Croissants and Corruption: A Margot Durand Cozy Mystery Read online

  Taylor cringed, cupping her tea between both hands. “I was just afraid I’d get Lorenzo in trouble. He’s working so hard to get his accounting degree and…” She shrugged. “I like him.”

  “So that was him you were meeting with at the senior center?”

  Taylor nodded and Margot let out a breath. Adam nodded in her peripheral vision.

  “All right,” he said, running his hand along his pants. “That’s enough for tonight. Why don’t you two ladies get some rest?” He met Margot’s gaze. “I’ve stationed an officer outside the house for tonight, just in case.”

  Taylor put her tea down and rubbed her arms.

  “Thank you,” Margot said, standing. “Why don’t you go on to bed, honey?”

  Taylor nodded and left for her room as Adam stood as well.

  “What did I tell you about being careful?” His gaze was hard and unblinking.

  “I know,” Margot clutched her arms, feeling cold as well. “It was foolish but I didn’t think the text had anything to do with the case.”

  “Right.” Adam didn’t sound convinced. The silence stretched out until he spoke up again. “Look, I shouldn’t do this, but…I’ll be going by Antonio’s again tomorrow to review his security tapes. Maybe something will jog your memory. Want to join me?”

  She’d been prepared for a scolding but instead she’d been invited to join him on case business?

  She smiled up at him, feeling hopeful. She would find something on those tapes—she had to.

  “Well, Detective Eastwood, it looks like the bakery is going to be closed tomorrow.”

  Chapter 13

  Even though she had the luxury of sleeping in, Margot’s body didn’t think too highly of that. She hadn’t woken up at three, but five o’clock rolled around and, despite her exhaustion, she couldn’t convince herself to go back to sleep.

  Rising, she dressed and did her morning exercises, riding her stationary bike and going through the motions for her next Krav Maga class. Then she showered and decided it was a good morning to make crêpes.

  Soon, the smells of Nutella, strawberries and cream, and apple cinnamon-filled crêpes scented the air.

  “It smells so good in here,” Taylor said, coming into the kitchen with her hair in a messy ponytail and still in her PJs.

  “Thought you might enjoy some crêpes.”

  “You’re seriously the best, Aunt Marg!”

  Margot handed her niece a cup of coffee and a plate, and soon they were both enjoying the sweet crêpes.

  “What’s going on today?” Taylor asked, looking a little wary. Was she wondering if she had to go back to the police station?

  During her early morning, Margot had thought long and hard about what she would do with Taylor while she and Adam were at Antonio’s. It felt foolish thinking of her niece like she was a child needing babysitting, but it was more than that. So far, despite her honesty the night before, she still had kept things from them. In order to keep her safe, and above suspicion, Margot had decided something.

  “I’m taking you to hang out with Bentley today.”

  “Bentley—wait, that old guy who always orders the caramel pecan cinnamon roll and a cup of coffee?”

  Margot frowned at her use of ‘old guy,’ but nodded. “Yes. He’s a very nice elderly gentleman and I'm sure he can put you to good use at the senior center.”

  The young girl frowned. Was she thinking about the night before?

  “Don’t worry,” Margot was quick to add. “I talked with Adam and he’s going to have an officer accompany you for the day.”

  “Am I in trouble?”

  Margot almost laughed. Did she mean aside from the murder charge? Then again, it was good that she was so confident in her own innocence. Margot was too, increasingly so as more of the facts began to line up.

  “Just trust me on this. It’ll be good for you to spend some time with Bentley and you’ll be protected.”

  She nodded, taking a bite of a Nutella-filled crêpe. “Hey, Aunt Margot?”

  Margot stopped collecting the dirty dishes from the table to look down at her niece. “Yes?”

  “Thanks.” Her cheeks colored. “For, you know, believing in me. Renee thinks the worst of me all the time. I think she would have freaked out if she were here, but you’ve been really cool about all of this.”

