Caked in Murder

by Gretchen Allen

  “That’s great! I’m so happy Heath won’t miss out on the celebration. Audrey must be thrilled!” Yvette exclaimed. “But, what’s the bad news?”

  Abigail was looking at her feet, not saying a word.

  “Mother? What’s going on?”

  “I talked to a police officer this morning,” she began.

  “Oh?” Yvette asked.

  “It wasn’t a friendly visit. He had some questions for me about the death of Janet Moran.” Abigail admitted, eyes still on her feet.

  “What’s that mean? Why would he need anything from you? You weren’t even close to Janet.” Yvette reached out and laid her hand on her mom’s.

  “That’s exactly it. We weren’t close, not even a little. Officer Montgomery said it was brought to his attention that Janet and I didn’t get along well, and we’d been seen having a disagreement about the merging of the Neighborhood Associations.”

  “That’s been going on for years, Abigail. I know it seems like a bigger deal now that Janet is gone, but you need to believe that Heath and his officers will get to the bottom of this. They’re just doing their jobs, asking the proper questions and going through the proper channels,” Charlie said, trying to comfort his wife.

  “He just asked you some questions? Maybe that’s not such a big deal.” Yvette was hopeful.

  “I didn’t think so either at first. Not until he asked me not to leave town,” Abigail blurted.

  Yvette couldn’t believe what she’d heard. Not only had her mother been questioned about the murder but it was serious enough that she wasn’t able to leave town? Yvette had been so worried that Amelia may become a suspect and now her mom really was one. Something had to be done before this went any further. There was no way the two people closest to her could be dealing with something like this. Now, more than ever, Yvette was positive she’d be digging around to get some much-needed answers.

  “Oh, Mom. I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do?”

  “That’s part of why we called you here,” Charlie said, his lips slightly curving up.

  “I still don’t think this is a wise idea,” Abigail said, glaring at her husband.

  “What are you being so cryptic for? Spit it out!” Yvette bellowed.

  “We were hoping you’d do a little investigating…” Charlie stated.

  “You don’t have to twist my arm! I was already planning on it because I think Amelia is going to be questioned next and I wanted to avoid that. But, now that you are involved too, there’s no way I’m gonna sit back and watch this all unfold. Not if I can do something about it first,” Yvette said, looking back and forth between her parents.

  “Amelia? Why on earth would anyone think that girl was capable of murder? I’ve seen her let mosquitos bite her because she didn’t want to hurt their feelings,” Charlie rolled his eyes and finger quoted the word feelings.

  “No more reason for Mom to do it, just because she swats bugs away…” Yvette shot her dad a look.

  “Of course not, but we already know your mother didn’t do it. I would have never guessed little Amelia would cross anyone’s mind.”

  “Anyway, I’m not sure what you want me to do, but I’m all for it. If there’s anything you can think of, let me know,” Yvette said.

  “We can think about it during dinner since that was the third reason we invited you over,” Abigail smiled, happy that her daughter would be there for her. “We’ve got a lasagna about ready to come out of the oven, and we assume you brought dessert?”

  Yvette laughed. “Of course. I left some praline fudge ice cream here the other day, and I brought snickerdoodle cookie bowls with me. I figured I’d make little sundae cups right inside the cookie bowls. As long as Dad didn’t eat all the toppings I left here, we should be all set!” Yvette beamed, proud of herself for always being prepared.

  “I’ll go pull out the lasagna now. I’m starving,” Charlie told his family.

  After Charlie had gone into the house, Abigail looked directly at her daughter before whispering, “I pretended that I was leery of you getting involved, but please, Yvette, do your best to help me. I’m so scared. I called Heath afterwards and tried to talk to him about it, but he told me he had to stay neutral and out of the investigation as long as it had anything to do with me. He said it was a conflict of interest. I think this is really serious, and I’m not sure what to do.”

  “I’ll do anything I can to prove it’s just a misunderstanding.”

