Apple Assassination Page 2

  But I had a little time to dwell on the matter. I didn’t want to go rushing in, destroying a perfectly good potential business partnership.

  “I don’t know, Pippa,” I said, hesitating. “I’m not sure it’s such a good idea to just barge in like this and accuse him of stealing from you. Blake might not even know what’s going on.”

  But a lack of sleep hadn’t put Pippa in a very forgiving mood, which I thought was her plan all along. Now, however, I was the one on the receiving end of her rage. “You only want to believe that Blake is innocent because you want to go into business with him.”

  What?

  I was stunned. That was the last thing I’d expected Pippa to say.

  I stared at her with my mouth hanging open. How did Pippa know about that? I’d been keeping my plans to join forces with Blake—and Dough Planet—a secret from her. Partly because I hadn’t made up my mind yet. And partly because I knew she would be furious.

  “How did— How did you know about that?” Maybe the sugar from Sue’s cereal had finally kicked in, but I was suddenly fully lucid and wide awake.

  Pippa shook her head and sighed. “I overhead you speaking to him on the phone a few weeks ago, when I was feeding Lolly in the back office. I think you’d thought I’d gone home. Or you’d just forgotten I was there. You were talking about a merger. Telling him that our kitchen might need to be expanded a little, but that it could work.”

  I groaned a little. “Pippa. I’m sorry. Please, let me explain…”

  She dropped her head and stared at her hands. “I just wish you’d told me about it,” she said quietly. I couldn’t tell if she was just tired, angry, or disappointed. Suddenly, I was more than happy for her to turn her rage in the direction of Blake again.

  It was time to go inside.

  “Pippa, nothing is decided yet. Trust me.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “Are you kidding me? Nothing is decided yet? Really?” She pointed to the front of Dough Planet where Blake was standing behind the espresso machine. “Even after you know that Blake and his employees are stealing from me? That doesn’t sway your mind one way or another?” She climbed out of the car and slammed the door so hard that I jumped. Ugh. My head.

  I hurried after her, trying to catch her before she ran through the doors of Dough Planet and ripped Blake’s head off.

  Pippa didn’t bother with any niceties or ‘good morning.’

  “Just what do you think you’re doing?” she demanded.

  Blake paused and stared at her, blinking a few times. He looked bemused. Poor guy. He had no idea of the storm about to hit him in the face. “Um, filling this grinder up with coffee beans?” He stopped and stared at me falling through the doors. “Good morning to you too. You do know that we’re not officially open for another ten minutes, right?” He emptied the rest of the beans into the grinder. “Although I can make you a coffee as soon as the machine heats up. Shouldn’t take more than a few minutes…” He grinned, still not knowing that anything was wrong.

  I wondered whether giving Pippa caffeine was a good idea or not. On the one hand, it might make her less tired. On the other hand, it might just feed her anger with more energy.

  I could really go for one, though. I was so desperate to order a latte that I wanted to climb over the counter and just make myself one.

  “One of your employees has been stealing from me,” Pippa said, stepping up so that she was pressed against the counter. She was so angry she could barely get the words out and the sound of the coffee bean grinder drowned out the few words that she was able to speak through her rage.

  “What are you talking about?” Blake asked. He leaned forward on the counter and shook his head, looking at her like she was crazy.

  Pippa stood up firmly. “My apples,” she said. “He’s been stealing my apples.”

  “Who has?” Blake asked with a laugh.

  “I-I don’t know exactly,” Pippa said. I was starting to salivate at the scent of the ground coffee beans. “He has a shaved head. Mid-height and weight,” she said, as though she was giving a description to the police. “Although he is quite muscular. Mid-twenties. We caught him red-handed, and followed him here last night.”

  The confusion drained from Blake’s face. It was suddenly replaced with worry. “Are you talking about Alex?” he asked quietly.

  Pippa threw her hands in the air. “I don’t know. Who is Alex?”