  Margot wasn’t sure ‘cool’ was the term to describe how she’d felt, but she nodded and accepted the girl’s thanks. “You’re welcome. But, Taylor, can I tell you something?” Taylor nodded and Margot sat back down, leaning against the table.

  “Despite what you may think, your mom loves you. A lot. And I'm not just saying that because she’s my sister. When we have our calls, she always spends at least half of them talking about you and Dillon. She cares so much for you both. And I think you and I both know she would never try to replace your mother.”

  “Yeah…” Taylor looked down at her plate. “I know she cares. I guess…I don’t know. It’s easier pushing her away, just in case…”

  Margot leaned forward. “In case you lose her too?”

  When Taylor looked up, she was shocked to see tears in her niece’s eyes. “Yeah. It hurt bad enough losing one mom, I just don’t want to lose another.”

  Margot reached out and placed her hand over the girl’s. “I know, sweetie, but don’t you think by holding back you’re missing out on something? Like a second chance at having a mom again?”

  Taylor sniffed and wiped under her eyes. “Maybe you’re right.”

  Words bubbled up to the surface, but Margot held them back. Taylor didn’t need someone telling her what to do, she needed to decide it for herself.

  “We leave in half an hour. Think you’ll be ready?”

  As if grateful to have a chance to slip away, Taylor nodded and padded down the hall to her room while Margot cleaned up the dishes.

  They left, Margot noting the plainclothes officer who followed them, and arrived at the senior center right on time. As if he’d been waiting for them, Bentley came out side. “Hiya, Taylor,” he said, nodding to her niece.

  “Hi,” she said, looking oddly shy.

  “Listen,” he said to Taylor as she got out of the car, “we’re going to get along just fine. I promise I won’t bore you with old stories…that is, unless you’d be interested in hearing about some of the cases I tried.”

  “Cases?” Taylor’s interest was piqued.

  “I was a lawyer,” Bentley said with a grin.

  “That’d be cool.”

  “Good. Talking with you will get me out of the next fundraiser Kim Penberthy has planned.”

  Margot leaned forward. “Another fundraiser?”

  Bentley shook his head. “Yeah. Figures. But this time, I’m keeping track.” He patted his pocket where she could see the top of a notebook sticking out. “No one’s going to pull the wool over old Bentley’s eyes. Come on, kid, let’s go.”

  “I’ll be back in an hour, two tops,” Margot said, then rolled up the window.

  Bentley waved a hand at her in farewell and she pulled out of the parking lot, glad to see the officer’s car parked there. She breathed out a sigh and thought of her conversation with Bentley that morning. He’d drilled her on what she’d found out about the missing money, but the pieces still weren’t there. She needed to talk to Lorenzo, but after last night, she had a feeling he was laying low if the police hadn’t already caught up with him. Then again, what could they hold him on? What was his part in all of this? Aside from his connection to Taylor, of course.

  Then again… Her eyes narrowed as she pulled up in front of the police station. Neither Taylor or Lorenzo had admitted to texting one another. Was it possible the texts were fake? But who were they from?

  A tap on her window nearly made her scream until she saw Adam’s smiling face.

  “A bit jumpy this morning, huh?” he said when she rolled down the window.

  “If your niece had been the one shot at last night, you’d be jumpy t
oo.”

  His expression sobered and he circled around to get in the passenger seat.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Mind if we take your car?” His grin returned and he held up the two coffees. “Had a feeling you’d need another one of these.”

  She let his easygoing demeanor sooth her and she accepted the coffee from him.

  “To Antonio’s,” Adam said, holding up his coffee as if pointing the way. She rolled her eyes at his obvious good mood.

  “How are you so awake?”

  “It’s all an illusion,” he said, a smile in his voice. “That and caffeine. Does wonders on the mood.”

  As if to prove his theory she took a long sip of her coffee. “Black. Just the way I like it.”

  “I know.”

  The familiar statement caused something to stir in her, but she pushed it aside. They were hopefully going to get some answers today while at Antonio’s. They had to, because the case against Taylor, while not error-proof, didn’t offer many alternatives.

