The Lime and the Dead: A Key West Culinary Cozy - Book 3

by Summer Prescott

  As predicted, a line had already begun to form outside the sunny little lime green and bright yellow shop, and Marilyn was glad that she had Kelcie to help her keep up with the demand. The wide-eyed new girl had been more than a little scared when the police had spoken with her this morning, but figured that life would go on like it always did. She’d just have to be a bit more vigilant when walking to and from work if there was some sicko out there killing young women.

  “Okay, dear, you head out front to help Tiara, and I’ll finish up back here,” Marilyn instructed, carefully pinching together the points of a Key Lime Puff Pastry. Once she’d put the tray of them into the oven, she’d mix the vanilla bean glaze and drizzle it over the top of the treats once they’d cooled a bit. Slices of strawberry would adorn the tops, making them pretty to look at as well as delicious. She whipped up the glaze while the pastries baked, and nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt something brush against her ankle. She looked down and saw the cat that had been in her yard, rubbing against her and looking for attention. She turned off the mixer and dropped it hastily in the bowl.

  “Oh no!” she whispered. “How did you get in here?” She scooped the friendly cat up and ran for the back door, which was standing ajar. Odd. No one had used the back door for entry this morning, Kelcie, Tiara and Marilyn had all come in through the front. The back was unlocked while they were in the shop, in case any deliveries came in, but she knew that none had.

  “The Health Department would shut me down if they saw you in here,” Marilyn whispered to the purring animal in her arms before setting her quickly down outside the back door. She really should just take the poor thing to the no-kill shelter across town, but on a busy day like today, it would have to wait. Making a face, she took off her sanitary gloves and brushed every trace of fur from her clothing while still standing outside. Coming back in, she threw the gloves away and scrubbed thoroughly, making certain that the door was locked behind her this time.

  Marilyn had just put on fresh gloves when she heard raised voices in the crowded area up front. Racing through the kitchen door to see what was going on, she saw a mascara-streaked Amber screaming at Tiara, who didn’t appear to be backing down even a little bit.

  “How could you? I know Bella wasn’t the nicest person ever, but you didn’t have to do this,” the overwrought reality star accused. “What am I supposed to do now? Do you think I want to be on the show with you after this? That’s probably why you did it, so you could take her place on the show,” the tiny blonde screamed and stamped her foot.

  “You’re being absolutely ridiculous,” Tiara shot back. “I had nothing to do with whatever happened to Bella. I have better things to do with my time than to scheme and commit crimes so that I can be on a stupid reality TV show. Unlike you, I have a life and people who care about me,” she put her hands on her hips, glaring across the counter at the sobbing young woman.

  The crowd had gathered, seemingly hoping for some sort of event like this, Bella’s death had been all over the local and national news this morning, and Marilyn was disgusted to see that there was a crew present, filming the entire thing.

  “Okay, everybody, the show’s over,” Marilyn yelled above the din, moving to stand between Tiara and Amber.

  “Young lady, I understand that you’re upset, but you need to leave my store, now. I’ll give you a pie to take with you, but you have to go,” she told Amber firmly, defusing the situation.

  “I don’t want your stupid pie!” she yelled in the owner’s face. “Your pie was smashed into Bella’s face when they found her, they had to clean it off to even see who she was, so you just keep your pie,” the distraught young woman cried, turning to go.

  Marilyn addressed the camera crew behind her. “You guys get out now,” she ordered. “And if you ever come back in here again without my permission, I’ll have you arrested for trespassing.”

  Sabra Remington marched up to her after the crew left, shaking her head in disgust. “I didn’t think you had it in you, but apparently you’re far more vindictive than I thought. Your daughter may go down for this, but you and I both know who the real criminal here is,” she snarled. “And by the way, before you go calling the cops over what you think is trespassing, you might want to read the contract that you signed with us…it’s good until the end of the month. Unlimited access,” she smirked.

  Marilyn took a deep breath, looked at the ceiling and counted to ten. When she finished counting, Amber, Sabra and the crew were gone, and the line had reformed with guests waiting for pie.

