When the Cookie Crumbles (28 page)

Olivia’s head felt like a preschool full of hyperactive children. She’d absorbed too much information way too fast, and she felt a strong need to sort it all out with Maddie. If only they were back in the store kitchen, whipping up a batch of decorated cookies.… Well, why not? If there wasn’t time to make cookies, at least they’d have privacy. The fete was still winding down, but The Gingerbread House booth was down to crumbs. They would only disappoint customers if they kept the booth open.

“Maddie, have you seen Karen lately?”

“Haven’t seen her since you were out back of the booth, talking to Rosemarie. She snagged poor Del. Tell me you don’t actually want to talk to Karen.”

“Nope, I just wanted to confirm she isn’t around. I’d rather talk with you. Preferably in private and with food. We need to compare notes, and the park is too public.”

“Oh goodie,” Maddie said. “Do you have a suspect for Paine’s murder?”

“I have a brain crammed with bits of information that don’t fit together yet, and I want to sort them out. Let’s close up fast and head back to the store. We can hide out in my apartment and keep Spunky company while we brainstorm.”

“Excellent,” Maddie said. “I’ll take care of the food issue. Ida dropped by and said Pete overestimated the public’s craving for meatball sandwiches. I’ll zip over to the diner’s booth and pick up a couple sandwiches plus extras for you, so you can freeze the leftovers. It’ll be a nice change from pizza.”

“I like pizza.”

“Yes, we all get that, Livie. I’ll be right back.”

While Maddie procured dinner, Olivia packed up empty cake pans, plates, and cookie-cutter garlands. They’d taken in a tidy sum, mostly in cash, which Olivia counted quickly. By the time she had recorded the amount and stuffed it into a zipped cash pouch, Maddie returned with two grocery-size take-out bags with “Pete’s Diner” stenciled across them. “We won’t starve,” Maddie said, grinning. “Let’s blow this cookie stand before Karen makes another appearance.”

Heavily laden with bags, Olivia and Maddie skirted through the thinning crowd toward The Gingerbread House. Olivia felt a familiar lightening of her spirits as they neared the bright yellow Queen Anne. The house had wrapped its sticky fingers around her heart, and she could no longer imagine living anywhere else.

Olivia unlocked the store, and they headed to the kitchen, where they left their bags on the worktable. “We can clean up tomorrow morning, while the store is closed,”
Olivia said. “I want to take Spunky for a quick outing, then we can eat. We won’t go far; too many strangers wandering around.”

“Do you really have to go to that meeting at the community center this evening?”

“Yeah, I’ll go,” Olivia said, “but never again.” She opened her apartment door and caught Spunky as he burst through. Holding the squirming dog in a firm grip, she said, “You’re getting good at that, kiddo. Ouch.” A red stripe appeared on Olivia’s bare shoulder where Spunky’s flailing claw had scratched it. “I desperately want to change out of this getup. Costume, I mean.”

“Not allowed,” Maddie said. “I’ll show you why when you get back. I’ll be in the kitchen, working down the mess.”

After a short walk around the yard, Spunky was ready to go indoors. He wasn’t happy with the noise level in the park. Olivia held on to him as they joined Maddie in the store kitchen.

“Now there’s a sight for Binnie’s blog,” Olivia said when she caught sight of Maddie. “Serving wench loads dishwasher in The Gingerbread House kitchen. Inquiring minds want to know: does she do windows?”

“She does not,” Maddie said. “She does, however, bring gifts from Aunt Sadie.” Maddie reached into one of the bags she’d used to transport their costumes. She pulled out a folded white cloth, which she glanced at before tossing it back in the bag, shaking her head with impatience.

Olivia finished loading the dishwasher and added soap. As she pushed the start button, Maddie said, “And now, for your wearing pleasure…” She held an armful of fine white wool.

“What’s that?”

“This is why we can’t change out of our costumes yet,” Maddie said. “Aunt Sadie sent along a couple of embroidered shawls for us. She used to embroider shawls before she turned to aprons. These have been packed away for decades, but she hand washed them to get out the mothball smell. She wants us to keep them. I took the liberty of choosing mine first.” Maddie wrapped one shawl around Olivia’s shoulders and the other around her own.

“Nice and soft.” Handing Spunky over to Maddie, Olivia slipped off the shawl to get a look at the embroidered decoration on the back. “It looks like a bouquet of passion flowers in pinks and purples. It’s gorgeous. What’s yours?”

