Chapter 6 A Crumb of Evidence
Penny had always believed that dough could solve almost anything.
Not literally.
Dough couldn't fix a broken heart, undo a terrible mistake, or bring a dead man back to life.
But there was something about putting her hands into flour and butter that made the world feel manageable.
Measure.
Mix.
Knead.
Repeat.
That afternoon, she stood behind the counter at The Frosted Petal with her sleeves rolled to her elbows and a mound of dough beneath her palms.
Push.
Fold.
Turn.
Push.
Fold.
Turn.
The rhythm soothed her.
For the first time all day, her mind wasn't racing.
At least, not quite as fast.
Mochi sat on a stool nearby, watching her.
"You know," Penny said, "most people would tell me to stop investigating."
Mochi blinked.
"My sister did."
The dough made a soft slap against the counter.
"Detective Patterson did."
Another fold.
"Francine practically did."
Mochi's tail flicked.
Penny sighed.
"Maybe everyone is right."
She kneaded harder.
"I was wrong about Francine."
The admission still stung.
She had been so certain.
She'd convinced herself she'd found the killer, only to discover that Francine had been across town at a doctor's appointment.
Penny had no murderer.
No reliable suspect.
No real proof.
Only questions.
She pushed the dough away and wiped her hands.
Then her eyes fell on the notebook beside the mixer.
She picked it up.
Nelson.
Daisy.
Melanie.
The names seemed to mock her.
Penny closed the notebook.
Then she remembered something else.
The plastic fragment.
Her breath caught.
She reached into the drawer beneath the counter.
The tiny scrap was still there.
She had wrapped it in wax paper and tucked it away after discovering it.
Penny unfolded the paper.
The piece of plastic looked even more insignificant than before.
A torn corner.
White.
Thin.
A faint printed marking.
Two letters.
OX.
She stared at it.
Something bothered her.
She couldn't explain what.
Penny had spent years working with food packaging.
She knew flour bags.
Sugar sacks.
Chocolate wrappers.
Vanilla bottles.
Almond flour packages.
Gelatin packets.
Food coloring tubes.
Everything had a particular look.
This didn't.
She picked up her phone and enlarged a photograph she'd taken earlier.
There.
The printed edge.
A few tiny symbols.
Penny frowned.
"That's not food packaging."
Mochi lifted his head.
Penny stood.
She walked to the pantry.
The shelves were packed with ingredients.
Flour.
Sugar.
Cocoa.
Nuts.
Spices.
Boxes of decorations.
She began checking labels.
One after another.
Nothing.
She pulled open a cabinet.
Nothing.
Then another.
Nothing.
She returned to the scrap.
Her pulse quickened.
"What are you?"
She turned it over.
There was a faint chemical symbol near the torn edge.
Penny stared.
She had seen that type of warning before.
Not in the kitchen.
On pest-control supplies.
Her stomach dropped.
"No."
She grabbed her phone again.
She searched the markings.
Her eyes widened.
A specialized pest-control poison.
Odorless.
Colorless.
Dangerous.
Penny stopped breathing for a moment.
The bakery suddenly seemed too quiet.
She looked at the scrap again.
Then toward the decorating station.
The piping tip.
The wedding cake.
George.
Mochi's reaction.
Her thoughts collided.
If the substance had been in the cake...
Then George's death might not have been an accident.
It might not have been an allergic reaction.
Someone might have poisoned him.
Using her cake.
Penny's hands began to shake.
She looked around the bakery.
Someone had deliberately introduced poison into her workplace.
Into her ingredients.
Into something she had made with her own hands.
The realization made her feel sick.
She grabbed her apron.
"Mochi."
The cat jumped from the stool.
"Stay here."
He followed her.
"Mochi."
He followed faster.
Penny hurried into the pantry.
"If someone put poison in my ingredients, there has to be more."
She began searching.
She checked every shelf.
Every drawer.
Every container.
She pulled bags forward.
Moved boxes.
Opened cabinets.
Nothing.
Then she reached the almond flour.
Penny paused.
She had used almond flour in the bakery's wedding preparations.
She grabbed the bag and lifted it.
Something fell behind it.
A tiny packet.
Penny froze.
The packet was tucked into the narrow space between the flour bag and the wall.
She didn't touch it.
For several seconds, she simply stared.
Then she noticed Mochi.
The cat was sitting directly in front of it.
His tail twitched slowly from side to side.
"Mochi."
He didn't move.
Penny crouched.
The packet was small.
White.
Sealed.
And marked with the same warning symbol she'd seen on the torn wrapper.
Her heart began pounding.
"Don't touch it."
Mochi looked at her.
Penny slowly reached for a pair of disposable gloves.
She put them on.
Then she carefully lifted the packet with a pair of tongs.
The label was partially obscured.
But Penny didn't need to see the entire thing.
She recognized enough.
Same product.
Same warning.
Same poison.
She placed it inside a clean glass jar and sealed the lid.
Then she stepped backward.
Her hands were trembling.
Someone hadn't accidentally contaminated her bakery.
Someone had hidden poison inside it.
Behind her almond flour.
Close enough to the ingredients to be used.
Close enough to the wedding cake.
Penny leaned against the pantry wall.
"Oh, my God."
Mochi stared at her.
Penny looked down at the cat.
"You knew."
Mochi's tail twitched.
"You knew something was wrong."
He didn't move.
Penny looked at the packet.
A horrible thought entered her mind.
Maybe the poison hadn't been intended for George.
Maybe it had been intended for anyone.
Maybe someone had wanted the cake to become the weapon.
And if the killer had deliberately placed poison in her bakery, then there was something Penny had been avoiding since the wedding.
The killer had access.
Not just to the cake.
To her workplace.
To her supplies.
To her routine.
Penny's mouth went dry.
She thought about everyone who had been inside The Frosted Petal recently.
Tess.
Customers.
Delivery drivers.
Wedding staff.
Daisy.
Nelson.
Maybe even Melanie.
Anyone could have walked through the bakery unnoticed during the chaos of the wedding preparations.
Penny suddenly felt exposed.
The bakery had always been her safe place.
Her sanctuary.
Now it felt violated.
She looked at the tiny packet again.
"Who put you here?"
Mochi stood.
He walked toward the pantry entrance.
Then stopped.
He looked back at Penny.
For a moment, she had the strangest feeling he was waiting for her.
Waiting for her to follow.
Penny swallowed.
"Okay."
She picked up the jar.
"We're going to find out."
Mochi walked out.
Penny followed.
She locked the pantry.
Then locked the back door.
Then checked the front door.
Twice.
She returned to the counter and sat down.
Her notebook was still there.
She opened it.
Under the names of her suspects, she wrote one sentence.
The cake was poisoned deliberately.
She stared at the words.
They changed everything.
Nelson's anger mattered.
Daisy's earring mattered.
Francine's heartbreak mattered.
Melanie's secrets mattered.
But now Penny had something none of them had given her.
Proof that poison had entered her bakery.
Proof that someone had planned something.
Proof that George's death might have been murder.
Penny closed the notebook.
She looked at Mochi.
The cat was sitting beside the pantry door.
His amber eyes were fixed on the darkness beyond it.
Penny followed his gaze.
For the first time since George's death, she felt something stronger than fear.
Determination.
Someone had walked into her bakery.
Someone had hidden poison among her ingredients.
Someone had used her work to kill a man.
And whoever had done it had made one terrible mistake.
They had left a crumb behind.
And Penny Worth had found it.