Assaulted Caramel

by Amanda Flower

  I reached for it and folded it in my hand. Nutmeg hissed at me.

  I pulled my hand back. “Nutmeg. You’ve—”

  Someone grabbed me by the back of the neck and jerked me to my feet.

  Nutmeg wasn’t hissing at me after all.

  I thrashed about and dug my fingernails into the arm behind me. “Let me go!”

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Deputy Carpenter whispered into my ear and wrapped his arm around my throat.

  As soon as I had the eagle pin in my possession, it all fell into place. Carpenter was the one who’d killed Tyson. He had also been Tyson’s muscle, the person who had threatened the Amish. He was the one the Amish were too afraid to speak out against. And why wouldn’t they be afraid? He was a sheriff’s deputy, and not only that, he was the sheriff’s second in command. They had good reason to be afraid. I certainly was.

  “Let me go!” I felt my throat closing as I said the words. I tried to jerk my body away from him.

  He tightened his grip that much harder. “Don’t make this worse than it has to be.” He released my neck and grabbed my right arm, twisting it painfully behind my back. Air whooshed into my lungs. As much as my arm hurt, at least I could breathe. Breathing meant I was still alive.

  “What’s going on? I’ll have you charged with police brutality,” I croaked, trying to act as if I didn’t know full well that he was the killer. “I’ll file a report with the sheriff about this.”

  He snorted a laugh, and I felt his hot breath on my ear. “He won’t care. You might not be Amish, but you are close enough for him not to care what becomes of you.”

  I shivered at having my suspicions confirmed that the sheriff considered the Amish in the county second-class citizens.

  “Then I’ll report you to Deputy Brody.”

  “Oh, pretty boy won’t come and save you. He’s at the hospital pandering to the Amish.”

  I lashed out at the deputy with my left hand and scratched his cheek with his pin.

  He swore but held me fast. I tried to back kick, but he seemed to expect this, and easily avoided my boot.

  “Don’t move, or I will shoot you right here, so that your grandmother can come home and find your dead body. Wouldn’t that be a shame after everything she’s been through? Cruel even.”

  A shiver ran the full length of my body.

  He pulled me away from the mixer. Nutmeg made a low-to-the-ground dash to another part of the kitchen. I willed him to hide.

  “What are you going to do?” I asked hoarsely.

  He threw me against the giant mixer, and the eagle pin flew from my hand and into the vat of caramel. Although small, it was the only weapon that I’d had. I was sorry to have lost it. I looked around the room for some kind of weapon I could use to defend myself.

  He held up his gun. “Don’t think about grabbing anything else.” A thin line of blood trickled from his cheek where I had caught him with the sharp edge of the pin.

  “What are you doing here?” My voice was shaky. I couldn’t help it.

  “That’s up to you to decide, Miss King.” He grinned. “I think you will make the right decision.”

  “I’m not one of the Amish shopkeepers you can bully into doing whatever you ask.” I refused to allow my voice to shake.

  “I know,” he said bitterly. “That’s what makes you dangerous. I knew when I pulled you over and you mentioned my missing pin, that I had no choice but to come back here and look for it. I knew I must have lost it here. Your showing up just makes my life easier. Now, I can take care of you at the same time.” He took a step toward me. “It’s such a shame too. Everyone in town was so enamored with having someone from the big city visiting our little county. You threw it all away because you insisted on poking your nose in where it didn’t belong.” His smile widened. “Maybe if you had minded your own business, your grandfather would still be alive, because he wouldn’t have had to deal with the stress of the murder investigation.”

  “You framed me for murder. I had to do something to change the sheriff’s mind.”

  He snorted. “There was no hope of you ever changing the sheriff’s mind.”

  “Why? Was he in on the scheme with you and Tyson?”

  “No,” the deputy snapped. “He wasn’t part of it, but any fool can see that he doesn’t care for the Amish.”

  “Why?”

  His lip curled. “That’s something you will have to discuss with him.”

