“And I did.”
“Did you?” Rachel asked. “Because Jay said he bumped into you not ten minutes later. Jay stayed quiet about it because he didn’t want his own alibi questioned, and because he never even dreamed of you as the murderer. Lucky you.”
Jackson ground his teeth.
“You sent Arthur over, followed him, watched him get the mochas and head to the bakery. Then, when he was inside, you messaged Bobby Lee and asked him to distract me by calling the landline. You were watching from the alley, and as soon as I entered my aunt's study, you slipped into the kitchen and killed Arthur.”
Audrey put a hand to her mouth, and stared horrified at Jackson. “It’s not true. It can’t be.”
“It makes sense, doesn’t it?” Rachel asked. “That letter—everyone who knew Arthur said it didn’t sound like him at all. Audrey included. It was far too flowery and poetic. Arthur was business minded and practical. Poetry just wasn’t his thing. But poetry’s your thing, isn’t it Jackson? You quoted Wordsworth to me the other day. Not too many men can do that anymore.”
“So I’m not as crude as other men,” Jackson said. “I’m cultured. Doesn’t mean I killed him. You’re just drawing this out of thin air!”
“Am I? You planted the letter there so that the police would not only get sidetracked, but Audrey would get affected as well. It wasn’t enough to kill Arthur. You needed to kill Audrey’s memory of him too!” Rachel felt her voice rise with indignation. “That’s almost as cruel as the murder. You made Audrey believe that Arthur had never really loved her. You shattered her world and her heart.”
“It’s not true!” Jackson protested.
“Sure you keep saying that, and yet you haven’t taken the ring off your finger. Why? Is it too tight for you? Arthur was slimmer than you are.”
“Take it off, Jackson!” Audrey exclaimed. She gripped Jackson’s hand, and tugged on the ring fruitlessly. “Let’s just prove her wrong once and for all. If it isn’t Arthur’s, it won’t be inscribed and that’ll shut her up. You’re no monster. You’re my best friend! You’ve always been.”
“That’s all I’ve ever been.” Jackson pulled his hand away from Audrey. “Friend. Best Friend. That’s all you ever thought of me.”
Audrey froze, and stared at him.
“Do you know what it was like, Audrey, to know you better than Arthur did, and still lose you to him? That pompous jackass wasn’t capable of loving you the way I was. The way I am.”
“Sure,” Rachel said. “But love wasn’t the only reason you killed Arthur.” She was circling around Jackson now, like a hawk about to pounce on a field mouse. “Greed was your second motive. You orchestrated the whole thing so that I’d have the blame pinned on me. That way, once the bakery was up for sale again, Emily could buy it.”
“Why would I care if Emily bought it?”
“You’re her partner, aren’t you? Profits for her, equal profits for you. That’s how your mind worked,” Rachel said. “Only Bobby Lee got greedy, didn’t he? You heard him when he called me. I was such an idiot not to figure that out sooner. I was in the house with you and Audrey when Bobby Lee asked me to meet him at the old warehouse. You must have followed me, and then later killed Bobby Lee. Leaving me as the suspect once again.”
Jackson smirked, but didn’t admit to it.
“I have to hand it to you, Jackson. If you hadn’t lost that ring of yours, there would be no way to catch you,” Rachel said. “Only now the police have it, and there’s enough evidence now to put you away, forever.”
“If I’m going to jail for two murders, I might as well go in for three!” Jackson exclaimed. “Yes! I killed them both—and you’re next! You’ve been nothing but a pain to me, Rachel!” With a movement more sudden than expected for his size, Jackson sprang upon Rachel. Gingerly, Rachel dodged him, and put out a leg, sending him tripping into the curtains. He gave a yell of pain as the curtains came down on his head. Just as quickly as before, he was up on his feet and charging at Rachel again. The door burst open and Scott stepped in, gun drawn and ready to take Jackson down.
