Murder over Macaroons, page 5
As Peter moved to rise from the chair, Laney held up her hand. “Wait. Is that it?”
Peter repressed his urge to grin at Laney’s change of heart about talking to him. He lowered himself back down to the crippling metal chair. “Is there something else you want to tell me?”
Laney glanced at the nursery. The baby sounds had disappeared, and Joshua had not reappeared. She swung her head back around and leaned toward Peter. “He really was trying to put Hayley and Joshua out of business. It’s true. He came to Sausalito to own a cookie bakery, and he didn’t care that there was one already here. He wanted to get rid of them. He even had another location to lease originally picked out at the end of the street, but he ended up buying the building next door to Cutter’s Cookies in hopes of putting them out of business. He said he wanted to be the only game in town, and he said he wouldn’t let some hippy with gluten-free cookies get in his way.”
Everyone had suspected as much, but it was a hell of a thing to hear it outright like that. Peter stored the information, afraid it wouldn’t lead anywhere good, and took his leave of Laney James.
Chapter 10
Joshua was responsible for the obnoxious sound her text notification made. He’d stolen her phone a couple weeks ago and changed a bunch of settings. Because that was the kind of crap little brothers pulled. Hayley was too busy making cookies to spend hours going through the thing and undoing all the damage.
So when Kenna texted, the sound of a trumpet—a very loud trumpet—jolted her up from her bed. She shook her head and pulled her e-reader off her chest.
—Come over, now.—
All Hayley had to do was strip off her jeans and turn off the light, and she’d be in dreamland in a matter of minutes. She glanced up at the clock read-out on top of her screen. Nine was past her bedtime, but Kenna sounded urgent.
—Are you okay?—
—I’m fine. But we need to talk.—
Hayley rubbed her eyes and sighed. —Been up since 3am, can we talk tomorrow?—
Kenna’s reply did not acquiesce. —You can always sleep after you bake the cookies. Joshua can run the store.—
—It’s a week till Xmas. Busy.—
—I have the day off. I will help him. Come over!—
Hayley was still trying to figure out how to respond to her best friend when her bedroom door swung open.
“Up and at ’em, sis!”
Hayley stared at Joshua and cursed the fact that her whole family had a key to her apartment. She had to get her own place. “Uh. Whatever it is, I can’t. Kenna needs me.”
“I know. That’s why I’m here.” Joshua grabbed her phone out of her hand, shot off a text she couldn’t see, and pocketed it.
“You are seriously the pushiest human being.” Hayley swung her feet to the side of the bed. “And apparently, you’re rubbing off on Kenna.”
“Good. You’re still dressed.” Joshua moved to her closet, easily retrieving a pair of comfy old sandals. He shook them at her as if they were a dog treat for a stray he wanted to get to approach him.
Sighing heavily, Hayley resigned herself to her fate. She stood and made her way over to Joshua, ripping the sandals out of his hands, throwing them on the ground in front of her, and shoving her sock-covered feet inside. “Let’s go.”
It wasn’t until she was in the passenger seat of Joshua’s beat-up Bug that she asked him what was up with Kenna.
“Nothing’s up with Kenna, specifically.”
The vagueness was not going to fly with her. “What the hell does that mean? Why are you both being so odd?”
“We’re not being anything. We want to talk about the case.”
Hayley did not want to talk about it. Not at all. “Why now? I need to be up in six hours. Can’t we do this later?”
Joshua shook his head and said nothing. The back of Hayley’s neck prickled. Something was up, something more than a late night conversation about Dan Springs and her assumed involvement in his death. As if that weren’t serious enough, something else was going on here.
It didn’t take long this time of night to get from their house to Kenna’s apartment. And apparently, Hayley’s brain moved slower than Joshua’s car, because she didn’t realize what was really going on until they were turning into the parking lot to Kenna’s building.
“Wait!” Hayley stuck her hand out toward Joshua. “Is Peter going to be here?”
