Dying for Devil's Food

by Jenn McKinlay

  “One question,” Tate said. “If the call drops, what do I do? Should I go charging in there or call the cops?”

  “Use your best judgment,” Mel said. “If it sounds like she’s going to kill me, call the cops. But if she’s cooperating and we’re getting along then maybe just bide your time.”

  “I’m actually nervous,” Tate said. “Is that normal?”

  “Yes.” Mel checked her hair and makeup in the mirror. So far so good. “All right, I’m going in. Wish me luck.”

  “Good luck,” he said. “Get a confession.”

  Mel paused. “I really hope she’s innocent, you know?”

  Tate sobered. “I know. Danny, too.”

  “Yeah.”

  Mel climbed out and shut the door behind her. She crossed the small lot, checking that her phone was still in contact with Tate’s. It was. She wondered if she was doing the right thing. She knew she could have texted the picture she took to Uncle Stan and let him run with it, but there was a part of her that wanted to give Megan and Danny the benefit of the doubt. She didn’t want them to be guilty of murdering Cassidy. And so here she was.

  Maybe it was because of the crush she’d had on Danny all those years ago, or perhaps it was because, out of all the mean girls, Megan was the only one who had shown her kindness. It was a memory buried deep, but she remembered a particularly rough day when Tate and Angie were both out sick and she was forced to navigate high school alone. She was coming out of her homeroom and slammed into Cassidy and her entourage.

  Cassidy staggered back, exaggerating how hard the impact had been by careening across the hall and slamming herself up against the metal lockers. She struck a dramatic pose and exclaimed that slamming into Mel was like running headfirst into a bouncy house. All of her friends had laughed and Mel had wanted to die from the shame. Tears blurred her vision, so when Cassidy came back and slapped her textbook out of her arms, she didn’t see her coming. Her book slid across the floor, papers scattering like leaves in a strong wind.

  Cassidy cackled and strutted away with her minions following, all except one. Megan stayed behind. She dropped to her knees and helped Mel pick up her papers, every single one. She handed them to Mel without a word and then she held out her hand and helped Mel to her feet.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. Then she turned and ran after Cassidy and her pack of mean girls, leaving Mel alone in the hallway with her books clutched to her chest and her tears drying on her face.

  Mel had never known why Megan helped her that day. She hadn’t noticed before that Megan didn’t laugh when Cassidy went after her targets, but she did notice thereafter that Megan looked uncomfortable and ill at ease, as if she’d rather be anywhere but there. It made Mel wonder again why Megan was friends with Cassidy when she clearly didn’t enjoy the other girl’s cruel streak. It was what made Mel give her the benefit of the doubt right now.

  She just couldn’t believe that Megan would be embroiled in a plan to murder Cassidy. She didn’t want to believe it of her or Danny and so here she was, confronting a woman who had been making out with her best friend’s husband in the garden of the funeral home where they had just had a service for the aforementioned wife/best friend. Mel paused with her hand on the doorknob. Should she stay or should she go?

  She stepped back, rethinking this whole idea. Movement behind the window caught her attention. It was Megan, waving as she approached the doors to greet her. She was wearing a loose peasant blouse over a flirty knee-­length skirt, and she was smiling. There was no backing out now.

  “Mel, come in.” Megan pushed the door open and waved her hand, ushering Mel into the building.

  “Hi,” Mel said. It sounded like a squeak. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Hi, how are you?”

  Megan shrugged. “Processing, you know? I mean, I just can’t believe it.”

  “I know what you mean,” Mel said. “When I agreed to go to the reunion, I could never have imagined anything like that would happen.”

  Megan stared at her hard for a moment and Mel got the feeling she was trying to determine if Mel was telling the truth. What the heck? Mel hadn’t been the one making out with the deceased’s husband!

  “I know what you mean,” Megan said. “Come on, I’ll take you back to my office.”

  “Your office?” Mel repeated her, hoping that Tate could hear her on the phone. “Sounds great.”

