Chocolate Most Deadly (Sky High Pies Cozy Mysteries Book 2) (22 page)

CHAPTER
46

“Miss Jordan?” Caldwell said
calmly. “Can you do something for me?”

Lois tightened her grip on the
revolver.

“Can you put the gun on the floor
between your feet?”

She shook her head.

“My name’s Adam,” Caldwell said,
sliding the badge back onto his belt. “I’m a detective with the Denver Police
Department.”

Her chest began to rise and fall
rapidly. I’d seen it countless times before in Chicago; the accelerated
breathing, wild eyes and gradually dissolving denial of someone unexpectedly
ensnared.

“I don’t care who you are,” she
said defiantly. “Go away!”

Caldwell’s eyes were fixed on Lois,
unwavering and alert.

“I’m afraid that’s not going to
happen,” he said. “You need help, Lois. And I’m going to take you—”

She suddenly raised the gun and
waved it in the air.

“Go away!” she yelled. “I have to
figure this out by myself! It’s the way I’ve always done things!”

Caldwell’s eyes found mine and held
long enough for a gentle nod before returning to Lois. I slowly turned my head
just enough to see a group of uniformed officers in vests moving through the
shadows on the far side of the street.

“Listen,” Caldwell said. “I’m not
leaving. I want to help you.”

Her shoulders began to quiver as a
fresh wave of sobs filled the car.

“Please,” she said, gasping and
leaning forward in the seat. “Just leave me alone.”

“It’s too late for that,” said Caldwell.
“But we can work this out, Lois. Just put down the gun and let me see your
hands, okay?”

There was no response. She simply
held her position, the weapon gripped in her fingers as she continued crying.

“Lois?”

Her shoulders stiffened.

“I didn’t come alone,” Caldwell
said.

The sobs quieted into a subdued
whimper.

“There are several uniformed
officers here with me,” he continued. “They’re going to help get you to a safe
place, okay?”

She slowly turned toward me. “What
does he mean—a safe place?”

“Somewhere that you can get help,”
I answered.

Her mouth formed a perfect circle
as enormous tears streamed down her face. “I’m so tired,” she said. “I haven’t
slept since…” As she slumped forward, her head pressed against the dashboard
and the gun tumbled into the darkness between her feet. “I just want to go
home,” she sobbed. “I want to go home.”

I nodded at Caldwell and he opened
the door. Lois shuddered at the motion and reached for the revolver, but he’d
already scooped it up and out of the car. She struggled for a moment as he
circled her wrist with his hand, but then went limp against the back of the
seat.

“Let’s get out slowly,” Caldwell
said. “Turn and face me and then drop your feet onto the sidewalk.”

Before she followed his
instructions, she suddenly spun around and glared at me. “You can’t prove
anything,” she snapped. “Nobody can prove I did anything.”

I held up my phone as the uniformed
officers surrounded the car. “It’s all right here,” I said. “I recorded our
conversation.”

The news stopped her briefly before
she began struggling again. “No!” she shrieked. “You’re lying! I didn’t
do
anything!”

Caldwell stepped back and two
officers eased Lois out of her car and into a patrol cruiser. As they worked to
move her carefully, Caldwell checked the safety on the revolver, dropped it
into a plastic evidence bag and then deposited the weapon in the trunk of a
sedan parked across the street.

 “How did you know it was with
Lois?” I asked when he came over to where I was standing on the sidewalk.

“Wisdom and insight,” he said,
tapping his forehead.

“No, seriously. How’d you know?”

He repeated the tapping gesture.
“My little grey cells can pull off some pretty amazing things when they want to
dazzle the ladies.”

I didn’t crack a smile. And I
didn’t say a word. I kept my eyes fixed on his, lifting one eyebrow slightly.
We stared at each other for what seemed an eternity, before Caldwell cracked
under the pressure.

“Oh, give me a break, Kate!” he
groaned finally. “Hannah Zimmer told me that you left Roostercat with her
roommate. I’d gone there after Heidi told me where I could find her sister.”

“Great minds think alike,” I said.

His laugh was warm and genuine.
“Apparently. Although I’d be a complete tool if I didn’t confess that your call
earlier spurred me to stop by the coffee shop.”

“Just to see if I was okay?”

The chirp of his phone interrupted
the moment. He pulled it out, glanced at the screen and declined the call.

“Yeah,” he said. “I wanted to see
if you needed backup.”

“Okay, but how’d you know that we’d
be in her car?”

“I didn’t. But it was a lucky
guess, wasn’t it?”

“No doubt,” I said. “Lucky and very
much appreciated.”

“Did Hannah help with your lucky
guess?”

He smiled. “Hannah told me that she
and Lois came here together,” he explained. “I asked where the car was parked
when she told me about you leaving with her roommate.”

“So it was one part lucky guess,” I
said, smiling, “and one part witness cooperation?”

He ignored the remark and held out
his hand. “I’m going to need to copy the recording from your phone,” he said.
“If you really did get all of her confession.”

