Pastry Mystery: Cheesecake Mistake

Chapter Sixteen

A savory aroma from Thai green curry filled the air in Pastry Mystery’s kitchen. Libby’s stomach rumbled as soon as it detected the exotic fragrant that Toby cooked especially for her. He even made a strawberry sorbet for their dessert later. Libby tried to look as excited as possible but she actually didn’t really have the appetite to eat. She still didn’t know how to break the news to Toby—she didn’t turn down Russell’s financial aid.

“Hey, you’re back,” greeted Toby with a big grin. Libby did her best to hide her nervousness but his warm smile made her feel more guilty instead. She had promised him to say no to Russell’s offer but she didn’t see any other way to revive Pastry Mystery as soon as possible. I will have to convince him slowly, she thought, but right now I don’t feel like discussing this with him.

Libby walked to the kitchen and took a small bite of the chicken curry that Toby just made. As usual, his cooking never failed to awe her. The soft savory chicken melted in her mouth along with the rich herbs taste of lemongrass, coriander, and cumin.

“If we fail to rebuild Pastry Mystery, you should consider opening a Thai restaurant. This is beyond good, Toby,” exclaimed Libby who couldn’t stop nibbling the Thai dish right from the pan. Toby had to stop her before they didn’t have anything left for the jasmine rice that would be the companion for the green curry.

“Maybe we can try making a chicken curry pastry,” proposed Toby while serving the dinner for them.

“Good idea! We should give it a shot!” agreed Libby enthusiastically. First, however, they needed money to buy some new baking equipment, like an oven. Also, Pastry Mystery would need some new renovations after the burglar broke some windows and kitchen during his flee through the back door. Libby and Toby also wanted to renew their surveillance system that was hacked by the real killer.

“So, how was it at Cake at Break?” asked Toby after having his first spoon of dinner. Toby never really praised himself but the Southeast Asian dish that he cooked tonight was just heavenly. “God, I’m good!”

“It was fine there. I had to wait for a while but luckily Russell showed up in no time,” replied Libby with her mouth full of food. She seemed to forget her nervousness and her appetite was back.

“Wasn’t he surprised to hear your refusal?”

Libby just shrugged—she showed no interest in talking about it and kept on complimenting about their dinner. She wasn’t ready yet to argue with Toby about Pastry Mystery’s future again.

“Well, I did..”

“You didn’t say no to him, didn’t you?” grilled Toby with a friendly smile. Libby dropped her spoon out of shocked. She didn’t expect that Toby would guess it correctly but he knew her more than she thought.

“Technically, I did say no to his offer. But…”

“But he left the offer open and you can come to him anytime you change your mind?” predicted Toby. Libby gulped tensely—it was as if Toby was there the whole time with her when she went to Cake At Break. There was no point for her to hide anything from him at all. “It’s okay if you didn’t. This place, Pastry Mystery, is yours anyway. I’m just here to help you and to fulfill my promise to Jimmy.”

“Toby, please. Don’t do this to me,” begged Libby who instantly lost her will to finish up her dinner. She wasn’t in the mood to deal with a dramatic fight with Toby again.

“No, Libby. I mean it. Even if you decide to sell this place, I will appreciate your decision,” announced Toby.

“Of course not. I’m not going to sell Pastry Mystery. It’s just… I just don’t see any other way to get back on the business as soon as possible without Russell’s help. Besides, we will pay him back. I’m sure we will.”

“I know, Libby. And I appreciate every decision you make,” said Toby. He sounded very sincere but Libby still wasn’t certain whether to believe him or not. The last thing she wanted right now was to have another cold war with him. She needed Toby so badly at this time. He was the only moral backing she had left. “Libby, I’m sorry that I made it difficult for you earlier. But I realize, supporting you is also part of helping you.”

Toby held her hands and smiled warmly like he always did. Libby looked at him deeply and she knew he meant every single word he said. She was more than grateful to have Toby by her side. She stood up and got her body closer to Toby who sat across the table. She whispered a ‘thank you’ and expressed her gratitude through a soft kiss that was embraced back by Toby.

“Anyway, I forgot to tell you,” interrupted Libby suddenly recalling an important news that she obtained from Russell. Toby only scoffed to see how impossibly not romantic Libby was. “Barth wasn’t the killer. The cops didn’t have enough proofs to hold him and Russell just bailed him earlier today.”

“For real?”

“Yes,” Libby nodded.

“Well, I’m honestly glad that Barth was innocent, but… But it means…”

“It means the real killer is still on the move…”

*

Toby left Pastry Mystery early in the morning but he refused to go into any detail when Libby questioned his destination. A family matter was the only answer he gave her before taking the first bus to the central station. A little that Libby knew about Toby’s family and she didn’t feel like digging deeper into his personal life. Not that she wasn’t curious at all, but she just wanted to appreciate his privacy. She believed Toby would speak up about it when he was ready.

Libby’s schedule for today was also pretty tight. Last night, after putting her and Toby’s heads together, they agreed to sell Jimmy’s pickup truck. Even though they knew the money that they would get from the car dealer wouldn’t be enough to fund Pastry Mystery’s renovation and to buy kitchen tools, at least they wouldn’t have to borrow too much money from Russell later on.

Besides, Libby accidentally found a saving account book that her father prepared for her since she was five years old while rummaging through his documents as she was looking for the pickup truck papers. The amount wasn’t really much—it was just a little bit of five thousand bucks in total. Libby planned to take out all of it at the bank today. Every single penny was important for her now. Although she knew Russell would lend her money as much as she needed, she still avoided to not be induced in a huge debt.

