When the Cookie Crumbles

by Virginia Lowell

  “You’re lying,” Binnie said.

  “I don’t think she is.” As all eyes turned to Olivia, she added, “At least not about the meeting being amicable. I think there might be a compelling reason for Karen to have spent two hours with Hermione Chatterley.” Olivia knew she might be wrong, in which case she’d have started a lurid rumor, but it made sense as several pieces clicked into place. “Karen, you were adopted, weren’t you?”

  Karen stiffened. “That’s ridiculous. My parents were living in Germany when I was born.”

  Ellie said softly, “Livie, are you sure this is—”

  “Yes, Mom. Karen, I know the story your parents told you, and you always believed it. Until last Wednesday evening. That’s when Hermione Chatterley told you she is your mother, wasn’t it?” Before Karen could respond, Olivia said, “Hermione carried a photo of an infant. I wondered if she and Paine had lost a baby, but…I think that baby was you, Karen. I wondered because of your eyes. They are such an unusual color. I’d never noticed before. They are amber, aren’t they? A rare color. Amber can look coppery or golden or light brown, depending on the light, so I didn’t put it together until now. Hermione’s eyes are the same color. And Hermione knew all about the play you were in, as if she’d kept track of you. I wondered why Hermione took the mansion off the market so quickly. I think she was worried you would be implicated in her husband’s death, and she wanted to stay to protect you.”

  Karen’s shoulders drooped. Ellie walked over to her and guided her back to the group, clustered near the gingerbread village. “Why don’t you tell us the story, dear,” Ellie said. “You’ll feel better. And Binnie will be very quiet, won’t you, Binnie.” Ellie’s voice had a steel edge, and Binnie gave her a slight nod.

  Maddie pushed the coffee and cookie cart closer. Karen accepted a fresh cup and began her story. “I had no idea I was adopted. I don’t think Hermione intended to tell me, but when I came to talk to her, she couldn’t help herself. She gave birth to me before she married Paine when she was just sixteen, the same age that Paine…anyway, her parents forced her to give me up. There was no formal adoption. Hermione’s parents simply gave me to a childless American couple, through an intermediary. As soon as she left home, Hermione hired a private detective to find me. That’s how she knew I lived on a farm near Chatterley Heights. She said she couldn’t believe her luck when she found out years later that Paine Chatterley was living in London.”

  “Are you saying…?” Olivia remembered Hermione’s insistence that she always loved Paine. “Did Hermione seek out and marry Paine because she thought he could lead her to you because you lived in the town he was from? That sounds extreme.”

  To Olivia’s surprise, Karen smiled. “It was a bit extreme,” she said in a gentler voice than Olivia had ever heard her use. “Though Hermione insisted she actually did fall in love with Paine. She said he was charming and attractive when he was young. She hated what he had become.”

  Olivia thought of Hermione’s odd reaction to Aunt Sadie’s embroidered little boy in the mansion window, which Maddie had copied for the gingerbread mansion. Hermione must have known the little boy was Paine, though she’d pretended not to recognize him. But that little boy no longer resembled the bitter, manipulative man Paine had become.

  “Hermione showed me the photo of me, taken right after my birth,” Karen said. “Her parents weren’t in the hospital room at the time, and Hermione never told them about it. She never gave up hope that she would find me someday. She spent years trying to convince Paine to move back here, so she could find me again. He hated the idea until about six months ago, when all of a sudden he announced they should take back Chatterley Mansion, that they could live in it for free. They were destitute, you see. Paine was alcoholic, no longer able to work his scams, and several nasty people were after him.”

  “Most intriguing.” Quill Latimer sipped his coffee, his eyes fixed on Karen’s face. “The two of you spoke for two hours. Can we assume that you told Hermione that her husband seduced you when you were sixteen?”

  Quill’s question hung in the air like an airplane with a sputtering engine. Olivia’s thoughts tumbled chaotically as she tried to connect the dots. She suspected Hermione had told the convoluted story about Karen and the fictional Sir Laurence to distract Olivia from the close connection between herself and Karen.

  “Karen,” Olivia said, “if Hermione knew where you lived, why didn’t she try to contact you earlier?”