  Megan frowned at her and Mel knew she was being weird, but she wanted Tate to know where she was. She tried to make her expression bland and had the feeling Megan was going to think she was an idiot, but whatever, it couldn’t be helped.

  Stepping out of the foyer, they entered a small reception area. There was a woman sitting at a large glass desk with a laptop. She was talking on the phone but nodded at them when they passed. A large potted palm was beside her desk and Mel thought it looked a little lonely. There was no art on the stark concrete walls and no seats in the waiting area. Clearly, loitering was discouraged.

  Mel followed Megan through a door behind the reception desk. They strolled down a narrow hallway, too narrow for them to walk side-­by-­side. Mel took note of the small conference rooms they passed. They were all empty. They took a right turn and walked by several large and very plush offices. These had people in them, some on computers, some talking on the phone, one with clients sitting in the guest chairs. No one paid any attention to the women walking down the hall. Finally, they reached the back corner and Megan pushed open the door.

  It had been a long time since Mel had been corporate but she remembered well how hard a person had to work to achieve corner office placement. Megan’s office was modern but with warmth from several large desert landscapes done in vibrant shades of purple and orange. A glass display shelf housed a collection of Native American pottery that looked delicate and intricate in detail.

  Floor-­to-­ceiling windows looked out over a xeriscaped yard that boasted barrel cactus and hesperaloe, as well as perfectly manicured palo verde trees. It was lovely. Mel knew appearances could be deceiving, but judging by their surroundings, she was betting that Megan was very successful at her real estate career.

  Megan gestured for her to sit and Mel took the seat on the visitor’s side of the desk, while Megan walked around and sat in her own chair. Mel noticed immediately that they were sitting at the same height. So there were no power-­play shenanigans happening where Megan made her seat higher in order to intimidate whomever she was dealing with. Mel liked that; it made her think that the girl who had helped her pick up her papers was still in there.

  “Your message said you were looking for some real estate?” Megan asked. “Are you and Joe looking to buy a new home now that you’re getting married?”

  “Sure,” Mel said. Megan gave her a look and Mel knew she was flubbing this. “I mean, I was really more interested in what you might have that we could pick up for the cupcake bakery. You know we’ve started franchising, so we’re always looking for a good deal.”

  Megan pursed her lips. “I’m sorry. I’m not a commercial real estate agent. I’m more luxury residences in Paradise Valley and Scottsdale. My colleague Richard does commercial properties; would you like me to connect you two? He’s a great guy and super easy to work with.”

  “Actually,” Mel sighed. “I lied. I’m not here about real estate. I wanted to talk to you about Cassidy.”

  Megan didn’t look surprised. Instead, she nodded as if she understood. “I figured it was something like that.” Mel raised her eyebrows and Megan explained, “I did a search on the tax assessor’s website after you called. You and Joe just bought your house in Arcadia. It’s a great neighborhood, big houses, big yards, and good schools. You don’t want to move, so what exactly did you want to know, Mel?”

  Twelve

  “Who do you think killed Cassidy?” Mel asked.

  Megan blew out a breath. “That is blu
nt, isn’t it? The police asked me the same question and the truth is, I have no idea.”

  Mel couldn’t tell if she was lying. She decided to press harder.

  “Were you still close to Cassidy?” she asked.

  “Not as close as we were in high school,” Megan said. She looked uncomfortable. Mel thought about her rendezvous with Danny. Small wonder.

  “Why were you friends with her in high school?” Mel asked. It hadn’t been her plan to ask that—­it just flew out of her mouth—­but it had been something she’d wondered about for years.

  Megan blinked. Clearly, she hadn’t expected the question any more than Mel had planned to ask it; still, Mel didn’t retract the question. She wanted to know. What sort of hold had Cassidy had over Megan?

  “We met when I moved to town in middle school. Cassidy lived next door. She was literally the first person I met in Scottsdale. I suppose I got swept up in having a friend because I was very insecure and terrified of being the new kid.

