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"What secret?” he asks, and I shake my head, tweaking his nose. "It's called a secret for a reason."
Chase frowns, barely accepting that. "But you’ll tell me eventually, right? When I get a little older?"
"I'll tell you sooner than that." I know Chase is going to be mad at me too, when he finds out, but it needs to be done. Either way, I can’t let him be mad at Luke. "I’ll tell you. But for now, I want you to calm your attitude, ok? Luke didn't do anything wrong to me. Mikey didn’t do anything wrong either."
“Except starting a fight he couldn’t finish," Chase says under his breath and I shoot him a look. He shrugs.
“Mikey’s alright,” he says and I nod. Then I head to Mikey’s room but the boy is fast asleep, holding on to a threadbare stuffed animal dog. I approach him, and run my hand over his forehead. He curls into my touch a little bit. My heart aches. I’m going to miss him. I don’t think Luke will let us have a relationship now, but I can only hope that one day if he forgives me, he'll let me bake with Mikey again.
Then I head outside for a walk. The house is too stifling and I can’t breathe. I start down the path to my house ,curious to see what it looks like now that the repairs have been made, and furniture replaced. The vase is unsalvageable but hopefully, they found a good replacement for everything else. And then I see the note tucked in the corner of the door.
Dread fills my stomach as I kneel to retrieve the note.
I warned you. Close down your shop and leave town.
My heart starts racing in my chest and it catches in my throat. I thought it was a fluke. I almost had myself convinced that the first note was nothing.
And now this note is calling me a liar.
Someone wants to hurt me
Panic races down my throat as I whip out my phone to dial the detective.
"I found another note,” I say the moment he answers. “This one asks me to close my shop and leave town."
"Damn,” the detective says and he sounds exhausted. I'm exhausted too. I don’t blame him. I know he, like me was hoping this was just a fluke. "This seems personal now. And you have no idea who left it?"
"No.”
"The handwriting doesn’t look familiar?"
I’m about to parrot another denial but then I look closely at the note, again. A thread of recognition weaves itself around my brain, tugging at a memory buried there.
On second thought, the handwriting does look very familiar. So do the words.
Close down your shop. Move out of town.
It seems like such an insane idea but I say it anyway. ”I think I know who's doing this."
The detective arrives in about ten minutes and I wait at the doorstep for him. I stew on the idea as we drive in the police car, heading downtown. I didn’t tell Luke where I was going but left a note at home, that I’d be gone for some time. If I told Luke what I was actually doing, he’d insist on coming with me, and I don't want the kids left alone, or to be witness to this whole thing. Besides, I have a detective with me. That should be enough protection for whatever she's planned.
I stare out the window, nerves bouncing in my stomach. I might be crazy for assuming things, but I can't let this go.
In no time at all, we reach the New Moon bakery.
It’s about closing time and workers spring around, cleaning up. Mona’s standing in the middle of it all. I keep my eyes on her as I walk in. Her eyes flash with apprehension, when she sees me coming, but she covers it up with snobby dislike.
Yeah. It's her.
"Nice try,” I tell her.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about."
"I'm talking about the fact that you're so clearly threatened by me that you want to run my bakery out of town. Why is that by the way? Because it’s not like there’s not enough room for both of us in this business."
Her lips tighten and she recovers quickly. She’s not a very good liar. She turns to the detective and says, "I don't have a single clue what she's talking about."
"I recognize your handwriting," holding the note out to her and her eyes flash with fear. "Ransacking my house? Really?"
