Breach of Crust: A Charmed Pie Shoppe Mystery (16 page)

Inside the refrigerator, Ella Mae walked past dough balls
wrapped in plastic, pints of strawberries, and bags of lemons and key limes. She paused, suddenly realizing that she wouldn’t be using any of these items today. There would be no key lime cream cheese pie, rhubarb peach cobbler, strawberry pie in a pretzel crust, faux pecan pie, or lemon tarts with a pine nut crust. Not a single pie would be baked. Ella Mae doubted she’d be instructing the Camellias tomorrow either. She’d have to pack up all this food and bring it back to The Charmed Pie Shoppe to keep it from going to waste.

“Ma’am?” Officer Tippit was gazing at her expectedly.

“Sorry, I was just thinking about the lesson I was supposed to be teaching now.” She turned to face the policeman, who was about ten years her senior. “All of the chefs were cautioned about Mrs. Edgeworth’s peanut allergy, so we didn’t bring peanuts with us. However, I’m sure peanuts are a staple in every resort kitchen. If the killer didn’t take them from the dry goods shelf, she could have had a baggie of crushed nuts in her pocket and simply poured the contents into the warm milk chocolate flowing through the fountain. The nuts would have blended in like that.” She snapped her fingers.

Officer Tippit began to look annoyed. “Yes, ma’am, but where is the bag of chocolate, er . . .”

“Melting wafers?” Ella Mae smiled at the officer. She hoped she’d bought enough time for Reba to act, because not only was her ruse coming to an end, but she was also getting quite cold.

“Yes. Where are they?”

Ella Mae pushed two tubs of mascarpone cheese aside and poked around behind a bag stuffed with rhubarb. “I thought it was back there,” she murmured, continuing to search between boxes of butter and gallons of milk.

Officer Tippit interrupted her endeavors by tapping on
her shoulder and indicating a section of empty shelf space on the opposite side of the refrigerator. “Is that where you saw the bag?” he asked tersely.

Ella Mae pretended to be confused. “Maybe. It was white.” She held out her hands. “And about this big.”

“The chocolate wafers belonging to the resort were stored up there,” Officer Tippit said. “We’ve already collected those as evidence, so unless you saw
another
bag in a
different
location, you’re wasting—”

The rest of his sentence was cut off by the sound of an alarm.

Officer Tippit slammed into the refrigerator door, shoving it open wide. The piercing shriek of the alarm was even louder in the kitchen, and when Ella Mae exited the refrigerator, she saw the other officer shooing the other chefs and their assistants into the hallway.

“What’s going on?” Tippit shouted to his partner.

“Fire alarm!” the officer called back. “It’s no drill either. Orders are to take the civilians to the rear lawn!”

Reba was the only “civilian” left in the kitchen. Her eyes met Ella Mae’s and she shrugged as if to say,
It wasn’t me.

“We need to clear out.” Tippit waved Ella Mae forward.

There was no choice but to do as he commanded. Within minutes, everyone was outside.

Shielding her eyes against the glare of the August sun, Maxine turned to the first officer and yelled, “Where are we headed?”

“Follow the signs for the docks! We’re gathering everyone near the magnolia on the back lawn.”

“We’ll get sunburn,” Maxine’s assistant complained. She had very fair skin and her freckled cheeks were already becoming flushed.

Maxine reached into her handbag and pulled out a
bandanna. “Wrap that around your face. Sunburn is better than a fire burn, if that’s what the alarm is all about.” She glanced up at the higher floors of the resort. “I don’t see any smoke.”

Now that they’d moved away from the main building, there was no longer the need to shout. Ella Mae leaned over to Reba and murmured, “Loralyn said that we all belonged in the fire. Do you think she planned on starting one?”

“It would be a smart way of gettin’ everyone outside and generatin’ chaos.” Jerking her thumb at Officer Tippit, Reba said, “If Loralyn did this, she must have known the cops were lookin’ for her. She can use this opportunity to go after Meg and those apples.”

Ella Mae nodded while considering another possibility. “And if Meg pulled the alarm, she probably wanted to create a diversion so she could get close to one of the remaining candidates. Savannah or Loralyn.”

“What if—” Reba’s supposition was cut off by the peals of a fire engine siren.

Hugh!
Ella Mae’s heart sang. The thought of seeing Hugh, of being able to rely on his strength and support in the middle of this madness, gave her a surge of hope. As insane as the day was fast becoming, Hugh could help make it sane again.

