Killer Caramel Cookies: Book 1 in the Killer Cookie Series

by Patti Benning

  Lilah sat back in her seat, her brain working in overdrive. It made sense, all of it. Gwen had a motive to kill her, and she would have had the time to do it without anyone noticing. Her salon was right across the street from the little country store. She could have been in and out without anyone noticing.

  “Thanks for telling me this, Levi,” Lilah said. “Poor Ellen. I didn’t like her very much after she went off on me at the salon, but she definitely didn’t deserve this.” She took a deep breath and turned her mind to its next important task; deciding what to do with this information now that she had it.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Her shift at the diner had never felt longer than it did that day. Usually she enjoyed her time there, and loved talking to the citizens of the small town, but today all she wanted was to get out of there as quickly as possible so she could tell her friends what she had learned. Luckily, Kate was on time for her shift, and Lilah was able to dash out the doors the moment her shift ended. She hurried home and let Winnie outside while she called first Margie, then Val and Reid. They had all helped her in her mission to figure out who the killer was, and they all deserved to hear this.

  Less than an hour later, the four of them were sitting around Margie’s kitchen table. A plate of marmalade cinnamon sugar cookies, still warm from the oven, was in the center of the table, and they each had a glass of ice water. No one ever went to Margie Hatch’s house and left on an empty stomach.

  Over the cookies, Lilah told them all what Levi had told her only a few hours ago. She added in everything she remembered about the incident at the hair salon, including Ellen’s threats to sue, and also told her friends that Gwen had confided in her shortly before Ellen’s body was found that she had been worried about being forced to shut her doors from the bad publicity.

  “It all makes sense,” she said at last. “If Ellen had followed through with that lawsuit, it would have meant the end of Gwen’s salon.”

  Margie was nodding sadly. “You might be right, Lilah. Even if Ellen didn’t end up getting any money from her, just the publicity would probably have been enough to do Gwen in. Nearly everyone in Vista knows who Ellen was — not many of us end up on national television, after all — and I think a lot of the ladies would have been persuaded to go elsewhere for their hair if our local star started badmouthing Gwen’s place.”

  “It does seem like a pretty good motive to me,” Reid said after careful consideration. “But you said that you spoke to her at the festival shortly before Ellen was found. Why would she still be worried about the lawsuit, if she had just killed the person responsible for it?”

  “Maybe she was trying to cover her tracks,” Lilah suggested. “She could have been trying to make herself look less suspicious. What do you think, Val?”

  Her friend frowned, surprising her. Val had been the one person that she had expected agreement from. “I think… I think you might have been right the first time, Lilah.”

  “Huh?”

  “Greg,” her friend said simply.

  “Now I’m confused. I thought you said Greg would never do anything like that. Now you think he’s the killer?”

  Val hesitated. “I’m not saying that exactly, but, well, he’s been acting even more strangely. He called me just this morning to say that he had put a down payment on a space for that toy store he’s always wanted.”

  “Ellen’s only been dead for days,” Lilah said, aghast.

  “That’s why I think you might have been right about him,” the other woman said, nodding. “I mean, I tried to be understanding when he told me the truth about how he felt about her death, but he sounded happy on the phone this morning. He didn’t seem curious about who killed her at all. He just said he felt a lot better than he had in a long time, like he could finally see the path forward.”

  “That’s creepy.” Lilah bit her lip and looked down at the half cookie remaining on her plate, deep in thought. When she had called up her friends, she had been so sure that Gwen was the killer. But if Greg was acting suspicious too, suspicious enough for Val to suspect him, then she was at a loss. Both of them had had a motive to kill Ellen. Both of them would have had the time to do it, and both of them had benefited from her death. But only one of them had killed her. The only question was, who?

  She spent the rest of the evening alone at home, driving herself crazy by going over the crime again and again in her mind. She tried to remember every word that she had exchanged with Gwen, but nothing helped. The two days that she had worked for the woman hadn’t really given her much insight into her personality or what she might be capable of. The one thing that she knew was that Gwen loved the salon. Lilah could guess that she would go to extreme lengths to keep it open… but would she kill someone for it?

  Then there was Greg. She knew his mother, Marie Motts, some, but had hardly ever spoken to her son. From what she had gathered, he had been with Ellen for years. What would have made him snap now? Did it have something to do with that argument she had overheard? Once again, there was no way to tell. She just didn’t have enough information about either person. As far as she was concerned, neither reason was a good one to kill someone. No matter how rude Ellen had been, she hadn’t deserved to die for it.

  “Well, Winnie, this is the real test, isn’t it?” she said to her dog. “If I can’t figure out who killed Ellen, then I’ll know I don’t have what it takes to be a private eye. But if I can, well, how would you feel about being my partner? You can sniff for clues, and scare off the bad guys if they try to hurt us.”

