Elsie marked her paper with the O-75 that had just been called and took a short puff of her cigarette. “Dan, I think.”
“Yeah, Dan!” Agnes’ voice rang out in agreement. “Dan Sullivan.”
Elsie put out the butt and continued with the story. “Rumor has it he almost got fired for fighting with Millie.”
“What happened?” Brynn inquired quickly.
“Well, I heard she made him miserable every time he came to deliver her goods. It's been told that's why he quit his job,” Elsie explained.
Agnes shook her head. “Yeah, that's what I heard too.”
Elsie continued. “One day, she screamed at him for not having her large cake boxes and he started yelling back and before you know it, she was on the phone with his boss.”
“Yep, that's what happened.” Agnes agreed again.
“I heard he left his truck outside the bakery, called a cab, and went home. He quit his job and moved out of town.”
“Oh yeah, he did,” Agnes said.
Brynn listened intently as the women recounted the story. “What about anyone else? You said there were more.”
“Well, there's Cole Hancock,” Agnes said.
“Cole? Who's he?” Brynn asked.
“Oh, he's the man your aunt was seeing,” Elsie said before finishing her coffee.
“What?!” The girls said at the same time.
“Aunt Millie had a boyfriend?” Brynn was in utter shock at the prospect.
“Sure, she'd been seeing him for some time, as I understand it.”
“Who is he?” Lisa asked.
“His name is Cole Hancock and he's a real estate developer. She met him a couple of years ago when he started coming into the bakery every day for a chocolate chip muffin,” Agnes said, seeming to know every detail about Millie's business.
Of course. She did own a beauty shop and everyone knows they’re well-known for gossip. It seemed like Agnes could be an asset.
“I heard it was love at first sight for him,” Elsie added.
“Really?!” Lisa said as if she was disgusted. “Ew.”
Brynn looked at her and frowned. “Hey, that's not nice.”
“Yeah, well neither was Millie,” she said to Brynn. “How in the world did she snare a man with that personality of hers while I can't even get a first date? Life isn’t fair,” she said under her breath.
“Anyway, I think if he didn't do it, then you might want to look at Myrtle Cutler,” Elsie said.
Lisa almost choked on her drink of Coke. “I told you,” she said loudly.
“Shh!” Brynn scolded her.
“What did I tell you?”
“Mrs. Fletcher, why do you bring up her name?” Brynn said, beginning to worry.
“Well, everyone knew she was after Cole herself.” Elsie continued to mark her paper, as Brynn and Lisa looked over at Myrtle to see her talking and laughing with the woman next to her.
“No way,” Brynn said. “She's too sweet.”
“Well, you wanted to know what I thought,” Elsie said.
“Yes, and I thank you so much. Is there anyone else you can think of?”
“Brynn, honey, practically everyone in this town had a motive to want her dead. She's ripped off so many people with day-old cakes and pies. She's called plumbers and then wouldn't pay them because she said their work wasn't up to par.” Elsie paused to light another cigarette. “Heck, even I hated her.”
“What did she do to you?” Brynn asked, dreading hearing the answer. Part of her was embarrassed that her aunt was such a nasty person and part of her was angry at Millie for being so rude to people.
“I had ordered some cakes for a picnic the school was having. I was paying for them out of pocket because I wanted to be good to the kids. They'd worked so hard all year and we were going all-out for them. I took a poll of what kind of cakes they liked and they all voted on Seaside Sweets;” Elsie said. “You know, Millie may have been a horrible person, but she sure could bake. Anyway, she agreed to let me have them at a reduced price. I was buying ten, after all. So on the day I picked them up, she charged me full price. I asked about our agreed price reduction, to which she explained that after much consideration, she couldn't do it or she would lose too much money.”
Brynn dropped her head in shame.
Elsie continued. “Anyway, after an argument between us, she told me never to come back to her bakery and she wouldn't even let me have the cakes! Not even at full price.”
“What did she do with them?” Lisa asked.
