wrong cake? I thought this was the cake,” the lieutenant said with frowned eyebrows and his fork in mid-air.
“I'm sorry, Sir. A mistake has been made. But don't worry, I'll bring the right cake in a minute.”
That was the only thing I could come up with. I couldn't very well tell them there may be paint thinner in that cake. How could I defend myself? I could be held responsible for poisoning the elite of the police department of Ouna Bay. Talk about irony.
I rushed to take all the plates away while everyone was looking at me like I was a nutcase. But I didn't care. Better for them to think that of me, than having to call multiple ambulances. Maia didn't know what was going on, but she caught on quick and helped me remove all the plates, telling the guests there was a little mistake and that they would get their cake in just a moment.
I told Maia to serve them the rhubarb cake instead, since I had some left in the fridge. Thank God my fridge was always stacked. However, it was a shame that nobody would enjoy the spice cake anymore.
By the looks of it, the guests were still confused and had that "What just happened"-look on their faces, but none of them stood up and left in a sign of protest. I didn't even care if they ever booked my café for their yearly brunch again.
While Maia was bringing them the rhubarb cake, I went to the counter where Rosalie was still feeling sick.
“What the hell is going on here?” she asked still holding her stomach and looking greenish in the face.
“I can't explain now, but I have to take you to the hospital.”
“The hospital? I don't need any hospital.” She got up and immediately crouched and let out a groan.
“Rosalie, you need to see a doctor. Now!” I placed her arm around my shoulders so she had some support. I could have cried, seeing my friend suffer, but I knew this was a time to act, not react. I had to make sure she was alright.
“Fine,” she finally said. “I'll go to the hospital. I wouldn't mind getting some painkillers or something. And I'm still nauseous. Just tell me what's going on.”
I paused and looked in her bright, brown eyes. I knew it wasn't such a good idea to tell her what I assumed, as it would only scare her, but I knew she wouldn't let go.
“I think there's paint thinner in the spice cake,” I told her.
“Whaaat?!?” Rosalie bellowed.
That got the attention of several guests but I guess they thought we were only fooling around, since fortunately nobody approached us.
“But, how?” Rosalie asked.
“I'm not sure, that's why you have to go to the hospital. It could be that you have hydrocarbon in your organs. That's contained in paint thinner. I learned that at that course I took about work safety for gastronomies.”
“Oh, that's right. I remember the course,” she said. And then she really understood what I was saying. “Ohmigod! I have some weird hydro-something in my body?”
“Only a doctor can ascertain that. But if you do, it's not a large amount or else you'd be having other serious symptoms. This is just enough to give you a good nausea,” I said to her hoping it wouldn't get worse.
“Well, then I'm lucky.”
“I'm glad you haven't lost your sarcasm,” I told her and tried to crack a smile.
“Okay, let's see what the doctors have to say,” Rosalie moved slowly towards the door. “But you can't drive me. You need to be here for the guests.”
“There's no way I'm letting you drive by your own. You can barely stand on your feet,” I said and my heart melted that even in times like this, she was thinking about me.
As we went outside I took a glance over my shoulder and saw that Maia already served the plan-B-cake and the guests chatted and seemed to enjoy it. I let out a low breath in relief that it had been taken care of.
“Look, there's Dev. He's gonna drive me to the hospital and you can stay here and we'll talk later,” Rosalie said pointing a finger towards Dev.
After about ten minutes of discussing the matter back and forth, I gave up and let Dev drive her. He promptly consented and Rosalie was so slick telling him she probably just ate a bad apple but it wouldn't hurt for a doctor to have a look.
With an ache in my heart, I watched Rosalie drive away still in pain. She said she'll call me later and I shouldn't be worried. It was too late for that.
I entered the café and, seeing that the invitees were busy eating and drinking coffee, I went to the back and threw my lovely spice cake in the trash. All the adrenaline that had pumped through my body before faded away and I instantly got a chill down my spine. Was this really happening? Someone really poisoned my cake? It was like being in a nightmare where you can't wait to wake up. Who would do such a gruesome thing? And most importantly, why? Then I thought about Houston and the fact that I hadn't seen him yet that morning. I kind of missed him sitting there at the counter, smiling at me with his deep, brown eyes and sipping coffee.
But most important of all, I thought about poor Rosalie and that she kind of, in a very twisted way, saved twenty people from getting poisoned. Deep down inside, I contemplated the possibility that I was wrong and that there was nothing wrong with the cake. Maybe
I was just being paranoid, with all the things happening lately.
Just for good measure, I didn't throw out the last piece of the cake. Instead, I stacked it away in the far corner of the freezer. Perhaps I could get a specialist here to analyze it. I know it was a long shot, but what if we did find out who did it and there was no real proof because I threw away the proof?
I came to the front still pondering on the possibility of catching the bad guy when I came face-to-face with Roger, who was standing at the counter.
“Is something wrong?” I asked, startled.
“You tell me. What was wrong with Rosalie?” he asked in a deep voice.
“Oh, she just ate a bad apple,” I waved my hand in dismissal. I may as well stick with the bad apple story.
“There's something you're not telling me. Are you sure everything's okay?”
“Of course everything's okay. Why wouldn't everything be okay?” I said with firm determination, thinking it was very presumptuous of him if he thought I was going to share everything with him.
Roger was the last person I would tell everything to. Then I glanced towards the tables and saw her looking over her shoulder in our direction. No, she was the last person I would tell anything to.
Seeing it was pointless to try to get some answers from me, Roger returned to his table.
I let out another breath of relief when the phone rang. I dashed for the phone in hopes it was Rosalie telling me she was fine and she really had a bad apple. But it was Houston.
“I'm on my way to see my uncle,” he said.
“Um...what do you mean, you're on your way to see your uncle?” I rhetorically asked, not quite understanding what happened.
“If he is the one harassing you, then he would tell me if I confronted him. I know him very well. If he knows we're on to him, then he'd confess. Actually, he would stand by it and feel superior that he would do anything for his business.”
“Oh my God! Houston, I don't know what to say.”
“You don't have to say anything. Just promise me you'll still watch out. I’d rather be there with you, but I can’t wait for you to tell me you got another call. I have to do something.”
