It Cannoli Be Murder

by Karoline Barrett

  She didn’t seem exactly disturbed by either murder. “We have some people that we are definitely interested in. My mother is on the board of directors for the Mellon School for Girls. She wasn’t in your class, but she told me that some of the other women were whispering about you.”

  Sharon shook her head, but smiled again. “I’m sure they were. Are they still talking about me after all this time? What did they have to say?”

  I felt bad for her, even though she didn’t look upset at all. Quite the contrary. She’d leaned forward, leaned her elbows on her knees and planted her chin on her fists. Her eyes sparkled like she couldn’t wait to hear what I had to say.

  I didn’t want to do this, but I was here, so I couldn’t very well flee out the front door. I suddenly missed Bread and Batter and Olivia and Kendra. I wished I was in the bakery’s kitchen, whipping up a loaf of zucchini bread, instead of grilling a possible murder suspect, but I’m the one who wanted to be authorized to participate in this, so here I was.

  “Molly? Everything okay?”

  I met her eyes, my reverie broken. “That you never fit in, none of the girls wanted to be your friend. I’m sorry, I hate repeating all this to you.”

  She threw her head back and gave a throaty laugh, her eyes still sparkling. “I’m fine. It’s nothing I don’t know and it’s in the past. Is there more?”

  I relaxed. I was liking her company. She was one of these people you felt immediately comfortable with. “You sound like you’re enjoying this.”

  “I am, crazy as that may sound. Go on. Please.”

  “I get the impression you were ostracized because you didn’t come from a wealthy family, and some of the girls could be snobs. Melanie and Rachael supposedly made fun of you every chance they got. You weren’t in any clubs or cliques.”

  “All that is very true. It was a tough time for me. I hated that school, and the girls in it. I had one best friend, and that was it.”

  Alex broke in. “Did you hate it enough to kill Rachael and Melanie?”

  “No,” she replied, her voice soft. She stopped smiling and grew serious. “I wouldn’t kill them! My goodness, that was so long ago! I’ve got a wonderful life, a loving husband, two beautiful kids. I forgave those women long ago. I wouldn’t trade my life for anything. I never even think about them. I know Melanie and Rachael became famous, but I bet some of the others are a mess. I’m blessed. And I have a lot of friends now.”

  I totally believed her. I liked this woman. She was someone I could be friends with, myself. There was something peaceful about her and her home. I didn’t think she killed anyone, but I was glad we’d come by. I wondered what Alex thought. His face revealed nothing. “That’s wonderful. I’m happy for you. Thank you so much for talking to me. If you’re in Destiny, come by Bread and Batter Bakery.”

  “I thought you looked familiar! I love that bakery. My kids adore your cake pops. So, you own a bakery and you work for the police? Oh, wait a minute! You were involved in two other murders, too, weren’t you?”

  I had an ah-ha moment. “That’s funny. I thought you looked familiar too, now I know why. Yes, I was. I’m so glad you like Bread and Batter. You’ll stop by again?”

  “Definitely! I hope you find who killed Rachael and Melanie. Despite how they treated me they deserve justice.”

  “Thanks. You don’t know anyone else who may have wanted them dead, do you?”

  “No, I have no idea. Sorry”

  Alex rose, and I followed suit. There was nowhere else to go with this, but honestly, I could have hung with Sharon the entire day and forgotten all about murder.

  Alex handed her one of his business cards, we said our goodbye’s and took off.

  “You did a good job in there,” Alex said as we headed back to Destiny. Alex insisted on having the windows closed and the AC on for the return trip. I thought it best not to object.

  “Thanks. That means a lot to me coming from you. She seemed nice, right?” I said

  “‘Seemed,’ yes. I’ll dig around and see what else I can find out about her. Speaking of nice women, this is off topic, but I asked your friend, Emily out a couple of days ago. She owns Barking Mad Books.”

  That certainly was off topic. “Yes, I know she owns Barking Mad Books. You asked her out? I had no idea. She never said anything.”

  He pulled a face. “Probably because she turned me down.”

  I was a little surprised. No, make that a lot surprised. Both at the fact that she turned him down, and at the fact she hadn’t said anything to me, or Olivia, that I knew of. Alex was smart, handsome, had all his teeth, was in great shape, and bathed regularly. Plus, he owned his own condo, which meant he wasn’t living in his parents’ basement. All those were plusses in my book. “I can’t believe she turned you down. I’m so surprised.” A vision of Rocco popped into my head. Maybe I wasn’t that surprised. “You want me to see what I can find out?”

  He looked horrified by my idea. “Absolutely not. I’ll come off as pathetic and needy. Not the image I’m going for, and neither of which I am. But, I was surprised as well. I’ve been in her bookstore a lot, and we always talk. We love a lot of the same non-fiction, and fiction, and we have a lot of other stuff in common. We seemed to hit it off, so I thought she’d be open to a date. Guess not.”

  I wanted to give him a hug of reassurance, but was limited by my seatbelt. “Alex, there are other women out there. Try one of those dating sites.”

