Books, Brownies and Murder

by Lori Woods

  “It did, but when my wife was fine with it, all of a sudden everything got worse. Kelly started messing up, but she swore she never did it. I couldn’t trust her. Then I had to let her go. That’s when I hired Veronica.”

  “Ronnie?”

  “You know her?”

  “Yeah, we met yesterday.”

  “Be careful, man, you think she’s all sweet and innocent, then boom! She’s got you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She plays these mind games with you. I found out later that Ronnie was sneaking into the office while Kelly was working here and mixing everything up. She got her fired. Then, when she got the job, she scared off some patients. She was always fighting with someone.”

  “Did you fire her?”

  “Yeah, but not because of that. I could never prove anything. She was so nice to us. I don’t know, I came to work yesterday, and she was acting weird. I got a phone call that Jessica is feeling sick, and she… well… Now Jessica isn’t feeling great, and I’ve got to do all this work by myself.”

  “Wait. What did she do?”

  “She told me she loved me.”

  “Hold on,” Clary shook her head, trying to clear it. Her throat felt dry and she wondered when she last had something to drink. “Why would Jessica kill them?”

  “I told you,” Ronnie said impatiently, bouncing on her chair. “She’s jealous. She thought Kelly was stealing her husband.”

  “But why Eddie?”

  “Eddie threatened her husband.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense,” Clary shook her head, and breathed deeply. The air in the shop suddenly felt heavy and she looked up at Ronnie, who seemed unconcerned by Clary’s behavior.

  “Who cares,” Ronnie shrugged, walking up to the door and turning the lock firmly. Clary stared at her, utterly bewildered, as the world took on a strange fuzziness. “It’s a good story.”

  “What did you do?” Clary asked, feeling frightened. She suddenly became aware that she was all alone in the store. Marie wouldn’t be back for a while, she made it clear that she had no interest in being around while Ronnie was around.

  “This isn’t a book,” Ronnie said spitefully, trailing her fingers along one of the bookshelves. “I’m not going to tell you everything.”

  “I don’t understand,” Clary shook her head, trying to make sense of it all.

  “I don’t care,” Ronnie shrugged again. She sat down on one of the couches and watched Clary intently. Loki suddenly perked up and looked toward Clary. He let out a soft little sound, watching her intently. She swayed slightly, trying to make sense of it all.

  The world felt heavy, and she was confused. This wasn’t a normal confusion, it felt like her body was lost and trying to make sense of what it was supposed to do. There was a harsh disconnect between her brain and the rest of her body. Her brain was screaming at her, but her body wouldn’t listen.

  “You did this,” Clary whispered.

  “Good effort,” Ronnie commended sarcastically, watching her like a scientist watched a test subject. She looked unattached, but curious. This wasn’t a human, this was an experiment.

  Clary suddenly ducked toward the door, causing Ronnie to jump up in surprise. Her feint had worked. She quickly changed direction and pushed the box of books to the side. Ronnie yelled in frustration when the books tumbled into the fire and began smoking. She lunged forward and pulled the books out, dragging a few embers with it.

  While Ronnie was focused on the books, Clary used her last ounce of strength to open the window closest to her. Loki shot out like a bullet, without looking behind him. Ronnie looked shocked, but relaxed when she saw that it was just the cat. She turned toward where Clary was slumped against a bookshelf, one of her legs crossed under her and her arm lying useless on the floor.

  “That was unimpressive,” Ronnie scoffed as she stamped out the embers with her boot, leaving black marks on Clary’s beautiful carpet.

  “You’re in love with Finn,” Clary choked out, trying to keep her mind focused, but most of her concentration was focused on trying to keep breathing. Her chest felt constricted, like a giant hand was clutching her lungs, preventing her from getting air into her body.

  “And he’s in love with me,” Ronnie said proudly.

  “No, Jessica…”

  “That old hag?” Ronnie scoffed carelessly. “No. He’s just with her because he feels too guilty to leave her. I almost feel bad for her. He’s such a nice guy, but he’ll never leave her while she’s still alive.”

  Clary gasped again, her chest was starting to hurt more. The tips of her fingers started to ache as her hands trembled. The tremors were getting worse, and she felt more afraid than she ever did before.