  “Don’t go accusing other people just because. I want the real killer to be caught. It isn’t fair that innocent people get in trouble because of someone else’s wrongdoing.” Abigail’s face was getting paler by the minute.

  The women looked up to see Charlie heading back from the kitchen and the conversation came to a halt.

  “That smells divine, honey,” Abigail said.

  “Good, now let’s dig in so we can get to that snickerdoodle stuff Yvette has,” Charlie grinned, and set down the pan of lasagna down on the table.

  9

  Yvette placed a second scoop of Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream in a dish and looked around the counter for something to add on top. She’d had a customer request a special sundae using the ice cream and she wanted to create something perfect. An idea occurring to her, she dashed to the kitchen and warmed up a brownie, cutting it into small chunks and dropping them over the ice cream. Adding a drizzle of hot fudge and a heaping bit of whipped cream, she topped it off with a few chocolate-covered cherries and set it on the pick-up counter for Vanessa to deliver.

  With only two more order slips in line, Yvette knew that she would be able to make them rather quickly before her meeting with Monica. Needing a way to get some information from the woman, Yvette decided to ask her to come to Sundae Afternoon, so they could chat about the plans that Yvette and Vanessa had been working on for the upcoming Fall Foliage Trolley Tour. She was hoping that since Janet was gone, that Monica would be taking over for the time being and this would be the perfect way to get her to do some talking. Yvette needed to find out why Janet had been so difficult to work with and who could have had motive to kill her.

  “I just saw Mrs. Carothers pull into the parking lot. Should I make her regular order?” Vanessa asked.

  “I’m not sure if she’s going to want to have anything to eat since we’re having a little business meeting but feel free to ask her when she comes in. I’m going to wash up and grab some paperwork from my office. Tell her I’ll be out shortly, please,” Yvette directed.

  After removing her apron and washing her hands, Yvette rushed to her office to grab what she needed. Taking a deep breath and letting it out, she prepared herself for her conversation with Monica. They’d never really been friends, so it may be a challenge to get her to reveal anything.

  “So good to see you!” Monica squealed, once Yvette reached her table.

  Taken aback by her excitement, Yvette greeted the other woman warmly and took a seat across from her.

  “Thanks so much for agreeing to meet me here. I couldn’t get any time off, so it was here or not at all. I really think we can work something out for the Trolley Tour.”

  “I’m happy to do it. I hope you don’t mind I ordered some ice cream. It’s been a while since I’ve stopped in and I can’t very well come by here and not get my favorite, now can I?” Monica beamed.

  “Of course not. Ice cream first, business second.” Yvette joked.

  “So, what are you thinking about doing? This is the first year we’ve done a tour like this and since it’s going to be outside and the weather could cool off quite a bit, I’m not sure ice cream will be a good idea. If the event wasn’t outside, I might reconsider.” Monica shuffled through some of the papers she’s brought along with her.

  “No need to reconsider. I wasn’t thinking of the traditional ice cream refreshments. What about doing some floats?”

  “Ohhh. Like the one you do with the hot chocolate and ice cream for the Christmas Parade? Those are to die fo
r.”

  “Exactly. We can do those and maybe some with coffee or even apple cider? I know they sound strange, but I’ve been practicing making them for a couple weeks now and I really think they’d go over well. Sundae Afternoon will be open during the event and I believe it’s even one of the stops on the tour. We’ve got such a beautiful backdrop with the mountains behind us. We can serve anything they want if they stop in but what about setting up a tent at the start of the tour? I can get a couple people to volunteer and serve them.”

  “I’m liking the idea so far. Have you spoken to Amelia about this yet?” Monica asked, tilting her head.

  “Not yet. I came to you first,” Yvette replied.

  “Well, she’s the one in charge. I just do what I’m told,” Monica said with a huff.

  Jackpot, Yvette thought to herself. She knew Monica always wanted to be the leader of everything she was part of.

