Decadent Demise Read online

  "Listen, she was being evicted from her home because of him," I said.

  "All I'm hearing is motive," Autumn replied, taking a sip off the coffee I handed her.

  I glared at my sister.

  "Wishing someone dead is not the same as killing them. You know that. Even then, Ellen said it tongue-in-cheek," I said.

  "Regardless, I need to speak with her."

  "Now? You heard Amelia. We're in the middle of a rush."

  "It will just take a minute," Autumn replied.

  I knew Autumn wouldn't leave until she spoke with Ellen.

  "Fine. I'll go get her, but this seriously better take only a minute," I said.

  Ellen looked startled when I told her Autumn wanted to speak to her.

  "It'll be fine. Just answer her questions," I said.

  Autumn and Ellen were back in the kitchen for longer than a minute. The line threatened to spill out the door. It was definitely an all-hands-on-deck situation. I rang up another customer and stepped away just for a moment to call around back for Ellen.

  WHOOSH!

  The swinging door came precariously close to smashing me in the face.

  Ellen was startled, which was quickly replaced with irritation. "Your sister, I swear!"

  Yeah, I'd felt that way with her a time or two myself. Speaking of which, I saw that she was still nosing around the kitchen. I looked over my shoulder at the growing line and decided to poke my head in the back to check in with Autumn.

  "Need anything else?" I asked.

  Autumn motioned for me to join her back there.

  I tried not to roll my eyes. "Autumn, I'm super busy here!"

  Autumn held her ground. This time I did roll my eyes.

  "Keep an eye on Ellen. She's acting really defensive."

  "Are you serious?" I was not about to start being suspicious of my dear friend. "I think you're looking at the wrong person," I said.

  "Is that so?" Now it was Autumn's turn to act defensive. "What else do you know?"

  "I know Edward met with Mike Rogers last night." Edward had been pacing in the kitchen and stopped to look at me. He nodded his head in agreement.

  "How do you know that?" My sister asked suspiciously.

  "Because Mike stopped in last night after eight o'clock."

  "That's awfully late to stop in at the bakery. Didn't you close at six o'clock?"

  "Yes, I did. But he stopped by after hours because he knows people are pretty upset with him. He and Tonya are hosting the family for Thanksgiving, and he was trying to help her out by ordering a couple of my pies. Then he told me he was going to go try to talk some sense into Edward."

  "Were those his exact words?" my sister asked me.

  I tried to think back to the conversation, but I couldn't remember exactly. "I'm not sure. I think so. That was the general gist of it anyway."

  "Where was he meeting him? Did he say?"

  "Now that I don't know, but I can probably find out." In fact, I was positive that I would find out as soon as Amelia walked out of the kitchen and I could ask Edward.

  "Okay, well, you know where I'm headed. Mind if I get a refill for the road?"

  "Help yourself, just don't go getting in an accident, you hear? Sooner or later you're going to have to get some sleep," I said.

  "Pot calling the kettle black," Autumn replied while refilling her cup.

  I acknowledged her comment and ducked back out front to give Amelia and Ellen a hand.

  "Can you believe your sister wanted to know if I had an alibi for last night?" Ellen said in-between customers.

  Yeah, I could. "Don't take it personally," I replied.

  But I could tell she was.

  "I could've sworn she was looking at my hands, as if expecting to find some incriminating evidence. I mean, what happened anyway? Wasn't it a car accident?"

  "No, someone tampered with his car."

  "What? No! What did they do?"

  "Don't you think it's best if you didn't know?" I said.

  Ellen looked annoyed, but conceded I was right. "Good point."

  We got back to work serving customers and cleaning up until things died back down.

  "I'm going to go finish up in the back," I announced to the girls.

  I walked through the kitchen and found Edward deep in thought.

  "You doing okay?" I asked.

  "Fine," Edward replied, and everyone knows that when someone says they're fine like that, they're really not.

  I pried a little bit further. "What happened when you talked with Mike last night?"