  Blake turned his attention away from Pippa for a moment and stared at me. “One of my dessert chefs,” he said to me. “Rachael, is any of this true?”

  I understood that I seemed like the more rational of the two of us in that moment and that was why Blake addressed me, but it only made Pippa more furious. “Of course it is true!” she shouted. “I’m not insane!”

  But Blake kept staring at me. There was a pleading look hidden there, as though I might be able to utter the magic words that would clear this all up and render Pippa’s rant meaningless. I shrugged a little. “I’m afraid we did see a man matching that description stealing apples from Pippa’s farm last night. And we did follow him back here, Blake.”

  Blake had totally abandoned his bag of coffee beans. They were spilling out onto the counter while a line of people had started to form at the door.

  I heard Pippa gasp.

  “What the heck is this?” Pippa cried as she banged against the glass. I jumped, worried she was about to smash the display case that she was banging her fist against.

  I raced over to see what she was yelling at.

  Apple pie. Advertised, on the little piece of cardboard that sat in front of it, as being made from the best, freshest, most organic apples in Belldale.

  “You made these from my apples!” Pippa said, grabbing at the individually made mini-pies. I had to grab them from her and place them back into the fridge before she destroyed them all.

  Blake looked at me and shook his head. “Rachael. Please. I had no idea.”

  Blake walked over to the door and locked it so that none of his hungry and thirsty customers could come in. They stood there, blurry-eyed and banging on the door like zombies. But the real threat was on the inside. Pippa, red-eyed and furious. Blake held his hands up. “I’m sorry, okay? I had no idea what Alex was up to.”

  “I am going to need every last apple back,” Pippa said firmly. She was already storming to the back to the kitchen. I ran after her and stopped her. At least she didn’t have a weapon this time, but there’d be knives in the kitchen.

  Blake followed us and stepped in front of the door to the kitchen. “That is going to be a little difficult,” he said. “Considering that they have already been baked into pies.”

  Pippa was furious. “Well! Un-bake them!” she shouted.

  That settled it. She had gone over the edge.

  “Look, there is a shortage of organic apples in Belldale,” Blake explained, trying to keep her calm. “I usually send Alex down to the farmer’s market to get them when our suppliers are running low.”

  Pippa scoffed and shot me a look. “Of course. That is how he found out about me. He must have followed me home one Saturday afternoon.”

  Blake was doing his best to keep his voice calm. “Look. We promise all our customers that every product baked in-store is made of entirely organic ingredients,” Blake said. “We don’t like to compromise.”

  “That is not my problem,” Pippa said, pulling her phone out of her pocket. She began to dial.

  “Uh, what are you doing?” I asked her.

  “Calling the police.” She already had the phone pressed against her ear. “Hello?” she said. “Yes, I would like to report a serious case of theft. I am standing at D—”

  I pulled the phone away from her ear and ended the call. “Pippa. Come on,” I whispered, realizing that customers were staring at us through the large window. It was 7:00 am and there was a queue of red-eyed monsters desperate for caffeine. “We can sort this out without the police getting involved, surely. It’s just a f
ew apples.” I even managed to laugh. This had all gotten out of hand. We needed to settle down. We needed sleep.

  Pippa clawed at me, trying to get the phone back. “Pippa. They are just apples. No one has died.”

  She put her hands down and pouted. “It feels like it.”

  Blake sighed and unlocked the door. The zombies stumbled inside and lunged toward the coffee machine.

  The first order was for a double espresso and a serving of apple pie.

  “Oh, this is just fantastic!” Pippa cried. I had to actually hold her back as she tried to grab the pie from Blake’s hands before he served it.

  “Pippa, please. You are making a scene.”

  Blake quickly placed the small, individual pie into a paper bag and handed it to the customer before Pippa could try any more of her stunts. Then he offered her a compromise.

