Chapter 11 The Cats Turnaround
A week changed everything.
At least, that was what Penny kept telling herself.
Seven days had passed since the threatening note.
Seven days since the bakery had been ransacked.
Seven days since she had found the strange footprint beneath the flour shelf.
And seven days since Tess had walked out of The Frosted Petal carrying a secret Penny still couldn't explain.
The police investigation had gone frustratingly quiet.
Detective Patterson had questioned Nelson again.
He had spoken to Daisy.
He had even contacted Francine.
But no arrest had been made.
No dramatic breakthrough had arrived.
No one had walked into the bakery and confessed.
Life had simply continued.
Customers still wanted cupcakes.
Wedding orders still needed filling.
Bread still had to be baked.
And Penny still had to wake up every morning and pretend she wasn't wondering whether someone was watching her.
That morning, she decided to reorganize the pantry.
It was safer than thinking.
And much safer than investigating.
At least, that's what she told herself.
"Come on, Mochi."
The cat was sitting on a shelf.
Penny looked up at him.
"You're not helping."
Mochi blinked.
"I know."
She reached for a box of powdered sugar.
"Move."
Mochi did not move.
Penny sighed.
"Fine. I'll work around you."
She pulled another box from the shelf.
The pantry was cramped, with shelves reaching almost to the ceiling. Penny kept rarely used supplies on the highest shelves—old decorating equipment, seasonal packaging, extra cake stands, and records she hardly ever needed.
She stood on a small step stool.
Mochi watched her.
"Don't jump up here."
His tail flicked.
"I'm serious."
Mochi leaned forward.
"Mochi..."
The cat jumped.
His paws landed on the highest shelf.
A dusty cardboard box shifted.
Penny's eyes widened.
"Don't—"
The box fell.
It struck the floor with a heavy thud.
Dust exploded into the air.
Mochi jumped down gracefully.
Penny coughed.
"You did that on purpose."
Mochi sat beside the box.
He looked pleased with himself.
Penny climbed down.
"Let's see what you've destroyed."
She knelt beside the box.
It was old.
Much older than anything she remembered putting in the pantry.
There was no label.
Penny opened it.
Inside were folders.
Dozens of them.
She pulled out the first.
Financial statements.
She frowned.
"What is this?"
The next folder contained invoices.
Then bank statements.
Then company correspondence.
Penny's confusion deepened.
These weren't bakery records.
They belonged to George Tillingham's company.
Penny sat back on her heels.
"Why are these here?"
Mochi walked around the box.
Penny opened another folder.
Then another.
Her pulse began to rise.
The documents showed large transfers of money.
Repeated transfers.
Thousands of dollars.
All moving from George's company into accounts connected to another name.
Penny read it again.
Finch.
Her heart stopped.
"No."
She searched the documents.
There it was again.
Finch Family Trust.
Another payment.
Another.
Another.
Penny's hands began to shake.
She pulled out a spreadsheet.
The dates stretched back years.
The amounts were enormous.
George had been sending company money to Daisy Finch's family.
Penny stared.
"Why?"
Mochi jumped onto the box.
Penny looked at him.
"You found this."
The cat sat down.
Penny looked back at the papers.
Her mind raced.
George and Daisy had been college sweethearts.
George had left Daisy for Melanie.
Daisy had supposedly moved on.
But she hadn't.
Not completely.
There was something else.
Something hidden.
Something financial.
Penny kept reading.
The documents revealed that Daisy's family business had been drowning in debt.
Loans.
Unpaid taxes.
Creditor notices.
Property threatened with foreclosure.
George had been secretly covering the debts.
But why?
Penny found a letter.
It was from George.
The date was only weeks before the wedding.
She read it carefully.
George was warning someone that the payments couldn't continue.
He was running out of ways to hide them.
He intended to stop.
And, worse, he intended to reveal what he'd been doing.
Penny's breath caught.
George hadn't been protecting Daisy out of love.
He had been protecting her because he had a secret to hide.
A secret that could destroy both of them.
Penny searched the documents again.
Then she found something that made her blood run cold.
A handwritten note attached to one of the statements.
If George talks, everything falls apart.
Penny stared at it.
The bakery seemed to disappear around her.
Suddenly, every piece of the mystery began sliding into place.
The threatening note.
The poison.
The wedding cake.
The earring.
Daisy's strange reaction.
The old love letters.
George's fear.
The financial records.
Penny's heart hammered.
"Oh, my God."
She looked at Mochi.
"You knew."
Mochi blinked.
Penny stood.
Her mind raced through everything she knew.
Daisy had been at the wedding.
