Crêpe Murder: Book 4 (A Patisserie Mystery with Recipes) (10 page)

“What have you decided on so far?” asked Henri with an amused smile.

“We both like this pink diamond,” Madeleine said.

“I don’t even think I’m worth as much as this diamond,” said Arthur.

“Oh, you’re priceless,” said Clémence.

More guest filtered in during the next hour, but Livia was still nowhere to be found. Madeline and Henri were lost in the crowd mingling and even Arthur was enjoying a conversation with a man with salt and pepper hair. Everybody looked like they belonged in a magazine, whether they were twenty or sixty.
 

Clémence did some mingling as well, to find out if anyone knew Livia and whether she was really coming. After another half hour, she spotted Marcus Savin in the crowd, arm in arm with an equally dashing blond man. She waved to him.

“Clémence Damour!” He greeted her with bisous, then turned to his partner. “Didn’t I tell you that this dress
belongs
on her?”
 

Marcus’s date turned out to be his boyfriend Brice. He greeted Clémence with bisous as well. “This dress looks better on you than on the runway for sure.”
 

“I’m sorry,” Marcus told her. “Livia just called me while I was getting here. I told her you wanted to talk to her, so she’s open to meeting with you. The thing is, her flight got delayed, so she’ll be here in forty minutes or so.”
 

“Oh, okay. I guess that’s fine.” Clémence was disappointed, but she might as well enjoy the party as she waited.
 

“Oh look, someone’s wearing my canary dress.” Marcus was talking about someone behind Clémence and she turned to look.

The woman in the silk dress had her back to them. She was speaking a man in a tux. He was so big and imposing that he reminded Clémence of the Hulk.
 

“Do you know who she is?” Clémence asked.
 

“No.”
 

The Hulk-like man must’ve told the woman they were staring at her because she turned around.

“Come on, let’s go say hi.” Marcus made his way through the crowd to her, and Brice and Clémence followed.

There was something familiar about this woman. She had long dark hair, olive skin and big eyes, somewhat resembling the actress Penelope Cruz. Maybe that was why she looked familiar. There were a lot of people at the party that Clémence vaguely recognized.
 

Marcus introduced himself as the designer. “I’m so flattered to have another beautiful woman wear my dress.”
 

“You’re Marcus Savin? Wow. I was just at your store earlier. I’d buy the whole store if I could.”
 

Marcus laughed. “You are more than welcome to.”
 

“I’m Adana,” she said. Still smiling, her dark eyes fixed on Clémence. “And you are?”
 

“Clémence Damour.
Enchantée
.”
 

“So we’re wearing the same designer!” she said. “You have good taste.”

“
Merci. Vous aussi.
”
 

Marcus engaged Adana in a conversation about the dress for a moment. Clémence listened in, but she was distracted by the man beside Adana.
 

Clémence turned and looked at him. She thought there was something strange about the man, the stiff way he stood and the way his eyes avoided eye contact with any of them. With his muscles bulging out of his tight tuxedo, he looked uncomfortable and out of place at the party. His silent presence made her feel awkward, but to be polite, Clémence spoke to him.

“So, how do you know Adana?” she asked.

“Huh?”
 

Clémence repeated the question.

“Oh. I don’t know.” He spoke with a thick Spanish accent, and his French was terrible. “Excuse, I go restroom.”
 

The man turned and walked away before Clémence could reply.

“That was odd,” she muttered.
 

When there was lull in the conversation, Clémence asked Adana who the man was.

“I just met him actually,” she said. “He says he works in the textile industry. Why?”
 

“Nothing. He just left abruptly.”
 

“He’s probably shy.” Adana laughed. “His French is not very good. He was open with me because we were both speaking Spanish.”
 

Clémence looked back at the man to where he’d disappeared off to. There was something else that had bothered her. The cologne he had been wearing smelled familiar. It had the base note of oak moss.

CHAPTER 13

Clémence chatted with Adana when Marcus and Brice got pulled away by fashion designer friends they knew. Adana said she was the daughter of a Spanish film producer and had begun to do some acting herself, thanks to her connections.
 

