Cannoli Cafe Mystery Series Boxed Set

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Ringo barked at the door. Nicole said, “Yes, Ringo, that must be Lia!” She was about to pull the door handle, but given the murder that night, she thought better of it and checked the peephole first. When she saw Lia bopping her head, probably to a tune playing in her earbuds, she laughed, gratefully. I needed some levity, she thought.

Upon opening the door she heard, “You know, I never got to finish my cannoli!” Lia pulled one earbud out and dragged her luggage through the doorway.

“You would think about cannolis at a time like this! I thought you were just staying the night? What’s all this?” Nicole proceeded to take the bag from Lia and rolled it around the corner to the guest room.

“I know you, Nicole. You can’t help yourself. All that analyzing things at the molecular level has gone to your head. You think you can figure this whole murder thing before the police will!”

“I have analyzed molecules and built computational models for my analyses, yes! And lots of people aren’t as thorough or meticulous as I am with details!” She looked Lia straight in the eyes before setting the luggage down.

“Hmmph! Well, regardless, I know you will probably figure a few things out about tonight, and I’m not going to miss a minute of it! You’re stuck with me for a few days.”

“Aha! The truth comes out. Well, let’s start off our analysis with cookies since we did give up our cannolis earlier this evening! I have macaroons!” Nicole teased as Lia followed her to the kitchen. She put a kettle on, anticipating Lia would want tea, and opened the box from the Cannoli Cafe. For a second she looked down and marveled at the fact that she now owned that cafe. Who would have thought?

“Love these macaroon cookies. Funny how people get confused about macaron, French macaroons and these, but these are my favorite—can’t get enough of the almond taste.” Lia polished a cookie off promptly and went for another.

“I know, I was confused too at first, until my Aunt Lucia explained everything to me. These are a classic in Italian bakeries. They are actually Italian almond macaroons, or pignoli cookies. The main cookie part comprises primarily of almond paste, but the outside features pine nuts or pignolis.” Nicole took a bite. “I have to say I haven’t gotten tired of the easy access to these cookies. Plus, I don’t even have to make everything myself. Susie is a great baker.”

Nicole jolted and realized she ought to call her great baker to make sure everything got closed up all right. Lia knew what she was thinking and said, “Go call Susie, and I’ll get my pens and paper out. I brought an assortment of colored pens so we can organize our thoughts more easily!”

Nicole rolled her eyes and shook her head as she dialed. “Hi, Susie, was everything okay tonight? I’m sorry I ran off so abruptly...Yes, my aunt had a mild heart attack….Oh, you know about the murder? Yes, it’s terrible... We’ll talk about it more in the morning. Yes, thank you...Good night.”

“What kind of phone call was that? You were supposed to extract information. People probably went to the cafe tonight to gossip about what happened. Maybe I was wrong about you solving this murder!” Lia appeared playfully critical and took the liberty of shepherding a few more cookies to her plate.

“I’m starting to think twice about you staying here, missy…” but before Nicole could finish, the kettle was whistling. “Ah, what would you like? Ginger, chamomile, or peppermint?”

“Ginger, thanks. I heard it increases your blood flow and we need more brain power tonight,” she said, quite matter-of-factly.

“You’re lucky you’re so entertaining!” Lia bowed her head as Nicole put a ginger tea bag in each cup, poured the hot water over the bags, and placed Lia’s cup in front of her.

“Let’s get down to business. Tell me what you do know,” Lia said.

“Okay. Well, Dean said the murder happened in the back hallway of the restaurant. With one of Aunt Lucia’s kitchen knives.”

Lia cringed and said, “Yikes. I can only imagine and we’ll leave it at that in terms of the how. But what about the who and why? I thought the guy was some boring library dude.”

“Are you a boring accountant?”

“Touche! Okay, do you know anything else that could help?”

“We should probably talk with Aunt Lucia once she is on the mend. I’m afraid to even bring it up to her after seeing her tonight. According to Dean, she was on the phone with a supplier in her back office when she heard a scuffle in the hallway. She went to check on the noise and that’s when she saw the blood…”

“Oh dear, please stop! I can’t handle it.” Lia buried her head in her hands.

“I wasn’t going to say anything gory, just that once she saw the blood she had the heart attack. The supplier called 9-1-1 because they heard her scream and she didn’t return to the phone. But Mrs. Donnelly also called 9-1-1. She had gone to the back hall when she heard Aunt Lucia’s scream as well.”

“Aha!” Lia swayed her head triumphantly. “We have a suspect!” Lia took out her yellow legal pad and wrote Suspect: Mrs. Donnelly, Children’s Room Librarian at the top of the paper in red ink.

“Mrs. Donnelly? But she went after Aunt Lucia screamed. The murder had already taken place.” Their eyes widened and Nicole went on, “You’re right. We need to ascertain the timing. She said she went to the back due to the scream but maybe it was before.”

“We really do have to talk with Aunt Lucia. We need to find out exactly what was going on in the restaurant.” Lia rubbed her chin and helped herself to another cookie. Nicole looked at her in surprise, to which she responded, “Brains need sugar!”

“Let’s think about the weapon. Dean said it was one of Aunt Lucia’s kitchen knives. So maybe it was the chef or kitchen worker since the kitchen door is also off that hallway.”

“Suspect number 2!” said Lia in a raised voice. “We are getting good at this.” She proceeded to record it on her legal pad just as she had for the first suspect.

Nicole said, “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The only thing we’re good at is defining everything we don’t know, which is a lot. We need to know who was at that party, what was going on in the restaurant, and also who was working that night.”

“We should go to the restaurant in addition to the hospital tomorrow. Also, what’s Dean’s involvement in all this? Can he help us at all?” Lia asked.

“He said he wants to help if he can, but he’s not officially assisting the police department, at least not yet. To tell you the truth, I’m not sure how much he could help.” Nicole yawned. “Maybe we should go to sleep now. I think I should visit Aunt Lucia in the morning to check on her while you’re at work. Susie should be able to cover me once we get through the early morning coffee crowd. Lia, do you think you could meet me at her restaurant for lunch?”

“We could kill two birds with one stone. See what I did there?”

Nicole shook her head with amusement and said, “It’s a plan.”