I bit back a smirk—yeah, our top one is you!
Peter took a deep breath and let it out slowly. In the silence that stretched out, Tonya shifted in her seat, her eyes darting between me and Peter and Daisy, who sat at his feet. “What’s going on?”
Peter licked his lips and leaned forward. “We found the note—the one in your purse from your mother?”
Twin pink spots burned on her cheeks, and she pressed her lips tight together.
I raised my brows. “It doesn’t look good, Tonya. Your mom tells you that you’d better confess some mysterious secret to your sister, or she will… and then she ends up dead?”
Tonya gasped. “You can’t— You think I—” She shook her head. “No way.”
“Then why don’t you explain what that note meant?” Peter kept his tone gentle but firm.
Her throat bobbed, and she pulled the neck of her flannel pajamas tighter. “It—” She let out a shrill laugh. “It was just a joke.”
Daisy growled. Lie!
Tonya startled, her wide eyes on the dog.
I smirked. “Care to try again?”
Tonya waved a hand and crossed her legs, half turning away from us. “Oh, well, Elin’s birthday’s coming up, and we’re planning a surprise party, but Mom didn’t—”
Daisy lifted her haunches and let out a deep growl. She’s lying!
Tonya eyed the enormous German shepherd like she was convinced Daisy was about to pounce on her. She leapt to her feet and stood behind her chair, holding it like she was a lion tamer.
“Fine!” Her eyes blazed. “Fine—I admit it. I slept with Lorenzo.”
I sucked in a loud gasp in spite of myself. “What? Your sister’s fiancé?” I gaped at Peter. Every time I thought nothing would surprise me anymore…. This was juicy.
Her throat bobbed again, and she tried to look prim. “Lorenzo’s a player. He took advantage of my insecurities.” She sniffed. “I’m not as pretty as Elin; she always gets all the attention. And she was rubbing it in my face—I just… I wanted some love too.”
I was too shocked to ask an intelligent question, but luckily for me, Peter wasn’t. “How did your mom find out?”
The blush returned to her cheeks again. “He would sneak over here. Since I live with Mom—” She lifted her eyes. “—lived, it was only a matter of time before she caught us together.”
Daisy whined and lowered her haunches back down to a sit. Truth.
Tonya huffed and settled back into the wooden kitchen chair. “I was obviously embarrassed and begged my mom not to say anything. But when Lorenzo and Elin announced their engagement, my mom told me I had to tell my sister the truth.”
Her shoulders slumped. “Mom may have played a little fast and loose with some rules, but having been cheated on by Vince, she had a hard line on that. I told her it would never happen again, but she insisted I still tell Elin.”
Daisy wagged her tail. True.
Peter nodded. “And that was what that letter was about?”
Tonya said it was, and Daisy confirmed it was the truth.
I leaned my elbow against the arm of the sofa and rested my cheek on my hand. Looked like we had this all wrapped up, so I asked the obvious question. “Did you kill your mom to keep your secret?”
Her mouth opened, then closed. “Wh— No! No way. I loved my mom, I would never!”
Daisy wagged her tail. True.
Tonya frowned. “Besides, I wasn’t anywhere near my mom when she died—how could I have done it?”
That was indeed a good point. I bit my lip. “Do you think your sister knows about you and her fiancé?”
Tonya scoffed. “No way.” She paled, and her eyes grew huge. “Oh my sands, please don’t tell her!” She clasped her hands together, pleading.
Peter sighed. “We’ll have to do what’s necessary for the investigation.”
Tonya groaned.
“But we won’t reveal your secret unless we have to.” Peter shifted in his seat and shot me a contemplative look, then turned back to Tonya. What was he up to? He cleared his throat. “By the way, who inherits the shop now?”
Tonya blinked. “Uh—my sister and me. Mom always made it clear that she wanted us to continue on with the family business. Why?”
Peter raised a brow. “Did you kill your mother to get your inheritance?”
She folded her arms across her ample chest. “I already told you—no! I didn’t kill my mom—for any reason!”
Daisy wagged her tail. True.
Hmm… I considered another angle. “Did you tell Lorenzo about your mother’s ultimatum?”
She blinked. “I… I told him my mom was pressuring me to tell Elin, yeah. I told him he should just call off the engagement.”
“But he didn’t?”
She shook her head.
Peter and I exchanged looks, and from the light in his eyes, I figured he was thinking the same thing I was. Tonya didn’t kill to inherit her mom’s bakery or to keep the affair a secret, but maybe Lorenzo did. If Tonya was forced to tell Elin the truth, he’d be exposed as a cheater, and when she presumably broke up with him, he’d lose his sugar mama.
The family seemed well off enough to afford this spot right on Main Street—it couldn’t be cheap. Plus Lorenzo was at the baking competition that day. Then again, the question still loomed—how could he have done it? How could he have poisoned Polly’s tea?
24
ELIN
Tonya gave us directions to her sister and Lorenzo’s apartment with a blush and one more appeal to please not tell her sister about the affair. The place was only a few streets over, in a posh building with a doorman and shining marble floors. So conveniently located for all the cheating.
Lorenzo let us into the gleaming white flat. An enormous bouquet of flowers sat in a crystal vase on their glass dining table, and some artificial fragrance permeated the whole space—and made me sneeze.
Daisy crinkled her nose. Oof! Can we open a window?
I raised a brow at the dog and nodded my agreement.
“Officers?” Elin bustled out from a room down the hall. Despite a messy
