Doughnuts and Disaster

by C A Phipps

  “I hope we’re not too old for this,” Mavis said to the room at large, with the air of someone who couldn’t feel too bothered about that.

  “Speak for yourself. I’m just here to see if there’s anything new to learn about something I’ve been doing since before this lot were even thought of.”

  “Now, now, Nora. You promised you’d be nice if I let you come with me.” Mavis chided the woman who was also her neighbor at the retirement village.

  Nora spluttered, while the group politely hid their smiles. Mavis was so sweet she could get away with saying almost anything. It was time for Maddie to step in before Nora reverted to the norm. At close to seventy, the same as Gran and Mavis, she was a bit of a grump and the polar opposite of the other two. Yet, they were all friends, and Maddie hoped these two would offset each other and keep the mood light.

  The last to arrive was Irene Fitzgibbons. The men jumped from their seats, but Mavis made it to Irene’s side before them. While Nora pursed her lips.

  “Wow, I had no idea you were coming, Mayor Fitzgibbons.”

  Irene gave a small giggle at the fuss. “You must call me Irene, and I want no special treatment, Maddie.”

  “Hmmph!”

  “What was that, Nora?” Irene asked.

  “She’s just taken aback to be in such esteemed company,” Mavis stated, ignoring Nora’s glare.

  “Good evening, everyone, and welcome to our first class.” It was time for Maddie to get the group on track. “You’ll find a notebook beside you with a pen and your recipe for the night. Firstly, I’d like you all to come and take a look at the oven.”

  Standing at 5’ high, it had a glass front and could handle many trays at one time. It was also Maddie’s pride and joy, so she began by explaining how to use it, followed by a few health and safety procedures, including where the fire extinguishers were.

  Hopefully, they would never be used by her unusual group of would-be bakers, but it was far better to be prepared than lose her bakery.

  When they were reseated, she talked them through the recipe.

  Mavis gasped. “Doughnuts? Angel’s favorite? Is she coming?”

  “Actually, she was going to attend, but she was too tired tonight.”

  It was a white lie. Angel had intended to come because she positively adored doughnuts, but with the whole Brad thing, she just wasn’t up to answering the questions Mavis or the others might feel it their right to ask. She was actually safe upstairs in Maddie’s spare room with Big Red for company.

  “Of all the nights to miss. Seems a shame,” Noah grinned.

  Maddie laughed. Most people knew about Angel’s passion for doughnuts. “She’s not doing the whole course but will drop in for refreshers when she can. Now, let’s begin.”

  The lesson went well with varying degrees of success and dedication. Maddie spent time with each of them encouraging and finally tasting their attempts.

  Layla worked efficiently and produced the overall best results.

  “Well done, these are really good,” Maddie told her.

  Layla was delighted. “I think so too. The boys are going to be pleasantly surprised when they find they have something homemade in their bags tomorrow.”

  “Hmmm. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea teaching you how to bake.”

  Confused Layla rechecked her doughnuts. “Why’s that?”

  “After Angel, you’re my biggest customer.”

  The men roared with laughter, not too upset that their doughnuts were the least perfect of the group. Maddie wasn’t exactly sure what they’d done, but Noah’s were like concrete and Chris’s like rubber. She didn’t mention this and hoped their lack of seriousness wasn’t going to run through each class.

  “Mavis and Irene, you’ve done very well. Nora, yours are perfect in shape.”

  “Round is round,” Nora stated in her bland way.

  “This is true, and yours are the roundest,” Mavis agreed.

  Noah snorted, covering it up with blowing his nose. “When are we going to see you at yoga?”

  “Oh, I really think a cooking class is enough for now. Ask me next year.”

  “He’s talking to Maddie, you old fool,” Nora explained.

  “Was he?”

  Mavis took another bite of her doughnut, her eyes definitely twinkling, and the men had tears in theirs as they tried hard to control themselves.

