Apple Pie and Arsenic

by C A Phipps

  “It’s probably not going to give you any prints,” she admitted. “Too many people have touched it.”

  He sighed. “Why did you let them? This is evidence.”

  “I didn’t ‘let them’. It was an accident. I was shocked, and I dropped it.”

  “You shouldn’t have opened it in the first place. You should have called me as soon as you found it.”

  His censure had always been hard to take, especially when he was right. In fact, it was darn irritating that he constantly was right.

  “I did look for you before I touched it.”

  “Not very hard, I’m guessing.”

  She lifted her chin. “I’m not the person you should be interrogating. The Girlz saw it and wanted to know why I reacted like I did. I had to tell them.”

  “Maddie, listen to me. This is serious, and I don’t want you taking any risks, either by yourself or with the Girlz. Okay?”

  She appreciated what he was saying, but they hadn’t found the murderer yet, had they? “Okay.”

  He didn’t look like he particularly believed her, but he seemed a little less angry. “I’ll leave you to your plans for the ‘cooking club’.” He handed her back her purse, then tucked the letter and the envelope into a plastic evidence bag and walked away with a shake of his handsome head.

  She followed at a distance, and when she got back to the Girlz, they were watching his progress across the room.

  “He’s divine in that suit,” Suzy sighed.

  Angel snapped her fingers. “Honey, that man would be divine in anything. Or nothing.”

  Suzy nodded. “You’re so lucky, Maddie.”

  Maddie rolled her eyes. “I’ve told all of you. We’re friends. End of story.”

  The other women looked at each other and smiled. Clearly, Maddie wasn’t about to win this argument anytime soon. That was one of the downfalls of living in a small town. People made a decision based on what they thought they knew, and you often couldn’t get them to shake it.

  “You told him about the note?” Angel asked.

  “He knew. He saw us reading it,” Maddie admitted. It was obvious her ability as an amateur sleuth was in question at this point.

  “Damn, he’s good,” Suzy said with a grin.

  “If he was that good, he would have caught the killer already, wouldn’t he?”

  “That’s harsh, Maddie. Too harsh.” Angel shook her head in disappointment.

  “You’re right. He’s been harassing me lately, that’s all. I know he’s a good sheriff, but that’s not to say he couldn’t do with our help. You read the letter. I don’t want him to get hurt on account of me.”

  “I’m guessing you didn’t tell him about our typewriter theory, so we’re going ahead with this despite him and his sexy cleverness?” Suzy asked.

  Maddie gave a small grin. “Definitely. Let’s mingle a little more and see if anyone has any interesting opinions on the murder they want to share. I’d bet everyone here is or has been discussing that very thing today. Just be sure not to speak to the family about it.”

  The Girlz nodded and spread out to choose those they knew who always had something to say about others with the exception of the group from the community center. Anything talked about with them would most certainly get back to Gran.

  Maddie went to stand near the food tables. That seemed like the place everyone would turn up eventually, even those who were looking at her sideways. Funny how the food was being eaten anyway.

  This had to be the longest day ever.

  Chapter Twenty

  Ethan tried to call Maddie over the next few days, but she made Gran answer the phone and say she was busy, which wasn’t a total lie. Finally, he stood in her way at the grocery store. She turned to grab the closest item and study the contents.

  “Hi, Maddie. How are you?”

  “I’m fine, thank you. Excuse me, I’m in a rush.”

  He didn’t budge. “Isn’t the shop closed?”

  “It is, but I have some orders to do tonight, and I need these ingredients.” She pointed to her basket, avoiding looking at him.

  He nodded at the product in her hand. “How does the men’s deodorant taste?”

  She looked down, shocked to find the spray there. “Don’t be silly. I just prefer it to women’s.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “I see. Super-strength? Good to know. I was wondering if you’d like to have dinner this Saturday.”