“Look! The hotel
is
on fire!” Caroline suddenly cried, pointing at the eastern end of the resort, where smoke poured from the shattered windows of a second-story room.

Ella Mae knew exactly which guest was registered to that room. She’d slipped a sealed envelope containing a fake note from Julia Eudailey under that same door earlier that morning.

“Loralyn,” Ella Mae whispered.

“You think she decided to start this fire right after leavin’ the cabin?” Reba asked. There was a hint of admiration in her voice. “Maybe dropped by the bar on the way back to
her room to grab a few bottles of vodka? With a little booze, she could really make a major blaze.”

“Could be,” Ella Mae said. “You heard Opal. Loralyn is completely blinded by her desire. She told us herself that she’d stop at nothing to get those apples. Burning down Lake Havenwood Resort wouldn’t bother her in the slightest.”

By this time, their group had joined the resort staff, the Camellias, and the rest of the cops on the back lawn. The police were doing their best to keep the women calm, but several were close to hysteria—screeching about murder and wailing as they pointed at the flames licking at the windowsills. Bits of ash began to float out over the treetops and rain down on them like polluted snowflakes.

“I don’t see Meg,” Ella Mae said, scanning the faces of the Camellias. “Or Loralyn.”

“There’s Hardy.” Reba stood on her tiptoes. “But I can’t spot his right-hand man. Hutchins.”

“He was supposed to collect Loralyn for questioning.” Ella Mae crept to the edge of the crowd. “Good Lord, she must have used her siren’s powers on him.” Grabbing Reba’s arm, Ella Mae said, “I have a terrible feeling that he’s been incapacitated—that he’s trapped up there in that room.”

Reba’s expression was grave. “I know. My radar is soundin’ louder than the alarm. And the flames are spreadin’ fast. Whoever’s responsible for this started multiple fires at once. They won’t be easy to put out. It’s goin’ to take a while.”

“It has to be Loralyn, then. This fire gives her to time to go after Meg,” Ella Mae said, looking around for a way to escape from the cops without being seen. “If she
could
get Meg away from the main building, where would she take her?”

“To the cabins,” Reba answered. She pulled her phone out of her back pocket and proffered it to Ella Mae.

“Thank heaven for you, Reba,” Ella Mae said. “I left all my things in the kitchen.”

Please answer
, Ella Mae prayed while dialing Hugh’s number. She knew the chances of his hearing his phone were slim and that he was unlikely to answer a call in the middle of an emergency even if he did, but he picked up right away. “Reba? Is Ella Mae okay?”

“It’s me! I’m around back, and I’m fine,” Ella Mae quickly assured him. “I think there’s an unconscious police officer in Room 212. It’s Loralyn’s room. But Hugh, please send another fireman to rescue him because a second emergency is taking place and I need your help with this one. My mother and Opal Gaynor are involved.”

There was a brief pause before Hugh replied, “Just as soon as the water’s flowing, I’ll find you. Hang tight, Ella Mae. I’m coming.”

Ella Mae lifted her gaze to the pair of windows belching yellow-orange flames and black smoke. There were other plumes of smoke rising into the sky from the center of the roof. They twisted upward like reverse tornados as the crackle of the fire chewing through wood grew louder and louder.

“Loralyn might not be a killer, but she’s now an arsonist,” Ella Mae muttered darkly.

“If she left Hutchins up there”—Reba pointed at the burning eastern wing—“then she left him to die. What would you call that if not murder? Listen to me, Ella Mae. The only way to stop a runaway train is to put a stick of dynamite on the tracks. In this case, Loralyn’s the train. And you’re standin’ next to the dynamite.”

At that moment, Ella Mae caught sight of Hugh. He was running down the path skirting the western wing of the resort, his arms pumping furiously as he raced toward the
back lawn. The sun glinted on an object in his right hand, and Ella Mae saw that he was carrying an ax.

Shooting a glance at Reba, Ella Mae tensed like a cat preparing to spring. “Are you ready to stop two runaway trains? Meg and Loralyn?”

“Hell, yes. Let’s go.”

The two women broke into a run.

Ella Mae heard someone shout, “Stop!”

The voice sounded like Officer Tippit’s, but Ella Mae didn’t turn around to confirm her theory. She kept running to Hugh. When she reached him, he crushed her against him in a fierce embrace.

