Peppermint Fudge and Fears

by Patti Benning

  She parked under the large tree in front of the farmhouse and got out of the car, sorting through her keys as she walked up the porch steps. She didn’t even notice the package until it was practically under her feet.

  It was wrapped in gaudy Christmas paper and had a piece of paper with her name written on it, and beneath it, a note that read; Socrates said there is no greater evil one can suffer than to hate reasonable discourse; I hope one day you will give me a chance to say my part because right now I am reasonable, but tomorrow I might not be, in a messy scrawl. She picked it up, wondering who it was from and why someone would leave such a creepy note on it. She’d gotten a few Christmas gifts in the mail already, and had put them under her and Eli’s tree to be opened on the holiday itself, but this one with no return address and its messy note gave her pause.

  She unlocked the front door and let herself in. Almost immediately, Felix came to twine around her ankles. She put the package down on an end table so she could take her boots off while warding off her overly friendly cat.

  “You’re going to be the death of me, Felix,” she said, scooping him up once her outerwear had been stripped off. “One of these days I’m going to trip over you and break my neck. Then who will feed you dinner, hmm?”

  He purred loudly, bumping his head against her chin. She smiled into his soft fur. He had been her companion for years, and she loved him every bit as much as she knew her mother loved her dogs. He was the friendliest cat she had ever met, and her house would feel horribly empty without him.

  “Do you want a snack?” she asked as she put him back down on the floor. With a meow, he trotted away to the kitchen. Candice grabbed the package before following him, and after dropping a few kitty treats in his bowl, she sat down at the counter and frowned at the green and red wrapping paper.

  “I really don’t need any more mysteries this season,” she grumbled to herself. With a sigh, she tore the wrapping paper off. When she saw what was underneath, she froze.

  Candies, each a different color, but all wrapped with the same floral print plastic as the ones she had given to David.

  Chapter 11

  She was glad that David was at the microbrewery, because it meant that she wasn’t alone with her panic for long. She ran down the driveway in boots that she had hastily pulled on and not bothered to tie, the package of candies grasped in her hand. When she threw the door to the brewery open, he looked up in surprise, and Maverick gave a woof at the unexpected intrusion.

  “Candice, what—”

  “Look,” she panted, shoving the package onto his desk and stepping back as if she was afraid it was going to bite her.

  “What is this?” He frowned at the package, then his eyes widened slightly and Candice knew he had made the connection.

  “And look at the note,” she said. “This is so creepy. What do I do? Have you heard back from whoever you sent the other candy to?”

  “Not yet,” he said. “Do you want me to take these too? You should keep the note, though, in case we need to take it to the police.”

  “Yes, please,” she said. She tore the note off and stood there for a moment, feeling shaky. “Do you think I’m in danger from this person?”

  “I don’t know, but it’s probably smart to be cautious. Lock your doors even when you’re home, check the back seat of your car before you get in it, don’t go anywhere alone. You know the drill. Do you recognize the handwriting? Do you have any idea who this might be from?”

  “Not at all,” she said. “How long have you been here? Did you see anyone stop by to deliver the package?”

  “I’ve only been here for about an hour, and no, I haven’t seen anyone come up the driveway other than you. Are you okay, Candice? Do you want me to take you to your mother’s until Eli gets home? I wouldn’t blame you for not wanting to be alone.”

  “No,” she sighed. “I want to stay here. I just want to know what’s going on.”

  He watched her for a moment, then nodded. “All right. Do you want me to at least come back to the house with you and make sure no one’s inside?”

  She shivered and, feeling like she was suddenly a teenager again, nodded. “Yes, please. I’d like that very much.”

  “I’ll leave Maverick with you too,” he said, standing up. “He’ll keep you company until Eli gets back.”

  She relaxed a bit more at that and reached down to stroke the dog’s head. No one would mess with her with the German Shepherd by her side.

  Even though David had gone through the house with her, and she and Eli had made sure all the doors and windows were secure before going to bed, Candice tossed and turned all night. She woke up before her alarm went off, and knew she wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep. Deciding that she needed some comfort food and some reassuring conversation, she texted Allison to see if she wanted to meet her at the deli for breakfast. She got a reply almost right away, and kissed a sleepy Eli goodbye twenty minutes later.

  Darling’s DELIcious Delights opened at seven in the morning on weekdays, and was almost always busy during breakfast as commuters stopped in to grab a coffee or a bite to eat before heading to work. That Thursday was no exception, and she and Allison had to wait in line for a few minutes before reaching the counter. The man at the counter was the deli’s new manager, Leo, and he recognized the two of them right away.

  “You mom’s in the back,” he said to Candice when they approached him. “Do you want me to tell her you’re here?”

  “Actually, we might just head back there,” Candice said. “I didn’t know she was working this morning. I want to talk to her.”