But it was Audrey who got to him first. She’d grabbed a nearby lamp, and with a burst of strength, she sent it crashing down on Jackson’s head. With a comically stupefied expression, Jackson collapsed on the floor, curtains still wrapped around his ankles.
“We got enough.” Scott gave Rachel a thumbs-up. “Proper confession.”
“Confession?” Audrey stared.
“Sure. Rachel was taping it all. Jackson played along nicely, with that admission at the end.” Scott nudged the huge ex-linebacker with his toe. “Wow, Audrey, you really got him good.”
“Arthur would be proud of you.” Rachel draped her hand around Audrey’s shoulders.
“It’s all over now,” Audrey said, and a tear fell down her cheek. “I guess Arthur can finally rest in peace.”
*****
Chapter 25
A Final Toast
“A toast.” Emily raised her glass of wine. “To you, Rachel Rowan, for being both the stupidest and smartest woman I know.”
“Stupidest?” Scott frowned.
The four of them: Scott, Jay, Rachel, and Emily were gathered around the table in Aunt Rose’s kitchen. Rachel had invited them over for dinner now that things had settled down a bit. Jackson Wyatt was now in jail, and his puppy Scooter had been adopted by Rachel. The little black pup slept under the kitchen table, his belly full of food. The adults, meanwhile, were eating nachos, drinking beer, and wine. Slices of marble cake with chocolate frosting lay on the table too, and Rachel could see Scott looking at them out of the corner of his eye, as though he was wondering whether grabbing a third slice would be too greedy.
“Stupidest because she really believed I’d cheat on Jay,” Emily said. “Smartest because she figured out Arthur’s killer.” Emily gave Jay a mocking glare. “Then again, my own husband suspected me.”
“I mean, to be fair, you were a little crazy sneaking around and being secretive about texting Arthur,” Jay pointed out. “Naturally I’d suspect you!”
“It’s not my fault. Arthur requested we keep it quiet.”
“He did?” Rachel asked
“Yep. He was very sure Jay and his big mouth would let the secret spill. Jay’s as careful as the CIA when it comes to guarding his clients’ secrets, but he carelessly says the first thing that comes into his head when it comes to friends.”
“I can’t deny that,” Jay agreed. “Makes sense that he’d want to keep it quiet.”
“You’re not off the hook yet, Mr. Frank.” Emily looked at him pointedly.
Jay gave her a sheepish grin and patted her knee. “I know.”
“Well, forget Jackson for a second,” Scott said. “Bring it out, Rachel. Come on!”
“Bring what out?” Emily looked confused.
Rachel smiled, and brought out the package she and Scott had retrieved from the PO box. “This,” she said, and with a flourish, placed it in front of Emily.
“Am I supposed to be impressed?” Emily raised an eyebrow. “What is this?”
“You’ll know soon enough,” Rachel said. “But first there’s a mystery all tied up with Arthur’s murder. The mystery of my Aunt Rose’s marble cake.”
The tips of Emily’s ears turned red, and she buried her nose in the wineglass, suddenly shy.
“That’s right,” Rachel said. “Part of the reason I wasted so much time suspecting you, Emily, was that you broke into my house the night before Arthur’s murder. Bad timing.”
“I didn’t break into your house, I saw an intruder!” Emily protested.
“Oh please.” Rachel grinned. “No more lies. Admit it, you were hunting around Aunt Rose’s study, and this is what you were looking for.”
“What is it?” Jay was curious. He looked at the package. It was rectangular, and wrapped in brown paper, and string.
“This? This is my aunt's most precious secret,” Rachel said. “It’s her book full of recipe
s. Including her recipe for marble cake.”
Emily’s ears were flaming red now. She refused to look at the package, although Rachel could tell she was making an effort to look nonchalant. Scott was leaning back in his seat, with his hands crossed behind his head. A big grin was on his face as he looked at his sister fondly.
“So you’re telling me Emily broke into your aunt's study in order to get this book?” Jay asked. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“It does if you think about it.” Rachel smiled. “Bull’s Café had a huge hit with their mocha and 'homemade' marble cake combo. That marble cake was homemade alright, but it was made in my Aunt Rose’s home!”
