“I don’t care where they got it from, it sounds amazing. Lead the way!”
Amazing was the right word for it. The house that offered the service was nestled halfway up a curving hill road. A separate hut at the front of the property was where the massages took place and then they were led through to a café with a dozen kittens playing.
“What happens once they grow too old for the café?” Holly asked, plucking one particularly curious calico up to place in her lap. “Do they only have an employment contract for a few months?”
“All the time they’re here, we’re finding homes for them.” Marjorie, the owner, smiled around the room then rushed to pluck one adventurous kitten out from between two sofa cushions. “We’ve always taken in injured or at-risk kittens from the council pound to nurse them to full health, and this just seemed a logical extension. Plus, they get used to lots of people, so they don’t have a hard transition to their forever home.”
Meggie appeared slightly askance at the word sick. “They’re not contagious at all, are they?”
Marjorie laughed as though Meggie had cracked a joke. “Not at all. The things that ail these little ones aren’t transferable. Besides, we don’t let them play in the café until they’re feeling one hundred percent.”
When it came time to leave, Holly felt a pang of sadness at parting from the rambunctious wee group.
“I can see that someone wants to take a kitten to a forever home.” Meggie tossed Holly a smile as she lingered at the door for one last wave goodbye. Not that the kittens were watching. “Why don’t you give in and take one?”
“Crystal would kill me. I don’t know why, but she doesn’t like cats much at all. I don’t need to be kicked out of my own home with only a dependent kitten to my name.”
Meggie laughed and gazed out at the township below them as she reached the car. “Check out that view. You can see just about everything from up here.”
Holly turned and looked, nodding her head. Even though the scenes were in miniature, the whole town could be seen in one eyeful. The flapping yellow of the police tape around the restaurant and shop was even visible. Holly stared down at the Monopoly-sized stores and frowned.
“What is it?” Meggie had paused with the door half open. “I know that expression.”
“It’s nothing,” Holly insisted, shaking her head.
“Tell me, or I won’t drive you back home.”
Holly sighed. “It’s just, I don’t understand how Samuel could have gotten into the restaurant to poison the soup when the only entrance is from the street or the poolside.”
“Well, I presume that he walked in through one of those.” Meggie frowned. “I don’t see the problem.”
“It’s just if it was me, I’d notice someone unknown and unwanted coming into the bakery. Zach appears to be far more on edge than me. How could he have not noticed?”
Meggie shrugged and started the car up, nosing it toward home. “Did you ever see that psychological test about the gorilla?”
Holly laughed, the sentence striking her funny bone in the most delicious way. “You’ll have to give me more than that.”
“There’re a whole lot of videos online showing the experiment, you can easily do it yourself. There’s some basketball players, and you have to count the number of times they bounce the ball or pass it to each other, something like that.”
“Mm-hmm?”
“Well, the thing is that a gorilla walks through the middle of the game at one point, but no one ever notices him. If you’re concentrating on something, it becomes tough to see anything else, even if it’s in front of your face.”
“Right,” Holly said, staring down at the scene again. “I’ll take your word for it.”
Meggie took her hand off the steering wheel to give her a light punch on the shoulder. “That’s not my word, that’s science!”
When they reached her house, Holly hesitated. There were still hours to fill before Crystal would be discharged. Maybe ten minutes after that, Holly would be sick of the sight of her, but for the time being, she looked forward to it.
“Did you want to come in?” she asked. “I’ll make us a coffee.”
“Instant, you mean?” Meggie pulled a face. “I’m afraid you’ve spoiled me with your fancy bakery coffees.”
“Well, drop us by the bakery, and I’ll make one of those, then.” Holly settled back into her seat, knocking her knuckles lightly on the dashboard. “Chop, chop driver.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean to be a bother. I was just teasing.”
“A bother? Says the woman who just took me out for a delightful morning treat. Besides, I need to fetch something from there for Crystal, in any case.”
