A Cake Caper

by Constance Barker

  “Could Oliver really have been killed over dog shows?” Rose asked dubiously.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I suppose it’s possible but it seems so farfetched. Is there anything else that you can think of?”

  Masie and Rose exchanged a glance and I knew they felt the same way I did. This was all far too confusing to make heads or tails over and we still had no idea who killed Oliver.

  “Let’s take a break for a bit,” Rose said gloomily. “We’re not getting anywhere.”

  I could tell it was hitting her hard, and I hoped we could solve it all soon so that things could go back to how they used to be, and Rose could get back on her feet.

  “Okay, why don’t you two help me out with the details of this photoshoot,” I said, looking for something to distract Rose. “It’s not that far off now and I’m stressed to biscuits over it.”

  “Have you considered props?” Masie suggested.

  “I want props, but they have to be Angie-approved too,” I replied. Rose and Masie looked at me in sympathy. They both knew that my cousin wasn’t always the easiest person to please.

  “You should add a dog,” Rose said suddenly.

  Masie wrinkled her nose. “In a photo of food?”

  “Yeah. Have the food on the bench and the dog beneath it, trying to get at it. Because it’s so delicious, see?”

  I laughed. “I actually kind of like it.”

  “The dog is wearing a baseball cap. People love dogs in hats,” Masie added, and Rose clapped her hands in delight.

  “How about giant balloons and like 20 ice cream sodas?” I suggested, and they agreed enthusiastically, giggling.

  “This is going to be the tackiest photoshoot ever, isn’t it?” I said, wiping tears of laughter from my eyes.

  “It’s going to be the most memorable photoshoot ever,” Rose corrected me, grinning.

  “Yeah and everyone is going to buy the cookbook for these photos alone once we’ve finished with them,” Masie chipped in.

  Satisfied that we had created the most ludicrous photo plan of all time, I suggested we go to the diner for dinner to celebrate. When we got there I was surprised to see Terry, Sam, Charles, Laney and Margaret all eating together, before I realized that they must be having a meeting of their Barkskateers dog club.

  Hoping I could do a little digging but also wanting to check on Laney, I headed over to them. “Hey Laney, how are you feeling?”

  Laney seemed a lot more cheerful today. “I’m great, thanks. In fact, we’re having the first meeting of the Barkskateers since Oliver died.”

  “We’re divvying up all of the upcoming competitions based on who’s most likely to win. That way only one of us enters each category so we’re not competing directly against each other,” Terry chipped in.

  “That sounds like such a good idea. Really fair, because this way everyone has a good chance of succeeding and winning at least one category, right?” I remarked, impressed at their system.

  “Oliver never gave anyone a chance really, he always shut us down when we suggested this. He just wanted to take all the titles for himself, see. But now he’s gone and it’s a relief to know that our dogs aren’t going to be drugged on the day of the show just to make sure that Candy wins,” Sam said and everyone around the table agreed.

  “Yeah, or bribed,” Terry added.

  “Or startled so hard they shake in a corner for 3 hours,” Margaret muttered.

  I nodded and smiled at them. “Wow that must have been pretty harsh on your dogs. I’m really glad they’re all going to get a fair chance from now on. It sounds like Oliver was kind of mean.”

  “Oh, do not get me started on that man. His temper, his arrogance. He was awful.” Margaret shuddered.

  “Not to mention how horrid he always was when he talked to Rose, that’s another reason to hate him. He was ever so unreasonable, and so cruel. I couldn’t stand it,” Charles added.

  “Oh yes, he was horrid to everyone really. He could be very nasty sometimes, especially when he was talking about other people’s dogs,” Laney added angrily. I was surprised that she was joining in with the trash talking considering Oliver was her boyfriend and not just a dog show rival.

  As they talked, I wondered whether maybe more than one person could have killed Oliver. He certainly had a lot of enemies, even amongst his supposed friends. Could they have teamed up to get him out of the way?

  “You guys certainly seem to be on the same page. How closely do you work together?” I ventured.

  “What do you mean?” Margaret said, immediately suspicious. The others clammed up too, and I wanted to kick myself for blowing it.

  “No, I was just curious, that’s all,” I insisted, trying to claw the conversation back, but it was too late. None of the group would meet my eye and Margaret was glaring at me angrily.

  I opened my mouth again, but Laney cut me off, her eyes down and her voice cool and brittle. “I’ll see you at work, Coco.”

  “And don’t you go finding anymore dead bodies, do you hear me?” Sam added. The others nodded, staying silent until I bid them an awkward goodbye and scurried away from the table.

  As I left them, I couldn’t shake the feeling that Sam’s parting words had sounded vaguely sinister, even threatening. I glanced back as I reached our table, and saw the group still looking after me warily.

  Masie and Rose were both looked concerned. Yet another suspicious exchange with a group of suspects. How on earth was I going to solve this one when so many people had it in for Oliver?

  Chapter 18

  Literally everyone that was having dinner together for the dog show seemed to have it out for Oliver enough to want him out of the picture for good. And Laney? She surprised me the most. Her boyfriend was murdered and instead of being depressed and down about it, she seemed to be celebrating with the rest of the crowd. That seemed awfully suspicious, not to mention the fact that literally everyone at that table seemed thankful that he was gone.

