Mickie, one of Hadley’s favorite people ever, stood behind a large stainless-steel table set back behind the glass display case full of golden-brown creations that looked soft, crusty, and amazing. She glanced up from the dough she was kneading and shot Hadley her signature wide smile.

  “Is this the famous Gran, finally?” she asked, wiping off her hands and heading over to the sink to wash up.

  Mickie had been out of the country during Hadley and Tyler’s wedding, so she’d missed meeting a good portion of Hadley’s relatives, Gran included.

  “The one and only,” Hadley said.

  “Mickie,” the baker said, holding out her hand to shake once it was clean.

  “Nice to meet you,” Gran said. “I hear you make the best bread in town. If the smell in here is any indication, I think I’d have to agree.”

  Mickie bowed slightly. “I try my best.” She turned to Hadley. “How you doing, Had?”

  “Can’t complain,” she answered. Then, noticing the pin with Marissa’s picture stuck to Mickie’s collar, she added, “Given the circumstances.”

  Mickie nodded. Even though the woman wasn’t technically family anymore—being Hadley’s ex-husband’s aunt—she and Hadley had always had a strong bond, one that had only been strengthened by the divorce.

  “What can I get you two today?” she asked.

  Hadley ordered a few of her favorites, including a loaf of sourdough for the week, and Gran pointed out a few treats to add to the box. As Mickie readied their baked goods, Hadley and Gran stepped over to the register.

  Mickie was a brilliant baker and one of the more organized people Hadley had ever met. Her baking area was spotless save for the projects she was currently working on, but the woman definitely had one area of weakness: the way she took orders.

  The woman wrote her orders on three-by-five note cards and then clipped them to a piece of string she ran across the back wall in the same order in which she needed to get them ready. Her various notes were scrawled across the note card in her scratchy handwriting. And each time the front door or an oven door opened, the line of note cards swayed, fluttered, and swung.

  Skeptical as Hadley was about her method, Mickie had only ever been late on one order—it had fallen and slipped underneath one of the stoves, but she’d found it a couple of hours before it was due for pickup, so she’d had it almost ready by the time the customer had arrived.

  It had been a while since the last time Hadley was in the bakery, so she scanned the order note cards, squinting slightly to read. She’d always had fun trying to place the orders with different upcoming celebrations.

  Thea ordered a dozen donuts. I bet her grandkids are coming to visit for a weekend. Oh, and Barry’s ordered his usual two-dozen dinner rolls. That order wasn’t about celebrations, seeing how Barry—a widower—froze the rolls and heated one up with his dinner each night. He always said he was a decent enough cook, but a disastrous baker.

  As Hadley’s gaze landed on the third note card in from the right, her breath caught in her throat. Suze’s name was scribbled on the top of the card. The word cake was barely legible underneath. In fact … did it say wedding cake?

  Mickie glanced up from the register and let out a quick yip when she noticed where Hadley was looking. “Oh! Um … did you know I made biscotti?” she asked, pointing to a jar of the hard, chocolate-dipped desserts next to her.

  Frowning, Hadley said, “Yeah … you’ve been making biscotti for years.” She tried again to read the note card hanging in the back.

  “Not this kind.” Mickie opened the jar, used tongs to grab out a biscuit, then put it in the box along with their other purchases. “I’ll throw one in for free so you can try the new flavor.” Mickie took a step to the right, effectively blocking Hadley’s view of the orders. “Heard anything more from Paul about Miranda?” she asked as Gran wandered off to grab a table.

  Hadley shook her head, still reeling from what she might have seen on the order card. But Mickie bringing up Paul reminded Hadley she needed to let her brother know about the scene she and Gran had been privy to at the hospital that morning.

  “I heard Cassie’s in hot water.” Mickie plopped the box of goodies on the counter.

  A wave of sugary dough wafted up to meet Hadley, almost stealing her attention enough that she didn’t quite register what Mickie had said at first.

  “What do you mean?” She shook her head.

  Hadley recognized the glint in Mickie’s eye, the same one she saw whenever a Stoneybrook citizen realized they had new information to share.

