The Sweet Dreams Bake Shop (A Sweet Cove Mystery Book 1) (3 page)

“Is it true about the professor?”

“Has she passed away?”

“Was it foul play?”

“The coroner was called?”

“What happened to her?”

Angie wished she could have just gone home to her apartment instead of having to come back to the shop. The barrage of questions unsettled her and intensified the feelings of sadness and shock that she was feeling. She stood in the doorway, her eyes wide. Worry lines creased her forehead.

Courtney was standing behind the serving counter with a coffee pot in her hand. Lisa’s arms were crossed over her chest with her hands clutching her forearms. Both of the women’s faces were pinched with concern. Lisa looked like she was trembling.

Angie told Courtney, Lisa, and the customers what had happened, which set off another round of questions and discussion. Angie said that she didn’t have any more information and the cause of death was unknown which is why the coroner was involved.

Courtney could see the strain on Angie’s face and she hurried to her side. She slipped her arm around Angie’s waist and ushered her to a table in the corner.

“Thanks for the rescue,” Angie murmured to her sister.

“Sit down for a while. I’ll get you some tea.” Courtney hurried to the counter to prepare a hot beverage.

The customers realized that their peppering of questions had flustered Angie and had increased her distress. They turned to each other to continue their speculations about the professor’s unexpected passing.

Courtney returned to the table with a cup of tea for Angie and sat down in the seat opposite her older sister. “Do the police suspect foul play?” Courtney kept her voice low.

“I don’t know.” Angie’s fingers shook as she reached for the cup and lifted it to her lips. She sipped the tea. “It wasn’t so much what the chief said to me that worried me. It was more the expression on his face and what he didn’t say. He seemed very concerned. It made me think something was wrong.” Angie rubbed her temples. “We’ll just have to see what comes out. Hopefully, the professor died from nothing more than natural causes, which is upsetting enough.”

“I can’t believe she’s gone.” Courtney looked out the window. “I can’t believe she won’t be coming through that door tomorrow morning.” Her eyes misted over.

Angie reached for Courtney’s hand.

The rest of the day passed quietly as the women tended customers, cleaned the shop, and made preparations for the following morning’s opening. At three o’clock, they locked up the cafe and Angie and Courtney walked along Main Street towards Angie’s apartment. Angie’s shoulders and neck muscles were tight and sore and her whole body felt sluggish and fatigued.

Courtney wanted to make her sister feel better. “Listen, why don’t we go for a bike ride? The day is still warm. The exercise would do us good. It might help lift our spirits.”

Angie put her arm over Courtney’s shoulders. “I haven’t biked for months. It’s a great idea. Let’s do it. That is, if you’re not afraid of pulling the bikes out of the creepy basement.”

“Hmm. Why don’t you get the bikes out of storage, and I’ll pack snacks and water for us.” Courtney smiled.

Angie grinned. “I’m not surprised by that suggestion knowing how fond you are of cobwebs and bugs.”

When they reached Angie’s apartment house, they climbed the stairs to the second floor one bedroom place. It was a small, but cozy space with a living room, bedroom with two single beds, small bathroom, and a galley kitchen. It had three big windows in the living room which allowed maximum natural light to flood the room. There was a non-working fireplace on one wall and Angie had hung a large photograph of her and her three sisters above the mantel.

The picture showed the four girls at the Sweet Cove beach and there was no denying that they were siblings, each one with bright blue eyes and hair in varying shades from pale blonde to light brown. On the day the photograph was taken, they had just finished playing a game of Frisbee when their mother snapped the picture catching their high energy and cheerful spirits.

Jenna was Angie’s fraternal twin, born three minutes after Angie, and even though a resemblance was strong, no one ever believed that they were twins. Angie’s honey blonde hair had a slight wave to it and Jenna’s light brown hair was as straight as a stick. Angie stood five feet six inches but Jenna was three inches taller.

Ellie was three years younger than the twins and was nearly as tall as Jenna. Her height and light blonde hair gave her a Scandinavian appearance. Courtney was the youngest, born three years after Ellie. Her height and hair color was closer to Angie’s, but Courtney’s hair was as straight as Jenna’s.