“She threw them in the big garbage can by the wall while I stood there and watched. Said she'd rather lose all the money than to let me have them at a reduced price.” Elsie shook her head. “That woman was just plain mean, I tell you.”
“Just plain mean,” Agnes squeaked.
It was too much for Brynn to process. “Is there anything else I should know?” she asked the women.
“Not that I can think of tonight,” Elsie told her.
“Lisa, I think I need to go home. I'm pretty tired,” Brynn said.
“Okay, let's go.” Lisa stood up. “Hey, it was nice seeing you guys again.”
“You too, Lisa,” Agnes muttered.
“Brynn, I know this is upsetting for you. I hated telling you all this stuff, but you really should know it all.” Elsie looked sincere as she spoke.
Brynn nodded in agreement. “Thank you, again. Goodnight.”
The women waved at the girls as they gathered their purses.
Outside, Brynn stopped and leaned against the building. “That was a lot of information to take in all at once.”
“Yeah, sounds like the whole town wanted your aunt in the ground.”
Brynn shook her head and bit her bottom lip. “You know, they made it seem so dramatic. But really? Who would kill someone over day-old tarts and overpriced cakes?” She laughed as she finished her question. It sounded implausible to Brynn.
“That's true, Brynn. But the fact remains that Millie is dead, you are the only one the police have questioned so far and we still don't know what happened, how it happened or why it happened.”
Lisa was right. Brynn was going to have to dig more if she was going to find her aunt's killer.
Brynn
“Oh my god, you guys are driving me crazy with all this fighting,” Brynn said as she threw up both hands toward Versace and Thunder. “What is up with you two?” Looking at the food dish, she saw the mess they'd made by scattering the tiny morsels. “Geez! There's more on the floor than in the bowl!” she called out as if they understood what she was saying.
“Meow!” Versace wailed before taking off through the house.
“Thunder, come here!” Brynn yelled as she grabbed the dog and held him so he wouldn't chase her cat anymore. “Hey, listen, he doesn't like you, okay? Can you just leave him alone for a while?”
Opening the screen door to the kitchen, she gave the tiny mutt a slight push with her bare foot. “There, go play in the yard,” she said as she closed the door without thinking of her neighbor or the prize-winning roses climbing the large white trellis twenty feet away.
“I'm going to have a relaxing soak in the tub.”
Brynn walked into the dimly lit bathroom and looked around at the outdated tiles on the walls and floor. She wondered what would become of the house now that Millie was gone. Would her Aunt Beulah get it? She was going to contest Millie's will for the bakery, after all. Maybe Millie left her the house instead.
I can't deal with this right now. It's all too much. I need to relax and clear my mind as much as possible.
After pouring a cap full of her favorite bubble bath under the running water, she undressed and climbed into the tub. Sinking up to her neck, she inhaled the aroma of eucalyptus and smiled as she stretched her long legs and got comfortable.
Her mind was busy with thoughts of her aunt and her horrible death. She felt a tear make its way down her cheek and fall into the water.
Aunt Millie, I
'm so sorry that I wasn't able to stop this from happening.
The tears flowed faster as her mind raced with more thoughts of her aunt lying on the floor of the kitchen.
“Wait a minute!” she shouted as she sat upright in the tub. “Wait. A. Minute!” She quickly got out and wrapped the fluffy, white robe around her wet body. Walking briskly into her bedroom, she spotted the knitting basket on the dresser. She remembered hearing a thud the morning of Millie's death and when she'd looked in her room, she just assumed Versace had knocked over the basket and caused the noise.
Was it Aunt Millie falling to the floor that made that sound? Was someone in here with us, without me even knowing or hearing them?
Her thoughts were spinning out of control. She had to stop.
Brynn, leave it to the cops. They will figure it out.
Her stomach told her that lunchtime had come and gone, even if she'd never looked at the clock. As she walked into the kitchen, she heard Thunder bark once from the living room.
“Hey, how did you get back in?” she asked when he ran in to meet her at the fridge. She was puzzled. She'd put him out right before her bath and she knew there was no way he could have gotten back in by himself. The screen door in the kitchen felt secure when she pushed on it, so his being back inside left a lot of questions in her mind.
