Apple Pie With A Side Of Murder

by Meredith Potts

  “Yeah. I asked him what was wrong and he just lashed out at me.”

  “Wow. I’ll bet you feel better than ever about your decision not to choose him.”

  “I do,” Shannon replied. “There’s something weird going on with him. Not that he wanted to talk about it with me.”

  “He didn’t want to talk about his feelings, then?”

  She shook her head. “Are you kidding? He avoided that conversation completely.”

  I scratched my chin. “You’re right. That does sound like the Gavin of old.”

  “I have a feeling that it has something to do with these headaches he has been getting.”

  My eyebrows arched. “Headaches?”

  Shannon nodded. “Yeah. He was having one while I was there. It looked pretty intense. Still, that didn’t give him the right to lash out at me.”

  “It sure doesn’t,” I replied.

  I stared out into the distance.

  “Sabrina, what are you thinking?”

  “It turns out Gavin isn’t the only man in town who has been having fierce headaches lately.”

  A blank look was on Shannon’s face. “What are you talking about?”

  “I just ran into Wally Tuttle. He was complaining about having fierce headaches, too.”

  “So? Are you saying that you think there’s a connection?”

  “That’s the feeling I’m getting. I mean, they are both going to see the same hypnotherapist.”

  “True, but what does one have to do with the other? I’m sure Gregory Morton has a lot of patients. And I know for a fact that headaches are pretty common.”

  “I may be reaching here, but I don’t think that I am. During our conversation, Wally popped a couple of pills from this big, unlabeled pill bottle, then he gave me some evasive answers about where he had gotten them. I have a hunch that his hypnotherapist supplied them to him.”

  Shannon’s eyes were as wide as saucers. “Can you describe these pills for me?”

  “I can go one better.” I reached into my purse and pulled out the pill I had grabbed from the sidewalk.

  Shannon stared closely at the pill. “Maybe you’re on to something.”

  “Why? Do you recognize this pill?”

  She nodded. “It’s the exact kind that Gavin took when I was at his place.”

  “Did you ask Gavin where he got them?”

  “No, but maybe I should have.”

  “I’ll tell you this. They didn’t get them at the pharmacy. They don’t sell bottles of unlabeled pills there. Or anywhere that I can think of, for that matter.”

  “I could always try to ask Gavin where he got them, but I don’t really think he wants to talk to me right now.”

  “I don’t doubt that. Besides, if Gavin did get those pills from his hypnotherapist, I don’t think he’d come out and just tell you that. Wally went out of his way to avoid my questions.”

  “Just say they did get the pills from Gregory Morton. Why do you think Wally and Gavin would be so secretive about it?”

  “Last time I checked, a hypnotherapist is not a medically licensed doctor, which means he can’t legally prescribe pills. Now Wally told me the pills were a specialized mixture. Maybe it’s a mixture of herbal ingredients.”

  “Is that what you believe?”

  “I also can’t rule out the possibility that something more dubious is going on.”

  “Wait. Are you saying that you think the pills might be for something other than headaches?” Shannon asked.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s just really suspicious to me that multiple patients of the same hypnotherapist are getting fierce headaches at the same time and taking strange, unlabeled pills to treat them.”

  “When you put it that way, it does sound pretty sketchy.”

  “Then there’s the other issue. What’s causing these headaches in the first place?”

  Shannon threw her arms up. “Don’t look at me. You’re the sleuth. I make sandwiches for a living.”

  “Speaking of, it’s hard to think on an empty stomach. I could really go for a bacon, lettuce, tomato, and avocado sandwich right now.”

  “Coming right up.”

  “David wants his usual, too.”

  “I’ll get a chicken, bacon, and provolone sub ready for him.”

  “Thanks, Shannon. You’re the best.”

  “Maybe when it comes to making sandwiches. I’m going to leave all this sleuthing stuff to you.”

  “I don’t know. I could really use a hand on this one.”

  Shannon began making the sandwiches. “Sorry. My hands are full.”

  I got a faraway look in my eyes.

  “But don’t worry,” Shannon said. “You’ll figure this out.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “Because you always do.”

  “That’s not quite the answer I was looking for,” I said.

  “I’m confident that an answer will come to you. Maybe you just need a sandwich first.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  It turned out that I would need more than food, delicious as the sandwiches were. I brought the food over to the police station where David and I proceeded to chow down. By the time I sat down at David’s desk, I was so hungry that I couldn’t think of anything but filling my belly.

  Typically, I ate slowly and really savored my food. This time, I just wolfed my sandwich down. Not to be outdone, David absolutely inhaled his sandwich.

  A few minutes later, when all that was left of my sandwich was a few crumbs, I sat back in my chair. David did the same in his chair.

  The meal had been so satisfying that, despite all the important things that were going on in our lives, David and I found ourselves distracted by food talk.

  “Looks like you hated your sandwich,” I deadpanned.

  He laughed. “Oh yeah, I hated it right through the very last bite.”

