A Time to Live and a Thyme for Murder! (Outer Banks Baker Mystery Series Book 3) by Phoebe T. Eggli

restaurant, either intentionally or not. Currently, forensics was running tests to see if the drugs leached from the bags into the actual bread before it was consumed. If so, what happened to the bags? No one reported finding flimsy bags of drugs in their food. Agent Garland and the DEA already completed their search of both Melissa and Cheryl’s homes and found nothing, so that was good news. However, they were still investigating their businesses.
     
    As soon as she hung up the phone with Jason, Melissa called her attorney. Just in time, too. As she was on the phone explaining the situation, there was a knock at the door. Melissa opened the door to find Agent Garland and two uniformed officers.
     
    Everyone was escorted back to the police station for more questioning. It was clear that the DEA suspected Melissa and/or Cheryl knew more about the drugs in the food than they admitted. They answered all the agent’s questions as best as they could. Thankfully, Janice was a top-notch attorney who didn’t allow Federal officers to intimidate her or her clients. Melissa suspected from the expression on the lead DEA agent’s face that he rather admired Janice’s spunk and intelligence. He kept everything strictly professional, but she thought she noticed a sly smile here and there whenever her attorney said something brilliant or sarcastic.
     
    The best Melissa could tell from the way the questioning went, the DEA believed Derek had been hiding the X15 drug in Melissa’s bread bowls, particularly the Thyme Bread Bowls. All the other bread types seemed to have been left alone. Upon reviewing the customer receipts from Cheryl’s Seaside Sundries, everyone that became ill ordered their meals with that particular bread. All the bread bags stuffed with the drug that were found with Derek were that type, while all the others had been left alone. Agent Garland contended that was the young man’s way of keeping the drugged breads separate from the non-drugged ones. It was a simple system.
     
    There were two main issues that now faced the DEA investigation: (1) Was anyone else involved in Derek’s scheme (i.e., Krissy, Melissa, Cheryl, or anyone else employed at Cheryl’s restaurant or Melissa’s bakery); and (2) Who was responsible for the death of Derek McCallie? Based on all available information, Agent Garland reasoned that Logan and/or Tanner could also be involved since they had gone to such lengths to locate the young man for their friend Krissy. All this sounded preposterous to everyone but the DEA agents. Even the local cops had voiced their disbelief to their Federal counterparts. Janice urged their lead representative to listen to the Kill Devil Hills police on this matter. Derek may have been an unsavory character recently come to town, but the folks the DEA were targeting in their search were good and upstanding citizens.
     
    Melissa looked out the small window of the interview room to see her one other employee, Maddie, being brought in for questioning. “Poor Maddie,” she thought. “To think she took this job just to have something fun to do during her retirement. She certainly didn’t count on being dragged into these circumstances.” As she walked by, the elderly woman gave her a smile and a wink.
     
    The DEA didn’t have any evidence to hold anyone after initial questioning so they were released to go in the mid-afternoon. One thing had been made abundantly clear – the DEA had nothing but suspicions regarding everyone they hauled in that day. However, as far as Melissa was concerned, they were certain Derek was responsible for the accidental drug overdoses and Mrs. Burnside’s death. They just needed to determine if someone helped him and if that someone killed him in the end.
     
     

     
     

 

Chapter 15
     
    Later that evening, the somber group crowded into Cheryl’s beachside condo to celebrate Ronnie’s release from the hospital. Despite the ordeal he looked great. A little pale from his