Sweet Taffy and the Marshmallow Murder: Sweet Taffy Cozy Mysteries Book #2

by Dana Moss

  Maria raised an eyebrow.

  “His ‘usual’!” Taffy chewed at her lips to prevent spewing venom.

  “It’s just coffee. Not his favorite sleeping position or, you know—”

  Taffy cut her off with an angry growl-moan. “You don’t know what coffee means to Ethan!”

  Maria placed the calm pressure of her hand over Taffy’s tapping fingers. “You’re really making too much of this. They’re work colleagues. Don’t worry about it.”

  The bell above the door jangled again.

  Taffy let out a long breath. “Okay, I know. You’re right. I don’t know what’s gotten into me.”

  There was a commotion up at the counter as a couple of file folders fell to the floor, scattering papers everywhere. This was followed by a gasp-y squeal of frustration.

  Taffy saw Kyle come around the corner to help a long-legged, short-skirted, curly-headed, buxom paper dropper.

  “I’m so clumsy,” she muttered, and she followed that up with a dozen thank-yous. Then she ordered an Earl Grey tea and begged Kyle to tell her where the law office was. “I’m the new temp there, and I’ve no clue how to find it.”

  Kyle explained it was just up on the next block.

  Taffy watched Maria watch the temp load up her tea with honey and then leave.

  “They’re just work colleagues,” Taffy said with a smirk. “Don’t worry about it.”

  Maria opened her mouth to say something, but her attention was caught as the door opened again.

  “Hey, isn’t that Monica?”

  Taffy turned. Monica was scanning the coffee shop but barely registered Taffy and Maria. She beelined for the group of girls at the back.

  “Carlie! It’s time to come home.”

  The girl named Carlie heard her and quickly gathered her stuff up. Monica practically dragged her out of the coffee shop as she whined, “Monnnny, stop tugging.”

  As they passed by, Taffy overheard Monica whisper to Carlie, “I told you I don’t want you hanging out with that crowd.”

  “But they’re my friends.”

  “No, they’re not.”

  Taffy followed them to the front door.

  “Monica?”

  She turned, seemed to recognize Taffy, and narrowed her eyes. “What do you want?” Her eyes slid past Taffy to Maria, who was walking toward them from the back.

  “We’d like to ask you a few more questions,” Maria said.

  “About what? If it has to do with Tyler, I don’t have anything more to say.”

  Carlie looked up at her older sister and whispered, “Is it something about Rex?”

  “Carlie! Mom is going to be so mad when she finds out who you’re spending time with.”

  “But she can’t—”

  “We have to get home now,” Monica said to Taffy and Maria. She pulled Carlie out of the coffee shop and down the sidewalk.

  Definitely hiding something, Taffy thought.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Ethan stayed over at Taffy’s that night, but he was so tired from upgrading trails with Melanie all day that he had no energy left for romance. “We rebuilt two creek bridges today. Mel stayed late to deal with the rotten lumber. She gives it her all, I tell you.”

  Taffy didn’t want him to tell her any more about Mel. But he kept on going.

  “Do you know that last summer she crossed the southern United States with nothing but a tent, sleeping bag, and backpack?” He shook his head in wonder.

  “And your point is?”

  “Two whole months of camping. Three weeks of that was spent hiking the Grand Canyon. Must have been amazing.”

  Taffy didn’t like where this was headed. “Camping is overrated.”

  “You’re still game to try it though, right? I was thinking maybe next weekend, was going to check with Maria.”

  Taffy shrugged. She’d leave it to Maria to deflect these plans.

  Ethan had accepted her apology about her shenanigans at the campground. He’d asked her to “just give Mel a chance,” explaining, “obviously she hadn’t had an easy go of things.” Nothing seemed obvious to Taffy, and while she nodded and said okay, she really had no intention of making things easier for Melanie. She was on her own as far as Taffy was concerned. But Ethan seemed to rest a bit easier.

  In fact, within minutes of climbing into bed, he was snoring like a bear.

  Midnight sat at the foot of the bed cleaning his face with the edge of his paw. Every so often, he looked at her as if to say, “Him? Really? You chose him?”

