Bake Off

by S. Y. Robins

  Milly slowed down as she approached the house, noting that the people must have a ton of money if they could afford to leave every light in the house burning like this. She walked up to the nearest window, crouching down as she got closer, and peaked over the ledge to peer inside. Nothing here. Moving down the line she didn’t find anybody, at all, in the entire house. Going around to the other side she was at the very last window when she spotted Jake, tied to a chair and looking terrified. The Hendersons had shoved a piece of cloth in his mouth and they were both standing behind him arguing. Milly couldn’t hear them but she knew she had to do something.

  Walking back around the house she knew she could get into the house without being seen but she didn’t know if she could do anything to save Jake. She thought he was safe for now; she hadn’t seen any weapons and…

  “Oomph!” Milly fell over as she ran into a hard chest. Looking up she saw it was Callum and cut off her scream.

  “Milly! I told you to stay home so I wouldn’t have to worry about you too! Never mind, let me give you a hand.” He helped her to her feet and told her his plan; they were going to go in, bash the Hendersons over the head, and get Jake and run. They’d call the police at some point but not until Jake was safe. She wasn’t sure why he didn’t trust the police to rescue Jake, but she followed along behind him as he cracked the door enough to let himself into the house.

  They slowed as they approached the room Jake was being held in and stood out in the hallway, listening to the rather fascinating argument the couple were having.

  “I told you we should have left after you killed that old bag! But oh no, you knew better didn’t you Tony?”

  Milly was confused; she thought Mr. Henderson’s name was Larry. Well, she knew for certain that Mrs. Henderson’s name was Marlene; she’d seen it on her debit card. “Just shut your gob Judy! Sheesh, I can’t think with you yammering away like that, woman!”

  Judy? Wait a minute here! Then it sank in; Mr. Henderson had spoken with an American accent, not a British one! Who were these people?

  “Don’t you tell me to shut my gob, Tony Marelli, I’ll say what I like! Besides, look what you’ve dragged me into! You told me you were through with all of this kind of stuff and had gone straight. Next thing I know, we’re setting up in some dead people’s house. How did those people die anyway, Tony? You said it was an accident and we could just take over their lives and nobody’d be any the wiser, but you can barely fake a British accent. Luckily the locals are so dense they haven’t noticed yet. And I have to keep hiding my eyes because my eyes are grey, not the brown of Mrs. Henderson’s. My God, what have I let you talk me into? Identity theft, murder, now kidnapping and another murder. This isn’t the life you promised me Tony. And are you even legal here…” The woman’s words were cut off as a loud crack sounded throughout the mostly empty house.

  “That’s enough, Judy. Now go see if the car will start. I’m going to take this kid out to the stone circle, make it look like another ritual murder. It’s been hilarious listening to the panicked biddies in this place going over the reasons they think they’ll be the next victims. I just did that to throw people off, but man it’s been so funny!”

  Callum and Milly hurriedly went into the next room, hiding against the wall there as Judy, whoever she was, came out of the other room with her hand over her mouth and tears falling from her eyes. Milly heard her muttering as she walked out of the room, “he ever does that again he’ll be the one staked out at the stone circle with his…” Milly lost the words as the woman disappeared down the hall. It didn’t sound like Tony was going to meet a pleasant end; however that sentence ended.

  Callum lifted a finger to his lips once more and lifted a thick but compact statue of an owl resting against a table. Milly had noticed the house was mainly empty of furniture but that there was the odd bit of household items here and there. This was the only statue in the whole place. There were no pictures, no little knickknacks that you’d find in most people’s homes. Nothing that gave it life. It was as though these people had moved in with nothing but the clothes they had on their backs and that was it.

  “Oh! Callum! Do you know what this means? I think they stole all of those things that have gone missing, even Jake’s shirt! They’ve stolen the Henderson’s identities! But why did they kill the Andrews?” For a moment Milly forgot where she was and focused on her questions.

  “Milly!” Callum whispered loudly. “Focus, duck, focus! We have to get Jake out of here, then we can get answers. Come on, follow me.”