“I did, but that probably won’t be
admissible.”

He shrugged. “I was thinking it
would be handy for me to hear before she and I sit down to talk. I can make a
copy and get it right back to you.”

“Sounds good,” I said, giving him
the phone. “And lucky for you that
my
little grey cells remembered the
recording app that’s on there.”

He pocketed the phone and asked if
I wanted to drive myself to the station or go with him.

“I’ll ride with you,” I said. “All
of that left my nerves a little rattled.”

“I can’t blame you, Kate. You were
impressive in there, talking to Lois and keeping her calm.”

I shrugged. “I’ve had plenty of
practice,” I said. “Between my work in Chicago and dealing with grouchy
customers at Sky High Pies, I can usually get somebody to relax enough so they
can tell me what’s really going on.”

He smiled. “Oh, yeah? What’s your
theory about Lois Jordan?”

“First impression?”

He nodded.

“Well, I’d say she was jealous of
the Zimmer twins,” I said. “And Delilah Benson.”

“Because of Tim England?”

It was my turn to smile. “He’s a
handsome guy,” I answered. “He’s in an up-and-coming band. Lots of women want a
piece of him. And even though it’d be easy to sample what’s been served up,
he’s got an old-fashioned heart. He’s loyal to Delilah—for better or worse, for
richer or poorer, through whatever comes along. From what I can tell, they’re
both really dedicated to building a life together.”

I followed him over to his sedan
and climbed into the passenger seat as he held the door.

“Thank you, detective,” I said
after he slid behind the wheel. “It’s refreshing to see that chivalry is not
dead.”

He laughed. “It may be on life
support in certain circles,” Caldwell said, “but here in my neck of the woods,
it is very much alive and well.”

CHAPTER
47

I was wide awake and staring at the
ceiling when the alarm went off the next morning. After listening to Adam
Caldwell interrogate Lois Jordan for two hours at the police station the night
before, I’d decided it was time to hit the road and drive home. It had been an
especially hectic few days—juggling my Sky High responsibilities with repeated
trips between Crescent Creek and Denver—so I figured that getting some sleep
was more important than listening to Lois profess her innocence and undying
devotion for my neighbor’s brother. I slept fitfully, dreaming about giant
Rowntree’s Jelly Tots chasing me through smoky meeting rooms at York Street
Club, which explained why my eyes were glued to the ceiling when the alarm
chirped.

I rolled over in bed and glared at
the clock. “How can it be four-thirty already?” I moaned. “It feels like I just
got into bed.”

When my question went unanswered
and my mind began to tick down the list of things I needed to do that day, I
reluctantly tossed back the covers, rolled to a sitting position and dropped my
legs over the edge of the mattress.

“Maybe just a few more minutes?” I
fell back onto the bed. “Pretty please?”

My voice echoed through the
apartment until it was swallowed by the silence. After a few more minutes, I
forced myself to get up. Since it wasn’t Sunday, the only day Sky High Pies was
closed, I needed to get myself motivated with a shower and quick cup of coffee.

When I rolled into the kitchen
downstairs thirty minutes later, Julia was perched on a stool sorting through
index cards from Nana Reed’s recipe box.

“Morning, Katie!”

I smiled at her. “How are you,
Jules?”

“Peachy,” she replied brightly.
“How about you?”

“I’ll go with semi-peachy. I’m a
little tired after another late night, but I’ll catch up on my sleep when I’m
Blanche Speltzer’s age.”

“She’s eighty,” Julia said. “And
you’re, like, uh…”

“I know, I know. I’ve got fifty
more years until I can have a good night’s rest, but that’s okay. There’s
plenty to do in the meantime.”

She glanced at the prep list on the
whiteboard above the counter. “More than plenty,” she reported. “And speaking
of Blanche, there’s a voicemail message requesting two platters of
chocolate-dipped strawberry cupcakes for some little shindig at her house
tonight.”

I smacked my forehead with the palm
of one hand. “I almost forgot! I was invited to that shindig.”

Julia smiled. “That’s nice. I don’t
think I’ve heard you mention going to Blanche’s for one of her parties before.”

“Because this will be my first
time.”

Her eyes brightened. “Well, bless
my stars,” she said in a quivering voice. “I didn’t realize I worked for one of
Crescent Creek’s crème de la crème!”

She did her best to keep from
giggling, but her joyous laughter quickly filled the room. I leered at her for
a brief moment before joining in.

“You know something, Jules?” I
asked as the boisterous snickering faded away.

“What’s that?”

I walked to the coffee maker and
filled a cup for myself before topping off Julia’s mug.

“I am so lucky that you’re here!”

Her cheeks turned pink. “Little ol’
me?”

“Yes, little ol’ you. I remember
when you first started working here with my parents. My mother would go on and
on and on about how amazing you are, how clever and creative and dedicated
you—”

“Let me guess,” Julia said. “You
didn’t believe her.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, I believed
her. The last time my mother told a fib was never! That woman was born honest
and plans to die that way.”

