Well, yes. Half of me did actually want to take him up on his offer, but I stuck my fork in and swallowed a mouthful. It kinda felt like I was playing Russian roulette, though.
“Some of your customers are pretty vocal about the way they like their coffee,” I commented around a mouthful of pie. So far so good.
“Oh, today was nothing,” Blake said, waving as he dug into a slice of blueberry pie as well. I wondered who had baked it. There had been no sight of Alex all day. “Although, you’re right. People are very particular about their coffee.” He glanced down at his pie. “They can be just as particular about their food as well. Trust me.” He sounded resentful.
I stopped eating. “You get complaints about the food?” I asked him. “I’m a little surprised to hear that.” Considering the lengths he went to to keep it all fresh and organic. It couldn’t have been very financially sound to throw out so much food every day.
Blake laughed. “Thanks for the compliment. But yes—that’s why we offer so many guarantees about the freshness and the quality of the produce. To try and keep complaints to the minimum. But they still happen.” He paused for a moment, as though he wanted to say something but was holding back. “Some customers in particular are very opinionated.”
“Is that so?” I asked casually, but I was listening intently, hoping he would expand a little.
“I know this is going to sound terrible,” Blake said, sticking a fork into the last bite of pie on his plate. “And it’s not that I’m glad she’s dead…”
Okay. Now I was really listening.
Blake had gone very quiet. The only thing I could hear in the whole shop was the dim rattle of the coffee machine, which was still turned on, and the very faint buzzing of the fridge.
“But I have to admit. It will be nice to not have to listen to Valerie complaining every day. Double-checking that everything she orders has been made fresh on that day, demanding to come out to the kitchen to make sure all of the items are gluten-free, and even when we showed her, she still would come back an hour later and tell us that there was a problem with the item she had ordered.”
I put my plate down slowly.
“So you knew Valerie?” I asked him. Why was he only telling me this now?
“Well, sure. She was a customer.” Blake was avoiding eye contact with me.
“I know that she was a customer. I just didn’t know that you knew her so well,” I said.
Blake’s face reddened. “Not that well,” he said, backtracking a little.
He began to clear the empty plates and stack them in the dishwasher and then turn it on, the roar of the water filling the empty air.
But I wasn’t about to be distracted by a little kitchen equipment.
I spun around in my stool. “Blake? How often did Valerie come into the shop?”
He turned on the dishwater and muttered his answer. “I dunno. Like, once a day.”
Once a day? My mouth fell open. So, Valerie was not just a faceless customer. Not just a one-timer either. She was a regular, and one that Blake knew well.
And one that he didn’t like.
Chapter 6
I usually arrive at the bakery on a Monday morning feeling light and refreshed after a weekend of rest. Not this Monday. I was still wearing my shades like I was stumbling through the doors after a long night of drinking. Except in this case, it was a long night of tossing and turning wondering if I was about to go into business with a murderer, and being kept awake by Sue’s dog. Suzy had decided that my bed was the most comfortable place to sleep in the house and she was acting like I was her owner instead of Sue. Sue had been all but abandoned.
“Where is Pippa?” Simona asked me as she set the tables, taking the chairs off the top and making sure each was stocked with salt and pepper and sugar.
“Why do people keep asking me that?” I grumbled. “Pippa and I do things apart occasionally, you know.”
“I’ve never seen you apart.”
That wasn’t true, but I just rolled my eyes and let it go. I was too tired to argue. I asked Simona to take care of setting things up in the front, to heat up the coffee machine and set up the tables with menus. “I’m going to go talk to Bronson about adding apple pie to the menu.”
Simona scrunched up her nose. “I’m not a big fan of apple pie. Too gelatinous.”
Bronson was rolling pastry in the back when I walked in and he assured me that he had gotten to work early that day to make up for being late last week. I’d totally forgotten. “Hey, can you bake a few apple pies today?” I asked him, taking my phone from my pocket.
“But we don’t have any apples,” Bronson said, dropping his ball of dough like I had just asked him to go climb Mt. Everest.
“Then go to the supermarket and get some.”
I tried leaving Pippa a voice message this time, in the vain hope that she might listen to it. “Pippa, this is important. I think I may have had a break in the case.” I needed to tell her everything I knew about Blake—and explain what I was doing working at Dough Planet the day before. Surely she’d have to be happy to hear that Blake was a potential suspect, at the very least?
I left Bronson with petty cash to purchase some apples. “They don’t have to be organic, don’t stress out,” I called to him before returning to the front with my phone in my hot hands in case it buzzed.
Simona just about had the shop set up but she had failed to turn on the coffee machine. I groaned, knowing that we already had customers and they were going to want some. “We are competing against the best coffee in Belldale, you know, Simona,” I said, switching it on.
“What has gotten into you this morning?” she asked.
I sighed. I normally wasn’t such a bossy, well, boss. But the lack of sleep and the suspicions had set into my bones and turned me into a real Blake that morning. I could hear the back door slamming and Bronson stomping off to go get the apples I had demanded.
