Catalina, Crimes, and Coconut Pies

Sadie Silver Mystery #1

KAILIN GOW

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Thank you for picking up Catalina, Crimes, and Coconut Pies (Sadie Silver Series #1).

This series is a cozy mystery with clean romance and some pet paranormal elements recommended for age 13 and up.

Summary

Fashionable Celebrity Pastry Chef Sadie Silver loves mixing travel, food, romance, and crime solving wherever she goes or stays...along with the help of her intelligent cat Orchid and sensitive-smelling-nose dog Biscuit. handsome forensic scientist Palmer, and the mysterious gorgeous man who always places an order directly from her for a dozen red velvet cupcakes.

When Sadie takes a trip to Catalina Island, California to cater the wedding for her friend, tv star Luna Lacewell and her agent, Spencer Pike, she didn't expect her friend Luna to become the prime suspect in a murder on the beautiful island getaway for Hollywood celebrities. She also didn't expect to have the killer to come after her when she began snooping into the case to help solve the crime, unleashing the amateur sleuth in her. Using her knowledge of ingredients, deduction, location, and science with the help of her friends, this case may be as easy as baking coconut pies, or so she thought.

Chapter 1

Sadie

The moment the plane’s wheels screeched onto the tarmac of Catalina Island, Sadie smiled and tilted her face up to the sun.  What a glorious change from the chilled autumn air of Fortune Falls in New York.

“This is going to be a spectacular weekend,” she said to her assistant, Tiffany as they got off the plane and walked to the car that awaited them.

“And a stress-filled one,” Tiffany said as she watched the driver open the trunk and load up their bags.  He reached out to take the bag slung over her shoulder.  “Oh, no.  This one stays with me.”

Orchid, Sadie’s Russian blue cat hissed at the driver as if to confirm her desire to stay with Tiffany.

Meanwhile, Sadie tugged on the leash that held Biscuit close by.  The curious little terrier was more than eager to get to know the driver.

“Do you know where we’re supposed to go?” Tiffany said as she headed to the back door of the car.

“No, but I assume he does,” Sadie said as she looked at the driver. 

“The Luna and Spencer wedding,” the driver said with a reverent nod as he prepared to close the door behind them.

“Exactly.”  Sadie got into the car and the driver closed the door before walking around to the driver car door and getting in.

While she kept her cool on the outside, Sadie was a bundle of nerves on the inside.  Her good friend Luna Lacewell was getting married.

It was a huge deal.  Huge.

While Sadie had been requested to provide desserts to small events before, they had never been as large as this one.

Sadie looked into the small pet carrying bag on Tiffany’s lap.  “How are you holding up, Orchid?”

A soft spoken meow came from the green-eyed gray cat.

“How’s Biscuit doing?” Tiffany asked Sadie.

“Sleeping,” Sadie said as she glanced at the small, black terrier rolled up on the floor of the car.  “This trip really knocked him out.”

Flying out to the west coast from New York had taken longer than expected.  The plane had been delayed for twenty minutes.  After landing at LAX they had then transferred onto a smaller plane that brought them to Catalina Island.

Breathing deeply, Sadie tried to enjoy the ride.  The driver was unhurried as he drove from the airport to the resort where Luna was getting married.  The scenery was pleasant and beautiful and had a soothing, calming effect on her. 

But the moment they pulled up in front of the magnificent hotel, the nerves kicked in again.

“Wow,” Tiffany said as the driver stopped the car in front of the main entrance and came around to open the door.  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so grand.  Back at Fortune Falls the biggest hotel I ever saw was only two stories and had fifteen rooms.”

“Yeah,” Sadie said as she got out of the car.  “I know what you mean.  But Luna has always liked the very glamorous lifestyle.  She went all out on this one.”

“I can’t say that I blame her.”

They entered the Grande Catalina Hotel and headed to the counter to check in.

“Are those your pets?” the woman behind the counter said.

No, Sadie thought.  We just like dragging strange animals around.  “Yes,” she said politely.  “This is Biscuit, and that is Orchid.”

“How lovely,” the woman said.  “Are they house broken?”

“Of course, they are,” Sadie said.

“Very well,” the woman said with a smile as she handed them a small envelope with two card keys inside.  “You’re in room 115.”

“Thank you,” Sadie said as she took the keys and handed one to Tiffany.

They reached their deluxe room and dragged their luggage inside.

“Get a load of this,” Tiffany said as she quickly walked around to take in the beautifully elegant room. 

Two large queen sized beds were set up on opposite sides of the room, each with its white bedside table and a dresser drawer.  At the back of the room were two loveseats that faced the large window and to the side a huge flat screen television.

“Is this what they call a French décor?” she mused.

Sadie shrugged.  “I don’t really know,” she said of the fresh blue walls with white trim.  “I’m a baker, remember, not a decorator.”  She unleashed Biscuit who quickly ran around the room, sniffing every corner.

“Right.” Tiffany chuckled as she unzipped Orchid’s carrying bag and let the cat get acquainted to her new surroundings.

“Leave all the stuff there,” Sadie said.  “I want to hurry down to the kitchen to make sure everything has arrived.”

Tiffany smiled her big goofy smile.  “Are you afraid your world famous coconut cream pies didn’t make it on time?”

“No,” Sadie said with a grin.  She knew she tended to be a little obsessive about such things and it always amused Tiffany.  “I’m pretty sure they made it.  I’m just not so sure about the state in which they arrived.  They needed to be kept cool.”

“Come on,” Sadie said as she picked up Orchid and reassuringly scratched under her chin.  “In addition to inspecting the condition of my pies, I want to meet this Pierre Duvak that Luna said worked here.”

“Ooh,” Tiffany let out.  “A French chef.  How posh.”

“Come on, Biscuit,” Sadie called out to her pooch.

They left their elegant room and headed down to the massive kitchen.

As they made their way down to the wide corridor, they passed by the grand ballroom where the wedding ceremony and reception were to be held.  A large easel stood at the entrance with an elegantly calligraphed poster reading:

The Luna Lacewell and Spencer Pike Wedding.

In the bottom corner were small photos of the bride and groom.

“Holy cow,” Tiffany said as she peered inside the large room.  “This is straight out of a movie.  Look at that.  I’ve never seen anything so elegant and… classy.”

“Well,” Sadie said.  “This is where so many stars of the 1940s and 1950s came for their over the top weddings.”

Dozens of round tables were draped with silver gray satin tablecloths.  Eight glossy black Hepplewhite chairs surrounded each table.  In the center of each table was a tall iridescent intricately carved narrow vase with a round bouquet of blue roses.

Scattered around the large room were several four foot high pedestals adorned with blue porcelain urns with a tall arrangement of greenery sprinkled with tiny white flowers.

The ceiling with its elegant crystal lighting was draped with swathes of shimmering silver fabric.

At the far end of the room, several sets of French doors opened onto the patio where the ceremony was to take place.

Several guests had already arrived and many more were making their way across the expansive lawn beyond the stone patio.

“Luna Lacewell,” Tiffany said.  “You didn’t tell me this wedding was for Luna Lacewell.”

“I didn’t see the need to,” Sadie said.

“Isn’t she the one who plays in that crime show…?” She repeatedly snapped her fingers as she looked to the ceiling.  “You know the one… she’s a mafia queen or something.”

“Yeah,” Sadie said.  “It’s called Unit One Seattle.”

“Oh.  That’s right.  That’s the one.”  Tiffany looked at the photo.  “She sure is pretty.  But she’s clearly older than you.  How did you guys become friends?”

“She’s only thirty-six,” Sadie said with a laugh as she looked at the beautiful photo of her striking brunette friend.  “We met on a movie shoot a few years ago and hit it off.

“Well, she certainly found herself a good looking guy,” Tiffany said.  “You know him?”

Sadie nodded.  “Spencer is her new agent.  They fell in love at first sight.”

“That is just so romantic.”

“Come on,” Sadie said, urging her to move on.  “I want to check in on the kitchen before the rush starts.  The rest of the wedding party should arrive at any moment now.”

As they approached the kitchen, a stern looking woman blocked their path.

“Can I help you ladies with anything?” she said as she glared at Orchid then down at Biscuit.

“Yes,” Sadie said.  “I’m Sadie Silvers from Fortune Patisserie.  I had a number of items sent here including numerous coconut cream pies.  I just want to ensure that everything had arrived and then prepared everything for service.”

The woman glared at Tiffany.

“This is my assistant, Tiffany Cutler.”

“Fine,” the woman said.  “I’m Anne Nolan, the coordinator.”  She opened her phone and looked at the schedule.  “The wedding party is set to arrive in exactly two minutes.  The ceremony should take twelve minutes.  That will be followed with the newlywed’s first dance that should take three minutes.”

“Gee,” Tiffany said under her breath.  “This thing is timed like a rocket launch.”

Anne glared at her and went on.  “Once the guests have entered the ballroom and taken their seats, there will be champagne, hors d’oeuvres and a number of toasts from family and friends.  This will be followed by an appetizer, main course and then… dessert will be served.”

Sadie nodded.

“That leaves you a little more than an hour to finish preparing your patisseries.”  She looked at Sadie then Tiffany.  “Understood?”

“Absolutely,” Sadie said.  “Thank you.  That should give me more than enough time to set up everything.”

Still stern, Anne nodded.   “Are these animals coming in with you?”

“They’re very well behaved and discreet,” Sadie said.

“They better be.”

Sadie pressed a tight smile.

“The refrigerators are to the right,” Anne said with finality.

“Thank you.”  Sadie entered the kitchen with Tiffany and Biscuit close behind her.

The kitchen was massive and bustling with activity.  Hundreds of hors d’oeuvres were set on numerous platters… delicate crystal goblets with light and airy duck mousse, porcelain spoons with a whipped concoction topped with caviar, fine crackers with elegant toppings.

Beyond that, dozens of workers were busy sauteing, stirring, and seasoning.

 But Sadie immediately turned to head to the wall of refrigerators at the far right of the room.  She set Orchid down in a quiet corner then opened several doors to look for her pies.

“Darn it,” she let out as there were no coconut cream pies in sight.

Her heart pounded fearfully at the thought of the lost desserts.  Luna was counting on her.  Coconut cream pie was her favorite, and Sadie’s cream pies were the ultimate.

She opened the last refrigerator door and saw the familiar boxes she’d packed the pies in.

“Oh,” she exclaimed with relief.  “Thank goodness.  There they are.”  She pulled out one of the boxes and opened it to inspect the content.

“How are they?” Tiffany said, coming up behind her.

There were three individually packaged pies per box.

Sadie pulled out the first pie box from the top and opened it.  “Looks good.  Looks just the way they did when I packed them.”

“Excuse me,” a bellowing voice came from behind them.

Sadie turned to the tall, good looking man with the thin black mustache.  He was wearing a chef’s hat and coat and no sign of a smile.  “Oh,” she said with a smile.  “You must be Pierre Duvak.”

“And you must be in the wrong place,” he said, his tone unnecessarily harsh as he glared at her.  “Who gave you permission to come into my kitchen?”

“Monsieur Duvak,” Sadie said, pulling out her most charming voice as she extended her hand to him in greeting.  “I’m Sadie Silver.  I’m in charge of desserts tonight.”

He grunted while his eyes narrowed into two angry slits.

“I don’t think he liked the sound of that,” Tiffany muttered beneath her breath.

Well, like it or not, it’s true, Sadie thought to herself.

“Well, I am in charge of dis kitchen, Mademoiselle,” he said with his thick French accent.  “And I have one hundred and seventy six people to feed tonight.  I would appreciate it if you could stay out of my way.”

“Of course,” Sadie said.  “I just need a small corner of the counter to plate my pies and patisseries.”

“Patisseries,” he repeated with a sneer, expertly rolling his ‘r’ like a true Frenchman.  “And tell me, Mademoiselle, what does a little American girl know about patisseries?  What could you possibly know that puts you above my own pastry chef?  Did you study in Paris?  Did you study under Paul Bocuse?  Have you even been to France?”

Sadie stared at the man.  How dare he insinuate that she wasn’t adequately trained to do her job.

“I’ll have you know, Monsieur Duvak, that what I lack in formal training, I make up for with genuine intuition.  I know flavor.  I know flavors that work well together.  I have a natural instinct for these things.”

“We’ll see,” he said as he turned away.  “In the meantime, stay out of my way.  Service is to begin shortly.”

“That was pretty rude of him,” Tiffany said, pouting as she stared at his back.  “Who does he think he is, anyway?”

“I’m guessing he’s a big deal chef,” Sadie said as she rummaged through the refrigerator to find her other pastries.

“Before we start plating the pies, I need you to fill these petit choux and ice them.”

“And where are you going?”

Smiling, Sadie looked at Tiffany.  “I just want to go take a peek at Luna… see if I’ll have a chance to say hi.”

“Can I come take a peek, too?” Tiffany said.

Sadie hesitated, then nodded.  “Oh.  All right.  Come on.”

They discreetly left the kitchen and edged their way around the ballroom to look out at the patio.  Spencer stood there beside the pastor waiting.

Everyone waited for the arrival of the bride.  Then the music started.  It wasn’t the traditional wedding march, but a more modern melody that was immediately romantic and heart-warming.

A set of French doors to the far left opened, and Luna stepped forward causing everyone to sigh at her beauty.

Her dark hair was swept up in a beautifully romantic updo that was soft and informal.  Tiny dark blue crystals adorned her hair, barely visible except when the light struck them.

She wore a cream colored lace gown that hugged her curves down to her thighs before sweeping out into a short but elegant train.

Her bouquet consisted of tightly packed cream colored flowers adorned with tiny dark blue flowers that matched the blue crystals in her hair.

With slow, dramatic steps, Luna approached Spencer.  Wearing a black tuxedo with a deep blue tie, he took her hand in his as they faced each other before the pastor.

Never had Sadie seen anything so spectacularly romantic.

The couple said their vows, then exchanged rings and finally kissed to seal the deal.

The guests applauded, many of them wiping away tears of joy as they came forward to congratulate the couple.

“I’m going to go say hi,” Sadie told Tiffany.

“And I’ll head back to finish preparation.”

Sadie nodded then edged her way closer to the bride, hoping to have a chance to speak to her.  After accepting the congratulations of a few, Luna looked up and saw Sadie.

“Oh,” Luna exclaimed as she rushed over to hug her friend.  “You made it.  When I didn’t see you this morning, I was afraid you’d run into trouble getting here.” 

“Our flight was delayed a bit,” Sadie said.  “You look beautiful.  This is by far the most romantic wedding I’ve ever seen.”

“You’re so sweet,” Luna said.  “And speaking of sweet…  Did you bring your world famous coconut cream pies?”

Sadie smiled.  “Of course.  I was just in the kitchen a few moments ago to check on them.  Everything arrived as it should.  My assistant is in there now finalizing some of the preparations.”

“You’re a darling,” Luna said.  “I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else to serve desserts than you.”

“I appreciate that.”

Luna turned to look lovingly at her husband who was shaking the hands of well-wishers.  “Isn’t he something?” she said.

Sadie looked at her then to Spencer.  “You two certainly make a beautiful couple.  And you look so happy.”

“And to think that people advised me not to marry my agent.  I think it’s the best of both worlds.”  She turned back to look at Sadie.  “Sylvia didn’t take the news too well.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Sadie said.

Sylvia Rush had been Luna’s agent for such a long time.  She’d been instrumental in getting Luna her first major parts that helped to launch her career.

“Sour grapes,” Luna said with a shrug.  “You know how it is.”

Around them, guests were making their way inside to find their seats.

“I’ll let you get back to your wedding,” Sadie said.  “And I’ll go help my assistant plate those pies.”

Smiling, Luna nodded then turned back to her husband.

Returning to the kitchen, Sadie found Tiffany setting bite-sized pastries on several three-tiered serving trays.

“I thought I’d leave the pies for you,” Tiffany said.

“Good,” Sadie said.  “I know that Luna wants this to be the highlight of her wedding meal.  I want the setup to be perfect.”

