Case of the Burned Brownies Read online

  “You see,” she blurted through sneezes. “Even outside the hotel, it gets me!”

  “Uh Beatrice,” Detective Rogers began, looking at her like she was an idiot. “I think I know what’s causing your allergies.”

  “Wha…” she didn’t have to finish the question. From the way that Rogers was looking from her to the cat, skepticism on his face, it was obvious what he meant. “No. No, no, no, no, no…. No.” Beatrice stuttered. “There’s no way, that’s impossible. I have a cat at home!”

  “I know you do, but I’m just saying, if it sounds like a horse and looks like a horse… or in this case, a cat. When did the allergies start?”

  “The moment I entered this hotel,” Beatrice said, thinking back to the first time she sneezed. “No! Actually, it was in the car ride on the way here — no! No…” she let out, defeated. “It began the morning I left. I woke up feeling a little stuffy.”

  She had totally blocked it from her mind, but now that Rogers was here, forcing the issue, the memory came back to her. The morning that she left, she had woken up feeling a little off. Then in the car ride, she was feeling down. It was only at the hotel that it all escalated, turning into total pandemonium.

  “It’s… impossible,” she tried. “How can I just now be getting allergies? I’ve had Sylvester for months.” Sylvester was Beatrice’s house cat. Well, he’s now a house cat, previously a stray that she had rescued, but regardless of this, it was one she had spent the better part of a year in constant contact with, and never once had she had a reaction.

  “I don’t know. Sometimes these things take —”

  “Wait!” Beatrice blurted before rushing into the hotel room and up the stairs with Rogers right behind her. “If it is a cat allergy, then there would have to be a reason that I was sneezing in the car ride. Right?” she exclaimed, bursting into her room.

  “I suppose,” Rogers agreed.

  “Where is it?” she mused, speaking to herself as she ran to the closet and began to throw clothes across the room.

  “What are you looking for?” Rogers asked, sneaking up behind her but careful to avoid the spray of clothes being launched across the floor like cannon fire.

  “The sweater I was wearing in the car. I want to see if — here!” Beatrice stopped as she reached the grey knit sweater she had been wearing on the car trip. Gingerly, she pulled it from the rack and then, ever so carefully she began to examine it.

  It only took a few moments before she found what she had been looking for. It was a cat hair, caught in the thick knit of the sweater’s breast pocket, right under Beatrice’s nose.

  The evidence was there. Beatrice was allergic to cats.

  ◆◆◆

  “So, what are you going to do?” Rogers asked Beatrice as the two sat on the floor of the hotel room.

  “I don’t know,” Beatrice admitted. She still held the knit sweater in her hands, looking at it with a level of remorse usually saved for the death of loved ones. “I don’t know.”

  “Are you going to get rid of Sylvester?”

  “Get rid of… I can’t just get rid of him. He’s not left over lasagna,” Beatrice scolded. That really wasn’t an option in her book. She had all but rescued Sylvester from the gutter and even then, it had taken months for him to trust her. She couldn’t betray that trust now by just tossing him out. She would never forgive herself.

  “Then an allergy shot?” Rogers suggested.

  “Yeah, but… but those don’t always work. What if I get one and I’m still allergic? What then?”

  “Then, you might have to bite the bullet and let Sylvester go. I’m sorry Bea, I really am,” he offered, shuffling in closer and putting his arm around her.

  The two sat in silence on the floor of Beatrice’s hotel room. There was nothing to say, there was nothing that Beatrice wanted to say. The last thing she wanted to do was get rid of her cat, but at the moment, it looked like that might be the only option.

  It was almost enough to make Beatrice break down into tears. Luckily, she wasn’t able to as she was so dehydrated from her allergies that tears wouldn’t have come, even if she tried. So instead, she hung her head, feeling the weight of the world coming down on her.

  21

  There was just one final piece left and that was Derrick. Despite Susie’s insistence that he was innocent in all of this, Beatrice just wasn’t so sure.