“We need to keep moving,” she said, reluctantly pulling away. “Loralyn probably set this fire, but do you remember when I showed you that photograph of the Camellia Club’s founder? Margaret Woodward?”

Hugh nodded, his brow creased in confusion.

“She’s still
alive
, Hugh. Using the magic of the golden apples, she was able to extend her life span and become Meg Edgeworth-Ryan. I don’t understand how it works, but I know that she’s a murderer. I think she killed Bea. And this morning, Reba and I found the body of her second victim. A woman named Cora Edgeworth. Cora was playing the role of Meg’s mother.”

Hugh looked utterly lost.

“I know it’s hard to take in. I’ll explain more on the way to the cabins,” Ella Mae said and began to jog. “I have no idea why Margaret committed these heinous crimes, but Loralyn is after those apples and the two women are about to clash. Wait a second!” She abruptly halted, causing Reba to slam into her back.

“This is
not
the time for one of your lightbulb moments, Ella Mae!” Reba chided, rubbing the tip of her nose.

Grabbing Reba by the shoulders, Ella Mae pointed at the smoke plumes rising from the resort’s roofline. “Was Savannah on the lawn? I don’t remember seeing her.”

Reba’s eyes lost focus as she recalled the scene they’d just fled. “She wasn’t there.”

“She could be in grave danger,” Ella Mae said, her anxiety mounting. “I never considered the possibility that Loralyn might be
helping
Meg—that everything she’s told us has been a lie.” Ella Mae swung around, her gaze lifting to the blue hills, to the secret entrance located beyond a boulder wall. “What do we have in Havenwood that cannot be found in Sweet Briar or anywhere nearby?”

Reba followed Ella Mae’s glance. “The grove,” she whispered in horror.

Hugh looked down at the ax in his hand and frowned. “I don’t think I’m prepared to defend you. Not against a woman who’s basically immortal.”

“Don’t worry, hon,” Reba assured him. “I had Adelaide stash a few goodies in the woodpile next to their cabin. We won’t be goin’ into this fight unarmed.”

“I just wish we knew exactly who we were fighting,” Ella Mae said and started to run again.

Bursting into the same cabin she’d visited that morning, Ella Mae found the living room unoccupied.

“Mom?” she called out, hating the way her voice echoed back to her. Hugh checked the bedroom, but it was also empty.

Reba, who’d gone to the woodpile to retrieve her weapons, entered the cabin and pressed a Colt 1911 pistol into Ella Mae’s hand. She then pointed at a note on the coffee table. “Did you see this? It’s from Adelaide.”

Scooping up the paper, Ella Mae scanned the lines. “She took Henry back to Partridge Hill. He remembered an obscure but incomplete reference to the apples that he thinks may prove crucial in a fight against Margaret. My mom will call as soon as he finds the reference.”

Reba stared at the note in disbelief. “Who runs off to read books at a time like this?”

“It must be important.” Ella Mae adjusted her grip on the Colt. “Did you give Hugh a weapon?”

“She did,” Hugh said, patting his back pocket. “Though I don’t feel good about carrying. I try not to shoot women if I can help it.”

Reba glared at him. “Feel free to bury your ax in Loralyn’s chest, then. We’re not picky about how she goes down.”

“You need to realize that Hugh’s walking into this mess in the middle,” Ella Mae scolded her friend. “
We
barely know what’s going on and we’ve been in it since the beginning.” She put a hand on Hugh’s arm. “Just be on your guard around Margaret and Loralyn. They can’t be trusted and they won’t hesitate to kill us if we try to take those apples.”

Hugh nodded solemnly. “What’s our next step?”

“We head for the docks assigned to these cabins,” Ella Mae said. “It’s the most logical escape route.”

Reba moved to the door and did a quick check of the surrounding woods before waving Ella Mae and Hugh outside. “What about Savannah? She could be—” The rest of
her thought was interrupted by the ringing of her phone. She answered with a quick, “Talk to me.”

Ella Mae watched Reba’s face. At first, she listened with intense concentration, but her expression rapidly changed to one of fear. Her white-knuckled grip on the phone terrified Ella Mae. Nothing scared Reba. She’d always been fearless.

“I’ll tell her,” Reba whispered and lowered the phone. “Henry found the passage he’d been lookin’ for. It talks about a time limit on the apples’ power. They have to be renewed every century. And the cost is dear. It’s exactly one life per apple. A woman’s life.”

