Holly took a minute to disentangle herself from Kendra and then placed Crystal in her newly vacant seat. “I’ll just be a few minutes.”
“Take all the time you like,” Crystal said with a small smile. “If I’m at home, all I’ll be doing is sitting, so it makes no difference to me if it’s here or there.”
Holly had to run to catch up with Matthewson who hadn’t stopped to wait. She walked through into the interview room just behind him, then took a seat as he closed the door.
“What is it that you desperately wanted to tell me?”
With the sergeant now glaring at her across the table, Holly didn’t feel so eager to spill her news. Instead, she took a deep breath. It didn’t matter what state the sergeant was in, a murderer was running about loose who needed to be caught. Even if the infuriating man made fun of her contributions again, Holly would have done her part.
“I talked with Samuel the other day, at his cabin,” Holly began hesitantly, deciding to start at the beginning. With the sigh and roll of the eyes that Matthewson immediately bestowed upon her, perhaps that wasn’t the wisest choice. Nevertheless, Holly stumbled on.
“I asked him why he kept staring into the shop that Crystal and I were looking to rent. It seemed odd to me that he’d fix his attention there when the restaurant was the place that everyone got hurt.”
“And?” Matthewson waved his pen in a circle in the air. “Was it because of the décor?”
“He said that it was because that’s the last place he saw Susan. While everybody else, including my sister, was in the restaurant having the special apology meal, she was in the shop next door.”
Matthewson noted down a few words, then raised his eyebrows at Holly. “Was that all?”
Holly’s temper rose, making her cheeks sizzle with heat. “You practically accused my sister of using rat poison ‘accidentally’—” Holly used air quotes in case her sarcasm wasn’t hitting home “—and poisoning a bunch of people. Now, I’m telling you that another person, a woman with more reason than Crystal had to want to hurt some people, was in the room with the rat poison and you couldn’t care less. Make up your mind sergeant. Do you want to find the killer, or do you just want to make fun of me?”
“Can’t I do both?”
As soon as the words were out of Matthewson’s mouth, he clapped a hand over it, eyes going wide. The expression of embarrassed fear that crossed his face launched a wave of sympathy in Holly. There’d been many a time she’d stood in company with a foot inserted in her mouth. She giggled.
The sergeant relaxed, taking his hand away and shaking his head. “I’m sorry, Miss Waterston. I don’t know where that came from, but it was most unprofessional.”
“It certainly was, but I’m glad you got it out of your system. Now, can we have a proper conversation where you actually listen to what I have to say?”
Matthewson gave a sheepish nod. “You said that Susan had more reason to hurt people—what did you mean?”
Holly tapped her fingers on the table while she considered how to phrase her thoughts so they wouldn’t sound like a straight accusation. “Did you know that Kendra and Will were interested in purchasing the Hanmer Springs complex that Susan leases?”
Matthewson nodded. “Of course. That’s why she was bending over backward to ensure that Zach apologized to them. She didn’t want the deal to walk away.”
“And did you know that she was practicing some underhanded techniques to inflate the rent that she charged?”
At that, the sergeant leaned forward, rubbing a finger behind his ear while his eyes squinted. After a pause, he shook his head. “You mean she was breaking the law somehow?”
Holly shook her head. “No. I think she’d covered herself in the fine print. I don’t know for sure because we never got to the contract stage, but Zach is struggling to stay afloat because of it.”
“And how does that lead to the poisoning?”
“I don’t know.” Holly leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. She hoped that the information she was about to tell the sergeant was something he already knew, or Holly was about to break someone’s trust. Big time. “Samuel also believes that Susan is his birth mother.”
The way Matthewson’s eyes widened at that piece of news told Holly that he hadn’t known it. Guilt clambered up the back of her windpipe, making her eyes water and her lungs struggle to catch a breath.
“I don’t know if it’s relevant,” Holly added when her throat was working again. “But I thought that you should know.” She leaned forward, meeting the sergeant’s eyes with her palms flat on the table. “Please don’t let anyone know I told you.”
The sergeant shook his head. “I won’t.” He sat back in his chair, staring at the door with a frown on his face. After a few minutes, Matthewson shook himself and turned back to Holly. “Now, I need to ask you some questions.”
The relief at not having to volunteer anything further made Holly feel much better. “Go right ahead.”
The sergeant questioned her about movements inside the surgery center. Who was where, at what time, who did what first? Holly tried as best she could to answer but struggled to place the scene in her mind.
“I’m sorry,” Holly said when yet another query ended up in a feeble I can’t remember. “Samuel’s fall was such a shock that I was only concentrating on him and the doctor. I honestly don’t recall much else about that time at all.”
As Holly walked out, Matthewson following along behind to order the young PC on duty to drive the Waterston sisters home, she felt as though a weight had been lifted. Whatever happened now, she’d turned over everything she knew to the police. They could do their job, and Holly could go back to concentrating on the bakery.
Case closed.
Chapter Fifteen
The next morning, Holly turned the sign in the bakery to open with fumbling fingers. She wasn’t looking forward to the day. One bad thing that she had to do outweighed all the others.