  “She lied to the police the first time.”

  Shoulders sagging slightly, Hadley waved a hand at Mickie. “Oh. Yeah. I thought everyone knew what a hard time Paul had getting her to talk at first.”

  “No,” Mickie said. “This wasn’t just being tight-lipped. She told Paul she didn’t go out at all after Miranda’s boyfriend picked her up at eleven, but the neighbors say they definitely saw headlights driving away from the Lee house after midnight. You know those fancy white-blue ones only luxury cars like hers have.”

  “Could it have been her parents?” Hadley asked, knowing the Lees had more than one luxury vehicle.

  Mickie shook her head. “Her parents were off seeing a show in Seattle. They stayed the night in a hotel, didn’t even get back until midday. Cassie was home alone.”

  “Huh.” Hadley handed over money to pay for their purchases when the total showed up on the register. “That is odd.” She wondered if this meant anything else Cassie had told Paul was a lie as well. “What about you?” she asked Mickie. “You see anything odd last week?” Hadley gestured behind her toward the sweet shop.

  Mickie sighed. “No, but I keep wracking my brain, trying to think of something, anything. I close up too early in the day and usually just see Miranda coming into work as I’m leaving.”

  “Right,” Hadley said, absentmindedly picking at her nails. She noticed and grabbed the box off the counter to give her hands something to do. “Thanks, Mick.”

  “Anytime.” Mickie waved, staying suspiciously still—in fact, just in the right spot so Hadley couldn’t see the order note card.

  Hadley tucked the bakery box under one arm. Focusing on her grandmother, who was sitting a few feet away at a little bistro table, she realized the woman was touching her new hip.

  “You doing okay, Gran?”

  The woman looked down and pulled her hand away as if she’d just realized it was burning hot. “Oh, I’m just fine.”

  But Hadley couldn’t help but worry. Her grandmother had been out and about all day. There was a distinct sag to her shoulders.

  “Let me take you home. I can make us some tea while we eat some of these treats.”

  Gran nodded, then hooked her arm through Hadley’s as they walked back to the Jam Van.

  After a nice time visiting with Gran and her parents, Hadley drove back into town to drop off the van and grab her bike. Sure, the days were getting colder, but it seemed extravagant to drive the big van around when she didn’t need to. She would save those days for the times when the snow was too thick for it to be safe riding her bike.

  Parking the van and checking that the kitchen was fully secured for the night, she swung her leg over the bike and pedaled out onto Main Street. Unlike other towns, where Sundays were sleepy days filled with few obligations, Stoneybrook was a tourist town year-round and was especially busy on cloudless, blue-sky days like today.

  Shoppers crowded the quaint sidewalks, and cars lined Main Street, filling up almost all of the available parking spots. While Hadley had worked that morning with Gran, it was only because she was desperately low on supplies. Sunday was normally her day off, since she only used her space as a kitchen, not a retail space.

  It would take a hefty renovation to turn the front section of her kitchen into a place suitable to sell her jams, but it was something she’d always planned on doing; she just lacked the capital to do so. Almost. She happily mused that once she had her storefront, she would have to change around her schedule to accommodate working both Saturday and Sunday each weekend.

  Her bike tires whirred as she sped down the road. Even the fall chill remaining in the air wasn’t enough to keep Hadley from tipping her head back to soak in some of the warm rays. As Main Street curved closer to the river, Hadley spotted something light-colored in the middle of the road. It appeared Hadley wasn’t the only one who was enjoying gathering some Vitamin D. Road cat was lying in the middle of Main Street, its tail flicking with annoyance as it spotted Hadley biking toward it.

  Similar to yesterday, it didn’t move the closer she got.

  Hadley pulled her bike off to the side of the road a few yards away from the cat and stepped off her bike. The cat’s brown ears swiveled in her direction, but it didn’t even turn to look at her.

  “Hey … you need to quit hanging out in the middle of the road. It’s dangerous.”

  The cat yawned.

  “I know the road is warm with all of this sun we’re getting today, but I’m sure you could find a safer place to sunbathe.”

