One Dead Cookie (29 page)

Olivia’s body tensed, but she tried not to show it. “I have a number of friends,”
she said.

“Only one of them’s on the run, though, right?” Sam’s thin lips formed what Olivia
supposed was a grin. His crooked front teeth peeked through. “Looks like she’s as
guilty as that no-good drunken husband of hers.”

Stacey? Guilty?
Olivia clenched her teeth to keep herself from screaming at Sam. She heard Maddie’s
light gasp. From Sam’s expression, he’d heard it, too.

“Yeah,” Sam said, “from what I hear, the police found that cookie cutter. You know,
the one the killer used to brand that actor fellow? Everybody knows all about that.
No use trying to keep secrets around here. Stacey Harald should know that better than
anybody.”

Olivia knew Sam wanted to hear her beg for details, and she so wanted to deprive him
of that pleasure. But she needed to know. “I hadn’t heard,” she said.

With a disdainful snicker, Sam said, “Women. They get into a habit and don’t bother
to think. Looks like Wade’s faithful ex-wife ran that cookie cutter through the dishwasher
to get rid of the fingerprints and blood and all. Guess she figured that would fix
everything. Silly woman. Her dishwasher didn’t quite do the job. Must be an old dishwasher.”
With the exquisite timing of a born gossip, Sam nodded to them and slipped through
the door to the sales floor. As he closed the door behind him, Olivia could hear his
whiny chortle.

After Del’s cell phone sent Olivia to voice mail for the third time, she gave up.
“Doesn’t anyone answer their phones anymore? I thought cell phones were supposed to
keep us all connected twenty-four/seven.” Olivia hit a key on the kitchen laptop just
to see it wake up. “I can’t get ahold of my mom or Allan, the police department sends
me to 911…. How am I supposed to find out if Sam was fibbing about Stacey? I can’t
believe our Stacey would try to destroy evidence.”

“Down, girl,” Maddie said. “Stacey wouldn’t be dumb enough to put evidence through
the dishwasher and leave it there for the police to find.” Maddie opened a kitchen
drawer and took out her own cell. Punching in a speed-dial code, she said, “I’m trying
Lucas’s cell. Drat, it went right to voice mail. Really, he should bear in mind that
his bride-to-be might be desperate to reach him.”

“Where is everybody?” Olivia plopped down on the
chair at the kitchen desk. “I feel like I’m in one of those movies where everyone
on earth vaporizes, and we’re the only ones left.”

“Whoa,” Maddie said. “That sounds like something I’d say.”

“Okay, let’s pull ourselves together,” Olivia said. “A plan. We need a plan if we’re
going to save Stacey from being railroaded for murder.” Olivia pawed through the desk
drawer until she found a small notebook and a pen. The pen was dry, which irritated
her beyond all reason.

“I agree, we need a plan,” Maddie said as she handed Olivia a working pen, “if only
to keep you from imploding.”

“Sorry. It’s Sam. I’m mad at myself for letting him annoy me.”

“You aren’t alone,” Maddie said. “Remember, Sam practices his craft all day, like
we practice creative cookie baking. That’s how you get good at something. Say, I don’t
suppose we could make Snoopy Sam look good for Trevor’s murder?”

“What an uplifting thought, but no. We’d only waste precious time.” Olivia flipped
through her notebook until she found a clean page.

“You could work a lot faster at the computer,” Maddie said.

“I know, but sometimes I focus better with a pen in my hand. Plus there’s the satisfaction
of ripping out a page and balling it up.”

“I get that.” While Maddie cleaned the kitchen, Olivia wrote. When she’d finished,
she tore out the page, and said, “Okay, Maddie, read through this and tell me if I’ve
left anything off.”

Maddie hitched herself up onto the kitchen counter and began to read the notes Olivia
handed her.

“These aren’t in any particular order, and I listed
motives next to the names.” While Maddie read through it, Olivia continued scribbling
in her notebook.

• Trevor Lane: Why did he come to Chatterley Heights? Did he kill Jennifer’s sister,
  Melissa? (He was questioned and released.)
  
