Meringue and Mischief

by Ramona Ransom

  Nessa invited him in, got him some water and a couple of sports drinks, and offered him a sandwich. As they ate, she decided to bring up Laverne.

  “With everything going on lately, I have to ask. Did you ever meet Laverne?”

  Clint nodded and finished chewing. “Twice. I met her the day I told you I got the job at the house, and then I went again the next day.”

  “How come?” Nessa asked.

  “I went the first day so she could meet me, and I went again for Mavery. I guess either Laverne or Renata hired Ranger’s company to do some cleaning, and it was the first time Mavery would be on the job. She was so nervous about meeting Laverne after all the stories she’d heard about her. When I told her that I went there the day before, she asked for tips. I offered to go with her instead. I figured if Laverne gave us a hard time, I could act like I was there for my own work stuff and not there to support Mavery.”

  “How come Ranger didn’t go with her?” Nessa knew the answer already since he’d been at the bakery but didn’t think Clint knew that.

  “He wanted to get some gift for Laverne or whatever. I don’t know why, but people acted so weirdly around her.”

  “What was she like?” Nessa asked. “I’ve heard stories, too. Was she nice to you?”

  “She didn’t yell at me or anything if that’s what you mean. She was short with her words and rather blunt. She spent more time talking about her cable box than anything else. She wanted it to record five shows at once, but it only recorded three.”

  Nessa thought back to the letter from Bizzie and how Samson said something about Cody being a cable guy who had previous issues with Laverne.

  “That’s a lot of shows to record at once.”

  “Yeah, and she asked me for help, but I don’t know anything about cable. I don’t even have cable at my house.” Clint took another bite of his sandwich.

  “But she didn’t get mad at you for not being able to fix it or anything?” Nessa asked. “Did she mention anything about someone from the cable company coming out to help?”

  “She said she had a special setup with them or something. That she only allowed one worker at her house, and no one else was welcome. I don’t know, to be honest. That’s all she really said about it. Then, when I went with Mavery, she didn’t talk about it at all other than to say they were coming that night to help. She showed Mavery everything she wanted done and that was about it.”

  “How long were you guys there for?”

  “An hour or so, I guess. Why?” Clint asked.

  “Just wondering.” Nessa smiled and let Clint finish his food. She appreciated that he didn’t ask many questions. As he ate, she thought about calling the cable company to see if she could figure anything out. Laverne said that someone was coming out but also that it was a private setup and only that one person was allowed. If Nessa could find out who the person was, maybe it would help. She assumed that it wasn’t Cody based on the rock-raking story she’d heard, but that meant there was someone else involved.

  She still believed that Abby or Erica had something to do with Laverne’s death, but if she could figure out who the mystery cable man was, then maybe she’d be adding another person to her list. One thing she was thankful for was that Laverne hadn’t been mean to Clint. She didn’t believe that Clint or Mavery would have killed anyone, but if any of the stories about Laverne were true, anything was possible.

  “Thanks for the sandwich. I’d better get back to work. I promised Ranger I’d talk to him later.”

  “I hope everything is okay,” Nessa said. She knew how hard Ranger could be to deal with.

  “Actually, he said he wanted to talk about Laverne. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you two were investigating a murder.” Clint laughed.

  He knew that Nessa liked to ask questions and why, but not Ranger. However, now Nessa had to wonder why Ranger was asking questions at all. Was he trying to solve the murder, too?

  “Weird.” Nessa grinned. “I hope someone solves it soon. Life sure is getting crazy around here.”

  “Yeah. I think he wants to talk about what happened with Renata and how she was supposed to rent to someone else before Laverne showed up. I told him I didn’t know anything about it, but he still wants to talk.” Clint shrugged and brought his dishes to the sink. “Back to work. I’ll see you later!”

  It sounded like Ranger was, in fact, trying to solve Laverne’s murder, and it looked like he was one step behind her.

  Chapter Twelve

  “What are you doing right now?” Faye asked, seeing the exasperated look on Nessa’s face.

  “Trying to decide what flavor meringue cookies to make. I’m procrastinating even making them and pretending it’s the flavor that has me caught up. Really, though, I’m afraid to try to make them. I think they won’t do that fancy little whipped thing where they stand up straight in those little peaks.”

  Faye tilted her head and stared at Nessa. “You aren’t even going to try?”

  “I mean, I will eventually, but not yet. I can’t seem to get out of my own way lately. Maybe I should try something else.”

  “You can’t try something else if you haven’t even bothered to try the first thing yet,” Faye pointed out.

  Nessa loved having the older woman in her life. She told her like it was in the kindest possible way, and that reminded her of her grandmother. A take no nonsense, but kind to the bone sort of lady. She loved to help others and would spend her days serving people in any way that she could.

  “I know. I guess I’m distracted by this whole murder thing. There are so many little details to figure out.”

  “But you intend to figure them out, right?” Faye asked, already knowing the answer. “So, treat your recipe like your investigation.”

  “Okay, but…” Nessa began.

  “But you want to talk about the murder first? Go ahead, get it out of your system.” Faye laughed.