  “I will pass on all profits from the apple pies to you guys, okay? And I’ll pay for all the apples that were stolen.”

  I nodded. “That seems fair, doesn’t it, Pippa?” I asked, looking at her. “Can we agree to put this to rest?”

  “I’m sorry,” Blake said again.

  I was sorry too. I’d truly thought he was someone I could trust. I’d actually thought that going into business with him would be the best idea for everyone. Now I wasn’t sure of anything. Sure, he was willing to pay, but what would have happened if we’d never followed Alex the night before? The only thing I was sure of was that I wanted to get away from Dough Planet and not return for a very long time.

  I dusted off my hands as I stepped through the door of my own place, Rachael’s Boutique Bakery. “Well, that’s another mystery solved,” I said, smiling at Pippa. “Don’t you feel better now?”

  “Not really…” she grumbled as she found a table and sat down.

  I did, though. Mystery solved, and nobody hurt. My business deal might have fallen through, but I was still willing to chalk it up as a win overall.

  “Oh, this is just great,” I said to Pippa as I sat down across from her and asked Simona to bring me a latte.

  “What is it?” Pippa asked.

  “It’s Blake calling,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Calling to apologize for the hundredth time, I’m sure.” I didn’t pick up the phone, just placed it face down on the table. It didn’t really matter what he had to say to me right then. I needed some space and some time to calm down.

  But when I checked my phone again five minutes later, I had another five missed calls from Blake. This seemed like more than just a desperate attempt to apologize. This seemed like something was seriously wrong.

  Still, I didn’t return the call. I just stared at the phone for a few moments.

  Finally, there was a text from him. It flashed up on the screen.

  “Please, Rachael. Call me back. One of my customers has died.”

  “And what do the police think happened?” I asked, glancing around the empty bakery, which would have been filled at that time of day under normal circumstances. But they had all been cleared out. There were still five apple pies, sitting in the display case, unsold and untouched.

  “They’ve shut down the shop until they can be sure,” Blake said, biting his lip.

  Pippa was standing in the corner of Dough Planet. She didn’t look like she had too much sympathy for Blake in that moment. More like she thought Blake had gotten what he’d deserved. Sure, maybe there were such things as karma, but no one deserved to die over a few stolen apples.

  “I have to get going,” she announced loudly. “Marcello is starting work in half an hour so I need to be home with Lolly.”

  I watched her leave. She didn’t even say good-bye to me, let alone Blake.

  “She’s never going to forgive me over the apple thing, is she?” Blake asked.

  “Blake, I think you have bigger things to worry about right now,” I said to him. “Like your dead customer. Where did it happen?” I glanced around, wondering if I was standing in the exact spot where the woman had taken her last breath.

  But he was pacing, avoiding answering the question.

  “Across the other side of town,” he finally answered.

  Huh?

  “I thought you said one of your customers died?” I asked him. Now I was the one confused.

  “She did. She was one of my customers. She came in every day,” Blake murmured.

  “But she didn’t actually die here, at Dough Planet?” I shook my head. I didn’t get it. Why had Blake called me to come over if this woman had died somewhere else entirely?

  We both jumped when a young woman with a long blonde ponytail knocked on the door. “Hey!” she called out through the glass. “Can I get an espresso?”

  Blake stomped over and pulled the blinds down.

  He turned back to me.

  “Rachael, the police think I had something to do with the murder.”

  “And why do they think that?” I had to ask. I narrowed my eyes. Blake was still hiding something. He hadn’t told me everything.

  “Because she ate an item from here, right before she died,” Blake said. “And you’re not going to like it when I tell you which one.” He gulped. “Or, maybe you are.”

  “What item?” I asked slowly.

  Blake gulped. “The apple pie.”

  Chapter 3

  A week before, Blake had paid me a visit at my bakery. I’d shown him the kitchen, and we’d made plans to expand it, if our plan to combine our resources went ahead. He’d gone through all my pantries and pulled out anything non-organic and told me it would all have to go before he moved in.

