Since I’d been gone all afternoon I stayed at the bookstore until eight. Most of my time was spent helping customers, but in between I went through my checklist for our So Many Traditions event, as we were calling it. The centerpiece was celebrating Santa Lucia Day, which it more or less coincided with. To many the Swedish holiday kicked off the holiday season. Mrs. Shedd was the Santa Lucia expert. It was part of her Swedish heritage and as a child she’d been the one to wear the white dress, red sash and crown of candles. In our version, Rayaad’s daughters were going to wear the outfits, though our candles were going to be battery operated. Since part of the tradition of Santa Lucia had to do with feeding everybody, refreshments were on the house. I stopped in the café to check with Bob on the status of the ginger cookies, or pepparkakor, as Mrs. Shedd called them. He had taken advantage of the slowdown in customers and was leaning on the counter, typing on his laptop.
He startled when I stepped up to the counter and stood up abruptly.
“I tried two recipes. Tell me what you think.” Bob was very serious as he handed me two cookies shaped like stars and a shot of milk to clear my palate between tastes.
“I thought so,” he said when I pointed out the cookie I preferred. “Those are the ones with molasses.”
He asked about the rolls we were serving. Technically, they were supposed to be saffron buns, but Mrs. Shedd’s family had been renegades and served cardamom buns instead. Bob was the king of cookies, but he was nervous about doing anything with yeast, so I’d offered to make the buns.
“I’m making a test batch tonight,” I said and promised to bring him a sample.
I MADE A STOP AT THE GROCERY STORE FOR SUPPLIES and headed home. Shortly after Charlie died, I’d thought of selling the house and moving to a condo. It had really been more Peter’s suggestion, telling me I should downsize. Now I was glad I hadn’t done it. With two dogs, two cats, too much yarn and Samuel as a temporary resident, I needed the space. I was sure Samuel would make some other living arrangements in the near future. But I was willing to put money down that when the time came for him to move, the cats would stay with me.
I was looking forward to taking my time and enjoying making the rolls. Even if Samuel was home, he’d probably be in his room and not in my way.
It had become an automatic response to check the Perkins’ house as I drove by. From the street it looked dark. Not even the porch light was on.
I shut off the motor and grabbed the grocery bag. Along with the baking supplies, I’d picked up a pint of ice cream. One of the things I’d said I liked about being on my own was being able to have an occasional ice-cream dinner and not have anybody look askance. No cars in front of my house and no cars in the driveway. I pulled into the garage and the automatic door shut with a rumble. I walked into the backyard and looked ahead to the back door. And no one ruffling through things in my house. The door was locked and any mess inside was strictly my fault.
Once inside I saw there was a note on the table. Barry had stopped by and given the dogs yard time along with feeding them and the cats. Feeling like a lady of leisure for the moment, I set the grocery bag down and took out the pint of ice cream. First things first. I’d have my Bordeaux and strawberry dinner and then begin baking.
I took a bowl of ice cream and settled in the middle of the couch and put my feet up. The dogs plumped down on either side of me and the cats jumped up and perched on the back of the couch. I let out a big satisfied ah as I took my first spoonful of my favorite ice cream.
The back wall of the den was all windows that looked out on the backyard. Something moving outside caught my eye, and I sat bolt upright and almost choked on my mouthful of ice cream. A moment later I heard someone fidgeting with the back door lock. Was it a key or someone with a hairpin?
I marched to the kitchen and grabbed a broom, ready to do battle as the door opened.
I raised the broom, ready to smack whoever entered. Luckily I looked before I swatted. Barry and Mason walked in, talking about football. They both looked up at the same time.
“Oh, you’re home,” Barry said, giving the raised broom a strange look.
“Hey, Sunshine, what are you doing, trying to sweep the ceiling?” Mason said with a grin.
I set the broom down. “I got a little nervous when I heard someone fiddling with the back door.” I glanced from one of them to the other. Something wasn’t right. They were acting friendly toward each other. “What’s up with you guys?”
