Pound Cake Predator Read online

  “What weren’t we up to? We played into the whole thing. Hotel rooms were trashed, girls chased after our cars, and that sort of thing. It’s funny, but it seems like that was all a dream. Or even like it happened to someone else at this point.”

  I thought back to the trashed Mad Batter. Now I had it confirmed that it wasn’t unusual for Franklin to see places destroyed.

  “You know, Frank actually moved here to be closer to me, believe it or not.”

  “Really? Did you two see each other much?” I asked.

  “Well...” He trailed off and thought for a moment. “Things change. We’re old men now. Well, Frank was an old man, I suppose. Sometimes people change, and sometimes they don’t.”

  “Like Franklin stayed the same? Forgive me for saying, but you don’t seem like the hotel room trashing type anymore,” I said with a laugh.

  “I think that’s a reasonable extrapolation,” Simon said with a tight-lipped smile.

  “When the call came that he had passed it must have been hard,” I said. “Were you at least at home? I always worry those calls happen when you’re out somewhere. I don’t know what I would do.”

  I had another reason for asking these questions. Now that I knew about Simon and Franklin’s friendship, I had a new lead.

  “Yes, I was at home in bed.” He checked his watch. “I’m sorry, Coco, but I’m afraid I have to run. Please give me a call if there are any other things we need to discuss about the cake. Your design sounds wonderful.”

  “Oh okay,” I said, but he was already heading out the door.

  I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and called Stella.

  “Coco, how are you?” Stella said when she answered. “I’m here with Vivian. I’ll put you on speakerphone.”

  After a bit of fumbling, I heard Vivian’s voice call out. “Hello, Coco.”

  “Hi, Vivian. Hi, Stella. Listen, I just had Simon Abernathy come into the shop. He said he knew Franklin. They worked together in Vegas and were close friends, I guess. Do you guys know anything about that?”

  “Oh yes, we knew something along those lines,” Stella said.

  “Didn’t they have a big falling out recently?” Vivian asked.

  “Oh yes, very big,” Stella confirmed.

  “Do you know what it was about?” I asked. “He just said sometimes people change and sometimes they don’t.”

  “My, isn’t that cryptic,” Vivian said.

  “I’m afraid I’m not sure exactly what that would mean,” Stella responded.

  “That’s interesting. I’m sure someone in town knows though.”

  “Oh yes. Though it’s amazing that anyone in this town can keep a secret.”

  “It happens enough to be plausible,” I said. “We just need one person to leak it.”

  “Then we might have another suspect,” Vivian practically shouted.

  “Vivian, dear, please try to keep calm,” Stella said.

  “I’m on Vivian’s side here,” I said. “I was excited to learn that too.”

  “Yes, of course it’s a good thing, but we don’t need to shout for goodness’ sake. She can hear you just as easily at a regular volume.”

  “We can save the celebrations for now, Vivian,” I said. “We have a new lead. That’s great news. You guys keep your eyes and ears peeled. I’m going to make sure this is looked in to.”

  “Thank you, Coco, dear,” Vivian said. “I really can’t wait to put this whole thing behind me.”

  “Me too, Vivian. We’ll find out what happened with Simon and Franklin.”

  Chapter 7

  I sighed, arching my back to get the cricks out. It had been a long and exhausting week so far, and I realized quickly that I hated Valentine’s just as much as I always had. Making the swift decision to treat myself and close the shop for lunch, I whipped over the closed sign, locked the door, and headed down to Shirley’s Diner for my usual meal of a cheeseburger and fries.

  Taking my seat at a table in the corner, I glanced through the menu while waiting on Shirley, just to have something to do.

  “What can I get you?” Shirley had appeared at my table, pad and pen ready and gotten right to the point.

  “What? No hello. How are you, Coco?” I asked lightly, trying to bring some humor to the situation. When I got no response, I just ordered my usual and watched her saunter away back behind the counter. Come to think of it, Shirley had been acting frosty for quite sometime now. Sipping the coffee, she had plopped down in front of me, I tried to figure out what was wrong with her.