When she let them in the back, Holly immediately switched the heating on to full. The standard timer was only set to business hours but was luckily easy to override. Unless full sun was streaming in through the front window, it could get frigid.
“Sit down, and I’ll bring it through in a minute.” Holly set the machine up for their two favorites and soon joined her friend. The patch of sunlight hitting the table was a lovely reprieve from the cold. Her muscles, already relaxed from the massage and playtime with kittens, came close to melting into a languid pool.
“Are you going to grab that shop over the road, after all that’s gone on?” Meggie asked. “I bet that they’d drop the price now, considering what’s happened.”
Holly gave a snort, then put her hand up over her mouth and nose, blushing.
“What exactly does that mean?”
After a second, Holly pulled her hand away and took a demure sip of coffee. “I’ve just heard a few things that make me believe the realtor would do nothing of the sort.”
“Who’s that then?”
“Susan Bruntwell. When I first met her, she seemed absolutely lovely and slightly out of her depth. That seems to have just been an act, though. I think she was trying to lure us into a bad deal.”
“Really?” Meggie sat back in her chair, staring across at the complex while she took small sips of her coffee. “I think I remember Susan from school.”
“That long ago, huh?” Holly asked, then ducked as Meggie sent a mock-punch her way. “That seems about right. Her daughter is quite a handful, apparently.”
“If it’s the girl I’m thinking of, I’m not surprised. The fruit doesn’t fall too far from the tree. What would she be, twenty? Twenty-one?”
“Susan?” Holly sat back in her chair, frowning. “No, she’s in her early-forties, I guess, maybe just a bit younger than me.”
“No, not Susan. The daughter. She left school to have a baby when she was fifteen or so. Quite the scandal. The whole town was talking about it for longer than her pregnancy lasted, before moving on.”
“Oh, no. There must be two, then. The daughter Susan talked about to me is quite young. Maybe seven or eight tops.”
Meggie gazed down into her coffee, swirling it, so the last of the cream mixed in thoroughly. “Forget I said anything, then. I might be wrong.”
“Either way, Zach’s friend told me that she raises the price on the restaurant relentlessly. If he could leave the premises and start elsewhere, he would. It sounds awful to say it, but this whole sorry business might have saved me from doing something foolish.”
“I’m sure you would’ve read the fine print.” Meggie finished off the last mouthful of coffee and stared wistfully into the bottom of the cup. “That was your old job, wasn’t it?”
Holly nodded, not as sure as Meggie seemed. Just like the gorilla she’s mentioned, Holly thought she could have been off counting foot traffic numbers while the high rent strolled by, unnoticed.
“Oh,” Holly said, standing up. “I’d better fetch the book before I forget.”
After her earlier incidents with the treasured item, it had been placed in a high cubby-hole above the bench in the kitchen. Holly crawled up onto the countertop, feeling every day of her age, and stretched up her hand.
She foun
d nothing. The recipe book was gone.
Chapter Twelve
By the time Holly had searched through the store for the first time, she knew the book was gone. However, that didn’t stop her remounting her efforts and scouring every nook and cranny that it could be hiding again.
“It’s not here, love,” Meggie said at last, putting a hand on Holly’s arm. “And searching for it isn’t going to make it appear.”
“I don’t understand it. I just got it down the other day to look up a lava cake recipe. It can’t have just vanished.”
Meggie took a step back and folded her arms over her chest. “No, it hasn’t just vanished. I also think that you know exactly where it’s gone.”
Holly stared at her friend, utterly baffled for a moment. It was only when Meggie sighed that her mind made the connection.
“You think Elvira took it?” Holly whispered. She sat down at the table, her legs giving way. “No.” Holly shook her head. “We’re friends, and she wouldn’t do that to me.”
“Elvira may be grown up enough to get a holiday job, but she’s still a child.” Meggie sat down and put a hand on top of Holly’s. “I think if Esmerelda asked her to do something, she might feel obligated to do it. The woman is practically raising her right now and has been for a few years.”