  Taffy had a difficult time falling asleep. She tossed and turned and thought about Melanie from Mendocino invading her life, about canoes on dark lakes, and about vultures trailing ribbons of shoelaces…

  By the time morning broke, she was groggy as a sloth. A bright-eyed and freshly showered Ethan had to shake her awake.

  “Taff? Hey, Taff?”

  She pushed up her silk eye pillow. “Huh?” Her mouth was gummy from sleep. She hoped Ethan didn’t want to kiss just yet. “Let me brush my teeth first.”

  “I’ve got to pick up Mel this morning. She sent me a text. Something’s wrong with her car.”

  Taffy moaned and rolled over. If Ethan wasn’t turning on his love drugs, she was going to find her ticket back to dreamland.

  Ethan rubbed her shoulder. “Taff? Can you do me a favor? I’ve got some fresh cases of ale for Ted in my trunk. If I put them in yours, could you drop them by the bar later? I’ve got to pick up coffee shop supplies and the park is going to be busy with campers today. It’s going to be a long one.”

  Taffy’s words were muffled with her face pressed to her pillow. “What about the movie tonight?”

  “With Finn and Maria? I’ll meet you at the theater before it starts.”

  He rubbed her back, and she rolled over, wishing he could stay. Sleep was only the second best option in a bed. She grabbed his hand. “Do you really have to go right now?”

  He leaned over her and kissed her forehead. “I do. But it’s Friday, and we’ve got the weekend crew coming in, so I’ll be able to sleep in this weekend.”

  “Not just sleep.” She ran her fingers through his hair before he pulled away and was off out the door.

  Taffy dozed for a while longer, and then she remembered that Maria had arranged to speak with Rex at the high school that morning. She dressed quickly and wound her hair into a messy bun, similar to how Cara had done hers yesterday. She called Ellie at work to tell her she was going to be away from the office because of police business, and then she drove to the police station to meet Maria.

  Maria was ready to head over to the high school right away and led the way to the parking lot before Taffy had a chance to take her jacket off.

  “So far, we’ve had two people tell us Tyler had a conflict with Rex. Three if you count Jenny’s mom not holding a very high opinion of him based on my conversation with her.” She unlocked the unmarked cruiser. “I really wish she hadn’t skipped town.”

  Taffy got into the passenger side of the unmarked cruiser. “Could we get her on the phone to answer some more questions? We could try asking her mom for the cousin’s contact info in Hawaii.”

  Maria fired up the engine. “I’ll get Malcolm on it.”

  “So what did Tyler have against Rex, or Rex with Tyler, apart from Jenny?” Taffy mused as they pulled into traffic. “Could it just be a jealous rivalry?”

  “I can see that leading to fistfights, but not murder.”

  “Unless it was an accident.”

  “Or suicide.”

  “You’re really leaning on the suicide option, huh?”

  “Adolescence is an emotionally volatile time. Decision making isn’t all that rational.”

  “I don’t think that’s limited to adolescence.” Taffy was thinking of her silly spider maneuver.

  “We can all regress, “ Maria agreed. “And adults can be just as irrational at times, but there’s usually a strong motivation behind drastic actions. With teens,
a distorted perception can make the situation balloon out of proportion. There was a case last year in Portland of a fifteen-year-old who shot herself because her boyfriend broke up with her. I mean, don’t you just wish you could go back there and say, honey, no boy’s worth a shot to the head, no matter how bad it feels?”

  Taffy shuddered. “So we’re all lucky to have survived teenagehood?”

  “ A lot of teens just don’t have a firm grasp on the consequences of their actions, whether with drugs, sex, or violence.”

  “But I’d still argue that teens haven’t cornered the market on all that stuff.”

  “To that, I’d counter-argue that we’re all carrying our inner teenagers around with us everyday.”

  That was starting to feel too true for Taffy.

  “Have you looked at Tyler’s emails? Maybe he reached out to someone?”

  “Lucy conducted the search of his room. We’ve got his computer down at the station, but everything personal has been deleted. Almost as if he knew he wasn’t going to be around.”