  “Then as we got older and she made herself the arbiter of what was cool and what wasn’t, I was in too deep to get out. Truthfully, I didn’t like her most of the time, and I didn’t like being her friend, but I didn’t know how to get out of the relationship without making my life a living hell.”

  Mel nodded. She could see that. Cassidy would have taken it as betrayal if Megan had tried to leave her clique.

  “I used to watch you and Tate and Angie,” Megan said. “And I envied you. The three of you were always together, always laughing, and I wanted that. I wanted that so much.”

  Mel felt her jaw drop. “Really?”

  “Oh, yeah, it was no picnic being one of Cassidy’s entourage,” Megan said. “It was constant catfights and drama and jockeying for position. That’s why I went to college on the east coast; I wanted to get as far away as humanly possible. Three thousand miles seemed about right.”

  “Did you stay in touch?”

  “At first,” Megan said. “But I came home less and less and she was busy with her own life. When I moved back to take care of my folks we reconnected, but I tried to keep healthy boundaries and not get sucked back into her world.”

  “Because you really didn’t like her?” Mel asked. She felt like she was zeroing in on her target. She didn’t want to make a false move but she was going to have to call Megan out on her relationship with Dan at some point. However, she wanted to establish her feelings for Cassidy first.

  “Listen, I’m really uncomfortable talking about Cassidy. I know that you have your own issues with her, but I don’t want to talk poorly of the dead,” Megan said. “It’s not polite.”

  “Neither is making out with the deceased’s husband at her funeral, but that didn’t stop you,” Mel said. She lifted her phone and turned the display around so that Megan could see the picture that clearly showed her kissing Danny.

  Mel watched the color drain from Megan’s face as her eyes widened. “How did you . . . that was you?”

  “I’m the one who coughed, giving you a heads-­up that someone was coming,” Mel said. “But, yes, I was there and took this picture.”

  “Give me that!” Megan tried to snatch the phone.

  “It won’t help you to take my phone,” Mel said. “I have it saved to my cloud drive. You can delete it from here and it’s still saved.”

  Megan slumped back in her seat. “You don’t understand.”

  “Really?” Mel made a show of looking at the phone’s screen and then back at Megan. “You’re kissing your best friend’s husband at her funeral, when it appears that her death was the result of a poisoning. Where am I getting it wrong?”

  “You can’t say anything,” Megan said. She was shaking. Her eyes were huge. She looked desperate. “It would destroy Danny’s career.”

  “Is that why you hooked up with him? Because of his celebrity?”

  “No, god, no,” Megan said. She spun in her chair and rose to her feet.

  Mel braced herself for an attack. There was none. Instead, Megan strode over to a small cabinet in the corner. It was actually a small refrigerator. She took two bottles of water out and handed one to Mel. Mel gave her a dubious look.

  “It’s sealed,” she said. “Do you honestly think I’d poison you?”

  “Well . . .”

  “I didn’t poison Cassidy,” Megan insisted. “I swear it.”

  Mel knew she was taking a huge gamble. After all, she hadn’t seen Megan in years; maybe her acting skills were greater than Mel realized. Still, she said, “I believe you.”

  Megan relaxed bit at that. “Thank you.”

  “But someone killed Cassidy. If it wasn’t you, then you have to consider that it might have been Da—­”

  “No, he would never,” she said. “We’re both so conflicted, but we’re also in love. You know what that feels like. I know you do. I’ve seen you with Joe.”

  Mel nodded. She did love Joe very much.

  “You know that feeling of wanting to be with someone so bad that it hurts?” Megan said. “They’re all you can think about, all you care about, and nothing else matters.”

  Mel knew exactly what she was talking about. She did feel all of that with Joe. The problem was that what Megan was saying only made the possibility of one of them being a murderer that much more likely.

  “Megan, I want to help you, I do, but there’s just no getting around the fact that Dan had the best access to Cassidy to slip poison into her food or drink, and by having an affair with you, he also has the best motive,” she said.