  The plan had been simple. Blake would slowly start to slow down production at his small hole in the wall shop, letting customers know that he was moving a block east and giving them my business card so that they could come pay a visit and get used to the place. Then, after a few weeks, he would join us over at Rachael’s Boutique Bakery, bringing all his staff with him. I had joked that it would be a little like the Brady Bunch, joining our two families together. The Bakery Bunch. Blake had two employees and I had three, so it was close enough.

  But now everything had changed. There would be no Bakery Bunch.

  “I know you can help, Rachael. Come on, you do this sort of thing all the time.” He kept his voice low, but I still felt like he was talking too loudly. Just because I’d solved murders before did not mean I had any obligation to help Blake. Not after what Alex had done.

  “No way,” I said, taking a step back. “I can’t get involved with this.” I backed away even further. “I’m sorry. I should never have come over here. I didn’t mean to give you the wrong impression.”

  “Is this about the apples?” Blake asked, sounding exasperated.

  “Well…” Yes, it was about the apples, but I was just aware of how silly that sounded right then. But how could I trust Blake? And what kind of responsibility could I possibly have to help Blake after what he and his employee had done to my best friend? Pippa had already made her thoughts on the matter clear. Her absence was testament enough to how she felt. If I helped Blake—and by extension, Alex—she would never forgive me.

  “Please, Rachael. This would be the end for me if people think that I killed Valerie.”

  So that was the name of the woman who had died, after eating the poisoned apple pie. I stared at them and shook my head. If they had just stayed on Pippa’s trees where they belonged, none of this would be happening.

  Still, even after everything that had happened, I didn’t necessarily want to see Blake ruined and filing for bankruptcy. I shifted uncomfortably.

  I think he could sense my weakness. He knew how close I was to cracking. He came around the other side of the counter and gave me a sad, pouty look that he probably used on most women to great effect. Blake was a very attractive guy. He was the sort of guy who was used to things going his way, and to getting people to do what he wanted.

  But those puppy dog eyes weren’t going to work on me.

  But pleading might.


  “You know how hard it is to run a small bakery. Please, a serious charge like this…I would never bounce back from it.”

  Of course he wouldn’t. No one wanted to eat at a place with poisonous food.

  “I will think about it,” I said. I saw Blake’s eyes light up and worried I had given him too much hope. “I said ‘think about it’,” I said, walking out. “I’m not promising anything, Blake.”

  I was so lost in my thoughts as I walked back to the car that I didn’t even notice that I had a surprise visitor waiting for me.

  A visitor with blue and purple bubblegum hair.

  I stopped, shocked to see Pippa waiting for me by the car. “I thought you said you had to go look after Lolly?” I asked, concerned that she had lied to me.

  “That was just an excuse to get out of there,” Pippa said, shooting a little glare toward Dough Planet. “Being there, hearing Blake’s sad story. It was starting to make my blood boil. We’re not actually going to help this guy, are we?” she asked in disbelief.

  I gulped. This was going to take some rather delicate explaining.

  I kinda felt sorry for Blake. And I knew what position he was in. We had the same job. If one of my customers had died after eating one of my food items, I would do everything I could to make sure that none of my employees were implicated. In fact, I had been forced to do exactly that in the past.

  “I was just thinking that we could do a little digging,” I said as I climbed into the car.

  “Digging? What does that mean?”

  “You know—ask a few questions…interview a few suspects. That kind of thing.”

  “You mean help Blake solve the case.”

  Well. Yes. It did sound like that was what I was describing. “There’s no harm in looking into it, is there?” I asked. “Besides, if Blake or one of his employees is guilty, wouldn’t you love to be the one to catch them?”

  Pippa shook her head. “If Blake is asking you to help, then he had an agenda.” She stared straight ahead. “We’d be better off running our own investigation. One that Blake doesn’t know about.”