She shook her head and dialed the phone number of the bakery.
“Playing With Flour, this is Lisa.”
Just hearing the name Playing With Flour was enough to bring a smile to her face when her best friend answered the phone.
“Hey there. I love the sound of that.”
“Hey. Yeah, I love saying it. It's very upbeat and funky, you know.”
“Yeah, I know. It's cute,” Brynn said before delving into what she really wanted to say.
“What's up?” Lisa asked. “Are you enjoying your day off?”
“Well, I was trying to, but the strangest thing just happened and I don't know what to make of it.”
“What? Did Myrtle do something to you?” Lisa's protective side had kicked in. “Or was it Beulah?”
“No, nothing like that,” Brynn explained. “Thunder and Versace were playing and fighting, driving me crazy. So I put Thunder out the door and went to take a bath. But when I came back in the kitchen to make lunch, he was back in the house.” She was hoping Lisa would have a reasonable explanation as to what could have happened.
“Hmm, that is weird.”
“Do you think I'm just going a little overboard? Maybe I'm letting my imagination run wild.” Brynn reached for a frozen burrito and grimaced. There wasn't a whole lot of choices in the refrigerator since she hadn't been to the store lately.
“No, Brynn, I don't. Listen, your aunt was murdered and so far, no one knows who or what happened. You need to be careful.”
Lisa's voice carried the sound of fear and worry. It was something Brynn wasn't accustomed to hearing from her. Maybe her best friend was right and she should be more aware of what's going on around her.
“Alright, well, call me if you need any help. I'm having a frozen burrito for lunch, ugh.” Brynn muttered. “I hope you're having something better than that.”
“I had a croissant and a Coke,” Lisa said as she chuckled.
Brynn hung up the phone and popped her frozen treat into the microwave. She walked to the door and looked around outside to see if anything seemed out of place. She scanned the yard and then Myrtle's house, but everything appeared to be in order. She shrugged and chalked it up to her overactive imagination.
“Hey, hey!” She yelled out as Thunder ran after Versace, around her feet, and under the table, hot on his trail.
They both came to rest in front of the water bowl as if they had called a timeout to refresh themselves. Brynn couldn't help herself from smiling as she watched the two critters. They had a love-hate relationship going on between them. She smiled.
How many times have I been there myself?
Finishing the last bite of her not-so-tasty lunch, she sat for a moment before washing the dish. Suddenly her eyes caught sight of Thunder and his antics again. Jumping in front of Versace as he tried to get some food, Thunder used his paw to knock the feline out of the way.
“Hey, that's not nice, you little mutt!” she scolded. “Let him eat, too.”
She got up and went to the bowl where the animals were fighting. “What is your problem, Thunder? You're just too much.”
She bent over to clean the mess up for the second time that day. As she picked up the small bits of kibble on the floor, she noticed they felt wet.
“Geez, did you spill your water as well?” she said to the dog.
Suddenly startled by a knock at the door behind her, she screamed and jumped. “Ah!” Looking to see who was there, she smiled when she saw Myrtle's face peering in at her.
“Oh, Mrs. Cutler, you scared the life out of me,” she said, opening the door. “Come on in.”
“No, I'm not here to chit-chat. I asked you nicely to keep that little rat-looking dog out of my yard. You said you would, but an hour ago, I saw him on my flowers again!”
Brynn could see the anger in her eyes. Maybe she wasn't the kind woman Brynn thought she was. Maybe she was as mean as Lisa said.
“Oh, I'm so sorry,” Brynn apologized. “That was my fault. He was fighting with my cat and I put him out while I took a bath. He must have come over then.”
She watched as her neighbor stared hard at her, not saying a word and she wasn't sure what to say either.
“Listen, I'll make sure he doesn't come back over anymore,” Brynn said as she offered a smile as a symbol of peace.
“Just see to it that he doesn't. Or I won't be responsible for what happens to him.” Myrtle's face was hard. It was a look that Brynn didn't recognize.