Tiffany shrugged.  “I think it’s pretty original to have beautiful creamy pies instead of the traditional wedding cake.  Besides, pies are so much more delicious than cake.”

Sadie grinned.

Around her dozens of people hurried to get hors d’oeuvres out.  There was no need for her to panic or hurry.  Sadie knew she had plenty of time.

Before getting the pies set up on the tiers, she wanted to add rosettes to decorate them.  She took her time with every small flower, making sure they were as perfect as could be.  She also spelled out Luna’s name on one pie then wrote out Spencer on the other.

The final touch, once the pies had been set up on the trays was adding the traditional bride and groom.

“How’s that?” Sadie said as she took a step back.

Tiffany came to her.  “That’s really pretty.  To be honest, I thought it would look tacky, but that is really nice.  Your friend will be happy.”

During that time, Pierre’s team never stopped bustling about.

Sadie looked around for Biscuit and Orchid to ensure they stayed out of the testy chef’s way.  Orchid was still rolled up into a ball in the corner while Biscuit sat nearby attentively watching all the action.

“Where are we on time?” Sadie said trying to figure out what part of the meal they’d reached.

“Many of the empty plates from the main meal are being brought back,” Tiffany said.

“Okay,” Sadie said.  “That leaves us with what…?  Five to ten minutes?”

“About that.”

“Good.  I’ll come help you with the rest of the pastries.  After that, all that’s left to do is wait for our cue.”

“One of the waiters brought us this rolling table to bring the pies out to the ballroom on.”

“Perfect.  Let’s set up everything on that.”

By the time they’d finished loading the small table draped with the same silver linen as the ballroom, Anne came to see them.

“You’re up next.”

Smiling while her knees shook ever so slightly, Sadie pushed the rolling table out to the reception hall and to the designated spot.

Sticking to tradition, Luna and Spencer came to the expertly concocted and presented dessert.

“This is spectacular, Sadie,” Luna said. “You really outdid yourself.”

The photographer came around to take photos of the bride and groom after which Sadie rolled the table back into the kitchen to prepare service.

With the help of Tiffany, Sadie cut up the pies and set generous pieces in over a hundred small gold trimmed plates which were set on large platters for the servers to bring out to the bridal party and guests.

“Do you think we’ll have enough?” Tiffany said as she looked at the few remaining pies.

“Not if too many people want seconds,” Sadie said with a regretful shake of her head.  “If people are still hungry, they’re going to have to make do with the other patisseries.”

“Aah!  No!  Aah!”

The kitchen fell silent at the sound of the frantic screams coming from the reception hall.

“What’s that?” Tiffany said.

Sadie shrugged and frowned as she headed to the door hoping to peer into the ballroom.

“Somebody! Do something!  Do something!  Please, do something!”

But as Sadie reached the door it was suddenly pushed back into her face sending her falling back.  Someone ran past her, almost tripping over Biscuit who’d come to see what was happening.

The sudden commotion sent the little dog into a frantic fit of barking as he ran off chasing the runner, trying to bite the pants of the person.

Orchid, who’d also been stirred by the sudden activity, barely had time to jump out of the way as the suspicious person ran out the back of the kitchen.

Sadie quickly got back to her feet and was about to run after the suspicious runaway when she took a look inside the reception hall.

The body of a man, dressed in a splendid tuxedo, lay on the floor, his face red and his eyes pained.  But it was the open mouth that caused Sadie to gasp.  His mouth was full of Sadie’s own coconut cream pie and the remnants of the pie were foaming.

Luna, crying hysterically, knelt beside him.

“No,” Sadie muttered as her heart thundered in her ear.  “Oh, God.  No.”

That pained face belonged to Spencer Pike.

“Ah!” Luna cried.  “What are you all standing around for?  Help me.  He’s been poisoned.  Oh, God.  He’s been poisoned.”

Everyone dropped their dessert forks, and many of them spit out the bite of pie that was in their mouths.  Others got up to go to the bathroom.  Sadie could only assume it was to force themselves to vomit the potentially hazardous pies.

But a small group of guests looked directly at Sadie, their eyes harsh and accusing.

“It’s the coconut cream pie,” one of them shouted.  “He was poisoned and killed by that girl’s coconut cream pie.”

“Sadie Silver is a killer,” the other woman charged.

Chapter 2

One of the guests came around the table to take Spencer’s pulse.

Frantic, Luna looked at her, a faint glimmer of hope in her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” the woman said.

“No!” Luna screamed as she fell over Spencer.

Sadie wanted to go to her, to console her, but she noticed several servers coming around to clear the table where Luna and Spencer had sat.

“No,” Sadie said firmly as she stopped them.  “This is evidence.  Don’t touch anything.”

“Evidence?” one of the waiters said.  “There wasn’t a murder or anything.  You just had some guy choke on his food… or maybe he has bad allergies or something.”

Sadie glared at him.  “Leave this table immediately.”

Miffed, the server tilted his head up and walked away.

Sadie then turned to Tiffany.  “Make sure nothing is touched or removed in the kitchen.”

Tiffany nodded as she looked dumbfounded at Luna.  “Poor thing.  How awful.”

Sadie bit her bottom lip as she tried to make sense of it all.

“Are you okay?” Tiffany said hesitantly.  “I mean… they were your pies.  Do you think that you’ll be… you know?”

Sadie nodded again.  Of course, the thought had run through her mind.  No doubt she’d be blamed for the death.

Hotel security quickly arrived to assess the situation and not long after that two police officers came into the reception hall.

“If everyone could sit still a moment,” one officer said, holding her hands up to indicate everyone settle down.  “I’m Officer Rolie and this is my partner, Officer Schiller.”

Everyone quieted down.

“We’re going to ask all the guest to please go into the reception hall across the way,” Officer Schiller said, his hands on his hips to indicate his firm stance on the statement.

An older guest came up to the officer.  “I really must be leaving.  This whole incident has left me rather dizzy and…”

“We won’t keep you for long, ma’am,” Officer Schiller said.  “If you’ll go to the other reception hall, I’ll make sure you’re questioned first.”

“Questioned?” she said, clearly offended.  “Why would you question me?”

“Ma’am,” Officer Schiller said politely.  “We’re going to be questioning everyone.  Everyone here is a witness to what happened.”

Officer Rolie went to Luna.  “Are you the victim’s wife?”

Luna looked up at the officer then glared down at her white wedding dress only to look back up incredulously at the officer.

“Ah,” Officer Rolie said.  “I’m sorry.  Of course, you are.  If you’ll come sit down.  I have a few questions to ask you.”

Sadie tried to get closer, hoping to show some support or be of aid to her friend, but the police officer put up her hand to stop her.

“This is insane,” Tiffany said as she came out of the kitchen and came up beside Sadie, her eyes wide with shock.  “I can’t believe this is happening.”

Sadie nodded.

More police officers arrived and questioned the guests while others took evidence, mainly the pie, but also forks, napkins and plates.

“Everything seems to be pointing to the pies,” Tiffany said.

“Yes,” Sadie said.  “But how?”

Luna and Officer Rolie stood.  Even from a distance, Sadie could see Luna’s tear streaked face.  But when the officer turned Luna around and pulled out handcuffs, Sadie rushed over to them.

“What’s going on?” Sadie said.

“Ma’am,” Officer Rolie said.  “Please.  Stay out of the way.”

“But, you can’t arrest her,” Sadie said.  “Have a heart.  The woman just had her husband die right in front of her.  And on her wedding day.”

“I won’t say it again,” Officer Rolie said.  “Stay out of the way.”

Sadie stepped back and let them pass.  Stunned, she stared at them in disbelief.  Not only could she not understand why Luna was being arrested, but she couldn’t believe that she herself had not been taken into custody.  She hadn’t even been questioned.

She hurried to find Tiffany who’d returned to the kitchen.  “Keep an eye on Orchid and Biscuit,” Sadie said.  “And try to listen to what’s going on here as much as you can.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to follow Luna to the police station.”

Tiffany looked around her.  “How?  We don’t have a car.”

“I’ll figure out something.”

The something turned out to be a bright red scooter parked by the employee exit.  Sadie hopped on it and off she went chasing the police car.

As they approached the police station, the car slowed down giving Sadie more than enough time to pull the scooter up beside the car and meet up with Luna as she was escorted to the building.

What a sight.  A beautiful bride with her cream-colored dress and her hands in cuffs.

“Luna,” Sadie said as she came up beside her friend.  “Luna, why are they taking you in?  What do they have on you?  What did you say?”

“I don’t know,” Luna said, completely distraught.  “They asked me a few questions, and before I knew it, they were putting the cuffs on me.”

“Help me understand,” Sadie said as she kept in step with Luna.  “Why?  Why would anyone want Spencer dead?”

They entered the building, but as they stopped at the front desk and waited to be buzzed in, Luna turned to Sadie.

“Of course, there were people who didn’t like him.  He was a tough negotiator and he stepped on people’s toes.  But he never did anything to deserve getting killed for.”  Luna looked to the floor then back at Sadie.  “Then again, he did receive that one death threat.”

“Death threat?” Sadie said.  “From whom?”

Luna shrugged.  “I don’t know.  I know that Sylvia was understandably upset when I left her and let Spencer become my agent, but…”

“Upset enough to kill?” Sadie said.

Luna shook her head.  “I’ve known Sylvia for years.  She could be a handful sometimes.  She’s argumentative and doesn’t give up easily, but…”  She looked up at Sadie.  “I can’t imagine she’d be so upset as to do something like this?”

“What about the other guests?” Sadie said.  “Do you know all of them?”

Again, Luna shook her head.  “Many are friends of Spencer’s… associates, you know.  Of course, many of them are friends of mine, but none of them would ever want to harm Spencer.  They are all so happy for me.”

They were buzzed in and Officer Schiller pulled the door open.  “I’m sorry, Miss,” he said to Sadie.  “But this is as far as you can go.”

“I’ll find out what happened, Luna,” Sadie promised.  “Someone out there is jealous of Spencer… Someone is upset that he was not only your agent, but now became your husband.  I’ll find out who.”

As they disappeared into the police station, and older police officer came to the door.

“You friends of the suspect?” he said.

“Yes,” Sadie said.  “I’m her friend, and I know that she is not the killer.  You’ve taken in the wrong person.”

“You know that, do you?” he said with a smirk.

“Yes,” she insisted.  “And I’ll prove it.  I’ll go through the entire guest list and I’ll find who did this.”

The officer pulled out a card.  “I’m detective Max Martin,” he said as he handed her the card.  “If you find that we’ve missed a pertinent piece of information, be sure to contact me.”

Sadie took the card and looked at it.  “Thanks,” she said, holding the card up to him.  “The only thing that I ask of you is that you prevent any of the guests from leaving the island.”

“That’s a pretty tall order,” he said.

“It shouldn’t be,” Sadie said.  “Most of the guests were set to stay at the hotel.  It’s just a matter of keeping them confined there.  Only a handful of guests had to leave, and I’m sure you’ll be able to keep them here.”

He smiled.  “Looks like you have everything under control.”

She looked up at him with her chin jutted up.  “I should be able to solve this thing before the end of the weekend.”

“That’s a tall order.”

“And I plan to fill that order.

Chapter 3

Sadie walked out of the police station, distraught and confused by Spencer’s death and Luna’s arrest.  None of it made sense.  Luna loved Spencer and it was inconceivable that she would do anything to harm him.

“Miss.”

Sadie turned to the sound of the strong male voice.

“You’re heading back to the hotel on that?” Max Martin said pointing to the scooter.

Smiling, Sadie shaded her eyes with the flat of her hand and looked up at him.  “I borrowed it from the hotel,” she said sheepishly.  “Since it was for an emergency, I’m sure they’ll understand.”

He nodded knowingly and smiled.  “The people there can be very accommodating when necessary,” he said.  “Since it’s such a large crowd for this wedding, I’ll send more officers over to help with the wedding guests.”

“Thank you,” Sadie said as she got onto her scooter.  “I appreciate that.”

She rode off and soon noticed that a police car was not too far behind her.  The moment they all arrived at the hotel, the officers followed her inside.

“Everyone is still in there,” Sadie told the officers.

“We’ve been instructed to restrain anyone who insists on leaving,” one of them said.

“You shouldn’t have too much trouble,” Sadie said.  “Most of them had planned to spend the weekend on the island.  Just keep an eye on those who might now decide to leave.”

The officers nodded while Sadie entered the ballroom to look at the startled guests.

“How are things here?” Sadie asked Tiffany who came to her with Orchid trailing behind her.

“People are getting fidgety, but they seem to all accept the need for them to stay here,” Tiffany said.

Sadie turned to her.  “Spencer’s piece of pie,” she said.  “Where did you put it?”

“It’s in the kitchen… on the counter where we set up.”

Sadie went to the kitchen which was once again busy and bustling with the preparations for the night’s festive dinner.  Ignoring Pierre and his team, Sadie made her way to the workstation where she’d plated the pies.  And there it was; a singular piece of pie set on the counter.

Grabbing a Ziploc bag from the shelf, she then filled the bag with the creamy pie.

“Do you really think it could be your pie that caused Spencer to die?” Tiffany said, coming up beside her.

Sadie wrote Spencer’s name on the bag with a marker.  “I don’t see how it could be possible, but I have to be sure.  At the very least I have to eliminate the possibility that my pie was responsible for Spencer’s death.  I have to rule it out so that I can concentrate on other possibilities.”

“What other possibilities?”

Sadie handed her the bag of pie.  “I don’t know yet.  We’ll have to cross that bridge when we get there.  I’d like to find a way to get in touch with Palmer.  I’d like to have him here.  I could sure use his help with this.”

Tiffany nodded.  “I called him about twenty minutes ago.  He’s on his way.  He was supposed to get here earlier but had issues and was delayed.  Did you know that he was invited to this shindig?”

Sadie smiled.  “I’m not surprised.”

“Apparently, he had some sort of emergency at the lab and he wasn’t able to get away on time.  He missed his flight out to Los Angeles and… well, you know how those things go.”

“Sure do.”

“By my estimation, he should be landing at LAX within the hour and then on the next ferry out to Catalina Island.”

“Good.  I need him.” Sadie was almost reluctant to admit how much she needed him.  She had to get her pie analyzed soon.  Partially to solve the crime, but also to absolve her of any wrongdoing.

“So, Luna also knows Palmer?” Tiffany said idly as she leaned back against the counter and looked out at Pierre’s hard working team.

Sadie smiled, amused by Tiffany’s intrigue.  “Yes.  Luna knows Palmer quite well.  A few years back I threw this huge bash for Luna.  She’d just landed a really juicy role in a movie and I wanted to celebrate.  In case you haven’t noticed yet, Luna isn’t much of a wallflower.  She goes out and mingles with everyone, and she mingled plenty with Palmer that night.  They quickly became good friends.”

“I didn’t have much of a chance to get to know her before she was dragged off to jail.”

Sadie pressed her lips as she looked at Tiffany, her words sinking in once again.  Luna in jail.  The very idea of it was ridiculous and frightening.

Shaking her head, Sadie closed her eyes and saw her good friend, her smile, her warm gaze.  She didn’t deserve what was happening to her.  “Luna is just a big, loving heart on two long and gorgeous legs.  She loves people.  She’s a vivacious and outgoing person who is quite literally friendly with everyone.  She makes everyone around her feel special. Darn!  I can’t believe this is happening to her.”

Tiffany chuckled and looked side-eye at Sadie.  “Who knows?  Maybe Luna will sweet talk herself out of jail.”

Sadie pressed a grim grin.  “Unfortunately, I think that’s where her powers of persuasion end.”

Shaking her head, Tiffany tsked.  “It must be something being so beautiful, so talented, so charming…”

“To tell you the truth, I don’t know how she handles it all.  I mean, she has tons of admirers.  Her fans are crazy about her.  And if you could only hear the stories she has told me about the executives and producers who all want a piece of her.”  Sadie laughed as she thought back to Luna’s many exploits.