  “Oh, she explained all that.” Karen sounded more relaxed now that she’d told her story. She picked a red hot candy from the roof of the bakery and candy store. “Paine absolutely forbade Hermione from contacting me. He said he’d leave her if she brought me into their lives. He was trying to protect himself. He didn’t want her to find out what he’d done to me, her daughter. Hermione complied because she wanted him to bring her to Chatterley Heights. She didn’t know about Paine and me until I told her, but I didn’t do that until after he was dead.” Karen popped the red hot into her mouth.

  “Couldn’t she have come to Chatterley Heights on her own?” Olivia asked.

  Karen shook her head. “Hermione brought a tidy sum of money to the marriage, but Paine went through it almost immediately. She said Paine got involved with some shady characters to restore their finances. He couldn’t stand to be poor.”

  Maddie refilled Karen’s coffee cup and asked, “Is that why they were using assumed names in London?”

  Karen frowned. “Paine never talked to Hermione about his criminal activities. He said she was better off not knowing.”

  The mood in the meeting room had lightened considerably. Even Quill joined in with the others as they tore shingles off gingerbread houses and cookie vegetation from iced lawns. Binnie ripped a hole in the bakery and candy store roof. She reached her entire arm inside and lifted out the little cookie plate piled with tiny cookies. A greedy sweet tooth had overtaken Binnie’s hunger for embarrassing information about her fellow citizens. At least for the moment.

  Olivia poured herself another cup of coffee, adding generous portions of cream and sugar. Maddie sidled up to her and said, “Your brain is still crunching data, isn’t it?”

  With a quick glance at the gingerbread village, Olivia whispered, “I’ve got lots of new information, but the pieces aren’t telling me who murdered Paine or why. It might be time to shake things up. Call my cell, like we talked about, and I’ll take it from there.”

  “I can do that,” Maddie said. “Give me a few minutes, though. I want Lucas in on it, in case we have need of impressive muscles.”

  As Olivia watched Maddie lead Lucas toward the kitchen, she tried to sort out the information she needed. She lightly touched the bodice of her costume. Most of the questions on the list she and Maddie had brainstormed were now answered. As yet, two questions puzzled Olivia. Who was vandalizing the mansion, and for what reason? And did the Chatterley cookie-cutter collection play a role? She realized at once that the questions could be linked, and they came close to answering each other. Perhaps someone believed in the Chatterley collection and wanted it badly. Speed was important. The search might involve one person or more than one. If Hermione was involved, she wasn’t alone.

  Matthew Fabrizio was least likely to care about cookie cutters, but the level of destruction in the mansion implied anger. Matthew was definitely angry. Rosemarie loved both antique cutters and Matthew. Quill was passionate about history. Karen…well, Karen had a newly revealed motive for murdering Paine: revenge. Olivia glanced at Karen, who was chatting with Ellie and nibbling on a chunk of periwinkle-iced gingerbread siding from the Chatterley Mansion. She looked more relaxed than she’d been for as long as Olivia had known her, but maybe she felt safe now. If Karen killed Paine, her devoted mother might try to take responsibility. But Hermione couldn’t have done it alone.

  Olivia felt her phone vibrate. That would be Maddie, faking a call from Del. Olivia would pretend to hear that Hermione was out of danger and
ready to talk to the police. Time to boogie. Without bothering to look at her caller ID, Olivia flipped open her phone and said, “Hi, Del.”

  “Hi, Livie, glad I caught you.”

  “Del.” Olivia couldn’t come up with more words, given she’d expected it not to be Del.

  “I believe we established my identity,” Del said. “Livie, are you okay? Is something wrong at your end? Just say ‘yes,’ and I’ll get an officer over there right away.”

  “Everything’s fine. Really. So what’s up?”

  “I called to give you an update on Hermione,” Del said. After another pause, he asked, “Are you absolutely positive you’re all right? This isn’t your normal sparkling dialogue.”

  “I’m sorry, Del, I guess I’m tired. Yes, tell me, how is she doing?”