  “I just assumed you were the one calling the shots now that poor Janet isn’t here anymore,” Yvette said.

  “Yes. Poor Janet. It really is a shame she’s gone, isn’t it?” Monica shook her head. “But as for me calling the shots, that’s not how things work with your friend, Amelia.”

  Yvette wasn’t sure how to respond. She knew Amelia was the one that made all of the final decisions when it came to anything the Associations did, or even any type of activity that was held in Heritage. What she didn’t realize was that people were even more bitter about it than Amelia let on.

  “I’m sorry. I just thought that you were the one that got to decide. I didn’t know I should have asked her first,” Yvette apologized.

  “Well, she is your friend so I’m sure she won’t have any problems with it. She most likely won’t say no to you and it is a good idea so I’m sure it’ll be fine. I’ll bring it up to her if you want but you may have better luck. The last time she heard my ideas she denied every single one of them,” Monica said, glancing away.

  Yvette was thankful to see Vanessa dropping off Monica’s Churro Banana Foster Sundae. An extra-large churro cut into several pieces and placed around two scoops of Cinnamon Sugar Cookie ice cream. Glazed bananas and caramel sauce were set over the top of the dish and brown sugar infused whipped cream finished everything off. This was Monica’s regular order and had quickly become a favorite for many other customers.

  “So good,” Monica said between mouthfuls. “But anyway, like I was saying before, Amelia hated every idea I ever had. I mean, can you believe she turned down having a town-wide Easter egg hunt, or even doing a potluck dinner on Thanksgiving for families that don’t have the means to have one of their own traditional meals?”

  “I’d rather not get into the middle of things,” Yvette said honestly. Something was sticking on her mind about those events Monica had mentioned, though. Amelia had told her about them previously and said that Janet was the one that claimed them as her own. Amelia admitted to turning them both down at first but felt guilty for it since they were actually really great ideas. She just couldn’t bring herself to let Janet continue to be in charge of the Downtown Association. She was hoping that Janet would get upset and step down on her own. One of the hardest things about Amelia’s job was making sure that she kept everyone happy. The Downtown branch was by far the busiest and most successful of the four Heritage had and it needed to be run by someone that had compassion and love for the town and its people. Not someone just looking to make a buck.

  “I understand. I’m sorry. I’ve just been holding such a grudge since she basically said my ideas were trash.”

  “Amelia would never say such a thing!” Yvette said, defending her friend.

  “That’s what Janet told me.”

  Yvette had enough. “Was Janet the one to tell Amelia your ideas?”

  “Yes. Janet always told us it was better for the group to tell her our thoughts and concerns and she would be the one to bring them to Amelia’s attention.”

  Yvette didn’t say anything for a moment, hoping Monica would get what she was trying to say.

  “Wait. Do you think Janet was lying? Did she even tell Amelia my ideas or did she just make it up to make me feel bad?”

  “I don’t know,” Yvette fibbed.

  “No wonder Della feels the way she does. I had a spot right next to Janet for years and it was so easy to be blinded by her. I trusted everything she ever said.” Monica banged her hand on the table.

  “I heard about Della having some trouble with Janet as well. I’m sorry all of you have been dealing with this,” Yvette said.

  “Maybe Della did kill her after all. The only reason Janet was nice to me was because I let her take control all the time. I sat back and let her pick and choose and tell me what to do. I figured it was the best way to do things. If she ever retired or stepped down from her position, she’d suggest me as the next in line. I was trying to set myself up for success but really all I was doing was hurting myself. Although, I do have her job now, don’t I?” Monica smirked, but quickly removed the look from her face.

  “Della? Why would Della have anything to do with this?” Yvette asked.