  In Susie’s head, the whole thing came down to Buddy. Susie says he worked alone and killed Lacey so that he and Derrick could be together, but whenever Beatrice thought of this possibility, her instinct didn’t kick into gear like usual. In fac,t the opposite happened. Every time she thought on this theory she became less convinced that it was the case.

  The main reason was that it was just too obvious. Buddy seemed like a smart enough guy. Was he really so stupid as to kill someone via a method that could be traced right back to him? It didn’t seem likely.

  The most annoying part was that she was unable to inspect the car. Not only did Officer Handy deny her the chance, the damaged car went right back to Buddy’s garage anyway. So, if there was any evidence, it would have been destroyed. This meant that the only thing Beatrice had to work with was motive.

  To Beatrice, Derrick seemed to have the strongest motive out of anyone. Not only was there the affair angle, but there was also the fact that he was trapped in an abusive relationship. There was every chance that he was looking for a way to escape, but was too terrified. Add this to the fact that he had access to Buddy’s garage and that’s a recipe for murder.

  Now that Beatrice’s car was fixed, she was going to do the one thing that she did better than anyone — snoop.

  ◆◆◆

  As Beatrice sat in her car, watching the front door to Derrick’s house, she realized that she didn’t really know that much about the young man. She had only met him the one time and all of her information had come second hand, from Susie. If Susie were to be believed, Derrick was one of the more perfect specimens on the planet. As much as Beatrice would have loved to have believed Susie at her word, she was going to have to come to that conclusion herself.

  In the car with Beatrice was the usual duo of Sophie and Stella and as usual Sophie was in the front passenger side with Stella in the back. It was getting into a bit of a routine now, having the two ladies along for her tailing sessions. Although they objected this time, both having plans, Beatrice forced them to come along.

  She felt a little guilty about this, especially after spending so much time lamenting the fact that she had ruined their vacation, but at the same time, she was meant to be on vacation too and had been feeling a little lonely the last few days. She just really wanted the company.

  She would have invited Rogers along but Susie had asked if Beatrice would cover for her while as she ran some errands. As Beatrice already had plans, she nominated Detective Rogers. She knew that this would only add to the favor that she already owed him, and if she hoped that he didn’t think of this, he made sure to remind her as she left.

  But desperate times...

  “He’s quite gorgeous,” Stella commented as they spotted Derrick leaving his house. “And you say he’s with the mechanic?”

  “Allegedly,” Beatrice replied.

  “Shame,” Stella finished, eyeing the young man with a hunger that Beatrice recognized only too well. It was oddly similar to the one shown by Buddy the previous day.

  From his house, the three ladies followed Derrick as he committed to his daily chores.

  His first stop was to the local café where he picked up a coffee. This was a rather mundane stop, only made slightly interesting by the fact that Susie just happened to be there. The two chatted for some time. Beatrice noted the playful manner in which Susie slapped him on the arm, before Susie bid him farewell and left the café.

  His next stop was to the supermarket. Another mundane stop, except for the fact that again, Susie happened to be there. This time she was just leaving the store, on her way to he
r car, when Derrick bumped into her.

  And if it was just these two coincidences then Beatrice would have called them that, coincidences. But it was the third ‘coincidence’ that tipped the scales irrevocably.

  “Where are weeeeeee,” Sophie moaned as she slowly wound the window down, then up, and then down again, staring at it like it was some sort of jack-in-the-box, waiting to pop.

  “I told you I have no idea,” Beatrice said for the fifth time. Her eyes glanced in the back to Stella, who was sound asleep. She had started dozing back at the supermarket and seemed to have resigned herself to her fate.

  Beatrice had been following Derrick for maybe ten minutes out of town. It wasn’t a long way out, but considering the size of the town, it seemed positively rural.

  It was getting to the point where Beatrice was starting to wonder if it was worth heading back. Purely because she didn’t want to be caught following Derrick this far out of town with no excuse for being here. This man was a murder suspect after all, who knows what he is capable of.