  “Here you go. Cheeseburger and fries.” She slammed the plate down on the table and turned to leave. “Holler if you need anything else.” She tossed over her shoulder, already walking away.

  “Hold on.” I said, waiting on her to turn back to face me. “Did I do something to you that I don’t know about?”

  “Don’t worry about it.” She snapped, once again turning to walk away, her shoes making slapping sounds on the tiles of the diner floor.

  Shocked at rudeness from someone I had done absolutely nothing too, I glanced around the diner making eye contact with Lorraine, who shrugged her shoulders and mouthed “who knows” in my direction.

  “You know what...” Shirley said, whipping around and stomping back in my direction. “I’ll tell you what you did to me, and every other restaurant owner in this town.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, as other customers in the diner looked on, eager to get caught up on any gossip they could spread through town later.

  “You’ve brought nothing but trouble and chaos to our little town. Always having interactions with the police because you’re out there solving crimes left and right. Between getting that chapter in the recipe book and all the coverage in the papers and with the police station you’re riding high and mighty aren’t you, Coco? Well, the rest of us have to live in this town too and I for one think you should be brought down a peg or two. You and those old biddies that are constantly sticking their noses where they don’t belong.”

  I sat in stunned silence, my mouth hanging open. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Lorraine cross the diner and stand beside my chair.

  “Come on, y'all. We were all made the same after all, so let’s be friends.” Lorraine tried to diffuse the situation before it got more out of hand and gave the locals even more to chat about around the tables at the bingo hall on Friday night. “Why don’t we all sit down together, have a cup of coffee and talk this out?”

  All this time, I hadn’t said a word, stunned that Shirley felt this way. Before I could get a word out, Shirley took a deep breath, then pointed towards the front door.

  “I think my diner food probably isn’t good enough for you, Ms. High and Mighty Baker. You need to leave. You’re not welcome here anymore.” She punctuated this remark by picking up my untouched plate of food, walking over to the counter and upending it into the trash can, plate and all.

  “Well, if that’s the way you feel.” I swept out of my chair, making a beeline for the door. I wasn’t sure what I had done to warrant this, but I certainly wasn’t staying where I wasn’t wanted.

  Lorraine followed me, after shooting Shirley a look, wringing her hands, she stopped me before I got out the door. “Coco, I’m sure she didn’t mean anything by what she said. Everyone is on edge with Franklin being murdered. Haverfield has turned into a regular heartbreak hotel, people just aren’t loving anybody tender-like right now.”

  I stopped for a second, seeing an opportunity to get more information to hopefully help clear Vivian. “She knew Franklin?”

  “I’m not sure.” Lorraine shrugged, looking over her shoulder where Shirley was standing, hands on hips watching us. “She said something earlier along the lines of good riddance to Franklin, like she wasn’t sorry he was gone. When I asked her about it, she just said he caused a lot of commotion everywhere he went.”

  “I can attest to that.” I said, thinking back to the way he had almost caused a riot at the Mad Batter
before he was killed. “Maybe she killed him.” I muttered more to myself than anyone else.

  “Well, now I doubt that.” Lorraine patted my shoulder. “What I think is that we should leave all of this in the capable hands of the cops. We all know that Logan is smart and will catch the killer before long. Whatever ol’ hound dog could do such a thing.”

  I could feel my temper calming as Lorraine talked. She certainly had a good bedside manner. “I know. It’s just weird that there was a record placed next to Franklin’s body.”

  “What record?”

  “Don’t be Cruel.” I replied, my thoughts on clearing Vivian’s name once and for all.

  “I’ve never heard of that one. I’m not an Elvis fan unlike everyone else in this town, apparently.” Lorraine patted my hand, “I’m going to go finish my lunch before I have to head back. Are you sure you’re okay?”

  I smiled at the kind nurse. “I’m fine. Go eat.” I made a pretense of shooing her back to her table in the diner.