Joshua showed no reaction. He simply shrugged.
“He is! Oh my God. You two are diabolical!”
Joshua was infuriatingly calm. “Why would we want to have a conversation about you being accused of murder without the chief of police involved? Duh?”
Hayley took three deep breaths. When she spoke again, her voice was calm and measured. “He recused himself, you know.”
“I know.” Joshua’s sing-song voice did nothing to help her anxiety.
As her brother parked the car, Hayley steeled herself. She’d spent a lifetime suppressing her feelings for Peter. So what if the last time she saw him they had shared the most incredible kiss of her life. Surely, she could go right back to burying those feelings deep down inside.
Hayley didn’t say anything to her pain-in-the-ass brother as they left the car. She didn’t make a peep as Joshua yanked open the old door and ushered her in. And even as Joshua tried to ask her questions about if she was okay while they ascended the spiral staircase, she remained quiet.
It served Joshua right not to know what was going through her head. She hoped he was laboring over her silence. The wrinkles on his forehead as he watched her, while simultaneously knocking on Kenna’s door, were certainly an indication that her plans might have worked.
When the door swung open, it was Peter, not Kenna, who greeted them. His expression unreadable, he stared at Joshua as if he were the only Cutter sibling standing in front of him. “Hi.” Peter stepped away from the door, pressing his frame against the wall of the narrow hallway that led into Kenna’s living room.
As she passed, Hayley’s eyes involuntarily gazed up him. Peter looked back. Locked there for a split second, they said more than they could have with words. Hayley burned. And for the first time in her life, she knew with clarity that Peter did, too.
Chapter 11
Fortunately, Kenna’s apartment was packed with pictures, figurines, and drawings. It allowed Peter to look at a million different things that were not Hayley Cutter. That was good, because her seat on the loveseat beside Kenna unfortunately put her directly in his line of sight.
“What about Laney?” Kenna propped her feet up on a fluffy ottoman and shifted her gaze from Peter to Joshua and back, their positions side by side on the sofa making it easy to do so.
Everyone in the room knew Peter couldn’t talk to them about anything that was part of an active police investigation, even if he had recused himself. But they also all knew the question wasn’t for him.
“She’s pretty upset about the whole thing.” Joshua rubbed his forehead with his fingers. “Not a whole lot of what she’s said makes much sense.”
“But she’s talking to you?” Kenna asked.
He nodded.
“A lot,” Hayley interjected.
Joshua shot his sister a dirty look.
“Okay, I have to hear this.” Kenna rested her chin on her fist and leaned forward, a mischievous look painted on her face.
Peter had to admit that he was curious about how things had gone between the former high school sweethearts after he’d thrown them back together that fateful day outside Dan Springs’ bakery.
“You all make it sound so crazy that Laney and I can be friends. We were always good friends.”
“Okay.” Kenna threw up her hands. “Don’t get your panties in a twist. We get it. But she was super pissed when you broke up with her.”
“People are always mad when relationships end,” Joshua argued.
Peter took pity on Joshua. Despite knowing Kenna’s good intentions, it was starting to sound accusatory. Joshua’s coming out to his high school girlfriend and the fallout from it had not been easy for him. Peter knew firsthand because he’d backed Joshua up in more than one fight after that. Even in San Francisco, some people got shitty when a person they’d known since childhood told them they were gay. “Look. I don’t think any of that is important.”
Kenna’s eyes grew wide, as if she suddenly realized the path she was taking. “Of course not. But she’s good with you now, Joshie?”
Joshua ignored the hated nickname. “Yeah. We’re good. We’re friends again, even. Laney’s had it rough. She needed that job. And even though Dan was a dick to her, he paid well and let her have flexible hours.”
“Do you think she knows who would want him dead?” Kenna asked.
That was the ultimate question. The one Peter himself had asked Laney. But she’d tucked in on herself and shook her head, tears flying around her smooth hair.