  “Please help yourself to the takeout containers. I’ll see you all the same time next week.” Maddie smiled. It had been fun, even with such a mixture of characters. Mavis definitely livened things up and Layla could become an excellent baker, given half the chance.

  Laura helped clean up, while the rest filed out. The women were being picked up by Bernie who was waiting at the curb, early as usual. He got out of his taxi to help them in.

  “I hope you’ve been behaving yourself while we’ve been in there.”

  “Stop that, Nora. Bernie had nothing to do with that killing and he told you so himself when he picked us up earlier.”

  This time Mavis was not joking, and Nora got in the car with less grumbling than usual.

  Irene put her hand on Maddie’s arm. “Thank you for holding the class. I’m sure the temptation was to cancel it.”

  Maddie nodded. “To be honest, it was, but the Sheriff said we should continue as normal.”

  “He’s a wise and good man. Well, my friends are waiting for my report, and I must say I’ve had a wonderful time. Don’t be surprised if you get more wanting to join the class.”

  Maddie put a hand to her chest. “I’m not sure I could handle any more in one night.”

  Irene laughed. “We are an eclectic bunch, but that’s how it is in Maple Falls. And you handled us beautifully.”

  “Thanks, for saying so. I hope you get plenty from the class.”

  “I already have.” Irene winked and went to her car, cradling her container as if it were a baby.

  Once the door closed Angel appeared at the bottom of the stairs. “Isn’t she lovely these days?”

  “Becoming Mayor has certainly brought her out of her shell, and she’s so good at it.”

  “I don’t think anyone’s more surprised by that than herself. Even the Blue Brigade has fallen under her spell. It’s as if she has been leading them forever.”

  The Blue Brigade were the women from the Country Club who under another president had been rather uppity, as Gran would say. Now they were more inclined to mix with the community center group, whereas before Irene got elected, they had been two divided factions. Maple Falls was undoubtedly the better for that.

  “As comfy as your apartment is, I need to get home.” Angel slipped on her coat and scarf.

  “There’s nothing left to do I can think of, so I’ll go too. See you tomorrow.”

  “Thanks, Laura.” Maddie shut the door and turned back to Layla, who didn’t attempt to hide her curiosity.

  “Why was Angel upstairs?”

  “It’s a long story.”

  “Is it, indeed? You’re spending too much time with my brother. His secretiveness is rubbing off.” Layla laughed, letting the question go unanswered. “What did you want to ask me?”

  Maddie appreciated not having to explain about Brad, although Layla would have heard about the case. Murder was never going to be kept quiet in this town.

  “It’s about twins.”

  “I knew it!”

  Maddie put her hand in the air to stem a mother’s speculation about her two headstrong children being in trouble. It did tend to follow them, but they were good boys at heart.

  “No, it’s not whatever you’re thinking. It’s a general question about twins.”

  Layla calmed down, sighing with relief. “I can’t profess to be an expert.”

  “More so than I am. Are Jesse and James quite different?”

  Layla smiled softly. “Yes and no. Jesse likes to be in charge, while James is happy to let him think that’s the case.” She tilted her head. “Is this about B
rad and Caleb?”

  Maddie shrugged. “I guess it is a little obvious. I wish I understood better Angel’s unwillingness to put much blame on Brad for the way he treated her in the past. A man is dead.”

  Layla nodded. “You know, I knew Magnus a little. He wanted to date me, but he was too wild, something Ethan agreed with me wholeheartedly about. Which was not a natural phenomenon back then.”

  “I bet. Goodness knows how you managed to date at all.” Maddie had witnessed the friction between the siblings when they were young, somehow knowing that underneath it was the need to care for each other.

  “Let’s just say that it wasn’t easy. Imagine if Ethan had been my older brother and not younger?

  “He wouldn’t have wanted to let you out of his sight!”

  They were laughing fit to bust by now.