  “Janet was awful to her. More so than anyone else, of course. I kind of thought it was her since she was the only one not at the donation center that morning. Della wanted so bad to be a part of things and Janet refused her from every direction. She claimed it was because Della used to be the head of the Home Owners Association back where she used to live, and Janet would never allow Heritage to have anything even sort of close to an HOA. She said they were too strict and by the book and it wouldn’t be good for the town. No matter how different the two associations were, Janet didn’t seem to understand.”

  It turned out that Yvette ended up learning way more information than she had ever expected. As far as she was concerned, Monica had just offered herself up as a suspect in the murder of Janet Moran. She certainly had the motive. But now, Della may have had just as big of a reason. Was Monica placing the blame on Della to get it off of herself? She’d said Della was the only one not at the donation center but Yvette herself was only there for a short time and she definitely wasn’t responsible for this. For that matter, how long had Monica even been there that day?

  “Wow. Well. I’m sorry I called you here without checking with Amelia first,” Yvette said, twisting her lips.

  “No problem. Have you seen this sundae? I’d come here for anything if it meant I could have one of these. I’ll wait to hear from you or Amelia about the ice cream floats and we can go from there. Sound okay?” Monica asked.

  “Absolutely. Thanks again for meeting me here but I’ve got to get back to work.” Yvette rose from her chair and waved to Monica before departing to her office.

  10

  Feeling more than grateful that she had the day off, Yvette carried a mug of coffee out to her front porch. Her plans for the day consisted of finishing the book she’d been reading, drinking coffee, and mopping her floors. Other than that, she had no desire to do anything but relax. There had been so much on her mind lately and she found that when she felt overloaded, she never had a clear focus on the things going on around her. Knowing she needed to take some time to herself, she thought a quiet day at home would be the perfect solution.

  Opening up the book to where her bookmark rested, Yvette cuddled up into the chair and under the blanket she’d left outside from the night before. She read a few pages before finding herself distracted, not even remembering what she’d read. Yvette wondered if Gavin was home, she could invite him over for brunch. Maybe having someone to talk to that was out of the loop would help. Peering around to his portion of the house and onto the side driveway, Yvette saw that Gavin’s truck was gone. She turned back and found herself startled to see Nate walking up the path to the porch.

  “Morning, Yvette,” Nate said, making his way up the steps.

  Yvette sighed, not interested in hearing more of his lies, but refusing to be rude. “Hey. What are you doing here?”

  “I just wanted t
o talk. Since I’m staying in town a little longer than expected, I’m getting kinda bored sitting around my parent’s house. My dad’s working almost 24/7 with this investigation and my mom has consumed herself with work at the animal shelter.” Nate looked around the porch, as if he didn’t know what to do with himself.

  “Well, don’t just stand there. Have a seat.” Yvette gestured to the chair across from her. “My mom is doing the same thing. She’s been volunteering at the senior center every day since she was questioned about the murder, she’s been struggling to feel even a little calm.”

  “I can’t believe someone thought it was her. If you ask me, I think it was Eddie. They are the stereotypical married couple that fights over everything and they always have been,” Nate reminded her.

  “Yeah, but why kill her now? Like you said, they’ve been this way forever. So, what changed? Eddie is a good guy. He always does whatever she says and half the time I think his complaining is more of a show than anything else.”

  Nate chuckled. “I suppose that’s true. What do I know? I’m not the one solving murders left and right.”

  “Well consider yourself lucky to live in Florida then. If you aren’t here, you can’t get involved.” Yvette shrugged.

  “Sounds like life is pretty eventful here lately.”

  “You have no idea. Sundae Afternoon is about the only normal thing I have going for me right now.”

  “Wanna talk about anything?” Nate asked.

  Maybe that’s what she needed. Nate wasn’t really part of anything in town anymore, so she felt comfortable talking to him about Mark and Amelia and everything going on with the murder.

  “Yeah, okay,” she agreed. “Why don’t we go inside and get you something to drink and we can chat for a while. There is something I wanted to talk to you about, anyway,” Yvette said, rising from her chair and leading Nate in the house.