“I’ll talk to her. I promise. We’re having dinner together tonight. My mom is watching her kids. In fact—” Joshua stood suddenly, his gaze pinned to Kenna. “I need a bottle of wine.”
Kenna was part of a cooperative with a communal wine cellar at the end of the block. It was routine for friends to ask for a bottle, then replace it later when they came across something new or interesting.
Kenna rose nearly as quickly as Joshua, a bright smile radiating toward him. “Yes. Of course. Let’s go.”
Peter and Hayley had both only half risen by the time Kenna and Joshua bolted out of the apartment. Peter had nowhere to look but at Hayley.
“Well, that was abrupt.” Hayley smiled and stood straight, her hands sliding down her jeans at her side.
Peter took an involuntary step toward her. She looked so perfect standing there, her hair cascading down to her shoulders, not pinned back as it always was at the bakery. Her liquid eyes shifted around as she studied his face. Her soft lips called to him. He took another step toward her.
“Peter…”
That one word stopped him. He couldn’t quite determine if it was a warning or an invitation. Just one step away from her now, he focused on breathing, his eyes unable to pull themselves away. Her chest heaved with deep breaths, her cheeks turned a delightful shade of pink.
Before he could manage to get himself unstuck from this untenable position, Hayley moved. She crossed the small distance between them. Her arms draped across his shoulders.
Whether it was her or him who first moved their lips toward the other he would never know. But there was no doubt that, when he and Hayley crashed together, it was with the most intense passion he had ever experienced.
Having Hayley in his arms, his mouth on hers, their tongues tangled, was something Peter had dreamed about for years. Once he’d had a taste the other night, he knew he would never get enough. Now she was here again, in his arms. They came together in the middle of Kenna’s living room, making out like teenagers hiding from their parents under the bleachers at halftime.
****
For the first time in her life, Hayley had absolutely no control. She wasn’t in control of her mind, her emotions, and certainly not her body. As she pushed Peter back onto the couch, she was operating on pure instinct. Or perhaps it was a replaying of the fantasies she’d had since high school about getting Peter beneath her, willing and enthusiastic.
His strong body cradled her as she fell onto his lap, straddling hard thighs. Her fingers slipped under his shirt to graze ridged stomach muscles. Hayley let out a soft groan that was captured by Peter’s incredible mouth.
Somehow, she let him go for a moment. He left her mouth to kiss his way down her neck, over her clavicle, her skin tingling beneath his lips.
“Oh, God, Hayley.”
She groaned again, this time at the sound of her name coming from him in that deep voice. “Please tell me you want this as much as I do.”
“More.” Peter lifted his head. “Hayley. I’ve been…I wanted you for a long time.”
She stroked his cheek. “How long are we talking?”
Peter placed a small, sweet kiss on her lips. “Since you were nineteen and you came to visit me in San Diego. Do you remember?”
Hayley nodded. Her trip had been under the guise of seeing a friend who’d moved away during middle school. But she’d really wanted to see Peter. And even though she’d stayed with her friend’s family, she spent as much time as she could with him during that glorious summer week. “I win then.”
He cocked his head, brown eyes swimming with curiosity and desire. “Win?”
“I was twelve. You were my first crush.”
His smile nearly stopped her heart. “Yeah?”
Hayley laughed. “You like that, huh?”
Peter leaned down and kissed her neck. “Oh, yeah. I like that.”
Chapter 12
“Chief, can we have a moment?” Yolanda snuck her head in the door.
The “we” in her statement wasn’t immediately apparent until he nodded and she swung the door wide to reveal Janelle standing behind her. Peter leaned back in his office chair. It let out a groan of protest. He knew he might have to echo it soon.
Janelle and Yolanda swiftly took their places in the two boxy chairs opposite his sickly green metal desk, grave looks on both their faces. His two favorite detectives had something intense on their minds.