  “Answer me this,” she said, hoping he would be able to. “Have you talked to Lorenzo?”

  “Business as usual, huh, Marge?” She smiled at the nickname only Adam used for her. It had annoyed her to no end at first, but now—though she’d never admit it to him—it had grown on her. “Can’t a man have a moment’s peace in a car ride?”

  “No. Now spill it.”

  Sighing as if giving up, Adam straightened in his seat. “We can’t find him. We’ve checked the apartment rented out in his name, I talked with Antonio on the phone last night—poor guy, definitely woke him up—and canvassed his neighborhood. No one knows where he is.”

  “Do you suspect him?”

  “I’m requisitioning his phone records, should have something this morning. I also put in an order for your niece’s other phone. I’m not sure what to think of our boy Lorenzo. He’s involved—if only by association with Taylor—but beyond that I don't know.”

  “He was doing accounting for the senior center.”

  “What?”

  She filled Adam in on her conversation with Bentley and then Eve, explaining the phone call she’d made to the professor.

  “So, not the brightest candle in the class but is he smart enough to ‘cook the books,’ if I can use that term?”

  “It doesn’t feel right,” Margot said, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel as they pulled into Antonio’s nearly empty parking lot. She turned to look at Adam when they’d come to a stop. “I don't know him, so I could be wrong, but from what I’ve heard people say about him, he’s a good kid, going to night school to become an accountant and working part time for his uncle. Aside from being friends with the murder victim and dating the suspected murderer, I’m not sure how he fits into all of this.”

  Adam nodded slowly then put his hand on the door handle. “Let me think about it.”

  She climbed out and followed him into the empty restaurant. The only person she saw was Antonio sitting in one of the booths with sun streaming in through the window. He rose when they entered and came toward them, his smile lacking the brightness it usually did.

  “Hello, mia bella.” He kissed her on the cheek. “Detective.”

  “We’d like to take another look at those security tapes.”

  “Si. Right. Of course. This way.”

  Margot sent Adam a worried look, but he didn’t seem to notice, or he ignored her. Poor Antonio.

  “I am saddened by the absence of my nephew. It is not like him. He is a good boy,” Antonio said as they walked down the hall to his office. He was a man who wore his heart on his sleeve, but still, it hurt to see him so upset.

  “I’m so sorry, Antonio.”

  He waved a hand and ushered them into the room. “Here are the cameras. They face the parking lot, the door, and one view of the cash register. I had them installed after a robbery several years ago.”

  “Thanks, Antonio. I can run this if you have things to do.”

  The man nodded and shuffled out of the office, shoulders drooping.

  “Poor man,” Margot said.

  “Yes, but I’m not so sure he isn’t involved.”

  “What?” Margot was shocked Adam could even think Antonio was somehow involved in all of this.

  “Margot…” Adam’s tone held a warning. “You can’t look at anyone in a case as a friend. They’re all suspects.”

  “Am I a suspect?” she challenged, meeting his gaze and sure her cheeks were flushed at the heat of passion she felt for the fact that Antonio was innocent.

  “No.” He held her gaze for a long time and looked like he wanted to say more, but the screen flickered and drew their attention back to the monitor.

  “That’s the table we sat at that night,” Margot observed. “The one Antonio’s in now.”

  Adam sat down and began pressing buttons and turning dials. “Interesting,” he said to himself.

  “What?”

  “When we were here last, we focused on the parking lot. We saw Marco come toward Taylor, saw her push him away, and that was that. I didn’t even think to watch you in the restaurant. I’m sure a tech did, but do you mind watching through it?”

  Her confidence boosted at his belief she might see something they missed, she nodded and leaned over to watch. He slowed the tape down when one camera picked up her car pulling in. They ran through them being seated at their table and then he let it play through.