  He waved them back and turned to the next customer as Candice and Allison pushed through the door that led to the kitchen. Moira was taking a tray of mini quiches out of the oven, but paused to shoot them a smile when they came in.

  “I love a surprise visit,” she said. “Do you want to sit down? I’ve just got to get these on the cooling rack and put together an order, then I’ll be right with you.”

  “Can we help?” Candice asked.

  “No need. But you can grab food for yourself, if you want something to eat. And you know where the coffee maker is.”

  Both Allison and Candice had worked at the deli in the past, and both knew their way around the kitchen very well. They poured themselves coffee, and Candice snagged a couple of the spinach and feta mini quiches, and were seated at the table and eating by the time Moira sat down with them.

  “How are you doing, sweetie?” she asked. “David told me all about that package you found yesterday.”

  Allison hadn’t heard about this yet, and shot Candice a questioning look. Candice quickly explained what had happened to her friend, then turned to her mother.

  “It kind of freaked me out,” she admitted. “I have no idea who it could be from, and I don’t know why the candies keep showing up all over the place. I don’t know what to do.”

  “Well, let’s walk through it,” her mother said. “Have you gotten into any disagreements with anyone lately?”

  Candice considered this. “Not really. Not out of the usual, I mean. I ignored another application from Davey, and I was a bit short with old Mr. Smith the other day, but I’ve been ignoring Davey for weeks and haven’t had any encounters with him in person, and Mr. Smith thinks candies are poison. He wouldn’t ever make his own. And despite everything he says about how my store is contributing to the plagues of today’s youth or whatever, I think he enjoys coming in to talk to me. I don’t think he’d do something creepy like this.”

  “What about Suri?” Allison asked quietly, looking embarrassed almost immediately by what she had said. “I mean, I like her and she’s great at the shop, but she’s been acting really weird lately, don’t you think?”

  “Maybe a bit,” Candice said. She considered it for only a moment, then waved her hand, dismissing the idea. “But not telling us every sordid detail of her personal life doesn’t mean she’s a crazy stalker or that she has any reason to make
vague threats. No, this is someone with a personal issue against me or the candy shop. I just know it.”

  Chapter 12

  That weekend was one of the busiest in Candice’s life. Not only was she running the candy shop, which was full of holiday shoppers almost every second that the doors were unlocked, but she was also doing last minute holiday preparations of her own. On top of all of that, she was constantly looking over her shoulder for whoever had left that package of candy on her doorstep. Even though she had dismissed Allison’s concern about Suri, she still kept a close eye on the other woman for the next day or two, but Suri didn’t act any differently toward her. She seemed maybe a bit more tired, and arrived to work a few minutes late a couple of times, but they were all running themselves ragged that weekend, so she didn’t think much of it.

  Sundays were usually her day off, but she dragged herself to the store that morning. She would get Christmas Eve and Christmas itself off that week, and the store was opening late the day after Christmas, so she was willing to give up her relaxing Sunday to help keep the candy shop running smoothly during what was sure to be another busy day.

  They had sold out of peppermint fudge again the day before, so she started her morning in the kitchen. She made a double batch this time, and wrote out a note for the fudge display; Peppermint Fudge is seasonal — This will be the last batch of the year! People would be disappointed, she knew, but she doubted it would sell as well after Christmas anyway, and she wanted to make sure there was space on the shelves for a few new products come the new year.

  She was cleaning up the mess from the fudge when her cell phone rang. She answered it, tucking it between her shoulder and her ear as she scrubbed the pan with a sponge under warm, soapy water.

  “Hello?”

  “Candice, it’s David,” her stepfather said. “I’m glad I reached you. I was worried you might still be sleeping.”

  “I’m working today,” she said. “We’ve been super busy, thanks to the holidays. What’s up?”

  “I got results back from the tests that Lenny had done on that candy you left with me,” he said. “I’ve already given the report to the police, and you’re going to need to hand over that note as well.”

  Her hands stilled under the soapy water. “Why?”

  “Because the candy you found in your shop was poisoned,” he said. Candice breathed in sharply and only half heard him as he continued. “It was the note that helped them figure it out, actually. The first part was a quote from Socrates, who died of hemlock poisoning. The symptoms line up with what happened to Leila, so the guys thought it was worth it to test for that in particular… Candice? Are you still there?”

  “Yes, sorry,” she said, blinking. “I’m just… poisoned? Someone could have died. A little girl almost bought that candy. If I hadn’t been paying attention… Oh my goodness. I can’t even think about it. What about the candy in the package I found on the porch?”

  “They’re still going through it but haven’t found any poisoned pieces yet. Whoever made the candy wasn’t actually very good at the poisoning side of things. The amount we found wouldn’t have been enough to kill a healthy person quickly, and a hospital likely would have been able to neutralize the poison if the victim got there quickly enough. But Leila…” He trailed off.