She had been close to the cake.
She had praised it repeatedly.
She had lost an earring near it.
She had a history with George.
And now Penny knew George had been secretly paying Daisy's family's debts.
More importantly, he was about to stop.
He was about to expose everything.
Penny's eyes widened.
"George wasn't the obstacle to Daisy getting George back."
She swallowed.
"He was the obstacle to Daisy keeping her secret."
That changed everything.
This wasn't simply an old romance gone wrong.
It wasn't a jealous ex-girlfriend killing the man who abandoned her.
It was desperation.
Daisy's family was facing financial ruin.
George knew.
George had been covering it up.
And George had decided to stop.
If he exposed Daisy's secret, her family's reputation would collapse.
The money trail would lead back to her.
Her life would unravel.
Her carefully maintained image would disappear.
Penny slowly sat down.
"Daisy."
The name came out as a whisper.
For days, Penny had resisted the idea.
She had wanted to believe Daisy was exactly what she appeared to be.
Warm.
Helpful.
Kind.
Grieving.
And Mochi had adored her.
But now Penny understood something terrifying.
Mochi's affection didn't prove Daisy was innocent.
It only meant he liked her.
Maybe Penny had wanted that to mean more than it did.
She remembered Daisy crouching beside Mochi.
The cat rubbing against her legs.
The purring.
Penny had trusted Daisy partly because Mochi had.
She had been wrong.
Or at least, she'd trusted too easily.
Penny gathered the papers.
Then another document caught her eye.
A company ledger.
One line had been circled in red.
A payment made three days before George's death.
It was enormous.
And beside it, someone had written:
FINAL PAYMENT.
Penny stared.
George had been preparing to end the arrangement.
He was done.
Which meant Daisy had a deadline.
A reason to panic.
A reason to silence him.
Penny felt a chill move through her.
"She killed him."
The words sounded impossible.
But once spoken, they felt horribly right.
Daisy Finch had poisoned George.
Penny's hands trembled.
Then she remembered the note.
The next cake is yours. Stop looking.
Daisy knew Penny was searching.
Maybe she had known for days.
Maybe she'd been watching.
Penny looked toward the pantry door.
The bakery suddenly seemed very small.
Too small.
She imagined Daisy walking through the door.
Smiling.
Offering sympathy.
Petting Mochi.
Telling Penny how perfect the cake had looked.
Penny's stomach turned.
She had invited the woman into her life.
Trusted her.
And all the while, Daisy may have been hiding a motive for murder.
Penny looked down at Mochi.
The cat was sitting on the dusty box.
His amber eyes met hers.
"You found it."
Mochi's tail curled around his paws.
Penny reached down and stroked his head.
"You found the thing I couldn't see."
The cat purred.
Penny smiled sadly.
"I owe you an apology."
Mochi blinked.
"I trusted her because you liked her."
He looked away.
Penny laughed softly.
"Don't look so innocent."
She gathered the documents and placed them carefully into a folder.
Then she closed the box.
She knew what she had to do.
She needed to take the evidence to Detective Patterson.
But before she did, there was one thing Penny wanted to understand.
How had Daisy gotten the poison?
How had she introduced it into the cake?
And why had she left behind that earring?
The answer was close.
Penny could feel it.
She opened her notebook.
Under Daisy's name, she wrote:
Motive: Protect family debt secret.
Then:
George was about to expose her.
Then:
Possible killer.
Penny stared at the final words.
Then she crossed out "possible."
She wrote:
KILLER? DAISY FINCH.
Her pen hovered.
She knew this wasn't enough for a conviction.
It wasn't even enough to confront Daisy safely.
But it was enough to change the direction of everything.
Penny closed the notebook.
She looked at Mochi.
"Now we find the rest."
Mochi jumped off the box.
He walked toward the bakery.
Penny followed.
Behind them, the dusty cardboard box remained open.
For years, it had hidden the truth.
Now the truth was finally out.
And Penny knew exactly where the mystery led.
Not toward the bitter ex-business partner.
Not toward the heartbroken former girlfriend.
Not toward Tess.
Toward the woman who had stood beside the bride.
The woman who had cried over George.
The woman who had called Penny's cake perfect.
The woman Mochi had welcomed without hesitation.
Daisy Finch.
Penny stopped at the pantry doorway.
A strange sadness settled over her.
The killer had been standing close enough to touch her life.
And Penny had mistaken kindness for innocence.
She looked at Mochi.
"Let's be more careful this time."
Mochi's amber eyes narrowed.
For once, Penny understood exactly what he seemed to be saying.
The hunt wasn't over.
It had finally begun.