  “Worse,” Del said. “The docs decided to risk surgery. They said she won’t make it otherwise. All we can do is wait. Nothing I can do here, so I’m heading back to Chatterley Heights. We could still have that dinner. How about if I stop by the community center and pick you up? It shouldn’t be long.”

  Six months ago…

  When Olivia didn’t respond, Del said, “Livie, what is going on?”

  “Del, I’m sorry, it’s sort of chaotic here. Yes, dinner would be great. See you soon.”

  Olivia looked around for Maddie but didn’t see her. She called Maddie’s cell.

  “Hey,” Maddie said, “I’ve been trying to call your cell, like you asked me to, but the call kept going to voice mail. So I figured I’d check on Spunky. He’s fine, just waking up.”

  “Can you come back to the meeting room right away? And bring Lucas.” Olivia flipped her phone shut without waiting for an answer. Her mind was on overdrive.

  Karen had said Paine suddenly changed his mind and decided to claim Chatterley Mansion about six months ago, which implied he knew about the renovation. The Chatterleys’ arrival in town was perfectly timed. Someone had told him when to show up.

  Hermione wouldn’t have known about the renovation. Karen? The celebration was dear to her heart; she would never have risked losing access to the mansion. Matthew hadn’t moved back to town yet. Rosemarie had every reason to avoid contact with Paine. It was hard to believe Quill would ever want to see Paine again. There’d been some coverage of the birthday event on the Internet, but the mansion renovation hadn’t rated a mention.

  Nothing makes sense.

  Maddie waved at Olivia from across the room. She took Lucas by the hand and pulled him along as she headed toward the gingerbread village. Rosemarie stopped Maddie halfway across the room and spoke to her. Olivia instinctively turned to the Chatterley Mansion gingerbread house, which proudly displayed the lovely renovation work Lucas’s team had accomplished in a mere six months. She stared at the little boy in the window…the little boy who had bubbled with excitement when he showed Aunt Sadie the treasures his mother had secreted in the coal bin.

  The Chatterley cookie-cutter collection. Olivia stood in front of the mansion gingerbread house, oblivious to anything else. That little boy…aside from Aunt Sadie, there was only one person Olivia could think of who might have known about the antique cookie cutters Paine had found. Someone Paine might have confided in, if for no other reason than to make him jealous.

  Maddie was poking Olivia in the side to get her attention. Except she could hear Maddie’s voice, and it sounded far away. Whatever pressed against her ribs was much harder than a finger.

  “Were you aware you’ve been muttering to yourself?” Quill’s voice was soft but far from gentle. “When you stared at the mansion, you whispered something about ‘Chatterley cookie cutters.’ I suspected you’d figured it out. I was afraid you might, so I came prepared.”

  Olivia looked down at her side and saw something tubelike and metal. “So there is a gun,” she said.

  “Paine asked me to get it for him. For protection,” Quill said with a derisive snort.

  “How did you get Hermione to fire it when Matthew came to the mansion?”

  “That was almost too easy. I told her she killed Paine with those sleeping pills, that I was just trying to help her by making it look like he’d drowned. She believed me. Paine had mentioned how Hermione desperately wanted to reconnect with her daughter, so I told her she’d go to prison and never see her daughter again if she didn’t help implicate Matthew in the murder. I even hinted I could convince the police that Karen put Paine in the bathtub to protect her long-lost mother. Hermione is a very stupid woman.” Quill spoke quietly, but his voice snarled with anger and arrogance.

  Hoping to keep Quill talking, Olivia asked, “Did you know about Paine’s early relationship with Karen?”

  “Oh yes, Paine couldn’t resist bragging that he’d seduced Karen when she was sixteen. He enjoyed torturing me with his sexual conquests and his superior breeding. Even after I told him about the mansion renovation and when it would be finished, he showed me nothing but disdain. Sure, he let me look for the Chatterley cookie-cutter collection with him. Only, if I admired an antique for its historical significance, Paine would smash it before my eyes.”

  Olivia could hear the rage and the hurt in Quill’s voice. She almost felt sorry for him. Except he had all but admitted he’d murdered Paine. If she could only get him to tell her how…She felt the gun poke her hard, as if Quill were taking out a lifetime of rage and frustration on her.

