Devil's Food Cake (15 page)

“Mrs. Hender?” Sadie asked, straightening up and smiling.

“Y-yes,” Mrs. Hender said with confused hesitation and a hint of anxiety. “Can I help you?” She glanced quickly at the bag sitting on the porch behind Sadie and her anxiety rose up a notch.

Sadie held out the plate of cake, still smiling. “I’m Sadie Hoffmiller,” she said, her tone light. “I was talking to you on the phone a little bit ago. After you hung up, I couldn’t stop thinking about the stressful evening you’d had. So I brought you some cake.” It sounded really stupid when she said it out loud. The expression on Mrs. Hender’s face seemed to communicate that she thought so too.

She glanced at the plate of cake and then back to Sadie, looking more confused than tempted. “Um, that’s very nice of you,” Mrs. Hender said rather dismissively. “But now isn’t really a good time.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Sadie replied, equal parts embarrassed and curious. “Is everything okay? I’m assuming Josh was all right?”

Mrs. Hender stared at Sadie for a moment before her jaw clenched. “Everything’s fine,” she said, but her words were clipped. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

Sadie wasn’t sure what to do now. She had hoped to learn something by coming here, but now she realized the circumstances didn’t facilitate her asking the questions she wanted answers to. But she
had
brought the cake and even if she wasn’t going to get what she wanted, she could still do that part. She held the plate out to Mrs. Hender. “I’ll just leave this with you then.”

Mrs. Hender began shaking her head, but then looked at the cake again. She tilted her head to the side a bit and seemed to reconsider. “Is that filled with pudding?”

“Mousse actually,” Sadie said, reminding herself that she should never underestimate the power of Angel Snowball cake. “It tastes as good as it looks, I promise, and you’d be doing my hips a favor if you’d take it. I’ve already eaten way too much.”

“I’m not sure my hips need it any more than yours do,” Mrs. Hender said with a small smile, but she was still looking at the cake, battling with her willpower. It was a fight Sadie knew Mrs. Hender’s willpower would lose. She reached the plate closer to the woman.

“Well, it does look delicious,” she said. “And I have to admit it’s been a difficult evening.”

Sadie glanced at the duffel bag again as a thought crossed her mind. Women took luggage or overnight bags when they went somewhere. Not heavy, overfilled duffel bags. Was Mrs. Hender taking the bag to Josh?

Mrs. Hender reached out her hand for the cake when something inside the house caught her attention. She turned her head and pulled back her hand for just a moment. But it was the same moment Sadie released the plate into Mrs. Hender’s grasp. Both women gasped and stepped back as the cake fell to the threshold between them. Sadie reached for it but was too late. As though in slow motion, the plate turned upside down in the process of the fall and landed on its top—spraying whipping cream, cake, and chocolate mousse all over the entryway of Mrs. Hender’s home, not to mention the woman’s tennis shoes and Sadie’s pants. Plastic wrap could only withstand a certain amount of abuse.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Sadie said, bending down to pick up the plate—carefully so she didn’t make a bigger mess. Mrs. Hender looked at the mashed cake in what Sadie interpreted as mourning over having lost the dessert. “Do you have some paper towels?” Sadie asked, trying to get as much chocolate off the tile of Mrs. Hender’s entryway as possible. She tried using the plastic wrap to keep her hands as clean as possible, but it didn’t help as much as she would have liked.

“Oh, uh, yes,” Mrs. Hender said. She turned back into the house and a moment later Sadie stood up, having cleaned all she could until the paper towels arrived. She looked around as though she might find a towel hanging on the porch railing, but of course there was nothing on the porch with her other than the duffel bag, which had received a fair dose of splattered whipping cream as well. Sadie hadn’t been invited in, but had little doubt Mrs. Hender would have done so if she hadn’t been in a hurry to get the paper towels. She took a few steps into the house, looking around the rather plain living room that spoke of economy and a lack of interest in interior design.

“Mrs. Hender?” she asked, looking toward the left end of the room where a dining room set stood near a doorway that Sadie could only assume led to the kitchen.

Sadie took a step toward the dining area, but then stopped as she heard the hinges of the front door moving behind her. She spun around and then swallowed as she stared into the eyes of Josh Hender.

Chapter 17

We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” Josh said as the door snapped shut. He wasn’t smiling.

Sadie kicked herself for not anticipating the possibility that Josh might be home. She needed to be more careful about jumping to conclusions. At least it looked like she had surprised him with her arrival as much as he had surprised her. His shoes were untied and he shrugged his shoulders to straighten the Broncos sweatshirt he’d apparently just thrown on. That was good. Surprise could work in her favor so long as she played her cards right. She chose to ignore the fact that he was blocking her way out.

“By
this
you mean in your mother’s living room with you barricading the door? I’m pretty sure this is the first time this particular
meeting
has occurred,” Sadie said.

Mrs. Hender came into the room with a roll of paper towels in her hand. Her steps slowed as she approached them.

Sadie didn’t break eye contact with Josh despite wishing she could call a time-out and bring his mother up to speed on their earlier encounters.

“You know this woman? This Mrs. Hoffman?” Mrs. Hender asked Josh, coming to a stop several feet to Sadie’s left.

Sadie bit her tongue to keep from correcting her last name.

Josh ignored his mother. “Every time I turn around you’re there.” Anger flashed over his face, showing how much Sadie had thrown off his plans. His mother was in the room, so he wasn’t going to hurt Sadie, but he was having to think fast. “You’re not a cop, which means this has nothing to do with you.”