  She hadn’t seen that coming. If she said yes, she had the feeling he’d wear her down and she’d spill all the details of her investigation. She wondered what he’d uncovered, but she couldn’t let that sway her.

  “Sorry, I’m all booked up.”

  “You have a date?”

  She frowned and tried to get past him. “Don’t sound so shocked.”

  He put his hand on her arm. “What’s gotten into you?”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “You’re acting weird.”

  “You’ve always known I’m a little weird.” She tried a joke as she made another attempt to get past.

  He moved too. “‘Frosty’ would be more accurate. Ever since the funeral.”

  “Don’t be silly. I’m busy, is all.”

  “Things were fine until a few days ago. When you got that second letter and stopped taking my calls.”

  “I’ve been trying to get my business on its feet, and there’s been a murder.”

  He sighed, a sound that was heavy with exasperation. “I’m only too aware, since it’s my job to solve it. What’s your point?”

  “For goodness’ sake, whoever did it is watching you and me. I think it’s smart to stay away from each other for the time being.”

  “That’s all it is? You aren’t avoiding me for any other reason?”

  “What reason?”

  He raised his eyebrows, and she looked into her basket.

  “Ethan, we’ve barely seen each other for years, we can hardly…you know.”

  “What? Talk?”

  His teasing wasn’t what she needed right now. “Pretend we’re the same people we were back then.”

  “I know we’re not. Which is a good thing, don’t you think?”

  Maddie’s heart fluttered. “Yes, I guess it is. It means we can move on from each other in a friendly way.”

  Ethan took a step back, and his expression shut down. “If that’s really how you feel, then excuse me for keeping you.”

  This wasn’t what she’d intended. Or was it? She had to push him away until she had more evidence. “See you around.”

  He shook his head at her, and she felt as though she’d let him down. She squared her shoulders. A man who looked like Ethan was sought after by all the single women, locals and tourists alike. He’d be just fine.

  But she’d hate to lose him as a friend now that they’d cleared the air. When this was all done, she’d make it up to him—if he gave her the chance. He might be upset now, but he was going to feel a lot worse when he found out she was going rogue.

  Best not to think about that until she couldn’t avoid it. She really needed to bake something. Right now.

  “Maddie, are you okay? You look like you’re going to pass out. Have you been out in the sun without a hat? Or was our sheriff bugging you?”

  Angel had taken Ethan’s place, and Maddie licked her dry lips as she looked around the store.

  “No, but I can’t be seen with him right now.” Just then she caught sight of someone hovering nearby. “It’s been a hot day, hasn’t it? I’m about to do some baking, and I’ll need every fan I have to get it done.”

  Angel followed her gaze and she nodded. “Make sure you drink plenty of water.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Maddie saluted as they headed to the counter to pay for their shopping. Then they walked outside into the afternoon sunshine.

  The store was opposite the park, where Noah was teaching his Sunday yoga class. Laura was in the front row with Suzy, and they were both ge
tting tangled as they concentrated more on their tutor than on what they were supposed to be doing.

  “He gets better-looking every time I see him,” Angel noted.

  “How come you’re not in the class? I thought yoga was a passion of yours.”

  “It is, and normally I would be, but I had to find you. I didn’t need a thing from the store.” Angel produced a folded piece of paper from her white linen pants as if she were a magician. “It’s a list from the guest book which was at the funeral. Most of the guests would have put their names in it,” she said softly.

  “This is awesome. Do you want to come back to my place, and we can go over it?”

  Angel looked at her watch. “Sure. It’s too late to join the class, and I’m hungry. Do you have leftovers?”

  Maddie laughed. Although the reason for Angel to come home with her was morbid, Angel was always a tonic for the downside of life. “Can a fish swim?” she asked.

  They walked around the park and crossed over to Maddie’s bakery, but went around the back to the kitchen entrance.