  That changed Edward's mood real fast. He got a wicked glint in his eyes. "Ha, good old Mike Rogers. Thought he could get out of the deal we made, but I wasn't letting him out that easy. I told him if he even thought about pulling the permits, I'd personally start leading his recall efforts. I don't care what the constituents want, you don't renege on a deal." Edward was all amused with his tenacity. I, on the other hand, was horrified and it wasn't because of Edward’s comments. In fact, Edward's response hadn't surprised me. What did was the thought of Mike Rogers being the one to cut Edward's brakes.

  "But it makes sense, doesn't it? Mike was getting grief on all fronts—the community and his home life. With his job up in the air, his new wife rather upset with him, and you not willing to give him any slack, it seemed like Mike was forced to take matters into his own hands." It made me a bit sick to my stomach to think of my dad's friend stooping to murder to solve his problems. I had been right to tell Autumn to look at Mike; I just couldn’t believe how right I was. All I had wanted was for Autumn to stop investigating Ellen.

  "Who are you talking to?" I hadn't even noticed Amelia walk into the kitchen. She looked at me questioningly. I was so used to working only with Ellen that I hadn't been careful.

  "Oh, sorry, Amelia. I didn't hear you come back."

  Amelia looked around the kitchen to try and see who I was talking to. In my mind, I thought, Oh, great. Amelia’s just started, and she is already going to think I am out of my mind. I really didn't want her to quit. She was doing such a great job, and Ellen and I desperately needed the help.

  Ellen strolled through the passageway at that moment too. "Oh, there you two are. I need some help out front again." Ellen looked between Amelia and me. "What's going on?" she asked.

  "Oh nothing, I was just—" I started to say.

  "Talking to someone back here,” Amelia interrupted, “but she doesn’t want to tell me who."

  "I was talking to myself," I lied.

  I looked at Ellen and she knew exactly what I meant, which is why it totally blew my mind went Ellen blurted out, "Claire can talk to ghosts."

  "Ellen!" I exclaimed.

  "What? If Amelia's going to work here for any amount of time, she's going to figure it out sooner or later. Especially with the way your husband pops in several times a day."

  "Oh my gosh, that is way cool," Amelia said.

  "It is?" I was totally bewildered by Amelia's reaction. "Most people generally think I'm a bit crazy with the way I walk around town talking to myself."

  "Well, in my experience, most people are little bit close-minded," Amelia said.

  "She's right about that." Ellen looked pleased as punch.

  "So, who were you talking to you?" Amelia asked.

  "Edward. We are trying to figure out who might have, you know, sabotaged his car."

  "He's here, right now?" Amelia looked around the kitchen in amazement.

  "Over there by the fridge." I motioned with my thumb.

  "Way cool," Amelia said again.

  "Okay, I hate to break all this up, but I really do need your help out front. We're getting slammed again," Ellen said.

  I waved my hand in the air to cut the conversation. "Okay, okay. We can talk about this more later. Right now, let's go out front and take care of our customers."

  Twenty minutes later, I was back in the kitchen and finally ready to get to work. I was hoping I'd be able to get more than five m
inutes to get something done when I turned around just in time to see Mike Rogers walk through the bakery's back door. I knew I looked like a deer in headlights, but I just couldn't help myself. It took me a second too long to regain my composure.

  Edward spotted him too. "Let me at him, let me at him. You're not gonna get away with this, you hear me, Mike Rogers? I'll make sure you spend the rest of your life rotting in jail!"

  "It's a bit chilly in here, isn't it?" Mike shivered at the paranormal assault.

  "It is a bit chilly," I said while looking at Edward. My look meaning, knock it off.

  Mike looked over his shoulder.

  "What? What's wrong?" he asked.

  "Um, nothing." I was a terrible liar and I was sure it showed.

  "Forget about the pies?" Mike asked hesitantly. I took Mike's offered-up excuse and ran with it.

