BlueBuried Muffins (Black Cat Cafe Cozy Mystery Series Book 1) (15 page)

“Are you?”

“No. I think Vincent is behind it all and Jake said he’d help us. Vincent is blackmailing Jake and trying to make him look like he’s the murderer.”

“Maybe he is. How can you be sure you can trust what Jake tells you?”

“Well, I can’t, but if Jake, Vincent and Roy show up, Leona is hoping that one of them will rat on whoever the murderer is. We think Vincent may be blackmailing Roy too. At least, part of me hopes it is that and not something worse.”

Mia pursed her lips. “I don’t like this. Your plan sounds too iffy and dangerous. What’s the backup plan?”

“Martha is going to hide in her shop ready to call the police at the first sign of trouble.”

“Okay, I’ll be with Martha.” Mia got out of Annie’s car. “Be careful. I think there is more to this than you can imagine.”

Annie looked in the rear view mirror at Roxy who was now sitting like a statue in the middle of the back seat. “What do you think?”

Roxy perked her ears up.

“Okay, we’ll head home and see what you think about Smokey.”

Fatigue settled in Annie’s body. The last few days had been nonstop drama and she couldn’t wait for all that to be behind her. She wished she had confidence to leave it all up to Tyler to solve, but she was smack dab in the middle and there was no way she would let herself end up like Max if she didn’t work on finding his killer as quickly as possible. She desperately wanted to know how her father got mixed up in all of this with Vincent and Jake. What was the common denominator with all of them, she wondered.

As she pulled into her apartment she was happy that she had about an hour before she needed to go back to the café. She had enough time to get Roxy settled in with Smokey and stretch out on her couch and take a short nap before she called Detective Jaffrey. “Come on girl. On to a new adventure for you.”

Her photographs on the walls, the view of the lake, and Smokey and Roxy for company would make this apartment into a home, Annie thought as she walked inside. Smokey took one look at the four-legged intruder with Annie and hid under the couch. Roxy followed the kitten and poked her nose down to investigate, only to be met by a black paw smacking her. Roxy backed up, wagging her tail and sat down to wait for Smokey to make the next move.

Annie couldn’t help but smile at the kitten’s antics, until her smile was replaced with a gasp as the bathroom door opened with a squeak. Her body tensed. “Who’s here?”

Chapter 22

Detective Jaffrey walked out of the bathroom. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“What are you doing here already? I said I would call you.” She stood next to Roxy, watching the detective and feeling glad to have the dog at her side. “Your car isn’t outside, how did you even get here?”

Detective Jaffrey flicked his wrist. “I rented a boat to do some fishing and I want to get my money’s worth before I return it tomorrow.” He pulled an envelope from his pocket. “Don’t you want to read what’s in here?”

Annie nodded.

“Well, I need something from you first.” He carefully held his arm. “I hurt my arm and I need some antibiotics or something like that. I checked in your bathroom cabinet, but it’s empty.”

Annie moved closer to him. “Let me see. Roll up your sleeve.”

The detective gingerly pushed his sleeve up to reveal a red and pus-filled wound.

Annie touched around the redness. “This is badly infected. Have you thought about going to the emergency room?”

“I hate doctors. Don’t you have something?”

“I haven’t put all my stuff away yet. It’s probably in my backpack still.”

She returned with a tube of antibiotic cream. “I don’t think this will help much at this point, but here you go.”

Detective Jaffrey smeared the cream on the wound and pulled his shirt sleeve down. “Thanks.”

Annie watched as Smokey peeked out from under the couch and pounced on Roxy’s tail.

“Roy told me that Max hid drugs inside your photographs.”

Annie’s gaze left the kitten’s antics to settle on the detective’s face. “Why would my father tell you?”

“Didn’t you know?”

Annie checked the time on her watch. “Listen, I need to be somewhere soon so can you please spit out whatever it is you want to tell me?”

He smirked. “I’m working for your father. He hired me to find you.”

Annie put two and two together from the information her mother had found in Roy’s desk and tried to hide her anger. “How long have you been following me?”

The detective settled onto the couch. “I thought that would get your attention. Oh, I found you right after you left two years ago, but Roy wanted me to keep an eye on you. He wanted to make sure you were safe. And it turns out, you hooked up with some shady people.”

“So, you’re a private detective?”

“Yeah. Everyone assumed I was working with the police department and I never bothered to correct anyone. I doubt I can keep it up for much longer though, now that your ex fiancé, Tyler, is starting to ask questions about that knife you found at the café.”

“Is it the murder weapon?” Annie whispered the question.

“Yeah, it sure is.”

“Jake murdered Max?”

“It’s his knife. Listen, Annie, I need those drugs, so where are they and I’ll get out of your life.”

Annie’s mind raced. She had to get to the café where there would be more people. “Roy already found them.”

“What?” The detective stood up and paced around the room. “He’s double crossing me, that piece of scum. He was supposed to find out what you knew since my charm wasn’t working on getting any info. ‘Get the info and give it to me.’ That was his plan.” He ran his hands through his hair as he continued to pace.

“What difference does it make? He can just turn it over to the police.”

“Sorry to disappoint you, but nothing is getting turned over to the police. Vincent and I worked too hard getting this drug distribution going for everything to end because you decided to run away from your boyfriend.”

Understanding began to dawn in Annie’s brain. “Was Max involved?” Annie held her breath, not wanting to hear the truth if she had completely misjudged Max.

Detective Jaffrey laughed an evil laugh. “We couldn’t get him on board; he was too honest and was always worrying about helping all the poor starving artists.”

Annie picked Smokey up and patted her soft fur as she sank down into the cushions of her chair. She wanted to keep Detective Jaffrey talking until she understood what was going on. “If Max wasn’t involved, how did the drugs get behind my photos? He did the matting and framing.”