The girls and their mother had spent many happy summers at Sweet Cove staying at their grandmother’s small cottage out on Robin’s Point. It was a tight squeeze fitting all of them into the tiny house, but Angie couldn’t remember happier times than when they were all together there. When Angie was twelve, her grandmother passed away and the cottage was sold. After that, the girls and their mother only came to Sweet Cove for day trips or an occasional weekend.

Angie dropped her canvas bag on the floor next to the sofa and kicked off her shoes.

“Let’s change fast.” Courtney tossed her sweater on the chair. “Then we can get in at least an hour of biking before dusk.”

Angie’s heart ached with the sadness of Professor Linden’s passing and she just wanted to crawl into bed and take a nap, but she took a deep breath and went to the bedroom to put on her exercise clothes.

The sky was streaked with pinks and violet when the girls returned from their ride as the sun was sinking behind the treetops. Exercising outdoors was just what Angie needed and she felt much less stressed when returning the bikes to the storage area in the basement. She decided she would go to check on Euclid after showering and eating some dinner.

Angie chopped tomatoes, onions, and peppers and heated them in a frying pan while Courtney made garlic bread and warmed up tomato soup. Angie cracked eggs into a bowl with a bit of salt and beat them with a whisk for a few seconds. She poured them into the pan and swirled them with the veggies. When the omelets had firmed up, Angie sprinkled them with cheese and removed the pan from the burner. The girls took their plates of food and bowls of soup and curled up on the sofa to eat their dinner and talk.

“I need to go take care of Euclid,” Angie said after devouring the food.

“Do you want me to come?” Courtney wiped some soup from her chin.

“No, I’ll go over myself. You concentrate on your schoolwork. I know you have that paper to write.” Angie stood and started to gather up the dishes but Courtney waved her off.

“Go on. Go see the cat. I’ll handle clean-up. I’ll go with you in the morning to see him on our way to the bake shop.” Angie gave her sister a hug, grabbed a sweater, and headed off to see Euclid.

Approaching Beach Street, a sinking feeling of sadness pulled at Angie’s stomach and she slowed her pace. The image of the professor lying on the brick walkway at the foot of her home’s front steps flashed in Angie’s mind. She tried to shake the mental picture from her brain. Streetlights illuminated the darkening sidewalks and the warmth of the day had dissipated leaving a chill in the evening air.

The Victorian was shrouded in darkness. Climbing the front stairs to the wraparound porch, Angie pulled the key from her pocket. Low-level anxiety pricked at her as she inserted the key into the lock and she hoped there wasn’t a security alarm system that no one told her about. That’s all she would need, a screeching alarm going off while Euclid careened through the house as Angie desperately looked for how to turn it off.

Opening the door, she braced herself and then let out a sigh of relief when the house remained silent. Her hand fumbled along the wall trying to find the light switch, and touching it, she flicked it on and lit up the foyer. The beauty of the space calmed her and her muscles relaxed. She hadn’t realized how wound up she was until the tension in her body eased a little.

“Euclid?” Angie glanced into the dining room for the cat. She turned to the left of the entrance and headed for the living room. She turned on one of the lamps that stood on a side table and the light cast a warm glow over the room.

“Here, kitty. Euclid?” The room was empty of any feline presence.
I hope I don’t have to search eighteen rooms looking for him.

Angie decided to head for the kitchen. She walked through the foyer, and turned down the hall that led to the back of the house. She couldn’t find a light switch so she placed her palm on the wall and felt her way along into the kitchen. The room was black except for a tiny bit of starlight coming through the window.
Where’s the darn switch?
She decided that she would bring a flashlight next time she came to the house at night.

A crash from the second floor rocked the quiet and Angie jumped. Her heart started to race and a flash of anxiety shot down her spine, but then she realized what must have caused the noise.
The cat must have knocked something over upstairs.
There was a second staircase in the kitchen and Angie thought there must be a light switch at the bottom of the steps so she edged through the dark kitchen to find it. Passing the kitchen table, two green glowing eyes stared at her. Angie yelped in surprise. She put her hand to her face and chuckled.