She turned and walked towards her house, stepping over the tiny hedges that separated the two properties.
Brynn stood stoic, paralyzed for a moment. She could feel the hairs on her arms standing on end. She didn't know the woman who'd just spoken to her. That was not the Myrtle she'd known for many years.
She closed the white wooden door and locked it, hoping to feel protected from whoever had killed her aunt. It was the first time in all her life that she'd ever felt unsafe in Chesapeake Pointe and she hated it. This was her hometown. The one place where she had gone out on her bike alone when she was growing up. Not one time did she ever worry that anything would happen to her or anyone else in town.
Had she been naive to think they were safe?
She had been sitting at the table for over an hour thinking of all that had Mrs. Fletcher and Ms. Stanton had told her at bingo. Some of it was hard to fathom, but she knew there must be some truth to what they had said. After all, where there's smoke, there's usually fire.
Brynn
Still reeling from seeing a side of Myrtle Cutler she’d never witnessed, Brynn was pacing the floor of the kitchen when the house phone rang. She looked at it but didn't answer. What if it was Myrtle? Or Beulah? She wasn’t in the mood for conversation with anyone who wasn’t pleasant. She couldn't take any chances. She would just let it ring until it stopped.
Oh Aunt Millie, why didn't you ever get an updated phone with caller ID?
Checking the kitchen door once more to make sure it was locked, Brynn went to the living room to lock that door as well. Myrtle’s unexpected mood swing had put her on edge. She had to protect herself until her neighbor calmed down and until they found out who was responsible for the murder. A murder that took place in the very house in which she was currently standing. A murder that most likely took place while she was in the house, too.
It was mind-blowing to comprehend that her aunt could have died while she was either in bed or in the tub that fateful morning. She took a deep breath and tried to get a grip on her nerves.
Closing her eyes, she stood still in the middle of the living room and tried to find her center. It was something she'd learned from many years of yoga.
This seemed like the perfect time to put it to use. Purposefully slowing down her breathing, she took long deep breaths in and exhaled slowly through puckered lips. After several of those, Brynn felt relaxed enough to take a seat on the couch and think.
After less than a minute of sitting, she could feel her nerves getting frazzled again.
“I can't just sit here. I've got to clean or something.”
She stood up and looked around the perfect living room and shook her head.
Aunt Millie, why did you have to be such a neat freak?
Walking into the kitchen, she noticed the dish she'd eaten her burrito on was still in the sink. It brought her almost a sense of relief that she had something to do. After washing it, she wiped the counter down and saw the half-full pot of coffee still sitting there.
“Oh no, I can't believe I've let it sit there this entire time,” she said as she pulled the glass pot from its holder.
Just as she tipped the pot to pour the old coffee down the drain, she caught a whiff of something odd. It was a pungent odor.
“Ew,” she said as she quickly put down the pot and turned her head away. It was enough to make her gag. “That coffee smells rotten.”
Leaving the pot on the sink, she walked to the door and opened it wide, allowing the warm breeze to flow through the screen. Taking a deep breath, she sighed. “That's better.”
Just as she turned back to the sink, she saw Thunder at his bowl.
“Hey buddy, where have you been?” she asked him. She watched as he whimpered while standing over the food. He then turned and walked away. “What's the matter?”
She remembered that he'd acted the same way earlier in the day and how he'd swatted Versace as he tried to eat. Was something wrong with the food, too? Bending down, she picked up a few bits. They were wet, just like the ones on the floor earlier. But these were in the bowl. How did they get wet?
Something strange was going on. She brought the morsels to her nose. The same smell from the coffee pot was on the food.
“Ugh!” she said as she stood up quickly, almost falling backward. “Something isn't right.”
She tossed the food back into the bowl and set it up high on the counter out of Thunder's reach. Fearing Versace would jump up and eat it, she covered it with aluminum foil until she could figure things out. Just as she finished wrapping it tightly, her cell phone rang. Looking at the screen, she saw her best friend’s name in the box.
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