“Sunshine, even with a BlackBerry you still have to answer it or look at your messages.” When I didn’t get what he was talking about, he asked to see it. I found it in my purse and handed it over. He hit some keys and displayed a list of messages, he’d left. He’d left voice mail messages, too.
“I stopped by the bookstore this afternoon and you weren’t there, either. Finally I came by here. Greenberg was in the yard with the dogs. I hung around awhile to see if you were going to show up. When he finished with the animals and you still weren’t here, we decided to get some dinner together.”
I looked at Barry for confirmation and he smiled and nodded. “Yeah, we went to a sports bar and got some burgers. Some football game, huh, Mason?”
Hmm. I suddenly felt very left out.
“Molly, if you’re not going to answer your phone or call anybody back, you can’t expect us to sit here and starve waiting for you,” Barry said.
“I was working,” I protested.
“I know,” Barry said. “And now I get how you feel when I make plans and then don’t show up because I have to follow some lead.” He turned to Mason and made some comment about some great football play, but there was something in his manner that implied that Mason could now leave. Mason played Mr. Dense and walked through the kitchen toward the living room.
I retrieved my ice cream, which was quickly turning into mush. Barry followed both of us.
“I have the dog sweater in the car,” Mason said, gesturing toward outside. “I got to something that said decrease and I didn’t know what to do.”
I really wondered about that. It meant he was working on it on his own, and from what I’d seen, he only worked on Spike’s future coat when I was around.
“Molly’s had a long day. I don’t think she’s up for crochet lessons,” Barry said, putting his arm around my shoulder.
I heard the front door open. “Is this door ever going to get fixed?” Samuel said. He looked at the three of us in the living room. “What’s going on?” Ryder, the kid from down the street, came in behind him and waved a greeting with his video camera. At the same time Barry’s cell went off. It was his son, Jeffrey. He was done with rehearsal and going to get dropped off. When he heard where Barry was, he said he’d get dropped off at my house.
Mason looked at the bowl in my hand. “Was that your dinner?”
I nodded and he chuckled. “And we ruined it for you, huh?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said, going back to the kitchen. “Look guys, I have baking to do for work.”
“Baking!” they all said together. So much for peace. Ryder had never seen anyone actually make something with yeast. Apparently, the best his mother did was a cake mix. He videoed the whole rising process and was going to do some time-lapse trick. He couldn’t capture the smell though. The yeasty smell mixed with the spicy scent of the cardamom spread throughout the house as the dough rose.
The front doorbell rang and then I heard a key in the lock. The door opened and shut, and a moment later, my older son, Peter, came in the kitchen. “What’s with the front door and do you know that a channel three news crew is out front?” he said. He looked at the flour-covered counter and Ryder videoing me shaping the rolls. It was hard to tell if Peter was coming from some event or just a long workday. Not a hair out of place or a wrinkle in his dress shirt. He certainly didn’t get that perfection from my side. I hadn’t realized at first that he wasn’t alone. A slender woman in a dark suit and heels so tall my feet hurt in sympathy was with
him.
Explaining the door was easy, but not the news crew. Peter and his companion followed me into the den, where Barry and Mason were watching ESPN. I flipped to channel three and had the eerie encounter of seeing my street on the screen. Kimberly Wang Diaz was doing a remote. It turned out there was nothing happening next door, it was just the news style now to have field reporters do their stories in the area where something had happened. The story was an update on Bradley and his apparent suicide and the investigation into his business.
“More investors are coming forward,” Diaz said just before going to a tape of her standing in front of the building where Bradley had his office. An older woman I recognized as a bookstore customer came out holding her head down. Diaz asked her for a statement. The woman looked as if the wind had been knocked out of her. The reporter again asked her for a statement. The woman was probably too dazed to think about what she was doing and told the reporter she’d turned over her life savings to Bradley. “He was such a nice family man. And so helpful. I was trying to figure out my Medicare options and I was so confused. Bradley spent an afternoon helping me straighten it all out.” She sighed. “How can he have left his business in such a mess? Those investigators are saying all the money is gone. It just can’t be. It was all I had.” The woman’s eyes filled with water and, in a moment of humanness, Diaz touched her shoulder and said how sorry she was.