• Dougie Adair works for Trevor, but doesn’t seem to like him much. He could have been
  Trevor’s alibi for Melissa’s murder. Why did he come to Chatterley Heights with Trevor?
  
• Wade Harald: Trevor and Dougie got him kicked off his high school football team, which
  seems to have ruined his life. His hammer killed Trevor. But he isn’t someone who
  plans ahead. He argued with Trevor, Dougie, and Howie in the band shell—what about?
  
• Howie Upton clearly hated Trevor, who picked on him in high school and beyond. Howie
  is a financial genius who lost everything due to accusations of insider trading. Did
  he know Melissa? Does he know Jennifer? Might he be helping Jennifer search for her
  sister’s killer?
  
• Jennifer Elsworth/Nortenson/Whatever: She lied about when she left Twiterton and seems
  to have known Trevor better than she is willing to admit. Did her move to Chatterley
  Heights have something to do with her sister’s death? Has she been searching online
  for her sister’s killer?
  
• Stacey in cahoots with Wade: Ignoring for the moment that a gavel cookie cutter turned
  up in her dishwasher, Stacey has no motive for killing Trevor. However, her loyalty
  to her family might be a motive for trying to help Wade by planting
  the murder weapon in the band shell while he was in custody. (Improbable if Stacey
  remained in hiding.)
  

Maddie pondered a moment. “Trevor wasn’t what I’d call a likable guy. I suppose someone
we don’t know might have hated him enough to follow him to Chatterley Heights. Maybe
this stranger stayed out of sight and waited for an opportunity to kill him?”

“That assumes Wade Harald was set up,” Olivia said, “which is possible. But a stranger
would have to know that Wade had reason to hate Trevor, that Wade worked at Struts
& Bolts, and which hammer was his…among other coincidences too complicated to mention.”

“Well, if you’re going to use logic…” Maddie hopped off the kitchen counter and began
to pace. “From this list, it seems to me Wade has the only real motive for the murder.
Trevor ruined Wade’s chance to be a football hero, and his life has been going downhill
lately.”

“Exactly,” Olivia said. “We know very little about Trevor’s past with Dougie and Howie.
Dougie has been loyal, but maybe he carries hidden resentments.”

“And Howie seems like a guy who collects resentments,” Maddie said.

Olivia tore another page she’d been writing on from her notebook and handed it to
Maddie. “We need to do some targeted research. We don’t have much time, so efficiency
is the word of the day.” She tapped the top of her pen against her cheek.

“Livie, you are so in your element. You come up with the ideas, and then I do my thing
on the computer.” Maddie pushed the start button on the dishwasher.

“I’m thinking we’ll need to do some quick fieldwork.”

“Goody, a trip to Chatterley Paws,” Maddie said. “You
read this to me.” She handed back Olivia’s notes. “I need caffeine and sugar to nurture
my brain cells.”

While Maddie started a pot of coffee and sneaked a few cookies from the extras for
the engagement party, Olivia read through her list out loud:

• What kept Dougie and Trevor linked together all these years?
  
• What is the real story behind Dougie’s wife’s suicide?
  
• Did Howie Upton have any reason to hate Trevor, aside from the fact that Trevor teased
  and taunted him?
  
• Why were Howie, Trevor, and Dougie in the band shell the night of Trevor’s murder?
  
• Did Trevor know that Howie was accused of insider trading?
  
• Are the murders of Melissa Nortenson and Trevor Lane related?
  
• Why did Jennifer disappear from the store when Trevor and Dougie showed up?
  
• Who has been breaking into Chatterley Heights businesses, and why? Do the break-ins
  connect in any way with the murder?
  

“Okay, what do you think of this list? Anything we should add?” Olivia handed her
notebook and pen to Maddie.

“Looks like a lot of work to me,” Maddie said as she skimmed through the list. “Interesting
work, though. Give me some time, I’ll see what I can come up with.” Maddie began to
scribble rapidly. “This is why I use a computer,” she said. “Pens run out of ink without
any warning.” She tossed the pen aside and switched to the computer.

