A Twist of Murder

by Gretchen Allen

  Can you please come in early today? I’ve fired Gina and kicked her out of my house. I’m too steaming mad to go myself but if you can’t make it, I’ll figure something out. -Henry.

  “Stella, as always that looks perfect, but I have some bad news. I’m gonna need to take it in a to-go cup.” Yvette said, putting her belongings back in her purse.

  “What? You can’t! It will get ruined,” Vanessa exclaimed.

  “Then I’ll take it as it is. I have to get to Townsend right away, so I can open the store.” Yvette grabbed the milkshake from Stella, and rushed out the door, only stopping to grab a straw from the counter on her way out.

  * * *

  Yvette realized she’d been driving on autopilot. That always was such a strange concept to her. She’d get to where she was headed and barely remember the drive because she had been so deep in thought. This time was no different. She hadn’t spoken to Henry since he admitted to basically stalking Damien and Teresa. He may have known the truth about the two of them, but Yvette didn’t tell him what she’d overheard Gina and Teresa talking about.

  She could see Sundae Afternoon up ahead on the right and noticed that the parking lot was empty, and the lights were off. Gina really had been fired. Yvette pulled her SUV to a stop; thankful Henry hadn’t shown up at the store while he was still technically on his vacation.

  Yvette let herself in the building and flipped on the lights. She checked the inventory and made sure that there were plenty of waffle cones, whipped cream and prepared toppings to get her through until Max came in. Knowing that he and Twila closed the shop together the night before she could only hope that they had taken care of the closing duties properly.

  Hearing a light knock, Yvette glanced up from counting the cash register and saw an older man standing in front of the window. Glancing at her watch, she went to the door to let him in. It was only a few minutes before opening so letting him in would be no big deal.

  “Thanks so much. I know I’m early, but I had a hankering for some ice cream and I thought we could have a little chat,” the man said brushing past Yvette.

  “Of course.” Yvette thought the man may have been lonely or something and needed someone to talk to. “What can I get for you?”

  The man peered in the ice cream freezer, taking in all the flavor options. “I’m a pretty simple guy,” he said, “I’d like some vanilla ice cream with hot fudge, a dash of strawberry sauce and a little whipped cream.”

  “Sounds good to me. I’ll get that going for you.” Yvette smiled at the man and gestured to the dining area. “Have a seat wherever you feel most comfortable.”

  A few moments later, Yvette was finished with the man’s sundae and was on her way to deliver it. She saw him laid back in the chair looking like he was asleep, at least that’s what she was hoping. She’d been around too many deaths recently to be anything short of concerned. Dashing over to the man she gently touched his shoulder.

  “You startled me!” he said, jumping in his seat.

  Yvette breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m sorry.”

  “No. I’m the one that should be apologizing.”

  “It’s okay, really. I get tired sometimes too and need to rest my eyes,” Yvette told the man, hoping she’d eased his mind.

  “I wish that’s what I was apologizing for,” the man sighed.

  “I’m sorry?”

  “I’m Clyde Shears. I own Clyde’s Patisserie with my wife, Josephine. You may have met her.”

  Yvette couldn’t make sense of why Clyde was here and what he could have wanted to talk to her about. She grabbed herself a bottle of water and sat down across from the man.

  “I have met her. My friend and I were in your restaurant yesterday. Is everything okay?” Yvette asked the man, feeling genuinely concerned.

  “No. I’m not sure that it is. I haven’t slept a wink all week. I’ve been terrified to fall asleep near my wife,” Clyde said, hanging his head.

  “What do you mean?” Yvette asked, her heart pounding.

  “I think my wife killed Damien Grant.”

  Yvette felt the color leave her face. She hadn’t even considered that Josephine could be the killer. Not in a million years.

  “Clyde? That’s serious. Are you certain?” she asked him.

