Toxic Toffee

by Amanda Flower

  “But you need your sleep. You and Charlotte have only three hours before you have to get up to make candies for the shop,” I said.

  “I could never get back to sleep now,” Charlotte said. Her eyes were as big as dinner plates.

  I grimaced. I felt the same way. “All right. I could use the help.”

  My grandmother smiled. “Gut. And while we work, you can tell us why the deputy came into the candy shop and what has happened to your cheek.”

  I was afraid she was going to ask me that. “Okay, but first I have to get Puff from Aiden’s car. We’re sleeping over for the night, assuming that we sleep at all.”

  Aiden removed the bullet from the wall and tucked it in an evidence bag. He put the knife back in his pocket. Little watched him with more than a little fear on his face. Aiden noticed and said, “It will be all right, Little. No one was hurt, and that’s the most important thing.”

  Little swallowed, and his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. He was clearly relieved. Aiden was his idol, and he was the last person Little would ever want to disappoint.

  I went out the door, and Aiden followed me to his departmental SUV to collect my bags and the rabbit. His face was cast in shadow by the gas lampposts that marched up and down Main Street. “You will have to come down to the station tomorrow morning.”

  I pulled Puff out of the car and then I straightened up and turned to him, holding the rabbit to my chest. “Why?”

  He cocked his head, and I could tell that his dimple was about to appear in his cheek despite the seriousness of everything that had happened that night. “Bailey, you were attacked. You have to file a report. You’re lucky that I didn’t drag you to the hospital to have you checked out to make sure you’re all right.”

  “I am all right.”

  He sighed. “I believe you, but you still have to file a report because if I catch the man who hurt you, I plan to throw him in jail and lose the key. Also, you have to realize that whoever did this is most likely our killer, and if that is the case this is more evidence against him.”

  I hadn’t thought of that. “All right. I’ll stop by in the morning. Will you be there?”

  “If at all possible, I will try to be there when you come in.”

  I nodded. It was the best I could hope for. Aiden never knew what his workday looked like. Every one of them was a complete surprise. He told me once it was the boring days that he loved best, when the most he had to do was give a few speeding tickets to motorists, but it seemed to me that those boring days were becoming far less frequent.

  Aiden reached forward and scratched the top of Puff’s head. The rabbit closed her eyes and leaned in to his caress. It appeared that I wasn’t the only female who was enamored of the handsome sheriff’s deputy, and I was certain there were others too. “I’m going back to your house to take a look around the garage to see if there are any footprints or if your attacker left any evidence behind. One of my crime scene guys will meet me there.”

  “You know Penny will be up watching you.”

  He smiled. “I don’t doubt it, but this is one of those times when I’m grateful for a nosy neighbor.” He moved his hand from the top of Puff’s head to my cheek just below the scrape that the rough garage siding had left there. “If anything had happened to you, Bailey, I would never get over it. I—I care about you a lot.”

  “And I care about you,” I said with a tightness in my chest. For a moment, just the briefest moment, I thought he was going to say that he loved me. The problem was I couldn’t be sure I was ready to say “I love you” back.

  He dropped his hand and leaned forward, giving me a quick kiss on the lips. “Let’s get you back inside. You have an Easter bunny to bring back from the dead.”

  “I’m afraid I do,” I said.

  Aiden dropped the bag just inside the door to Swissmen Sweets and then left to meet up with the crime scene tech. Little settled at one of the small café tables in the front of the shop. I saw that my grandmother and Charlotte had made him as comfortable as possible with his own pot of coffee and a large chunk of fudge to keep him occupied.

  Maami rolled up the sleeves of her housecoat. “It’s time for damage control.” Her comment made Charlotte and me laugh, which I think had been the whole idea.

  It took what remained of the night, but Charlotte and Maami were true to their word—we got the rabbit put back together again. Thankfully we had just enough white chocolate left to fix the fracture in its head and for me to carve a brand-new ear for the giant sculpture. Charlotte and my grandmother had made more than enough toffee, so after we replaced the toffee fur on the rabbit, you would never know that it had been shot.

