Chapter 9 The Midnight Ransacking
Penny woke to the sound of breaking glass.
For one terrifying second, she couldn't remember where she was.
Then came another crash.
She sat upright.
Mochi hissed.
The bakery.
Someone was in the bakery.
Penny's heart hammered against her ribs.
She grabbed the phone from her nightstand and looked at the time.
2:13 a.m.
Another sound came from downstairs.
A metallic scrape.
Then silence.
Penny held her breath.
Her apartment was directly above The Frosted Petal. Normally, the familiar noises of the bakery below comforted her—the refrigerator humming, the pipes clicking, the occasional settling creak of the building.
This was different.
Someone was moving around down there.
Penny reached for the baseball bat she kept beside her bed.
She hated that she had started keeping it there.
Ever since the threatening note, she had slept lightly.
Every noise woke her.
Every shadow outside the window made her heart race.
But this wasn't imagination.
Someone was downstairs.
Mochi stood at the bedroom door, his fur puffed.
Penny whispered, "Stay here."
Mochi stared at her.
She crept toward the stairs.
The apartment door opened onto the narrow staircase leading directly into the bakery.
Penny took one step.
Then another.
The smell reached her before she saw anything.
Flour.
Raw, dry flour.
She descended another step.
The bakery was dark.
Then something moved near the pantry.
Penny froze.
"Who's there?"
No answer.
She tightened her grip on the bat.
"Police are on their way."
It was a lie.
She hadn't called them yet.
But she had her phone ready.
A shadow moved.
Penny screamed.
The back door slammed.
Footsteps thundered outside.
Penny rushed down the remaining stairs and ran toward the door.
By the time she reached it, whoever had been inside was gone.
She threw the lock open.
Cold night air rushed over her.
The alley was empty.
A streetlamp flickered at the far end.
Nothing else moved.
Penny stood there breathing hard.
Then she heard something behind her.
A soft thump.
She turned.
Mochi was sitting halfway down the stairs.
He looked at her.
Then he looked toward the bakery.
Penny slowly turned.
And saw the destruction.
Every bag of flour had been sliced open.
Every bag of sugar.
All of them.
White mountains covered the floor.
Sugar glittered beneath the dim lights.
Flour coated the counters.
Some bags had been emptied completely.
Others had only been cut enough to spill their contents onto the shelves.
Boxes had been knocked over.
Drawers had been pulled open.
Cabinet doors hung crookedly.
It looked as though someone had searched every inch of the bakery.
But nothing was missing.
Penny stood in the middle of the mess.
Her breathing slowed.
"What were you looking for?"
Mochi walked carefully across the floor.
Penny looked around.
The cash register was untouched.
Her laptop was still there.
The expensive mixer hadn't been moved.
Nothing valuable was gone.
Whoever had broken in hadn't come to steal.
They had come to destroy.
Penny felt sick.
She looked at the ruined ingredients.
Flour was everywhere.
Sugar was everywhere.
Her business was everywhere.
Destroyed.
Her eyes filled with tears.
"Why?"
Mochi jumped onto the counter.
Penny wiped her face.
"This doesn't make any sense."
She had spent years building The Frosted Petal.
One bag of flour at a time.
One cake at a time.
One customer at a time.
And someone had walked into her bakery in the middle of the night and deliberately ruined the supplies.
Not stolen them.
Ruined them.
Penny suddenly understood.
"This isn't about money."
Mochi watched her.
"They're trying to hurt the bakery."
The realization made her stomach twist.
The threatening note had been a warning.
This was escalation.
Someone had wanted Penny frightened.
Now they wanted her business crippled.
Maybe they wanted her to close.
Maybe they wanted to destroy the place where the murder had been planned.
Or perhaps...
Penny stopped.
Perhaps they were searching for something.
Something hidden.
Something she didn't know existed.
Her gaze moved across the bakery.
The thought sent another chill through her.
Maybe the poison wasn't the only thing someone had hidden here.
Detective Patterson arrived twenty minutes later.
He stepped through the back door and stopped.
"Good Lord."
Penny folded her arms.
"That's what I thought."
He surveyed the room.
"Are you hurt?"
"No."
"Did you see the person?"
"No. I heard them."
"Male or female?"
"I don't know."
"Height?"
"Couldn't tell."
"Anything else?"
"The back door slammed."
Patterson nodded.
He crouched near the entrance.
"Don't touch anything."
"I haven't."
He examined the lock.
"Forced."
Penny hugged herself.
"They didn't steal anything."
Patterson looked around.
"I see that."
"Why would someone do this?"
He didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he walked toward the pantry.
Penny followed.
He examined the shelves.
Then the floor.
"Did you have any security cameras?"
"One outside."
"Working?"
"I don't know."
"We'll check it."
Penny looked at the ruined bags.
"Detective?"
"Yes?"
"This is connected to George, isn't it?"
Patterson looked at her.
"We don't know."
"Come on."
"I'm serious."
"Someone poisoned the wedding cake."
"We haven't established that."
Penny's frustration rose.
"Then why threaten me?"
"We don't know who wrote the note."
"Someone broke into my bakery tonight."
"Yes."
"Someone destroyed every bag of flour and sugar."
"Yes."
"They're trying to scare me."
"Possibly."
"Then tell me I'm wrong."
Patterson stared at her.
"I can't."
The words silenced her.
For the first time, the detective didn't dismiss her.
He looked concerned.
"We'll process the scene."
Penny nodded.
Then she noticed Mochi.
The cat had wandered into the pantry.
He was sniffing the shelves.
"Mochi."
The cat ignored her.
He sniffed again.
Then moved toward a lower shelf.
There was one bag of flour there.
Half-empty.
Untouched.
Penny frowned.
Everything around it had been destroyed.
But that bag was intact.
Mochi sniffed it.
Then scratched the floor.
"Mochi?"
He scratched again.
Harder.
Patterson looked over.
"What's he doing?"
"I don't know."
Mochi scratched frantically at the shelf.
His claws scraped against the wooden floor.
Penny crouched.
"What is it?"
Mochi pawed at the bottom edge of the shelf.
Penny moved the flour bag aside.
Nothing.
Then Mochi scratched again.
Penny leaned closer.
Something was beneath the shelf.
A faint mark.
A footprint.
She froze.
"Detective."
Patterson crouched beside her.
He examined the floor.
The print was partially visible in the dust and spilled flour.
A shoe.
Deep enough to leave a clear outline.
Penny stared.
"That's not mine."
Patterson looked at her shoes.
Then at the print.
"Could be your assistant's."
"Tess wears sneakers."
Patterson studied the mark.
"What about the others?"
"I don't know."
Penny looked at Mochi.
The cat sat beside the footprint, tail twitching.
"Why wasn't this bag touched?"
Patterson looked at the half-empty flour bag.
"Good question."
Penny's heart began racing again.
The intruder had destroyed every other bag.
But this one had been left alone.
Why?
Had they overlooked it?
Or had they deliberately avoided it?
Patterson carefully photographed the footprint.
Then another.
Then another.
"Don't touch this area."
Penny nodded.
"Could the person who broke in have been looking for something?"
"Possibly."
"Something hidden?"
"Possibly."
"Something in this bakery?"
He looked at her.
"We'll find out."
Penny glanced at the flour bag.
She suddenly remembered the poison packet.
It had been hidden behind the almond flour.
Maybe the intruder had been searching for it.
Maybe they knew Penny had found it.
Maybe they had come back to remove evidence.
But why leave the half-empty flour bag?
Penny's mind raced.
Mochi sniffed the bag one more time.
Then he sat down.
His amber eyes fixed on Penny.
Penny swallowed.
"Okay."
Patterson stood.
"What?"
Penny shook her head.
"Nothing."
She wasn't ready to explain the feeling she had.
But she knew one thing.
This wasn't random vandalism.
Someone had entered The Frosted Petal with a purpose.
And Mochi had found the one place the intruder hadn't destroyed.
The question was why.
By dawn, the police had finished processing the scene.
Penny stood outside the bakery while the first pale light appeared over Magnolia Cove.
She felt exhausted.
Angry.
And strangely determined.
The bakery behind her looked wounded.
But it was still standing.
Penny looked at the sign above the door.
THE FROSTED PETAL
She had painted those words herself.
She had built this place herself.
She wasn't going to let someone take it from her.
Mochi appeared beside her.
He rubbed against her ankle.
Penny bent down and picked him up.
"You're becoming very good at finding trouble."
Mochi purred.
She kissed the top of his head.
"Or finding clues."
He looked toward the bakery.
Penny followed his gaze.
The half-empty bag of flour was still inside.
The strange footprint was still on the floor.
The threat note was now evidence.
The poison packet was hidden away.
And somewhere in Magnolia Cove, someone was watching.
Someone who had already killed once.
Someone who had threatened Penny.
Someone who had now attacked her livelihood.
Penny held Mochi tighter.
The danger wasn't fading.
It was getting closer.
And if the intruder had been searching for something in her bakery, Penny had one terrifying question.
What were they afraid she would find?