Bake Off

by S. Y. Robins

  Milly thought over her reasons for suspecting Jake. There was the fact that he was a teenager and teenagers did odd things. Then again, he could be acting out because of his abandonment, seeking attention from his missing mother. But why household items, she thought as she licked a spoon clean and placed it in the sink to wash. No, it mustn’t be Jake. Or Thomas, the man had a ready-made home when he moved into Davina’s three bedroom flat. He’d invited Callum in not for the sake of extra cash, but so he wouldn’t be alone, apparently he got spooked over there at night with nobody else around to make noise. Not him either, she decided as she took the tray of cakes out to the shop floor. Perhaps the new couple?

  They had far too much money, Milly decided, as she walked back to the kitchen for more pastries. Everyone knew they had money, though nobody had ever heard mention of how they’d made that money. They drove an expensive car, had bought a home that none of the locals could afford to buy, despite their families living in the area for generations, and were often seen dining out; something else few of the villagers could afford to do right now. No, it can’t have been them either; Milly concluded, unless they’re doing it for the thrills but wouldn’t you steal jewellery or some other expensive items, something to make it worth your while, not tea towels and loo brushes?

  She listened throughout the day as the locals came in discussing how some walkers had their camping gear stolen while out on their treks and had to be put up at an inn for the night. Other items were starting to go missing as well; it seemed old Mr. Watkins was missing hedge clippers, a pile of face cloths, and three boxes of denture cream he’d bought when they’d gone on offer. He looked all over his home and couldn’t find either of the items. Milly thought it was time the police were called in but nobody had mentioned it yet. Not until Mrs. Williams came in talking about her missing Tiffany lamps that her grandfather had bought for her grandmother back in the 1920s at great expense. She was fuming and by the time she left Milly’s shop, she was on a crusade. She would have her lamps back, she proclaimed.

  As one might expect, talk of the missing items was soon forgotten by those in the village when news of the murder of Mrs. Andrews, and her two grown sons, started spreading like wildfire by the end of the day. There was word that it was the work of Satanists.

  * * *

  Milly learned from Callum that evening that the police were considering Satanists because the bodies had been laid out with their heads touching, as if they were spokes in a wheel. Apparently, there’d also been some crude drawings on Mrs. Andrews’s obsessively maintained oak flooring and the drawings looked like some kind of “Satanist stuff” from what one of the detectives had told Mr. McHenry, Mrs. Andrews’s grocery delivery man.

  “That’s all they’re going on; placement of the bodies and some crude drawings that could refer to anything? I see our finest are on the case again.” Milly said with some sarcasm. Well, lots of sarcasm, she thought.

  Callum smiled over at Milly, sweeping the floor while she finished her nightly paperwork sat at one of the now empty tables in the shop. “You know they’re doing their best. They’re specially trained for these sorts of things, after all; we civilians wouldn’t understand.” He said with a toothy smirk. Milly tried to rein in the schoolgirl sigh and twitchy eyelids Callum’s smile always produced in her reactions. She really must stop doing that, she scolded herself, repeating Callum’s girlfriend’s name to herself.

  “How is Maria by the way, Callum?” She asked, a little brightly.

  “Maria,” Callum asked, confused by Milly’s sudden topic change. “She’s alright, I guess. Off on one of her benders again. She’ll come home when she gets fed up with it.”

  The man sounded like he was trying to convince himself, Milly thought. She looked back at him and tried not to let the sympathy show through. He was sweeping the floor, his curly hair in need of a cut sweeping his eyebrows and hiding the brave smile he’d plastered on. He didn’t like being pitied so she tried not to let on.

  Getting his own feelings under control again, Callum looked back up at Milly with a bright smile, that one slightly crooked tooth making the smile even more endearing somehow, and he spoke to Milly. “Besides, at least she’s safe if she’s not here at the moment anyway. Have you had that security system installed yet?”

  “No, but I mean to call them straight off first thing in the morning. It’s at the top of my list.” Milly assured him, hoping secretly that Maria, Callum’s girlfriend, never came back. She was just too much trouble when she was here, always making a scene, and Callum wasn’t happy even when she was around. If she just left and didn’t come back, Milly thought, Callum might learn to move on.

  “See that you do, then. I’ll sleep better knowing you have that at least. The noise of the alarm might be enough to scare an intruder away.” Callum said gravely. He cleaned up the pile of dirt and refuse he’d swept up, then sat down with a cup of tea in front of Milly. “I’ve switched over to the room straight across from yours, just in case. I’ll be able to hear if you give the wall a bang or shout out loud enough. I can be straight over from the patio as well.”

  Milly reached out and brushed his hand but didn’t linger, admonishing herself for even reaching out to him in the first place. She smiled instead and said, “Thank you, Callum, you’re ever so helpful and kind. I’ll sleep a million times better knowing you’re just a wall away.”