“Aunt Sadie picked out romantic themes for us.” Maddie turned her back to reveal two cardinals, a male and a female, touching beaks. “It’s called courtship feeding. The male hops over to his chosen female and places a seed in her beak. When I was about eleven, Aunt Sadie called me to the kitchen window so I could see the real thing. It looked just like a people kiss, which melted my little prepubescent heart. Aunt Sadie embroidered this for me and put it away until I got engaged. I guess she figures that promising to think about being engaged is close enough.”

Wearing their new shawls, they climbed the stairs to Olivia’s apartment. While Maddie warmed the meatball sandwiches and set the little kitchen table, Olivia fixed Spunky’s dinner. She was planning to head off her skittish Yorkie’s reaction to a second round of fireworks, coming up after the fete. She’d made a quick call to Chatterley Paws, the animal shelter and vet clinic run by Gwen and Herbie Tucker. Gwen was skipping the celebration to stay home with their baby boy, but Herbie had stopped by the store early that morning to drop off a small dose of doggie sedative for Spunky. Olivia mixed the liquid into Spunky’s
favorite canned food, hoping he wouldn’t notice. He licked the bowl clean, as usual.

H
aving feasted on meatball sandwiches and one glass of merlot each, Maddie and Olivia settled on the living room sofa to continue their discussion of murder suspects. Olivia said, “Okay, our suspects for Paine’s murder are Karen Evanson—”

“My personal favorite,” Maddie said.

“Duly noted.” Olivia consulted her handwritten list. “Along with Matthew Fabrizio, Rosemarie York, Quill Latimer, and Hermione Chatterley, even though Johns Hopkins insisted she couldn’t have moved Paine’s body into the bathtub.”

“Given Hermione’s serious heart attack,” Maddie said, “I guess we have to take Johns Hopkins seriously.”

“But Hermione might have had help.” Olivia ran her finger down the list. “Any of the other suspects could have dragged Paine and managed to maneuver him into the tub, even Rosemarie or Karen.”

“Especially Karen,” Maddie said, “since she works out and runs with your mom. I’m just saying.”

“Each of the suspects had a key to the mansion—or access to one, in Rosemarie’s case—and the murder happened overnight. Only Quill has an alibi for Thursday night. His friends confirmed he was inebriated at midnight, but he could have been faking.”

“So we’ll assume no alibis,” Maddie said. “They all have motives. Matthew’s motive is obvious. Paine tricked him into finishing the Victorian trim on the mansion in exchange for helping him prove he was a tried-and-true Chatterley descendant. Matthew finished the work—and
you have to admit, Matthew’s work is extraordinary—but Paine broke his promise.”

“Matthew is a hothead and drinks too much,” Olivia said. “Even Rosemarie and Heather admitted Matthew was enraged.”

Maddie took a sip of coffee and added more cream. “According to Hermione,” she said, “Matthew threatened her with a gun, which caused her to have a heart attack.”

“Allegedly,” Olivia said. “No one witnessed the encounter. Two spent bullets were found, but no gun. Although Matthew admits to getting drunk and going to the mansion to talk to Hermione. Which makes me wonder…this is pure speculation, but it strikes me that if Hermione has a partner in crime, it might be someone she doesn’t quite trust. Hermione might think it wise to throw suspicion onto someone else, someone like Matthew. He makes such a good suspect. No one would believe him if he tried to implicate Hermione.”

Maddie perked up. “But someone like Karen might be more dangerous if she decided to turn on Hermione.”

Olivia massaged Spunky’s ears as he snuggled next to her. “I keep wondering why Hermione drew attention to Karen’s behavior as a young woman in London.”

“Maybe Hermione and Karen actually became friends in London and hatched this scheme together?” Maddie twirled one of her many red curls as she considered the possibilities. “Except the story isn’t true. Her so-called affair was with a fictional character in a crappy play.”

“Right, and I find that interesting,” Olivia said. “Why bring it up at all?”

Maddie stretched out her legs and perched her bare heels on the edge of the coffee table. “Well, according to your mom, the affair happened here in Chatterley Heights and seems to have ended badly. Then Paine returned to Chatterley
Heights and refused to let Karen use the mansion for the celebration weekend. Karen already had reason to hate Paine, and she does not like to be crossed. So maybe Hermione approached her about doing away with the old reprobate.”