  I scrunched my nose. “Did you even take any bites? I don’t remember seeing you even chew. You just kind of inhaled it.”

  “With a sandwich that tasty, I can’t be held responsible for my actions.”

  “I don’t know if that answer would hold up in court.”

  “It would in a food court.” He winked at me.

  I scoffed and shook my head. “No wonder you get along so well with my grandma. That’s the kind of bad pun she specializes in.”

  “To be fair, who doesn’t get along with your grandma?”

  “True. She is pretty great.”

  “Not to mention she’s living the life without any strife.”

  “Strife is overrated, anyway.”

  He nodded. “So true. Take this case we’ve been working on. Just thinking about all the suspects is enough to give me a headache. My brain is so twisted around that I completely gave up on willpower and torpedoed my diet with that calorie bomb of a sub sandwich.”

  “Don’t be hard on yourself,” I said. “No one can be expected to keep to their diet while they are in the thick of investigating a murder.”

  “Whether that’s true or not, there’s a much bigger problem than the size of my waistline. We’re not getting anywhere with this case. I feel like we’ve hit a brick wall.”

  “So forensics and the crime lab haven’t been able to give you anything else to work with?”

  He shook his head. “Unfortunately, they have done all they can.”

  “No. The real unfortunate part is how little they were able to give you.”

  David took a deep breath. “Yeah. This is the least helpful they have been in a long time.”

  While David’s mind fixated on the case, my thoughts began to drift to a tangential topic.

  “The crime lab may not be able to help us with this case, but I can think of another way they can be of assistance,” I said.

  David’s forehead wrinkled. “What are you talking about?”

  I reached into my purse and pulled out the pill that Wally had dropped on the sidewalk.

  “What’s t
hat?” he asked.

  I explained to David how odd my ex-boyfriend had behaved earlier. In addition, I threw out a theory which could make sense of it all.

  David took a moment to let everything I told him sink in.

  Finally, after about half a minute of silence had gone by, David opened his mouth and replied, “So you think something seedy is going on with this hypnotherapist?”

  I nodded. “Absolutely.”

  “Do you have any proof of that?”

  “Why do you think I brought this pill to you? This could be exactly what I need to prove my theory.”

  “Or it might just be a generic pill.”

  “Test it and find out.”

  David grimaced. “You know it doesn’t work that way.”

  “I know it’s not standard procedure.”

  “No. It’s about as far away from standard procedure as you can get. This is a crazy request, even by your standards.”

  “David, I’m telling you. I have a really strong hunch about this.”

  “I don’t doubt that. You usually have amazing hunches.”

  “It’s not just this pill that has me curious. We also know by the license plates that you ran through the DMV database that Gregory Morton is a member of Seth Taylor’s secret society.”

  “Don’t get me wrong. Hearing that gives me some serious pause—”

  “So, send the pill to the lab.”

  David’s face strained. “It’s not as easy as you’re making it out to be.”

  “How difficult is it, then?”

  “I have been trying to tell you this as kindly as I can,” he replied. “I can’t just send it to the lab.”

  I groaned.

  “It’s not that I don’t want to,” David said. “But, just as I don’t have probable cause to search the suspicious banquet hall that Seth Taylor owns, the fact that you have a hunch isn’t grounds to have the crime lab test this pill. Especially considering there is no evidence that a crime has occurred.”

  I sighed and took the pill back. “I get it.”

  “I’m sorry. My hands are tied here.”

  Just because police protocol prevented the crime lab from testing the pill didn’t mean that I was going to give up. Just the opposite, actually. I was determined to get answers about this pill.

  Luckily, I knew of another option. One of the chemistry teachers from the local high school was a regular at Daley Buzz. Perhaps I could get him to run some tests on the pill. It was worth a try. That conversation would have to be put on the back burner.

  There were more pressing issues to address at the moment. “So what are we going to do now?”

  “About the case or about the pill?” David asked.

  “About the case?”

  “That’s a good question. The problem is, we don’t have any new leads.”

  I shook my head. “We certainly don’t.”

  I got a faraway look in my eyes. That was followed by a strong feeling in my gut.

  David stared long and hard at me. “Sabrina, what are you thinking?”

  “I don’t have a lead, but I do have a hunch.”

  “What kind of hunch?”

  “I think we should pay the restaurant another visit.”

  “I assume this isn’t about apple pie.”

  I shook my head. “Dessert will have to wait. It’s time to get down to business.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  I had a hard time hiding my frustration as David drove us over to the restaurant. It was one thing to have a lead to work with. It was another to be fumbling around in the dark hoping to stumble upon something useful.

  We didn’t even need a big lead. Anything would suffice. After all, sometimes even the smallest pieces of information could lead to a break in the case.

  Unfortunately, David and I were in the unenviable position of trying to keep our case afloat while navigating uncharted waters. Luck was too fickle of a thing to rely on, but we had no other choice.

  While our minds raced, our mouths remained closed.