“But…” The protestation trailed off as Holly thought about the situation some more.
Yes, she trusted Elvira, but what Meggie said made a lot of sense. She might be especially vulnerable to persuasion at the moment with her mother being so ill.
“Ugh. I hate this.” Holly dropped her face into her hands. “Can’t I just rewind this week and make something much nicer happen?”
That her hands still smelled of kitten did cheer her up a smidgeon.
“Well, I can’t do anything until she gets home from Christchurch.”
“Oh, yes, you can.” Meggie was pulling on her coat as she spoke. “Or rather, we can. I know where Esmerelda lives and I say that we go there immediately and confront her.”
“That sounds like a terrible plan that’s certain to end up as something we’ll all regret.” Holly sighed and picked up her coat as well. “Esmerelda isn’t the person who’s betrayed my trust. Everyone knows that she’s out to get her hands on that book by any means necessary.” Holly gave a small chuckle as a memory surfaced—Esmerelda skipping across the street, waving what she thought was the recipe book above her head in glee. “I remember that it was you who told me that.”
“But you need to get it back.”
Holly nodded. “But Crystal will just have to wait to check whatever she wanted to. I need to address this issue with Elvira first. If she can’t or won’t sort it out, only then will I be paying Esmerelda a visit.”
Meggie still didn’t seem convinced. “What if she burns it or something?”
At that, Holly shuddered but shook her head. “I doubt she’s going to do that. Not when she’s spent so many years trying to get her hands on it. Besides, if she’s burned it, then going up there now won’t change a thing.”
“I suppose not.” There was so much regret in Meggie’s voice that it made Holly chuckle again. “Come on. I need to sort out the house to make it fit for the returning patient.”
Outside, Holly decided to walk the few minute’s home rather than keep her friend as a chauffeur for any longer. She waved goodbye as Meggie pulled away.
“Careful,” Holly said as Crystal bumped her shoulder on the door. Her sister had only been home for a few minutes, and already she’d issued the same one-word warning three times.
“For goodness’ sake, go off and do something useful rather than fussing. The farthest I’m going to fall if I do take a tumble is the floor. Big deal.”
“I don’t want to have to turn around and take you straight back to the surgery center.” Holly wrung her hands together as Crystal stumbled again. “Can you imagine how embarrassing that would be?”
“Go and make me a cup of tea,” Crystal ordered. “I’m only going to go slower if you keep staring at me. I feel like a prize exhibit in the science fair at the moment.”
Holly backed up, forcing herself to turn and glance away as she got to the kitchen, following her sister’s orders. The kettle took forever to boil, Holly glaring at it all the while. Once that was ready, Crystal had managed to install herself on the sofa with the TV remote by her hand.
“Thanks for that,” Crystal said, taking the steaming mug of tea from Holly’s hand. “Could you grab my handbag from the car and bring it over? I need to get the notebook out.”
Holly ran out to the car, realizing that her sister was manipulating her by issuing tasks but not caring. If Crystal felt well enough to do that, then she certainly was on the mend.
“Whose left at the surgery?” Holly asked as she came back in, handing the bag to her sister. “I saw that Richard was still installed in the waiting room, so I guess Zach’s still there.”
“Yeah. Zach’s room was right around the corner, so I haven’t actually seen much of him, but from what I’ve overheard, he was the worst off.” Crystal paused and pulled a face. “Apart from Will, of course.”
“Don’t think about that now. How was Bethany? Is she able to go home yet?”
“I think they’re keeping her in for one more day.” Crystal tilted her head, then burst into laughter.
“What?”
“I talked to her this morning, and she was stressed about her job. The poor girl kept saying that she’d lose it if she couldn’t get back to work as soon as possible.” Crystal shook her head. “I don’t think she’s realized that her boss was in a room just around the corner. She’d been worrying herself into a state.”