“Did you mean to close the door?” Peter nodded to the door behind them, which Yolanda had pulled to a click after entering his office. This only happened on very rare occasions, and everyone knew it. Peter had nothing to hide and preferred his open door policy be literal. The privacy put Peter on alert.
Janelle leaned forward, her hand resting on the edge of Peter’s desk. “Chief, we need to talk to you about the Dan Springs case.”
“That’s a bad idea.”
“I know what you’re going to say, Chief,” Yolanda said. “But we really need you to know something. For…for your own good.”
Tingles ran up Peter’s spine. “What do you mean by that?”
“It’s about Hayley.”
Peter held both hands in front of him as he did in his early days directing traffic in San Diego. “Wait. Before you say anything else. You need to stop. There was a good reason for me to recuse myself from this case. I’ve known the entire Cutter family since I was a kid.”
“We know, Chief, but—”
“And I’m…I’m dating Hayley…now.”
There was a long beat. Both detectives stared in disbelief at their boss. It was the extroverted Yolanda who spoke first. “Congratulations, Chief.”
“Look. It’s not…I just don’t think you should discuss anything involving her with me.”
The detectives exchanged a glance before turning their gazes back on him. “Maybe more so now,” Yolanda said.
Peter crossed his arms over his chest. He’d reached that moment in his career where his personal life deeply intersected his career. He’d always wondered if this would happen to him, as it had to his mentor, Helen. He closed his eyes, knowing he had a monumental decision to make.
With the clock ticking, Peter took three deep breaths, the way his mother had always taught him. Each breath brought with it new clarity. Each breath new insight. Right and wrong were clear in his mind.
Just as he opened his eyes to tell them to leave his office without saying another word, Janelle spoke, her words ringing through the thick air in the office. “We’re about to make an arrest.”
****
Peter parked the car haphazardly in the one remaining spot in the tiny lot behind Cutter’s Cookies. He didn’t stop to think this time, didn’t bother to take deep breaths or process what was happening. Too many emotions coursed through him at once, the predominant one being love.
He was in love with Hayley, had been for years. He finally had the courage to act on it and be with her. Now they had only minutes. Minutes to talk of hope and a future after their nightmare ended. Minutes to convince her everything was going to be all right.
Peter burst through the back door like a tornado, flying through the kitchen and into the main shop. Hayley and Joshua were both there. Joshua stood at the counter ringing up a woman Peter vaguely recognized. He marched along the counter and around it until he was nearing the cookie display closest to the front entrance.
Hayley glanced at him quickly before returning her attention to the couple in front of her. “Yes. All of them are gluten free. I promise.”
“Hayley. I have to talk to you.”
She turned her head, the surprise at his rudeness clear on her face. But he didn’t give her a chance to argue with him. They had so little time to say all that needed to be said. Yolanda and Janelle were right on his heels with a warrant.
He took her arm and pulled her across the lobby and into the kitchen. He didn’t care what it looked like, a man in uniform practically dragging the small cookie baker into her own kitchen. Optics weren’t important at this point, Hayley was.
“Peter, what the hell?”
“They’re coming to arrest you, Hayley, now.”
All color drained from her face. “I’m going to jail?”
He nodded. Then he kissed her, fierce and passionate. When he pulled away, she smiled at him.
“Thank you. I needed that.”
“I need to tell you something before you go.”
“Go to jail?”
He nodded, the lump in his throat enormous.
“I have a lawyer.”
“A good one, I know.”
Hayley placed her hands, fingers spread wide, on his chest. “Are you even supposed to be here? Will you get in trouble?”
“Baby, don’t worry about that, okay?”
“Did you just call me Baby?”
Peter knew they were wasting precious time, but he couldn’t help but savor these few minutes of normalcy between them. This is what a new couple should be doing, shouldn’t they? Negotiating pet names while wrapped in each other’s arms in a stolen moment in the middle of the workday.
“Yeah. I’ve said it in my head a million times. I’m surprised it didn’t come out by accident some time.” He squeezed her waist. “Please tell me you don’t hate it.”