“So, what do we do now?” Tiffany said, suddenly nervous as she turned to the sound of shouts coming from the ballroom.  “I think the guests are becoming more and more agitated.”

“Has anyone called for a doctor?” Sadie said.  “Every single guest should be examined.”

Nodding, Tiffany pulled out a crisp white business card.  “Doctor Jessica Breton should be arriving any minute now.”

“Okay,” Sadie said, getting her thoughts together.  “I want to take a look at the guest list.  Were you, by chance, able to get your hand on that?”

Tiffany reached over to the top shelf and brought down a plastic covered sheet of paper.  “This is what the event coordinator gave me.”

“How many people are we dealing with here?” Sadie said as she took the list.  “Fifty-two people.  Okay.  Let’s go out there and find out who had my pie and who didn’t.”

Tiffany nodded as she followed Sadie out to the ballroom.

“If I could have your attention, please,” Sadie called out.

Half of the room quieted down, but the others continued chatting.  In the far left corner, Sadie noticed a woman wearing a lab coat.  Good.  The doctor had already arrived and was setting up a space to examine the guests.

“Please, people,” Sadie said a little louder.  “Could you quiet down a moment.  I’ll be sure to let you go back to your conversations as quickly as possible.”

Everyone stopped talking except for one arrogant young woman who seemed to think that she was above it all.

“Miss,” Sadie said, looking pointedly at the young woman.

With an irritated cluck of her tongue, the young woman clammed up.

“Thank you,” Sadie said.  “I’m terribly sorry for the inconvenience this may be causing some of you, but I need to ask you all a favor.”

The attentive crowd looked up at her.

“Could I please have the people who ate the coconut cream pie come stand on this side of the room while those who did not eat any go to this side.”

The guests shifted about, a few couples separating as the woman went to the pie eating side of the room and the man went to the non-pie eating side.

When all had settled, Sadie counted thirty-two people who crossed over to the pie eating side while twenty people had abstained from trying the coconut cream pie.

“Okay,” Sadie said to those who’d eaten the dessert.  “There is a local doctor set up just over there and she’s going to take a look at all of you.”

The police officers who’d been waiting on the sides, came forward to get those guests in an orderly fashion and guide them toward the doctor.

“What about us?” someone called out from the other side of the room.  “Are we clear to go now?”

“Please, be patient,” Sadie said.  “We’ll get to you shortly.  Please.  Do sit down.  It shouldn’t be long.”

“What now?” Tiffany said as they both took a step back to look at the entirety of the large room.

Sadie glanced over at the doctor who was quickly taking the temperature and heartrate of the guests as she asked them questions.

“The doctor should be able to get through them quickly enough.  I want to know if anyone else got sick eating my pie.  If they did, then it means an entire pie, or even pies were contaminated.  If not, then it means that only Spencer’s piece was… poisoned.”

“And why did you want them to be separated?” Tiffany went on.

“Think about it,” Sadie said.  “If you’d poisoned one of those pies, would you want to eat it?”

Smiling, Tiffany shook her head.  “I guess not.”

“So, the question now is, why did those people not eat any of the pie?”

“Interesting,” Tiffany said with a grin.

After only a few more moments, the doctor came towards them.

“Are you Sadie Silver?” the older woman said.

“Yes,” Sadie said.  “And you’re Doctor Breton?”

“That’s right.”

“How are the pie eaters?” Sadie said.

“There’s no sign of any food poisoning,” the doctor said.  “Considering how quickly the victim died, they should all have some symptom or other by now, especially if they ate their entire piece of pie, which many of them did.”

“Thank you,” Sadie said.  “I really appreciate you coming down here so quickly to settle this.”

“Anytime,” Doctor Breton said.  “If you need anything else, I believe your assistant has my card.”

Sadie nodded and the older woman walked away.

“So, what’s the verdict?” Tiffany said.

“All clean,” Sadie said.  “Now, let’s find out why this group did not partake of my fabulous coconut cream pie.”

“Want me to go find out,” Tiffany offered.

Grinning, Sadie held up the guest list to her.  “I thought you’d never ask.  Here.”  She handed her the list.  “Find out who they are, then find out why they didn’t eat any of the pie.”

Giddy and giggly, Tiffany took the list.  “This is fun.  Maybe I’ll look into doing some detective work if this dessert thing doesn’t take off like I want.”

Sadie chuckled and watched Tiffany head off to the group of twenty guests.  She kept her eyes on the distinguished guests, looking for any telltale sign of something odd or suspicious.

While many of them were indeed upset by the earlier events, some of them seemed completely unfazed by Spencer’s untimely death.  They smiled and chatted as if nothing had happened at all.

On the other side of the room, it was almost as if the party had resumed.  Having been given a clean bill of health, a small group of good looking young men stood in a corner talking and laughing as if nothing out of the ordinary was going on.  Three women actually burst out laughing as they were offered champagne.

Actors, Sadie mused.  Luna had often mentioned how she could be off in her own head and barely aware of what was going on around her as she tried to work out a role in her mind.  Hollywood was a town of dreamers.

“Got them,” Tiffany announced as she hurried back to Sadie.

“You went through all of them?”

“Yeah,” Tiffany said with a broad smile.  “It’s surprising to see how eager people are to talk to you about their dietary restrictions.”

“So, what do you have?”

Tiffany showed her the guest list.  “Okay, so these two, Tony and Leonard are allergic to coconut, so they didn’t even want to go near it.”

“Figures some people would be allergic,” Sadie said with a shrug.

“Then we have these…”  Tiffany checked off five other guests.  “Not too surprisingly, they’re all on a diet.”

Sadie nodded.  “Fair enough.”

“Then, this one guy is diabetic and can’t have sugar.”

“Okay.  That makes eight, right?” Sadie said, counting them off on her fingers.

“Right.”  Tiffany looked at the list.  “Okay, these two here and these three here said that they were all too engrossed in a conversation to eat.  One of them claimed that they’d barely eaten their meal, much less their dessert.  That’s the life of a big time movie executive, I guess.”

“Okay.  Now we’re at thirteen.”

“And finally, these two were in the corner making out the whole time and they were barely aware of anything happening either way.”

“And what about the last five?”

Tiffany shrugged.  “I don’t know.  None of them really had a reason.  One of them muttered something about veganism, but she was unconvincing, like she didn’t really know what vegan was, but thought it might be a good excuse.  Anyway, they were all kind of vague and seemed reluctant to answer the question at all.”

“Can you point them out?” Sadie said.

Tiffany looked out into the group.  “The older thin man with the mustache.  That big guy with the bright red cheeks.  Those two women over there talking, and that blonde lady by the window.”

Sadie looked carefully at the five guests Tiffany had pointed out, but her gaze remained longest on the blonde by the window.

“That blonde,” Sadie said.  “Is that a wig?”

Tiffany nodded.  “That’s the impression I had when I spoke to her.  She looked really uncomfortable about being here at all.  She was fidgety and nervous.”

“Really.”

“Oh,” Tiffany added.  “And another thing… she was really reluctant to give me her name.  And when she did, it was after she’d looked at my list.”

“You mean, she picked a name off the list?”

“That’s the impression I had.”  Tiffany looked at Sadie.  “I could be wrong.  I’m new to all this detective work and my eagle eye is probably not as sharp as yours.”

Sadie smiled.  “Fair enough.  I’ll look at her as someone who may or may not have been officially invited.”

Tiffany shrugged.

“I’m going to go take a closer look.”  Sadie scrutinized the woman as she slowly made her way to her.

The blonde wig was fashioned in a way that did much to cover the woman’s face, but despite the disguise, Sadie soon found that the woman looked very familiar.  The narrow pointed nose and the thin red lip were a dead giveaway.  Could it be?

She stopped dead in her tracks as she came to fully recognize the woman.

Sylvia.  It was Luna’s first agent Sylvia Rush.  But what was she doing there?  Sadie was certain Luna had not invited her.  How could she after firing the woman?

Then again, Luna had the ability to remain friends with anyone.

Even Sylvia?

Chapter 4

Sadie returned to Tiffany.  “Come on,” she said as she walked on into the kitchen.

They entered the frenzied rush that had once again taken over the kitchen.  The scent of savory foods wafted up into her nostrils as butter, wine and seasonings filled the air.

“These people sure do keep busy,” Tiffany said.

“If I remember correctly, they’re now going to prepare a large feast for the evening meal.”

“Wow.  Those guests are sure going to be in for a treat,” Tiffany commented as they made their way to the workstation at the back.  “Whatever it is that they’re making, it smells divine.”

Pierre came up to them, the same scowl on his face as earlier.

“Back to cause more carnage, ladies?” he said with a snide and reprehensible tone.

“Actually, I’m looking into the cause for that unfortunate incident,” Sadie said with her proud chin in the air.  “And we’ve come to tidy up our corner of the kitchen and pick up any uneaten items.”

“Considering what happened earlier, I would imagine that you would have quite a lot of uneaten pies to pick up.”  And with that snide remark, he walked away.

“How dare he speak to you that way,” Tiffany said.  “You’d think he owned the place.”

Sadie shrugged.  “No matter.  I don’t have time or the inclination to deal with people like him… people who like to give themselves airs.  It’s just all so phony.”

Tiffany giggled.  “Kind of funny coming from someone whose best friend is paid to put on airs.”

Sadie smiled.  “Well, that’s not quite the same.”

As they reached the workstation, Sadie tore up and threw away the boxes her pies had been shipped in and got rid of all the other pies while Tiffany wiped down the counter.

“Are they really going to go forward with the entire weekend of festivities?” Tiffany said.  “Even while the groom is dead and the bride is in jail?”

“Looks like it,” Sadie said.  “No point in all of this going to waste.”

Tiffany stopped wiping the counter and looked beyond Sadie.

“Why are you stopping?” Sadie said.  “I want to hurry, get this cleaned up and get out of here.”

“Who is that?” Tiffany said, looking past Sadie’s shoulder.

Sadie looked back to see a tall dark haired woman in a white cook’s coat.  She was talking up close and personal with Pierre.

When the pair broke apart, the woman headed to the dessert station where a wide variety of items were already prepared and ready for presentation.

“I’m not sure, but I think that may be Rhonda Duvak.”

“Where have I heard that name before?” Tiffany said.  “I could have sworn I heard that name somewhere.”

“You have, and you’ve probably read about it in the pamphlets we received for our weekend here.  Rhonda Duvak is the resident prized pastry chef.  She’s made quite a name for herself in the patisserie world.”

“Ooh, la, la,” Tiffany said with exaggerated mannerisms.

“And, as you’ve probably deduced by the name, she’s Pierre’s wife,” Sadie added.

Tiffany nodded.  “Yes, I remember now reading about her.  She’s going to be preparing a special dessert bar, isn’t she?”

“That’s right.  She’s offering over thirty delicately fashioned items.”

“I even read that some of them will have actually gold on them,” Tiffany added.

Pierre came up behind Sadie.  “Are you finished cleaning up your workstation?” he said bluntly.

Surprised, Sadie turned to him.  “Oh, yes.  I just have to pick up…”

He looked at her with angry eyes.  “Look.  Pick up, clean up, finish up whatever it is that you have to do… now.”

“Yes,” Sadie said.  “I’ll grab my bag and…”

“Out,” Pierre said, pointing to the door.  “Out, out, out!”

“All right, already,” Sadie said as she and Tiffany were effectively pushed out of the kitchen and out into the hotel lobby.

“I can’t imagine working for someone so testy,” Tiffany said.  “That man is just awful.”

“Thank your lucky stars that you have an understanding and compassionate employer like me,” Sadie said with a grin.

Many guests were milling around the lobby, some of them from the wedding party.  A small group of men were huddled together just around the wide column from where Sadie and Tiffany stood.

“And what are you going to do about your cooking show now?” one of them was asking the other.

“You mean the dessert show?”

“Yeah.  I heard that Julie Hart is leaving the show and you’re looking for a new host.”

The man nodded.  “We find ourselves in a very privileged position,” he said.  “Two of the best pastry chefs are right here on Catalina Island as we speak.”

“You’re talking about Rhonda Duvak and Sadie Silver?”

“Exactly.  I think both of them have something to offer our audience.”

Her eyes wide, Tiffany looked at Sadie, nudging her head toward the group.  “Did you hear that?” she whispered.

Sadie nodded and tried to continue listening.

“I heard somebody say that Spencer was planning to approach Sadie Silver about possibly representing her.”

“He certainly has the clout to take the girl to the top.”

“You mean had.  He had the clout.”

“But if you just consider the fact that he was thinking of taking her on as a client… That is saying a lot about the confidence he had in this girl’s ability to be a star.”

“Interesting.  I got a glimpse of her when she brought out those coconut cream pies.  She’s a very pretty girl.   The camera would love her. And her pies weren’t bad.”

They all chuckled.

“I hear they’re to die for,” another quipped.

“Oh, Paul.  You’re awful.”

“Too soon?”

“The body’s not even cold yet and you’re making jokes?”

“Just trying to lighten the mood a bit.”  He shrugged.  “You heard how everyone raved about those pies.  I heard at least three people say that they didn’t even like coconut cream pie and yet they loved Sadie’s pie.”

“That’s saying a lot.”

“And what about Rhonda Duvak?”

“I don’t know.  Her cooking skills are undeniable, and she certainly has appeal.”

“Enough to attract an audience?”

“Sure… and that French accent.  People love that.”

Sadie grabbed Tiffany’s arm and took a step back around the column.  “Did you hear that?”

“Yeah,” Tiffany said excitedly.  “You’re in the running to host a super popular dessert cooking show.  This weekend just keeps getting more thrilling by the minute.”

Sadie shook her head.  “Not that part.  The part about Rhonda Duvak.  She’s also in the running to do that show.”

“Right,” Tiffany said with confidence.  “But don’t worry.  You’ll get it for sure.  You’re a lot prettier than she is.  Besides, if she’s as nasty as her husband… the audience won’t go for her.”

“I don’t think our French couple will see it that way,” Sadie said.  “What if Pierre and Rhonda wanted to make sure I did not get that show.  Think of the prestige a show like that could bring both of them.”

Tiffany gasped as the horror of the situation sank in.  “You think that Pierre could have tampered with your pies?”

“What better way to get me out of the competition than to poison my pies?”

“But to kill a man in order to get a television show?  That’s kind of… well… you know… not very nice.”

“Two birds with one stone, Tiffany,” Sadie said.

Frowning, the young woman looked at Sadie.

“They get me out of the competition by ruining my pies,” Sadie explained.  “And they get Spencer out of the way ensuring that he doesn’t make all of this poison nastiness go away and prop me up as the best choice for this television cooking show.”

“Ah,” Tiffany said with a grin.  “You’re so smart.  I hadn’t thought of that.”

“No wonder Pierre was in such a rush to get us out of the kitchen,” Sadie went on.

“He wants to make sure we don’t find anything incriminating.”

Sadie nodded.  “Come on.  We have to go back in there and ask him a few questions.”

As they turned around to go back inside, they came face to face with the hotel’s event coordinator, Florence Fontaine.

“I’ve been looking for you two,” the woman said with a cool smile.

“Monsieur Pierre essentially kicked us out,” Sadie said, still upset by the incident.

“The wedding guests are preparing to sit down for the evening meal and dessert.  If you’ll join them…”  She turned on her heel and disappeared down the hall.

Surprised, Sadie smiled and looked at Tiffany.  “That’s right,” she said.  “This is perfect.”

“I am getting a little hungry after all this detective work,” Tiffany said.

Sadie glared at her with a grin.  “I was referring to the perfect opportunity to talk to everyone in a more casual and laid back atmosphere.  People will sit back, and relax,… they’re bound to get very talkative.”

“Not to mention a few drops of wine to loosen up any tight lips.”

Chapter 5

As Sadie entered the ballroom, she noted that many of the guests had changed into more formal evening wear.  Cute cocktail dress had been replaced with elegant gowns adorned with diamonds and other precious gems.