  A deep breath lifted and lowered the cat’s rib cage.

  Engaging her kickstand, Hadley wondered if she could catch the beast sun-drunk and sleepy enough it might allow her to pick it up this time.

  “Marigold Lane is one thing. It’s a fairly quiet street. But you’re on Main Street now.”

  She was about to step closer to the animal when the sound of an engine humming in acceleration came around the curve. Her gaze flashed up just in time to see Cassandra Lee’s flashy convertible zoom around the corner, straight at the road cat.

  11

  Hadley’s heart leaped into her throat as she looked from the fast-moving convertible to the cat lying in the road. The cat flicked its tail, but simply stared down the car as if willing it to swerve around, just like Hadley had done with her bike.

  But Cassie didn’t seem to see anything … not even the lines on the road as she veered over the yellow.

  If Hadley didn’t do something, Cassie was going to hit the road cat.

  She waved her arms at the oncoming car, hoping to catch Cassie’s attention, but either the girl couldn’t see out of her giant, dark-tinted sunglasses or she wasn’t looking up.

  For a stupid split second, Hadley thought about jumping in front of the car in an attempt to grab the cat before the car could reach it. Luckily, her rational brain rejected the idea instantly. Silly as it had been, it gave her a different idea.

  Popping the kickstand of her bike up with her heel, she pulled the bike back, ducked slightly to line up the tires, and then pushed it into the road. It was a gamble. Seeing the bike head straight at it had not deterred the cat either of the times since she met it.

  Hadley cringed, wanting so badly to close her eyes but needing to see her plan through.

  The skinny tires whirled around once, twice, three times as the bike coasted straight for the cat. The creature stared back in defiance, flicking between the car and the bike. Hadley yelled something incoherent, unsure whether she was hoping to scare the cat or Cassie, or both.

  Her heart was in her throat, along with the remnants of her mangled yell. The bike slowed without a rider to pump the pedals. But just before the bike crashed into the cat, the feline scurried off to the ditch on the other side of the road.

  Blood pulsed in Hadley’s ears, sounding deafeningly loud until it was replaced by the screech of tires and the crash of metal upon metal. Her hands instinctively reached up to cover her eyes. Before she could even peel them away, she knew what removing them would reveal.

  Her bike had flown a good five yards away, and the back tire wobbled unnaturally as it spun.

  Convertible stopped, Cassie flipped up her sunglasses. Her mouth opened three times as her angry gaze flicked between Hadley and the bike. The fourth time, a string of swears flew out.

  Stunned by the teen’s foul language, Hadley just stood there as Cassie got out, rounded the front of the car, and continued to yell.

  “What were you thinking?” Cassie combed her fingers roughly through her blond hair, looking back at the dent in her front left fender.

  “You didn’t see the cat.” Hadley shrugged, not about to let some stuck-up teenager boss her around. “I tried to warn you, but you weren’t paying attention.”

  Blinking, Cassie studied Hadley’s expression. “What cat?”

  Hadley dipped her chin. “Exactly. It finally ran off, over there.” She pointed over at the shrubs along the other side of the road.

  Cassie’s gaze followed Hadley’s gesture. It was then Hadley noticed how puffy and red her eyes were. She looked like she’d been crying.

  Was that why she wasn’t paying attention to where she was driving? Hadley wondered.

  “Is everything okay?” she asked, more diplomatically.

  Before Hadley could prepare herself, Cassie crumpled into a sobbing mess at her feet in the middle of the road.

  “Nothing’s okay,” the girl wailed. “My friend is missing and it’s all my fault. And I just yelled at the person who tried to stop me from killing a cat.” She sniffled and looked up at Hadley. “I’m sorry.”

  In the months since the Lees had moved to Stoneybrook from Cascade Ridge, Hadley had never seen the young woman look anything less than the picture of icy beauty.

  But all of her cracks were showing at once.

  Hadley couldn’t help but latch on to Cassie’s statement. “Why is Miranda missing your fault?” she asked, bending down next to the crying girl.

