Bake Offed by Maya Corrigan

Author:Maya Corrigan [Corrigan, Maya]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Books
Published: 2022-08-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Granddad was on a sofa in the lobby, jotting in the small spiral notebook he always carried in his shirt pocket. He patted the cushion next to him. “Have a seat. Where have you been?”

“Talking to Roy.” She plopped onto the sofa and told him what the detective had said.

When she finished, Granddad folded his arms. “He hasn’t done squat about my recipe box.”

“Your sign offering a reward for information might get some results. What’s the reward?”

“A gift certificate to Dorothy’s bookshop.”

A win-win for him on two fronts. He wouldn’t just get information but also curry favor with his lady friend. Val pointed to his spiral pad. “What have you been scribbling?”

“Notes on what Eric Reddish, the bartender, told me. He was helpful . . . until he got hostile.”

Val turned to look at the thirty-something man behind the bar. With his brawny build, butch-cut hair, and impassive face, Eric could double as a bouncer. Easier to imagine him hostile than helpful. “Roy said Cynthia had alcohol and sedatives in her system. If her drink was spiked last night, the bartender was in the best position to do that. It’s got to be harder for the person next to you at the bar to tamper with your drink without your noticing.”

“It wouldn’t have been hard last night. Eric said Cynthia swiveled her seat to talk to the people at the tables. She had her back to the bar a lot of the time. Unless she was cradling her drink, it was sitting there within reach of the people who sat beside her.”

Val glanced at the U-shaped bar. With Cynthia’s seat in the middle of it, someone spiking her drink risked being seen by the people along the sides. “Using her poison ring, Cynthia might have gotten away with nonchalantly spiking a drink. I’m not sure anyone else could have done it without attracting notice. But let’s assume someone did. We know Dave saved a seat for her next to him, left for awhile, and came back. So he had the opportunity to tamper with her drink. Did the bartender remember him?”

“Yup. He said Dave left the bar before ten, came back around eleven, and was still there when the bartender left for home at twenty minutes past midnight.”

“Did Eric remember anyone else who sat near Cynthia?”

“Not by name, but he described people I recognized.” Granddad glanced at his notes. “The journalist Greer stuck around awhile after Dave gave her his seat. And Willow moved over to the seat next to Cynthia’s for a short time.”

Val frowned. “Willow told us she didn’t sit next to her stepmother.” What else had she lied about?

“She didn’t start out next to Cynthia.” Granddad glanced at his notes. “At first there was a young guy between them. He didn’t stay long.”

“Guess he didn’t like being sandwiched between a granny and a goth.”

“Can’t blame him. One of them never shut up, and the other never opened her mouth. Eric said Willow stared at her phone the whole time she was at the bar.

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