  Callum seemed to have a plan so she followed him out of the door and quietly to the wall outside of the room Jake was in. He peeked around the edge of the door, and saw Tony was looking out of the door. Quickly pulling his head back in, he waited.

  “Judy! Hey Judy, what’s taking you so long woman?” As if the woman would actually hear him outside, Milly thought.

  Callum peeked into the room one more time then quietly stormed in with the owl raised. He brought the statue down on the back of Tony’s head and the man quickly fell to the floor. Milly ran in and bound his hands with the cord from a set of lamps; lamps that looked suspiciously like Tiffany lamps, as Callum untied Jake.

  “What do we do now?” Milly asked as Jake slumped in Callum’s arms, definitely a little boy now when he needed comforting.

  “We wait for Judy to come back in, restrain her as well, and then call the cops. I’m not letting these two get away. They were going to kill Jake; I’ll never let that go.” Callum sounded fierce and his beautiful eyes were filled with the protective glare of a father.

  “Rawr,” Milly thought with an inner smile, proud of Callum.

  “I hear the woman coming back; let’s take care of her too.” Callum said.

  Callum wasn’t necessarily a brawny man but he wasn’t weak either. He spent his days lifting and carrying stock and that strength was evident now as he took hold of the woman whose real name was Judy, and quickly got her under control. He didn’t hurt her but he subdued her by bending her down to her knees so she couldn’t fight back.

  Milly dialled emergency services and held the line as they waited for the police to arrive. Once the policemen were there she hung up the phone and waited for the inevitable questions.

  “So, you expect us to believe these two stole some dead people’s identities, have been robbing houses left and right, without anyone reporting it I might add, and then killed the Andrews and that’s how Jake’s shirt was found covered in blood, which you also failed to report to us?” The seething Detective Barnes asked the trio.

  “Well, yes, it’s not like I thought to record the whole thing before we tied them up. And it wasn’t like we could ask them to stop and do it all over again once it was over. What did you expect us to do? They had Jake tied to a chair!” Milly started off, fuming herself at how they were being treated.

  “Actually officer, I did record something.” Jake croaked.

  “Detective, son, we aren’t Americans here.” Detective Barnes all but growled at Jake.

  “Oh, excuse me; I’ve never had to deal with the police before. Detective Barnes, I started recording before I even came onto their property.” Jake replied ever so politely.

  “Let’s see it then.” The detective took the phone and started to replay the recording. They could hear Jake walking, a shout as Tony spotted him, and the arguing that soon commenced as Tony tied Jake to a chair. Judy apparently wasn’t involved in any of the killings, but she was an accessory to theft, kidnapping, and attempted murder, so she was going to have a long string of charges as well to deal with.

  A shout broke out as Tony was escorted to a waiting police car to take him to the station and Milly saw the man running for the woods. A young constable quickly caught up to the man; however, and had him backed into the car in no time. The man was going to have attempted escape added to his charges now.

  “Right, it’s late, why don’t you lot head home. I think we have all we need from you tonig
ht. Mr. Davidson, Ms. Dupont, we won’t be charging you for withholding information but see that it doesn’t happen again, right?” Detective Barnes told them.

  “You know where to find us,” said Callum, was all the response the detectives got.

  Callum, Jake, and Milly all walked back to their end of the village, each with an arm around the other in a line, and they all went into Milly’s shop to have a mug of tea at her invitation. Edgar appeared from the back of the shop and jumped first to Milly, giving her nose a lick, a first for her, then to Jake. He did his flopping over in Jake’s arms thing, and they all laughed at the cat’s antics. Milly prepared the tea as Callum sank into a chair, his nerves finally catching up with him.

  “So let me get this straight; the Hendersons were not the Hendersons? They are two different people and one of them is not here legally, and is in fact an American?” Callum asked.

