Sugar Coated Murder

by Patti Benning

  Moira launched into the story about the young construction worker’s death, and Martha didn't bring up the subject of Denise again.

  The next morning, the mood in the house was somewhat improved. David had woken up early to make them breakfast, and Moira and Candice happily dug into the banana pancakes.

  “This is nice,” Candice said. “I had forgotten how much I enjoy being here and spending time with my family. Of course, Eli's my family now, too. You guys know what I mean. I can't wait until we move back.”

  “Me either,” Moira said. “Have you spoken to Thelma yet about what she's going to do once the lease for the farmhouse is up?”

  Candice poked at a piece of pancake. “No, not yet. She loves the house so much. I'm going to feel bad telling her that we are planning on moving back later this summer.”

  “She'll understand,” Moira said. “She always knew that that it was only temporary.”

  “I know, but I think that she was hoping she'd have at least a year or two there. Still, I'm glad that we did a six-month lease. I really do want to get the candy shop open as soon as possible.”

  “Has Detective Jefferson contacted you about how long it will be until construction can start again?” Moira asked.

  “Not yet,” Candice said.

  “I'm sure it won't be too long,” David said, joining the conversation. “If the young man's death was an accident, then it will simply be a matter of the construction company figuring out the insurance payment. So, what are the two of you doing today?”

  Moira and Candice exchanged a look, then they both shrugged. “We don't have any plans,” Moira said. “Why? Do you have something in mind?”

  “Well, I need to stop by the office today to help Lenny out with some paperwork, but then I thought about seeing if Karissa wants to meet us somewhere for a walk with the dogs. It's a nice day out, and I don't know how long this weather will last. We might as well take advantage of it while we can.”

  “Sure,” Candice said. “If that's okay with you, Mom.”

  “Of course. I'm always happy to see Karissa. Do you want us to ride with you, David? I meant to stop in and say hi to Lenny yesterday, but with everything that happened, it slipped my mind.”

  “I think that would be nice. Let's load the dogs up and head out. I'll call Karissa on the way.”

  Even in the SUV, the two large dogs and three humans were a tight fit. Moira was relieved when they pulled into the parking lot at the private investigating office. The three of them got out of the car, cracking the windows for the dogs before going inside. She was surprised when Lenny met them at the door.

  “David, I was just about to call you,” he said, wringing his hands and shooting anxious glances at Moira and Candice. “Did you see it when you drove by?”

  “See what?” David asked.

  Lenny grabbed his business partner by the shoulders and turned him around, pointing out the open door to the building kitty-corner across the street. Moira turned to look and knew immediately what he was pointing at.

  The front of the candy shop was visible from David's office, and sprawled across the brick building was a mess of colorful graffiti that hadn't been there the day before.

  Chapter Seven

  * * *

  Moira stared at the graffiti, barely hearing what Detective Jefferson was saying. Now that they were closer to it, she could read what it said, and it gave her chills.

  Get out. You aren't wanted here. Don't reopen.

  There was no question about it. This wasn't just a random act of vandalism. Someone had targeted the candy shop specifically, and it was a warning to her daughter to stay away.

  “Considering this and the death that occurred yesterday, I want all three of you to be very careful,” Detective Jefferson said. That got her attention. She tore her gaze away from the building and turned to look at the detective.

  “Do you think that whoever did this might try to hurt Candice?” she asked.

  “I don't know,” Jefferson said, looking uncomfortable. “I think it's better to be safe than sorry. We will be investigating this more thoroughly than we usually would with a vandalism case, considering what happened here yesterday. I don't know yet if the two incidents are related, but I don't want to assume that it's a coincidence if it isn't.”

  “Why would someone want to keep the candy shop from opening?” Candice asked, sounding hurt. “I never did anything to hurt anyone.”

  “You can’t think of any enemies or competitors that might want you out of town?”

  The young woman shook her head. “I… I can't think of anyone. Mom? Do you know if another candy shop has opened up around here?”

  “There isn't one that I know of, but I don't spend much time in Lake Marion anymore.”

  They both turned to David. “I can't think of any new businesses that might view Candice's as competition, but I haven't been spending as much time in Lake Marion either, not since Lenny took over at the office.”

  “Like I said, we'll be doing our own investigation. I just want the three of you to be careful. Make sure your security system is working at the deli and at your home – you do have one, don't you?”

  Moira nodded. “I haven't checked it recently, but we installed one a while ago.”

  “Good. Make sure everything is working and keep your eyes peeled. If you see anyone hanging around here or at the deli acting suspiciously, give me a call. I'll let you know as soon as we have anything.”

  “Thanks,” Moira said.