  Every day since the funeral, Angel (sometimes with Suzy) had come to the apartment, where they utilized every available moment to pore over each scrap of evidence linked to the murder and talk about what had happened at the funeral. There wasn’t a lot, since Maddie had no input from the police, but the list Angel had might be invaluable and their first chance to find proper leads. They’d have to fill Suzy in later. It helped that Gran had been spending more time in the evening and on weekends house packing, so they didn’t have to explain things, or worse, hide what they were doing from her.

  “How did you get hold of the guest book?” Maddie asked.

  “I was visiting the Loughlins and saw the book on their table. I asked to look through it, and when they were out of the room, I took photos of each page. I typed it up at home, so we can move things around if we need to. This is the result.”

  “Well done! I didn’t know you were so sneaky. I’ve been nervous to ask around too much because we don’t know who’s involved. I was going to chat with the cashiers at the store today, but our sheriff got in the way of that.”

  “He does turn up when you least expect it. I guess that makes him the sneakiest.” Maddie grinned.

  “True. Anyway, back to the list. It could be one person or many, but if we group the names of our suspects, we might find connections we haven’t thought of.”

  “How do we define a group?”

  Maddie had already considered that, and she took the notebook she’d taken to carrying around with her out of her bag. “For a start, we can have one list for people who’ve said or done something negative towards Denise before or after her death. Then another one for who they associate with. Maybe one for those we think don’t abide by the law?”

  “Apart from a few incidents which were written up in the paper, everybody seems to have behaved since the murder.”

  Maddie shook her head. “Not everyone. I have two notes suggesting otherwise.”

  Angel gave her a measured look. “All right. Let’s start at the beginning. What do we have, Sherlock?”

  “We have a pie competition, a murder by poison, and two letters.”

  “Motives?” Angel was also ready with a pad and pen she’d grabbed from Maddie’s desk.

  “Anger over the results of the competition. A lover’s quarrel. Potentially political. Jealous about accomplishments. The admirer was jilted.”

  Angel frowned. “I can’t imagine anyone killing Denise over not receiving a ribbon at the fair.”

  “It is kind of far-fetched, but there were some rumblings about me entering, so it’s a possibility.” Maddie had a flashback of Laura talking to the Blue Brigade. What had she said to them?

  Oblivious to where Maddie’s thoughts were traveling, Angel scribbled furiously. “I heard them, and I’ve circled the people who might have instigated the complaints or bought into them. What else?”

  Maddie wrote that down as one thing she wouldn’t have to tackle. “Do you know if Denise was seeing anyone apart from this admirer? She certainly didn’t mention being interested in a man to me.”

  Angel chewed a long pink nail. “She hasn’t had so much as one date. Not since Ethan.”

  Maddie felt the color drain from her face. “Pardon me?”

  “Oh my goodness. You didn’t know?” Angel clapped a hand over her mouth.

  Maddie shook her head. “No, I didn’t. When was this, and why didn’t you tell me?”

  “It was during the election. I figured Denise or Ethan might have said something. Especially with you and Ethan getting friendly again.”

  “Well, that’s all it is. When I left, we were done, and I haven’t changed my mind. Besides, I’d never be interested in someone else’s man.”

  “He was hardly that, and not to be indelicate, but Denise is gone.”

  Maddie shuddered. “That’s beside the point.”

  “I don’t think it is. It was over months ago, and it was just a brief thing. Denise was too wrapped up in her job, and Ethan hasn’t gotten serious about anyone since you.”

  “Stop it, Angel. I’m still upset you didn’t say anything, and if not you, then Gran should have said something.”

  “I’m sorry. You had a boyfriend, so I guess we didn’t think it was important.” Angel looked upset.

  Maddie hated that look. Angel didn’t deserve her censure, because she was right—it shouldn’t matter. “You’re right. It isn’t a big deal. I’m only feeling bad because I didn’t have a clue and it made me feel out of the loop. Being away from you all, I was happy enough knowing you girls would keep me up to date with things. We’ve always told each other everything. Or we used to.”