  Rose and Masie and I left the restaurant and as we drove home, I couldn’t help but mention it again, still in disbelief.

  “Can you believe it, though?” I asked with a sigh, shaking my head. “Laney’s boyfriend was murdered and she’s all happy go lucky having dinner with the Barkskateers and celebrating the fact that Oliver is dead. Doesn’t that seem even a little bit messed up to you? There’s so much wrong with all this.”

  Rose simply nodded with a heavy sigh, clearly feeling a bit defeated about it all. I couldn’t blame her.

  “You know though.” Masie piped in, brows raised. “Terry—he’s that electrician with the little Chihuahua—has actually been going out with Laney.”

  Rose gasped and I nearly whipped my gaze around, only able to stop myself because I didn’t want to crash Daisy.

  “You’re joking. How do you know that? Details Masie, details.”

  Masie shook her head and casually looked down at her nails, and then she continued to regal us with the gossip that she somehow found herself privy to.

  “Apparently from what I heard he really didn’t like the fact that Oliver wasn’t treating Laney that great, and got super angry about it. Eventually the two of them got together and then one thing led to another I guess.”

  I never knew how Masie heard all of the gossip that she did, she had a social web that I couldn’t even begin to understand, but it was accurate 99 percent of the time so I was inclined to believe her.

  That got me thinking then, about whether or not Laney was a killer. Or Terry. It would have made sense from a logistical standpoint, but murder seemed a bit extreme. Especially for Laney, she seemed so sweet and kind when she wasn’t totally underreacting to the recent death of her ex and dating another guy. Plus she worked for me at the Mad Batter so she must have been innocent, right? Though the more I thought about it, the more I wondered. She had done so many suspicious things lately that I just didn’t have an explanation for, and it didn’t seem right not to pursue any lead we got, regardless
of how unexpected it might have seemed.

  We drove back to Rose’s place and sat down, and I decided right then and there that no matter what we needed to look into this, so I called Logan. There are just too many reasons that Terry and Laney would want Oliver dead and as much as I didn’t want to admit that I could have a potential murderer working for me, I couldn’t ignore it.

  I was unable to reach Logan though so I left him a voicemail asking him to call me, and then I headed back to the bakery. I had every intention of getting to the bottom of what had happened, and if that meant questioning Laney and Terry myself then so be it.

  I got back to the bakery and was going over some tasks and tidying up, trying to make myself busy before I had to do anything else. Just as I was getting ready to finish up prep and go home though, Margaret came strolling in and she looked less than pleased. I forced a smile to my face in an attempt to be friendly and cordial, not wanting to turn away a customer.

  “Hey Margaret, what can I-”

  She cut me off with a scoff though and I stepped back with a frown in surprise. She walked over to me slowly and had a scowl on her face, and I suddenly wished that I wasn’t alone in the store.

  “Listen here, Coco. You better keep your nose out of my business and stop snooping around. All you’re doing is causing trouble and honestly you’d think that you’d know better.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Margaret.” I said with a shrug and a smile. “All I’m doing is looking out for my friend.”

  “Listen to me and listen well. Back off or else.”

  “Or else?” I scoffed, sneering. “What is that supposed to mean? If I didn’t know any better I’d think that you were threatening me, Margaret.”

  “Look all I’m saying is that you snooping around has been noticed, and if you were smart you’d back off. I used to be a lawyer and I still have plenty of friends in the field of law, and they would be more than willing to do me a favor. I can make your life beyond unpleasant, and I won’t hesitate to do so unless you smarten up and back off.”

  My jaw dropped in surprise and I couldn’t even form words in that moment, too shocked to even comprehend the fact that someone who I had regularly served just casually strolled into my bakery and threatened me.

  Margaret grinned and waved to me as she stalked out, and she chuckled.

  “That’s what I thought.”

  What in the name of sugar had just happened?

  Not only was what she said extremely inappropriate and threatening, but it was likely completely true and Margaret didn’t seem the kind to tell lies. It was very likely that she did indeed have friends who wouldn’t hesitate to do just as she said, but that didn’t change how shocked I was.

  Since I began investigating and looking into what happened at Rose’s salon, no one had been so brazen and so forward in their expression of disliking me looking into the whole affair. Did this mean that Margaret was the killer? But then what about Terry and Laney? They seemed to have a great motive to want Oliver gone but then again, they hadn’t just come into my bakery and threatened me. Margaret had.

  I sat down at the counter with a huff and with my head in my hands, wondering what the heck had happened to this town and what I was supposed to do next.

  Chapter 19

  “You okay?”

  Startled, I looked up to see a smiling Charles.

  “Sorry,” I said. “I was just closing.”

  “I figured. I just overheard your conversation with Margaret. I wanted to make sure you were alright.”

  “Oh, were you in the neighborhood?” I asked.

  “Yes, actually,” he said. “I was stopping by to drop off a care package for Rose. I know how much this has all been weighing on her. Then I heard what I assume was the tail end of your conversation with Margaret.”