  He looked doubtful. “I suppose. Okay, enough about my love life, or lack thereof.

  “You don’t really buy the murder-suicide thing, do you?”

  “No. Even with the note. Something’s not right.” He was thinking out loud, I could tell by the way his brow was furrowed.

  “Can you share the note with me now? Since I’ve been given special powers by our county attorney?”

  “I forgot one rule. You absolutely cannot share with anyone anything that the investigation turns up, or that you learn, or anything I tell you. Not with Olivia, and not with any other relatives, not with any of your other friends.”

  “I won’t,” I agreed hastily. “You have my word. Can I see the suicide note?”

  He glanced at me. “You’re pretty tenacious, Ms. Drew.”

  I laughed his astute observation, and took that as a yes. We rode the rest of the way without chatting. I don’t know what Alex’s thoughts were, but I couldn’t conceive of a scenario where someone had to kill two innocent women.

  I followed him back into the police department when we returned.

  “I want to talk to the Rydell’s again,” he told me once we were in his office behind the closed door. “Last time we spoke they were over-the-top upset, not that I blamed them. They let me know they want to take care of Melanie’s funeral and that they’re okay with Jardine taking care of Rachael’s once the medical examiner wraps up. I’m not sure anything else I said registered.”

  “Do you think you can get more out of them?”

  “I think so. Our talk was rather brief for the reason I just mentioned. I told them I’d be in touch again soon.” He held up a hand. “Don’t say it. I know, you want to be there when I do.”

  “If that’s an invitation, I accept.”

  “I kinda thought you would. I’m also going to follow up on Meara and Charlotte’s alibis myself.”

  “Alex, I was thinking about this on the way back here. I have a gut feeling that Lucas Jardine had something to do with Rachael’s murder. If not him, then Piero DiGiovanni. He threatened to kill Rachael, and that’s not a rumor. I don’t exactly want to hunt him down, though. Maybe you and Sean can do that.”

  “Sean’s got contacts in New York City who are going to take a closer look at Jardine and DiGiovanni.”

  “Good.” I was lost in thought for a moment. “What about Melanie’s murder? Assuming it was not a suicide. Did Lucas have something to do with that?”

  “Maybe he killed Melanie to make it look like two killers were involved, just
to throw the police off. Or, he did it to make us think he had something against both women. If that’s the case, it had to be someone with no conscience whatsoever. Lucas or Piero probably fit that bill. Maybe even Rocco.”

  “It was someone who knew they’d be at the reunion,” I added. “Think about it. Rachael turned both her husband and this Piero guy into the FBI. They served jail time. That’s a pretty good motive to kill someone.”

  Alex didn’t look convinced. “Why wouldn’t Jardine just divorce her?”

  “Money, respectability. I’m sure he had life insurance on her.”

  “One step at a time. In a totally unrelated matter, Sean asked me to keep you busy.”

  I was nonplussed. “He asked you to keep me busy? With what?”

  He lifted a shoulder. “The investigation, I guess. He didn’t give specifics.”

  Not only was that weird, not like Sean at all, but a total one-eighty from his attitude on my helping with the last two murders. “Why?”

  “I didn’t ask. He just said he needed you occupied.”

  I couldn’t believe what I’d just heard. “You didn’t find that odd?” Why is it that men never think to ask pertinent questions? I certainly wasn’t going to be shy about asking Sean why he wanted me kept busy.

  “I didn’t think about it one way or another, I’m just relaying what he said. I probably shouldn’t have, now that I think about it. Let me take that back.”

  Was he serious? “Uh-uh. Too late. Anyway, let me know when you want to talk to the Rydells. Olivia and I are doing desserts for the opening of Sweet Hill Winery. We’re going to be busy for the next few days baking. We’ve got a ton to do, so I’ll have to squeeze it in.”

  “My cousin’s cavorting with an alleged member of the mafia?” Alex teased.

  “Seems that way. He paid us a hundred grand to do it.”

  Alex whistled. “A hundred grand? Are you kidding me? I’d help him, too for that amount and I don’t know the first thing about baking.”

  “It’ll come in handy, I can’t deny that.

  “I’ve got an idea. I’ll talk to Rocco at the Sweet Hill Winery opening.”

  Alex blew out a long breath, and his eyes clouded over with doubt at my brilliant suggestion. “I don’t know about that, Molly. I don’t want you getting in over your head. If Rocco has anything to do with these murders, I’d steer clear. Maybe he did the killing, or killings. I don’t know yet how close he and this Piero guy are. Either one may have ordered the other to do the killings. You don’t want to get in the middle of something nasty.”

  “I appreciate your concern, but I’ll be fine. I don’t think Rocco would hurt me. He could have valuable information.”

  “I’m not convinced. I don’t like it. Why don’t you let me talk to him?”

  “I think I can get more out of him. I’ll tread carefully.”

  He sighed. Being the smart man he was, he realized that there wasn’t anything he could do to stop me. “Please do. I don’t want to be responsible for anything happening to you.”