Olivia felt impatient and very anxious for news about
Stacey. She longed to corner suspects and shake information out of them. But she knew
it wouldn’t work. They needed cool heads and, of course, a plan of action. Olivia
drained her coffee and finished off a cookie, which only increased her agitation.
Settling at her desk, Olivia tried to remember what her mom had taught her about calming
and centering her mind. Wasn’t she supposed to breathe deeply or something? She tried
it. Her heart rate slowed a bit, and her chattering mind grew quieter, quieter….

“Livie, how can you nap at a time like this?”

Olivia’s head jerked upright. “I was meditating.”

“Well, don’t do it again. Meditation makes you cranky.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Olivia said. “Get back to work.” Her eyes closed of their
own accord.

“Livie, wake up. You can catch up on sleep later.”

“What time is it?”

“You were snoozing for about twenty minutes,” Maddie said. “Did you know that you
snore?”

“Do not.”

Maddie grinned. “Okay, I lied, but I had you going there. I hope you’re refreshed,
because it’s planning time.” She thrust the laptop computer toward Olivia. “These
are my additions to the list. I think you’ll agree I can pull my weight in this sleuthing
caper.”

• What’s with the gavel cookie cutter brand on Trevor’s cheek, and the cookie in his
  mouth? Symbolic of justice and humiliation? Are they false clues? Just plain mean?
  Really, why bother? And where did the cookie cutter come from?
  
• Did Wade sneak the gavel cookie cutter into the dishwasher when Stacey wasn’t looking?
  (Assuming Snoopy’s rumor was true, which it probably isn’t.)
  Stacey is sharp. If she knew the incriminating cookie cutter was in the dishwasher,
  she’d have taken it out before she left the house unattended. Wade, however, would
  be dumb enough to forget about it.
  
• How did Trevor’s body get onto The Gingerbread House porch? Wouldn’t that take two
  people? Or one really strong man? And why our porch? (Again, Wade is an idiot, so
  he might not think about the risks.)
  
• Is someone feeding rumors to Binnie Sloan’s blog?
  
• How did Melissa Nortenson really die?
  

“These are terrific questions,” Olivia said, scanning Maddie’s additions. “Now comes
the really hard part: How do we find the answers to these questions in a very short
time? Your engagement party is tomorrow afternoon.”

“As it happens, I know the answer to the last question,” Maddie said. “I found another
online mention of Melissa’s death. It’s a site that caters to aficionados of old,
unsolved mysteries, so I can’t vouch for its accuracy. Bearing that in mind, the blogger
says that Melissa was mildly brain damaged, as we’ve heard. She was also very pretty
and rather free with her favors, though only if she liked the boy. Melissa died in
1993 from a broken neck. She was found at the base of a cliff by her nine-year-old
sister, Jennie, who had slipped out of the house early that morning to find her older
sister before their parents discovered her absence.”

“That poor child.” Olivia felt her limbs go limp as she imagined the young girl finding
the lifeless body of her beloved older sister. “It sounds as if Melissa made a habit
of meeting boys in secret.”

“Apparently,” Maddie said. “Here’s the really interesting part…. There was only one
response to the original post. The response said that two high school boys were
questioned in connection with the murder. Their names were withheld because neither
was charged. There wasn’t enough evidence, although both had been seen several times
in Melissa’s company.”

“Interesting,” Olivia said. “So…Trevor and Dougie? Of course, we can’t assume this
information is accurate.”

“Nope. It’s worth noting that I didn’t find this information anywhere else. The newspapers
reported Melissa’s death as a possible homicide. Suspects were questioned and released.”

“Any idea when the original post first appeared?”

“Good question,” Maddie said with a grin. “Naturally, I have an answer. It was in
2008, on the fifteenth anniversary of Melissa Nortenson’s death. Livie, what if Jennifer
posted this along with that first article?”

“It’s possible….” Olivia sank back in her chair to think. “Thanks for tracking this
down. You are officially a genius. This feels important, only I’m not yet sure what
it means. Let’s leave it to compost for now and go back to our notes.”

Maddie scanned the questions, frowning. “We did leave Stacey completely off the suspect
list. Is that wise?”