The tape cut to Diaz interviewing Nicholas in his store. He talked about how personable Bradley was. “But isn’t that the way it works with con men?” Nicholas said. He was angry at being taken in, but not devastated. Diaz had tried to interview Logan coming out of Le Grande Fromage, but he put his hands up, blocking the camera, and hurried away. Diaz filled in why he was in such a hurry.
“A number of the investors told this reporter that they invested with Perkins based on the recommendation of Logan Belmont, a well-respected local real estate broker.”
The tape ended with Diaz talking to the SEC investigator. “We still don’t know the complete scope of the apparent Ponzi scheme. The records are a mess. We’re trying to come up with a complete client list.” He looked into the camera. “We’d like anyone with information to come forward.” A number was flashed on the screen.
The story ended with a live shot of Diaz out front giving a list of tips people should think of before turning over their savings to anyone.
“She ought to add, ‘don’t do it,’” Peter said as if he thought he was being clever. I told him his comment was cold and how bad I felt for the woman who’d lost her life savings. Peter seemed grateful when the kitchen timer went off and ended our skirmish.
Everyone followed me to the kitchen, talking as they went. Peter made a big deal about introducing the woman to Mason. Not a surprise because he liked Mason and thought if I was going to be involved with any man it should be him. He introduced her to Barry, but it was perfunctory. I had finally acknowledged it wasn’t going to get any better between Peter and Barry. No matter what Barry said, I couldn’t ignore the friction. And I thought when you were as old as I was you got to do what you wanted.
Peter had stopped over to introduce Brooklyn to me, which I gathered meant he was serious about her. Though I think he regretted his decision. She was friendly enough, but I couldn’t miss the way she focused on the flour all over my apron or the way she stared at Jeffrey sleeping on the couch with the dogs. I don’t think Samuel and Ryder made the best impression, either. And to finish it off, Holstein jumped in her arms and got fur all over her immaculate suit.
She was still brushing the fur off as they went out the patched-up front door.
The rest of the crowd hung around while I finished making the rolls. And when I finally took them out of the oven and offered samples they all looked at me as if I was some kind of cooking goddess. Since this was just a run-through, I packed up to-go bags of rolls for all of them.
Samuel retired to his room. Ryder’s mother called him and wondered where he was. Jeffrey was still asleep on the couch. Barry and Mason kept standing around. It was pretty obvious what was going on. Neither wanted to leave before the other one. They even offered to help me clean up the kitchen. Like I was going to turn that down.
“Your boss wouldn’t say where you were this afternoon,” Mason said, taking a spray bottle and some paper towels and cleaning up the flour around my mixer. I started to hand wash the mixer bowl and all the spatulas. Barry dried them and put them away. I considered for a moment what to say. Why not throw it out in front of both of them and see what they thought I ought to do with the information?
I went through the whole thing about how I’d begun to think that Bradley might not really be dead. I brought up the watch and seeing it in the car. I didn’t mention the afghan. I was still having a problem figuring out why Bradley would want that anyway.
When I mentioned following Emily and Madison, I saw Barry’s jaw clench. I explained both theories—that Bradley just wanted them to run all over the place or that he’d seen me following them. “I realize the woman who came up to them at the Topanga Mall must have been sent by Bradley,” I said. I hesitated when I got to the second mall. Should I really tell them what happened or just say we followed them to The Grove? It wasn’t the same without explaining about the elf. I mean, he had seen who was passing the message. Hoping for the best, I brought up the elf. I saw Barry’s eyes roll up in his head. Mason skipped past a chuckle and went right to a laugh. “And when we got to The Grove, it was too late. The women didn’t have their packages anymore and Bradley was nowhere to be seen.”
“So?” Barry said.