“Wow,” Tiffany whispered as they stroll through the room looking for their names on the place cards.  “This crowd just reeks of money.  Money, money, money.”

Sadie grinned as she saw her place card beside a dreamboat of a young man.

“Well,” Tiffany let out with a huff.  “Lucky you.”

Tiffany’s place card beside hers, but she had an old executive sitting beside her.

Trying desperately to control her grin, Sadie sat beside the handsome young man.  His short blonde hair had just enough length to allow for a hint of dreamy curls that were contrasted by his deep, deep blue eyes.

As she prepared to pull her chair back, the handsome young man quickly got to his feet to allow her to sit.

“Thank you,” she said as they both sat back down.

He was so incredibly good looking, that she was momentarily awestruck and speechless.  As he’d stood, she noted just how tall he was.  He had a strong jaw, square chin and a gentle and warm smile.  While she was certain he was a well-known movie star, she had no idea who he was.

“You’re Luna’s friend,” the man said.  “The pastry chef, right?”

“That’s right,” Sadie said.  “What a horrible day this has turned out to be.”

He looked around at the festivities.  A handful of servers were already going around the room bringing appetizers to the guests.

“I think that things are turning out pretty well, given the circumstance,” he said.  He looked deeply into Sadie’s eyes.  “Of course, I’m devastated for Luna.  I know how deeply she loved Spencer, but things could have been so much worst.”

Frowning, Sadie looked at him.  “How do you figure?”

“Who knows what killed Spencer?” he said.  “If it was something in the food, be it the pie or anything else, dozens of people could have died.”

Sadie nodded.  “Right.  I hadn’t thought of it that way.”

He tapped the side of his head with his index finger.  “You always have to think about these things.  You have to look for that silver lining.  Sometimes it’s hard to find, but it’s always there.”

“You seem to be very much the optimistic type,” Sadie said just as a server brought her a plate with a fancy little appetizer salad.

“I try to be,” the young man said.

“Are you in the movie industry?”

He nodded as he took a bite of his salad.

“A movie actor?”

He chuckled and set his fork down.  “Oh.  Heaven’s no.  I don’t have an artistic bone in my body.  But I do know what I like.  I’m more of an investor.  I like finding projects that I like, projects that show promise.  I pay a portion of the bills and then I rake in the dough when the show takes off.”

“Isn’t that risky?” Sadie said.  “I mean, it’s pretty hit and miss, isn’t it?”

He laughed as he smiled at her, his warm face filled with amusement.  “It can be, and I did place my bet on a lame show or two, but…  Well, truth is, I love television.  I watched as much television as my parents would let me get away with when I was a kid.  And, I’ll tell you, when I was in my teens, I started making predictions.  Every new season, I would predict which new shows would become hits and which were duds.”

“I’m guessing that you were right quite often,” Sadie said as she finished off her appetizer.  She was enjoying herself immensely and found herself quite smitten with the handsome young man with the dreamy eyes.

“Soon, I started to put my money where my mouth was and… voila.  A few years and a few million dollars later and I’m bankrolling a lot of these projects… sometimes completely on my own.”

“That’s pretty impressive.”

He nodded.  “And fun.”

“So, what shows are you now invested in?”

“When I heard that Luna had gotten the role of the queen of a drug cartel in this new show, I knew I had to get on board.  I had seen her in another production, and I knew she had what the show needed to make it a hit.  And I was right.  The audience loves her.  She can bring spice and charm to any villain, and she makes us love her even as she does her dirty work.”

Sadie laughed.  “That’s Luna for you.  She’s charming no matter what she’s doing.”

“And she also seems to have a knack for surrounding herself with talented and charming people.”

Sadie was about to make a comment when she noticed how intently he was smiling and looking at her.

“Oh,” she let out with a giggle as she realized that she was one of the talented and charming people he was referring to.

“You’re the one who made the desserts, right?” he said.

“Yes,” she said.  “That’s right.  Luna does love my coconut cream pie.”

“I have to tell you, I’m sure glad I got to taste that pie before Spencer keeled over.  I mean, once he fell dead, pretty much everyone stopped eating, but thankfully, I’d eaten more than half of my piece of pie by then.  And I have to tell you, it was the best darn dessert I’ve ever had.”

“Thank you,” Sadie said.  “That is very kind of you.”

“So, in one room, we have the top pastry chef and the top rated actress from a hit tv show.  Life doesn’t get much better than that.”

“If my baking could take off the way Luna’s show has, I’d be in seventh heaven.”

“Yes,” he said.  “Her show just keeps killing it in the ratings week after week.  People can’t get enough of her.  And all that success makes it even harder to consider bringing the show to an end.”

“And end?” Sadie said.  “Why would they bring the show to an end?  Are they talking about cancelling the show?”

“Oh,” he said, surprised.  “No.  They would never dare cancel it.  But… well.  You know how rumors go.  There’s one pervasive rumor going around that Luna wants to start a family.”  He looked around at the strange wedding party without the bride and groom.  “At least, that was what she was planning before Spencer fell over and died on her.  She had hinted that she would like to try to have a baby once she and Spencer tied the knot.”

“She never told me that,” Sadie said.

“She didn’t tell many people, but the word got out all the same.”

“But plenty of actresses have babies and go on to work.  Surely, there’s a way of filming around her pregnancy and…”

 She stopped speaking, suddenly choked up.  Thinking of Luna now all alone was heartbreaking.  There were no longer any hopes for a family for a while yet.  It broke Sadie’s heart to think of her friend’s hopes and dreams being so callously shattered.

As a busboy came by to clear away the small appetizer plates, a server followed close behind with the main dish: seared steak with buttery mixed vegetables.  Mashed potatoes were adorned with chives and green onions and fashioned into the shape of a pear, covered with breadcrumbs and lightly fried, giving the mashed potatoes a delectable crunchy outer layer.

The handsome young man shook his head after the server left and resumed his line of thought.  “Apparently, she’s not interested in being a part time mom, at least not for a while.  She wanted to quit the show.  Anyway, that was the rumor going around.  I never got around to actually discussing it with Luna.”

Stunned, Sadie looked at him.  “Oh,” she said.  “I didn’t even know that she wanted kids.  I thought that her career was her priority.”

“I heard she’s really good with kids.  There were a few kid actors on the set a while back and she really had a way with them.”

Not too surprising, Sadie thought.  Luna had a way with everyone.  She cut into her steak and took a bite, but truth was, she wasn’t very hungry.  Though everything was delicious, she had trouble enjoying the food.

“Were any of the investors in the show upset with the possibility of her leaving the show?”

He shrugged as he took a bite of his steak.  “Sure.  Everyone was unhappy about the rumor.  The cast, the director, the producers… I mean, they all know that Luna is the show.  Without her, they have nothing.  They can’t just replace her with another actress or write her character out and put in a new one.  The public loves Luna and there’s getting around that.”

Sadie nodded.  “I can understand that.  I’ve seen the show.  She’s great in it.  She brings just the right amount of sophisticated charm balanced with hard-nosed grit.  I can’t imagine anyone else pulling it off as well as she does.”

Again, he shrugged as he brought his fork to his mouth.  “As sad as I would be to see that show come to an end, there will be others.  If Luna were to decide to end her contract this year, to have a family or for any other reason, I can respect that.  It’s her choice, and I’m fine with that.”

Good to know, Sadie thought as she forced another bite.  But how did the other investors feel about the possibility of losing their meal ticket?

The young man smiled and looked at her intently.  “You’re a very interesting and inquisitive woman,” he said with a friendly gleam in his eye.  “Do you always have so many questions?”

“Only when a murder has occurred.”

He cocked a brow at that and grinned.  “I take it you’re looking into what really happened here today.”

“It certainly is intriguing and disturbing.”

“And let’s hope that’s the only dramatic thing that happens here today.”

The handsome young man finished his meal and pushed his plate away.  “Now, that was the best steak I’ve had in a long, long time.  They just don’t make them like that anymore.”

Sadie grinned and looked at her half eaten steak.  “It is tasty.”

“And now,” the young man said as he pushed back his chair and stood.  “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go check out that dessert bar.  I hear that Madame Rhonda Duvak has gone all out to prepare a feast for the eyes as well as the tastebuds.”

Sadie nodded as he walked away.

“You sure were in an interesting conversation,” Tiffany remarked as she nudged Sadie with her elbow.

“He’s a very interesting man,” Sadie said, watching the man’s backside as he walked away.

“Who is he?”

“An investor in television shows.  He invested heavily in Luna’s show.”

“Does he have a name?”

Sadie turned to look at her assistant.  “I’m sure he does, but I neglected to ask him.”

“Hmmm,” Tiffany mused.  “The inquisitive Sadie forgot to ask a handsome… rich young man what his name is?  You really are distracted by this murder.”

Chuckling, Sadie looked down at her half empty plate just as a busboy came around to clear the table.

“Are you finished with this, ma’am,” the busboy asked.

“Yes,” Sadie said as she sat back to allow him to take her plate.

“They’ve opened the dessert bar,” Tiffany said as she pushed her chair back and stood.  “And I’m just itching to try this French ooh-la-la pastry chef’s desserts.  Want me to bring you anything?”

“Sure,” Sadie said.  “Surprise me.  A little variety…”

Tiffany nodded and headed off to get in the quickly growing line for the dessert bar.

Alone for a moment, Sadie took the time to look around the room.  The tension caused by Spencer’s death had lifted and everyone seemed to be having a good time.  Many were getting up to get it line to pick various items from the generous dessert bar.

I hope that Madame Duvak has made plenty, because his crowd appears to have a serious sweet tooth, Sadie mused to herself.

By the time Tiffany returned, so had the handsome young investor.

“This little creamy, custard, puffy thing is good,” the young man said.  “But it is nothing compared to your coconut cream pies.”

“I appreciate that.  It’s not every day that my desserts go head to head with those of a true French pastry chef.”

Tiffany put a large plate filled with various pastries on the table between herself and Sadie.

“Wow,” Sadie said softly.  “Those are the most fanciful and professional looking pastries I’ve ever seen.  They’re positively beautiful.”  The artistry of the pieces was outrageous.

“It must take her and her team hours to put these things together,” Tiffany remarked.

Sadie picked up a square concoction of chocolate mousse layered between thin caramel wafers.

Tiffany picked up a ball of coconut dipped in a chocolate glaze and tried it.  “And it’s as good as it looks.”

Sadie took a small bite of the chocolate mousse and nodded.  “Interesting note of nut in there.  I wouldn’t have expected that.”

She tried three other pastries, each more delectable than the last.  Meanwhile, the server came around to offer everyone coffee.

“I’m going to be up all night after this,” the handsome young man said as he held up his tiny cup of espresso.  He looked at Sadie with soft romantic eyes that invited her to spend more time with him.

She was truly intrigued by him.  He seemed so young to be so heavily invested in television programs.  And judging by the way he was dressed and the gold chain at his neck, he was doing pretty well for himself and he enjoyed showing it.

As they continued to compare notes on desserts and then chat about nothing in particular, Sadie soon found herself putting Spencer’s death aside and simply enjoying the evening.

While the guests finished their desserts and coffee and moved on to liquors and digestives, the gentle and soft music that had accompanied the meal grew louder and more festive.

“So,” the handsome young man was telling Sadie, “the guy tells me that it’s going to be a show about two older dudes who’d spent all their lives as beach bums and had now inherited a hoity toity hotel in Beverly Hills.”  He laughed as he thought back about the show.  “And I distinctly remember thinking, who wants to watch a show about two old dudes… two washed out beach bums.  So, I let it pass.”

“Isn’t that Life Changes?” Sadie said with a grin.

“That’s the one.”

“I remember that show,” Sadie said.  “It was pretty funny.”

“Yeah.  And it went on to be in the top ten shows for the next six years.  I really missed the boat on that one.  But that’s the only success story that really got away from me.”

“Well,” Sadie said with a shrug.  “You can’t win them all.”

As she spoke, she glanced to her side and realized that Tiffany was no longer seated beside her.  She looked around and spotted her by the entrance to the ballroom.  With a discreet wave of her hand, Tiffany gestured for Sadie to join her.

“If you’ll excuse me,” Sadie told the young man.  “I need to go speak with my assistant.”

“Sure thing,” he said with a broad smile.  “But come back.  I have more stories to tell you.”

Grinning, she nodded and stood to go to Tiffany.

“What is it?” she said as she followed Tiffany out into the main hall.

Tiffany simply jutted her chin out to the left and Sadie looked in that direction to see Palmer.

“Oh, Palmer,” Sadie said as she went to him and hugged him.  “You made it.  I thought you’d never get here on time.”

Darn, but he looked good.  He had such a youthful, boyish gleam about him that made everyone gravitate towards him.  But he was also so smart and so kind, making him irresistible.

“I see that Biscuit already welcomed you,” Sadie said, looking at her pooch in her friend’s arms.

“He attacked me out front as I got out of the cab.”  He looked down at the happy dog.  “Think he missed me?”

“It sure looks that way.”

“And what about Orchid?” Palmer said.

“Oh,” Sadie said with a vague glance around.  “She’s no doubt sleeping off the morning’s excitement in some corner somewhere.”

“Right,” Palmer said.  “So, Tiffany told me that there was a murder here this morning?”

“For now, they’re calling it a suspicious death, but yes.  I do believe it was a murder.  Someone wanted Spencer dead and out of the way.”

“I ran a quick test on the sample of your pie,” Palmer said.

“Already?”

Tiffany looked at her with a silly grin.  “While you were busy chatting with your new investor friend, I left to go meet Palmer as he landed on the island.  I knew you’d be eager to get the results, she I gave him the sample right away.”

“Good work,” Sadie said, proud of her assistant’s initiative.  She turned to look at Palmer.  “So?  What did the results say?”

“All clean,” he said with confidence.  “Not a trace of anything suspicious.”

“Are you sure?” Sadie said.  “I mean, are you absolutely sure?”

He playfully glared at her.  “I know how important this is to you, Sadie.  I ran the test carefully and I ran it twice.  Both times it came out clean.  The only thing that was in your pie is sugar and spice and everything nice.”

Sadie let out a light giggle.  “You always have a way with words, don’t you?”

“I try.”

“Then tell me this, laboratory genius that you are,” Sadie went on.  “If my pie simply consisted of the normal ingredients of a rich and delicious coconut cream pie, why was Spencer left foaming at the mouth?  From what I could see, the only thing in his mouth was my pie.”

Palmer shrugged.  “Who knows, Sadie?  It could have been a number of things.  It could have been something he ate during the meal that took a while to affect him.  It could be something he drank… maybe something in his coffee.”

Biscuit suddenly started coughing violently, forcing Palmer to put him down on the ground.

Sadie stooped down to gently pet the back of his head.  “What’s the matter, little fella?” she said.  “Are you okay?”

But the little dog continued to cough until he gagged.

“Something is wrong with him,” Sadie said, growing more and more concerned.  “My God.  Could he have eaten the same thing as Spencer?”

“I seriously doubt it, Sadie,” Tiffany said.

But as Sadie continued to pet Biscuit’s head, he suddenly threw up.

“Ew,” Tiffany said as she turned away.  “Gross.”

But as gross as it was, Sadie’s eyes were immediately drawn to the flash of light blue fabric amidst the remains of Biscuit’s lunch.

“What is that?” Palmer said as he squished up his face.

Sadie carefully picked the small piece of fabric out of her dog’s discarded lunch.  “I think it’s silk.”

Palmer glared at her.  “Really?” he said.  “And is Biscuit in the habit of consuming silk now?”

She looked at him with a sheepish grin.  “When I initially heard the scream coming from the ballroom, I rushed out to see what was happening.  But the door opened in my face, and while I fell back, practically bulldozed by this runaway fiend, Biscuit here ran after them, nipping at their heel.  Looks like he actually managed to nip off a piece of the person’s silk pants.”  Sadie turned to Biscuit.  “Did you get this from that person who ran me down?”