“You’re not a cop either, but it has everything to do with you, doesn’t it?” Sadie felt that by mentioning the police, he was acknowledging he’d done something illegal.

Josh shook his head. “Lady, you don’t have any business—”

“Who paid for your schooling?” Sadie asked, cutting him off and cocking her head to the side as she threw another wrench into this confrontation. If her hands hadn’t been covered in chocolate mousse, she’d have put them on her hips for emphasis. Instead she had no choice but to hold the plate and stare him down. “Your mother said you got a full scholarship, and apparently you got the education, but where did the money come from?” She turned to Mrs. Hender, who looked confused. “Didn’t you ever wonder how Josh got a full ride? Academics and sports are the only variables that entice schools to pay for everything.”

“Art schools don’t care about sports or academics,” Josh said through his teeth, drawing Sadie’s attention back to him. There was panic in his tone that told Sadie his defense was not completely sincere. Even if he was telling the truth about art schools having different criteria for scholarships, she was on to something. She knew it. His increased anger made her nervous, but not enough to slow her down. Shawn was outside, and while she’d been kidding about him coming in for her after five minutes, she was hoping he took it more seriously than she’d said it.

“Well, I’m not sure how that all works,” Sadie said, hoping it covered her ignorance. “But I’m seeing a lot of little things that don’t add up. Like you being Damon Mortenson’s best friend ten years ago. Like telling people you had a scholarship when you nearly flunked out of high school. And let’s not forget the fact that you were taking pictures of a dead man.”

“What is she talking about, Josh?” Mrs. Hender asked carefully.

“Nothing,” Josh said, shaking his head with frustration.

“Josh,” his mother said in a nervous tone. “What does—”

“Nothing, Mom,” Josh said, shooting his mother a warning look before glaring at Sadie once again.

Mrs. Hender didn’t say anything else, but rather than look scared or embarrassed at having been shut down by her son, she glared at Sadie as if
Sadie
were responsible for Josh’s poor manners. As if!

“Look,” Sadie said, not liking the way this conversation was going. “Whatever it is you’re a part of is unraveling. You know it, I know it, and the police know it. If you go to them instead of them coming for you—which they will—things will go much better for you.”

Josh looked past Sadie, toward his mother. She couldn’t read his expression, but heard Mrs. Hender put the paper towels down on the dining room table.

Sadie kept talking. “You’ve gotten involved in something much bigger than yourself, Josh. It happens, and the police understand that, but if you don’t go in now, someone else will get through the door first and then you lose your advantage.”

“Someone else?” Josh said, meeting her eyes again.

“Trix . . . Michele, perhaps? Or someone else involved in this.” She really wished she knew what
this
was, however. It was disconcerting to be saying such bold things when she didn’t know the answer to the quandary about college or why Josh had been taking pictures of Mr. Ogreski. But showing her ignorance wouldn’t work either. He had to believe that his capture was inevitable—that the gig was up, so to speak.

Josh raised a hand to his forehead and closed his eyes as he turned to the side. He was cornered and he knew it. Sadie allowed herself a moment of victory. And then he threw his hands up and yelled, “This is crazy!”

Sadie startled at the fervor behind his words, but tried to quickly pull herself back together. He was certainly moments away from giving up.

“So do the right thing,” she said.

“The right thing?” Josh repeated, turning to face her, his jaw clenching. “And what is the right thing?”

“Go to the police and tell them what you know. Tell them who’s involved, and why you were taking those pictures.”

Josh shook his head. “You don’t understand.”

“So explain it,” Sadie countered with equal frustration. “Help me understand.” She held her breath and begged in her mind that he’d simply tell her everything he knew.

“And why on earth would I do that?” he said.

Suddenly he cupped his hands in front of him and looked to his mother, nodding slightly.

A split second later, something sailed over Sadie’s shoulder, causing her to duck. She looked back and met Mrs. Hender’s eyes before whipping her head around to see Josh throw open the front door, a set of car keys in his hand. He snagged the shoulder strap of the duffel bag on the porch and ran down the front steps. It didn’t seem nearly as heavy when he carried it as it had when his mother had brought it outside.

Sadie paused for another half-second before taking off after him. However, with him in sneakers and her in clogs, it wasn’t an even match. And that wasn’t counting the thirty-year advantage he had on her or the messy plate she was still holding in one hand.

By the time Sadie reached the bottom of the stairs, he was already at the driver’s door of his car. The click of
two
car doors opening caught Sadie’s attention and she looked across the street to see that Shawn had pulled closer to the house while she had been inside. He’d opened the driver’s door and was stepping out of the car at the same time Josh was pulling his door closed and turning the key in the ignition. Sadie looked from Shawn to Josh.

“Follow him!” Sadie yelled at Shawn.

“Wha—”

“It’s him,” Sadie yelled, pointing at the car peeling out of the driveway, the windshield wipers clearing away the snow. “We need to know what he knows.”

“But—”

“Go,” Sadie yelled in order to be heard over the car’s engine, waving her messy hands in a shooing motion. “I’m fine. Don’t let him get away. And be careful.”

Shawn hesitated another moment before scrunching himself back into the car and pulling the door shut. Josh was in the street by then, shifting into drive as the car jolted forward. Shawn was right behind him, and Sadie watched as both sets of taillights disappeared around the corner within seconds. Her stomach tightened as she questioned her decision to send Shawn after Josh at all. She should have specifically told him to call the police with his location and not take any unnecessary risks. He’d be careful, though, right?