  “I don’t trust either of you.”

  He took another step toward me. “Another mistake.”

  “What’s going to happen now?” I held the arm that he had twisted behind my back.

  He removed another gun from the small of his back and held it lightly in the palm of his hand. “You’re going to shoot me.”

  “Are you insane?” I took a step back.

  “Hardly. I know exactly what is going to happen. You are going to shoot me. Not a death shot, of course, and then I will shoot you in self-defense. I’m a much better shot, so you will have to die, I’m afraid.”

  “I’m not going to shoot you,” I said.

  He held up the gun. “Don’t you want the gun?”

  I stared at it. I did want the gun for the protection it seemed to represent. For protection from this man I knew was determined to kill me. There would be nothing I could say or do to talk him out of it. “How do you know I won’t kill you?”

  “You won’t,” he said matter-of-factly.

  I didn’t move toward the gun.

  “If you don’t take the gun, I’ll just shoot you dead where you stand. Is that what you want? Is that what you want for your grandmother?”

  “How will you explain why you shot me, if I have no weapon on me and no way to defend myself,” I snapped.

  He shrugged. “I’ll think of something, and the sheriff will believe me.”

  “Aiden won’t, and neither will the crime scene investigators. It will be obvious that I wasn’t trying to hurt you when I was killed.”

  He smiled. “You would like to think so, but I have been to enough crime scenes to know how to plant a seed of doubt in the techs’ minds.” He held the gun from the small of his back out to me, hilt first, and then he leveled his own gun at my head. “Take the gun, Bailey, or I will shoot you right now where you stand and worry about the cleanup later.”

  I grabbed the gun from his hand, and then stepped back.

  He laughed and held his gun—the one that had been on his duty belt—in his hand. “I knew you would do that. You’re a fighter. I knew that from the moment I met you. It makes you dangerous, but also predictable.”

  I held up the gun and wasn’t the least bit surprised to see it quiver in my outstretched hand.

  “Have you ever fired a gun before?” There was almost a teasing sound to his voice.

  “It doesn’t matter if I hit my mark, does it?” I said it with much more confidence than I felt.

  He laughed. “Then go ahead and try.”

  I leveled the gun at him. I did want to shoot him. He’d killed a man, terrorized a community, and hurt my grandparents. But I couldn’t do it. I lowered the gun. “This isn’t how it’s going to go. You’ll have to think of another way. I won’t shoot you. I can’t.” I dropped the gun to my side, and a breath I didn’t even know I had been holding whooshed out of my body. I knew I’d made the right choice. It may not have been the wise one, but it was the right one.

  He lunged at me, and I jumped to the side. Instead of firing the gun, I dropped it into the vat of caramel. There was no going back for the gun after that. He fell against the industrial mixer with a crash. He cursed. I didn’t know if it was in pain or in frustration.

  I ran around him while he pushed himself off the mixer.

  He reached out to me and grabbed my sleeve, but I slipped out of his grasp.

  Behind me, a shot rang out. I didn’t stop to see or feel if I had been hit. I would worry about that later. I ran around the kitchen to put the prep
island between Carpenter and me. I saw the back door as my escape. Carpenter followed me and now stood on the other side of the island, where I had left the bowl of caramel. Nutmeg jumped onto the counter next to the bowl between the two of us.

  I reached out for the cat, because I certainly wasn’t leaving him alone in the kitchen with Carpenter.

  The cat moved away from me and as he did, he knocked over the bowl. The caramel spilled on the floor as Carpenter roared and charged me. His feet hit the sticky mess, and he slid back and forth. He lost his footing, falling backward, and then cracked the back of his head on the counter as he went down.

  A small pool of blood began to gather around his head.

  I took a step toward him. Was he dead?

  He groaned.

  He was most definitely not dead. I didn’t know how long he would be dazed. I kicked his gun out of his hand and sent it spinning across the floor. It had a thin coating of caramel on it before it hit the far wall. I didn’t think Carpenter would ever be able to use it again. Not that I thought the law allowed men to have department-issued firearms in prison.