  “Okay,” Ronnie sighed as she sat down in front of her. “This is what’s happening. Your body is shutting down. Don’t worry, in another ten minutes, you’ll be done. See, it all depends on how much poison you eat. With Eddie, it was about half an hour. I gave him a lot. With Kelly, it was over two days. She thought it was because of grief. Stupid girl.”

  Clary frowned, but she couldn’t get any words out.

  “Those brownies are full of poison. With Jessica, it will be slower, because everyone’s on their guard. I thought that she should die the slowest. That way Finn can say goodbye. He’s very sentimental. Oh, well, no one can be perfect.”

  “Why?” Clary gasped, her lips were starting to get numb and she realized that she needed to conserve energy for as long as possible.

  “Well, it’s really all your fault,” Ronnie said matter-of-factly. “It was only supposed to be those three. Don’t worry, they deserved it. Anyway, like I said. It was just supposed to be them. But then you decided to stick your nose in it. I was going to let it go. I swear, but then you said that Marie was talking to the police about your hunch. Really, Clary? You should’ve just let it go.”

  Clary groaned as the pain became more intense. Ronnie stood up and went to her, tilting her head to one side curiously.

  “This is good, we’re on track. You know, working on the main street has its advantages. Like, when Eddie died. I timed the ambulance. It took about seven minutes. That’s good, considering how slippery the roads are. With Kelly, the police came. That took two minutes, but the ambulance took five. She was a lot closer thought. I’ll call the police about a minute before your time’s up. That way they won’t make it.”

  Clary lost more strength, and the hand that was holding her up gave up. She slid to the side, with nothing to keep her from falling. Her head landed against the carpet with a dull thud.

  “The police will come. I’ll be all panicked, and then they’ll find those brownies with the ones Marie made. I wonder if they’ll send her back to France? Or keep her in one of our prisons?”

  Clary didn’t say anything, she was too weak. As she lay there, the pain gripping her body, she tuned out Ronnie’s bragging. She felt the wind from the open window invade the room that was too hot. A smile crossed her face as Ronnie’s bragging became a toneless drone. Poor Ronnie, she thought she had it all figured out. The smug woman should’ve checked her victim’s pockets before bragging about all her crimes.

  Chapter 10

  “You’re completely healthy,” Marie protested, glaring at Clary with a judgmental gaze.

  “I was poisoned,” Clary reminded her, putting a hand over her chest. “I need to stay on this couch and read books. I can’t go to Logan’s grand opening.”

  “You were poisoned two weeks ago,” Marie said, unmoved by Clary’s logic. “Besides, the poisoning would’ve been permanent if it weren’t for Logan. He wants you there. Now get up, get dressed and let’s go.”

  “I’m not getting dressed,” Clary said stubbornly, crossing her arms over her chest. “Besides, Logan just got here first. Loki is the one who really saved me.”

  “All he did was get his paws wet,” Marie scoffed, glaring at the smug cat who was lying on Clary’s belly. It was his permanent resting spot eve
r since she got back from the hospital.

  “He came to find you, it’s how you got here so quickly.”

  “The cat ran outside, because there was a fire. He just came to my apartment because he wanted food.”

  “He called you.”

  “He’s a cat. He wanted food.” This was an ongoing debate between the two of them, and like most of their debates, the longer it dragged on, the more heated it became. Neither one was willing back down. Although, in her weaker moments, when she was looking at the cat, Marie had to admit that his unearthly howls had unnerved her enough to seek out Clary.

  Marie wished she could forget the feeling of stumbling across Logan wrestling Ronnie to the ground while EMTs worked desperately to save an unresponsive Clary. She didn’t remember much except rushing forward, and Ben Peters holding her back as they loaded Clary into the back of the vehicle. Clary hadn’t woken up until the very last second, and Marie swore she did it on purpose.

  For a whole week, visitors from all over flocked to the shop to get one of the infamous Death Brownies. It was all very morbid to Marie, but highly amusing to Clary.

  “He saved me,” Clary said fondly, patting Loki’s head. He leaned into her hand and purred happily. He was sickeningly clingy ever since the fire.

  “No. Now, get dressed, I want to go.”

  “I’m going like this,” Clary repeated stubbornly, standing up in her sweats and oversized sweater.

  “You’re going to see Logan in dirty sweats and that sweater?” Clary looked down at her attire and back up at Marie, before heading upstairs to change her clothes.