  It was just as these thoughts crossed her mind that she noticed his car slowing down, with the indicator flashing. For some reason though he was pulling over. Beatrice panicked. Had he seen her? Was he going to wave her down as well and ask what she was doing?

  “Sophie, duck your head down,” Beatrice commanded, reaching across and pushing Sophie down, who complied without complaint.

  Her panic was for nothing though. It only took another second of driving to see why he was coming to a stop - there was a broken-down car on the side of the road. He was pulling over the help. This would have been fine, if it wasn’t for whom the car belonged to.

  Standing by the broken-down car was none other than Susie. Beatrice made sure to keep her car moving at a normal speed as they drove past the two cars. Looking in the rearview mirror, Beatrice could see Susie hugging Derrick in relief as he indicated for her to pop the hood.

  “Is he stalking her?” Sophie asked pointedly.

  Where Sophie said it outright, Beatrice had indeed been thinking it. First at the café, then the supermarket, and now out here in the middle of nowhere. Each time Susie had been on the scene only for Derrick to ‘happen’ to stop by, and on Susie’s only day off too. It couldn’t have just been a coincidence.

  After that, Beatrice turned the car around and headed back to the town of Mt. Morte. Although it wasn’t conclusive, she was certain that Derrick wasn’t as innocent as Susie made him out to be. In fact, she had a sneaking suspicion that Derrick was planning on murdering Susie the first chance he got.

  22

  Beatrice had been weighing up her options all afternoon. She wasn’t certain of her theory, but she knew if there was even the smallest chance that it was correct, she had to warn Susie. If by some chance she woke up the next day to find Susie murdered, she would never forgive herself.

  She had spent the time contemplating this while sitting on the hood of her car, parked out front of the hotel. Beatrice had resided herself to avoid the inside of hotel for as long as possible. She ate breakfast, lunch and dinner out now and only stepped foot inside the building when she needed to sleep and shower.

  It was no way to live, especially as she was no longer able to cook and had to eat those awful pastries from the town's only café, but having said that, it was infinitely better than the alternative.

  The sun was just starting to set over the mountains when Susie’s car pulled into the driveway, now working perfectly. Evidently, Derrick had managed to fix it. Most likely learning a thing or two from Buddy.

  Seeing her, Beatrice waved Susie over.

  “Beatrice, what are you doing out here?” Susie asked, taking a seat on the hood with Beatrice.

  “Oh, just getting some fresh air,” Beatrice began, trying to decide how best to approach the topic. She wasn’t going to tell her that she’d rather sit out here in the cold than brave a visit inside the hotel. No need to be hurtful. “How was your day?”

  “Oh, it was excellent,” Susie said with an odd amount of enthusiasm. “Went exactly as planned.”

  “Planned?” Beatrice asked, curious as to the specific word choice. She had planned on breaking down?

  “Oh, you know, I just meant that I got all my chores done is all,” she said hurriedly. “You know that feeling?”

  “I have a confession to make,” Beatrice said, not really caring too much about Susie’s chores. They were the least of her worries right now “I saw you a few times today. Three to be precise. At the café, the supermarket and broken down on the highway.”

  Susie looked at Beatrice, slightly taken aback. And perhaps, worried? Beatrice was sure that she was misreading that emotion. “Are you stalking me, Beatrice?”

  “No, no, no,” Beatrice hurriedly assured her. “I’m not stalking you. I was following Derrick today and —”

  “Why were you following Derrick?” Susie asked, not catching on.

  “Susie. I think that Derrick is stalking you. And more than that, I think he plans on killing you.”