  “Bailey!” Aiden called from the front of the shop.

  “I’m in the kitchen!”

  Aiden bounded through the kitchen door with his gun drawn. Two other deputies came in after him.

  One of them swore. “Is that Carpenter? Is he dead?”

  Carpenter groaned.

  “Not dead,” the second deputy said.

  “Call EMS,” Aiden ordered.

  “Already on it,” the first deputy said with his radio up to his ear.

  Aiden holstered his gun. “Bailey, are you all right?”

  “I’m fine.” I glanced down at Carpenter. “How did you know that I needed help?”

  A small figure stood in the kitchen doorway as if she was afraid to take one step more into the room.

  I blinked. “Mira?”

  As she entered the kitchen, she held her hands together so tightly they turned white. “When I heard what happened to your grandfather, I knew I had to tell the truth. I called Deputy Brody to tell him about Tyson and Deputy Carpenter’s threats. I knew the deputy was in on the scheme because I overheard them once at Tyson’s office. I didn’t tell you before because Tyson said if I kept quiet, he would protect Emily and Maribel’s secrets.” Tears gathered in her eyes. “I knew there was no reason to remain silent any longer. Jace called me told me he told you.”

  “How did you know to come here?”

  Aiden looked up from the other deputy. “The desk sergeant said that Carpenter was heading out to make an arrest. He said Carpenter left with a big smile on his face. You were the only one I knew he was dying to see behind bars.”

  I glared at Carpenter. I would be very happy to see him behind bars. I might even visit him in prison just for the opportunity to see it.

  A large form filled the doorway into the kitchen. “What’s going on in here?”

  “Sheriff!” Carpenter cried.

  The sheriff glared at him. “What have you done, Carpenter?”

  Carpenter seemed to be more taken aback by that statement than any made so far. “Sir, I swear to you that I didn’t have anything to do with Tyson’s murder. You have my word.”

  “Your word isn’t good enough, Carpenter. I doubt it ever was. Get him out of my sight.”

  Aiden cuffed Carpenter’s hands behind his back and helped him to his feet. “We’ll take him to the hospital first. He’s bleeding.”

  The sheriff glared at Carpenter. “Fine, but I want him under observation the entire time.”

  The sheriff nodded to me. “I suppose this means I was wrong about you, Miss King.” He took a step closer. “Just the same, watch your step while you’re in my county. Understood?”

  I glared back at him but said nothing.

  As the sheriff pushed his way through the kitchen door, I couldn’t help but wonder if the sheriff was more upset with Carpenter because he’d murdered someone, or because he hadn’t told him about it first.

  The kitchen was in shambles again, but Nutmeg seemed to be basking in it. The cat sat calmly on the counter and licked his paw.

  Epilogue

  The day after my grandfather’s funeral, I found my grandmother sitting at one of the wooden tables inside Swissmen Sweets, mixing chocolate batter. It was the first time since she’d comforted me at the foot of my grandfather’s hospital bed that I had seen her alone. Since the moment my grandfather passed, she had been under the watchful eyes of the women in her Amish district. I found their quiet vigil to be both a blessing and a curse. I was glad they were around to keep an eye on Maami, but at the same time, I longed for a private moment with her. I was relieved to find her alone now, but I wanted to be certain. “Are you alone?”

  She laughed. “I came here to get away from them all.” She smiled. “The community means well.”

  “I know they do.” I slipped into the chair across from her.

  She held a whisk in her hand. “This was your daadi’s favorite. I know he was grateful when the bishop let us use electric mixers to stir the chocolate and batter more quickly, but he always said that it never worked as well as the flick of the wrist.” She waved the whisk as if it were a wand. “When he could, he would still stir the chocolate by hand.”

  I smiled. “I do that as well, especially when I’m making something for a special occasion.”

  She studied me for a long moment. “You’re so much like him—determined, hardworking, and stubborn to a fault.” Her voice cracked with emotion.