  The beagle wagged her tail and rolled over for belly scratches, which Lilah obediently provided. Oscar joined them, demanding to be petted as well. Her pets may not be able to help her solve the murder, but they did make her feel better, and that was just as important.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “Table five wants a bacon burger with no pickles and extra cheese,” Lilah called back to the kitchen. Randall nodded to show that he had heard, then scooped a fresh batch of fries out of the deep fryer. It was a busy afternoon at the diner, and both of them were multitasking. It had been hours since she had gotten a chance to sit down, and her feet were aching. At least she got to spend most of her time out in the slightly cooler dining area, talking to the guests and gathering tips. She did not envy the older man his station at the stove.

  “Order up, table three,” he called out a minute later, and she hurried back into the sweltering kitchen to grab a plate with a club sandwich, fries, and coleslaw. Table three was a booth in the corner, more private than most of the others. There was one woman at it — Teri. She had brought that file folder with her again, and Lilah had been keeping a close eye on her. Was she still looking at something involving Ellen, or was she going over something different? She had been unable to tell, and didn’t want to make a nuisance of herself and put the woman even more on edge.

  “Here’s your sandwich,” she said, putting the plate in front of Teri. “Let me know if you need anything else. Would you like another soda?”

  “No, thanks.”

  Lilah waited for a second in case the other woman was going to volunteer anything else, then finally made herself walk away. She had other guests to tend to, and tips to earn. If things kept going this well, then she might even be able to restock her kitchen this afternoon. She was eager to try making cookies again — this time while following a recipe.

  It wasn’t until nearly an hour later when Teri left and Lilah went over to wipe down the table that she noticed the manila folder was sitting on the booth seat. She froze, staring at the folder as temptation made her hands twitch. A quick look around showed her that the woman was nowhere to be seen. She wouldn’t get a better chance than this to snoop.

  Lilah picked up the folder, stuck it down the front of her apron, and quickly wiped down the table, eager to take a look at the files before Teri realized that she had left the folder behind.

  “I’m taking my break,” she said as she hurried through the kitchen o
n her way to the back door, where she would get some privacy. She didn’t pause to listen for Randall’s response.

  Behind the diner was a small, worn out picnic table, chained to the side of the building. She wasn’t quite sure about the reason behind the chains — who would want to steal a picnic table, and in Vista, of all places? Regardless, the table worked for what she needed; a quiet place to rest her feet and look through the file. Ignoring the lingering scent of cigar smoke from Randall’s bad habit, she pulled the folder out of her apron and set it on the table. Bracing herself for whatever she might find inside, she opened it.

  At first, she was a bit disappointed. She had half been expecting gruesome pictures of the murder scene, or maybe a written confession from Teri, who had made it to the top of her suspect list again. Instead she found what looked like a calendar, a printed out email, and a few photos of Ellen with her red hair, or making awkward faces. It was obvious that she hadn’t been aware of the pictures being taken. Lilah examined them closely before setting them aside and turning her attention to the calendar.

  It took her a moment to realize what she was looking at. This was a printout of Ellen’s calendar. It covered the last few weeks, and the upcoming month. It showed every appointment she had, including the ill-fated one at the hair salon. It must have been printed out from her phone or computer. Had Teri had this the whole time? If so, it would have made it very easy for her to follow Ellen around and find a time when she could catch her alone.

  She looked at the printed out email. It was a letter from a booking agency, sending their regrets that Teri had not been chosen for a part in a local commercial. At the bottom, Ellen’s name was written in pen and had been circled over and over again, presumably by someone who was quite angry with her, judging by the indents in the paper. Had Ellen stolen a part in a commercial from Teri? If so, that would give Teri a motive, an especially strong one, considering their history. Lilah had no idea what the purpose behind the pictures was, but she was certain it wasn’t good.

  The more she looked at the contents of the folder, the more certain she became of what exactly it was that she was holding. This was evidence, once and for all, that Teri had killed Ellen. There could be no other explanation. Innocent people didn’t just go carrying this sort of stuff around. Greg and Gwen had been leaps, guesses — but this time she was sure. Teri was the murderer. She had solved it.

  Bursting with excitement, she dug her cell phone out of her pocket and called Val. No answer. Frustrated, she tried the boutique next, and was sent directly to the shop’s automated answering service. She glanced at her watch, and realized it was too early for Val to be at the boutique anyway. If she wasn’t answering her cell phone, then that must mean that she was at her dad’s lumberyard. She helped out there sometimes when she wasn’t busy with her own store, and had been going there more and more often as her father aged. Lilah tried that number next, and was finally met with success when a receptionist answered and promised to put her through to Val’s work phone.

  “Val,” she said when her friend finally answered. “I know who it was.”

  “What are you talking about?” Val asked. “I’m with a customer.”