  Noticing Shirley still glaring at me, I threw her one of my thousand-watt smiles. “Don’t worry. I’m going. I wouldn’t want to sully up the place.” Ignoring her glare, I stepped out into the cold air of the afternoon. I didn’t know whether Shirley had killed Franklin or not, but I was sick of people slandering Vivian. It was time to find out who murdered that old man.

  Chapter 8

  Shivering at the cold wind whistling its way down the main street of town, I hurried back to the shop, still seething at the way Shirley had acted. It wasn’t like I set out to solve murders, it just happened. Pushing those thoughts out of my head, as I pushed open the door to the bakery, I heaved a huge sigh of relief to see Masie’s face smiling at me from behind the register. I rushed to give her a hug.

  “You have no idea how happy I am to have you back here. There’s no way I can handle this Valentine’s rush without you!” I paused, thinking about our last conversation. “What are you doing back here? You’re supposed to be on your honeymoon, aren’t you?”

  Placing her hands on her hips, Masie launched into a tirade about stupid men. “We got into a huge fight and ended up having the marriage annulled, before it even got started.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.” I hugged her again.

  “Nah, it wasn’t meant to be.” She went back to putting heart-shaped sugar cookies in the bakery case.

  “Soo, who did you elope with?” I asked, curiosity getting the better of me. Her silence made me want to know even more. “I know it was Jed at the post office. Wasn’t it.”

  “Eww, he’s 90 years old if he’s a day.” Masie laughed, “Give me some credit.”

  “Todd from the butcher shop?”

  “He’s married with three kids.”

  “I know. I know.” I laughed, snapping my fingers to come up with his name. “You eloped with Steven from the grocery store.”

  Masie doubled over laughing at the thought of eloping with Steven. “You know you’re desperate when you elope with the 15-year-old that carries out your groceries. I’ll tell you in my own good time.”

  Wiping my eyes where tears of laughter had formed, I hugged my friend to me one more time. “You have no idea how good it is to have you back.”

  “I would say so.” Masie said, propping those hands on her hips once again. “Will you look at this place? Sinful, I tell you. It’s a mess.”

  “Well...I have my reasons.” Pouring us both a mug of coffee, I pulled Masie over to one of the booths in the corner and explained everything that had happened with poor Stella and Vivian while she was gone.

  “Well, that’s just not going to do.” Masie sipped her coffee when I was done catching her up. “We both know that Vivian is all bluster and wouldn’t really hurt anyone. I heard about Clive and Franklin.”

  “I know, but Logan says it’s not looking good for her.”

  “I know, let’s go poke around Franklin’s cottage and see if we can find out what he was up to. I think that knowing what he was talking to Clive about will go a long way towards catching his murderer.”

  “Umm, Masie, I don’t know about breaking into yet another house.” I was a little hesitant to get caught up in another police investigation. After all, Logan and I were getting closer and I truly didn’t want to mess that up. “Jail isn’t a fun place Masie and if we get caught...”

  “Look, this is Vivian we’re talking about.” Masie stressed, “We don’t have much choice.”

  Twenty minutes later, we pulled up at the retirement village and checked to make sure no one else was around.

  “I have a bad feeling about this,” I said when I saw the yellow crime scene tape blowing in the brisk wind. I carefully ducked up under the tape, holding it for Masie to do the same. “We need to get in and out and leave no sign that we’ve been here.”

  “Gotcha.” Masie said, pushing open the door of the cottage and stepping tentatively inside.

  “Oh my goodness.” I breathed, shocked at all the stacks of memorabilia on every available surface and in every corner of the tiny cottage. “Wow, this guy loved him some Elvis.”

  “It wasn’t all about memorabilia and Elvis.” Masie called from the kitchen. Following her to where she stood over a stash of empty bourbon bottles that seemed to have been hidden in the pantry. “He evidently loved his bourbon as well.”

  “Maybe.” I wandered back into the front of the house, deciding to check and see if there was anything in the desk pushed into the corner of the room. A stack of notes was placed neatly in the center of the desk, the only uncluttered spot in the otherwise disorganized room. Flipping through the notes, I noticed some were missing. “These notes here look like they could be part of an autobiography.” I called to Masie, who had finished searching the kitchen and moved onto Franklin’s bedroom.