  Milly wanted to hide her head in her arms as she heard the words coming out of her mouth, telling herself she was a thousand kinds of fool and to shut her yap. She quickly did and got up from the table, putting her papers in her safe as she did some last minute sorting before showing Callum out. He gave her one last smile, their nightly ritual over, and told her he’d see her in the morning. Milly wondered if she was actually going to get much sleep that night between pondering the most recent murders and Callum’s presence so close to her own wall. She wondered if he would hear the noise if she moved her bed closer to that wall, as she walked up the stairs turning the lights off in the shop as she went.

  2

  Milly arranged for the security company to come out and install a system for her as soon as she awoke the next morning. She’d not slept well and when she had, her dreams had been most unpleasant. After the call, she dressed and went downstairs, taking the dogs and Edgar for their morning jaunt. The dogs performed their usual tricks of bouncing as if they had springs instead of legs as she walked to the door while Edgar stood, rather dignified, and stared disdainfully at Daisy and Mildred. As Milly opened the door he bounded out, giving a dismissive wave of his tail to the dogs.

  She enjoyed her morning walks with the animals, even now that the days had turned much cooler. Milly hadn’t been much of a walker before the dogs came along, preferring to spend her mornings with an extra hour in bed, but she found the daily routine of walking the dogs several times a day relaxed her and helped her to think. Milly never really bought into that whole exercise as a stress reliever thing but had soon decided that it did have its merits. She’d lost a bit of weight too, and though she wasn’t obsessed with that, she did notice that she felt better and people often commented about the lovely glow she now had. Whatever that meant, she thought as she noticed Edgar wandering off.

  Edgar usually didn’t go far, and could be easily found by his long tail that he always kept sticking straight up as he walked. The sight of Edgar’s tail in the air, even when his body couldn’t be seen, always made Milly smile. If she’d known he’d take to walking like this, she would have brought him out more often. Milly turned back to Daisy and Mildred as she heard them growling and quickly pulled them apart. Every now and then they’d play fight but one would bite the other too hard or shove a paw somewhere the other one didn’t appreciate, and the two would start to actually fight. She fussed at them and turned back to see where Edgar was. She saw him over by the edge of the woods, circling around something.

  A cold feeling came over Milly as she saw this strange behaviour. Edgar only did
that when he wanted Milly to look at something, and the last time he’d done it, was at the scene of Davina’s death. Knowing she wasn’t going to like what she was about to see, Milly walked over to the frantically circling Edgar and looked down at the object he was circling around. At first she thought it was just a trash bag, but as she drew closer she could see that it was cloth, not plastic.

  She looked around, hoping for something to poke it with and found a long stick. Poking at it, Milly saw that what she’d thought was a red T-shirt was actually a white one, but the abundance of blood covering the material made it look red. She could see from one side of the shirt that it was still white, but the rest was just covered in blood. Once she had the shirt spread out with the front facing up, she stood back to look at the logo and her blood, that had already turned to ice, somehow grew even colder. She recognized that logo.

  * * *

  Milly waited for the police to arrive, pacing back and forth after calling Callum as well. She knew that logo, knew who the only person she’d ever seen wearing it was as well. She doubted anyone else in England had a similar shirt because this one had been bought on an Indian reservation in America. The shirt had a portrait of a Native American on it and read “learn to speak Native American or go back where you came from.” Milly had snorted every time she saw it and knew Callum had to see it before the police came knocking up his door. Jake’s shirt was going to be used to prove evidence of whatever had happened. The blood kind of gave away what happened; something very big had bled all over the occupant of the shirt. It was Jake’s shirt. Jake had killed something. Yep, Callum had to know about that.

  “Well, um, you alright Callum?” Milly asked.

  “I’m not really sure,” Callum said as he stared down at the shirt. He looked like his whole world was caving in around him and he had nothing to hang on to.

  “I thought you’d want to know. Ah, there’s the detectives now.” Milly was glad to escape Callum’s forlorn look and walked over to meet Detective Barnes and her partner Detective Fields. Taking the female detective’s hand first Milly gave a grim smile and said hello.

  Detective Barnes shook Milly’s hand then started firing questions. “What were you doing up here? Why did you move the evidence? Don’t you know we need to know what state it was in? Where were you on the night the Andrews were killed?”

  There were more but Milly lost track of them as the detective fired away, almost randomly asking questions. She stepped back as if the move would ward off the questions being tossed at her and held her hands up. “One at a time, please! I can’t even remember what most of those were!”

  The detective just stood there, tapping a foot impatiently. Milly never had liked this woman. “I was walking Edgar, Daisy, and Mildred. Edgar was the one that found the shirt; I was standing over there on those rocks, trying to keep Daisy and Mildred from tearing each other apart when he wandered over there by the trees. He does this thing sometimes…” she broke off at the detective’s questioning look. “He circles around and around, and he won’t stop until I go to him. He was doing that and I walked over and found the shirt. Yes, it might be weird but I knew he wanted me to look at it, so I poked it with a stick trying to figure out what it was. I thought it was just a red shirt but it’s not. It’s just covered in blood.”

  “Show us.” Detective Barnes demanded, stomping off in the direction of the shirt. Milly made a face at the red-headed, big-boned woman as she followed. She really didn’t like this woman. Callum snorted as he saw the look, but quickly covered his face and looked away from Milly as the detective looked at him severely.