“That’s right, it was.” Emily sighed. “You’re right about everything. I’m ashamed to admit it.”
“Terrible.” Scott tsked. “You took the credit while Aunt Rose did the work!”
“That’s not how it was!” Emily exclaimed. “Not at all.”
“So how was it?”
“Aunt Rose and I were really good friends. I used to be hanging around her house all the time, if you remember.”
“I do.” Scott nodded. “You had coffee together everyday at five.”
“Well, she often fed me marble cake at teatime and I always told her to sell it commercially. I said it’d be a big hit. Aunt Rose told me, 'I can’t sell this. Selling marble cake would be like selling my memories of Rachel.'”
“She said that?” Rachel’s eyes filled with tears.
“Yep.” Emily nodded. “She told me all about how some of her best memories involve baking marble cakes with you. She told me how cute you were as a child, and how much she loved you. She told me how proud she was as you grew up into a mature and ambitious young woman. She told me about midnight feasts of cake and cocoa with you, and how even though she was childless, she’d always thought of you as a daughter.”
Rachel couldn’t help it, tears welled out of her eyes. She dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief, sniffing slightly.
“Hey.” Scott placed his hand on hers. “It’s OK.”
“No it’s not.” Rachel sniffed.
Emily continued, “Well, the point was, I kept badgering Aunt Rose, until she agreed to bake a batch of marble cake for me, and me alone. She refused any money for it and asked me to consider it a gift. Neither of us knew that it’d become so popular with the town! My sales doubled after I introduced marble cake. I guess when something’s made with love, it’s bound to taste good.”
“That I can attest to!” Scott agreed.
“Well, since Aunt Rose thought Rachel was going to settle down in San Francisco, she offered to sell me her bakery. She wanted to retire and travel the world,” Emily said. “As you all know, I was very excited about it. Aunt Rose also told me she’d give me her book of cake recipes—a legacy of sorts. But—life got in the way. Or rather, death got in the way. Aunt Rose died suddenly—unexpectedly.”
Rachel nodded, her eyes were so full of tears that her vision was blurry. She could see the warm-yellow light suffused around Emily and Jay as they held hands, and she could see Scott’s concern as he offered her a glass of water.
“She loved me, and I betrayed her.” Rachel sniffed.
“No, you didn’t,” Emily said.
“Yes, I did,” Rachel said, with some force. “I didn’t even come to her funeral!”
“That doesn’t matter, Rachel,” Emily said. “Look—that night, when I broke into your aunt’s study, I was full of anger and pain. I hated you because I thought of you as an interloper. I hated you for not coming to her funeral. I wanted to steal the recipe book because I wanted the marble cake recipe. But I also wanted it for myself because I thought you didn’t deserve it. I thought you were a selfish, greedy woman who only cared about profits.”
“Well I am a selfish, greedy woman,” Rachel said. “I’ll never forgive myself for not being there for Aunt Rose.”
“You should forgive yourself,” Emily said. “Because you’re doing the one thing that would have made her happiest—you’re carrying on her legacy. Aunt Rose believed that the purpose of baking cakes was to bring a small measure of guaranteed happiness into a life that guarantees us nothing. You’re going to bring a lot of happiness into a lot of people’s lives now. Your aunt would have loved that.”
Emily pushed the book toward Rachel. “This belongs to you,” she said. “I’m sorry I ever tried to take it.”
“Thanks.” Rachel held the book close to her chest. “But I’ll take it on one condition only.”
“What’s that?”
“We keep up Aunt Rose’s agreement,” Rachel said. “I’m going to make you marble cake everyday, and you can continue selling it.”
“Rachel—”
“I won’t accept any money either,” Rachel said. “Aunt Rose didn’t, and I certainly won’t. The marble cake recipe is all yours too, if you’re willing to learn it.”