  A piece of paper fluttered off the desk making its way to the floor. Bending down to get it I came across a few shreds of paper that looked like they had been purposefully ripped to shreds. Gathering the pieces, I could find, I shoved them into my pockets to study later. Finishing up with the desk, I had just started going through the bathroom when I heard noises outside. Hissing loudly as Masie came running, we snuck to the window to see who was coming towards the cottage.

  “It’s Agnes, and who is that she’s talking too?” Masie hissed, ducking under the windowsill just in time to stop from being spotted by Agnes.

  “Careful.” I whispered back, peeking over the windowsill myself, then ducking back down to sit on the cluttered floor underneath. “That’s Red and Henry. They’re talking awfully fast about something. They have hands flying and everyone looks angry.”

  “Do you think she’s coming here?” Masie asked, her eyes wide. “I knew this was a bad idea.”

  I elbowed her in the ribs, causing her to grunt. “You knew it was a bad idea? Really, Masie,” I hissed furiously. “I’m the one who didn’t think it was a good idea.”

  Rolling her eyes, she hauled herself up, looking over the windowsill again. “Either way, they aren’t going to keep her from coming in here for long. Any bright ideas for getting us out of here without being seen?”

  Chapter 9

  While I continued to watch Agnes, who was still locked in a furious debate with both Henry and Red, a soft knock sounded at the back door. "Did you hear that?" I whispered to Masie, the hairs on the back of my neck rising with worry.

  "Who else knows we're here?" Masie hurried towards the door and I followed close behind. She took a calming breath before peeping through the curtain, only to sigh in relief as she hurried to open the back door.

  Standing on the porch were Stella and Vivian, dressed head to toe in black. The elderly women resembled a pair of washed up spies, coming together once more for a crime-fighting reunion. It was all rather dramatic, but I wouldn't expect any less from the unpredictable duo.

  "Henry told us the owner of the senior center was trying to poke her big nose into Franklin's house." Stella ushered us away as she spoke in hushed tones. />
  "They won't be able to hold her off for long so we have to go somewhere safe immediately." Vivian added, adjusting her glasses as she hurried away from the house.

  Before we got too far, or before we were able to question the sudden change of plans, Stella rose to her tiptoes and squawked out what sounded to me like a bird call.

  "What are you doing, don't you think Agnes will hear you making all that noise?" Masie asked, her arm resting on Stella's shoulder and her face marred with concern.

  Stella lightly brushed her off, focusing on the sounds that carried with the wind. "Shh. If I did that correctly, I should be getting a response shortly."

  Masie and I exchanged confused glances, and we looked to Vivian for guidance. "She knows what she's doing." Oddly that was not comforting.

  Just as they predicted, a deeper voice from the front of the house squawked a similar tone in reply. Satisfied that she hadn't gone insane, Masie and I stood quietly while the coded communications continued.

  Eventually, Stella gave a resolute smile before pointing us away from the house. "Henry has the situation under control," She assured me.

  "But they're leaving now, which unfortunately gives our friend Agnes free reign of the cottage." Vivian chimed in. "Let's go before she finds a reason to write us up for snooping."

  We all fled to Stella's, where we were safe to review the new evidence. After we were situated in Stella’s living room, she rose to get us a drink.

  "I hope coffee is alright?" Stella called from the other room.

  "That's alright with me." I said, but Masie scoffed.

  She wiped a hand across her brow and blew out a heaving sigh. "After that top secret mission I'm going to need something slightly stronger."

  Vivian shook her head. "Don't we all. But dear old Agnes changed the rules on us. Residents aren't allowed to keep liquor in their cottages."

  Masie's eyes widened, and we shared a knowing look as Stella hurried into the living room with four piping hot cups of coffee. "That may be a major clue, then. We found an enormous stash of empty liquor bottles in Franklin's cottage."