  Finally, once we were two-thirds of the way over to the restaurant, David tried to cut through the tension.

  “I know you said that dessert is going to have to wait, but how are you going to resist ordering a slice of the restaurant’s apple pie if it’s right in front of you?” David asked.

  “That’s easy,” I replied. “Because I don’t feel like dying today.”

  “Are you worried about one of the suspects poisoning your pie?”

  “Absolutely. The killer is still out there. Even more, there’s a good chance that they work at the restaurant. I’m not going to risk being sent to an early grave over a slice of pie.”

  “You really do have the mind of a detective.”

  “Be honest. Would you order one of the restaurant’s brownie sundaes while the killer is still on the loose?”

  “I sure wouldn’t,” he said. “I just wanted to make sure that you weren’t going to let your taste buds get the best of you.”

  “Just because they make some killer pie doesn’t mean I want to die after eating it,” I deadpanned.

  It was a morbid joke to make, but it was enough to burn off some of the tension we were both wrestling with.

  The time for jokes quickly came to an end as David and I arrived at Home Away From Home Cooking restaurant. It felt so strange to be back there. I didn’t know if I would ever be able to look at the place the same again. It was no longer just the sight of one of my favorite restaurants. It was now also the site of a crime scene. Those two warring identities might always do battle in my mind.

  David barely had a chance to park his car when I realized that the drama was far from over at the restaurant. Just as David and I were getting out of the car, Ted Anderson and his daughter Kaitlin stormed out the back door of the restaurant looking as heated as ever.

  The source of their displeasure with each other was unclear, but I was determined to find out why they were so up in arms.

  To avoid being spotted by the father-daughter pair, David and I ducked behind a nearby car. We were out of sight, but thankfully, not out of earshot. I eavesdropped on Ted and Kaitlin’s conversation with great interest.

  “What were you doing undermining my authority in there?” Ted asked.

  “I wasn’t undermining your authority,” Kaitlin replied.

  “You certainly weren’t respecting it.”

  “That’s not what I intended.”

  “Maybe not, but it’s what happened.”

  “I’m sorry. This is all still really new to me. I mean, I don’t know what you’re even doing here,” Kaitlin said.

  “I want to keep your mother’s legacy alive,” Ted replied.

  “So do I, and that’s what I intend to do. I know how Mom wanted this restaurant to be run.”

  “No one knew your mother better than I did.”

  “That may be true—except when it came to this restaurant. I was her second-in-command. She groomed me to take over this place. Now, with her gone, there isn’t anyone who knows how to run this place better than me,” Kaitlin said.

  Ted looked outraged. “You think you know better than your own father?”

  “Dad, I don’t want to argue with you.”

  “I don’t want to argue with you, either. I just want you to respect my authority.”

  “Dad, I’m begging you to just listen to me. If you want this business to keep succeeding—”

  Ted cut his daughter off. “Are you implying that I don’t know how to run a successful business?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  Ted jumped on the defensive. “It’s not my fault that the print shop went out of business.”

  “I know. It’s the Internet’s fault.”

  “Stupid e-cards. And e-mail.” He groaned. “Everything is electronic these days. The sad fact is, we’re living in a digital world, whether I like it or not.”

  “I know what happened. I was there. Remember?”

  “The
n you should know I did everything I could to keep that print shop open.”

  “You’re missing my point,” Kaitlin said. “This conversation isn’t about your print shop. It’s about Home Away From Home Cooking. You’ve never worked in a restaurant in your entire life.”

  “The management principles are still the same.”

  Kaitlin shook her head. “No, they’re not. This is an entirely different industry.”

  “Watch and learn, Kaitlin—”

  She cut him off. “I don’t need to. I already know what I’m doing. Just let me do it.”

  Ted opened his mouth to reply, but Kaitlin had no interest in hearing it. She stormed back into the restaurant.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  With Kaitlin dashing away, Ted was suddenly all alone at the back entrance of the restaurant. I knew it was the perfect time to approach him. David agreed. David and I made some tracks over to Ted.

  “Did we come at a bad time?” David asked.

  As Ted glanced David’s way, he could not have looked less enthusiastic.

  “What are you doing here?” Ted asked.

  “I didn’t know you had an interest in the restaurant business,” David said.

  “Knock off the act, Detective. I’m not stupid.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I know you aren’t here because you’re interested in the inner workings of the restaurant business,” Ted said. “Now what do you want from me?”

  “You seem really tense. Especially considering that Sabrina and I are here to grab a meal.”

  Ted narrowed his eyes. “I doubt it.”

  “Now Mr. Anderson, that’s not very good customer service.”

  “Considering that you’re not actually a customer, I don’t really care what kind of service it is.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong. Sabrina and I are actually pretty regular customers of this restaurant. And we firmly believe that the customer is always right.”

  Ted folded his arms. “I’m not in the mood for these games. Tell me what you’re really here about.”

  “You seem awfully irritable. What’s the matter? Have you had a rough day?”

  “I’m not discussing my personal life with you.”