“Maybe…” As Olivia jotted down a few notes, Spunky crawled onto her lap and curled up. The doggy sedative must have kicked in because he was acting like a very relaxed pup. Possibly too relaxed, Olivia thought as she scratched his ears. Spunky didn’t open his eyes. “Karen and Hermione would be unlikely partners, but it’s not out of the question. Even if they didn’t like each other, they might have cooperated out of hatred for Paine. We do know that Karen did not become pregnant at sixteen, which lessens her motive.”

“That’s what your mom said, and I guess we should believe her,” Maddie said.

“Mom is a superbly reliable source. I don’t know how she learns so much.”

“People just open up to Ellie,” Maddie said. “I know I do. She has that empathetic and trustworthy thing going for her.”

“What, and I don’t?”

Maddie grabbed a small sofa pillow and held it across her midriff like a shield. “Livie, you have to admit there’s only one Ellie, but you’re no slouch. People tell you private stuff all the time. Why do you think you keep learning secrets that Del can’t drag out of suspects? They trust you. Although, given your track record solving mysteries, they probably shouldn’t trust you too much.… I’m digging myself in deeper, aren’t I?”

“Yep, but nice try.” Olivia yawned. “I’d slug you, but I don’t have the energy, and it might disturb Spunky.”

“Now see, that verged on empathetic. Could we go back to discussing Karen?”

Olivia pushed her hair back from her forehead. It felt
sticky from the hair spray Maddie had used to puff it out to a more wenchlike volume. The thought of another meeting led by Mayor Karen Evanson made Olivia long for a shower and bed. However…“We do need to consider the possibility that Hermione was not involved in her husband’s death. After all, did anyone know about her heart condition before the murder? Any of our other suspects might have assumed Hermione would become the obvious suspect in Paine’s death.”

“Like Karen, for instance,” Maddie said.

“Yes, okay, like Karen. Or Quill or Rosemarie or Matthew. Let’s move on to Quill Latimer. Rosemarie said he shouldered the blame for Paine’s cheating in high school. She thinks it was because Paine was getting him dates.”

“Flimsy,” Maddie said, “and very sad. Maybe Quill had some shameful secret that Paine used to blackmail him.”

“Good idea.” Olivia turned a page in her notebook. “I’m going to start a list of unanswered questions.” While Maddie carried the empty coffeepot and cups to the kitchen, Olivia brainstormed her list. “Here it is,” Olivia said when Maddie plopped back onto the sofa. “Can you think of anything else?”

Maddie scanned the list and said, “Hermione was stealing from other stores in town, so let’s assume for the moment that she stole baking supplies from the community center kitchen and used them to make decorated cookies. Why would she do so? I mean, if she wanted cookies, she could have bought them—excuse me, pilfered them—from The Gingerbread House. We put out a tray of free cookies every day. She wouldn’t even have to steal them.”

“Good point,” Olivia said. “I suppose a neighbor might have brought over some cookies to welcome the Chatterleys to the neighborhood, though I’ve yet to hear of anyone in town who isn’t furious with them for interfering with the celebration. From the picture Del sent us, with the remains of a
decorated cookie on a plate in Paine’s bedroom, it seems whoever made them isn’t skilled at cutting and decorating cookies. Why bother? Why not just bring something simpler?” She added Maddie’s question and reread the entire list.

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

• Why was Quill willing to take the blame for Paine’s cheating?
  
• Had Paine seen Rosemarie since his return and recognized her as the student teacher who accused him of cheating?
  
• Does Rosemarie believe in and hope to find the Chatterley cookie-cutter collection?
  
• Who has been vandalizing Chatterley Mansion and why? Why doesn’t Hermione seem to care? (Were Paine and/or Hermione looking for the Chatterley cookie-cutter collection? Was anyone else involved in the search—or perhaps searching on his or her own?)
  
• Why did Paine fake his own death? And why did the Chatterleys live in London under assumed names?
  
• Why did Hermione lie about Karen’s connection to Paine and her? Did Karen have an affair with Paine in England, too?
  
• Why did Hermione steal items from several Chatterley Heights businesses? Were she and Paine broke, or was there another reason?
  
• Did Hermione steal ingredients to make decorated cookies and, if so, why?
  

Olivia checked her watch. “We should leave soon. Let’s make a quick list of suspects and their motives for killing Paine, at least as far as we can determine. First, his wife, Hermione Chatterley. Wives always have to be considered, even when they have certifiable heart conditions.” She turned the page in her notebook and started a new list.