  “She wasn’t healthy,” Candice finished. “Her heart condition must have made her more sensitive to the poison. But why would someone poison her? I don’t understand how this is all connected.”

  “Neither do I, but we’re going to figure it out. Just be careful, Candice. Now that we know for sure that someone’s using poison, don’t eat or drink anything that you didn’t prepare yourself, and tell your employees to keep an eye out for candies they don’t recognize. You should also go through your shop and see if any more candies with those same wrappers have been planted there.”

  “I will,” she said. “I’ll go tell Suri about it right now. We’ll go through the shop from top to bottom.”

  They said their goodbyes and Candice ended the call. She stood in shocked silence for a long moment, just staring at her phone. Someone had poisoned Leila, and had almost poisoned an innocent customer of hers. Why? Nothing connected her to Leila except the gingerbread contest.

  She heard the bell over the front door jingle and snapped herself out of her thoughts. They would have to close the shop down for a few hours while they searched the shelves. She couldn’t risk someone eating poisoned candy. Everything else would have to wait.

  Chapter 13

  She hurried out of the kitchen to the front of the shop. There were a handful of customers inside, including someone ringing their purchases up at the register. Candice approached the counter quickly and was about to intervene when she saw that the only thing the person was buying was some fudge. She and Suri had made it themselves just the day before; she knew it was perfectly safe.

  She waited until Suri was done with the man’s transaction, then approached her employee. “We’re going to have to close down for a few hours,” she said quietly. “Help me get everyone out of here, then I’ll explain. Tell them the building has to close for an emergency inspection, but we’ll be open again by lunchtime.”

  They split up, going to each customer and giving them the information. Candice watched like a hawk as everyone left. She knew that small-scale shoplifting wasn’t uncommon, and she didn’t want to take the risk of anyone pocketing one of the very candies that they were looking for.

  Once everyone was safely gone, she turned the sign on the door to closed and turned the deadbolt, then faced Suri. “What’s going on?” her employee asked, looking worried.

  “I just got some frightening news from my stepfather,” she said. She told Suri what David had told her, getting sidetracked every once in a while when she had to fill in the blanks. She hadn’t told Suri everything she had told Allison, and was regretting it. It would be so much easier if the other woman was already caught up on what had been happening. And I’ve been annoyed about her not being open. Now who was keeping secrets? she thought as she finished her explanation.

  “I see,” Suri said, wide-eyed. “We’d better start looking then. What exactly do the candy wrappers look like?”

  “I’ve got a picture on my phone, hold on a second,” she said. She scrolled through her photos until she found the right one, and showed the other woman. “Tell me right away if you find any, and be as thorough as possible in your search. It’s possible whoever’s behind this hid them around the store with the hopes that someone would find them.”

  They started the search on opposite sides of the store and gradually made their way around the room. Candice didn’t turn up any of the mysterious candies, and an occasional check in with Suri convinced her the other woman hadn’t either. It took them a long time to make any noticeable progress at all; every bin had to be checked, and they also had to check under every shelf and behind every jar. There were too many places where a small candy could be hidden, and Candice was worried they would overlook something. Though, she supposed, if the candies had been hidden so well that they couldn’t find them when they were looking for them specifically, it wasn’t very likely that an innocent customer would just stumble across them.

  They were only about halfway done with their search when someone pulled on the locked door, making it rattle and making Candice jump. She hit her head on the underside of a shelf and pulled back, wincing and rubbing the back of her head as she rose from her knees and turned toward the door.

  Davey Dutch was on the other side of it, peering in. He had a piece of paper in his hand, and a hat pulled down low over his head, and he seemed to be huddling against the cold. When he noticed her looking at him, he pressed the piece of paper to the door and pointed at it.

  “Him again,” Suri groaned. “You’d think he’d get the hint and stop turning in applications every week.”

  “This is when I regret our policy of taking in all applications, even when we’re not hiring,” Candice
said with a sigh. She straightened her ponytail then marched over to the door, feeling more irritated than usual given the circumstances. She undid the deadbolt and yanked it open.

  “Yes?”

  “I’m just here to turn in an app,” he said, handing her the piece of paper. His eyes darted around the interior of the building. “Why are you guys closed?”

  “We’re doing inventory,” she said, which wasn’t technically untrue. “Thanks for the application. We’ll add it to our pile.”

  She made to close the door, but his hand shot out to hold it open. Her heart seemed to stutter in her chest as she realized for the first time that this man could be the one behind all the trouble. He had already proven himself to be violent when her mother decided to hire someone else. There was a big jump between slashing tires and poisoning someone, but if he had been looking for employment for months with no luck, he might very well have reached his breaking point some time ago.