“I never wanted to go into acting, but I couldn’t get away from the business!” Adana laughed. “My brother works in sound design and my sister works in costumes. I guess I had to be the actress of the family.”
 

“You certainly look like an actress,” Clémence said.

“Why thank you. Hey, have you seen the other exhibit? It’s a private showing of the more exclusive jewelry collection not available to the public yet.”
 

“No. Why is it private?”
 

“Livia was planning on taking a few select guests back there. She has a special collection of royal jewels from the Swiss Royal family.”
 

“Is Livia a friend of yours?” Clémence asked.

“Yes, we’re friends.”
 

“Do you know when she’ll be here?”
 

“Oh, you know Livia. She won’t walk out of the door unless she’s perfect. It’ll be a while. Come on. I know a way into the private section.”
 

“Will we get into trouble?”

Adana laughed and patted her arm. “You don’t seem like the kind of girl who worries about getting into trouble.”
 

Clémence wondered what that meant, but Adana seemed to have intended it as a compliment. She was curious about this private collection of jewelry and she had time to kill. She looked around to find Madeleine, who would’ve surely wanted to come, but she was lost in the crowd somewhere.
 

Adana weaved passed the display cases. Clémence followed. Adana looked around before ducking behind one display wall that featured portraits of various queens and princesses wearing their jewels.

“Clémence,” she called in a high whisper. “Make sure no one is looking before you come around.”
 

Clémence did as she was told. Once they were out of sight, Adana unhooked the velvet rope that barred them from a black door.
 

“Are you sure about this?” Clémence asked.

“Where’s your sense of adventure?” Adana said.
 

When the door closed behind them, they were in pitch black darkness.
 

“Adana?” Clémence didn’t like this.

“Hold on.” Adana rummaged through her purse.
 

She pulled out her smart phone and that produced enough light to illuminate their surroundings. The walls of the room were bare.

“Where are the jewels?” Clémence asked.
 

As soon as she asked the question, a large hand went over her mouth. The smell of oak moss overwhelmed her. Clémence screamed, but the sweaty palm muffled all sounds. It was the man Adana had been talking to earlier, Clémence was sure of it: the Hulk.

Adana didn’t seem fazed by her struggling and her attempts to scream. She let out a low chuckle.
 

“Where’s that duct tape?” Adana muttered. She rummaged in the Hulk’s pocket. He wasn’t wearing his tux anymore, telling from the fabric of his sleeve.
 

After the sound of a rip, Adana moved his hand and slapped a piece of duct tape over Clémence’s mouth.
 

Clémence kicked and flailed, but it didn’t do any good when the man had arms the size of tree trunks holding her down.

“Come on, let’s hurry.” Adana put on a black trench coat and put her hair up beneath a fedora hat. “Let’s get this bitch in the trunk. Oh, and I’ll be taking that.”
 

She snatched away Clémence’s clutch, which had her phone.

The Hulk handcuffed Clémence’s hands behind her and threw her in a very large trunk. He slammed it shut.
 

The trunk was moved, knocking Clémence around inside. She cried. How could she have been so stupid? Why would she go off to a secluded section of the Palais with someone she barely knew just because she seemed glamourous?
 

Clémence should’ve known by now that appearances were deceiving. She just never expected the kidnapper to be a socialite around her age. What did they want with her? Who were they?
 

The trunk rumbled once more. She seemed to be in a moving vehicle now.
 

Without a watch, Clémence didn’t know exactly how long she was in there for. It felt like forever.
 

When the trunk opened, she was looking up at a dark, starry sky.
 

“Get up,” Adana commanded.
 

The Hulk pulled Clémence out and made her walk. He was dressed like a construction worker. She was in a daze and she felt nauseous from the car ride, but she did her best to take in her surroundings. They were in the countryside somewhere. Was it a vineyard? She couldn’t tell. It was dark out with no sign of light anywhere. As they got closer, she saw that they were walking to a small château. At least they were still in France, and they couldn’t have been too far from Paris.