  They parked in the high school visitors’ lot. Rex was already waiting in Mr. Ainsley’s office by the time they’d signed in.

  Wearing a varsity baseball jacket over his uniform, Rex looked as if he’d come straight from the field. He stood up when Maria entered. His stance was self-assured and confident, but his brown eyes looked shifty and nervous. A bead of sweat hung at his temple, just above his ear, but he might have just come from the baseball field. He gave Taffy a brief glance after Ainsley introduced her. They all sat down.

  Maria said, “Rex, we need to ask you a few questions about the last time you saw Tyler.”

  He nodded. Taffy noticed his fists clenched briefly, and then he rubbed his hands along his thighs.

  “A couple of students said that you argued with him at the campsite Sunday night, the night he died.”

  Rex crossed his arms. “Are you trying to make it sound like I killed him?”

  “Not at all. Just trying to put the pieces together.” Maria watched him closely.

  Rex glanced at Mr. Ainsley. “Should I be calling my grandfather?”

  “No need to bother the mayor. Your parents were sure you’d be fine with answering any questions. We let them know Detective Salinas would be here today.”

  Maria leaned forward. “No one’s accusing you of anything, Rex. Jenny said you and Tyler had a bit of a fight that night. I’d like to know about that.”

  Rex shifted in his seat and kept his arms crossed. “He was up in my face about stuff. Saying things that weren’t true. Blaming me for hurting Jenny, when he was the one hurting her.”

  “How so?”

  He looked away for a minute, out the window. “Jenny, man? I just want what’s best for her.”

  “Sounds like you both did.”

  “Tyler had the wrong idea about me.”

  “Such as?”

  He swiveled his head back to Maria. “He thought I was cutting his grass. And sure, I wanted Jenny back with me, but it was her choice. She was making that choice Sunday night.”

  “She was planning on breaking up with Tyler and getting back with you?”

  He shrugged. “You’d have to ask her. I thought that’s what was happening, but then he came by the campground. Mad as hell about something. He wanted to take Jenny away. But we were all having a good time. I told him to leave. He got pissy.”

  “Did he seem intoxicated? Or like he was on drugs at the time?”

  “Who said anything about drugs?” His eyes flicked to Ainsley and then back to Maria. “We were just drinking a bit while camping. It’s not like it’s a—” He sat up straighter. “I mean, I guess it is a crime, but you know…” He shrugged. “We’re about to graduate. Cut us some slack.”

  Maria looked down at her notes. “Mr. Ainsley here told me you’re the star pitcher and captain of the school team … the Abandon Argonauts?”

  Rex smiled proudly. “That’s right. They call me King Oedipus Rex.” He leaned back in his chair, and his chest seemed to expand. He looked at Ainsley. “We played well in Salem. That scout was there. Liked what he saw.”

  Ainsley nodded. “Well done, Rex.”

  Maria frowned at the praise. “Did you see anything strange that night at the campground?”

  Rex shook his head. “Look, Tyler came to see Jenny, to take her home, and she wouldn’t go. He blamed me. Tried to push me around. I got a right hook to his lip. He backed off after that. Left. That was the last I saw of him.”

  “Where was Jenny?”

  “Crying with her girlfriends by then. Tyler left on his own. Didn’t see him again that night.”

  “Or ever,” Taffy murmured.

  Rex looked over at her. “Yeah, that too. Hey, I’m really sorry about what happened. But I didn’t have anything to do with it.”

  Maria raised an eyebrow. She watched him closely as he said, “I didn’t like the guy much but it’s not like I thought he should be dead.”

  Maria closed her notebook, but Taffy knew what she was thinking because she was having the same thought: So who did? Who wanted Tyler Bradford dead?

  “Look, I should get back to the field. I don’t know what else I can tell you.”

  “I might need to ask you more questions. And if you think of anything else, call me.” Maria handed him her card. He tucked it into his jacket pocket and then left the office.

  As Taffy and Maria prepared to leave, Mr. Ainsley gave Taffy a long, warm smile and shook her hand a little longer than was comfortable. “It’s so good to see you again. Thanks for stopping by.” He glanced at Maria. “She’s helpful with the questioning, don’t you think?”