  “Yes, we don’t know what happened to the real Hendersons yet, but those two weren’t them. Seems Tony found the pair dead, or some such nonsense, and hatched the plot. He enticed Judy into the plan and they’ve been living over there in the Henderson’s house using the Henderson’s money. Tony was caught breaking into the Andrews’s place and killed those three to keep it all quiet, staging a satanic scene. From what I understand, the symbols were actually just the symbols he used when he was a bookie to mark who had paid, who hadn’t paid, and who he owed money to. At least everyone will get their belongings back now. Though I’m not sure about the denture cream and the loo brush, would you really want those back?” Milly mused.

  “No, I think I’d just leave those if it was me. Those Tiffany lamps are going to need some repair though. The cords have been ruined.” Callum observed tiredly.

  “Callum why don’t you two head home? It’s very late and you’ve both had a horrible night. Go get some rest and I’ll see you both tomorrow.”

  “I don’t want to leave you on your own, Milly. I know you had some rather distressing nightmares after all of that with the Carpenters…” he trailed off not wanting to go too far.

  “I’ll be fine, Callum. Jake needs you right now more than I do, even if he is asleep in his chair, poor lad.” Milly smiled over at Callum, tenderness for both Callum and Jake shaking her to the core. She was shocked at the strength of her emotions as tears and sobs started to escape of their own accord. Milly couldn’t stop it and tried to apologize but the sobs wouldn’t let her speak.

  Callum came around, kneeling in front Milly to take her in his arms and try to soothe away the tears.

  “Milly, my darling, hush your tears now. Shhh. It’s alright now. It is, we’re all here and safe, please stop crying or I may start!” Callum said with a sniffle, swiping at his own eyes.

  “I’m so sorry Callum. I think it’s all just finally caught up to me. It’s too much too soon is all. I really am alright; I was just looking at you two and realized we could all be dead now. All of us and it hurts worse that you two could be dead. That would be a tragedy!” Milly was almost wailing at that point but tried to calm herself because she didn’t want to wake Jake.

  “No, Milly, no. The world would be such an ugly place without you in it. You are such a beautiful soul it would be a shame if your flame didn’t light the world. You are so good, so wonderful. A world without you would just be an ugly place, indeed.”

  “That’s the sweetest thing anyone’s ever said to me,” Milly said as she placed a hand against Callum’s cheek. She was looking deep into his eyes, her face moving down, his moving up, as Jake woke up and gave a startled cry.

  Milly quickly turned to the boy and put her arms around him. “It’s alright, Jake, we’re here darling.” The boy shook for a moment, and then got himself together.

  Jake smiled up at her, kissed her cheek, and spoke to Milly, “Thank you for coming after me, Milly. That was ever so sweet! I can never thank you enough.”

  Milly let the boy go and patted his cheek, “I’d do it again too. Now take your old uncle home and get to bed. We’ll all meet back here in the morning and I’ll make us some breakfast. Try to get some rest, okay?”

  The pair finally left after Milly locked the back doors and secured the alarms. She went up to her bed, truly lonely for the first time in a long time but somehow not lonely either. As she lay in her bed, the bed she’d moved against the other wall, she listened as Callum got Jake put to bed and then went to his own room. She thought she could hear a deep sigh, maybe even a sob, but she wasn’t sure. She put her hand against the wall and the emptiness in her soul went away.

  Daisy and Mildred were cuddled at her feet and she had to guess Edgar was over with Jake. He wasn’t in the flat so she knew he must be there. She didn’t feel jealous this time, however, she was proud of her cat for giving the lad comfort. Thinking back over the day Milly didn’t think she’d ever get to sleep but she did.

  Her dreams were filled with Callum and Jake, the pair part of her life as she aged, always there at every moment. She even dreamed of a baby but even in her sleep she knew it was impossible. Callum had Maria and it was doing her no good to moon over him. She knew it was time to move on; she’d even planned a couple of dates but had cancelled all of them before she went on them. She just couldn’t let him go. He’d never really given her any indication she was anything more than a friend but the memory of his face moving closer to hers tonight played over and over again in her dreams. When she woke the next morning she hoped the dreams were prophetic and not simply the longings of an old spinster too deluded to let go. She had the memory of his almost kiss to sustain her, maybe one day it would come true. For now she was happy with his friendship, and she knew that would be enough.