  “Something funny mate?” She asked.

  “No, detective, I’m sorry. Nerves, you know?” He brushed the question off.

  “So, it’s a shirt covered in red. Why did you assume it was blood?” Detective Barnes, obviously the leader of the duo, asked.

  “Because it’s red? What else could it be?” Milly asked smartly, earning her another look.

  “Almost anything really. Do you recognize the shirt at all?” The woman asked as she bent down, put on a pair of gloves, pulled out an evidence bag, and put the shirt inside.

  Looking away quickly, Milly did something she knew she shouldn’t do; she gave Jake the benefit of the doubt. She knew Callum could still tell the police the truth but she couldn’t do it. “I’m not really sure. I’ve seen a similar shirt or two, but I can’t remember if it was a local or a tourist I saw it on. You know how many walkers we get around here. It could have been any of them.” Milly looked back at the detective knowing a lack of eye contact was going to raise the detective’s suspicion. The woman already had it in for her; she didn’t need to give her anymore ammunition.

  “Is that right? So it is familiar? It’s not yours is it?” The male detective asked.

  Great, now she’s getting it from both sides. Looking over at the detective, Milly plastered a doubtful look on her face and said, “I really can’t be sure. I see so many shirts on so many people in my business. I couldn’t say for sure.”

  Milly looked at Callum and hoped he’d stop choking soon. She smacked him on the back, knowing the detectives knew she was lying. If this fit of his didn’t prove it, nothing would.

  “And what about you, Mr. Davidson? Do you recognize the shirt?” Detective Fields asked with a tone that said he knew what Callum was going to say.

  “Um, er...” Callum said, then shook his head no. “I’m sorry, the sight of blood makes me very ill, can we go now?”

  Detective Barnes looked at them, obviously very cross, and conceded that it was a shirt covered in an unknown substance. “We know where to find the both of you if we have any more questions. You can go.”

  Milly called the dogs and Edgar back to her and walked back down the hill with Callum as quickly as she could, terrified they’d call her back.

  “Why’d you do it, Milly? Why didn’t you tell them?” Callum asked when they were out of earshot.

  “Because I don’t know what’s on that shirt, how it got there, or if it was even Jake’s. And because I respect you. I know you’re both having a rough time. We’ll wait to see what’s on the shirt then go from there, alright?” Milly told him.

  “You’re right; it might not be Jake’s right? I’ll ask him about it when he gets home from school.” Callum sounded like he dreaded the task.

  “How’s it going with him anyway?” Milly asked, curious.

  “It’s alright. He talks to Cassie every now and then. She’s not a completely hopeless mother; she’s just lost her head. Still wouldn’t stop me from punching her head in if she comes back but still, she’s his mother. He’s adjusting and we get along, at least. I guess I should just be grateful she didn’t drop him off with strangers or just leave him like some I’ve seen in the papers.”

  “That’s true” Milly agreed. “Is she going to try to get Jake over there at all? He’s visited there; maybe he’d like to live there for a while.”

  “I don’t think he wants to go. He feels rejected by her and his new stepfather. He’s not keen.”

  “No, I suppose not, poor lamb. Well, if you ever need me, just let me know.” She said, preparing to walk in her shop door. She was late opening and people were starting to gather around outside.

  “Actually, would you mind going out to eat with us tonight? Our cooker’s on the blink. and we’re going to have to go out anyway. Why don’t you come with us?”

  “What about Maria?” It popped out of Milly’s mouth before she could draw it back in.

  Callum gave Milly a blank look and asked, “What about her?”

  “Oh, I just thought maybe she’d come back by now. Sure, I’d love to go. Just let me know when you’re ready.” She walked into the store before she could say anything else that might lead to embarrassment and shooed the animals up the stairs. Taking out some of yesterday’s leftovers, she put a discount sign up and started the machines necessary for life in a tea shop. She tried not to think of her evening plans as a
date but she couldn’t help the smile that stayed plastered on her face for the morning service. She was going out with Callum later.

  * * *

  A few hours later, after the lunch crowd had dispersed, Milly took a seat to try to catch up with everything she’d missed doing this morning. She wasn’t going to make any more pastries but she needed to sort her daily paperwork at least. She was sitting facing the door so she could see who came into the shop. Tapping her pen against her lip as she calculated sums, Milly was lost in thought when the doorbell chimed over the door.

  Looking up she froze as she recognized Jake. Trying to hide the moment of fear she felt, Milly stood up and walked over to the counter. “What can I get you, lad?” She asked with a smile.

  “Um, a cream cake and tea please. Seems you’re going out with us later for dinner so I won’t ruin it now. I’m starving though.” The lad said and looked away. It was obvious something was on his mind by the way he kept staring off into the distance but Milly didn’t want to pry. She didn’t want to hear that murder made you a bit preoccupied.

  Milly castigated herself as she prepared a pot of tea and a cream cake and handed a tray over to Jake, waving away his money. There could be an explanation for that shirt, there may be a reason that it’s similar to his. You can’t go around accusing him of anything. Maybe I should break it off with Callum tonight? As if, she thought to herself.