  “Will the paint come off?” Candice asked, frowning at the building.

  “I'm not sure,” Detective Jefferson admitted. “I have the number for a professional cleaning company that I can give you. They'll know better than I would.”

  With the police report made, they were free to go. The three of them walked back across the street to the office, where they stood in front of the SUV. The dogs were still inside, and Moira glanced at them. “Do you still want to take that walk?” she asked.

  “No,” David said with a sigh. “I think we should head home. I want to check the security system and make sure everything is working, like Jefferson said. Then we should go to the deli and do the same thing there. Whoever did this to the candy shop must know that Candice is back in town, or else why would they decide to strike now? That means it must be someone who has seen her, and the only places that she has been are here, home, and at the deli. If someone is watching us, I want to know.”

  With that chilling pronouncement, David got into the car. Candice and Moira followed him. Moira shot one last look at the vandalized front of the candy shop and fought back a shiver. Even though there was no obvious connection between the vandalism and Bryan's death, she couldn't shake the feeling that they were connected. All of this had started when Candice had returned to Maple Creek. The only question was, why did someone want her daughter gone badly enough to turn to crime?

  At home, they let the puzzled dogs out of the car and Moira went inside to fetch her laptop, which was connected to the house’s security cameras. There was one by the front door and one by the back. David took a rag and a bottle of glass cleaner and made sure that the lenses were sparkling clean, then logged into the video footage that had been stored online and began going through the last couple of days at high speed, looking for anything suspicious. Moira felt some of the tension in her chest leave when he didn't see anything out of place.

  “Well, whoever is responsible for vandalizing the candy shop, at least it seems as if they haven't been hanging around here. Should we go to the deli next?”

  Moira nodded. “I have to work there tomorrow, and I want to make sure it's safe before I do. Candice was going to come in, but if anything seems off, I'm going to ask her to stay home.”

  “Hey,” her daughter called out from the house. “I want to come. I don't want to spend the day alone here. I'm not ten anymore.”

  “She has a point,” David said with a chuckle. “You can’t make her stay here if s
he doesn't want to. Besides, there's safety in numbers. I'd rather both of you stick together.”

  “Okay, okay,” Moira said. “Let's go check the deli. We can argue about what exactly is going to happen tomorrow, later.”

  Darrin was working again that day, and he watched them curiously as the three of them sat down at a table and pulled up the security footage. Moira called him over.

  “Someone vandalized the candy shop,” she explained. “It seemed to be a personal attack, so we want to make sure nothing suspicious has been happening here. Can you go clean the lenses and make sure all the cameras are working well? If someone does try something here, I want to catch them on film.”

  “Sure,” he said. “I hope you catch whoever did it.”

  “Me too,” Moira said.

  She turned her attention to the video footage, which David was going through. Candice was leaning over his shoulder, looking at the screen. “Stop,” Candice said suddenly. David paused the footage.

  “What is it?” Moira asked.

  “Look, that girl… wasn't she one of the people that was watching the police when that guy fell out of the window yesterday?”

  Moira squinted at the screen and realized that her daughter was right. She recognized the spiky black haired young woman. The scene in the footage was from Wednesday, and Moira saw herself and David sitting together at a booth. The woman was at a table only a couple of feet away and appeared to be listening intently to their conversation. Moira faintly remembered glancing at her, but she had paid the customer no further attention.

  “I saw her,” she said. “That's strange, isn't it? She was here Wednesday, when I was talking about Candice coming to town, and then she was at the scene of Bryan's death.”

  “It might just be a coincidence,” David said. “But still, I think we should tell Detective Jefferson.”

  Chapter Eight

  * * *

  Video footage of the young woman was less helpful than Moira had hoped. Jefferson promised to keep an eye out for her, but without a name, there was little that he could do. Moira had known that it was a long shot, but she was still disappointed that the police couldn't do much. She hated the thought that there was someone out there who was targeting her daughter. Just because the vandalism occurred the day after someone died there, doesn't mean that the two crimes are related, she reminded herself as she walked into the deli on Saturday morning. Vandalism was one thing, but murder was quite another. She couldn't see what killing an innocent young man would do to get Candice and the candy shop out of town, so even if someone did want Candice's business to fail before it was reopened, that didn't mean that they were necessarily willing to resort to murder. She wanted to believe that Bryan's death had been nothing more than an unfortunate accident. Even if the black-haired girl was the one who had vandalized the candy shop, there was no way that she could have gotten into the shop itself to kill the construction worker.