  The End

  Spicy Murder

  Cozy Mystery

  About the Book

  Sandy Pepper owns “Hot Stuff”, a small town bakery that specializes in unexpected gastric creations. Her shop is known worldwide for daring desserts that pair sweet and spicy ingredients much to the delight of her loyal customers. Then the host of Culinary Hype shows up and suddenly Sandy’s little shop becomes known for a lot more than cupcakes that set mouths on fire. Hot Stuff becomes synonymous with murder when the hotshot host ends up dead after tasting one of Sandy’s well-known treats.

  Determined to prove the stubborn detective assigned to her case wrong, Sandy sets out investigating on her own enlisting the assistance of her young-at-heart grandmother and her perpetually absent father in the process. Tracking down a killer though soon proves to be too much for Sandy to handle and she finds herself tangled in a web of lies and jealousy as the truth about the dead celebrity host comes to light.

  Prologue

  Carver Jenson, or Dr. Jenson as he preferred to be called, didn’t know he was going to die that day. If he had, he probably would have dressed a little bit more impressively. After all, there were so few murders in Fou Valley, Texas that of course Carver’s death made the front page of the local paper. Carver would have liked that, after all, he was all about money and fame. Too bad it was actually his death that made him a household name in the small town that he was visiting that day. The town wasn’t too far from the private college where he taught. He was a guest professor there for the semester given that his cooking show wasn’t set to film again until next month and he figured he might as well put the doctorate degree he had earned in mass communication to good use.

  He had entered the quaint storefront bakery with low expectations. In fact, he had rolled his eyes derisively upon seeing the little sign out front of a sexy female baker wearing little but an apron while holding a pie with the words “Hot Stuff” drifting up from the pie as if it were steam. He thought the sign was gaudy. He felt it was too over the top and failed to see any humor in it. He didn’t know how an establishment could lack propriety and still be taken seriously, but alas, local reviews of the place had said it was the spot to visit if one was ever in backwoods Texas, as he thought of it.

  It was a wonder that Carver was such a snob. Tru
th be told, he’d grown up poor, hunting and fishing for dinner in a little town in West Virginia. Despite the television persona who swore by fancy words and pocket handkerchiefs that gave off an erudite and worldly impression, Carver was a country boy at heart, but he would admit that to no one. After all, image was everything.

  He pushed open the door and was surprised by what he saw. The interior of Hot Stuff, he thought grudgingly, was charming. The decor reminded him of a summer country cottage. It was homey and inviting without feeling old or outdated. Spices lined the walls behind him in clear containers organized by the owner’s own sense of order he figured as he looked at them.

  He couldn’t help but drift in the direction of the spices and was impressed by the rare and unique array of spices he found there.

  “Good afternoon, sir. I haven’t seen you around these parts before,” came a friendly voice from behind Carver. He turned around and eyed the buxom red-head who seemed to be way too young to be manning the store alone. Carver sighed, expecting the worst since in his opinion, millennial really knew nothing about proper service. Not to mention, given the Now Hiring sign, he had noticed in the window, he honestly hadn’t expected to get any service promptly.

  “Yes, I would like to try the chocolate ganache infused with cayenne pepper, please.” He said stiffly. The young lady didn’t seem to notice his tone as she gave him a broad smile and hummed as she went to find his order.

  She continued to hum as she slid his order on a plate, handed him real silverware and said, “Enjoy.”

  He sat down at the table nearest the front and eyed the beautiful creation in front of him. He decided the pastry chef earned an A+ for presentation. He then bent forward to smell it. Heavenly, he thought to himself. Then looking around he surreptitiously took a picture of it for his social media following and then took a tiny bite. Flavor burst in his mouth and he repressed a moan of pure pleasure. It was delightful, a masterpiece of culinary feats as far as he was concerned. Yep. He was definitely impressed.