  Megan waved a dismissive hand at this, then looked at Mel and said, “If either Dan or I were going to murder Cassidy, we would have done it years ago, most likely at their wedding.”

  Her tone was ripe with bitterness and Mel knew there was much more to the story than she had believed. “Go on,” she said.

  Megan paced the length of the room once more as if trying to decide what to do. Then she slumped back into her chair and fastened her gaze on Mel. “I don’t suppose it’s a secret, not really.”

  Feeling impatient, Mel wanted to reach across the desk and shake her. She didn’t. Instead she glanced down at her phone and noticed her call to Tate was still connected. Thankfully, Megan hadn’t noticed when she showed her the picture.

  “About seven years ago, I was working a local charity event for the real estate company I worked for at the time,” she said. “It was an exclusive event and a lot of local celebrities were trotted through to help squeeze money out of the wealthy.”

  Mel nodded. She had catered plenty of those events.

  “Well, Danny was at this event. We hadn’t seen each other since graduation and it was great to catch up as adults in our professional lives, without our group of friends around to make things awkward or weird. We really hit it off. We were both single at the time. I’d been dating a guy in California but broke it off because the long distance wasn’t working and he wasn’t the right fit for me. Dan and Cassidy had broken up after graduation and he’d been dating a supermodel but things ended between them for much the same reason. It was like the universe had pushed us together, you know?”

  Mel did know. The universe had pushed her and Joe together and then tore them apart and then pushed them together repeatedly. In fact, she realized that she’d better get to planning her wedding so the universe didn’t get any funny ideas in the meantime.

  “Then what happened?” she asked, as Megan seemed to mentally relive the moment that she and Dan had met again.

  Megan shook her head and her expression went dark. She glanced out the window. Her voice was tight when she said, “Stupidly, when Dan and I met, we didn’t exchange numbers. We should have, but I think we were both wary. A few days after the event, Dan asked his mother to ask around among her friends to see if anyone had my number. Dan’s mother asked Cassidy’s mother, who asked Cassidy. When Cas
sidy asked why, her mother said that Dan was interested in asking me out. Well, Cassidy, who had been pining for Dan since they broke up, lied and told her mother, who told Dan’s mother, that my number wouldn’t do him any good since I was in a very serious relationship. Then Cassidy made a play for Dan, and when he blew out his knee, she made sure she was there every day to help him back on his feet.”

  “Ooh,” Mel gasped. “That’s low even for Cassidy.”

  “It gets worse.” Megan looked miserable. “Guess when I found out what she’d done?”

  “Um . . .” Mel shook her head. She had no idea.

  “At the rehearsal dinner for their wedding,” Megan said. “There I was as maid of honor, and one of the other bridesmaids, her cousin Sara, stood up and gave a drunken speech where she told everyone exactly what Cassidy had done to snatch Dan away from me. Then they high-­fived each other like it was the greatest thing ever.

  “I remember Dan and I looking at each other and seeing the same devastation on his face that I felt. He was trapped. There was no backing out then. I remember feeling like I’d been gutted by a rusty spoon. How could one friend do that to another?”

  “Cassidy was no one’s friend,” Mel said. They were both quiet, absorbing the truth of this statement. “When did you start having an affair with Dan?”

  “A little over a year ago,” Megan said. “I was in Los Angeles at a conference and he was there covering the Suns. We bumped into each other at the hotel bar and the next thing I knew we had spent the entire night talking, just talking, and it was amazing. When we got back to Scottsdale, I promised myself I would stay away. But he started to call me when he was on the road and we became friends, really close friends. And then I was in Seattle for business and he was there, too, and one thing led to another and I knew I should stop it, but I just couldn’t walk away.”

  There was a bleak despair in her voice and Mel knew that Megan didn’t want to love Dan, she didn’t want to be having an affair, but her heart was refusing to be denied. It wasn’t for Mel to approve or disapprove. Their lives had been ruined by one woman’s lie.