  “I take all three of those as compliments.”

  “You should.” She set the whisk in the middle of the table.

  “What are you going to do with the shop?” I asked. I had wanted to ask for days.

  She frowned. “What I must. I’ll sell it. It’s time. Even if your grandfather wouldn’t accept it when he was alive, it’s time.”

  I grabbed her hand. “Please don’t sell the shop. It meant so much to Daadi, and it means so much to you still.”

  “Bailey, I have to sell. There is no other way. I can’t live here alone and run the candy shop. It’s too much work for me. I can’t sell to Tyson Colton, of course, but there will be others. Your grandfather received more offers on this building than I can count. When I make it known that I want to sell, there will be buyers lined up at the door.”

  “You’re not selling,” I said, leaving no room for argument.

  “Bailey, be sensible. I have already told you that I can’t run this place alone.”

  “You won’t have to run it alone. You’ll have me.” I grinned.

  She muttered something in Pennsylvania Dutch. “Don’t be ridiculous. You’ll be in New York. How can you help me run the shop from there?”

  “That’s just the thing. I’m not going back to New York. Not now.”

  Her mouth fell open. “You have to go.”

  I shook my head. “No, I don’t. My time here forced me to take a hard look at my life, and I did’t like what I saw. I need a fresh start, and the best way to get that fresh start is to be as far away from New York as possible. I can’t think of a place any farther away than Harvest, Ohio.”

  “But you’re not Amish, and this is an Amish business.”

  I laughed. “And I have no intention of becoming Amish, but that doesn’t mean I can’t stay and pick up where Daadi left off. He taught me about the candy shop business my entire life, and I have learned even more about running a business from Jean Pierre. Maami, I can do this.”

  “Nee, nee.” She shook her head like a stubborn toddler. “I won’t allow you to give up your dream and your life in New York. Your daadi didn’t want that for you.”

  “I’m not giving anything up. Even if I still wanted to be the head chocolatier at JP Chocolates, that chance has come and gone. I gave it up. Cass will be the head chocolatier now.”

  “How can they do that?” she gasped.

  “Because I asked Jean Pierre to do it. Cass has worked
just as hard as I have, maybe harder, and has never gotten the recognition she deserves. It’s right that she be head chocolatier, and I couldn’t be happier for her.”

  My grandmother smiled. “If you are sure, your grandfather would be so proud.”

  My relationship with Eric came to mind. My grandfather wouldn’t have been proud of how I carried that off, but that was over, and there was no reason to bring it to my grandmother’s attention now. “I need to do this for me. I need to start over.”

  She chewed on her lower lip. “Are you certain?”

  “Yes, I’m certain.”

  Her brow creased. “It won’t be the life you’re used to.”

  “I know that, but maybe that’s just what I need.” I paused. “In fact, I know it is.”

  Swissmen Sweets Salted Caramel Fudge

  Ingredients

  • one pound chopped semi-sweet chocolate or chocolate of your choice

  • one half stick of unsalted butter

  • three tablespoons pure vanilla extract

  • 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk

  • ¼ cup caramel sauce

  • coarse sea salt

  • non-stick cooking spray

  Directions

  1. Spray an eight by eight inch pan with non-stick cooking spray. Press a piece of parchment into the pan so that the edges of the paper are just above the edges of the pan. Spray the parchment paper.

  2. Mix the chocolate, sweetened condensed milk, unsalted butter, and vanilla in a stainless steel bowl and place it over a saucepan that contains two inches of boiling water. This is a double boiler. Turn the heat to low and stir gently until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Pour into the eight by eight inch pan.

  3. Heat up the caramel sauce until it is pourable. Drizzle over the top of the fudge. Using a butter knife, swirl the caramel and chocolate mixture. Sprinkle with sea salt. Refrigerate overnight or for at least five hours.

  4. Cut into cubes and enjoy.

  Read on for a taste of the next

  Amish Candy Shop Mystery,

  LETHAL LICORICE