Before leaving to God-knows-where, Toby woke up before the dawn and took the pickup truck to a 24/7 car wash in the downtown Amaranth Creek. He wanted to ease up Libby’s plan today. He was certain that the car dealer would offer Libby a better offer if the car was clean and tidy. He then returned to Pastry Mystery and went to his family business before Libby woke up. Toby had prepared a quick tuna sandwich for her breakfast before she began her busy day. Sometimes he wondered if he spoiled Libby too much, but knowing that Libby would enjoy the breakfast he made put a big smile on his face already.

Libby took a selfie of herself eating the tuna sandwich and sent it to Toby. She wrote how delicious her breakfast was.

Toby Pettigrew: Glad that you like it!

Liberty Vanderbilt: Thanks, btw. Have a nice day and I’ll let you know before I’m going to see Russell.

Toby Pettigrew: OK.

The first place Libby headed today was to the bank. She would sell the car later since the car showroom was situated not far from Cake At Break. According to Libby and Toby’s calculation, they would inadequately get twelve thousand bucks in total—from both the saving account and selling the car. The amount was not even remotely close to cover all the expenses that they needed. It might only be enough to buy some of the baking tools. But since they knew that the real killer was still out there, Libby and Toby wanted to fix up Pastry Mystery and its security system as fast as possible. They didn’t know for sure if the real killer would come back to their bakery shop, or if the burglar would sneak in again. They just wouldn’t want a criminal to pay their place a visit anymore.

Getting money from the bank wasn’t a difficult thing to do. All Libby had done was to sign some papers and to show some proofs to show her relation to her father. It was all of course just a formality—everybody in Amaranth Creek knew that Libby was the only descendant of Jimmy Vanderbilt. Libby wired the money she obtained from her father to her personal account immediately. She didn’t feel safe carrying around a five thousand dollar cash in her backpack.

“I heard that you finally are selling Pastry Mystery and you’re moving back to New York. Is that true?” asked Kylie, the bank teller who used to go to the same high school as Libby.

Libby shook her head lightly to confirm the inaccuracy of the rumor, “No, I’m not. Where did you hear it from?”

“From everybody. You’ve been a hot potato in Amaranth Creek, Libby. I’m sure you know about it.”

“Oh, I know. But none of those gossips are true. Anyway, have a nice day,” said Libby cutting off their short conversation. She left the bank promptly as she didn’t feel like chatting with people who blabbed about her. Also, she had another appointment with Brian from the car showroom in fifteen minutes.

On her way to her next agenda, Libby’s smartphone kept buzzing on the passenger seat but she didn’t have a chance to pick it up. She peeked slightly on her mobile phone and saw an unknown number calling popping up on her screen. That number had been trying to reach her for more than three times but it didn’t leave any voicemail. Could it be Toby? she thought.

Liberty Vanderbilt: Did you call me?

Libby sent him a chat message as soon as she got to the car dealer, but it had been more than an hour since the last time Toby was online. It wasn’t him, she assumed. Libby was about to call him back but Brian approached her already, so she put back her smartphone in her backpack.

“Long time no see, Libby. How can I help you?” greeted Brian friendlily. He wasn’t actually an exception of Libby’s gossipers. He didn’t hesitate to ask the reason why she suddenly wanted to exchange her pickup truck for the money. Libby probed to be as patient as possible even though his questions somehow agitated her a little bit. Since when do people care about my life? She grunted in her mind. She didn’t know who started all these funny rumors about her dumping the deli that her late father left for her and moved back to New York. She yet maintained to smile the whole time for she needed to make a good deal with Brian.

After a tough argument, Libby successfully pocketed six thousand dollars from selling her pickup truck. She kept bringing up how many times her father had helped Brian and his mother back then. She said it loudly that other customers could hear and Brian couldn’t save his face. Libby refused when he suggested talking in his office. Brian then agreed to pay one grand more than he supposed to just to stop Libby from embarrassing him further. She wasn’t proud of her way to win the bargain but she couldn’t care less about what Brian and other people thought of her.

Libby successfully gained thirteen grand in total and she would need at least seven thousand bucks more if she wanted to get back on track with her bakery shop quickly. She tried to call Toby to let him know that she was now going to see Russell accept his offer, but she couldn’t reach him. Instead, that unknown number who called her kept interrupting.

“Hello?” greeted Libby slightly annoyed. “Who’s this?”

“Hello, Libby? Thank god, finally. It’s me, Barth,” said the voice on the other side.

“Barth? Barth Smithson?” asked Libby. “Hey, Barth? What’s wrong?”

“Listen, I need to tell you and Toby about something, but I can’t talk on the telephone. We have to meet. Where are you now?” Barth sounded very serious and he seemed to be in a hurry.

“I- I’m not home at the moment and so is Toby. What is it about?”

“I can’t talk now, Libby. I don’t know if your phone is also jammed or not. Please call me at this number again as soon as you and Toby get back home. Okay? I want to see you both as soon as possible.”

“Jammed? What are you talking about?” questioned Libby curiously. “Look, I’ll call you back later. I’m kind of busy now. Okay?”

“Promise?” begged Barth, but Libby hung up the call already. She was sure whatever it was could wait because she was almost at the Cake At Break.

“Libby, wait!” screamed a familiar voice from a distance halting Libby to walk forward. She spun around and saw Toby running towards her.

“Toby? What- what are you doing here?” Libby was surprised to see Toby suddenly showed up there. “How did you even know that I’m here?”

Toby panted and tried to catch his breath, “To- to stop you from seeing Russel.”

“What? I- I thought we agreed that… Holy cow, Toby! What’s that? Where did you get them?” shrieked Libby when Toby opened his backpack and showed her piles of money that he kept there.

“We don’t have to borrow money from Russell anymore. We have more than enough now,” announced Toby proudly, leaving Libby in a total confusion.