Wagging his tail, Biscuit looked up at her, his bright and inquisitive eyes locked onto hers.

“Do you think this could be from the person who killed Spencer?” Sadie went on.

Biscuit barked and continued to wag his tail.

“Who is wearing blue silk?” Tiffany said.

Sadie leaned into the doorway to look out into the ballroom.  Standing by the French doors that led out to the patio, a woman stood eating her Rhonda Duvak dessert as she chatted with another guest.

She was wearing an elegant pale blue pant suit and even from a distance, Sadie could see a slight tear at the back of the delicate ensemble. “Wouldn’t you know it,” Sadie said to Tiffany.  “The woman wearing the silk pant suit is the same one that has that tacky blonde wig.”

“All of this makes her a little bit more than suspicious,” Tiffany said.

“I’ll say,” Sadie said.  “I think that may very well be Sylvia Rush, and if it is, she certainly has some explaining to do.  Wearing a wig, running off like that as Spencer lays dying…  Something is up with that woman and I’m going to go find out what.”

Chapter 6

Sadie returned to the ballroom to find that many of the guests were taking their leave of the festivities and were heading back to their respective suites.

As she looked around at the remaining guests, she realized that Sylvia Rush, if indeed that was her, was gone.

“Do you think she has returned to her room?” Tiffany said.

“I don’t know,” Sadie said.  “If she came here uninvited, she might not even have a room to go to.”

“I’ll go take a look out on the patio,” Tiffany offered.

“Good,” Sadie said.  “Thanks.  Meanwhile, I’ll go to the hotel bar to see if she might not be there.”

Sadie walked through the hotel’s main corridor and came to the intimate little lounge bar.

The darkened room had several patrons seated along the bar and a few others at the cozy little tables lit by small decorative candles.  In the far corner, a lone woman with a cascade of auburn curls was quietly playing an acoustic guitar.  It made for a very relaxing atmosphere.

Sadie was about to walk out when she noticed the striking blonde wig under the glow of a dim overhead light.  Seated at the very end of the bar, Sylvia looked haggard and miserable.

Taking a deep breath, Sadie was cautious as she approached the seemingly drunken woman.

“Mind if I have a seat?” Sadie said as she pulled back the vacant wooden stool beside Sylvia.

“Go ahead,” Sylvia said with a dismissive wave of her hand.  “It’s not as if tall, dark and handsome is going to come over and make my day better.”

Hunched over her drink, Sylvia looked a lot older than she actually was.

“I believe I saw you at the Luna/Spencer wedding,” Sadie said.  “Quite a day, wasn’t it?”

Sylvia tilted her head to the side and looked up at Sadie.  “You,” she said as she pointed at Sadie with a shaky finger.  “You’re Luna’s cute little friend from some little town in upstate New York.”

Sadie nodded.  “Fortune Falls, New York, to be exact.”

“Right.”  Sylvia nodded.  “You’re the chef.  The pastry chef.  The one with her own shop… her own dessert catering thing.”

“That’s right.”

“You certainly are a cutie pie, aren’t you?” Sylvia said as she pushed up from the bar and tried her best to sit up.  “Yeah.  The camera would just love that cute little face of yours.  Cute in a way that the women will enjoy watching, but attractive enough to draw in a sizable male audience as well.”

“Thank you,” Sadie said, feeling the heat of blush rush to her cheeks.

“Tell me, kid,” Sylvia said, slurring slightly.  “Do you have an agent?”

“Well… no,” Sadie said.  “I’m not in show business.  I mean, I often bake for celebrities, but I’m not a celebrity… at least not in that way.”

“You should be, kid.  You’re too good looking to be locked up in some bakery out in Fallen Falls.”

“Fortune Falls,” Sadie corrected.

“Right.”  Sylvia took a closer look at Sadie.  “You know there’s an opening for a cute little chef on this cooking show.  The part just recently opened up and would be perfect for you.  Hollywood would love you, kid.  Leave Foreign Falls and move out west.”

Sadie was about to correct her again but decided to let it slide.

“I’ll take care of you.  I’ll make you a culinary star.  A face like yours doesn’t come around every day,” Sadie went on.  “And those brilliant green eyes… they’re killer.”

“Thank you.”

“And you’ve got that exotic thing happening,” Sylvia went on.  “What’s your nationality, kid?”

“My mother is Chinese and my father Irish,” Sadie said.  “But I’m American.”

“Or course, you are, dear,” Sylvia said looking adoringly into Sadie’s face.  “Man… what I could do with that face.  And if you really have the talent to back it up… well, it’s in the bag.  Are you really as good as Luna says you are?”

“Well, I do tend to events like this pretty often.  I have a number of pastry shops here and there.  I think it’s fair to say that I know what I’m doing.”

“Ha.  And you’re modest to boot.  Yeah.  I bet you do know what you’re doing,” Sylvia said.  “Then it’s a sure thing.  You’ve got a hit on your hand.  Are you funny, kid?”

“Funny?”

“Yeah,” Sylvia said.  “You know… a sense of humor.  People love a talented, cutie pie with a good sense of humor.  If you can show people how to cook and you can keep them entertained as you do it… they will love you and keep coming back for more.”

“Well,” Sadie said, not sure how to respond.  “I guess I can be funny at times, but I’m no comic.”

“I’ll tell you what, kid,” Sylvia said, leaning in closer to Sadie.  “I would love to represent a talent like you.  And I have the perfect show for you.  And I could negotiate big bucks for you.  How does that sound?”

“Um,” Sadie muttered.  “I… That is very nice of you… very flattering, but…”

“I’m telling you…” Sylvia stopped suddenly and looked pointedly at Sadie.  “What’s your name again?”

“Sadie.  Sadie Silver.”

“Sadie.  That’s right.  Good name.  Good, solid television name.  People will remember that.”  Sylvia smiled.  “Savory Sadie.  Oh, wait.  No.  I think the show they’re looking to do is all about dessert.  How perfect for you.  Yep.  Sweet Sadie.  How do you like the sound of that?  Sweet Sadie Silver.”

Sadie realized that Sylvia was talking about the very same show that the executives had been talking about earlier in the lobby.  They’d mentioned how Spencer had wanted to sign her up.

Then, was it true?  She really was in the running to do a dessert cooking show.

“I hear they’re looking to possibly hire Rhonda Duvak for the show,” Sadie ventured.

Sylvia waved the idea away.  “That uppity squawk,” she said with disgust.  “Nobody wants to be chastised for having the wrong technique, dear.  They want to be charmed into doing it right.  They want to be able to laugh at their own mistakes.  Heck, they might even want to see you make a mistake every now and again, just to show that you’re not perfect and infallible.  That old witch is better at snickering and snide remarks than anything else.  And what to say about that supposedly ‘French’ chef husband of hers.  Right… Pierre Duvak.  French chef, my eye.”

Sadie smiled and almost cracked up at Sylvia’s assessment of the cooking pair.

“So, what do you say, kid?” Sylvia went on.  “Do I sign you up, or what?”

“I don’t really know what to say,” Sadie said.  “I mean…”

“Well, say yes,” Sylvia said as she swung her ice around in her glass then took a sip.

“You know, Luna is probably going to need you again now that Spencer… well.  She no longer has an agent.”

“No,” Sylvia said as she set her glass back down.  “That ship has sailed.”

“Are you angry at her for signing with Spencer?”

Shaking her head, Sylvia took another quick sip of her drink and let out a small snort.  “No.  Not at all.  It’s just that I’ve taken Luna as far as I can take her.  She’s a big star now.  She’s beyond my scope.  She’s out of my league.  And that’s fine.  I’m happy with the way things turned out.”

“You are?” Sadie said, trying to hide her surprise.

“Of course, I am,” Sylvia said.  “She’s like my baby.  I raised her for as long as I could.  I got her her first jobs.  I got her in the door.  And now she’s a big girl and needs someone with more standing in the movie business than I have.”

“So, you were okay with Luna leaving you and going to Spencer?”

“Okay with it?” Luna said with a laugh.  “I’m the one who recommended Spencer.  He’s the best.  And he has connections like you wouldn’t believe.  He’ll bring her to the top.  I just know he will.”  Her smile faded and she was suddenly quiet and sad.  “Well, I guess that’s not going to happen now.  What a crappy thing to happen.  Luna deserves such happiness.  She doesn’t deserve this.”

“I think that many people assumed you were a little bitter about the whole thing.”

“Ah,” Sylvia said with a slight slur.  “That’s people for you.  They love to see friction, to see war and conflict and a nice catfight.  They always assume the worse.  Truth is, I was happy for Luna, really happy for her.”

“I’m happy to hear that,” Sadie said.  “I think that Luna is really going to need to surround herself with people who care about her when all of this is over.”

“I may not be her agent, but I’ll always be her friend.  I’ll always be there for her.”

Sadie looked pointedly at Sylvia.  “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.  Go ahead.” Sylvia tapped the side of her empty glass with the big heavy ring on her finger.  “I have nowhere to go.”

“Earlier today, when Spencer… well, when he fell to the floor…” Sadie said, careful in her choice of words.  “I was in the kitchen and I was heading out into the ballroom when I heard Luna scream.  But I was knocked down by someone who came running into the kitchen… or running away from something in the ballroom.”

“Oh,” Sylvia said with a distant smile.  “That.”

“Was that you?”

Sylvia nodded heavily.  “That was me, all right.”

“The coconut cream pie was being served.  Why did you run away?  What were you running from?”

“Oh, honey,” Sylvia said with an embarrassed grin.  “I wasn’t running away from anything.  I was running to something… namely the closest bathroom I could find.  I knew that running through the kitchen would lead me to the lobby and the bathroom right there to the right.”

Sadie frowned.  “Not to get personal or anything, but why the rush?”

Sylvia looked at her with googly eyes.  “You see, dear, I don’t have very strong sea legs.  What some people might call a nice little boat ride from Los Angeles to Catalina Island, I call positively torture.  I’ll tell you, if it hadn’t been Luna, I would not have come out here.  But, anyway, the boat ride left me a little squeamish.  You see, I was a little late in getting here.  So, by the time you were serving your nice little pies, I’d barely been off that darned boat for twenty minutes.  My stomach was having none of it.  It just wanted to unload, and fast.”

“Oh,” Sadie said, admittedly disappointed.  “If it’s any consolation, I’ve heard that many people have issues with that boat ride.  The waters between LA and Catalina can be quite choppy at times.”

“I’ll say,” Sylvia said, wiping her brow.  “That’ll teach me to be the last one to arrive at an event.  Had I made it here earlier, I would have had time to go to my room and rest before heading to the ballroom.  That way, my stomach would have had time to settle and calm down.  As it was, I got off that boat, hurried over here and stuffed my face with Monsieur Pierre’s sumptuous lunch and then… well…”

“Well, I do hope you’re feeling better now,” Sadie said.  She glanced at Sylvia’s empty glass.  “Would you like me to escort you back to your room?”

Sylvia shook the lone ice cube around in her glass.  “Nah,” she said.  “I think I’ll just have another before going to bed.” She raised her glass.  “At least I don’t have to drive anywhere tonight.”

“All right, then,” Sadie said as she got up.  “Have a good night.”

Sadie turned to walk away.

“Hey, kid,” Sylvia called out.

Sadie looked back at her.

“Here’s my card,” she said, holding a business card out to her.  “Just in case you decide you need representation after all.”

“Thanks,” Sadie said as she took the card.  “I’ll be sure to call you if I do.”

Sadie headed back to her suite and opened the door.

“Oh,” she said as she entered the luxury suite to find Palmer and Tiffany there along with Orchid and Biscuit.  “The gang’s all here.”

“I was beginning to think you’d be out all night,” Palmer said.

Sadie smiled.  “Are you sharing a room with us, Palmer?”

He grinned back at her.  “Actually, I have the luxury of having an immense suite all to myself.”

“Lucky you,” Sadie said as she winked at Tiffany.  “It’s horrible having to share a room.”

Tiffany smiled back at her as she petted Orchid who was comfortably stretched out on her lap.

“So,” Palmer said.  “Did you find anything out about the owner of that blue silk?”

“I found Sylvia Rush at the bar.”

“And…?” Tiffany prompted.

“I don’t think she had anything to do with it,” Sadie said.

“Are you sure?”

“No.  I’m not sure, but she sounded pretty convincing.”

“So then why did she run you over as she rushed into the kitchen?”

“She felt sick.”

“That’s a pretty convenient excuse,” Palmer said.

Sadie shrugged.  “And she said she harbored no hard feelings toward Luna or Spencer for having been let go.”

“Well, that’s what I would say too if I were in her shoes,” Tiffany said.

Sadie sat on the edge of her bed and Biscuit immediately jumped up to lean into her lap.  “She sounded pretty convincing,” she said as she scratched him behind the ear.

“And you believe her?”

Again, Sadie shrugged.  “I could always ask Luna is she did indeed invite her to the wedding.  I could also ask how their relationship has been since she dropped Sylvia to go to Spencer.”

“So, either way,” Palmer said as he headed for the door.  “We’re not going to solve this tonight.”

“No,” Sadie said regrettably.  “We won’t.  So, let’s all get a good night’s sleep, because we’re going to have a lot of work to do tomorrow.”

Chapter 7

“Meow.”

Sadie woke up to find Orchid sitting on her chest.

“What’s up, Orchid?” Sadie said groggily as she reached up to rub under her chin.

The delicate feline immediately started purring.

“Yeah.  Yeah,” Sadie said as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.  “I’m up.  I’m getting up.”

As she cradled Orchid and sat up, she looked at Tiffany’s bed to find her deep under her covers.

“Okay, guys,” Sadie said as she set Orchid on the bed and looked down at Biscuit.  “Get ready, because we’re going to go out for a stroll this morning.”

Sadie hurried into the shower and was out before Tiffany woke up.  She dressed comfortably in relax jeans and a blue and yellow checkered button down shirt.

She then gathered up a bag full of dog treats that came from her own pastry shop and few things for Orchid as well.

“Come on, Orchid,” she said as she opened the cat’s carrying bag.  “You know the drill.”

The cat dutifully walked into the carrying bag and turned to look at Sadie as she zipped it up.  “Meow.”

“Yes.  Yes,” Sadie said.  “I know you don’t particularly like it in there, but it won’t be for long.”

Sadie then snapped Biscuit’s leash onto his collar and slipped the shoulder strap of Orchid’s bag on her shoulder and headed out.  She was greeted by a warm sun and refreshing breeze from the sea.  Biscuit was thrilled with the walk while Orchid quickly settled in and snoozed.

The fifteen minute walk was pleasant enough, but Orchid, as slight as she was, had grown heavy on Sadie’s shoulder and she was happy to finally arrive at the police station and set the bag down.

“Can I help you with anything?” the police officer at the front desk said.

“Yes,” Sadie said.  “I’m here to see Luna Lacewell.  She was brought in yesterday.”

The young officer looked at a sheet of paper on the desk and nodded.  “I’ll have someone come to the front desk to escort you to Miss Lacewell’s cell.”

“Thank you.”

A few moment’s later, another police officer came.

“You’re here to see Luna Lacewell?”

Sadie nodded.

“Follow me, please.”

Sadie followed the tall officer through a narrow corridor and was finally led to Luna’s small but warm cell.

“How are you doing this morning?” Sadie was quick to say when she saw her.

Luna simply shrugged.

“Can I go in to sit with her?” Sadie asked the officer who looked at Biscuit and Orchid.  “I brought them to cheer her up,” she added in a whisper.

The officer nodded and opened Luna’s cell.

Biscuit immediately went up to Luna and licked her face, drawing a smile from the widowed bride.  Sadie then let Orchid out.

“Hey, kitty,” Luna said softly.

Orchid languidly strolled over to her and rubbed the top of her head against her arm.

“Oh, Orchid,” Luna said, tears coming to her eyes.  “Aren’t you just so lovely, coming all the way over here to cheer me up?”

Sadie smiled at her beautiful friend who was so incredibly distraught.  “I was hoping you’d be happy to see them.”