  The wall to the right of the stairway leading up to the apartment was another story. There was a crack in the trim from the bullet’s impact, but my grandmother assured me that a carpenter from her district would be able to fix it.

  Around five in the morning, I shooed my grandmother and Charlotte upstairs to catch a few hours’ sleep.

  Maami shook her head. “You need rest after what you’ve been through.”

  “You two have worked so hard since Charlotte and I got home,” I said. “It’s my turn to mind the shop. Besides, I’m too wired to sleep. The least I can do is get the candies ready for the day.”

  “If you’re sure,” Charlotte said with a yawn.

  “I am,” I said. “Off to bed with both of you.”

  It took a little more coaxing, but finally I was able to convince them to go to bed. I knew they really must be tired to go at all. When they left me alone in the kitchen, I fell onto one of the backless stools, physically exhausted but mentally wide awake. I listened to the creaks as the old building settled, and any sound from the outside made me jump. I realized that I was more shaken up over the attack than I had let on. Little was in the front room of the shop, standing guard over us for the night. I didn’t want to go out there and tell him how scared I was. Because I had a feeling that the young cop wouldn’t know how to handle my fear, and he would most likely call Aiden. Aiden had enough to worry about. He didn’t need to add my nerves to his list.

  I closed my eyes and repeated the different kinds of chocolate, which I had memorized as a young chocolatier at JP Chocolates. The list had become a bit of a mantra for me when I was stressed: “White chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, sweet chocolate, semisweet chocolate, bittersweet chocolate, cocoa, couverture, vermicelli.” I let out a breath. “Okay, King,” I told myself. “Get to work. Nothing distracts you like work.”

  There was a ring and buzzing, and my eyes flew open. It took me a moment to realize where I was.

  My unhurt left cheek lay on the stainless steel island in the middle of the candy shop’s kitchen. There was a bowl of buttercream in front of me. Some of the mixture oozed over the side and onto the island. I touched my head and realized it had oozed into my hair. I must have laid my head on the island for just a moment and fallen asleep.

  I picked up my phone, which thankfully had survived the buttercream attack. “’Lo?”

  “Bai, are you still in bed? It’s after eight.” Cass’s voice was accusatory. Anyone who worked at a candy shop knew about the early hours.

  “Not in bed. I never went to bed.”

  “What’s with the all-nighter? I doubt there was some kind of Amish rager that you had to stay up for.”

  “It’s a long story,” I said.

  “I’m free for the next seven minutes. Hit me with it.”

  I sighed and gave Cass the short version of the last few days, ending with my attack in my own yard.

  “Where the heck was Hot Cop? I told that boy to protect you! I trusted him.”

  “Aiden came the moment I called him.”

  She grunted as if she wasn’t quite happy with this. “I’m going to text Hot Cop and tell him to keep an eye on you.”

  “Please don’t do that. Aiden has more than enough on his plate.”

  “You can’t stop me. If anything happe
ns to you, he’s the one that I will hold accountable.”

  I prayed nothing would ever happen to me because I had seen Cass many times when she was mad. It was a sight to behold. Thankfully, she had never been angry at me, at least not yet.

  “Promise me you will be careful.” Her tone turned serious. “I need you to be careful.”

  “I will,” I promised.

  “Good. My seven minutes are up.” And with that she ended the call.

  I did my best to wipe the buttercream from my hair, but I think I only made it worse. I stumbled through the swinging door to the front room of the shop. Little was gone, but my grandmother and Charlotte were moving around the room, filling shelves and cases with the candies that I had made throughout the night.

  I blinked. Both of them appeared to be impossibly well rested even though I knew they hadn’t got much more sleep than I had.

  “Bailey,” Maami said. “We’re so glad you are finally awake. We saw you sleeping there and thought it was best to leave you alone. You looked so peaceful, and you did a wonderful job with the candies, my dear. You must have been inspired. Some of the chocolates you made look like little works of art.”