  Candice was safe, or at least that was what she kept telling herself. It was bound to be a busy day at the deli, and she didn't want to be distracted while she worked. She didn't usually work weekends, but she had taken the afternoon shift on Saturday and on Sunday because Darrin was going out of town to visit his mother for an early Mother's Day celebration. Moira had Monday off of work, and she didn't mind the trade in shifts. Especially not since Candice was helping out at the deli with her.

  “I've missed this place so much,” Candice said as she walked through the doors. “I used to love helping out here.” She fell silent suddenly, looking around. Moira frowned.

  “Is everything okay?” she asked.

  “Yeah… I was actually just wondering… if the candy shop isn't ready to be reopened by the time Eli and I want to move back, would it be okay if I worked here for a couple of months? I mean, I have some money saved up, but it will be easier to afford everything I need to get the candy shop up and running again if I have a job, and it's going to be hard for me to drive back and forth between here and the city if I have to keep working there while I’m trying to reopen the shop.”

  “Of course,” Moira said. “You know that you are always welcome here, sweetie. I don't want to knock any of the other employees’ hours down, but you are more than welcome to take over my shifts. I wouldn't mind a little extra time off, especially not over the summer when there is so much else to do. Besides, I think Allison would love it if you worked here.”

  “That's another thing…” Candice bit her lip. “I actually talked to Allison about her coming to work with me when I reopen the candy shop. I think that she's going to do it.”

  Moira blinked. Allison was one of her most faithful employees. Next to Darrin, she had been there the longest. Losing her would be a blow, but she couldn't very well tell her daughter not to have her best friend and half-sister come and work with her.

  “I think that would be lovely for the two of you,” she said at last. “Just let me know once the decision is made so I’ll have time to hire someone else. We will miss her around here, but I understand why she would want to go work with you.”

  “I'm sorry, Mom,” Candice said. “I know it's not right for me to steal your employees, but I really want to have someone I can trust working there, and like you said, Allison is my best friend.”

  “I know,” Moira said. “Don't worry, I'm not upset about it. I really do think it will be wonderful for both of you.”

  “I'm thinking of seeing if Logan wants to start working there again too.”

  Moira blinked at that. Logan was a convicted criminal, and though Moira didn't think that he was a danger to Candice, she wasn't sure how she felt about the idea of him working closely with her daughter. “I think he has a job,” she said.

  “I know. I still thought I would offer. He was a good employee.”

  Moira blew a slow breath out through her nose, then decided to let Candice make her own decisions. She was an adult, after all, and she tended to be a good judge of character. It wasn't Moira's place to tell her who she could or couldn't hire, and she had to respect that the young woman was going to do things her own way.

  “Let's go see how everything's going in the kitchen,” she said, trying to change the subject to something brighter. “We’re rethinking of redoing the countertops. You can tell me what you think of the different colors.”

  A few hours later, she and Candice had settled into a comfortable routine, each of them going about their own tasks with ease. Moira was taking a break from the kitchen and sitting at the register when the front door opened to a familiar face. Detective Jefferson was walking in.

  “Hi, Ms. Darling,” he said in the voice that she knew meant he was there on business. “I tried calling you, but you didn't answer. I figured I would be able to find you here.”

  “You found me,” she said, trying to sound cheerful, even though she was dreading what he was going to tell her. Whatever it was, it couldn't have been good; otherwise, he wouldn't have gone to all of the trouble to drive to the deli just to speak with her.

  “Can I talk to you in private for a moment?” he asked, shooting a glance at the customers who were currently eating at a couple of the small tables.

  “I'll call Candice up front, and we can go into the kitchen,” she offered.

  A few minutes later, she and Detective Jefferson were standing in the kitchen, the sounds from the dining area cut off into a low murmur by the swinging door. “What is it?” she asked.

  “The autopsy on Bryan Aspen has been completed,” he said. “He was not killed by the fall. In fact, he was already dead when he fell out the window.”

  Moira gasped. There was no question now, but she still wanted to hear Detective Jefferson say it.

  “So, does that mean…”

  “The investigation is officially being treated as a homicide,” he said. “I came here to tell you this because I want you and your family to be careful. We will have an officer driving by your house a couple of times every night. Between this murder and the van
dalism, I think that we need to consider the fact that someone is targeting your family.”

  Moira nodded, trying to absorb the information. “How… how did he die?” she asked.

  “He was strangled,” Detective Jefferson said. “I can't tell you more than that. I just thought that you needed to know that your family might be in danger. Don't hesitate to call if something seems off. I would rather respond to a false alarm, than get there too late if something really was wrong.”

  She nodded. “Trust me, I'm not going to mess around with my family’s lives. You'll be the first person I call if something seems off.”

  Chapter Nine

  * * *