“How can anyone be unhappy when these two are around?” Luna said.  Though she pressed a smile, her eyes were still filled with immeasurable sadness.

Opening the bag of treats, she handed a few to Luna.  “You’ll have them eating out of your hand,” she said with a playful grin.

Luna offered a dog treat to Biscuit who eagerly but gently took it from Luna’s fingertip.  Luna then held a morsel of tender treats to Orchid who took her sweet time sniffing and sniffing the morsel before finally deigning to eat it.

“They look to be starving,” Luna said.  “Have you been feeding them?”

Sadie laughed.  “Don’t worry about them.  They have plenty to eat.  I’ll admit that they didn’t have breakfast this morning, but that’s only because I knew we’d be feeding them here.”

Luna smiled and looked fondly at Orchid who, after eating her small morsel, curled up beside Luna, occasionally looking up at her, as if to ensure she was all right.

“And how are they treating you here?” Sadie said.  “Have you had breakfast?”

Luna shook her head.  “They brought me a tray earlier, but I couldn’t eat a thing.  My stomach just won’t have it.”

“I understand.”

Luna looked up at Sadie.  “They haven’t told me much here.  Did you find anything out?”

“Well, preliminary tests show that it wasn’t the pie that killed Spencer.”

At the sound of his name, Luna let out a solitary sob then quickly regained control of her emotions.

“Luna,” Sadie said.  “How are things between you and Sylvia since Spencer became your agent?”

“She was in shock a bit when I first told her that it was time I moved on,” Luna said.  “But I think she expected it.  I think she knew that it was time.  After the initial shock wore off, she was completely understanding and even supportive of my move.”

“So, there were no hard feelings?” Sadie said.

“Not at all,” Luna said.  “In fact, I know that she loved Spencer.  She suggested I contact him.  When she found out that he was going to be representing me, she said I’d made the right choice.  She said that he was one of the best agents out there.”

“And you invited her to the wedding?”

“Of course, I did,” Luna said.  “I wanted her here.  She’s been a part of my life for so long… and she’s responsible for so much of my success.”

Sadie nodded, relieved to see that Sylvia’s story was true.  As much as she would have wanted to resolve the murder as quickly as possible, she hated the thought of someone so close to Luna being so heartless and despicable.

Now, she could move onto other possibilities.

“Have you thought about who could possibly want to do this to Spencer?” Sadie said.  “Did Spencer have any enemies?  Did he perhaps rub a few people the wrong way?”

As she gently petted Orchid, Luna looked up at Sadie.  “A large part of Spencer’s job was negotiating for me and his other clients.  He was tough.  When he decided on a celebrity’s worth, he didn’t budge much.  He went at it with everything he had to get his client the money they deserved.  When it came to me, he was even harder to bargain with.  I know that on more than one occasion, he threatened to pull me out of a movie contract if they didn’t give me what I wanted.”

“Really?  He got you anything you wanted?”

A slight grin came over Luna’s lips.  “I don’t want to give you the impression that I was playing the diva or anything.  It wasn’t like that.  Some of the things that I demanded were for security reasons.  Like when they wanted me to jump off a balcony with four inch heels on.  It was insane.  And then there were times that it was dietary issues.  I just wanted more fruit in my trailer.  I wanted a specific yogurt that I really like.  It’s not like I was asking for fancy flowers or to have my trailer redecorated every other week.”

Sadie smiled.  “I wasn’t trying to insinuate that you were unreasonable.”

Luna leaned back against the wall of her cell and pulled Orchid up onto her lap.  After a second she looked up at Sadie and smiled.  “I know.  I know.  I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

“Well,” Sadie said softly.  “Considering everything you’ve been through it’s understandable that you snap a bit.”

“I guess,” Luna said with a short snort.

“I’m really sorry about what happened,” Sadie said.  “It was a beautiful wedding.”

“It was, wasn’t it,” Luna said, nodding heavily.

“You had a lot of cast members and producers and industry people there.”

“Yes,” Luna said.  “They’re a great bunch of people.  I know they may come off as… well, you know, Hollywood people.  But they’re really good people.  We all get along so well.”

“And they were all happy for you?”

Luna looked up at Sadie and cocked her head to the side.  “Well, of course, they were.  They all loved Spencer… and they knew how much I loved him.”

“Are you sure about that, Luna?” Sadie said, afraid to offend her friend.  “I mean, could there be anyone who wasn’t happy about this wedding?”

Luna shrugged.  “No one objected if that’s what you mean.  At least, not to me.  I mean, there’s always the possibility that someone pretended to be happy for me, but...”

“There was a rumor going around that you might want a family once you got married.”

“Well, I was certainly thinking about it,” Luna said with a nod.  “I mean, maybe not right away.  I wanted to have plenty of time to honeymoon with Spencer.  Maybe a good three to six months just the two of us alone… maybe even a year.  Then we would have really started to work on having a baby.”

“Could it be that some people saw that baby as imminent?  And could it be that some felt threatened by it?  I mean, if you leave the show, Luna, there is no show… and all those people lose their jobs.”

Tears streaked down Luna’s face as she looked down at Orchid then up to Sadie.  “Look at me,” she said.  “Do I really look like someone who wants to go back to work?  Damn, if they peg this thing on me, I won’t be going anywhere… certainly not a television studio.  To kill Spencer and have me jailed for it is not going to help the show any.”

“Right,” Sadie said.  “It wouldn’t make much sense for anyone to do that.”

Tapping her lap with both hands, Sadie stood and reached for Orchid’s carrying bag.

“Are you leaving already?” Luna said, clearly saddened to see her go.

Sadie glanced out through the cell bars to see a young police officer looking at her.

“I think I’ve already overstayed my welcome,” Sadie said with a playful grin.  “I’m going to go before they come and kick me out.”

“You’ll come back?” Luna said as Orchid left her to lazily stroll into her carrying bag.

“As soon as I can,” Sadie said reassuringly.  She zipped Orchid in and clipped the leash on Biscuit’s collar.  “I’m not going to give up until we get to the bottom of this, Luna.  Don’t worry.  I’m going to do everything I can to get you out of here as soon as I can.”

Standing before the door to the cell, Sadie nodded at the police officer who came to let her out.

“Hang in there, Luna,” Sadie said as she walked out.  “It’ll all work out, I promise.”

She left her friend and felt her heart grow heavy with worry for her.  While Luna wasn’t a diva, as she’d pointed out, she was accustomed to a high level of luxury and comfort, something that was sorely lacking in her jail cell.

As she headed back to the hotel, Sadie let Biscuit sniff around here and there and by the time they reached the hotel, Biscuit was ready for a nap.  Sadie made her way to her luxury suite and let Biscuit and Orchid go about their business. They both seemed exhausted by the early morning escapade.

She was surprised to see that Tiffany was still sleeping, but quietly changed into a cute little dark blue summer dress, then headed down to the ballroom to meet Palmer for breakfast.

“Hey,” Palmer said as he stood to greet her.  “I was beginning to think I’d be spending the morning alone here.”

“Sorry about that,” Sadie said as she sat across from him.  “I wanted an early start and I headed down to the police station to see Luna.”

“How’s she doing?”

Sadie shrugged as she looked around at the wedding crowd that was quickly filling the ballroom.  “Not great.”

“And where’s your friend?”

“Tiffany?  I think she overexerted herself last night and needs time to recuperate.”

“You mean she’s still sleeping?”

“Yeah,” Sadie said with a chuckle.  “But it’s okay.  As far as work is concerned, she essentially has the rest of the weekend off as a sort of all-expense paid vacation.”

“Lucky her.”

Sadie grinned as she nodded at the server for coffee.  “Yes, please.”  She took a quick sip then looked at Palmer.  “She really is a good assistant, and she did more than the job called for when she helped me with this investigation.  I like to treat my employees well, and she certainly deserves the rest.”

“Remind me to come see you about a job if ever this lab technician thing doesn’t work out for me.”

“I will,” she said with a playful wink.

“So, does that mean she won’t be helping with the investigation?”

Sadie shrugged.  “If she wants, but she doesn’t have to.  Her work for me ended when we cleared out Monsieur Pierre’s kitchen.”

Palmer nodded his understanding and looked up as more and more people came in.  “It’s kind of creepy, don’t you think?  I mean, continuing with the wedding festivities while the groom is at the morgue somewhere and the bride is sitting in jail.”

“I know.”  Sadie shrugged.  “But it’s for the best.  This makes it easier to keep everyone here on the island.”

“Well, I have a new development to discuss with you,” Palmer said.

“Really?” Sadie said.  “And you waited until now to mention it?”

“I thought you might want to have breakfast first.”  Palmer looked up at the waiter who’d arrived at their table.

Sadie looked up at the server.  “Scrambled eggs with whole wheat toasts, please.”

“Very good.   And for the gentleman.”

“Three eggs over easy with sausage and white bread toasts.”

The server nodded.  “More coffee?”

“Yes, please.”

“I’ll have it brought over immediately.” 

He walked away and moments later another server came around with the coffee.

“Okay,” Sadie said.  “Now that that is out of the way, what is this new development of yours?”

“Last night, after I left you, I came back down here.  I snuck into the kitchen and got the champagne glass Spencer drank from,”

“Did you find anything?”

“It’s still at the lab and I’m waiting for the results, but there appeared to be a strange residue that shouldn’t have been there.”

“Any idea what it could be?”

“I don’t really want to advance any guess,” he said.  “I’d rather wait until my suspicions are confirmed.”

“Fair enough,” Sadie said.

The server came around with their breakfasts.

“Sure smells good,” Palmer said.

“I wonder if Pierre has a way with eggs,” Sadie said with a touch of sarcasm.

“Speaking of which,” Palmer said.  “What do they have to say about all this?”

“Strangely, very little,” Sadie said.  “Which makes me want to talk to them all the more.  Monsieur Pierre and his wife, Rhonda, were quite silent on the matter.  It seemed to be little more than an annoying change to his tight service schedule.”

“Wow,” Palmer said as he took a bite of his eggs.  “I don’t know what he added to these things, but they are delicious.”

“Well, then hurry up and eat,” Sadie said.  “I want to get in there before the Duvaks and their staff go on break.”

Sadie devoured her scrambled eggs and had to admit that there was indeed something exquisitely tasty about them.

“Come on,” Sadie said as she threw her linen napkin on the table and stood.  “Let’s go see what they have to say about all this.”

Palmer followed her into the kitchen.

Pierre was busy in the far corner with his team, but Rhonda was seated at a small table to the side looking at her phone.

“Good timing,” Sadie said.  “She’s not busy.  She should be more than happy to speak to us.”

“Funny,” Palmer said.  “She doesn’t strike me as the type of person who is ever more than happy to do anything.”

“You’re being judgmental,” Sadie said, though she fully agreed with him.  She headed toward the woman and steeled herself for a cool reception.  “Rhonda Duvak?”

There was a lengthy hesitation before the woman deigned to look up at Sadie.  “Yes.  It is I.”

“I’m Sadie Silver,” Sadie said, holding her hand out to the woman.  “I did the desserts yesterday afternoon for the wedding… the coconut cream pies.”

“Oh,” Rhonda said with disdain as she ignored Sadie’s offered hand.

“I wanted to ask you a few questions about yesterday,” Sadie went on, bringing her hand back to her side.

“You’re the one who made the pies,” Rhonda said.  “I don’t know what you could possibly want of me.”

“I’ll be right back,” Palmer whispered into Sadie’s ear.

Sadie nodded as she kept her eyes on Rhonda. 

“We’ve already determined that my pies had nothing to do with the groom’s death.  I thought we could perhaps explore other possibilities together.”

“I certainly don’t see why,” Rhonda snapped.  “I had nothing to do with you.  I have nothing to do with you and I will never have anything to do with you.  Is that clear?”

“Mrs. Duvak,” Sadie said calmly, working hard to not match Rhonda’s angry tone.  “A very good friend of mine lost her husband yesterday.  She is distraught and saddened beyond measure.  I just want to do all that I can to help get to the bottom of this.  If there is anything at all that you can tell me about…”

She turned away and resumed looking at her phone.

“Mrs. Duvak,” Sadie said.

“Miss Silver,” Max Martin said as he came up to her with Palmer.

“Look who I found wandering the halls,” Palmer said.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Sadie said to Max.  She tilted her head in Rhonda’s direction.  “I just had a few questions.”

“Mrs. Duvak?” Max said in a supremely official tone.

“Oh,” Rhonda said as she looked up at the officer with a bright smile.  “Officer Martin.  How nice to see you this morning.”

Sadie muffled a groan.

“If you have time, we’d like to talk to you,” Max said.

“I think I can spare you ten minutes or so,” Rhonda said.  “But then I have to get back to work.  I don’t want to waste too much time on this nonsense.”  She glared at Sadie.  “Making world renown patisseries isn’t just a matter of throwing ingredients into a bowl and mixing it all up and hoping for the best.  These things are timed with precision.”  She looked at her watch.  “In exactly eight minutes, I must tend to my oven.”

“I won’t keep you long,” Max said.  “I promise.”  He looked to Sadie.

“There were a few moments yesterday when I and my assistant, Tiffany, left the kitchen to go watch the wedding ceremony,” Sadie said.

Rhonda looked at her, unimpressed.

“During that time, is it possible that you or anyone from your team might have touched my pies or any other pastries I’d made?”

“What?” Rhonda said, incredulous.

“It could have been an accident,” Sadie said to calm the woman’s nerves.  “Maybe something fell on a pie or pastry, or plate that was to be used for the service.  Maybe some cleaning solution… hand sanitizer… anything.”

“How dare you insinuate that I would tamper with any of your Americanized concoctions,” Rhonda shouted. “Neither I, nor anyone… Anyone!  No one from my staff even went close to your… desserts!”

She knew the question would come off as offensive, but Sadie was nonetheless surprised by the violent outburst.

“I do not need to sabotage anyone else’s dessert to make mine look good,” Rhonda went on.  “My desserts, my fine pastries stand on their own.  You saw for yourself last night how that dessert bar was left empty of the hundreds of bouchées that I had made.  People love my pastries.”

Sadie looked up at Max and shrugged.

It was clear that Rhonda was an ambitious woman, and Sadie could easily imagine her doing anything within her power to get Sadie out of the way… even kill Spencer Price.

Chapter 8

Sadie walked out the back door of the kitchen and onto the patio with Max Martin and Palmer behind her.

“What do you think?” Palmer said.

“I’m not sure I can trust her,” Sadie said.  “If she has nothing to hide, why be on the defensive?  I mean, you saw how she reacted.  Why not just come out and compassionately answer whatever questions anyone may have?”

“Have you uncovered anything of importance?” Max asked Sadie.

“Little things here and there,” Sadie said.  “I feel we’re getting closer.  We’ve determined that it wasn’t the pie that killed Spencer, but it’s unclear what other pastries he might have eaten right before the pie.  I had a lot of small, bite-sized pastries.  Any of those could have be contaminated.”

“Okay,” Max said.  “Let me know if you have anything else.”

“Sure,” Sadie said.  As she watched him walk off, she noticed the cast of Luna’s show all heading off in the same direction.

She turned to glance back at Palmer.  “I’ll catch you later,” she called back to him as she walked toward the group.  “I want to go talk to them.”

“I’ll be here.”

She joined the group and casually walked alongside them.

“It’s supposed to be one of the glass-bottomed boats,” a young woman was saying.  “You can see all the fish swimming around just under your feet.”

“Sounds cool,” a young man said.

“Take it from me, Greg,” the young woman went on.  “This is going to be a great day.”

“Hi,” Sadie said, walking beside them.  “You guys are on Luna’s show, aren’t you?”

“Well,” the young woman said.  “It’s not just Luna’s show.  It is a group effort.”

“Yes,” Sadie said.  “I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to make it sound like… well.”

“Cool it, Jess,” the young man said.  He then turned to Sadie. “We’re on her show.  And I have no qualms saying that it is her show.  She is the star, after all.  We all know that we wouldn’t have a job if it wasn’t for her.”

