20: Something

 

 

“Your boyfriend cut the chain off the door to the alley?” Salma demanded. “Why?”

Too annoyed and tired of being harassed to let her stardom intimidate me, I returned her leveled glare with equal ferocity. “Maybe because I got trapped out here and no one in either part of the building could hear me pounding on the door,” I snapped. “Doors which you failed to inform us about when we asked about all the entrances and exits to this building. Doors you neglected to put security cameras on, for some reason. Doors you told your staff not to use despite them still being accessible and capable of locking people in alleys. Doors to which one of your show’s baking assistants either has a key to or has some other means of going in and out of this weird alley without getting locked in the dark with rats!”

Of all the things she could have responded to first, her choice was, “We don’t have rats!”

Puck held up a hand to butt in. “Yeah, you do. I saw it.”

“There are no rats in my bakery!” Salma shouted again.

“Technically, it was in the alley,” Morales muttered.

Gordy threw his hands up again, sans gun this time. “This is Manhattan! Of course there are rats! Why is everyone so surprised by that?” Tossing his hands back down, Gordy put an end to the rat discussion with a threatening look and turned on Puck. “You have no business here. Out.”

Looking a little put out, Puck still shrugged in his easy way. He gave me a kiss on the cheek before turning away.

“Thanks for saving me from being eaten by rats,” I said. We both grinned when Salma shrieked in frustration.

“Any time, sweet thing.” He kissed me again and waved goodbye to everyone.

When he was out of earshot, Gordy gave me a glare that was no doubt a warning against mentioning rats again, then turned to Salma. “I want an explanation for this alley and the doors and for why Eliza got locked out of the building. Now.”

“I don’t know how she managed to get locked out of the building,” Salma said, completely exasperated by that point. “The doors aren’t usually locked during the day since the entire alley is blocked off.” She turned to glare at me. “Or, it was.”

Gordy made a slashing motion to cut her off before she could freak out about the chain. What else was I supposed to do? Stay in the alley all night and become munchies for the rats that were definitely out here? As if Gordy could tell where my thoughts were going, he gave me another completely unnecessary warning glare and powered on with another question.

“Why are employees not supposed to use those doors if they’re kept unlocked?”

Salma huffed. “Because it’s dirty out here,” she said it a tone which implied very heavily that the answer should have been obvious. Especially now that we all knew about the rats. “We prepare food inside. I don’t want people traipsing between the two sides tracking in dirt and whatever else.”

Rat droppings.

Morales definitely had the same thought I did because he coughed to cover a laugh the same time I did.

Gordy ignored us both. “If you don’t want people using the doors, then why aren’t they kept locked?” The clip to his voice said he was quickly running out of patience. Whether with Morales and me or Salma, I wasn’t sure. Probably Salma.

“Because people use the alley for smoke breaks,” she said. “I don’t want people smoking out front, or even by the back doors because sometimes the film crew shoots outside scenes.”

“So the doors don’t automatically lock when someone exits?” Gordy asked.

“No, of course not,” Salma snapped. Then she backtracked. “They used to, back when these were two separate buildings, but I changed the locks out once I had the alley blocked off.”

“Then how did both doors end up locked once Eliza was out in the alley?”

Salma tossed her hands out wide from her body. “How would I know? I was meeting with the contestants.”

For a moment, we were all quietly contemplating the situation. If the doors didn’t auto-lock, then Evan wouldn’t need a key to get into the show-side. That solved one mystery, but not how the doors ended up locked. It had to have been intentional. But who?

Gordy’s thoughts must have been going along the same lines, because he voiced my next conclusion as it ran through my mind. “We’re going to need security footage again.”

“Not it!” Morales and I said at the same time.

The glare we got from Gordy was fiery. “Mature.” He shook his head. “Now you both have to review the tapes.”

“I have to leave for work at five,” I reminded him.

“Then I suggest you get started,” he grumbled. Turning back to Salma then, he asked, “If you don’t want outside access from here, why not just get rid of this alley permanently? Clearly, anyone can cut a chain and get into this area. It’s a liability.”

Salma rolled her eyes. “These doors are both locked at night and monitored by the security system.” She gestured impatiently at the deadbolt lock and security sensor installed next to the door. “I’d like to just close off the whole alley, but I can’t do anything permanent. Not yet.”

“Why?”

Setting her jaw, Salma took a deep breath. “Some asinine real estate or zoning issue my lawyer is still working on. The two buildings have to be legally combined as one property or some shit like that. Until it’s handled, I can’t do anything but block off access to these doors.”

Gordy frowned. I knew as much about real estate law as I did about plumbing. I wondered if Baxter had anyone who might be able to confirm Salma’s story. It seemed reasonable to me, but I suspected Gordy’s frown meant he thought something was off. What wasn’t, though? Everything about this case was bizarre and insanely frustrating. Which, I supposed, was fitting given the general atmosphere of the bakery. Which reminded me….

“Salma, did you know three people from the store have quit and that they’re incredibly shorthanded? You’ve got a whole crew standing around in the show’s bakery doing absolutely nothing,” I said. “You might want to send them over to help if you want to keep the rest of your employees from walking out on you.”

Her hands balled into fists. I’d seen her mad several times since first meeting her. This put all of those moments to shame. “I can’t,” she seethed through clenched teeth. “It’s against the show’s contract.”

And there was no chance in hell Mia would make an exception. Groaning, I took my phone out of my back pocket and brought up Rapha’s number. His baking experience was limited, but he knew more about our other classmates than I did. I typed out a quick explanation of the situation and hit send.

“One, or possibly all of my classmates still in the city should be here shortly,” I told Salma. Between the prestige of the actual store and the fame of the show, I knew no one would pass up a chance to spend a day here, regardless of whether or not they got paid.

Salma blinked in surprise. “Uh, thank you.”

Her battle with Mia was possibly costing people their lives, and at the least destroying both her businesses. She was kind of a bitch, but I knew she loved her store and would be crushed if it failed. Plus, I’d eventually be looking for a job and it wouldn’t exactly hurt to have her recommendation at my back.

Someone called for Salma, sounding frantic, and she turned away before saying anything else. Morales skirted past me mumbling about getting the security footage ready. That left only me and Gordy. Expecting a lecture for causing trouble again, I was surprised when he asked, “How’d you find out about this alley?”

“Evan never came back through the storefront door. I thought that was odd…and ended up out here with the rats.” I shrugged, not sure my adventure had really gained me anything useful.

Gordy rubbed a hand across his mouth. “Good catch.” His eyes narrowed. “There’s something about this alley that’s bugging me.”

“Aside from the rats?”

He rolled his eyes. “I don’t know what it is, but…keep an eye out for anyone else who uses these doors or mentions them in any way. Maybe it’s nothing, but...” He shrugged, stumped as to what it was about the alley that wasn’t quite right. I was right there with him.

I was pleased he thought I’d done a good job, though. That was something. “Maybe I could be a part-time cop. First, I’d bake all the doughnuts and muffins for the precinct, then solve crimes in the afternoon.”

Gordy groaned.

“What? It’s a great idea! Maybe I could set up my bakery right in the station somewhere. Frost cupcakes between interviewing witnesses,” I said, laughing at the idea.

“Baxter would kill me if I actually managed to talk you into changing careers,” he said.

“But think of how much easier it would be to keep an eye on me?”

Gordy shoved me into the building. “Not even that would keep you out of trouble.”