  “I can’t prove it, but I know my wife well. When she found out that I was considering selling my building and land to Damien, she was livid. She had refused to entertain the thought of selling and I had a different plan. I love my restaurant and always will but it’s time to retire and travel, not put in more work. That young man and his wife were just starting out, they were eager and ready to hit the ground running. It only made sense that I’d sell to them.”

  “Josephine found out about your idea and then Damien was killed,” Yvette stated.

  “Basically. I knew I’d have to tell her eventually, but I thought it was the best choice for us at this age.”

  “I’m so sorry. Do you want me to take you to the police station or something?” Yvette was trying to help but didn’t know what she could do.

  “I’m going there next. I only came here to tell you first since I knew Josephine had some pretty bad things to say about you. I wanted you to hear it from me that she may have been trying to place the blame on you only to take it off of herself.”

  “She apologized to me for that yesterday when I saw her. We were discussing Bakery Wars and your old employee Gina.”

  Yvette had nearly forgotten why she was even at Sundae Afternoon in the first place. Henry had fired Gina and she still didn’t know why.

  “Don’t mention that woman’s name in my shop!” Henry boomed, shutting the front door behind him.

  Clyde perked up when he saw Henry. “Gina’s at it again, huh?” he asked.

  “You have no idea…”

  14

  Yvette couldn’t believe her eyes or her ears. After Clyde accused his wife of murder and Henry burst in the store with news about Gina, everything turned even more upside down.

  “So, you mean to tell me, they were working together?” Clyde crossed his arms over his chest.

  “I was picking up around the house, a little bored from not having to come to work. I decided to help Gina out by organizing a few things of hers as well. When I lifted her backpack and saw all those papers come shuffling out, I was stunned. I’ve trusted that woman with everything.”

  “So did we, son. So did we.” Clyde shook his head.

  “What were they?” Yvette asked, recalling the papers she’s seen Gina and Teresa with.

  “Contracts and what looked to be legal documents, but I can’t imagine any decent lawyer would sign their name on them.” Henry’s hands were shaking, showing his anger.

  “I have something to tell you,” Yvette admitted, before launching into what she’d overheard.

  “I’d be upset with you for not telling me, but I don’t have the energy. It turns out that Josephine had an agreement with Teresa that promised her a good chunk of change if she agreed to help shut down Mama Leoni’s bakery. Teresa also agreed to get the patisserie on Bakery Wars but had the side agreement you just mentioned with Gina to throw the contest, so Teresa’s friend would win instead. Gina may have been honest about the reason she stole the recipe, but in the end, she has always been a liar.”

  “No wonder Gina worked so hard to get us to agree for her to represent the patisserie on the show.” Clyde’s brows furrowed.

  “I can’t believe any of this.” Yvette looked back and forth between the men.

  “You mean to tell me that I’ve been feeling guilty about accusing my wife of murdering Damien because I was going to sell our property to him, but she’s been working against me this entire time?” Clyde said, staring off into the distance.

  “I’m not sure how involved she was after Mama Leoni’s closed but unfortunately, she was, in fact, a part of this whole mess.” Henry shook his head. “It’s been happening to me too. Gina moved into my house and got a job with
me, so she could get inside information all to help Teresa, the woman I was falling for… who ended up being married.”

  “I haven’t been around long enough to know what this all means but I have a question,” Yvette said quietly. “Does this mean they all worked together to kill him?”

  Both men looked at her with a blank stare, seemingly not remembering that someone had died.

  “That can’t be,” Clyde said, pushing his uneaten sundae away.

  “It’s obvious Teresa wanted to force people to close their businesses so hers had a better chance of succeeding. We know that Gina was helping because she was promised a spot on the next Bakery Wars but what about Josephine? Did she have a bigger part in this? Yvette asked, looking to Henry.

  “Money.” Clyde gasped. “She wanted the money. Our business was doing well but it certainly could have been better. I’ll admit that when Mama Leoni’s shut down, our customer base grew and that’s probably why she was in on that scam to begin with. I’ll bet Teresa offered her more money like she did Gina and that’s what sucked her in. She never wanted the shop to close because she didn’t want to look like a failure. She probably figured that if she did what Teresa said she’d either keep getting the money or that Teresa would feel bad for her and let her keep our shop open.”