  “I know who killed Ellen!”

  “You do? Was it Greg?” her friend asked, lowering her voice.

  “No, no. He’s innocent. It was Teri.” She quickly explained what she had found in the file folder. “It can’t be anyone else. There’s just too much evidence that points to her.”

  “Wow. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think you’re right. You should —”

  A sudden ear-piercing shriek nearly made her drop the phone.

  “Val? Val!” Lilah called, listening desperately for any sound from her friend on the other line. Nothing. The line was dead.

  Desperate with worry, she stuffed the papers back into the folder and ran back into the kitchen. She told Randall that she had a personal emergency and had to leave immediately. He must have seen something on her face, because he didn’t argue.

  “I’ll call Kate to cover your shift,” he told her. “You go.”

  Not even bothering to remove her apron, she rushed out of the diner and ran across the street towards Margie’s house. It seemed to take forever to cover that short distance Thankfully, her friend answered the door right away.

  “Lilah?” she asked. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

  “Val’s in trouble,” she gasped. “Something happened… at the lumberyard… need car…”

  Somehow the older woman managed to understand her through her ragged breathing. “Of course you can borrow my car, dear, but should you really be driving in the state that you’re in? Is Val hurt? Shouldn’t you call the police?”

  “Eldridge won’t listen,” Lilah said. “He told me to back off from the investigation. He thinks I killed Ellen. I can’t waste time with him… Val needs me.”

  Margie met her eyes, then nodded firmly. “All right. Here are my keys. Be careful, Lilah. I don’t know what the pair of you have gotten yourselves into, but it doesn’t sound good.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Lilah tried dialing her friend’s number again as she drove Margie’s minivan towards the lumber yard, which was on the opposite side of town, near the machine shop. No answer, but she hadn’t been expecting one. It still made her heart clench in fear.

  Struck by a sudden, painfully obvious idea, she tried calling the lumberyard itself. This time, however, there was no answer. That was almost more worrying than Val not answering. What had happened to the receptionist? Had she been hurt too, somehow? She was beginning to dread what she would find when she got there.

  She pulled into the parking lot just outside of the lumberyard’s gates, which were locked and closed. A sign out front said Out for Lunch with a little paper clock promising that they would be open again by one. Lilah felt a surge of annoyance at the receptionist, who had taken her lunch break when Val could be hurt or dying in the yard.

  “Calm down,” she muttered to herself. Realistically, she knew that the receptionist probably had no idea that something was wrong with Val. She had just left on her scheduled lunch break, like always, having no clue that she was leaving her boss’s daughter inside, probably bleeding to death somewhere.

  Trying her friend’s cell phone again to no avail, Lilah surveyed the fence surrounding the lumberyard. It was about six feet tall, though thankfully not topped with barbed wire. She could probably climb over it, if she had to, but she really didn’t want to — she had never been very good with heights.

  “Val?” she called, hoping her friend would make this easy for her and answer. Maybe she had just dropped the phone, and the scream that she thought she had heard had really just been some sort of weird feedback — it didn’t hurt to hope, right?

  In this case, hope did nothing to help her. Her friend didn’t answer, which meant that Lilah would either have to climb over the fence, or abandon Val to who knew what sort of fate. As far as she was concerned, the second option wasn’t a real option. She grabbed the chain link fence and looked up, dreading what she was about to do, but seeing no way around it.

  She had just hoisted herself up the first few feet when she heard the crunching of a car’s wheels on the gravel drive behind her. Letting herself drop to the ground, she brushed her hands off on her pants and tried to look innocent as a large pickup truck rolled into view. She couldn’t have been more shocked when Reid got out of the driver’s side of the truck, followed by Greg on the other side. What on earth were they doing here?

  “Are you all right?” Reid asked, approaching her swiftly with a look of intense worry on his face. Lilah could only nod and look blankly between him and Greg. “Margie called me shortly after you left her house. She seemed to think that you were about to do something heroic and dangerous, and might need backup.”

  “Oh. You were at work?”

  He nodded. “I asked Greg to tag along, just in case we needed the extra help.”

 
; Reid was Greg’s boss, so Lilah figured that made sense. She realized that she owed Greg an apology for thinking he was a murderer, but that could wait. Right now, they had to help Val.

  She caught them up to speed quickly, finishing with, “She’s still not answering her phone. She could be hurt somewhere in there, and she needs my help.”

  The two men eyed the fence, then teamed up to give her a boost over it. She had a terrifying moment at the top, where she was certain that she was going to fall, but somehow managed to cling to the metal links and lower herself safely to the ground on the other side. Reid and Greg followed a moment later, then looked to her for direction. Lilah realized that she had no idea where her friend might be. The lumberyard was big, and somewhat maze-like. It would take them a long time to search the whole thing, but she didn’t see what other choice they had.