  Margot watched intently, seeing Marco come up to the table several times, even catching when he slipped the note to Taylor, and then she saw Taylor bolt from the table after slipping a note into her pocket. Next, she walked past two tables and—

  “Wait,” she said, peering closer at the screen.

  “What? What do you see?”

  Realization washed through Margot as the pieces began to fit together like a perfect puzzle. She knew who had murdered Marco—but could she prove it?

  Chapter 14

  Margot’s heart raced as Adam, driving her car, sped from Antonio’s restaurant toward the senior center. She couldn’t exactly explain the feeling of needing to rush to Taylor, but something told her that the killer wasn’t about to sit by and wait for them to discover their identity.

  “Are you sure about this, Marge?” Adam said, his hands clutching the steering wheel as if his racing through the streets was the most natural thing in the world.

  “I’m positive.”

  They careened around a corner. They were almost to the center now.

  “We don’t exactly have proof.”

  She tapped her foot on the carpeted floor. It was true. Though the surveillance tape didn’t show the killer’s face, it had shown enough for Margot to recognize who had taken the knife from their table and then slipped out the front door.

  Adam shot into the parking lot and skidded to a stop out front. This was it. The moment of truth.

  “I want you to wait in the car while I—”

  “Absolutely not.”

  He looked at her as if she’d lost her mind. “You’re not going in there, Margot.”

  “Yes. I am.” Her gaze left no room for argument. “I’ve got to get to my niece. I’ll be fine.”

  His shoulders slumped. “Let me radio my officer first.”

  Hand on the door, she waited.

  “Yes, sir?” came a crackly reply.

  Adam nodded toward her and she slipped from the car. She knew Adam wouldn’t be far behind, but she was more concerned with finding Taylor. They needed to get her to safety before the killer made her their next target.

  The recreational space at the front was almost empty, only a few seniors occupying the chairs around the perimeter, and she raced toward Bentley’s favorite spot. Sliding on the slick floor, she rushed around the corner and came to a halt. It was empty.

  Where were they?

  She ran through the logical areas they could be. They weren’t in the rec space, and they weren’t in the reading room she’d passed on the way t
o this spot…then she heard voices at the end of the hallway where the office was. She couldn’t make out the words, but the tone was harsh. It sent a thrill of fear through Margot.

  Sliding out her phone, she shot a text to Adam and then followed the sound.

  “I—I don’t get it. What’s going on?”

  Margot’s heart shot to her throat. It was Taylor’s voice, thin and high.

  “Come on, Taylor,” Bentley said. “Just stand next to me.”

  “That’s right,” a woman’s voice said. “Stand right there.”

  Margot’s stomach clenched. Just as she’d expected. It was Kim Penberthy.

  “Now if you’ll just—”

  “I don’t think so, Kim,” Margot said, coming around the corner into a possibly hostile scene.

  Kim stood next to a desk, a silver revolver in her hand aimed at Bentley and Taylor.

  Oh, God! Keep them safe!

  “Isn’t that just like you, Margot. Sticking your nose into everyone’s business.”

  Margot fought the urge to lunge to get the gun away from the crazy woman. It would do no good to startle her, since her finger rested lightly on the trigger.

  “Just hold on there, Kim,” she said, raising her hands in a defensive position. “No one’s going to stop you. Just do what you need to do.”

  “What I need to do? I need for this to all be over.” She blew out a frustrated breath. “I needed it to be over with Marco’s death. That was the plan—and the plan is always right.”

  Margot started to feel sick. Kim was obviously at a tipping point; if she wasn’t already over the edge, she’d be there soon. It wasn’t good that she was talking so openly about the situation. Then again, if she could get her to confess… But that would only work if they weren’t killed. Where was Adam?

  “You killed that guy?” Taylor said. Margot shot her a look, but she ignored it. “Why did you blame me?”

  Kim shook her head and looked down at the papers spread out before her. In the shuffling, Margot picked up a noise behind her in the hall. Her heart hammered in her chest as she caught a glimpse of something—more like someone—in the reflection of the picture hanging up behind Kim.