  “Exactly. I learned to be as secretive as Ethan,” Layla said, smugly. “Anyway, back to Magnus. He did very well in school, despite hanging out with Caleb. I can’t help thinking that if he’d applied himself the sky would have been the limit. He and Brad had a lot in common because of their sporting abilities. He was also oddly protective of Brad. None of them are small but Magnus was bigger, and didn’t use that as a weapon except in sport. He disapproved of the way Brad was treated by his brother… everyone did. I thought that Angel’s affection for Brad might have partially stemmed from that.”

  “Wow. I can see that’s probably true. She’s always fought for the underdog.” Maddie was intrigued by the picture Layla painted of two brothers at odds for years.

  Layla smirked as if Maddie had missed the obvious.

  “There was also the fact that Brad was a jock. Not only the star quarterback, he was also a champion swimmer and had the body to go with that. He won a bunch of awards for swimming. That has a lot of appeal for a girl, especially when he did all the chasing.”

  “I’d forgotten about his talents. What about Caleb? I know little about him.”

  “He was a wrestler and did some boxing. They were both fit, but lazy. They had plenty of talent, as did Magnus. Unfortunately, they all wanted an easy life, and the twins had no real parental guidance.”

  Maddie nodded, remembering the snippets Angel had imparted about Brad’s home life. Knowing that he and Maddie weren’t too happy being around each other, Angel had played the middle ground with skill.

  She mused, “I wish they’d had people to talk them out of wasting those talents. I know the twins practically brought themselves up because their father was an alcoholic. I think that came about after their mother passed away.”

  It tugged at Maddie’s heart, just saying it. Having no parents was tough, as she knew, but having Gran, and Grandad too, for most of her childhood, had made an enormous difference. In fact, life had been wonderful because of them.

  Layla nodded. “More reasons for Angel to want to help Brad, I guess, with their history. She deserved better then, and she does now. I hope whatever comes of all this trouble doesn’t lead her back to Brad, no matter how much he’s changed.”

  “I feel the same, but she needs my support right now, and she’s always been there for me, so if that happened . . . Well, I guess we would all have to accept it.” It didn’t sit well with Maddie, but that was too bad. There were many things in life you didn’t like or agree with, and you still had to accept or get on with them. Especially when a friendship mattered as much as Angel’s did.

  “He could drag her back into his mess.” Layla fretted.

  “We won’t let that happen,” Maddie stated firmly.

  Layla stared at her for a moment. “The Girlz, you mean?”

  Maddie nodded. “We’re even stronger now than we were back then.”

  “I always wanted a posse of friends like you have. Watching you all go through tough times with the others at your back was inspirational. I hope you all know how lucky you were, and still are?”

  “I think so. I know how lucky I am, anyway. We don’t take it for granted. Don’t you have a close friend?” The thought troubled her.

  “Oh, please don’t feel sorry for me. I have friends, but my life doesn’t leave much room for other people. It’s only through Ethan pushing me, and Beth volunteering to babysit, that I even considered joining this class. I have to say it feels good to do something just for me.”

  “I think it’s going to be fun, everyone seems to be committed to doing well, which makes my job a lot easier. Actually, I’d really like to give you a discount.”

  Layla frowned. “Don’t even think about it. You work as hard as I do and you deserve the fee you’re charging. You’d get double or triple the amount if you tried.”

  “That’s not why I’m doing it or suggesting the discount.”

  “Is it because we’re almost family?”

  Maddie’s cheeks flushed. Marriage to Ethan was an exciting prospect, but neither of them was quite ready to make definite plans yet.

  Layla appeared pleased by her ability to make Maddie get flustered, but she wouldn’t hear of a discount.

  “As much as I’m delighted over the prospect of finally having a sister, I expect no favoritism. I’m doing fine, and I’ve budgeted for the course. I do appreciate the offer, though,” she added gently.

  “Okay, but if it’s ever an issue of finance versus coming to class, please let me know.”

  Layla shook her head. “You’re never going to be rich at this rate. I’d better get home, for Beth’s sake. Hopefully, my little darlings are asleep.”