  “I tasted one of the peanut-butter-fudge lambs you made, and they are delicious. Can you teach me how to weave a chocolate basket?” Charlotte asked. “That looks like it’s fun to do.”

  I rubbed my eyes. “It is fun to do, and of course, I’ll show you just as soon as I figure out what day it is.”

  “Go to bed, Bailey. You did a great job getting the candies ready for the day.” My grandmother studied me. “I can tell you worked very hard last night. You need your rest. Everything you made is wonderful.”

  I touched my hair, forgetting the buttercream tangled in it. “Not everything. I can think of a bowl of buttercream we can’t use.”

  “One lost bowl of buttercream won’t make a bit of difference. Emily will be here soon to help us.”

  “But what about the toffee rabbit? I have to take it over to the square,” I protested.

  “Go to bed, Bailey,” Maami said, her voice sounding as stern as I had ever heard it. “The toffee rabbit and Margot Rawlings can wait a little while longer.”

  I wanted to argue with her but couldn’t work up the energy to do it.

  “Charlotte, help Bailey to bed,” my grandmother directed.

  Two hours later my cell phone alarm went off. I groaned as I rolled onto my hurt shoulder. I rolled to the other side and rubbed the abrasion on my cheek onto the pillow. If I had forgotten what had happened the night before, my aches and pains certainly came as a reminder. I moved my leg, and my foot hit something solid at the bottom of the bed. I sat up and saw a white and orange ball of fluff lying there. Puff’s ears popped out from the pile of fur, and Nutmeg raised his head and began to groom the bunny’s cheek. And here I had been thinking that the bunny and the cat wouldn’t get along. Puff was twice the size of the little cat, so maybe that’s what made Nutmeg decide she was a friend, not prey. “At least you two are one less problem to worry about,” I muttered.

  I showered, washing the buttercream out of my hair, and got ready for the day. Even just those few hours of sleep made me feel much better.

  Hair still wet because there was no hair dryer in my grandmother’s home, I went downstairs and found Emily wandering around the front of the shop looking under the tables and around the side of the counter.

  I smiled at her. “If you’re looking for Nutmeg, he’s upstairs bunny-sitting Puff. I think the two of them are best friends. You are welcome to go up there and see him. Last I saw, they were in Charlotte’s room.”

  “You have Stephen Raber’s rabbit?” she asked, and the sunlight coming in through the front window of the shop reflected off her honey-gold hair. Emily was one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen, and since she’d married Daniel she had a happy glow around her that made her even more beautiful.

  I nodded. “Did Daniel tell you I stopped by your farm?”

  “Ya, but he said nothing of the rabbit.” She cocked her head. “And why is there a giant chocolate bunny in the middle of the shop, and what happened to your cheek?”

  I touched my cheek and winced. My sad attempt to cover the abrasion with makeup clearly hadn’t worked. “I’ll tell you while you and Charlotte help me move the rabbit to the square.”

  Twenty minutes later, Emily and I carefully rolled the toffee rabbit out of Swissmen Sweets while Charlotte followed behind us carrying the head. Charlotte held the door as Emily and I guided the rabbit to the curb. With a light thump we were about to roll the platform from the sidewalk to the street when a horse and buggy went by. The buggy driver stuck his head out of the buggy and stared at us.

  “Move along,” Charlotte said. “This is just another normal day in Harvest.”

  I laughed because she was right. I thought New York had oddities, but that was before I moved to Amish Country.

  The buggy passed, and we bounced across the street.

  “This is a really bad idea,” Emily said.

  I glanced back at her and she was chewing on her lip. “Don’t worry—we’re almost there.”

  “Careful. Watch out for the horse droppings,” Charlotte warned.

  I wrinkled my nose. The last thing I needed would be to roll over that.

  “Should we be concerned that no one on the square is staring at us like we’re crazy?” Charlotte asked.

  “I think they are just used to weird things happening since Bailey moved here,” Emily said.

  “Gee, thanks,” I teased.