  “But if you could prove that Hermione—”

  “No more questions.”

  Olivia took a deep breath and made one more attempt. She tried to sound admiring as she asked “How did you even find Paine?”

  “That was an accident,” Quill said. “I traveled to London several times to research Chatterley family history.” For a moment, he sounded like his old pedantic self. “I followed him back to his flat. He was using a different name, so I deduced he was in hiding. I devised the plan that enabled him to return here, and in exchange, he let me search the mansion for the Chatterley cookie-cutter collection. It had always been my dream to find that collection. The historical significance…I doubt there is a collection any longer, but it was worth the risk. If I’d found those cookie cutters, I’d finally have gotten the respect I deserved, that was stolen from me.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, Olivia saw Maddie watching them, looking puzzled. Olivia didn’t dare try to signal.

  “But I didn’t find the collection,” Quill said, “and now it’s too late. I must, as they say, get out of town fast. You are going to walk me out of here, very casually, and then you’re coming along for the ride. For a while, anyway. I think you know what I’ll do if you scream. I have nothing left to lose.”

  Shifting the gun so it was hidden by Olivia’s shawl, Quill guided her down the gingerbread village street. Maddie was talking with Lucas and Matthew, now paying no attention to Olivia. Rosemarie, Karen, and Ellie were having an animated conversation near the coffee urn. Of all times to be ignored. She could try screaming, but she’d heard the despair in Quill’s voice. He might shoot others as well.

  As Quill forced Olivia toward the end of the gingerbread village, Maddie called across the room, “Olivia Greyson, what makes you think you can get out of cleanup duty?” Lucas and Matthew had disappeared.

  Olivia Greyson. Maddie had used her full name. Since becoming best friends at age ten, Maddie and Olivia had reserved the use of their full names to communicate distress, danger, a warning…or a question: Is anything wrong?

  Olivia said nothing. If Maddie approached, Quill might panic. Ellie was watching them, too, her face puckered with concern. She started toward them.

  Quill squeezed Olivia’s arm hard, pulling her in front of him, like a shield. She felt the gun in the small of her back. “Stay away, Mom” Olivia said. “He has a gun.”

  Every head in the room swiveled in their direction. Olivia’s heart quivered as she saw her mother’s face blanch.

  “There’s something I don’t understand, Quill,” Olivia said, desperate to dis
tract him. “You had an alibi for the night of Paine’s murder. Your friends said you were too drunk to do anything when you left them.”

  With a mirthless laugh, Quill said, “You’d be surprised how easy it is to fake inebriation, especially when everyone around you is imbibing with abandon.”

  “So you knew you didn’t have a solid alibi,” Olivia said. “Is that why you made Hermione wave the gun at Matthew, to throw suspicion on both of them?”

  “The opportunity presented itself, and how could I foresee the happy accident that my antics would frighten Hermione into a heart attack?” Quill said. “Now stop trying to slow me down.” Quill prodded Olivia past the gingerbread mansion. She could feel him twist around behind her as he checked that no one was following. The pressure from the gun barrel lightened, but she couldn’t break away. Quill’s grip on her upper arm was tight enough to bruise. He was moving faster now, as they prepared to leave the relative shelter of the gingerbread village. The door to the staff area was a few steps beyond. Quill could lock it behind them and take one of several ways out of the building.

  In the gingerbread village, each house stood on a separate platform, leaving open space between the buildings. As Quill and Olivia reached the joint gingerbread church of St. Francis and St. Alban’s, the business end of a wet mop sloshed across the floor in front of them. A moment later, Matthew appeared, having followed his mop through the open space between the church and the gingerbread cottage at the end of the village. Matthew and his mop stood between Quill and escape through the door to the staff area.

  “Move aside or I shoot Olivia,” Quill ordered. “I’m deadly serious. Move away or—”

  From behind the staff door, a ferocious yapping drowned out the rest of Quill’s threat. Spunky. Olivia’s heart rate took off at a gallop. If Quill aimed his gun at Spunky…Olivia heard a thud as Spunky hurled himself against the closed door.