“So, I’m wondering what I should do with the information. I’m sure those SEC investigators would like to know that Bradley might be alive.”
“Molly, you don’t know for a fact that he’s alive. You didn’t see him. And the description the elf gave you.” Barry shook his head. “Am I seriously considering what a guy dressed as an elf said?” Barry went into his interrogator mode and wanted to know if I’d actually seen Emily with the watch at The Grove. When I said no, he pointed out that since I didn’t see her with it, seeing her without it didn’t necessarily mean anything. “You see my point. If you tell this story to any investigators, they’re just going to stamp you as being a nutcase.” He put a hand on my shoulder and started to repeat his stay-out-of-it speech. “And let’s just say, for argument, Perkins is alive. He’s not going to be hanging around here waiting for you to find him. He’s probably halfway to somewhere already.”
“Where?” I said.
“Someplace where’s he’s not going to get caught.” I wasn’t happy with what Barry said and looked to Mason for his opinion.
A smile lit up Mason’s eyes. “Personally, I like the elf story. But as I said before, I wonder why he’d take a chance on getting caught just to pick up a watch, no matter how valuable it is.”
“There was something else.” I paused, getting ready for their reaction when I told them what the something else was.
“An afghan?” Barry rolled his eyes. He didn’t have to say the kook word, I knew he was thinking it. “A valuable collectable watch, I might buy, but some crocheted blanket. No way would some guy take a chance on getting caught for that. They’ve been giving out big sentences for investment scams. One guy just got a hundred years. Remember what I said about seeming like a nutcase?” Barry shook his head again. Mason swept up the flour from the floor and the kitchen was done, though neither man made a move to leave.
My head was spinning now and I began to doubt myself. Maybe there was another explanation. I just didn’t know what it was. Finally Barry couldn’t stall anymore and woke up Jeffrey. Mason hung back, but Barry grabbed him with his other arm and they all went to the door together. Mason looked over his shoulder and blew me a kiss.
CHAPTER 18
I THOUGHT ABOUT WHAT BARRY HAD SAID ABOUT seeming like a nutcase, and even though the SEC guy had urged people with information to come forward, I didn’t. Not that I had ti
me anyway. The next few days went by in a blur of snowflakes and preparations for the So Many Traditions event.
Luckily, CeeCee’s snowflake pattern was simple and I was able to turn them out pretty quickly. My crochet partners came through, too. Sheila stopped by on her break from her receptionist job at the gym and gave me a handful. Eduardo brought in more that he’d made while he was waiting around a commercial shoot he was doing for fat-free sour cream. CeeCee dropped some off as she rushed off to a meeting with her agent. Rhoda sent her husband Harold in with the ones she’d made. Of course Adele insisted she’d done her share and I didn’t even think about Elise. Dinah brought the ones she’d made when she came over to help me starch them all. She’d left the kids at home. “You got a babysitter,” I said.
“Commander came over,” she said with an uncertain flutter of her eyes. “This will either make or break things. He said he’d teach them how to play checkers.”
I had stacks of cardboard pieces, rolls of wax paper, pushpins and a big jug of starch. When we’d laid out all the snowflakes, we took them outside and laid them on the lawn furniture to dry. It seemed almost like magic how they went from limp masses of tangled-looking thread to dainty things of beauty. Dinah turned up toward the night sky. “Good,” she said. “Dark blue. No chance of rain.” Maybe it wasn’t going to rain, but it was cold. We could see our breath as we rushed back inside to the warm kitchen.
Dinah hung around while I mixed up the dough for the batch of cardamom rolls for the bookstore. I mentioned that I’d gotten several voice mail messages from Emily. “I haven’t called her back,” I said. “At first I felt sorry for her and thought she’d been left to deal with a terrible mess her husband made. But after the whole thing with the watch and the shopping malls, I’m not sure how much she’s involved. And I don’t have time to figure it out now,” I said, putting the dough in a bowl and covering it to let it rise.
Prime Crime Holiday Bundle Page 138