  Yvette thought for a moment before speaking. “We know they were working together but there’s no way all three of them got together and killed Damien. So, we still don’t have any answers there.”

  “I’m going home to confront my wife and see just how involved with this she really is. If you don’t hear from me in twenty minutes, call the police.” Clyde stormed out the door, not giving them a chance to argue.

  “I never thought I’d say this, but I’m glad my store is slow because I couldn’t focus on work and this at the same time. I’m leaving too. I have to make sure Gina gets her stuff out of my house sooner rather than later. I have her key to the shop already, I’m going to hang it in the office and do a couple of things before I head out.” Henry rose from his seat and disappeared into the back.

  15

  I’m leaving now. Thanks for listening to me vent about Gina. I can’t believe any of this. She’s the worst of them all as far as I’m concerned,” Henry said, coming out of the back.

  “She wishes,” a voice came from the kitchen.

  Henry and Yvette looked up and were surprised to see Teresa standing the kitchen doorway.

  “You should really remember to lock the back door. It’s not safe around here,” Teresa sneered.

  “What are you doing here?” Yvette asked, taking a step toward her.

  Teresa smirked. “Well, at first I came here because I was following Clyde. I figured one of you was starting to catch on to me, so I wanted to see what he was doing here. Then, when I heard him accuse his silly little Josephine of murder, I was planning on having his back, agreeing with him, ya know? I thought that it would help clear things up if everyone thought it was her. That is, until Henry found all of our contracts. I told Gina to get rid of those and that I didn’t want them around. I do appreciate you though, Yvette. You’re sneaky, I like that. You overheard Gina and I and never said a word. We should work together sometime.” She winked.

  “Again, what are you doing here?” Henry’s face was twisted in anger. “You are not welcome, not even a little.”

  “You should have stuck by me. I liked you, Henry. We could have been a couple, partners even. Instead, both of you are going to die, just like Damien did. Getting in the middle of my plans wasn’t smart.”

  “You can’t kill us both in broad daylight in a public place.” Yvette backed away, even though her words showed confidence.

  “Why not? I shot Damien in the middle of the day, right here on this very property and you fools have been running around blaming each other. Do you believe no one even noticed there was a gun shot? They probably thought it was Gina’s sloppy old truck backfiring again. All I needed to do was get rid of him, so I could run the restaurant on my own. He was getting in the way and seemed like he was getting close with Gina again. I followed him here and that was the final straw. There was no way I was going to let him make a fool out of me by being with her. I couldn’t risk having him tell her the truth or that she’d never be on that silly little television show again. I’d say I’m pretty good at what I do. Plus, it’s not like you do any worthwhile business around here so I don’t expect a rush of customers or anything.” Teresa let out a laugh that was almost maniacal.

  “She’s right.” Yvette looked at Henry, a thought occurring to her.

  Yvette had seen Max’s car pull in the parking lot. She knew that if she could keep Teresa around long enough to engage her a little more so that she would incriminate herself in front of him. If Yvette could just keep it going until Max got inside, he might overhear and call the police.

  “What do you mean she’s right? She’s insane!” Henry scoffed.

  “It works for her though, doesn’t it? She played all of us like a fiddle and I think it’s brilliant.” Yvette turned to look at Teresa. “Does the offer still stand? Us working together I mean?”

  “You can’t con a con artist, sweetie. There’s nothing you can do to get yourself out of this now.”

  “I disagree. I’ve been working for Sundae Afternoon for two years and for the family that owns it for nearly all my life. I have an in that no one else does. You want this shop closed down, I can make that happen in less than a month. You want help placing the blame on someone for Damien’s death? I think it was Gina. In fact, now that I’m thinking more clearly, I distinctly remember seeing vanilla extract on the shelf. There was no need for Gina to get it. She used that as a cover and killed Damien herself,” Yvette’s sarcasm was strong, but she was hoping Teresa would believe her.

