Pastries and Puzzles

by Constance Barker

  I winked at her. “Some things should never change.”

  Chapter 14

  The rest of the day didn’t help to get my mind off of things. I kept going back to my conversation with Masie. She was right. This could be the sign that I needed.

  “Hello?” He answered.

  “Clive, it’s Coco,” I said.

  “Coco, it’s nice to hear from you again so soon.”

  I felt my face heat at his words, but I didn’t want to take all this genteelness and enthusiasm too much to heart.

  “I was wondering if we could meet up? Maybe we could stop by the diner? I was thinking about what you said. I think I do want to look into this.”

  “I’m happy to hear that. I’m free for dinner. Why don’t we meet up then?”

  “That sounds great. I have a few things to finish up here, but I honestly don’t mind getting out of here as soon as we close.”

  “Well, then I’ll make sure to get your mind off of work once we get there,” he promised.

  “We close at seven,” I told him. “How does 7:30 sound for the meet up time?” I asked.

  “Perfect. I’ll see you there.”

  I got to the diner right on time. Clive was already at a table waiting for me. I went over to him and sat down across from him.

  He smiled at me.

  “It’s nice to see you, Coco,” he said. There was something slightly different about his demeanor, but I couldn’t quite place it.

  “It’s nice to see you too,” I said. “Do you have a pen and paper?”

  He pulled a notepad and pen out of his pocket. “I always carry this in case I need to write something down for later.”

  “Great. Let’s get started then. First, I think we need a list of suspects.”

  “That does sound like a good place to start,” he agreed. “Who did you have in mind so far?”

  “Honestly, it’s a pretty long list,” I warned. “I hope you have a lot of paper.”

  “I think this will be easier if we sit next to each other, then.”

  He slid out of the seat across from me and sat back down on my side of the booth. When he moved, I could see Stella and Vivian sitting in the diner as well. They were whispering to one another. As usual, Vivian was getting the narrowed-eyed look from Stella because Vivian was always being silly and instigating in a way that I suspected Stella would never fully let on that she enjoyed.

  And right now I figured the latest play the senior center was putting on was causing them all kinds of...fun.

  But when they saw us, it was clear their focus changed. I grunted.

  I cleared my throat and shot the two a look. “I think Hestia is a strong suspect,” I said.

  “Have you talked to her yet?” Clive asked.

  “Not yet,” I said. “I think she has a motive too. She really resented having those books in her library. Henry was telling me that when he went to get a new library book a few weeks back, he thought Hestia’s red hair was wilder than usual, which he suspected was from all the fussing she did about Gilbert.” I waggled my eyebrows conspiratorially.

  “That’s a motive for sure,” he said. He grinned from ear to ear for a moment, enjoying my half-serious notes, before he continued and took a more somber, neutral look and tone. “A lot of people thought Gilbert was a fraud.”

  He wrote her name down on the paper. He added her possible motive as well. He put his arm along the back of the booth and moved the paper closer to me.

  He leaned closer and looked thoughtfully at the paper. “Okay, who else should we talk to?”

  I straightened up and was careful to not lean in to his arm. “I think we should talk to the hotel staff too. There might be something there that was missed.”

  “I’m sure we’ll get a few rumors at least,” he said. “You know how everyone in this town likes to talk.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Stella and Vivian get up. I was hoping that they were on their way out and not about to pull me into something, but I wasn’t that lucky.

  “Coco.” Vivian said in an exaggerated manner. “Oh, darling, I didn’t even see you there. How are you?”

  “I’m fine, Vivian. Don’t worry about me. I don’t want to keep you from wherever you’re going.”

  I shot the two of them a look, but they either didn’t notice my obvious hint to leave or didn’t care. Knowing these two old gals it was probably the latter.

  “Oh, we weren’t going anywhere in particular,” Stella said. “Don’t worry about keeping us.”

  “Unless we’re interrupting your date,” Vivian said.

  I rolled my eyes. Oh Lord.

  “I’m not on a date, Vivian,” I said, firmly.

  “Of course not,” Stella said. She looked pointedly at Clive’s arm, which was still resting along the back of the booth. “We’d have to make sure any date of yours is good enough first.”

  “Oh, I’m sure he’s good enough. Look how handsome he is,” Vivian said.

  “Oh sure he’s handsome, but is he good enough?” Stella asked.

  “Okay, well, I know you two don’t have anywhere to be, but we do,” I said. I started pushing Clive out of the booth.

  He got out and I followed shortly after.

  “Oh how cute,” Vivian said. “They’re already running off together.”

  “Good night, Stella. Night, Vivian,” I said, pulling Clive out of the diner.

  I could still hear their questions as we left, but I made sure to move quickly. Clive, thankfully, kept up with me.

  We walked silently over to the library. I couldn’t help but be uncomfortably aware of how close to one another we were. It was as though I had forgotten how big my personal bubble should be. With Logan the bubble had shrank. In fact, that bubble was a whisper of its former self. But with Clive, I needed to breathe new air into that puppy.