  Maria parted her lips to comment, seemed to think twice, and then just nodded with a smile. “We’ll get to the bottom of this.” She headed toward the exit.

  Outside, Maria stopped and stared up at the cloud-filled sky.

  Taffy said, “That Rex was pretty cocky.”

  “What eighteen-year-old male athlete isn’t?”

  “Do you think he had something to do with Tyler ending up in that canoe?”

  “Doesn’t matter if I do. We’d have to find evidence to prove it.”

  “He seemed a bit jumpy when you mentioned drugs.”

  “I noticed that too.” Maria was still staring at the sky. “Looks like it might rain.”

  “Maybe Rex was the one to give Tyler drugs that night? Maybe that raccoon baggie belonged to Rex?”

  “That would be called a leap rather than a lead.”

  “But I have a hunch he’s not telling us everything about that night.”

  Maria sighed. “A case can’t be based on ‘maybes’ and hunches.”

  “You’ve got to start somewhere,” Taffy mumbled.

  Maria was being too cautious. Taffy was sure Rex had played some part in Tyler’s death. Maybe it was just a hunch right now, but Taffy’s hunches usually turned out to be right.

  A few splattery drops started to fall from the sky. “Uh oh. I left the top down on the Bentley.”

  “Let’s head back to the PD, shall we?”

  Thinking of her supple leather seats, Taffy said, “Any chance we could pull out the siren on the way back?”

  Maria rolled her eyes. “It’s time you got a new car, my friend.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  They drove back to the station. Before they’d even pulled into a parking spot, Taffy was thumbing the button on her key fob that activated the convertible roof. It unfolded and arced over the damp leather seats. Maria offered to lend Taffy her freshly laundered gym towel before going inside to help Lucy with a vandalism complaint she was trying to sort out.

  The brief rain shower slowly abated, having spent itself primarily while Taffy’s top had been down. As she crawled around her car wiping beads of rain from the seats, she admitted it just might be time to trade in the Bentley for something more practical. She just didn’t think of herself as a practical person. Abandon, along with Ethan, seemed intent on chan
ging her.

  As she cruised down Main Street on her way back to the candy factory, she saw the white SUV with the For Sale sign in its window. The one from the mall parking lot. It cruised past her and turned up a street leading to a cul de sac. Taffy pulled over and dug out the number. She waited a few minutes before dialing and then called to confirm the car was still for sale. A slightly out-of-breath woman, who said she’d just walked in as the phone was ringing, told Taffy she was welcome to come over for a test drive if she was in the neighborhood. She waited ten minutes, giving the woman a chance to catch her breath, and then drove to the cul de sac.

  When Taffy knocked on the door, the woman who answered looked faintly familiar. She introduced herself as Deborah Hughes. Her named seemed familiar too. She looked past Taffy at the Bentley parked on the street.

  “That’s not your car, is it?”

  “Uh, it’s actually my grandmother’s. I’ve been borrowing it, but I have to give it back soon, so I’m looking for something new to replace it.”

  “New? My car’s not exactly new.”

  “New to me. My grandmother’s car is a bit ostentatious.”

  Deborah Hughes smiled. “Not what we usually see around here, that’s for sure.” She grabbed a set of car keys. “Let’s go have a look.”

  Taffy knew who she looked like now: Jenny. It must be her mom. The SUV was the same one that had pulled up in front of the school. Deborah had the same good looks as her daughter. At her age, she was not as slender, but still somewhat delicate. She had the same color hair except for Jenny’s temporary dip dye and Deborah’s few wisps of white at her temples.

  “You have a daughter named Jenny, right?”

  Deborah wheeled around. “What do you know about her?”

  “I just met her the other day at the school. In the nurse’s office before you picked her up.”

  Deborah nodded. “I see.” Her eyes softened. “Do you work at the school?”

  “I was talking to Mr. Ainsley about field trip possibilities. I run the Sweet Abandon Candy Factory.”

  Deborah smiled. “My husband loves the caramel taffies. I always have to keep a bowl of them around.”

  “And lots of dental floss and toothpaste, I imagine.”