  "The pies, yes! I am so sorry, I completely forgot about your order. But, I actually was able to make extra, so I've got you covered." I made a show of getting out the pie boxes and putting them together and then taking both a pumpkin and a pecan pie off the cooling rack and boxing them up for him. Meanwhile, Edward stared Mike down, probably trying to figure out how he could get even.

  I handed the pies over. "By chance, did Autumn catch up with you?" I couldn't help it. I had to know.

  "Oh, so that's what the look was for," Mike said.

  I blushed at being busted. "I ... I just know that she had wanted to talk with you." Again, I was horrible at lying.

  "You don't have anything to worry about. Your sister just left my house about fifteen minutes ago. Of course Tonya was up in arms having me questioned like that, but like I told Autumn, I don't have anything to hide."

  "So, does that mean you have an alibi?" I asked.

  Mike nodded. "I ran into Betty Jones on my way in to meet Edward and Father Thompson on my way out. You know how the church shares a parking lot with Carol's?"

  Yes, I knew that.

  "Father had been at the church working late to finish up his Thanksgiving sermon. He offered me a couple of words of wisdom while we cleaned the snow off our cars, and then we followed each other out of the parking lot. So you see, I'm totally off the hook."

  I felt a huge wave of relief wash over me that I hadn't been expecting. Edward, for his part, seemed less convinced, but he stopped his paranormal assault. Well, not before kicking Mike in the shin. Mike responded by rubbing the area absentmindedly.

  "Well, thank heavens, Mike. I'd hate to think you could be capable of something so malicious." I felt pretty guilty myself for having suspected it. "But, the sad fact of reality is that someone in our community was mad enough to murder him."

  My own comments jolted something in my brain. Mad at him. I knew of one other person who was pretty mad at him last night—Felicity. I needed to talk to her, but it wasn't like I could just leave now, not when the bakery was hopping, and I was in the middle of wrapping up the holiday orders. I looked at the clock. It was just after noon. Hopefully I'd be able to finish up the remaining orders and the bakery would die down around two o'clock. If that happened, then I could go play detective.

  5

  "Are you ready? Aren't you done yet?" Edward kept peppering me with questions, wanting to know when I would be ready to hunt down Felicity.

  "It has to be her! Women will always be the death of you," he said again for the one hundredth time.

  I did my best to ignore him, but man, the guy was annoying. It was a darn shame he couldn't just take his little orb self and go hunt down Felicity himself. Although, as Nick had once explained, it wasn't that easy to just pop in here or there. Who knew?

  I cleaned my workstation and turned around to put some bowls in the sink when I stopped short. Edward was less than an inch from my face.

  I put my hands up in a stop gesture. "Listen, you really have to calm down."

  "Calm down? Calm down! You think I should calm down. Somebody murdered me. I demand justice!"

  "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Take it easy, buddy," Nick said. I was more than happy to have him join us at that moment. "You can't demand anything. You're dead."

  Edward folded his arms tightly across his chest.

  "Where in the world have you been?" I asked my husband.

  "Hey, the holidays bring all the ghouls out. I had a little shindig with my Mayflower peeps."

  I stared wide-eyed at Nick. "Your Mayflower peeps? Like the real original pilgrims?"

  "Yeah, and some Wampanoag Indians, too. Thanksgiving is their jam."

  I shook my head. "Okay, totally irrelevant. Keep an eye on Edward. I'm going to go upstairs and change and then we're going to hunt down his ex-girlfriend."

  "Got it, boss."

  I ran upstairs to do just as I said. However, unlike this morning, this time I could see my breath in the air. The radiator that had been slowly dying was now flat out dead. I found my cell phone on the counter, unplugged it from the charger, and started to look up someone who could come out to repair the radiator and found that my cell phone hadn't charged. In fact, when I looked around the apartment, I noticed that the microwave clock was out and so was the digital cable box. I flipped on the light switch. Nothing. Everything was out.

  "Great, add electrical problems to the list."

  Milo flopped on the kitchen floor and stretched his paws in the air to swat at Nick's floating orb, which had followed me up the stairs. So much for Nick listening to my instructions to watch Edward.