  “Sorry about that, everyone,” she announced. “We’ll get you taken care of as soon as possible,” she promised, feeling suddenly weary.

  The shop sold out of everything, half an hour before closing time, and Marilyn just decided to call it a day and close early. She and Kelcie would have to get in there early in the morning if they had any hope of keeping up with the growing demand. Tiara advised her to take a cautious approach, warning her that the surge in business could be short-lived and fueled by people hoping to catch a glimpse of a reality star.

  “I understand, honey,” Marilyn had responded. “I just want to be ready. We need to ride this wave while it’s cresting.”

  Chapter 10

  “Mom, can I stay with you for a few days?” Tiara came bursting in the front door. Her normally composed air of confidence shattered, her face tearstained.

  “Of course, honey…what happened? What’s wrong?” Marilyn wrapped her clearly unsettled daughter into a hug.

  “The doorbell at my apartment hasn’t stopped ringing and somehow people have discovered my cell phone number. It got so bad that I had to turn it off and leave it off. I didn’t feel safe,” she whimpered, defeated by the pressure of the past couple of days.

  “Oh, Tiara, honey, it’s okay. You’re safe now, I’ve got you,” her mother pulled her in close, kissing her hair. When the young woman had calmed a bit, Marilyn led her to the couch and wiped her eyes with a tissue.

  “What are they saying? Why are they calling and coming to your house?”

  “It’s two opposite extremes, actually,” she sniffed. “There are people calling who think that I…that I…killed Bella,” her tears flowed freely again. “And then there are the people who think I’m innocent and they want me to be on the show. I’ve received five marriage proposals today, Mom, it’s beyond ridiculous,” she wiped a hand angrily under her dripping nose.

  “Yes, it is,” Marilyn’s maternal instinct made her want to find the people who were harassing her daughter and give them a piece of her mind, but she knew that it was smarter for both of them if she just stayed put.

  “Well, you can stay here as long as you need to, sweetie. We’ll get through this, I promise,” she nodded, stroking the hair back from her daughter’s dampened brow.

  “I just wish we’d never said that they could come into our shop,” she replied tremulously.

  “Me too, honey. Me too.”

  Mother and daughter stayed up, feeling safe in each other’s company, well past the time when both of them were normally in bed. They watched movies, snacked on popcorn and tried to forget about the last couple of days. Marilyn made sure that all of the doors and windows were securely locked, but both of them jumped in fright when they suddenly heard a thud on the front porch, followed by the unmistakable scream of an angry cat.

  “What do we do?” Tiara whispered, unconsciously pulling her flannel pajamas closer around her.

  “I refuse to sit inside this house and hide from the boogeyman,” her mother pursed her lips in determination. She went to the closet in the hall and grabbed an ancient baseball bat from Tiara’s elementary school days, and headed for the door.

  “Are you sure this is the right thing to do?” her daughter whispered again, frantically, as she followed her to the door.

  “At this point, I don’t care,” her mother replied, teeth clenched in fear and anger. Something primal had risen up within her. If someone wanted to th
reaten her, fine, she was an adult, but when someone dared to even look askance at her pride and joy, her beautiful daughter, they were going to get more than they bargained for.

  She got to the front door, slowly unlocked the knob, taking her time so that the latch didn’t give her away with a telltale click, then, with agonizing care, she slid the deadbolt back, and immediately flung the door wide open. The cat that she’d seen three times today, darted past her and into the house. Making a beeline past a startled Tiara the terrified animal skittered to safety under the couch. Figuring that the cat was the least of their worries, mother and daughter stepped out onto the porch to find that the house had been vandalized. The siding, windows and porch were covered in Key Lime pie. It dripped from the railings and plopped onto window sills, the sticky green mess was everywhere.

  Marilyn lowered the bat, feeling both relieved and defeated. “Why? Why would someone do this?” she asked rhetorically, her shoulders slumped.