  Angel was still flushed, but she brought them back on track. “We could go around in circles over it, but it’s too late to change things, and Denise is still gone. Why don’t we get back to these names? The book had a column where the guests could put down where they were from, or their connection to Denise, and I put all that on the list. Look at this one: Marie Loughlin. Portland. Much-loved cousin.”

  Maddie was still wondering how Denise and Ethan had hooked up, but time was ticking by, and so far, they had nothing to show for it but these lists. Angel had two copies, and she passed one over to Maddie. It had been marked up with several different-colored highlighters.

  “What are these colors for?” Maddie asked.

  Angel laid out her set of highlighters in a row in front of her. “I think we should use different colors to show who we think is a likely candidate, a not possible, and everything in between.”

  Color was Angel’s thing, and it made sense. “It’s as good a system as any, I guess,” Maddie said. “Tell me what colors you’ve picked for each group, and I’ll get started.”

  Angel consulted her key. “Red for possible. Green, no way. Orange for a slight chance, and gold for I bet they did it.”

  Maddie couldn’t help letting out a laugh. Angel had that effect, even when life was a mess.

  She went through the list and, as best she could, gave a reason each name should stay or go. The one name Maddie had to struggle with was Laura’s. No matter that she was Angel’s friend; Maddie had an odd feeling Laura knew something. There were several reasons she wasn’t willing to share with Angel, since she didn’t think her friend would view them in an unbiased light, and those she chose to put on a separate page.

  1. She was badmouthing or listening to badmouthing about me in the contest tent.

  2. She was at Denise’s earlier that day.

  3. She doesn’t really like me and seems jealous of my relationship with Angel.

  4. She was a rival for the Mayors’ position.

  5. She’s reluctant to help search for the murderer.

  6. She also entered an apple pie in the contest.

  That was more than what they had on anyone else. Maddie tucked the page to the back, determined to look into the Laura situation when she was alone.

  A
n hour later, they each had a colorful document. “Let’s marry them up,” Maddie said, then placed hers alongside Angel’s. They found a lot of similarities. “I see we both have Virginia as the lead suspect.”

  Angel nodded eagerly. “Naturally. She doesn’t like anyone, but she hated Denise.”

  Maddie was surprised. “Hated? I know she’s not a nice person, but that’s a strong word.”

  “I know, and it’s not one I generally like to use. The story was, they had that major fallout at school and another when Denise got elected as mayor. Virginia wanted the job really badly. In fact, she told anyone who’d listen that she had it in the bag. Now, I know that’s a metaphor, but somebody found a bag with a whole stack of ballots inside. Guess whose name was on all of them?”

  “No way!”

  “Way. Virginia Bolton. Let me just say that the you-know-what hit the fan. The whole town vilified her for weeks. It was only Denise, being the bigger person, telling us there was no proof Virginia was the culprit and it was irrelevant now, that caused everyone to calm down. Personally, I never got my head around the fact Virginia might have been mayor.”

  Maddie took in every word, stunned at getting all this information from Angel, who had never spoken this way about anyone—although she certainly had every right to, considering the way some people had treated her, especially Virginia.

  In a town as small as theirs, where gossip ran rife, it was amazing that Maddie had been here for months without anyone telling her any of this. Especially Ethan, Angel, and Suzy—and even Denise. Then there was Gran. Maddie made a mental note to have a word with her later.

  “I had no idea the mayoral race was fought so hard.”

  Angel nodded. “Actually, there were three people who wanted the job. Denise, Virginia, and Laura.”

  “Why did Laura want to be mayor here?”

  “Her parents heard of the opening through Mickey Findlay and thought she would have an easy shot at it. That was before Denise decided to run. Laura worked hard to promote herself, but she didn’t know anywhere near enough people even with the Findlay’s backing. Most people voted for Denise. A few might have actually voted for Virginia, but that didn’t leave many for poor Laura.”