There was a big smile on Emily’s face. “I’d love to learn it. I tried to reverse engineer it, and failed. That’s why Aunt Rose’s cake was in my freezer so many months after she died. I used every ingredient I could think of and never managed to replicate the flavor. I had a tiny bite of it every day to try and capture the magic. I got so desperate by the end of it, that I broke into your aunt's study. I’m really sorry.”
Rachel laughed. “Forget it. Now I can tell you the secret. It’s a pretty simple recipe, and the only trick Aunt Rose had was to add an extra egg yolk. I’ll show you sometime.”
Emily nodded. “Tomorrow. Early morning. I’ll be here at six. But I have a condition too.”
“What’s that?” Rachel asked.
“If you won’t take money, at least take the credit. If I sell the cake, I’m telling everyone I know that you made it.”
“That’ll be good for Rachel.” Jay nodded. “You’ll have a line of customers in front of Comfort Cakes before it’s even opened its doors!”
Rachel wanted to protest, but Emily shut her up with a stern look. “I won’t hear a word more,” she warned. “You’re opening the bakery next week and a little advertising won’t do anyone any harm.”
Rachel raised her glass in a gesture of agreement. Four glasses clinked together and broke the silence of the night. Rachel leaned back in her chair, marveling at how relaxed her body felt. Back when she ran her start-up, she had thought that being ambitious meant sacrificing your personal life. Now, even though she had big plans for Comfort Cakes, she also looked forward to long nights of laughter and friendship in Swaddle. She thought back to Brandon, and for the first time since they had broken up, she found that she had no more resentment for him in her heart. He’d sold her company behind her back, but in a twist of fate, he’d led her to this moment—with these people. In his own way, he’d given her motivation to leave a life that would otherwise have sucked her in forever. Maybe she didn’t completely forgive him, but after all—she smiled to herself—he was missing out on marble cake, and maybe that was punishment enough.
“What are you thinking of with that mischievous smile on your face?” Scott asked.
“Me? I was wondering whether to call you Scott or Sheriff or Buddy,” Rachel teased.
“You can call me whatever you like as long as you keep feeding me this amazing cake.” Scott grabbed a third slice, finally losing his self-control.
“How about a friend?” Rachel smiled. “Can I call you that?”
Scott smiled at her through a mouthful of cake, and she laughed, shaking her head. At her feet, Scooter the puppy began licking her toes in his sleep. In front of her, Emily had her head on Jay’s shoulders and was idly linking her hand in his.
The future stretched out in front of Rachel, and she smiled at the thought of it. Emily’s words about carrying on Aunt Rose’s legacy had filled Rachel with hope and warmth. Whatever had happened in the past would stay in the past, and as for the future, Rachel was determined to live it in a way that would make her aunt proud.
The End
Thank you so
much for reading my story! I hope you liked it! If so, Book 2, Guilt & Galaxy Cake, is available on Amazon! CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR COPY!
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*****
Continue for Rachel’s delicious recipe…
A RECIPE FOR YOU!
Aunt Rose’s Marvelous Marble Cake
Serves: 8-10
Ingredients:
2 Cups all-purpose flour
1 Cup white sugar
1 Cup milk
1/2 Cup softened butter (or margarine)
2 whole eggs PLUS 1 extra yolk
2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 Teaspoons baking powder
1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 Teaspoon salt
Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Grease & flour a 9-inch round baking pan.
3. Mix the flour, sugar, milk, butter/margarine, eggs, baking powder, vanilla & salt in a bowl. Beat slowly until combined then with an electric mixer set on medium until smooth (~2 minutes).
4. Save 1 cup of the batter and transfer the rest into your baking pan.
5. Stir the cocoa into the additional 1 cup of batter then pour or drip over the top of the contents of the baking pan. Swirl the brown batter into the white using a knife or rubber spatula to obtain the marbling/swirl.
6. Bake for 30-35 minutes (a toothpick inserted into the cake should come out clean).
7. Cool.
8. Enjoy!
*****
Murder & Marble Cake Page 13