Ella Mae gasped. “This is Margaret’s motive? She’s recharging the apples by murdering her fellow Camellias?” She felt her stomach turn in disgust. “Bea was the first. Cora was the second. I guess Savannah is the third.”

Reba gave the door a furious kick. “We have to stop her before she takes Savannah’s life. Henry said that if Meg gets her full vitality back, she won’t be like a regular woman. She’ll be more like Conan the Barbarian meets Maleficent.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Hugh mumbled.

“Is she magical?” Ella Mae asked.

Reba shook her head. “No, but if one of our kind
did
get her hands on those apples, her powers would be magnified. Imagine Loralyn bein’ able to influence an entire town with her voice. She could convince every man in Havenwood to do whatever she wanted. They’d become her slaves. Or her army.”

“Lord help us.” Ella Mae was sickened by images of Loralyn wielding such power. Her twisted heart would use the apples to destroy anyone who’d ever hurt her. And when she was through with her revenge, she’d continue causing pain and destruction. Her desire would consume what little remained of the girl Ella Mae had known since preschool.

That’s exactly what Loralyn craves
—
to have everything and everyone that once defined her go up in flames—but I can’t let her become this dark phoenix.

Ella Mae was so caught up in her thoughts that she almost didn’t notice Reba cock her head to the side. She’d heard something.

“A muffled scream. Someone’s scared to death,” she said. “This way!”

And then she was running.

Ella Mae and Hugh followed, struggling to keep pace. Though they were in their early thirties and she was in her fifties, Reba was as fleet-footed as a spooked deer.

Reba led them along the banks of the lake and to a resort boathouse. She stopped behind a pine tree and waited for Ella Mae and Hugh to catch up.

“You’re not even breathing hard,” Hugh panted, his chest heaving.

Ignoring him, Reba pointed at the boathouse. “I think Savannah’s in there. I can hear voices, but I can’t pick up the whimperin’ I heard before, which has me worried.” She looked at Hugh. “I want you to approach by the boat entrance. We’ll take the side door. Let’s go!”

Reba didn’t bother with stealth, and Ella Mae knew there was a strong possibility that they were too late to rescue Savannah McGovern. The idea that Savannah might already be dead fueled her anger. It was one thing to possess a lust for life. It was quite another to murder three innocent women to prolong one’s lifespan by another century. Ella Mae still couldn’t believe that Margaret Woodward was Meg Edgeworth-Ryan. She remembered seeing the photograph of Meg accompanying the online article on the clothing drive the Edgeworths had organized. Ella Mae had looked at Meg’s pretty face and assumed that she was a sincere
young lady. But there was nothing genuine or charitable about Meg. She was a cold and duplicitous killer.

Having reached the boathouse door, Ella Mae had no more time to reflect on the years Margaret had had to hone her ability to deceive other people. Reba pulled out a trio of throwing stars from the pocket of her cargo pants and glanced at Ella Mae, who raised her pistol to the ready position and gave Reba a quick nod.

Reba yanked open the door and the two women burst into the boathouse.

It took Ella Mae’s eyes a second to adjust to the gloom within, but Reba bolted forward. The dimness hadn’t affected her vision at all and she raced toward the rear of the building, Ella Mae close on her heels.

Wooden boards creaked and groaned under their feet as they ran, and Ella Mae knew they’d ruined any hope of surprise. Reba seemed unconcerned about this, but when they came upon a stack of canoes obscuring their view of the rest of the space, Reba signaled for Ella Mae to go around the stern end of the pile while she darted around the bow end and melted into the shadows.

The moment Ella Mae stepped out from behind the canoes, she found herself face-to-face with Loralyn, who held a shotgun in her arms. The barrel was aimed directly at Ella Mae’s chest.

Loralyn’s mouth curved into a triumphant smile. “Hello, pie girl.”

Ella Mae darted a glance to Loralyn’s right. There, tied to a chair, was Savannah McGovern. Her head hung over her chest and her shoulders were slumped. It looked as though the only thing keeping her upright were the ropes binding her to the chair. Meg stood next to Savannah. She had a small golden apple in one hand and a clear plastic trash bag in the other.

Without even looking in Ella Mae’s direction, Meg moved Savannah’s limp hand onto her lap. She then pressed the piece of golden fruit, which was the size of a crabapple, into Savannah’s palm and paused for a moment. Satisfied that the apple would stay in place, she shook out the bag. The creases and wrinkles disappeared and the bag filled with air. And then, in a swift movement, Meg pulled it over Savannah’s head.