  “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

  CHAPTER 17

  * * *

  I took the dogs for a walk when I got home, apologizing for leaving them for so long. They forgave me after I doled out treats to them both. I jumped in the shower when we returned. The steam billowed around me like a cloud, and the hot water relaxed me right away. I missed Sean. Even though I’d just seen him last night, it seemed much longer.

  Today had been a long day. I missed Bread and Batter, and Olivia and Kendra, too. I had no one to blame for that. I hoped Olivia and Kendra would be patient while Alex and I ferreted out killers. I reluctantly finished up, dried, and wrapped myself up in my favorite robe. Noelle and Beau were lying outside the bathroom door, waiting for me. Silly dogs, but they were so adorable. “How about some kibble?”

  They perked right up even though they’d just had treats, and followed me to the kitchen. I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, but I wasn’t that hungry. I grabbed an apple, and fed the dogs. “I could tell Alex that I don’t want to help anymore since I miss the bakery so much.”

  They looked up at me and I laughed as two heads cocked to the side and two tails wagged in tandem. “What? You don’t believe me?”

  Beau woofed his disbelief at me then went back to eating. Noelle just stared at me. I could tell she didn’t believe me either.

  I heard a key in the door a few minutes later. The dogs abandoned their food, and I tossed my apple core in the garbage.

  Sean was closing the door just as I got to it. I waited while Beau and Noelle got their greetings in then returned to their dinner. Sean enveloped me in a hug. I closed my eyes and inhaled his familiar scent. “It’s so good to see you. I’ve missed you.”

  “I’ve missed you, too.” He reached down and gave me a kiss that I was sorry to have end. “Hope you don’t mind, I ate at the station.”

  “That’s fine. I’m not hungry. I just ate an apple. Are you done for the day?”

  He yawned. “Yeah. I just want to veg in front of the TV with you.”

  “Me too. I’ll go throw my pajamas on and join you.”

  “I’ll be here.”

  A few minutes later the four of us were snuggled up on the couch watching a movie on Netflix.

  “I meant to tell you this before, babe,” Sean said into my hair a few minutes later. He paused the movie. “I’m leaving town for a few days. Sorry for the short notice.”

  I sat up. “Does it have to do with the cybercrimes?”

  “Actually, I’m going to take a closer look at Jardine and DiGiovanni, and I’ve got a couple of other leads. It’ll be lots easier for me to get information in the New York City than for Alex. Donovan could use some help, too. I probably should have gone myself to begin with, but I’m tied up with the cybercrimes case. I’ve already got some guys from NYPD involved, but I need to go myself. Policing long distance isn’t easy.”

  “Do you miss being in the city?” I asked.

  “No, I don’t. It was time to get out. I love my life here and I love you.”

  “I love you, too.” I snuggled against him feeling warm and tingly. Except for one lingering question I had, which made me sit up again. “How come you asked Alex to keep me occupied?”

  Sean made a face. “He told you I guess. Big mouth.”

  I punched his muscled bicep lightly. “Blood is thicker than water. You don’t usually like me involved with murders.”

  “I can’t tell you right now. Can you be patient? You’ll find out eventually, I promise. Trust me.”

  “If that’s what you want, okay.” I didn’t understand what he meant, it didn’t make sense, but I was too tired to worry about it. And I did trust him. “When are you leaving?”

  “Tomorrow morning.” He arranged both of us so I was nestled between his legs, my head on his chest. I never wanted to move. “I’m going to miss you.”

  “Me too,” I told him, “but I’ll be busy for part of the time with the Sweet Hill Winery opening. Olivia, Kendra, and I have to get busy baking.”

  “That’s right. Good luck, babe. I know all your desserts will be a big hit.”

  “Thanks.”

  “How about I take the pups out and then we head to bed?” he whispered in my ear a few minutes later.

  I glanced up at the movie we had on, still paused. “We’ll miss the ending.”

  “I think we can come up with a much better one, don’t you?” He gave me a sexy lopsided smile that did what it was intended to do. Never argue with law enforcement.

  ###

  Early the next morning, Sean and I said a teary goodbye. The tears being all mine, but still. Even Beau and Noelle were sad to see him go, I think. I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I headed to the bakery to get things ready for the day.

  Six hours later, the rear of Bread and Batter, where all the baking was done, never looked messier. It was pure chaos as Kendra, Olivia, and I frantically worked to get everything prepared fo
r Rocco’s opening. Kendra had recruited a couple of her friends to man the bakery out front, while the three of us handled the baking in the back.

  I was familiar with Kendra’s friends. Especially Jimmy since he maintained our Bread and Batter website. Jimmy, Jason, and Tiffany, along with Kendra, had tried using a Ouija board when I helped investigate the last two murders in town. Which gave me a half-serious idea. “Kendra, maybe you guys want to try contacting Melanie and Rachael in their afterlife?”

  She looked up from the dough she was mixing. “We’ve kind of stopped trying to contact the dead. There’s not a big market for that kind of stuff here in town, and it scares a lot of people. We’re all still friends, but we gave up on that. Sorry. But if there’s anything else I can do to help, I’ll be very happy to.”