“Euclid. You need to stop scaring me.” She shook her head at how jumpy she was. She started to reach out to scratch Euclid’s cheek when the thump of hurried footsteps from the front staircase caused Angie to freeze in place.
Someone is
in the house!
Euclid turned towards the noise, arched his back, and hissed low in his throat. Panic flooded Angie’s veins, fear practically choked her. She held her breath and listened trying to hear which way the footsteps were headed. The foyer wood floor creaked. The front door opened and shut. A rush of air escaped from Angie’s lungs.
Who had been in the house?

The back door opened behind her with a creak. A scream escaped from Angie’s throat.

A figure stepped into the kitchen through the back door. The person let out a piercing scream in concert with Angie’s shriek. The open door let a stream of moonlight into the dark kitchen and recognition stopped Angie’s panic.

Gasping, she said, “Courtney. I didn’t know it was you. I didn’t know who was coming through the door.”

“You scared the heck out of me,” Courtney said, her breathing quick and shallow. She had her hand pressed against her chest over her heart. “Why are you standing in the dark screaming?”

“I couldn’t find the light.” Angie wheezed.

Courtney felt along the wall, found the switch plate and turned on the lights.

Angie let out a long breath and plopped onto one of the kitchen chairs, rubbing her forehead.

“What’s wrong with you? You’re screaming because you can’t find the light switch?” Courtney stood in front of her sister trying to understand what was going on.

Angie stood up abruptly. “Someone was in the house. Upstairs. I was in here and I heard a crash, then someone’s footsteps on the front staircase. Whoever it was, he left through the front door. I was terrified. Then you came in through the back and scared me to death.”

Courtney stepped closer to her sister, her eyes wide. “Who was it? Who could it have been? He must have heard you in here and took off.” She took hold of Angie’s arm. “Come on.” She tugged Angie towards the hallway. “Let’s go upstairs and see what he was doing up there.”

Angie hesitated. “I don’t know. We need to go and lock the front door. Oh, wait. Lock the back door first.”

Courtney’s blue eyes were blazing with anger over the intruder. She asked Angie, “Where’s your phone? Call the police. Report it. No one is supposed to be in this house.”

Angie reached for her phone and made the call to the police while her sister locked the back door.

“Where’s Euclid?” Angie looked around the kitchen. “He was right here. He heard the person, too. He was hissing.”

“Let’s see if he’s in the dining room.” Courtney led the way through the hall and back into the foyer. They locked the front door and then searched the two front rooms without locating the cat. A meow from upstairs brought the young women to the bottom of the staircase. Euclid was looking down at them from the second floor landing.

“Come on. Let’s go see.” Angie and Courtney climbed to the second floor.

When they reached the top, Angie pointed and said, “Look over there.” A door was open to one of the rooms off the landing that the professor had obviously used as an office. A roll top desk’s drawers were open. Several mahogany file cabinets lined one wall and the drawers were pulled open, the contents hanging in disheveled disarray. Some manila folders and papers were strewn across the floor.

Euclid was standing in the doorway peering into the room.

“Who would do this? What were they looking for?” Angie’s brow furrowed as her eyes swept over the room.

The doorbell chimed.

“The police.” Courtney started down the stairs. “I’ll let them in and bring them up.”

Chief Martin and Officer Talbot entered the mansion. Angie called out a greeting to them from the landing and they climbed the steps to the second floor. Angie explained what had happened and pointed to the study. The police stepped into the room. They took some photographs. Angie and Courtney stood at the edge of the den watching the police investigate.

"Doesn’t look like any damage, but it will be nearly impossible to tell if anything’s missing since the only person who could tell us has passed away.” The chief shook his head. “I’ll get a locksmith out here in the morning. It can’t hurt to change the locks. Get something more secure on the doors. And, the windows.”

“Did you speak to the lawyer? Are there any relatives?” Angie asked.

“I left him a message. I haven’t heard back. I’ll pay him a visit tomorrow morning.” The police officers finished up taking the photos and then they all returned to the foyer. “We’ll head outside now to look around.” The chief flicked on a heavy, black flashlight.