“Vincent screwed up. He put it there after Max finished but he didn’t know Max was going to come back and put the photographs in your car. He must have figured out what was going on.”

“And my father?”

“He wanted to keep you safe. He had the brilliant idea to burn down your aunt’s café to get you to go back to Catfish Cove and get you away from the gallery. When you left without telling anyone, taking the photographs and the drugs, you led us all here.”

Annie’s head was spinning. Roy burned down the café? Her father wanted her to come back? Why didn’t he just tell her? She knew it wouldn’t have convinced her but he could have tried. “I don’t believe this. Are you going to show me that paper?”

Detective Jaffrey remembered the envelope he held in his hand. “Oh, yeah. Here.”

Annie held the paper lightly, as if it might burst into flames. It shook in her trembling hands. She searched in the detective’s eyes, hoping to see some indication of what might be on the paper before she unfolded it. His cold eyes gave her no clues.

She unfolded the paper and saw a seal from the court of New Hampshire at the top center, not an adoption agency letterhead which was what she was expecting. She read that the record of her birth information was sealed and it was signed by Judge Warren Hunter. “What does this mean?”

“Sorry, it’s the dead end that Max came to. Your birth information is not accessible.”

She read it again. Judge Hunter? Was he related to her landlord, Jason Hunter? The same judge who got Leona out of jail all those years ago? She would try to track him down with this document and demand an explanation.

Annie looked up at Detective Jaffrey when he stood and stretched and his words broke through her thoughts. “I’m tired of explaining. I want the drugs.”

She felt trapped and struggled to keep breathing. “They’re at the café.”

Detective Jaffrey smacked his head. “I knew it. I should have torn Leona’s cafe up from top to bottom instead of just dumping the chili to try to scare the two of you. Let’s go. You drive.”

“I need a few minutes.” Annie hustled around her apartment fixing a bed for Roxy, checking that she was comfortable, and thinking. If she hadn’t been so stubborn, she told herself, she would have told Tyler the plan. Now she had to figure out how to stay in control of the situation. Detective Jaffrey wanted something she had so she would dangle it like a carrot.

The detective took Annie’s arm before she was ready but he was sick of her stalling tactics. “Let’s go.”

It only took five minutes to drive to the Cove’s Corner building but it felt like an eternity to Annie. From the parking lot, the building appeared to be dark and deserted but as they walked to the entrance off the deck, lights shone through from the café.

His grip on Annie’s arm tightened. “Looks like something’s going on inside. Are you bringing me into some kind of trap?”

“You said you want the drugs, and this is where they are. You’re not the only one after them.”

“Alright, but you’re staying with me.”

Detective Jaffrey walked into the café keeping Annie in front of him. Leona stood behind the counter while Roy, Jake and Vincent argued with each other.

“Why did you bring him?” Roy asked Annie with a scowl on his face.

“He didn’t exactly give me a choice. So, Dad, this fine detective you hired thinks you’re double crossing him. And it was you who burned Leona’s café down?”

Leona’s face went white. “You?” She pulled out her cell phone.

Detective Jaffrey twisted Annie’s arm behind her back. “Drop your phone Leona, unless you want to hear her scream when I break her arm. Let’s not get sidetracked away from the main attraction. Roy, Annie tells me you found something I’ve been looking for. Hand it over and your little girl here won’t get hurt.” He pushed Annie’s arm higher and she gasped as she stood on her tippy toes to relieve the pressure.

“Hey. I told you. Keep her out of this,” Roy sneered.

“Yeah, you told me, but I’m done following your orders. This is my show now. Slide the bag over to me nice and slow.”

Roy did as he was told and Detective Jaffrey bent down to pick up the bag. “Great. Don’t get any funny ideas about calling the police or anything. Annie’s coming with me and I won’t hurt her if you all stay calm and quiet.” He winked at Leona. “Sorry I can’t hang around to get to know you better, sweetheart, but that’s life.”

Detective Jaffrey pulled Annie out of the café and back to her car. “Get in. I’m driving.”

Chapter 23

Annie rubbed some circulation back into her arm as her brain ran through her options. That hadn’t gone at all how she’d hoped. Even with Martha and her mother as back up in the Fabric Stash, she never had a chance to give them a warning to call Tyler.

“What’s your plan now?” she asked, trying to sound calm.

“Your time is up.”

A chill ran through Annie’s body.
Those words
. It wasn’t the first time they had rung in her ears. Everything clicked together in her brain “You left that message on Max’s phone,” she managed to whisper through her clenched teeth. “It was you, not Vincent or Jake who killed Max.”

Detective Jaffrey pushed on the accelerator.

Annie swung her hand and hit him on his wounded arm. “How does that feel? Max stabbed you with that awl and gave you that nasty puncture wound, didn’t he?”

The detective gasped in pain. “Max was a fool. He was so frantic to find you he never considered that Vincent and I would follow him. It was pathetic how Max begged me to just leave town and he would get the drugs back. But he knew too much. He came here to warn you and I couldn’t let that happen, now, could I? This pain can’t stop me.” He reached over and ran his fingers down Annie’s cheek. “I heard the lake is nice and deep right out from your apartment and I’ll be long gone while they’re still looking for you.”

Annie’s old Saab sputtered and died. For once she smiled at her car instead of cursing. Detective Jaffrey slammed his hands on the steering wheel. “What’s the matter with this piece of crap car? It only had to make it back to your apartment and to my boat.” He glared at her. “What’s wrong with it?”

“Well, Sally’s a bit temperamental and she doesn’t like anyone to drive but me.”

“Sally? You named your car?”

Annie shrugged, hoping this would give her a chance to escape. She only needed one opportunity and every nerve in her body surged, ready to flee.

“Okay, you drive but no funny stuff. Slide over while I go around.”