  Cassie’s long eyelashes were sticking together, coated with tears and too much mascara. She looked at Hadley through them as a few more tears dripped down her cheeks then she sniffed.

  Hadley hadn’t forgotten what Mickie had told her about Cassie’s neighbors seeing her leave the house so late when she’d sworn to Paul she’d stayed in all night.

  Instead of answering, Cassie began to wail even louder, her body wracked with sobs. Hadley glanced around the empty road and wondered if she should try to move Cassie’s car out of the way. This end of Main Street wasn’t too busy, though. Deciding it would be fine, she did go move her mangled bike out of the other lane and clicked on Cassie’s emergency flashers. Her phone beeped, and she saw a text from her brother come through.

  Heard anything new about Miranda?

  Hadley cringed. If Paul was asking her, it meant they were running out of leads. She sent back a sad-face emoji before returning to the still-weeping teen, feeling bad for leaving her alone.

  But Hadley stopped short as she rounded the car. The girl was no longer alone.

  The road cat sat merely inches from the whimpering Cassie. Its pink nose twitched, and it stretched its neck forward toward the person who’d almost flattened it.

  Cassie had stopped crying and stared at the cat instead. “Are you the one I almost hit?” she cooed.

  To Hadley’s amazement, the cat meowed in response, a purr rumbling in its throat. It reminded her of the almost conversational chats she often had with her cats.

  “I’m so sorry.” Cassie held her hand out. The road cat blinked lovingly at her and even rubbed its head against Cassie’s fingers.

  Hadley suppressed a grin. “It hasn’t let anyone get close, but seems absolutely smitten with you.”

  As if to prove her point, the road cat glared at Hadley, a small growl rumbling in its throat. She put her hands up and took a step back.

  “Okay, okay. Sorry,” she said with a laugh.

  Cassie wrapped an arm around the cat and pulled it into her lap. Hadley hadn’t ever seen a cat take to one person so intensely and be so sour toward everyone else.

  “So you don’t belong to anyone?” Cassie asked the cat.

  “Not that anyone local knows of,” Hadley answered.

  This time, Cassie directed her question at Hadley. “Do you think I could keep him … her?”

  Shrugging, Hadley said, “I don’t see why not. Louise was going to ask around for me, but if it’s truly a stray, yeah. You’d be doing it a favor giving it a warm home before the temperature drops.”

  Cassie stood, giving one decisive nod. The cat hung in her arms as if it had been carried around by her all its life. “No more roads for you, Bailey. You’re going to be an inside cat from now on.”

  Hadley’s eyebrows rose. “Bailey?”

  “Yeah.” Cassie put a hand on one hip. “Its fur looks like Bailey’s Irish Cream. And it works whether it’s a girl or a boy.”

  Not wanting to ask how Cassie, a minor, would know anything about the liquor, Hadley focused on the next steps.

  “The local veterinarian will be able to tell you the gender, as well as figure out if it has any medical issues you’ll want to take care of before bringing it into your house.” Hadley could just picture the cat jumping onto a pristine, white couch in the Lee household that probably cost more than all of Hadley’s furniture combined.

  Cassie snapped her fingers, then pointed at Hadley. “You can help me! You’re a total crazy cat lady. I have no idea what to do or buy, but people are always talking about how you have a ton of cats.”

  Hadley frowned. She didn’t know in which universe two cats qualified as a ton—and she also didn’t appreciate the word crazy being tacked on to the term cat lady—but she also saw an opportunity. Her frown morphed into a smile.

  “On one condition. You have to tell me what you were talking about earlier. Why are you the reason for Miranda’s disappearance?” Her hand moved to her hip as if by its own free will.

  The teenager’s gaze dropped to the cat in her arms. She scrunched her fingers into the tea-with-cream colored fur, but conceded. “Okay.”

  “Let’s get your car out of the road first.” Hadley moved toward her bike, grimacing when she saw the warped shape of the back wheel.

  Cassie waved her over. “Put your bike in the back seat. There’s no way you’re going to be able to ride it now. I’ll drive.”

  Hadley gulped, remembering all of the times she’d seen Cassie speeding through town.

 

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