  When we arrived to the library, all of the lights were out. I went up to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked.

  “Well, I didn’t expect this to be the case,” Clive said. “I guess we should have looked up the hours. But maybe there’s a way we can still have a look around.”

  “Like breaking in?” I said.

  He shrugged. “What’s a little B&E when a murderer is on the loose?”

  Well, it was my specialty.

  I looked around the entrance and found what I was looking for. I pointed to a robust alarm system.

  “Maybe we should just come back tomorrow,” I suggested.

  His eyebrows raised upon seeing the system. “Yeah. That’s probably a good idea.”

  I thought for a moment, trying to adjust the plan.

  “Why don’t I come back tomorrow to talk to Hestia? Maybe while I’m doing that, you can talk to the hotel staff. Then we can meet up later that night and compare notes.”

  “That sounds perfect,” he said.

  I smiled at him. What would have normally taken me two nights was just halved to one. This investigation was really moving along. Maybe having my very own partner-in-crime wouldn’t be so bad after all.

  Chapter 15

  After my meet up with Clive the night before I went to the library to speak with Hestia the next day. Doubt filled my mind the whole way there as to whether or not I’d even be able to speak with her, and in private like I needed.

  However when I arrived, I was pleased to see that not only was the library empty, but Hestia was trying to disassemble a huge book display. As I got closer to her I realized that the book display she was trying to take down was actually a display of Gilbert’s books, which worked as an excellent segue into the topic of his murder.

  Jackpot.

  So, I strolled up to her with a friendly smile on my face and shrugged my shoulders, nodding at the pile of books she was trying to organize.

  “Want a hand with that? Looks like a big job for one person.”

  She looked up at me with raised brows and a skeptical glance, and her brow furrowed as she looked around the empty library
. Probably trying to see if there was any way to get out of talking to me, I assumed, but ultimately she accepted. She nodded her head with a sigh and pointed to a pile.

  “Fine. Take those and set them in the box on the table.”

  She certainly didn’t sound happy to see me. Her tone was cold and she wasn’t exactly welcoming, but I supposed that didn’t really matter anyway. The important part was that she was talking to me, and I could try and help with the books to gain favor in exchange for information.

  I lifted up some of the heavier ones and plunked them down into the box, and when I looked around I realized that there were far more books than I had initially realized. As if she could read my thoughts, Hestia sighed heavily and waved her hand gesturing to them, rolling her eyes.

  “I know, there’s so many. But the mayor insisted that we have this display.”

  Her tone suggested that despite being the librarian she didn’t agree with the book display, and I cocked my brow in confusion as I knelt down to pick up more books.

  “And you didn’t agree, I assume? Judging by your tone, you don’t seem to be too keen on having the books on display.”

  She huffed and stood up with her hands on her hips as she pursed her lips together and looked around. Hestia was a no-nonsense woman who didn’t like to waste time, so I could understand her hesitancy even if I needed to disregard it.

  “Look, normally I would agree to a book display on a famous visitor while they’re in town. It gets more people to come to the library, and it encourages more people to actually stick around and read.”

  “But?”

  “But.” She said with a frown, sighing. “I don’t like Gilbert, so having his books displayed wasn’t exactly my idea of good practice.”

  “So why did you agree to it then?”

  She sighed and shook her head as she continued to clean up the display.

  “You can’t exactly say no to the Mayor...you know that.”

  Okay, so I already knew that Hestia didn’t like Gilbert but the fact that she was made to display his books despite that fact...could that have been enough motive? I wasn’t sure and I was about to ask her more questions, but ultimately was foiled in my plan when I heard the familiar creak of the door opening.

  In walked a group of women with young children who I assumed were theirs, and before I got a chance to get another word in they immediately walked over and started asking questions. Most of them were about the school book reading program, and Hestia was all too eager to avoid talking to me to speak with them instead.

  She gave me a dismissive smile and then walked off with the women, gesturing and saying something about showing them a program brochure, and it left me standing there, frustrated and without any more answers.

  What was I supposed to do? I’d barely gotten anything out of her when I spoke to her and I didn’t have anything substantial that I could go back with. I felt defeated and I knew that if I tried again, she’d likely shoo me away. I was running out of time to figure this out, and I didn’t want to delay or wait any longer while she avoided talking to me.

  No, I wasn’t going to simply wait around, and I decided right then and there to take advantage of the fact that Hestia was distracted with those women and their questions.

  I checked to make sure that the coast was clear, and when I was sure that it was I sauntered towards the back and into Hestia’s office, determined to find something to help me out.

  I rummaged around in her desk, trying to find anything of note that could point me in the right direction. I didn’t find anything too exciting but my eye was drawn to a manuscript book of poetry on her desk, pages dog eared and sticky notes marking particular passages and entries.

  Curiosity got the better of me and I flipped through it and skimmed over the marked pages, my eyes going wide and a quiet gasp escaping me when I realized what I was looking at. All of the bookmarked pages had quotes that were raising alarm bells in my mind, and I knew I had read them before. After a moment of thinking, I suddenly realized that the familiar readings were all quotes from the threatening letters to Gilbert.