Aidan had phoned Holly the previous night to say that he and Elvira were back safely. When Elvira took over the phone she wasn’t giggling—that would be out of character—but still sounded much happier than she had the week before. The visit to her mother and the trek to bring her home had made an enormous difference.
This morning, Holly would have to dim some of that bright wattage by revealing she knew about the girl’s betrayal.
Honestly, Holly hadn’t felt this many butterflies congregating in her stomach since her exams at Canterbury University. Back then, she’d had coffee and youthful enthusiasm to quell them, or put them to work for her. Now, her arsenal was bare. Coffee would be a welcome treat, but right this minute it would push her over the edge. There were enough tremors in her body already from adrenaline to not welcome any others.
What if you’re wrong? What if she didn’t take the recipe book and you make a fool of yourself?
Although Holly’s mind threw those thoughts forward as horrors, she felt that finding out Elvira was innocent would be a relief, no matter what. A false accusation would leave her with guilt and a puzzle rather than this gaping hole in her heart.
“Morning,” Elvira called out from the back. “I hope I’m not late. Aidan dropped me off, but he took forever to find the car keys. He’d put them in the fruit bowl, and the bananas moved to completely disguise the fact.”
“Good morning,” Holly managed to force out. Now her voice was threatening to betray her too and run into hiding. She cleared her throat and tried again. “How was your mom this morning?”
Better. Holly’s voice sounded close to normal.
“Great. Mom’s able to sit in her chair and get around.” Elvira breezed through the partition into the shop and leaned against the counter. “The doctor said she should be up and walking on her own by the end of the week if she doesn’t tire herself out.”
“That’s great.” Holly stared out the window. There wouldn’t be customers in here for a while yet. A few popped in early on, to get
their morning tea fix before they made the trek to work. She had minutes, maybe fifteen possibly twenty, before the first of those regulars would come in.
Perhaps I should leave it alone? Tackle her later on in the day?
Her mind seized on this as a great idea. The best ever. Her stomach started to loosen the knot it had been building since Holly first discovered the recipe book was missing. Then she shook her head. Don’t be a coward. Ask her now.
“Elvira, have you seen my father’s recipe book? It’s usually on the high shelf in the kitchen, but I haven’t been able to find it.”
Holly forced herself to turn and gaze at Elvira though all her eyes wanted to do was turn away. The girl had tensed up, her face reddening. Was that with indignation or with guilt?
“I really need to find that book,” Holly continued, her eyes fixed to the girl. “It’s one of the few things that my father left me. It contains a legacy that my family’s been building for generations.”
Elvira’s shoulders jerked. She might have been trying to shrug, but the move went horribly wrong, appearing more like the first spasm of a grand mal seizure.
“Elvira? Have you seen it?”
The girl started to nod, the forward motion of her face tipping tears over her bottom lashes to spill down her face.
Don’t you hug her! Don’t you comfort her! She’s a thief.
Holly had to grip the side of the countertop to stop from rushing to the girl. A moment ago, she’d seemed so happy at her mother’s recovery, and now that emotion was shattered.
“Did you take it for your granny?”
Elvira wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. She hadn’t slathered her face with the dark makeup that she usually wore—Holly realized that Elvira hadn’t worn it the other days she worked in the bakery, either. She might have been trying to promote a professional visage.
“I’m s-sorry,” the girl stuttered out. “Granny wouldn’t let up about the book, and I didn’t know what to do. She kept insisting that it was the perfect opportunity and that I owed it to her, what with all she did for me.”
A part of Holly’s mind sat back, horrified that someone close to the girl could mercilessly manipulate her like that. Another part was furious. The confirmation of what she’d surmised—what she’d most feared—was like a punch into her already-knotted gut.
“How could you steal from me?” Holly gripped the edge of the countertop for dear life as her vision started to swirl in front of her. The moment of dizziness passed—the sense of betrayal did not. “You have to go and get it back, right now, do you hear me?”
Elvira could hardly have not. Holly’s voice was loud enough to startle the sleepy birds nesting on the roof into flying away. Yet the girl just shook her head.
“This isn’t a debate. You’ve stolen something from me—from your workplace—and you need to retrieve it immediately.”
“I c-can’t,” Elvira stuttered between a new flood of tears. “Granny won’t give it back to me. She insists that it’s hers.”
“I don’t care what she insists.”
“Please don’t make this any harder for me,” Elvira pleaded. She held up her hands and backed away. “I’ll just leave now. I won’t bother you again.”
“Hard for you.” Holly’s head felt as though it was filled with hot rocks, melting down her thoughts. “Do you understand how hard it was for me to confront you this morning about this? Did you think it would be easy for me to find my dad’s recipe book—the last tangible item that he touched—had disappeared?”
Her own tears were threatening now, and Holly bit them back. She didn’t know if she was shouting to teach Elvira a lesson or just to relieve some of the pressure that had been building inside her. “At least when you’re standing there and weeping because you got caught out, it’s guilt from something YOU DID. I felt guilty for suspecting you, do you understand that? It tore me apart to think you’d be capable of such a betrayal.”
“I’ve said I’ll go. What more do you want from me?”