  “Maybe they were trying to send a message,” Tim Eckels voice came from the shadows. Tiara and her mother both jumped at his unexpected presence. He stepped very briefly into the yellow glow cast by the porch lights, licking his fingers. “Should’ve hired me…I make a mean Key Lime pie,” the ghoulish man said without expression. The women stood and stared at him, mouths open in shock, and he slowly turned and cut through the treeline, headed for his cottage.

  “Is he always that creepy?” Tiara asked, staring after the strange man.

  Marilyn just nodded.

  They went back inside and tempted the cat out from under the couch with a can of tuna. The poor, bedraggled creature was covered head to toe in Key Lime pie, and looked as though she was feeling sickly after attempting to clean her own fur.

  “What do we do?” Tiara asked, feeling sorry, but not wanting to pick up the sticky, matted creature.

  “Well, I hate to say it, but we’re going to have to give our furry friend here a bath,” Marilyn sighed, picking up the miserable animal. “Go get two pair of rubber gloves out from under the sink in the kitchen, and grab the baby shampoo out of the downstairs bathroom. I’ll run some warm water, and we’ll have to work as a team, because kitties usually don’t like baths,” she warned, not looking forward to the task ahead. “After we get her taken care of, I’ll hose off the front of the house and see if the troll next door did any other damage.”

  “You should probably take some pictures of what he did before you clean it up,” Tiara called out, heading for the shampoo and the rubber gloves.

  “Good call,” her mother nodded, frowning. “Let’s do this.”

  The two women worked together for the next couple of hours, first scrubbing a surprisingly cooperative feline and toweling her dry, then hosing down and scrubbing the siding, windows and porch floor. Thankfully, the front of the house was the only side attacked.

  “I’m exhausted,” Tiara said, bending over to stretch her aching back.

  “Me too,” Marilyn agreed. “But we still have another task ahead of us,” she sighed.

  “Really? What?” her daughter frowned.

  “We have to get this clean and fluffy feline down to the shelter so that if her owner is looking for her, they’ll find her,” she replied, scratching the loveable cat behind the ears.

  “But…Mom, she doesn’t even have a collar…” Tiara pointed out.

  “She may have lost it, but this little girl is way too sweet to be a stray.”

  They loaded the purring cat into Marilyn’s little blue car and headed to the shelter.

  “Will they even be open?” Tiara worried, stroking the furry bundle in her lap. “It’s after midnight.”

  “I think they’re open 24 hours,” her mother replied, seemingly lost in thought.

  “Do you think Tim is going to…hurt us?”

  “I don’t know,” Marilyn admitted. “I hope not.”

  “Well, that answers that question,” Tiara said, pointing at the sign on the door of the animal shelter. “It doesn’t open again until 9:00 tomorrow.”

  “Looks like we have a guest for the night,” Marilyn rubbed the contented creature’s chin. “I don’t know what might happen to her if we put her back outside tonight.”

  “Not an option,” her daughter said, her chin set. “She’s staying safely inside with us.”

  Chapter 11

  “But you have no evidence that Tim Eckels actually vandalized your home or attempted to harm the cat,” Detective Bernard Cortland explained patiently.

  “He was standing right there, and talked about it,” Marilyn insisted, with Tiara backing her up.

  “I’m sorry, ladies, but saying that he makes a mean Key Lime pie is in no way an admission of guilt. We’ll send an extra patrol or two around to keep an eye on things, but that’s all that I can do at this point. If his behavior escalates, give me a call,” the detective stood, indicating that the conversation was over.

  “It already did escalate, Detective. Bella Fontaine is proof of that, and my daughter and I are not going to end up being his next victims,” Marilyn spat contemptuously, leaving the room.

  As Tiara got up to follow her mother, Cortland stopped her for a moment. “What size shoe do you wear?” he asked.

  “Size nine, why?” she replied, mystified.

  “And your mom, what size does she wear?” he continued.

  “She has big feet for being so petite, she wears an eight, why?”

  “Okay, thanks,” Cortland said, ignoring her question and making an entry into his notebook.