  It sure looked like something I could use as motive and to prove that she was involved. Threatening letters that all contained quotes from a book of poetry on her desk certainly didn’t bode well for her.

  The relief of finding something didn’t last long though, because Hestia came strolling into her office, and she demanded to know what I was doing.

  So, feeling smug, I held up the book of poetry and pointed to it with a frown and shrugged my shoulders.

  “I don’t know, why don’t you tell me why you’ve got a book with pages marked, all of which have quotes that were used in letters threatening Gilbert?”

  She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, and then walked over and took the book from me and set it back down on her desk.

  “I can explain.”

  “Oh I’m sure you can.”

  She rolled her eyes at me with a scowl and then pulled out her phone, casually scrolling through it as she spoke.

  “Look, I’ll admit that I used to know Gilbert, alright? We’d even had an affair for a time, which I’m not proud of, but it is what it is. Things ended and I never wanted to see him again, which is the reason for the letters. I had hoped they would scare him off. They obviously didn’t. He came around to see me the night before his murder and we fought, but I have nothing to do with his murder.”

  “And you expect me to believe that?”

  “I do.” She said it confidently and held up her phone that she had been casually scrolling through. “And this is why.”

  On her screen was a slew of pictures with friends, the sign for the local mini golf park in the background.

  “I can’t have had anything to do with it because I was there the whole time with friends. Ask them if you don’t believe me but the proof is on my screen.”

  I sighed and shook my head in disbelief, the realization that I’d once again hit a dead end and was no closer to clearing my name making a pit in my stomach.

  I guessed that interrogating your local librarian as if she might be a murderer probably just made my reputation worse.

  Chapter 16

  I was back at square one. Trudging out to the parking lot, I jerked open my car door and flopped down into the driver’s seat. My head dropped against the steering wheel and the horn blared.

  Lurching upright, I glanced quickly around. A woman glared at me from a few cars over. I waved sheepishly, before shoving the keys in the ignition and starting the car.

  Hestia wasn’t the killer, and now, I wasn’t sure what to do or where to go to find more clues. Wondering how Clive fared in questioning the hotel staff, I typed out a short text before heading back to the bakery.

  Vivian and Stella were sitting at a table when I walked through the door. Their eyes were wide and full of excitement and mischief.

  Masie leaned, elbows on the counter, chin propped in her hands, enthralled with their conversation. Scooter stood next to her, arms crossed, a look of disbelief painted across his face.

  All eyes turned to me when they heard the bells on the door chime.

  “Did you...?” “What did...?” Masie and Scooter started simultaneously.

  “I know, I know. You just need to give me a little more time. The problem is, you’re both so talented, just in different ways. I don’t want to disappoint either one of you.” I put my hands out in front of me, palms wide, like a shield.

  “Coco, dear, we were just chatting about you. Did you find out anything juicy about Hestia?” Stella asked.

  “Nothing pertinent. It seems like no matter which direction I go, I run smack into a brick wall. Maybe it’s time I followed Logan’s advice and stayed out of it.” I said, turning toward the kitchen.

  “We were going to do some investigating of our own. You should join us,” Vivian called.

  “I’m sorry, ladies. I need to prepare for the baking competition. These two aren’t going to give
me a break until I declare a winner.” I hooked an accusatory thumb towards Masie and Scooter. They at least had the decency to look ashamed.

  “Not to mention, find a way to keep the bakery afloat,” I added glumly.

  Flopping down at my workstation, I grabbed a sheet of paper from one of the drawers. I scribbled Masie’s name across the top right side and Scooter’s name atop the left. There were so many pros and cons for each, I figured the only way to compare them fairly was to write it all down on a list.

  Just then, Rose burst through the back door of the shop, breathless. Had she run all the way here? I felt like we’d played out this scene before, not too long ago.

  “You’ll never believe who was in the salon again today. That rat-faced Oliver. He was talking about Gilbert and how he was dead because he was a shady little snake who didn’t care about anyone but himself.”

  That in itself wasn’t a big reveal. We all knew Oliver hated Gilbert. They were cousins, and Oliver had never made it a secret that he hated Gilbert for leaving town and becoming more successful than him. I said as much to Rose.

  “But that’s not even the most unusual part. He was talking to Arthur at the time,” she stated triumphantly.

  Doris and I shared a bewildered glance. Oliver and Arthur both had a history with Gilbert. They both resented Gilbert for his success. Could the two of them have worked together to get rid of Gilbert for good?

  “There’s something else,” Rose said, wearily.

  “What is it?”

  “The newspapers are running a story about you, Coco. They’re naming you as a person of interest in the investigation.”

  My heart dropped to my stomach. More people would be convinced of my guilt if they read an article like that in the paper. I didn’t have a choice. I had to solve this murder.

  I called Logan and told him what I’d found out about Oliver and asked if he’d heard about the article.

  “I heard. Please keep your head low and let me prove your innocence. Getting more involved is going to make you appear guiltier.”