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“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Katie asked her cousin.
Dana was curled up on the sofa in the grand living room by the fireplace later that evening. Her MacBook in her lap. She was keying in some words to try to figure out where to go next. It was really weird because she had her online mystery riddles website and this seemed like a page off her own website.
“Well, just like in the mysteries I create for my blog, I’m trying to see if I can fit the pieces of the puzzle together so that it at least makes a bit of sense.”
“Oh, how so?”
“Well, for one thing, I noticed that Mike had to have an early refill of his prescriptions.”
“So? What’s wrong with that?”
“Now, it didn’t quite hit me at first but then I realize that Detective Evan mentioned that Brad was poisoned by Digoxin.”
“Oh, my goodness. That’s that heart pill, isn’t it?”
“Precisely. Now, I spoke to Phil the pharmacist later that day when I went in for some headache pills.”
“And?”
“And I questioned him about his conversation with Mike.”
“And what did he say?”
“Well, he was good enough to trust where I was going with this as I had suspected something funny going on and how someone was trying to frame me. Luckily, Phil was a good friend of my grandmother so he was all too happy to help me out. He told me that Mike was acting a bit strangely lately. He purchased a pill crusher recently for his medication and Digoxin is a pretty tiny pill. It should be easy to swallow, right?”
“Right?”
“So, he must have used it to crush the pills into powder form to sprinkle on the cupcake. No one would even notice it on top of the icing. They’d mistake it for icing sugar.”
“That’s true,” Katie agreed, wide-eyed.
Truffles also purred in agreement it would seem. Dana smiled warmly and stroked Truffles ginger fluffy fur. Oh, how she loved her furry little friend. If all else turned on her, Dana could be sure that Truffles would be loyal to her to the end, just as she’d done with her own grandmother.
In fact, it was Truffles who had clawed at the door of the neighbor to let them know that something was wrong with Grandma Rae that fateful day. That was how they’d found her.
Dana swallowed hard.
But it was back to the present now. She had to at least make sure that her nana’s memory would be preserved the way it should be. Her nana’s beloved café and her motivational words she always shared with her wonderful customers must live on and not be tarnished by this strange and bizarre murder involving one of their own prized cupcakes.
“Then there was that odd scene at the funeral home.”
“I know. Tell me about it. Imagine being thrown out of a memorial service which seemed comical at first since everyone seemed relieved he was gone.”
“That’s just it,” Dana agreed. “Even Bianca and her mother?”
“Come again?”
Dana explained to Katie what she’d overheard earlier.
“What secret could they possibly mean? Do you think they might have had something to do with it?”
“Could be. But I’m not going to just idly sit by while my fate is decided by a cop who seems bent on pinning this on me. I don’t really trust Detective Troy, especially after he appeared after that note was found on my porch. My future is at stake here. And so is Nana’s legacy. Not to mention the grand opening which has to be postponed yet again. Another postponement and we might not be able to pay our suppliers in time.”
Katie sunk in her seat by the fireplace. “That would so not be good.”
“I know. Tell me about it?”
“So Sherlock,” Katie perked up a bit. “Did you find anything out on the internet?”
“Not yet. I’m just keying in some key words. Well, there’s his real name, Bradley-Jo Farmer. I think that’s what detective Evan called him.”
“Right, let’s check that out then.”
Dana tapped away on her keypad. “And I’m also going to look into this advertising manager, Sam. I mean, he blatantly lied about my appointment with him.”
“That’s true! How bizarre was that?”
“I know. What on earth was that about? It was as if someone’s trying to cover up something for someone.”
Yes, Dana really wanted to know. Was there a dark secret in this little old town that everyone wanted to be sure it remained covered up?