My phone buzzed and I almost dropped it in my hurry to answer. This was it. She was finally returning my calls. “Pippa!” I said excitedly. “You don’t know how glad I am to finally hear from you. How have—” But as soon as I started talking, I was distracted.
“So what is this news you have about Blake?” I heard Pippa speaking but I wasn’t listening.
I jumped as Blake walked in through the doors and ended the call abruptly. Great. Now that I had taken a shift at Dough Planet and I’d hung up on her, Pippa was probably never going to call me back again.
Ever since I’d found out about his weird customer/baker relationship with Valerie, things had been awkward between us. I’d been avoiding him and his calls since I’d left Dough Planet the evening before. The last thing I wanted was him inside the bakery where I would be forced to be cordial to him. There were customers sitting at a table beside the counter and they could see and hear everything I did.
“When were these baked?” Blake asked, nodding at the peppermint slices in the display fridge.
I smiled at him through gritted teeth. “Yesterday,” I said.
“On a Sunday?”
I sighed. “Fine. Friday. But they have been refrigerated all weekend and they are just as fresh today as they were then…”
“You should throw them in the trash…” he said, as though there was no argument to be had. Blake was in the right; I was in the wrong.
If Blake and I were going to work together, he was going to need to learn to compromise. We couldn’t go throwing perfectly good food items into the trash just because of some arbitrary timeframe he had. It was just bad business.
“What are you doing here, Blake?” I asked quietly. I moved to the coffee machine and started grinding beans to stifle the conversation so that the customers couldn’t overhear.
“I want to come with you,” he said.
I switched off the grinder and stared at him. “Come with me to where? I’m at work. And you’re already here.” We might not have been as popular as Dough Planet, but we still did a good trad
e and I couldn’t spend the entire day chatting with Blake and ignoring my customers. Unlike Blake, I didn’t wish any of mine dead. I raised my eyebrows at him. “Are you here to return my favor from yesterday and work a shift?”
He shook his head.
“No. I want to come with you to Valerie’s office.”
“What are you talking about?”
He looked desperate. “I need to find out who killed her, Rachael.”
I hushed him and told him to keep his voice down. This was not the time nor the place.
“I have no intention of going to Valerie’s office,” I said to him. “And even if I did, you would be the last person I would want to come with me.”
“Where’s Pippa?” Blake asked, glancing around.
“She’s…busy.”
“Still not talking to you then?” Blake asked.
Actually, she was. This time it was me who was ignoring her.
“So you’ve got no one to assist you when you go to speak to Valerie’s co-workers then?”
Why was he just assuming I was going to speak to Valerie’s co-workers? It was very presumptuous. And annoying. Still, he was right. I needed to find out what happened when she took the pie back to work on the day that she died. I just couldn’t figure out if having Blake along with me was a good idea or not. Was he only forcing his way in because he wanted to control the evidence I found?
Maybe it was better to bring him. Then I could see just want kind of stunt he was trying to pull.
“Fine. You can come.”
We arrived at the front of a large building complex that sat directly across from the mall in the center of town. It was an upscale location, with a lush green park and the river running behind it. As usual, I was covered in flour and felt very underdressed in front of the new high-rise building
“What does Valerie do here?” I asked Blake as we pulled up. I was driving, and Blake was in the passenger seat. “What did she do, I mean?” I corrected.
Blake shook his head. “Told you, I didn’t know her that well. But she helped people find work, I think,” he said, scratching his head. “Some kind of employment specialist?”
“Like a head hunter?”
He pointed up at the shiny building and squinted. There were a bunch of different signs—one for a weight loss company, one for a pathology lab; the building held several different offices and businesses. One of them read Extreme Employment Solutions. That was where Valerie had worked before she’d taken a fateful bite of the apple pie. “I think she was just a recruitment agent, not a head hunter,” Blake said. “Just for temp workers, hospitality workers, that kind of thing.”
Hmm. Right.
We walked into the lobby, asked for Extreme Employment Solutions, and were directed to the fourth floor. I wanted to take the stairs so I wasn’t trapped in an elevator with Blake, but he insisted and it would have seemed weird if I’d insisted on walking without him.
“Do you have an appointment?” the receptionist asked when we walked in. She had fiery red hair and lipstick to match. Her voice was pleasant enough, but it sounded strained, as though we were interrupting her and she just wanted to get rid of us.
I looked at Blake, who, thankfully, managed to turn on his charm. He flashed a smile and worked his magic on her. The puppy dog eyes quickly followed the smile. Of course.
“See, I was unexpectedly fired,” he said, with a little sigh and a shrug, encouraging this poor woman to feel sorry for him. He went into a whole spiel. “So you can see that this is really a tough time for me. And with my wife here pregnant…”
I spun my head around so fast it nearly flew right off. I glared at him. What on earth was he talking about?
But it worked. We were given an appointment and told to take a seat.
“Did you really have to pretend that we are married?” I whispered to him, quietly enough so that the receptionist wouldn’t hear, though she raised an eyebrow. “And that we are having a baby together?”
“Yes,” Blake replied. “And it’s a boy. So act happy.”