  “Oh, that’s nice of you. I’m sure Rose will like that. I appreciate you checking in on me too.”

  “It’s no problem. I feel bad that you’re dealing with people that antagonistic,” he said. “You’re just trying to help your friend.”

  “I know,” I admitted. “I’d never stop defending Rose, but it's hard to deal with everyone sometimes.”

  “Yeah, it is. You have my support though. It’s really sweet of you to look out for her.”

  “Yeah, she’s my friend. I’d do anything for her.”

  “You know it’s kind of funny,” he said with a laugh. “It seems like everyone is behaving as badly as Oliver behaved when he was still alive.”

  “Yeah, I suppose that’s right,” I said. “I didn’t know him terribly well, but he didn’t have the best attitude.”

  “He really didn’t. He was as mean to people as he was to his dog.”

  “Really? I thought his dog was a champion.”

  “She is, but he didn’t do her any favors. I hated what he did to that dog.”

  “What did he do?” I asked.

  “Oh, it might sound weird to people who don’t have dogs, but he just didn’t treat her right. It was like he didn’t love her. He didn’t give her a lot of affection and he would put her on all of these strange diets. He just treated this dog like a trophy rather than a living animal.”

  “Oh gosh,” I said. “That’s awful.”

  “Yeah, but I suppose she’ll have a better life moving forward.”

  “I guess so.”

  “Sorry if I got a little off-topic there. I can’t stand people who hurt animals. Nothing gets me angrier.”

  “I understand,” I said. “It sounds like you have a lot of passion for this.”

  Just then my phone rang. It was Angie.

  “Sorry,” I said. “I have to take this. I’ll only be a moment.”

  “No problem,” he said.

  I picked up the phone.

  “Hi, Angie.”

  “Hey, Coco. I was just going through the photos you sent over. I absolutely love them.”

  “I’m really happy to hear that,” I said.

  “There’s just one more thing. I’m going through the layout, and I think I need one more recipe to round the whole thing out.”

  “Another recipe?” I tried to quickly think of what could compliment the rest of the cookbook.

  I had already used my standard fare. If another option was needed, it had to be something unusual. I wanted to show my flair. I didn’t, however, want to make something overly complicated.

  My mind went to the chocolate poppers I make for Masie. It was a fairly easy recipe. It’s made of mostly chocolate and popping candy, but it’s an impressive little treat, nonetheless.

  “I’ll write up a recipe for chocolate poppers,” I said. “I’ll give them a cute name and take some photos.”

  “That sounds perfect,” Angie exclaimed. “Just the thing to finish off the book.”

  “Is there anything else?” I asked.

  “That was it. Thanks, Coco.”

  We said our goodbyes and I hung up the phone.

  “Chocolate poppers, huh?” Charles said with a laugh. “I know what they are, but I don’t think I’ve ever actually had one.”

  “Well, I could give you a few if you help me set them up for the photos I need to take,” I offered. I hoped he would take it. It was easier doing the photos with two people rather than one.

  “You have yourself a deal,” he said.

  We set up the backdrop for the chocolate poppers and arranged them in front of the camera.

  “These are a lot easier to wrangle than dogs.” he said with a laugh.

  “Oh, they’re very well-trained,” I assured him.

  After we set up the lighting, we took plenty of shots for Angie to choose from.

  “These look really excellent, Coco,” he said, helping me look through the photos. “I’m really impressed. The cookbook is going to be great.”

  “Oh, yes. I’m really excited.”

  I grabbed a few more poppers from our display case and set them on a plate.

  “Your paymen
t,” I joked. “You don’t have to eat the ones we’ve been touching. These ones have been modeling behind glass for me instead of in front of the camera.”

  He smiled and took the poppers.

  “Thanks, Coco. These look really good. I’m looking forward to trying them.”

  He put one of the poppers in his mouth. His eyes got wide when the candy started popping.

  “These are wild,” he said with a chuckle.

  I smiled at his expression. I heard the door to the shop open. I turned around to tell the customer that we were closed, but I saw it was Logan standing at the entrance.

  He looked between the two of us and seemed surprised, but then smiled. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” he said. “You two look like you’re having fun.”

  “Oh, I have to get going, actually,” Charles said. “I was just helping Coco take some pictures of these poppers.”

  “Here, let me bag those up for you,” I said.

  I put the poppers in a to-go container and Charles headed out the door. I went over to Logan.

  “Should I be jealous?” Logan asked. I could tell he had already made up his mind and was in fact a little jealous.

  “No, you shouldn’t be jealous,” I assured him. “If it helps you get your mind off of it, we could go over the case.”

  “I think the obvious thread in the case right now is to follow up on Laney and Terry,” Logan said. “That seems to be our loose end.”

  “Alright,” I said. “Laney and Terry it is.”

  Chapter 20

  Logan and I drove to Terry’s house and parked up out front. Logan rang the doorbell and knocked several times, but it looked like there was nobody home.

  “I wonder if he’s left any windows open round the back,” I suggested, half joking.

  Logan rolled his eyes at me in mock exasperation. “We’ll go and see if Laney is home first before we add any more escapades to your rap sheet, shall we?”