“I want you to give back what you stole.” Holly’s hands threatened to bunch into fists with frustration. She clasped them tightly together in front of her midriff instead. “I want you to go back to Esmerelda’s right now and get back my property. That’ll show me that you’re genuinely sorry. That will demonstrate sincere regret for what you’ve done.”
Despite the cold morning and the shuddering heater that hadn’t quite got going, sweat was forming across Holly’s brow and in the tendrils of hair at the back of her neck.
Elvira stared back at her with wide eyes, head shaking from side to side. “I’m sorry, I really am, but you’ll never get the book back off Granny. She insists that the recipes inside it are hers. She’s only ever wanted to take back what she rightfully thought was her intellectual property.”
Holly closed her eyes for a second, trying to take deep breaths so she could calm down from the confrontation. Her throat was already sore from shouting. The entire incident just hadn’t gone as she’d planned.
“Has Esmerelda destroyed it?” Holly asked—her fears for the book’s safety rising as the possibility of easily getting it back drained away. “Is that what you’re not telling me? Did she burn it?”
Meggie told you she would hurt it. Why didn’t you listen and fetch it back straight away?
“No!” Elvira’s emphatic reply helped to calm down the worst of Holly’s doubts. “But she won’t hand it back, either.”
The bell above the door tinkled, indicating the first customer. Holly had only managed to decorate a half-dozen cupcakes before Elvira arrived. All chocolate. The poor man just wanted a light-vanilla sponge but cheered up immensely when Holly knocked fifty percent off the price.
Holly’s hands were shaking so much as she tried to swipe his card through the terminal that she gave up, turning the machine around and pushing it toward the man so he could do it himself.
“Too much coffee, eh? I get like that some mornings, too.”
Holly nodded and mumbled something polite, the bell tinkling again as he left sounded like a jackhammer to her nerves. When he’d gone, she turned back to Elvira, but the girl had gone.
“Hey.” Holly ran through the door, expecting to see the rear entrance out to the alleyway ajar. It was shut. Elvira was frosting a vanilla cupcake that had been sitting, cooling, on the back bench.
“It’s too late,” Holly said. The sense of relief that passed through her at seeing the girl still in the shop just added itself into the knotted tangle of her emotions. “The man’s already gone.”
Elvira nodded and reached behind her back to unfasten the apron.
“No,” Holly said, holding out a hand. “I’d rather you stayed here and worked than left me empty-handed on that score, as well.”
The words hit home, making Elvira wince, but she produced a smile so bright that it could only be false.
“After work, I’ll give you a ride to Esmerelda’s. She can then explain to me in person why she turned you into a thief.”
The sky was already dark by the time Holly shut up shop and got into the car with Elvira. The final words that she’d said that morning were instantly regretted, but they were also the truth, so she hadn’t taken them back. It made for a tense working day, and now both Elvira and Holly were sitting with their backs ramrod straight. Polite smiles were fused to their mouths.
“You’ll have to tell me the directions as we get closer,” Holly said, the first words she’d uttered since they got into the car. “I know the general area, but I’m not sure of the turns to get to the right street, let alone the right house.”
“Just keep going straight along here for the moment.”
Holly settled into the routine of being directed—she’d often played the role of chauffeur for her husband Simon when he had drinks with clients. Familiarity eased some of the tension from her bones.
When she nosed the car into the driveway, Holly sat for a minute, gathering her nerve. She’d be grate
ful when this day was over. Not the worst day ever, but bad enough that it had played havoc with her emotions.
“Okay,” Holly said. Elvira was sitting in place beside her, apparently waiting for a signal before getting out. “Let’s go.”
As they walked up the rest of the drive and across the patio to the front door, Holly wished that she’d done this early in the day. Now she felt wrung out, all the fight drained away. Her temper should have been stored up and aimed at the instigator of this mess, rather than wasted on a child.
Esmerelda had the front door open and was glaring out at them before Holly had the chance to knock.
“What are you doing here?”
“It’s lovely to see you, too, Esmerelda. I think you already know, but in case you don’t, I’m here to retrieve something that’s mine.”
The door started to close in Holly’s face, but she inserted a foot into the gap just in time to keep it open. The crunching bones objected, but once Holly put her shoulder to the door, Esmerelda stopped fighting so hard.
“Why are you doing this?” Holly demanded. “And why did you think it was okay to send in a teenager to do your dirty work?”
“You’ve stopped me at every other turn,” Esmerelda said, folding her arms across her chest and tilting up her chin. “I just did what was necessary to get back what is mine.”
Holly shook her head, sensing Elvira coming up behind her. “Can you two go sit in the kitchen while you duke it out?” the girl said. “You’re letting the cold air in, and it’s freezing.”
Esmerelda stayed in the same spot for a moment, continuing to glare, then she abruptly turned and followed Elvira’s direction. Holly trailed the woman into the next room, leaving the teenager to shut the door with a grateful sigh.
“Why won’t you give the book back to me?” Holly sat and shook her head. “I don’t understand what’s happening. That’s book belonged to my father and his father before him, all the way back to his great-grandmother.”
The Sweet Baked Mystery Series - Books 1-6 Page 53