  Maddie waved, locked up, and as she got things ready for her usual early start, happiness flowed through her with how the class had gone, and that she and Layla had in some way cemented their relationship.

  She’d also learned a few things tonight, but one stuck in the forefront of her mind. She may never be rich financially, but she was rich in family and friends. That was more than enough.

  She could worry about Brad tomorrow.

  Chapter Nine

  By Wednesday Brad had not turned up and didn’t call. There was no further correspondence either.

  The Girlz, all except Angel, were beginning to think that if Brad were involved with the murder, he’d probably left town. It should have made them feel better, but Maddie had a sense of foreboding, and this seemed to have rubbed off on the others, including Gran.

  The worry hung over them like a dark cloud, and little seemed to shift it—not her usual baking, or watching Big Red stalk a cheeky sparrow, or having a doughnut flavor be a hit with everyone.

  It was as though they were waiting for a storm to hit but had no idea when to expect it, or what it would leave in its wake.

  Statements had been signed Sunday in front of Deputy Jacobs, and Ethan had headed back to Destiny first thing that morning and hadn’t returned yet.

  The fact that both Ethan and Detective Jones were away bothered her more than the disappointment of not seeing Ethan Sunday night. He had texted her Monday afternoon to say he was staying over in Destiny and to ask if she was okay. Which was nice, but what were they actually doing there? For the murder in Maple Falls to take a back seat, she could only conclude that something worse had happened in the larger town to the north.

  Big Red, witnessing everyone’s unease, spread his time between the bakery, salon, and cottage. He might not be in the same league as a guard dog, but having him near gave them a sense of togetherness. Even Suzy, who was two streets away at the school, had been treated to a visit or two.

  Maddie had also spied Deputy Jacobs in the vicinity on several occasions, and she felt reassured by the extra security when he was around. Possibly Detective Jones was acting as Ethan’s eyes and ears as well, since he had been seen in town more than usual. The men had to be exhausted with the hours they kept, because she and the Girlz were running on fumes, and they at least got to sleep in their own beds every night.

  It was close to 3:30 on Wed, and Maddie was in the bakery tidying up the display case for the last time before closing, attempting to keep her mind
on the jobs she still had to do today, which included taking stock of her pantry, when Angel burst through the door, waving a piece of paper.

  “It’s from Brad,” she said as the doorbell jangled.

  Maddie wiped her hands on her apron and reached out for it. “He delivered it personally?”

  “No. Jesse and James did.”

  “What? Are they okay?” Ethan’s twins being involved in the case frightened her. Ethan would be furious, and Layla would be frantic.

  Angel reassured her. “They’re fine, just surprised, like me. They found the note pinned to Jesse’s bike at school.” She pointed urgently at the note. “He wants to meet me tonight.”

  Maddie read the short note, and her hand shook. On the front was a plea to the boys.

  “Boys, sorry to do this but I hear you two are mini detectives. Please pass this to Angel for me. It’s very important, so please don’t tell anyone. I’m sure I can rely on you. Brad Marsters”

  Inside it read:

  “Angel, please believe me. I didn’t do it. Will you meet me tonight? I desperately need your help. I’m being framed, and there’s no one else I can trust. Bring Maddie if you can. I’ve heard she solves crimes and I know she’ll protect you. I now using the boys like this was wrong, but I can’t reach your number and some else is always answering the phone at the salon. B”

  There was no way Maddie was going to condone this. Brad wasn’t deserving of Angel’s help. “You can’t go.”

  Her friend shrugged. “I have to. I need to know if he killed Magnus. Think about it, Maddie! If he did it, he would hardly be hanging around to prove otherwise, would he?”

  Maddie handed back the note, knowing that there was no point in worrying about fingerprints after Angel, Jesse, and James had already handled it.

  “Why do you need to know? It’s not like the two of you are a couple anymore, and you haven’t been for years. He could be the killer and be trying to coerce you into giving him an alibi.”