  “Because she couldn’t stand the thought of him being near her. Damien wasn’t a great guy and she knew that all too well. So, your idea is certainly a believable option. What’s in it for you?” Teresa asked. “Besides not dying of course?”

  “Nothing. I don’t need anything but to get out of here. I want to go home, run my shop and that’s it. Henry, what do you think? You and Teresa can be together now that Damien is out of the way. You said you liked her.” Yvette gave him a discreet look that she’d hoped he’d caught.

  “It’s a lot to process but you’re right. I do like her,” Henry said, looking at Teresa.

  Teresa looked between Yvette and Henry, hopefully satisfied with how everything was playing out. “This isn’t exactly how I planned for this meeting to go but I like the direction it’s headed,” she admitted.

  “I bet you weren’t planning this either.” Max came through the kitchen door, holding it open for a team of police officers.

  Detective Biltz led the way. “Mrs. Grant, you are under arrest for the murder of Damien Grant.”

  16

  I can’t believe you would even consider stepping foot back in this place,” Henry balked when he saw Gina enter Sundae Afternoon.

  “I’m not here to cause trouble or anything. I figured you’d all be here and each one of you deserves an apology from me.” Gina took a few more steps inside.

  “I don’t want to hear what you have to say,” Henry grumbled.

  “I do.” Yvette walked over to meet Gina.

  Henry, Max and Yvette were all at Sundae Afternoon on Yvette’s last day there. They’d been having a meeting of sorts, discussing different options for the shop to move forward in a better way now what Teresa and her cohorts were out of the picture.

  “Thanks,” Gina played with the strap on her purse, clearly having a hard time.

  “Fine. But she better not even think of asking for her job back.” Henry reluctantly agreed and gestured to the chairs around him for the women to take a seat.

  Gina sat and leaned her elbows on the table. “I’m not here for my job or for a place to live. I’ve taken all of my stuff out of your house and I don’t intend on staying in the area once I
leave here. I know I made some serious mistakes and none of you should have been a pawn in what we had going on. Two years ago, before I moved here, I lived in Tarfield, Rhode Island. Damien was my boyfriend and we were planning on opening our own restaurant together. Everything was going along great until Teresa moved to town. We hired her to help us out and she ended up taking Damien away from me. They got married quickly and opened the restaurant together, using all of my ideas. When I realized what they had done, I threatened to sue them, and Teresa offered me money to go away. I was hurt and didn’t know what else to do so I accepted it.”

  “I can’t believe you used to date him. Now it makes sense why Teresa said she thought you two were getting close again and why you were so calm when you found his body. What a terrible thing for him to have done!” Yvette exclaimed.

  “Well, we had been getting close again. He knew that I was alone in the shop each morning and he’d come to see me every now and then. I guess that last time, Teresa finally caught him. Damien wasn’t a perfect man by any stretch of the imagination. He hurt me pretty badly, but I’ve always loved him, and I was devastated when he died. I had to try really hard to not let it show so I tried to make a joke about liking scary movies, so you’d get distracted by that.”

  “Why were they here and why on earth did you let them back in your life?” Yvette was beginning to feel bad for Gina.

  “What they opened was the Oh Hey Ganachery. That was my idea. When they came here the first time, it was just to mess with me. But Teresa told me that if I didn’t agree to work with her that she’d make it, so I’d never get on Bakery Wars again. I agreed to that too since it had always been a dream of mine to win. She conned me into throwing the contest, hoping I’d get fired and have a reason to work for her. I followed her around and did everything she asked, and I don’t even know why. The first time I went on the show, I lost on purpose for her and I did so many awful things just for the thought of being able to go on again.” Gina put her head down. “Which will obviously never happen now that Teresa is going to jail.”