Page 53 of Donut Disaster
“Really?” Her eyes widen, and there’s an air of general disbelief about her. “She was my dealer, too.” A dull laugh bubbles from her. “So you know her secret.”
“I do?”
Cookie whines and I glance down at him. “Go with it.”
“I do.” I shrug. “She was my dealer. She was Noah’s dealer, too.” I hitch my thumb toward the back, and her mouth falls open. Why do I get the feeling we’re not talking about blackjack anymore?
“I wouldn’t have pegged you guys for it. I mean, you look pretty straitlaced, owning the bakery—not to mention he’s a detective. I bet Cassie’s already asked to use your bakery as a distribution center. Or maybe not. I hear she’s still running them through that casino she works at.”
Distribution? Cassie is adealer. A dealer. As in drugs! GAH!
The underground casino is literally beneath Red Satin Gentlemen’s Club. And now I know exactly why she’s positioned herself there. Customers.
Noah comes back, and Anika jumps up.
“I’d better go. Colin is taking me to some place called the Jungle Room tonight.” She gives a little wink and waves as she takes off.
I can’t help but make a face at the mention of his name. And unfortunately, I’m all too familiar with the Jungle Room, too. It’s a kinky club, yet again in the bowels of Red Satin. A few months back, while we were investigating another homicide, we had the misfortune of stumbling around that den of depravity. I’m not thrilled to say one of my mother’s more perverted boyfriends dragged her there a time or two as well.
Anika backtracks, her eyes wide, her breathing heavy. “Oh, one more thing, Lottie.” She leans in and looks from Noah to me. “Cassie is the killer you’re looking for.”
The room darkens to pitch as the next act gets ready to perform, and when the lights come back on, Anika is gone.
She’s disappeared as efficient as an apparition.
* * *
Noah and I take off,and I tell him all about my conversation with Anika. We pick up a pizza and head to my place where Noah builds a fire and we sit on the sofa stuffing our faces with a special from Mangias. Both Pancake and Waffles are precariously perched on the back of the sofa, taking turns hissing over at Cookie who’s curled by the fire fast asleep.
Noah shakes his head as he sets his soda back down on the coffee table. “So Cassie’s big secret is that she’s a drug dealer.” He stares off at the television, but his mind is far from whatever’s blipping through the screen. “I wonder if there’s—”
“A connection to the hospital,” I finish for him.
Noah and I lock eyes.
“Lottie, I’m going to prod around and see if the hospital has any red flags with missing meds.”
“Do you think Morgan was her supplier?”
He glances around haphazardly. “I don’t know. I doubt it. Hospitals track meds now better than the military tracks missiles. They’ve learned a few lessons the hard way. But I did know Morgan. And I want to say he would never do something like that.”
“Hey, you know”— I put down my plate and scoot close to Noah—“something Anika said about her father surprised me. I was a pretty big Jimmy Love fan back in the day. She said he was a gymnast—that he owned and ran a school for gymnasts. From what I remember, Jimmy Love spent his childhood in and out of juvie. He was a junkie himself, treating his stints in rehab as if they were extended vacations. I never read anything about gymnastics.”
“Huh.” Noah pulls out his phone and hits a search engine hard. “Lottie?” His tone grows serious. “Did Anika ever say she was Jimmy Love’s daughter?”
“Cassie told me. Why?”
“Because it says here Jimmy Love and his wife don’t have any children.”
“What?” I practically fall over his chest as I lean in and we read it together. “Oh my God. Jimmy Love’s brother and sister-in-law were killed in a plane crash. He owned the gymnastics studio. They were Anika’s parents,” I say breathless as the final piece to the puzzle comes together. “The Queen of the Sky?” I shake my head at Noah. “That’s a play on what they used to call Morgan’s father.”
Noah’s chest expands with his next breath. “The King of the Sky. Do you think Anika told Morgan about the connection?”
“Not if she came to exact revenge for the death of her parents. From what I remember of that night, Jeremy said their father wasn’t just vilified, but the family received death threats. Maybe this is a death threat that was hand-delivered? She said Cassie was her buyer. Oh my God, Noah. We might have found our killer.”
Noah nods as he pulls me over onto his lap, and it feels familiar, strangely like home.
“Lottie, let me look into all of this tomorrow morning. I don’t want you putting yourself in peril. I think Ivy and I can take it from here.”