“No!”
Ella Mae cried. She’d had her Colt pointed at Loralyn so that the two old enemies were at a standoff, but now she aimed her gun at Meg.

Loralyn took two steps closer to Ella Mae. “Shut up, Clover Queen.” She spoke the title as though it left a foul taste in her mouth. “I warned you to stay out of this. But I’m glad that you didn’t listen to me. Getting rid of you once and for all is going to be the highlight of my day.”

Where are you, Reba?
Ella Mae wanted to shout, but she kept her gaze locked on Loralyn. She didn’t want to indicate that she hadn’t come alone.

“Where’s runty Reba?” Loralyn asked as though she’d read Ella Mae’s mind.

“Going for help,” Ella Mae said with as much bluster as she could manage. “You need to stop what you’re doing, Meg. Or should I call you Margaret?” Her finger caressed the Colt’s trigger. She had to decide quickly if she should shoot Meg before Savannah ran out of oxygen. If only Reba would make her move, Ella Mae would know what to do. Hugh clearly wasn’t going to be a factor in this showdown. By the time he entered through the boat ramp, this fight would be over.

“I’ve had many names. It doesn’t matter which one you use,” Meg answered in a conversational tone. “You won’t be alive long enough to address me by any of them. Now, allow me to finish what I started.” She tied the bag around Savannah’s neck, leaving no opportunity for air to enter or escape.

“Stop it!” Ella Mae started forward. She couldn’t help herself. Savannah was utterly defenseless. She was obviously unconscious and would soon slip into a darkness from which she would never awake.

“Stop!”
Ella Mae yelled again.

Loralyn lunged at Ella Mae and gave her a violent shove with the barrel of the shotgun.

A second later, there was a whistle of flying metal and one of Reba’s throwing stars severed the plastic bag above Savannah’s right ear. The star continued on its path, heading right for Loralyn, but she’d caught the wink of silver as it left Reba’s hand and was already reacting. Even as Ella Mae was pulling her trigger, hoping to hit Meg, Loralyn was squeezing hers in an effort to bring down Ella Mae.

Because Loralyn was in motion when she fired, her shot went wide. The shotgun blast punched a hole into the canoe behind Ella Mae’s shoulder and splinters of wood exploded in the air.

Ella Mae dove to her left, unable to see if her bullet had hit her target. Fragments of wood rained down, temporarily blinding her, and it was only the sound of Reba’s voice that saved her from Loralyn’s second blast.

“Move!” Reba bellowed, and Ella Mae obeyed, rolling farther to her left. She could feel the impact of the shotgun pellets tear into the boards where her legs had been just seconds before. Without hesitating, she fired three rounds from her pistol. She didn’t expect to hit Loralyn, but she hoped to force her to take cover.

Loralyn jumped to safety behind the canoe stack, which gave Ella Mae time to crawl behind a row of barrels stuffed with oars. She waited there for several seconds, letting the smoke clear and the ringing in her ears ease.

Peering between two oars in search of enemies, Ella Mae
found Reba tearing the plastic bag off Savannah’s head. Meg was nowhere in sight.

“She grabbed the apple and disappeared,” Reba told Ella Mae as she pressed two fingers against Savannah’s neck. There was a line of blood on Savannah’s newly shorn scalp from where the throwing star had sliced her skin. Thankfully, it was a shallow cut. If Reba’s aim hadn’t been so precise, Savannah would be dead by now.

Keeping her eyes on the stack of canoes, Ella Mae got to her feet. She raised the Colt and covered Reba while she continued to examine Savannah.

“She’s alive,” Reba said. “Looks like they clocked her on the back of the head. She’s got a monster-sized bump here, but she’ll live.”

“Come out, Loralyn!” Ella Mae called. Now that she knew Savannah would be okay, she was ready to deal with Loralyn. “You’re outnumbered, so put your gun on the floor and kick it over to me or I
will
shoot you.”

While Ella Mae waited for Loralyn to respond, Reba crept around Savannah’s chair to where Meg had been standing. She squatted down, clasped an iron ring, and gave it a tug. A trap door opened and Reba squinted down into the opening.

“There’s a ladder,” she whispered. “And I see footprints in the mud below. We need to get Meg. She’ll just take out the next woman she sees. She’ll fill that third apple and run.” She touched her ear. “I think Loralyn left by the side door. She’s followin’ Meg.”