  “I think she likes him,” Marie told Loki thoughtfully, smiling to herself. She took the time to look around the store, briefly imagining what it would be like without Clary. Nothing came to mind, but Marie wasn’t surprised. It wasn’t the Story Tree without Clary.

  Half an hour later, they were standing inside Logan’s new store. Almost everyone in town had shown up to the grand opening, and Clary felt overwhelmed by the number of people coming over and hugging her. The attention was nice, but too much. She wished that the people would schedule their love and attention, so that she got some every day for the next year. Why did everyone have to come forward all at once?

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” Logan stood up to address the townsfolk. “Welcome to Story Feed, Valley Spring’s first internet café!”

  Everyone clapped politely, but then quickly turned back to wait for their turn on the computers. Logan’s ploy of offering free snacks had brought in crowds, and now they wouldn’t leave. It was an ingenious idea. His store was like a parallel of the Story Tree. Where people could buy books from Clary, they could buy computer gadgets from Logan. The Story Feed had a bunch of comfortable spots where people could browse, or work, or just waste time.

  Customers could come in and get their computers fixed, upgrade to the latest technology or just relax. It was a modern wonder. Students could come here, while professors would go to Clary. Between the two of them, they had created a blend of modern and classic.

  “This is impressive,” Clary commended when he finally ambled over.

  “Is that all you have to say to your hero?” Logan asked smugly, flashing her a teasing grin.

  “How many times do I have to say it? I thought I called Marie. It’s not my fault the stupid touchscreen landed on you. I was too busy fighting off the poison with my incredible immune system.”

  “Don’t listen to her,” Marie told him soothingly. “She was giving the cat all the credit earlier. She’s just in denial.”

  “That’s not true,” Clary pouted.

  “I believe her,” Logan laughed. “but after everything, I’ll believe anything. That was such a crazy ride.”

  “Not really,” Clary pointed out. “Once you know why she did it, it’s weird that we didn’t connect the dots earlier.”

  “She was smart about it,” Marie shrugged. “She always ordered the brownies under Finn’s name. She called, told me that he wanted them, and I believed her because she was his assistant.”

  “Although her connection to Kelly and Eddie should’ve tipped me off sooner,” Clary shook her head forlornly. “It was so obvious.”

  “I still don’t understand it,” Logan shrugged. “Don’t beat yourself up about it.”

  “What don’t you understand? Eddie dumped Ronnie for Kelly.”

  “My ex and my treacherous friend would also be the first people I poisoned,” Marie pointed out, reasonably.

  “Oh, come on,” Logan scoffed. “She didn’t even want them dead! She was just practicing for Jessica. So, technically, she could’ve picked anyone. She was just using them to time how long the police would take and how long it would take to die.”

  “We know all this,” Marie reminded him.

  “I was still a little confused,” Clary admitted honestly. “I think I started blacking out during that part of the explanation.”

  “I almost feel sorry for her,” Marie shrugged, ignoring Clary. “Hear me out,” she said quickly when Clary and Logan turned to her in shock. “She was in love. She thought she was doing it for their future.”

  “That’s crazy,” Clary shrugged. “I don’t buy the whole love thing. I think she was just crazy, and we should’ve spotted it sooner or something.”

  “Wait,” Logan interrupted, “you don’t believe in love? What’s wrong with you?”

  Marie covered her mouth with her hand, but she couldn’t quite hide the mischievous smile that emerged when Clary and Logan started bickering like an old married couple.

  Afterword

  Thank you so much for reading Books, Brownies and Murder. If you have a moment, I’d love a review on Amazon, which will help others too.

  Please join my mailing list to be updated on all my latest releases:

  http://eepurl.com/c0Bv5b

  Why not read the others books in the Sweet Treats mysteries too? You can find the links overleaf.

  Thank you,

  Lori xo

  Also by Lori Woods

  Sweet Treat Cozy Mysteries:

  Strawberry Crunch & Murder (Book 1)

  Peanut Butter Fudge & Murder (Book 2)

  Lemon Bars & Murder (Book 3)

  Mint Choc Chip & Murder (Book 4)

  Key Lime Pie & Murder (Book 5)

  Red Velvet Cake & Murder (Book 6)

  Carrot Cake & Murder (Book 7)

  Caramel Apples & Murder (Book 8)

  Pumpkin Pie & Murder (Book 9)

  Double Apple Pie & Murder (Book 10)

  My witch paranormal series:

  Nightshade Cozy Mysteries