“Where are you all headed?” Sadie said.

“We got permission to take a private excursion out on the water.”

“Sounds nice,” Sadie said.  “It certainly is a beautiful day for a boat ride.  It must be a nice way of seeing Catalina Island… you know, from a different vantage point and all.  I would love to get away from all the macabre atmosphere here at the hotel.”

“Want to join us?” Greg said.

“I’d love to,” Sadie said with a warm grin.  “This could very well be the only chance I get to see more of the island before leaving for home.”

“Hey, Noah,” Greg called to the tall man at the back of the group.  “Think we have room for one more?”

“Who?” Noah said, looking over the heads of the cast members and finding Sadie.

“What did you say your name was?” Greg said.

“Sadie.”

“It’s Sadie,” Greg called back.

“Luna’s friend?  Sure thing.  Let her on.”

“Then come on board,” another man said, waving her to join the group.

They boarded the boat and sat on benches built into the sides of the craft.  The focal point was the glass bottom.

At first, all they saw were the rocks and plant life that grew in the shallows around the island, but as they headed out into deeper waters, they discovered beautiful sea life.

“Did you see that?” Jess called out as she pointed to a colorful fish that zipped by.

“Ew,” another woman said.  “Look at that thing.  Now, that is ugly.”

“Think we’ll see any sharks?” Greg said.

“They said we might see small ones,” Jess said.  “No man eaters.”

“Yeah,” Noah said.  “I hear they only eat women.”

Jess shot him a grimacing grin.  “Funny.”

“Oh, wow,” another young woman shouted.  “Look deep, deep down there.  It’s a sea turtle.”

“Wow,” Greg said.  “That is nice.”

“Why don’t we do an episode of the show on the water?” Noah said.  “That’d be cool.”

“Yeah,” Greg added.  “Instead of a car chase, we’d have a boat chase.”

“You guys,” Jess said as she rolled her eyes to the sky.  “You’re such kids sometimes.”

Greg grinned and turned to look at Sadie.  “Are you enjoying yourself?  I know it can get kind of dull hanging around a bunch of actors who can never let go of their television role for too long.  I had a girlfriend a while back who was just so sick and tired of hearing me talk about the set and the shoot and the other cast members.  It drove a wedge between us.”

“I don’t mind,” Sadie said.  “It’s kind of interesting hearing the behind the scenes things.”

“Luna probably told you a lot about that,” Greg said.

Sadie shrugged.  “Not really.  I mean. I live out East and I hadn’t seen her for a little while before the wedding.  What little I did see of her, we didn’t really talk about her work much.  How do you like working with her?”

“Luna?” Greg said.  “I love working with her.  She’s a real pro.  She arrives on the set and she knows what she needs to do.  She doesn’t fool around, and she rarely flubs her lines.”

“Not only does she know her lines,” Jess said with a wry grin.  “But she also knows everyone else’s.  It’s kind of annoying sometimes.”

“But more often than not, it’s helpful,” Noah said.  “It saves a lot of time.”

“Right,” Jess said with a laugh.

“And she’s not afraid to get her hands dirty,” Greg went on.  “I mean, she does a whole lot of her stunts… as much as she can get away with.”

“It must have been a bit of a shock when she announced that she was getting married,” Sadie offered.

“Not really,” Greg said.  “I mean, I’d seen them together a few times, her and Spencer.  They were really a cute couple, and it was clear that Luna was madly in love with him.”

“Yeah,” Jess said.  “I have to admit.  It’s a little hard not being a tad jealous of the beautiful girl with more talent than she knows what to do with who then falls in love with her ga-orgeous agent and then goes on to marry him.  Some people get all the luck.”

“Well,” Noah said soberly.  “I think her lucky streak has come to an end… quite abruptly, too.”

“Right,” Jess said, biting her bottom lip as the tragedy of the weekend came back to her.  “Darn it.  Poor Luna.  My heart breaks for her every time I think about Spencer.”

As Sadie listened to the cast go on and on about Luna, their respect for her, their love for her and now, their fears for her, she realized that there was little chance any of them had had anything to do with Spencer’s murder.

With the sea breeze blowing through her hair, she noticed that the handsome young millionaire investor wasn’t on the boat.  Too bad.  She would have liked to see him.

To question him? she asked herself.

No, she thought.  There was no reason to suspect him.  She simply would have liked to see him.

Smiling, she eyed the distant shoreline of the island as the boat slowly made its way back to port.  It had been an enjoyable ride, but more importantly, she’d eliminated them all from the list of possible suspects.

Chapter 9

Once they got off the boat, the group dispersed.  Some headed to a restaurant to grab a bite to eat while others headed down to the little shops that lined the shore.

Sadie was left alone with her thoughts as she headed back to the hotel.  She was running out of options.  She’d eliminated Sylvia Rush.  There seemed no real reason to suspect Pierre or Rhonda Duvak.  And now she’d just scratched off the entire cast of Luna’s show.

Who did that leave?

Heading to the back entrance of the hotel, she pulled out her card key and was about to slide it into the slot when everything suddenly went black.

Dizzy and a little nauseous, Sadie opened her eyes to see Palmer leaning over her, coming in close to kiss her.

“Sadie,” he whispered as he gripped her arms and shook her gently.  “Sadie.”

He was so close to her, his warm luscious lips getting closer and closer to her own.  Oh, Palmer.

But when she closed her eyes to open them again, she saw the look of worry and fear in his eyes.

“Sadie.  Can you hear me?” he said through the thick fog of her mind.  “Talk to me.”

“Palmer?  What…?” she murmured.  “What happened?”

Palmer sat her up and a wave of dizziness swept over her.

“Urgh,” she let out as she brought her hand to her head.  “My head.  What happened?”

“I don’t know,” he said.  “I came by here and you were lying there on the grass.”

“Oh,” she said, trying to clear her head.

“Were you with someone?” he said.

“No,” she said, closing her eyes.  “I was alone.”

“Where were you coming from?”

“I went on a boat ride with the cast of Luna’s show.  We all got off together and went our separate ways.  I was…  I was coming back…  I was at the back door and…”

“Did you see anyone coming up to you?”

“No,” Sadie said as she opened her eyes and looked at him.  “I didn’t even hear anyone.  I remember sliding the card key in… and then…”  She met his gaze.  “You.  Then you were there.”

Palmer pulled in a long exasperated breath.  “I don’t like it.”

Sadie suddenly felt around her pockets then went through her purse.  “My cardkey.  My wallet.  My identification.”

“Is it there?” Palmer said as he watched her.

“No,” she said as she continued to rummage.  “It’s gone.  Shoot, Palmer.  My wallet is gone.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Palmer said.  “I’ll contact Max Martin to let him know there’s a pickpocket going around.”

He helped her get to her feet.

“Pickpockets are a little more discreet about grabbing a wallet.  This was a mugging.  This was assault.”

“Come on,” Palmer said as she put his arm around her waist to steady her. 

“Let’s get you back inside.  I have some news for you.”

This immediately brightened her up.  “You do?” she said.  “What?  What did you find?”

“The substance on Spencer’s glass.”

“You know what it is?” But as she tried to put some weight on her foot, she winced, falling heavily into Palmer’s arms.

Nodding, Palmer picked her up and carried her inside.

“I can manage,” she said, just barely protesting.  Truth was, despite being excited about the news of Spencer’s glass, she was still a little dizzy and a sharp pain was riding up the side of her leg.

“I think you might have twisted your ankle,” he said.  “So just relax and let me…”

“But, I’m quite capable of…”

“It’ll be faster this way,” Palmer said, cutting her off.  “And once I’ve got you settled in, I’ll let you know what my findings are.”

“Fair enough.”

Palmer walked by Sadie’s room.

“Hey,” she said.  “You walked right by it.”

“I know,” he said.  “We’re going to my room.  The results are there, and I want you to see them for yourself.”

Once in his room, he set her down on the edge of his bed and headed back to the door.

“Just sit tight a second,” he said.  “I’m going to go back out to get some ice for that ankle, then I’ll let you know all about my findings.”

He was gone for barely a minute and immediately came to lay a small plastic bag of ice on her ankle.

“It’s not that bad,” she said.  “I think I just twisted it a bit.”

“In that case, after a few moments of ice, you should be as good as new.”

“So, where are these lab results?”

He went to his desk and picked up a sheep of paper to give to her.  “This is what I got.”

She looked at the sheet of paper than up at him.  “I know this is a silly question, but… you’re sure about this?”

He nodded.  “Positive.”

“Meet me outside the back door in half an hour,” Sadie said.

Chapter 10

Armed with Palmer’s lab results, Sadie headed back to her room.

“Well, at least Tiffany is up,” Sadie said to Biscuit as she looked at her assistant’s empty bed.

The little dog looked expectantly at her.  “We’ll be leaving soon enough, Biscuit.”

Stopping at the door to Tiffany’s bathroom, she knocked lightly.  Tiffany opened the door to let a plume of heated steam puff out.

“Good,” Sadie said on seeing her assistant.  “I thought you’d sleep the day away.”

“Sorry.  But I have to tell you, there’s nothing like a nice, long steaming shower to get me going,” Tiffany said with a grin.  “I’ll be right out.”

Sadie collected her things and piled them on the bed.

“Hey,” Tiffany said as she came out of the bathroom wearing a sleek black and white cotton dress.  “Where have you been all morning?”

“Breakfast, boat ride and lab results that will be sure to free Luna.”

Tiffany looked at her.  “Wow.  All that and I just barely had time to shower.”

“I’m going to go get changed,” Sadie said.  “I don’t mean to rush you, but…  We have to pack up our things and get ready to leave.  Our plane leaves at four.”

“Right,” Tiffany said.  “Well, I’m ready.  My things are packed away and I’m ready to go.”

Sadie hurried into her bathroom, took a quick shower to rinse off the sea breeze then changed into some comfortable stretch jeans and an ample loose knit sweater for the plane ride back home.

Once out, she shoved her things in her bag and got Orchid and Biscuit ready for the trip.

“Are we heading straight to the ferry?” Tiffany said as they left the room and met up with Palmer.

“No,” Sadie said.  “We’re going to go to the police station to free Luna.”

“You’re that sure?”

“I’m certain.”

The threesome walked on to the police station with Biscuit leading the way and Orchid catnapping in the carrying case.

“I’d like to see Max Martin,” Sadie said as they entered the police station.

The officer behind the desk nodded and picked up the phone.  “Someone’s at the front desk to see you.”

A moment later Max greeted them.  “You brought the whole menagerie with you,” he said with a friendly smile as he looked down at Biscuit and gazed into Orchid’s carrying bag.

“I’m leaving Catalina today, but I’ve come with good news.”

“Is that so?” Max said.

“Yes,” she said with a smile as she held out a sheet of paper.  “This should be enough to have Luna released… immediately.”

Max looked at the report.  “This is legit?” he said.

“I ran the test myself,” Palmer said.

Max nodded.  “Follow me.”

He led them to Luna’s cell.

“Sadie,” Luna said as she jumped up from her cot and came to grip the cell bars.  “Are you leaving?  Have you found anything?”

Max unlocked the cell door.  “You can discuss it as a free woman, Miss Lacewell.”

Frowning, Luna hesitantly walked out of the cell.  “What?  What do you mean?”

“Come one,” Max said, leading the way down the hall.  “You can use the interrogation room.”

They all entered the small room and sat down, except for Max who remained standing at the door.

“You’re free to go home,” Max said.  “Your friend here did one heck of a job.  She was able to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that you had nothing to do with your… well… with Spencer’s death.”

Smiling, Luna looked at Sadie.  “Is it true?  You found out who killed Spencer?  You found the murderer?”

Sadie looked at her good friend and reached out to take a hold of her hand.  “There is no murderer, Luna.”

Tilting her head to the side, Luna looked at her, her brow creased in confusion.  “What do you mean, there’s no murderer?  Sadie, someone killed Spencer.”

“Did you happen to notice how much alcohol Spencer consumed over the course of that morning before the wedding ceremony?”

Luna shook her head.  “Well, no.  For most of the morning, I was with my bridesmaid and he was with his friends and best man and all that.  I saw him when I came out for our vows.  What are you saying?  That he drank himself to death?”

“Not quite.”

“I mean, I know he likes to throw one back every once in a while,” Luna went on.  “But…”  She stopped suddenly and seemed to go back to the events of that day.  “I guess I did smell alcohol on his breath when he kissed me, but… Well, it was our wedding day.  I didn’t think anything of it.”

“But it wasn’t just the alcohol, Luna,” Sadie said.  “Palmer noticed something strange on Spencer’s glass… a strange residue… and he had it tested.  Then we got the toxicology report to confirm his findings.  Not only was there a high level of alcohol in Spencer’s blood, but also a deadly amount of cocaine.”

“Of what?” Luna said, shocked.

“I’m sorry, Luna,” Sadie said.  “But Spencer’s heart gave out from a massive amount of cocaine and it just so happened to catch up with him as he was eating my coconut cream pie giving us all the impression that the pie was responsible.”

 Luna frowned and seemed angry, then sad.

“Did you know that he…?”

Luna nodded as tears streamed down her face.  “I knew he dabbled.  I knew that he liked to break the tension of everything with a joint every now and then.  And when he was feeling… oh.  Shoot.  I can’t believe it.  I can’t believe that he would get so high… and on our wedding day.  This should have been a day to be naturally high.  To be high on love.  To be high on life.”

Balling, she pulled her hand free of Sadie’s hold and buried her face in her hands.  “How could he do this?”

“People have strange ways of dealing with life sometimes,” Sadie said.  “I guess that despite his love for you and his happiness at marrying you, the stress of it all still led him to go down that road.”

Teary-eyed, Luna looked up at Sadie and reached out for her hand once more.  Then she looked at Palmer and Tiffany.  “You know what I’m going to do?” she said, almost defiant.

“What?” Sadie said.

“I’m going to do a PSA about drug use… about drug abuse.  I’m going to use this awful event in my life and turn it into something useful… something helpful.  I will not let Spencer die in vain.”

Sadie squeezed Luna’s hand.  “That’s the Luna I know.  Always looking to turn a negative into a positive.”

“I don’t have much choice,” Luna said.  “I’m Luna Lacewell.  I can’t allow myself to wallow in self-pity for too long.  Too many people are relying on me.”

“They are,” Sadie said with a nod.  “And they all love you so much and I’m sure they’re all going to be very happy to see you get out of here.”

Sadie stood and looked at her friend.  “I really have to go now.  I don’t want us to miss our flight back to New York.”

“Of course,” Luna said, also getting to her feet.  “I don’t know how to thank you, Sadie.  I’m so happy you came out to my wedding.  I’m so thrilled with the coconut cream pies that you brought all the way out here especially for me.  And most of all, I’m happy that you were able to resolve this thing so quickly.  I’ll forever be grateful.  How can I ever repay you?”

Sadie reached out to hug her.  “Just be happy, Luna,” Sadie said.  “I know that you will need a healthy amount of time to mourn your loss, but then go on and be happy.”

“I will,” Luna said.  “I promise you that I will.”

“Good.” Sadie gathered up Biscuit and Orchid.

“And what’s next for the sleuth Sadie Silver?” Luna said with a smile.”

“Sadie is going to be taking care of her pastry shop in Paris,” Sadie said.  “After a quick stop in New York, I’ll be heading to Paris to take part in a culinary competition.”

“Ooh,” Luna said.  “Sounds exciting.”

“It should be,” Sadie said.  “I just learned that if I don’t show up in person to represent my shop and my line of patisseries, I will apparently forfeit to none other than Miss Rhonda Duvak herself.”

“I know you can beat her,” Luna said.  “You have what it takes.”

“I’ll be sure to do my best.”

With a final hug, she walked out of the police station with Biscuit in front of her and Orchid in her bag.

“Let’s get ready for the next adventure,” she told Tiffany and Palmer.