Julia grinned. “You’ve got that
right. When my kids were toddlers, I used to bring them in so your mom could
give them the Little White Lie Lecture.”

I stopped smiling. “The
what
lecture?”

She repeated the name and went on
to tell me that my mother had taken a throwaway incident from my childhood and
turned into a fable that she shared with every child she met.

“What kind of fable?” I asked
suspiciously. “Did she make me the villain?”

A glimmer of mischief danced in
Julia’s eyes. “Maybe just a little,” she said. “The story was about the time
you tried to bake a cake for your parents’ wedding anniversary and nearly
burned down Sky High Pies.”

“I was nine,” I sputtered. “It was
an accident.”

“And you blamed it on your brother,”
Julia said. “You told your parents that Brody left the cake to burn instead of
the other way around.”

“Because he volunteered to help,” I
explained. “I asked him to turn on the oven to three-fifty. But he was mad at
me for some trivial thing, so he put it on five-hundred degrees.”

Julia sipped her coffee and nodded.
“Right,” she said. “Then you and Olivia got caught up in an argument about a
boy from school. The cake burned, the kitchen filled with smoke and Viveca’s
uncle called the fire department because he thought Sky High was going up in
flames.”

I smiled. “I violated one of Nana
Reed’s cardinal rules of baking,” I said. “Check the oven temperature before
anything goes inside.”

We shared another laugh about the
long ago little white lie. Then we got busy with preparations for the day.
Julia made two large trays of Buttery Pecan Brownie Bites for a special order.
I tackled the Cherry Berry Chocolate Scones—adding blueberries to my
grandmother’s original recipe—and two batches of Pistachio Peppermint Mounds.
Harper arrived at six to put the finishing touches on the dining room before we
opened at seven.

“It’s going to be a
really
wonderful day,” she announced confidently.

I looked up from my last batch of
cookie dough. “How can you tell?”

She smiled. “Because it begins with
your attitude,” she explained. “And I’ve got mine set on
Happy Happy Joy Joy
!”

Julia grumbled briefly before
recovering. “Me, too,” she said. “And when I get home I’m switching it to
Happy
Happy Mojito Mojito
!”

The morning passed quickly in a
whirl of breakfast customers, carryout telephone orders and deliveries from two
of our regular suppliers. By noon, my lower back was howling and the prep list
on the wall had been finished.

“What’s next?” Julia asked.

“Why don’t you take a break?” I
suggested. “I can clean the kitchen today.”

She tried to argue for a few
minutes before I sent her out to the front porch with a fresh cup of coffee and
a warm slice of apple strudel. As I organized the pots and pans in the sink,
there was a knock on the door and Viveca came in with Tim and Delilah.

“Hi, Kate,” she said cheerfully.
“Hope we’re not interrupting anything mission critical!”

I gestured at the sink. “Just a
dozen dirty pans,” I said. “Which I will be happy to put on hold for a few
minutes.”

Tim and Delilah gazed around the
kitchen. It was their first time peeking behind the curtain at Sky High Pies.

“This is impressive,” he said,
admiring the stainless steel gas range with eight burners. “I could whip up a
mean omelet on this baby!”

I pointed at the walk-in cooler.
“Eggs are in there,” I offered. “Omelet pans are overhead.”

He glanced at the pot rack hanging
above the center island. “Maybe next time,” he said. “My sister made us a huge
breakfast of French toast and scrambled eggs and bacon.”

“It was enough to feed an army,”
Delilah said. “Most of which Tim inhaled without a breath.”

He shrugged. “What can I say? I’m a
growing boy.”

“Growing more obnoxious every
second,” Viveca joked, giving her brother a playful pinch on his chin. “But that’s
fine with me. I’m just grateful that you’re both safe and everything’s been
resolved down in Denver.” She crossed the room and gave me a big hug. “Thanks
for leaving that message last night to let us know, Kate. I crashed early and
didn’t even hear the phone ring.”

“That’s okay,” I said. “It was
late. I called as I left Denver so you’d at least know that Lois Jordan and
Jake Breen had both been arrested.”

Delilah beamed at Tim. “We can go
home now!”

“I don’t know about that.” Tim
winked at his sister. “I’m thinkin’ we should stick around. I had no idea my
sister could put on such an amazing breakfast spread.”

Viveca smiled proudly. “Wait until
you see what I’ve got planned for lunch.”

“You’re all more than welcome to
eat here,” I said. “On the house and as much as you’d like!”

“Thanks, but no,” Viveca said.
“You’ve already done way too much for us this week, Kate. I don’t know how we
can ever repay your kindness.”

I shook my head. “You don’t owe me
a thing. It was good to unravel the puzzle. Kind of took me back to the good
old days in Chicago.”

“Do you miss being a PI?” Tim
asked.

“I still get plenty of opportunity
to solve mysteries,” I said, tapping my grandmother’s recipe box. “But they’re more
of the culinary and penmanship variety now instead of actual crimes.”