  Nessa poured herself a cup of coffee, made sure that the few customers in the bakery had what they needed, and started her story. She explained everything to Faye, who didn’t say a word until she was done.

  “You said Samson. Do you happen to know if it’s Samson Pascale?” Faye asked.

  “I have no idea. Why? Who is Samson Pascale?”

  “I’m going to take bets that it’s the same person. A while back, a man named Samson got himself into some trouble, and since your guy is now doing community service with Bizzie, it makes sense that it’s him.”

  “What did he do?”

  “He got caught stealing from a fundraiser the town had last year. He had to pay back the money and do community service for eighteen months.”

  “Oh, wow. And how do you know about it?” Nessa asked.

  “My answer is usually the same. Rose at the Wash and Curl told me.” Faye laughed. “If you need information, ask Rose. That’s my favorite saying.”

  “Did she say anything else?”

  “I know that Renata turned him in. She was the co-chair on the committee with Samson’s mom. I think she found out that Samson did it and went to the police as soon as she found out. There was some trouble after the fact with Renata and Samson’s mom. In fact, I’m almost positive they still aren’t speaking even after all this time.”

  “Interesting.” Nessa wondered if Samson could have had anything to do with Laverne’s death.

  “What are you thinking?” Faye asked. “Hold that thought. A customer is coming.”

  Faye and Nessa took care of the customer that came in, getting them a bear claw and four raspberry-filled chocolate cupcakes. The moment they were out the door, Nessa was ready to keep talking.

  “What if Samson killed Laverne?”

  “For what reason?” Faye asked.

  “I don’t know. Maybe he saw her from behind and thought it was Renata.” Nessa knew it was a reach since the women didn’t look alike.

  “How would he have gotten in the house?”

  “Good point. Plus, he has reason
to be mad at Renata, but not Laverne. At least that we know of. Do you think there’s any way you could find out if he had any personal experiences with Laverne? Maybe Rose knows something.”

  “I can ask, but Samson should know better than to get in trouble again. I don’t think the courts will be as forgiving next time. We don’t know if he even knew Laverne, but if he did, how would he have gotten in? We both know how particular Laverne was, and you didn’t even know her.”

  Nessa sighed. Faye was right. Samson killing Laverne didn’t make any sense.

  “What if he was so mad at Renata for turning him in that he killed Laverne?”

  “Why, though?” Faye asked. “It seems like you’re looking for an answer anywhere you can find it. I don’t think that’s going to help.”

  “I don’t know. Maybe he knew Laverne had money and that if she was dead, Renata wouldn’t get any. Just like he didn’t get any after she turned him in.” Nessa threw out the idea, knowing it was farfetched but still possible.

  “I guess that might work. I’ll see what Rose says and let you know. For now, though, you should get your butt back in that kitchen and see what you can come up with for those cookies before I call Bizzie and tell her you need help.”

  Nessa gasped. “Please don’t call Bizzie!” She dashed into the back, laughing her way there. She’d spend the next twenty-four hours straight working on a recipe with no sleep, or food or drinks, so long as that meant Bizzie wasn’t coming to help.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Nessa opened every drawer and cabinet in the kitchen. She didn’t even know where to begin. In all of her research, she’d found a recipe for meringue cookies that were more half-bake than no-bake, but that was still better than full-bake. The recipe said to turn on the oven to 375 degrees and let it preheat until she was ready to put the cookies in. As soon as they went in, she was supposed to turn the oven off. She was leery, but after continuing to read, she found out that she could even leave the cookies in the oven overnight if she wanted to, so she figured she couldn’t mess that up.

  Nessa preheated the oven and finally decided on a raspberry white chocolate meringue cookie. With that settled, she knew to only use egg whites and not the yolks, but since she didn’t want to waste them, she kept them in a separate bowl for someone else to use. Once she’d completed the egg separation, only ruining three eggs, she put the yolks into the fridge and took out a handheld mixer. She hadn’t yet mastered the commercial mixer. She added sugar into the egg whites, trying to mix slowly, so she didn’t make a mess. She’d heard that some meringue recipes called for cream of tartar, but she decided to go without it this time. Once the egg whites and sugar were mixed, she added a few drops of raspberry extract for flavor and some mini white chocolate chips. Using a spatula, she mixed everything together and then dropped spoonfuls of the mixture onto a pan lined with parchment paper. She didn’t know if she was supposed to do that or not but didn’t want to take the chance. Once the pan was full and the oven was preheated, she put the cookies in and immediately shut off the oven.

  She cleaned up her mess and told herself how good she’d done. She spent so much time worrying about what would happen that she hadn’t done anything at all. That wasn’t to say that the cookies would be a success in the end, but at least she’d made her first effort.

  Nessa knew everything in the front of the bakery was being taken care of by Faye, so she decided to check her phone for any messages. Seeing nothing, she wondered what Chloe was doing. She’d be there soon for her shift, and Nessa was looking forward to working with her for the rest of the day.

  “I’m going to check the mail,” Nessa said, letting Faye know. She went outside to the mailbox, and the only thing she found in the box was an envelope addressed to her. She opened it, seeing another note from Bizzie. This time, she’d cut out words and letters from a magazine to tell her story.