*****

Sadie Silver’s story will continue in the Sadie Silver Mystery Series:

Paris, Poison, Pain Au Chocolate (Sadie Silver Mystery #2)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L83V6DJ

Paris, Ice Pick, and Petit Fours:  A Cozy Contemporary International Crime Mystery

(Sadie Silver Mystery #3)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08LC11NB9

Fortune Falls, Felons, and Fudge: A Cozy Contemporary International Crime Mystery (Sadie Silver Mystery #4)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08LBY6NHZ

Apple Valley, Ax, and Ambrosia: A Cozy Contemporary International Crime Mystery (Sadie Silver Mystery #5)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08LBZ1FRJ

Staying Inn, Scarf, and Sugar Cookies: A Cozy Contemporary International Crime Mystery (Sadie Silver #6)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08LBY5FP8

Sin City, Shoes, and Sundaes: A Cozy Contemporary International Crime Mystery (Sadie Silver #7)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08LC12213

Haunted Castle, Hanging Doll, and Honey Ham: A Cozy Contemporary International Crime Mystery (Sadie Silver #8)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08LC28BQP

Dog Park, Dagger, and Donuts: A Cozy Contemporary International Crime Mystery (Sadie Silver Mystery #9)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08LC451NQ

SNEAK PEEK

Paris, Poison, Pain Au Chocolate

Sadie Silver Mystery #2

KAILIN GOW

Chapter 1

Sadie

The rolling countryside just outside of Paris rolled by as Sadie sat in the backseat of the cab with Orchid on her lap and Biscuit beside her.

On hearing that the International Chocolate Baking Competition was to be held in the Parisian countryside, Sadie hadn’t known what to expect and she’d wondered about it as she’d flown over the Atlantic.  What kind of castle?  An old drafty thing?  Something more palatial and modern?

But as they approached the old yet majestic castle, she was awed by what she saw.

The cab driver turned off the main road, drove through the gates and took a cobblestone path up to the main entrance of the immense chateau.  “Voila, Mademoiselle,” he said.  “Le Chateau Gregaire.”

Staring up at the storybook building, Sadie was speechless as the driver opened the car door for her and waited for her to get out.  “Merci,” she finally said as she got out.

He went to the trunk to get her luggage.  “Would you like me to escort you inside, Mademoiselle?”

“No,” Sadie said as Biscuit tugged on his leash.  “I’ll take it from here.  Thank you very much.  Merci.  Merci beaucoup.”

“My pleasure.”  He set her luggage down, bowed respectfully and returned to the driver’s seat then drove off.

Standing before the historic building, Sadie took a moment to absorb it all.  “Did you see that?” she said to Orchid and Biscuit.

The elegant, three story building had dozens of arched windows and was topped with a steep pitched blue tiled roof with several turrets and two large lookout towers. Several of the windows were adorned with subdued and tastefully crafted stained glass.

She set Orchid down and unleashed Biscuit.  “We’re going to be spending the next little while here,” she said as she picked up her luggage.  “Don’t wander off too far, now.”

She entered the romantic chateau and was immediately struck by the immensity of the front hall.  The intricately adorned ceiling reached up the three stories adding to the spaciousness of the foyer.

“Miss Sadie Silver.”

Sadie turned to the sound of her name and saw a bubbly and vivacious redhead coming towards her.  Dressed in simple black slacks and a black, white and gold slightly translucent high collared shirt, she looked elegant and professional.

“I’m Molly Ingram,” the redhead said, extending her hand.  “You’re Sadie, right?”

“Yes,” Sadie said with a smile as she shook the woman’s hand.

“Good,” she said.  “You’re the last of the contestants to arrive.  Come this way,” she said as she headed toward a door at the far end of the foyer.  “I want you to meet the others.”  She glanced back over her shoulder at Sadie.  “Oh, I’m the producer of the show, by the way.  So, we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.”

They entered a large, high ceiling sitting room that housed a variety of Louis XV and Louis XVI chairs, comfortable sofas, antique settees and recliners.

“This is Bailey,” Molly said, gesturing with her hand to a good looking young man to the right.  “He’s my assistant… my right arm.  If you need anything… anything at all, you just let him know and he’ll do everything he can to make it happen.”

“Hello,” Sadie said to the young man who nodded.

“Then we have our celebrity chef from England, Mr. Andrew Angus,” Molly said nodding towards a handsome young man with thick brown hair.  “He is said to be as charming as he is talented.  Mr. Angus runs a preeminent luxury chocolate shop in England… and all of this at only 29 years old.”

“Nice to meet you,” Sadie said with a nod.

“Verna Vicious likes to let her dark side shine in her confections as she creates some of the most divine, if not macabre pieces that resemble body parts, creepy crawlies and anything else that might make your skin crawl.”

Sadie smiled at the fair hair woman with the black lipstick.  “Interesting.”

“Then you have Diego Diaz,” Molly went on.  “Mr. Diaz is from Spain and has a knack for bringing a little Latin spice to everything he makes.  His blend of sweet and piquant leave a lasting impression on everyone who tries his desserts.”

The young man appeared to be in his early thirties.  He had luscious dark loose curls that gave him a very romantic allure and dreamy brown eyes.

“And finally, from France, none other than Madame Rhonda Duvak.”

Sadie pressed a tight smile whereas Rhonda did little to hide her disdain for Sadie.

Molly looked at Sadie, then to Rhonda and back to Sadie.  “Do you two know each other?” she said.

“We’ve met,” Rhonda said bluntly, the cool tone leaving no doubt that they were not friends.

Sadie looked kindly at Molly.  “We worked the same wedding recently.”

“Oh.  How nice,” Molly said as she clasped her hands together and turned to face all the contestants.  “Everyone, this is Sadie Silver from New York, the fifth and final contestant to this international competition.”

“Hello,” everyone except Rhonda said.

Molly turned to Sadie.  “Bailey will show you to your room and you can take all the time you need to get settled in.  If you have any questions either about the accommodations or the competition, he knows this castle inside and out.”

“Thank you.”  Sadie followed Bailey back out into the main hall and retrieved the luggage that she’d left by the door.

Biscuit was scampering around while Orchid quietly sniffed around every corner.

“Come on, guys,” Sadie said.

Biscuit immediately came up beside her while Orchid followed but at a distance.

“Are they always so obedient?” Bailey said as he led her down the hall.

“Actually, they are,” Sadie said.

“You trained them well.”

“Believe it or not, I didn’t.  They’re just very good and well-behaved pets.  I take no credit.”

He chuckled.  “Just to let you know,” Bailey said as he pointed down one hall.  “The kitchen is over there, and if you go on beyond that there’s the formal dining area and then an exit leading to the back patio.  There you’ll find a lovely, heated pool nestled within a lovely flower garden.”

“Sounds magnificent,” Sadie said as she looked down the hall, up at the detailed work on the ceiling then down at the beautiful wood floors.  It was all so unbelievably magnificent.

“We put a lot of effort into finding the perfect spot for this competition.  Not only is this chateau enchanting, but it also has all the modern conveniences that we need for the chefs.”

As he walked on, he pointed out other interesting facts about the castle and its history.  He talked about the family who’d originally built it, those who then took over and some of the renovations that were done over the years.

“Through here, you’ll find a common living space.” He gestured to a doorway.

Sadie peered inside the arched doorway to find a cozy space with several cushy sofas set in a semi-circled around a huge fireplace.

“Out that door there are three greenhouses that grow a variety of flowers and vegetables.  There’s also a large pond filled with fish.”

Finally, he stopped at a door and unlocked it, then handed Sadie the key.  “Here you go.”

“Thank you.”

“Like Molly said, if you need anything, just let me know.”  He walked away.

Sadie entered her room and was instantly blown away.

“Wow, guys,” she said as Biscuit and Orchid followed her in.  “Get a load of this.  We’ve just gone back in time a hundred years or two.  Maybe even more.”

The canopy bed was huge and elaborate.  The gold and black bed covers looked so authentic, as if they might have one day long ago warmed a veritable princess.

Two elegant armoires were set up on either side of the large window that offered a magnificent view of the grounds.  At the foot of the bed was a chest filled with thick blankets and three thick, plush rugs covered much of the dark hardwood floors.

The room was large enough to house a sitting area and a working space with desk and chair set up beside the functional fireplace.

She headed into the bathroom to take a peek and once again gasped with delight.   The golden fixtures were decadently rich and, while the plumbing was obviously modern, the style of the sink, toilette and club-footed bathtub were very much in keeping with the old world.

“Win or lose the competition, this is going to be a thrilling experience, guys.”

While Biscuit continued to sniff around and around the large room, Orchid had already settled on the bed amidst the pile of cushions and pillows.

“You … she… talking about!”

Sadie stopped moving as she heard the muffled voice of a man coming from outside her room.

“You never were…. any more than…,” came the muffled response from a woman.

Moving closer to the door that led out into the hallway, Sadie pressed her ear to the door, trying to make out what the argument between the man and the woman was.

Chapter 2

The quarreling couple quiet down and Sadie shrugged it off to a typical lovers’ spat.

She opened her suitcase, pulled out a change of clothes and headed to the bathroom.

“You guys watch the fort,” she told Biscuit and Orchid.  “I’m going to go wash off all this jet lag and grime.

Despite looking old and antique, the water in the shower was hot and the pressure perfect for soothing tired and aching muscles.  The castle also offered an array of fragrant soaps, oil, shampoos and conditioners which Sadie sampled.

Once out of the shower, she realized that they even offered body lotion and several samples of French designer perfume.

Dunning a comfy pair of jeans and a loose-fitting grey sweatshirt, Sadie slipped into her white tennis shoes and opened the door to explore the marvelous castle that was to be her home for the next few weeks.

“Come on, you two,” Sadie said.  “I know that you guys need to stretch your legs out just as much as I do.  Let’s go see what this old castle has to offer.”

She headed out with Biscuit right behind her.  Looking to Orchid who remained on the bed, Sadie clucked her tongue.  “Come on, Orchid.  You, too.  You slept the whole flight over, now it’s time to move a little.”

The cat’s tail flicked up and whipped down on the bedcover in exasperation.

“I mean it, Orchid.  Come on.”

Opening her eyes, Orchid looked straight at Sadie.

“You know you want to.  Now come on.”

Taking her sweet time, Orchid sat up, then stretched out and yawned.  As if it’d been her idea to begin with, she jumped off the bed and sauntered out into the hall.

Meanwhile, Biscuit jumped up onto Sadie’s leg, insisting he be picked up.

“You two are way too spoiled,” Sadie said with a laugh.  But she nonetheless stooped down to pick up the pooch.

After taking a second to look up and down the hallway, her gut told her to go in the direction she’d heard the squabbling come from.  It had seemed to come from close-by, but as she walked on, she came to a passageway that led to another wing of the castle.

The corridor was filled with doors and was very different from the portion where she was staying.  The walls were filled with old family portraits and historic paintings.

As she slowly sauntered down the hall, she looked at the paintings of French royalty.  A small portrait of Charles Martel, a dark brooding painting of Charlemagne and a grand and colorful Charles IV.

“Look at all of these,” Sadie said to Biscuit.  “So much history in this old country.”  She leaned in close to read the label below another painting.  “Henry III, assassinated… stabbed to death.  How dreadful.  Henry IV killed by a fanatic.  Gee, makes you wonder why anyone would want to be king.”

Biscuit looked at her with love in his dark brown eyes.

“And Louis XIV,” she read on.  “He’s the one responsible for Versailles.  Hmm, look at that.  He was king for 72 years.  How can that be?  Ah, yes.  And Louis XVI who was executed and then his lovely wife Marie Antoinette suffered the same fate not too long after.”

The more she discovered of the castle, the more enamored she was with it.  What a blessing that the production crew of this televised competition had found such a remarkable place to host this event in.

Sadie then remembered the pamphlet she and all the other competitors had received along with the invitation to come to the event.  Parts of the old castle were off limits.  Sections were reserved for the family who now owned the castle.

If she remembered correctly, it was the right wing that was closed off to visitors.  Somehow, she sensed she’d closed over into that forbidden area and turned to go back towards her room, but as she got closer to her room, the quarreling started up again.

“What are you talking about?” a woman said.

“Don’t play stupid with me,” another woman said.

“Stop it, both of you,” the man said.

Sadie couldn’t help but wonder if it was a family squabble instead of a lovers’ spat as she’d assumed.  Could it be that the family members who owned and operated the castle were having a falling out?

They certainly wouldn’t be the first family to disagree on how to run a business.

“I’ve had it with you two,” one of the women shouted.

At this Biscuit jumped out of Sadie’s arms and ran to the door, while Orchid froze in place and growled.

Following him, Sadie approached the closed door, the voices becoming clearer as they became angry and quieter.

“I’ll tell you right now,” one woman said.  “If you do not go through with this, I will do everything within my power to make sure that you never work in this business again.  You understand me?”

“Are you threatening me?” the other woman said.

“Take it as a threat or as a warning, I don’t care.”

“I will make sure that you are never heard from again,” the other woman hissed.  “Got it?”

Shocked, Sadie froze.  That wasn’t just a veiled threat.  It was a very clear threat.  She took a step back to head to her room, but stepped on Biscuit’s tail.  He let out a pain-filled yelp.

“What was that?”

Footsteps pounded to the door as Sadie scooted back and hid in the recess to another door, grabbing Biscuit and Orchid on the way.

For a breathless moment, she stood there.

“Someone was out here,” the man grunted.

“I’ll go look this way,” one of the women said.

“I’ll go this way,” the man said.

Sadie felt behind her and found the doorknob to the door and prayed it wasn’t locked.  It wasn’t.  She quietly turned the knob and pushed back the door.

“Because I’ll tell you,” the man went on as he approached.  “I’ll make sure that whoever was listening at the door is dead before they can tell anyone about our plans.”

Holding her breath and praying Biscuit and Orchid remain silent, Sadie backed into the broom closet and closed the door just as the angry man walked by.

As she heard him round the corner, she hurried out and went back to her own room.  Only then, did she finally allow herself to breathe.

“Oh, my, you guys,” she said, looking at Orchid and Biscuit.  “You guys knew, didn’t you?  You knew you had to stay quiet.  You knew we were in danger.  Oh, heavens.  What would I do without you?”

*****

Get  Book 2 of the Sadie Silver Mystery

Paris, Poison, Pain Au Chocolate

Here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L83V6DJ

About the Author Kailin Gow

From visiting Romania, ALA YALSA Award-winning and Million-Selling Author Kailin Gow was asked to write stories about vampires; visiting the Black Forest in Germany and seeing the castles of Europe inspired her to write fantasy; visiting Asia's mystical mountains inspired her to write action adventure and mythological dystopians. From her experience in college as a peer counselor and her volunteer work with women's shelters, she was inspired to write contemporary romance with social issues for women, new adults, young adults, and teens. Having faced adversity, including battling stereotypes and bullying, Kailin Gow has become a well-known speaker and influential figure in media. Her adventurous bold spirit has taken her around the world, where she has ridden on top of elephants through jungles, hand-fed sting rays, studied kung fu from a Shaolin Temple monk, and learned cooking from a celebrity chef. She is a USA Today Bestselling author and has been a #1 Amazon bestselling author over two-hundred times. Her Bitter Frost Series is in development as a TV Series, and her contemporary romance Loving Summer is set to become a feature film. An multi-award-winning filmmaker, director, and actress; Kailin’s films have premiered at Cannes, Los Angeles, Rome, England, Paris, Korea, Japan, and even in India’s Ministry of Culture. 

Compelled to write her first fiction book because of 9/11, Kailin Gow now has over 400 fiction books published under Kailin Gow and various Pen Names in many genres.  As a speaker and host, she has hosted international shows at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, been a celebrity judge at beauty pageants, been a judge for writing contests, and hosted television series.   She was featured as an Indie Author Success Story on the homepage of Amazon.com for a month and is also included in Amazon’s book called Transformations. She is the first Asian American to have been featured on Amazon’s homepage as an Author Success Story, and the first to have sold over a million books.

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