  I closed my eyes and tried to think things through. I knew the perfect solution, just as I knew why I was so hesitant to accept it. When Edward had stopped in yesterday and made me that offer, part of me felt that he had been right. London Manor was too much house for just me. That realization made my heart break just a little bit.

  I tried to shake the thoughts free. I couldn't think like that. Not right now, when my apartment was falling apart and I needed a place to stay—at least until I got things fixed up in here. There was nothing wrong with temporarily moving in to London Manor, I told myself.

  Edward popped in my bedroom while I was packing my suitcase. "Are you ready to go yet? Wait, where you off to? You can't just take off and leave me here," Edward insisted.

  "I'm not. I'm headed to London Manor to stay for a while."

  "You're what!?" I knew that would just grind Edward's gears, but it looked like we were both going to have to get over it.

  "Good," Nick said when he joined us. "I think it's a great plan." I smiled at my husband. Milo was quickly on his heels. The kitty took one look at Edward and hissed. My cat was a fine judge of character.

  "Guys, seriously just give me a minute to get some things together and talk with Ellen and Amelia. I'll meet you outside."

  Thankfully, the guys listened, and I was able to do just that.

  The four of us—me, Nick, Milo, and Edward—got in my car and headed to London Manor.

  "We don't have time for this. We need to go to Felicity's!" Edward exclaimed.

  "This will just take a minute. I want to drop Milo off."

  London Manor was farther north up the coast, almost to the top of the peninsula. The house had views of both Bleu Clair Bay and Lake Michigan from its perch on North Shore bluff. I eyed the steep driveway, put my SUV in four-wheel drive, said a quick little prayer, and headed on up.

  I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding when we reached the estate's black metal gate and rolled down my window to punch in the gate's code. The light turned green and the gate slid back, revealing London Manor and all its glory with its multiple stories, expansive porch, and grand columns. It was far more luxurious than any place I had ever owned.

  "I'll be right back," I said. Edward had started to get out of the car. "Stay, I mean it."

  "But—" Edward started to protest.

  "You want to find Felicity, don't you?" I countered. "This will be quicker if I just run in by myself."

  "Fine," Edward pouted. Nick smiled in response as if he was perfectly cont
ent with staying in the car.

  I walked in to London Manor and set Milo down. The way his tail perked right up and he started prancing down the hall, I could tell he was pleased to be back home.

  Home.

  I looked in at the parlor, then the library with it rich woods and stocked bookcases.

  Could I really move in here?

  I trailed my finger down the wooden staircase as I followed Milo down the hall and into the gourmet kitchen. It was bright and white and gleaming. I imagined the pies that could be baked and the dinners that could be held with friends. And suddenly, I did have the urge to host a party. Maybe for Christmas or even New Year's Eve. A celebration to start a new chapter in my life. My thoughts raced ahead to try to plan a menu. Prosciutto-wrapped asparagus, French bread topped with goat cheese and apricot glaze, and champagne. Champagne and caviar and chocolate. I was smiling before I even knew it.

  Then I had a better idea. Why wait until New Year's Eve when Thanksgiving was just two days away? If I could wrap up this mystery, it would be the perfect way to ring in the holiday season.

  But could I do it? Could I really pull off hosting Thanksgiving dinner in two days? And who would I invite? As soon as I asked myself, one by one the answers clicked into place. I knew exactly what I was going to do. That is, if I solved this case first.

  I was shocked to see Nick and Edward were still in the car. Of course, they weren't speaking to one another, but at least I didn't have to go hunt one of them down.

  "Okay, next stop, Felicity. Where does she live?" I asked.

  Edward gave us directions. Now that Nick knew where she lived, he could save us some time.

  "Want me to pop in and see if she's home?" he offered.

  "Yes, that would be awesome. If she's not there, we'll have to think about where else she might be," I replied.

  "What? He can do that?" Edward asked.

  "It takes practice, or so I'm told," I said as Nick blinked out of existence.

  Edward sat back against the seat and crossed his arms again.