  “Tiara…I’m ready to go when you are,” Marilyn said pointedly from the lobby, where she was standing by the door.

  “I’m ready,” her daughter replied, giving the detective one last questioning look before heading over to her mother.

  The two women rode together in silence for a while.

  “I don’t want to give her up,” Tiara said eventually.

  “Who? What are you talking about, honey?” Marilyn asked.

  “The cat. She’s precious and I want to keep her,” she replied, not daring to look at her mother.

  “Oh, sweetie, chances are very good that she belongs to someone. We have to give her to the shelter to see if she has a family missing her.”

  Tiara’s practical side was way ahead of her mother. “Okay, so, we leave her at the shelter for a week, and if no one shows up to claim her, we adopt her, deal?”

  Marilyn sighed. Her daughter never asked for anything, and had clearly bonded with the beloved and bedraggled cat who had slept next to her last night after her bath. “You’ll have to keep her at your apartment,” she warned.

  “Umm…I can’t, Mom. My lease doesn’t allow pets,” she said, looking pitifully at her mother.

  “Honey, having an animal is a big responsibility and I don’t…”

  “I’ll take care of her,” Tiara cut her off. “I’ll pay for vet visits and buy all the food and kitty litter and I’ll keep her box clean, and I’ll come over and visit you every day just so I can see her,” she grinned, batting her eyes at her mother.

  “Bribery is illegal you know,” Marilyn raised an eyebrow at her daughter.

  “Is that a yes?” she demanded. Her mother’s dramatic sigh was her answer and she smiled from ear to ear.

  **

  Crowds were still flocking into the shop on a daily basis, and Tiara teased her mother that if things didn’t slow down soon, she might just have to hire Tim Eckels to keep up with the demand for pie. Marilyn wasn’t amused. She and Kelcie were in the back, cranking out more product, and Tiara stayed up front, dealing with the customers.

  The bell jangled above the door during a lull in the action, and Tiara looked up, surprised to see Sabra Remington approaching the counter.

  “Look, I know I’m probably the last person that you want to see right now,” the producer began, holding up her hands in a conciliatory gesture. “But I just need to talk to you for a few minutes. Please.”

  “I’m listening,” was the c
autious response.

  “Things are falling apart on the show. We lost Bella, Amber has been a mess and won’t even talk to her boyfriend, her chauffeur quit, so we’ve been scrambling to try and find another driver…if we don’t find some way to inject some light and life into this mess, we’re going to get cancelled mid-season, and that would put everyone out of work. I know your mother is angry with me, and rightfully so, I accused her of some pretty awful things, but I could really use your help here,” Sabra shrugged.

  “What made you change your mind about my mother? Everyone else on the show was trying to point fingers in my direction, but you went straight for Mom, and now you’ve changed your mind…why?” Tiara asked.

  “Honestly, I was just angry and scared and looking for someone to blame. Your mom was an easy target because she’s one of the few people in a very long time who actually had the guts to stand up to me. I’m used to calling the shots in my world, and your mother made it quite clear that she calls the shots in hers. I found it frustrating, so naturally, when something negative happened, I wanted to believe that Marilyn had caused it somehow,” Sabra explained. “It doesn’t make me the most noble of people but it’s the truth. I feel badly about it, but it is what it is and I need your help,” she admitted.

  Tiara sighed. “Bella’s murder still hasn’t been solved. I don’t even know what happened to her, I just know that she’s dead, and there seem to be quite a few people who think that I was involved. Wouldn’t it be terribly awkward and potentially dangerous for me to be on the show? Amber hates me, for one thing,” she reminded the producer.

  Sabra shook her head. “No, she doesn’t hate you, she was upset and looking for someone to blame too. She realizes that she lashed out at you because she thought you had been mean to Bella before she died, but after reviewing the footage, she saw that your reaction actually made sense. She’s willing to apologize because she just needs a friend so badly.”

  Tiara nodded, torn. “Let me think about it,” she said finally, not wanting to make a decision on the spot.