The receptionist caught my eye. I flashed her a tight smile.
We were finally shown into a small office by a tall man with broad shoulders and curly blonde hair whose name was Niles, and again told to sit and wait. Blake placed his arm around my shoulders while I grimaced and settled down beside him. Did he really have to lay it on so thick? “Did you bring a resume with you?” Niles asked Blake.
“Uh, no. As I said to the receptionist, it was a very unexpected firing.”
“Right.” He frowned and told us he would fetch our recruitment officer for us. I was confused. Wasn’t Niles our recruitment officer?
“So what is the plan when our recruitment officer actually comes in and asks what kind of job you want?” I asked, pushing Blake’s arm away from me now that we were alone.
He shot me a meaningful look that made my stomach flip over a little. I pulled myself away from him even further. “Well, I’ll just tell the recruitment officer the truth, Rachael. That I am looking for a change. A new partnership.”
I gulped and turned away even further. I didn’t like the way that he seemed to be hinting at more than a business partnership.
Or maybe I did like it. Maybe that was the problem.
Thankfully, both we and the tension in the room were interrupted by the sound of high heels entering the room. I sat up straight and tried to compose myself. I couldn’t be worried about decoding Blake’s messages right then.
“Hello,” I said brightly, smiling up at the woman to greet her.
Her nametag said Claudia. She looked a little familiar to me, but I couldn’t quite place her. Well, Belldale is a small place—I could have run into her at some stage while out and about.
However, she looked a heck of a lot familiar to Blake, who froze as soon as she walked into the room. He pulled his arm as far away from me and stood up before sitting down again, like he couldn’t decide how to position his body, a startled look on his face the whole time. It said, oh no, I am in trouble.
“Blake?” she said, stopping.
“Claudia.” He leaned back in his chair. He seemed to be sweating. “I had no idea that you worked here.”
She smiled grimly. “Well you would have, if you’d ever bothered to ask anything about me,” she said, folding her arms across her chest. She had a manila folder in one of her hands with papers sticking out of it. She kept her composure the whole time, though, and didn’t drop anything.
“And who is this?” Claudia asked, nodding at me with a look of suspicion.
Blake hesitated for a long time before he answered. “This is my pregnant wife, Rachael.”
She shook her head. “Unbelievable,” she muttered before throwing her folder of paperwork onto the desk. She was still composed, but I could tell that it was only in an effort to remain professional. If she hadn’t been at work, I don’t think she would have kept her cool. “And I suppose you were already married when we were dating…”
I stood up and got out of the firing line. Umm. What was going on here, exactly? Dating?
“Blake, what is going on here?” I asked him.
Claudia shot me a look. “What is going on, is that your husband cannot be trusted.” This time, she picked up the folder and threw it at him, that cool look still on her face.
But Blake had already run out of the office with his hands covering his head and Claudia was calling for security to escort Blake from the office. “This man is a liar and should not be hired by anyone.”
“I knew that bringing you along was a bad idea!” I shouted as we made our way back to the elevator and I hit the down button a dozen times. It could not arrive soon enough. I climbed inside and held my breath when the door jammed together and the entire box shook back and forth. There was an ominous rattling noise like the motor was broken. For one terrifying second, I thought it wasn’t going to move and I was going to be stuck with Blake, or worse, plunge to my death with Blake by my side.
> But we moved.
As soon as the doors sprung open on the ground floor, I ran out through the lobby and flew out the doors without even saying good-bye to the receptionist. “Lover’s tiff?” I heard her call out as Blake tried to chase me, calling my name.
But I didn’t listen to him. I was free. Free from the clutches of the elevator, and free from the clutch that Blake had temporarily had me in.
I didn’t stop to think about why I was so upset. I just kept sprinting toward the car.
“Rachael,” he called out after me. “Please! I still need your help.”
But I wasn’t listening. I had a more important issue to deal with.
I needed to know, once and for all, if Pippa killed Valerie. It was time to bite the bullet and do what I had been avoiding. Talk to my best friend.
Chapter 7
I needed space away from Blake. I also needed someone to talk to. Usually that person would be my best friend, my twin, the person who was always by my side.
Except that Pippa was not by my side. And I had had enough.
I usually took the back way into Pippa’s farm, but this time, I figured I’d pull up at the front of the house. Maybe give myself the element of surprise.
I walked up to the front porch and approached the door. All the lights were off. Guess she’s not home then. Though I couldn’t figure out where she would be at that time of night with Lolly. I was about to turn away when I remembered what I’d told her the night we’d been staking out the apple orchard. Turn off all the lights so it looks like there’s no one awake. Or no one at home.
I pulled my hand back from the front door. Instead of knocking on the door and giving myself away, I crept over to the window of the living room and peered into it.
There she was. Sitting on the edge of the sofa with Lolly on the rug in front of her feet, playing with a new toy.
I banged on the glass, causing her to jump and spill the iced tea that she was drinking. Lolly dropped the toy giraffe she was holding and stared at me with a startled look.
Apple Assassination Page 6
