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“Missing, huh? What kind of stuff are you looking for?”
“Anything which might make it seem like she’s not legit. Or has a motive to hurt someone. Anything.”
I heard the distinct sound of typing. “The owner of a coffee shop? Doesn’t exactly seem like a hardened criminal.”
“I know.”
Along the way, I wasn’t sure when the theory of Lena being sabotaged popped into my head instead of it being some kind of accident, but the idea wouldn’t leave me alone. Three years of perfect business and perfect baking, and suddenly two incidents within weeks that struck at the heart of her business? There was every chance I was being overly paranoid. But being overly paranoid had saved lives in the past, so I wasn’t going to let the bone I was digging for go until I was one hundred percent sure there wasn’t anything to it.
“You were thorough,” Jenna said. “Are you really thinking there’s something else to find?”
“Hoping, but not optimistic.”
She made a noncommittal sound. “Okay, tell me why you suspect her of anything, and maybe I can look at something more targeted.”
I gave a quick explanation of what had happened with Lena and how the timeline matched up suspiciously, to the massive benefit of this new store.
Jenna was smiling; I could hear it. “While I admit it looks funny, have you considered it could just be bad timing?”
“Yes. And for Lena’s sake, I’m hoping it’s not.”
“It’s sweet you’re doing this for her,” she said. “And I’ll do a little more digging to make sure, but I don’t see signs she’s falsified anything or that there are more layers to dig through. If you think there’s something wrong, I’d look in a different direction.”
Frustration rose, sure and true. That was the thing. Something was wrong, but I couldn’t pinpoint what. Where else was there to look when there were no signs anything had been tampered with, no bad ingredients, no equipment malfunction, and even Ben said the HVAC system looked as good as new.
So where could I look?
“Thanks, Jenna. If you find anything else, let me know.”
“Will do.”
The call ended, and I stared at the ceiling for long minutes, going over everything. Was I digging for nothing? Maybe it was just a fluke. A bad batch of flour we couldn’t catch because it went sour in the oven or something.
I hated seeing Lena in pain. She was hiding it well, but Deja Brew being empty was hurting her. Now I knew how well she could hide things she didn’t want people to see, and I knew what to look for. She was panicking, and I understood why. Right now, she was watching a thing she’d built start to crumble in front of her eyes, and she was trying to hold it together with both hands.
No matter if I was chasing wild geese, I wasn’t going to stop until we knew for sure. Because it felt like something was wrong, and my instincts told me it didn’t have anything to do with Lena’s baking.
Chapter 21
Lena
My body ached. The last two days had been a whirlwind for both Evie and me, making a mountain of cupcakes for the dance. Not just cupcakes, but more than we needed. We tasted every portion of every batch of cupcakes from batter to baked, the fillings on the ones which were filled, and every batch of frosting we made.
They were officially delicious.
No bad bakes in sight here. Just pure, unadulterated sugar. I didn’t envy the parents of the kids, but at the same time, I was happy to be able to give the kids something great to remember this dance by.
Principal Walker specifically asked the cupcakes be left unassembled so the kids could make their own, which we thought was an amazing idea.
Evie was sitting in Bessie’s passenger seat, glaring at the stacks of cupcake boxes in the back seat, making sure none of them fell over. “They’re fine.”
“I am taking no chances.” She didn’t even take her eyes off the boxes as I pulled into the high school parking lot.
On the floor of the back seat were a couple huge bowls of frosting, another one in the trunk, along with the cupcake stands, and we’d brought so many decorations, I wasn’t sure how any of the kids were going to choose.
I pulled up to the curb and got out. We weren’t late, but I wanted to get these set up quickly so it was a surprise. The dance would start shortly, and it took longer than we expected to get all the moving pieces together.
“I’d know the sound of that engine anywhere,” a voice called from the parking lot.