“Didn’t her parents tell her?”
“It probably didn’t occur to them.” Crystal took a large gulp of her tea and closed her eyes in an expression of ecstasy. “Oh, that’s good. Everything you’ve ever heard about hospital food goes double for a center that isn’t prepared to have that many guests.”
“It’s good that you’ve lowered your standards since I’ll be cooking.”
“There’s always take-out,” Crystal said, opening her eyes just long enough to wink. “I might need a hand tomorrow, as well. Sergeant Matthewson wants to interview us all again.”
“Have you talked to him already?”
Crystal nodded, taking another sip of tea. “Yeah, but I’m not sure that I was making a lot of sense. He dropped by this afternoon to say that he wants to see everybody again.”
“I suppose he wants to make sure that all his T’s are crossed before he sends Samuel on to Christchurch for processing.”
Crystal frowned and nodded. “I guess so. Although, you’ll be more help with that part. I didn’t see what happened at the center at all. By the time I arrived, everything was over.”
Holly had meant his involvement with the poisoning, but she let it go. Something more substantial was weighing on her mind. Holly took a deep breath and laid her hand over her tightening stomach. “I’m sorry to say that I couldn’t find Dad’s recipe book.”
“It’s on the high shelf, remember?” Crystal set her empty cup down on the end table. “Out in the back.”
“Yes. I remember what shelf it should be on, but it wasn’t.”
Crystal offered up a hesitant smile. “Well, where else would it be, though?”
Holly took a seat on the chair next to the couch, sitting on her hands so they wouldn’t flutter. “I’m afraid that it might have been stolen.”
At that, Crystal made a huff of disbelief. “Don’t be silly. Who would—” she broke off, eyes widening as she made the connection. “You think Elvira took it for her granny?”
Holly nodded, her shoulders slumping. “I’m afraid so. Aidan took her to Christchurch for the weekend to visit her mom in the hospital, so I won’t know until she gets back.”
“Oh, honey. I’m sorry.”
Holly fought back the tears as she nodded in thanks. “I’m not looking forward to th
at conversation.”
“Well,” Crystal said, clapping her hands together. “It doesn’t matter at the moment, anyhow. I’ve come up with the perfect recipe and not having Dad’s book just means that I can’t correct myself out of thinking it’ll be great. I’ll have to try a test batch to do that!”
After fussing over Crystal too much, Holly was dispatched from the house to fetch something for their dinner. Although she couldn’t prove it, Holly believed that Crystal might have chosen the restaurant farthest from the house, just to have a longer period at home by herself.
Alec would be calling by later so Holly ordered enough from the mix ‘n’ match menu for three. No matter how much Crystal tried to feed him, the man always seemed to neglect food until somebody laid it out in front of him.
On impulse, Holly ordered a batch of mini donuts. Much as she pretended they were to share, she opened the packet as soon as her meal was ready. Three were gone before Holly manhandled the door of the restaurant open to exit onto the street.
The breeze was bitter. Apart from the tourists walking to and from their hotels—or braving the weather to do some madcap outdoor activities—the sidewalks were empty.
Turning onto the front path at home, Holly saw a cute oriental cat walking along. When it caught sight of her, instead of veering away or bolting, it trotted up to her, meowing expectantly. Holly bent down to feed it the last mini donut. She thought she recognized the cat from the alley behind the bakery. Although that wasn’t far in people steps, for an animal so small it seemed a long way from home.
“What are you doing?” Crystal’s shrill voice called out. She was at the side window, the one in her bedroom. When Holly attempted to appear innocent, Crystal just shook her head. “Don’t you put on that act, I saw you feeding that cat.”
Crystal slammed the window shut again and was waiting, ready to pounce when Holly opened up the front door. “I’ve told you again and again not to feed the strays. We don’t need a bunch of cat-fights outside the bedroom window each night.”
The Sweet Baked Mystery Series - Books 1-6 Page 51