  Our progress was painfully slow, but we finally made it to the opposite curb. “Now what do we do?” I asked.

  The curb was only four inches off the ground, but the rabbit and the rolling platform easily weighed over one hundred pounds. I doubted that the three of us could lift it up.

  Apparently seeing our dilemma, a group of Amish men who were setting up for Easter Days took mercy on us and lifted the rabbit up onto the curb.

  I frowned. “The platform won’t roll on the grass, so we will have to carry it over to where Juliet is standing.”

  About twenty yards away Juliet, holding a tired-looking Jethro under her arm, waved at me from a spot next to the white gazebo. On the grass next to her was a raised platform that came nearly two feet off the ground. I had called her earlier that morning and said we needed to borrow a small riser from the church. I was relieved to see that she’d come through with exactly what I wanted. Now, it was just a matter of getting the toffee rabbit over there.

  “It’s not a problem,” said one of the Amish men who had red hair and no beard. “We can carry it there. You ladies stand back.”

  “We can help,” I said.

  He shook his head. “You just make sure that the path is clear. We only want to do this once.” He said something in Pennsylvania Dutch to the other men, and together they lifted the giant rabbit off the rolling platform and painstakingly carried it over to the still platform. They set it delicately in the middle of the platform and turned the rabbit so it faced Main Street.

  “Thank you so much,” I said to the men. “I don’t know what we would have done without your help.”

  “It was no trouble.” He winked at Charlotte, who blushed. This made the man smile as he went back to work.

  Before I could comment on the redheaded man, Juliet set Jethro on the ground and clapped her hands together. “Oh, Bailey,” she said in her sweet Southern drawl. “It’s such a vision. You have a real gift.”

  “It will look even better when its head is attached.” I climbed up on the platform, Charlotte handed me the rabbit head, and I slid it over the wooden dowel rod that I had imbedded in the middle of the rabbit’s throat to hold the head in place. I stood back. It didn’t look half bad. All I had to do was add some pieces of toffee around the seam to hide it. The rabbit stood proudly at eight feet tall. Charlotte ran back to the shop to grab the toffee we would need.

  I smiled. “Thank you, J
uliet.”

  At my feet, Jethro sniffed the base of the sculpture, which made me just a tiny bit nervous. When it really came down to it, I didn’t trust the pig much. He was a troublemaker through and through, and he would get away with a lot less if he wasn’t so darn cute. He wiggled his tail and walked behind Juliet.

  “You will have the most glorious desserts at your wedding.”

  I blinked at her. “Did you say my wedding?”

  She smiled. “You don’t have to be coy with me, my dear. We’re practically family now. You can tell me whatever plans you have with my sweet boy.”

  “Uh,” I said, and looked around, hoping Emily would lend me a hand, but she had already run back to Swissmen Sweets. Smart girl. I wished I had made a quick getaway too.

  Instead of seeing my Amish friend, I spotted Eli Raber refilling food dishes and water in the rabbit pen. I was relieved to see him. Part of me had wondered if he’d left the village altogether after he visited me at my home with that stack of threatening notes.

  Charlotte returned with the toffee.

  “Thanks. Between the two of us, we should be able to do this quick.” Quick was what I wanted because I needed to escape Juliet and her wedding talk.

  “There’s still time for a summer wedding,” Juliet went on to say as I set toffee into the rabbit’s neck. “Reverend Brook is a very busy man, but Aiden is an upstanding member of the church. He would be able to find the time to squeeze your wedding in. After the wedding, of course, you will have to join the church. It’s best for a couple to attend church together.”

  I was only half listening to Juliet because I noticed that Eli wasn’t alone tending to the rabbits. There was an Amish man and a young Amish woman with him. I guessed that she was close to Eli’s age. I couldn’t help but wonder if this was the girl he was courting. She didn’t look particularly comfortable around him, but that wasn’t unusual with Amish courting couples out in public. They were being watched by this district very carefully to see if they were a good match. Anyone would be nervous under that kind of scrutiny. I knew I would be.