  In blocky, mismatched letters, the note said,

  Don’t forget about Cody. He’s not as innocent as he looks.

  Nessa looked at the envelope, seeing there was a stamp and a postmark. She wondered why Bizzie had done it differently this time but quickly gave up. Nothing Bizzie did ever made sense. Faye had just joked and said she would call her to help with cookies, and now, here Bizzie was helping with the murder.

  Back inside the bakery, she tucked the note into her purse and pulled out her phone. She found the local number for the cable company and pressed the call button. Right away, someone answered, and Nessa pretended to be Renata. She told the woman that someone had come to her house and had been so kind to her but that she’d forgotten his name. She wanted to send in a compliment about him but wanted to know his name first. She wasn’t sure if it would work, but once she gave Renata’s address, the woman told her that the last technician out was named Cody. She thanked the woman for her help and quickly ended the call before she asked what the compliment was or realized that the address she gave was the same one where a woman had been killed.

  With confirmation that Cody had gone to the house along with the note from Bizzie, Nessa was starting to believe that maybe Cody did have something to do with Laverne’s death.

  Nessa wished that there was a way for her to find out who the technician was that Laverne had preferred, but since she knew that Cody had been the one to find her, she had to wonder how it all fit together. Surely Cody wasn’t her favorite after the story Samson had told.

  If Cody showed up there to do a job, and Laverne became angry when she saw him, it was possible that Cody killed her and then called the police, saying he’d been the one to find her. The only thing that didn’t fit was that if Cody went to Laverne’s the day Clint and Mavery were there, he didn’t call in to the police until the day after. There had to be another person involved.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Do you want me to go with you?” Chloe asked.

  “No. I’ll be fine,” Nessa said as she slung her purse over her shoulder. She’d been awake for hours, waiting for Chloe to wake up so she could tell her where she was going.

  “But what if something bad happens?”

  Nessa turned to face Chloe. “The reason why I told you where I was going is in case something bad happens. If you don’t hear from me in thirty minutes, text me. If I don’t answer, call me. If I don’t answer the call, then call the police.”

  “Thirty minutes feels like a long time,” Chloe said, picking at her fingernails.

  “It’s going to take me ten minutes to drive there. That leaves me twenty minutes to talk to Cody. I’m not going to say anything so bad that he will decide he wants to kill me over it, but I figure by the time twenty minutes hits, he’s going to have a good idea that I’m looking into him for the murder. If you want, you can text me in twenty minutes to check-in. How does that sound?”

  Nessa didn’t want Chloe to panic or be so worried about her that she’d call and text every two minutes, but she wanted to make sure Chloe was comfortable. She’d have told someone else that she was going to talk to Cody but knew they’d try to talk her out of it, no matter who it was.

  “I can do that. I’ll text you in twenty minutes, so that means you’ll only be with him for ten minutes, and that makes me feel better.” Chloe, finally relaxing, went into the kitchen. “I’m going to make myself something to eat while I wait. Maybe it’ll make the time go by faster.”

  Nessa told Chloe that everything would be okay and headed over to the apartment building where she believed Cody lived. All she had to do was search for the name Cody and cable company in Lake Wilawalo, and she was able to find an address for him. Things were so easy to find these days, and in this instance, it wasn’t a bad thing.

  When she pulled into the parking lot of the apartment building, Nessa drove around until she found a free parking spot. She got out, making sure she had her pepper spray, just in case anything got out of hand and went to Cody’s door. Before she even got the chance to lift her hand to knock, the door opened, and she was face to fa
ce with who she assumed was Cody. She looked down, seeing two dogs standing next to him, eager to go out.

  “Oh, hello,” Cody said. “Are you looking for someone?”

  “Are you Cody?” she asked.

  “I am. Who are you?” He looked down at the dogs, patting each of them on the head.

  “My name is Nessa, and I was hoping you had a second to talk.”

  “I was just about to take my dogs out, but if you don’t mind walking with us, then I guess I have a bit of time. What’s this about?”

  Nessa breathed a sigh of relief. She felt much more comfortable walking in public with Cody than she did going inside his home.

  “Sure, I can go for a walk.”

  Cody closed his door and led the way outside. “I usually take them around the complex. We have a pet walking area around the whole place. Does that work for you?” he asked.

  “That’s fine,” Nessa said.

  “So, what do you want to talk about?” Cody asked.

  “I heard a story about you, and I was hoping you might be able to clear things up for me.”

  “Oh, boy. I wonder who has what to say now?” Cody rolled his eyes.

  Nessa, trying to figure out a good way to broach the subject, knew she’d probably have to dive in headfirst to get any worthwhile answers. There was no sense in beating around the bush.

  “You work for the cable company, right?” Nessa asked.

  “I do. If you need help with your cable, you should call for an appointment. I can give you the number,” Cody said, directing the dogs.

  “It’s not about that,” Nessa said, wondering how often people came to him for help instead of calling for an appointment. “I heard you were the guy who found Laverne Donahue. Is that true?”

  “Are you a reporter?” Cody asked, shying away.

  Why did people keep asking her that?

  “I’m not. I was told that you had some issues with her in the past, and I was wondering if they were true.”