  If there was a reaction that Beatrice was expecting, it certainly wasn’t the one that she got. As if Beatrice had just told a hilarious joke, Susie suddenly burst out laughing. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “No, I’m not,” Beatrice explained, trying to sound serious over Susie’s laughter. “Look at the facts. He knows your schedule, he’s probably memorized it. He probably knows that you know about him and Buddy. If he did kill Lacey, then he’ll need to kill you too so that there’s no chance anyone finds out that —”

  “Again, with this?” Susie interrupted. The laughing had stopped now. She actually sounded a little mad. “I told you, Derrick didn’t do it. It was Buddy. Buddy is the one you should be following. Buddy is the one responsible for all of this.”

  “I think so too. But I think that he and Derrick both acted together. The odds are that they need you out of the picture if —”

  “That’s enough,” Susie said, standing up now. “I told you, I don’t want you looking into Derrick, trying to frame this on him. He’s a good boy and would never do anything… just… look I think that maybe, if you aren’t going to take this seriously then you should leave… yes. Maybe it’s time that you and your friends moved on.”

  It was said in such coldness that Beatrice didn’t respond. Not that it would have mattered, as the moment that Susie had spoken it, she turned and headed towards the hotel, as if that was that. She didn’t even spare Beatrice a cursory glance before going inside.

  Beatrice really didn't know what to do, if there was anything she could do. The whole situation was bizarre to say the least. Here she was, doing exactly what she had promised she would do, that was catching the murderer, and now she was being chastised for it. Left to feel like she was in the wrong.

  Worse than that, Susie didn’t seem to take her warning seriously at all. The complete opposite in fact. One would think that Beatrice had accused her of being the murderer, rather than warning her that she might be the next victim.

  The whole thing left a sour taste in Beatrice’s mouth. She really had no idea what to do. Should she continue in the investigation, despite Susie’s request? Or should she go home? She still harbored a soft spot for Susie and didn’t want to leave her in the lurch like this. Yet, it seemed like Susie was happy to be left. It was clear that she wasn’t wanted here anymore.

  23

  If Beatrice had been on the fence about leaving before, one more night spent in the rat’s hole that was that hotel all but pushed her off it to leave. It was the worst night yet. She even tried sleeping in the car at one point but nearly froze to death. Waking up again, after having little sleep, with her eyes red and puffy and nose sore from blowing it all night, Beatrice made up her mind - especially considering that Mt. Morte Mansion was the alternative.

  “I’m really sorry,” Beatrice assured Susie as she was led to her car. “I really wish that I could have helped.”

  “Oh, it’s OK, really. Maybe the w
hole thing was just one big accident?” Susie concluded, offering Beatrice a warm hug. She didn't seem upset at all in fact. On the contrary she seemed rather delighted that Beatrice was leaving. “Goodbye, Ms. Fletcher. I’ll miss you.”

  Even despite this oddly positive attitude from Susie, Beatrice still felt terrible about leaving. If it wasn’t for the excitement of Stella and Sophie, she might have reconsidered it. But that, along with the way that Susie had acted the previous night, left her convinced that there was no more she could do here.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Rogers assured her. “Not all cases can be solved. Even I don’t have a perfect record, if you can believe that?”

  Although Beatrice did believe it, the fact that the case was being left unsolved wasn’t what worried her. What worried her was leaving Susie when she needed her the most. Before she left, she made sure to warn Susie one more time about Derrick and again Susie waved her off as if it was the most ridiculous suggestion of all time.

  So, Beatrice was left with no choice. She, Stella and Sophie piled into her car, with Rogers following in his own, pulled out of the hotel driveway and headed back home.

  It was a relatively easy drive to begin with. A long straight road, running at a soft decline, Beatrice barely had to press the accelerator as the car cruised along. Stella and Sophie were positively beside themselves too. She hadn’t realized how much they wanted to leave. She decided right there that she was going to make it up to them. This week must have been even more torturous for them than her.

  “My phone has been backed up all week with messages,” Stella was explaining. “I’m going to be tied down for at least the next two weeks once we get back.”

  “Tied up?” Beatrice asked with a smirk.

  “Just an expression,” she responded, not even bothering to hide her smile.