Vaguely knowing where she was didn’t help her, however. The Hulk was too big to overtake, and she was handcuffed. She was really helpless this time. What were they going to do with her? The thought crossed her mind that they wanted her because Sophie was already dead. She shuddered.

She wondered why they didn’t blindfold her. Did they not care that she could see what the location looked like? A lovely French château was an odd location to store hostages. She’d assumed Sophie would be in some scary hole-in-the-wall somewhere.
 

When the Hulk shoved her inside the front door, she was inside an impressive foyer. Inside the trunk, she’d never expected to be taken to a locale with frescos and chandeliers and gilded mirrors.

“A summer rental,” Adana remarked. “You like?”
 

A man ran down the stairs. “You got her! Good.”
 

Juan.
 

“Yes, Diego, you got your macaron heiress,” Adana said in a bored tone. She turned to the Hulk. “Take her upstairs with the other one.”
 

The Hulk lifted Clémence up and threw her over a shoulder as if she was a sack of potatoes.
 

The wooden floor creaked as the Hulk thumped down a hallway and took her into a room that seemed to be the library. He sat her down in a metal chair. He unlocked one of her handcuffs and locked it to the back of the chair.
 

Clémence realized that Sophie was sitting in another chair, ten feet away from her. She was also handcuffed and had a piece of duct tape over her mouth. When they made contact, Clémence saw how much fear was in her eyes.
 

Juan kneeled by Sophie’s side and began speaking in soft tones. “Everything’s going to be all right. Clémence is here to replace you, so we’ll be free to go now.”
 

Sophie shook her head. Her screams were muffled by the tape.

“I know you’re a little stressed at the moment,” Juan continued, “but once we get away, just the two of us, we’ll be back like we were.”
 

Adana rolled her eyes. Even
she
thought Juan was insane. She stood over Clémence and studied her with wry amusement.
 

With a quick rip, the tape was torn from Clémence’s mouth. She cried out in pain.
 

“Who are you?” Clémence demanded.

“She’s my sister,” said Juan.

No wonder Adana had looked familiar. Now that they were next to each other, she could see the resemblance. Both were handsome, with sharp bone structure, dark eyes lined with thick lashes and plush lips. The thought crossed her mind that they were too good looking to be doing the cruel things they were doing.
 

“
Half
-sister,” Adana insisted. “We’re just a bunch of nobodies.”
 

“What do you want?” Clémence asked.

“It’s simple what I want,” she said. “Money. We were doing a decent job of kidnapping spoiled heiresses until Diego here had to go and fall in love with one of them. Oh puke.”
 

“I just couldn’t do that to Sophie’s family.” Juan’s eyes were those of a madman. “We’re fated. Star-crossed lovers, like Romeo and Juliet.”
 

“Oh, you’re pathetic,” Adana snapped. “She’ll never love you, after what you’ve done to her. Why can’t you get that through your dumb head?”
 

Juan stood up. “You’re wrong. She’ll understand in time. She really does love me.”
 

“Then why don’t we remove the duct tape from her mouth again and see what the little bitch says?”
 

Juan sputtered. “She doesn’t know what she’s saying right now. She’s just shocked. Like I said, once we’re away together, she’ll remember how in love we are. Now that you’ve got your heiress for your ransom, I’m taking Sophie.”
 

Adana let out a loud cackle. “Not so fast.”
 

“What?” Juan demanded. “You said that once you got the heiress, you’ll let me have my girl.”
 

“Come on, Juan, don’t you see we have an even better opportunity here? We’ll get twice as much money from
two
rich families. This will be our last kidnapping and we’ll never have to do this again.”
 

Juan looked from Clémence to Sophie. Once again, he kneeled down next to Sophie. “No, I need Sophie. She’s my life now!”
 

Adana shrugged and laughed again. “Suit yourself.” She nodded to the Hulk, who remained stone-faced.