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

by Dana Moss

“So grow up and make friends with Melanie already. Then apologize to Ethan and move on.”

  “It’s not that easy.”

  “It is, actually. Geez, you befriended a potential murder suspect.”

  Taffy sighed. “I was so wrong about her.”

  Kyle appeared beside their table. “Your latte, sweet Taffy.”

  She thanked him and dove into it with both lips, scalding her tongue in the process.

  Maria said, “I went by the Bradfords’ this morning, after getting your message and reviewing Lucy’s information, but Cara wasn’t there. Noel said she’d gone away for a few days. Back to San Diego. Left this morning.”

  “Did he know about the baby?”

  “Didn’t seem to.”

  “Maybe Cara changed her mind then. Maybe she’s not going to keep it after all. She knows about Noel and Shannon, by the way.”

  “But if she’s the one who destroyed all this info on Tyler’s computer and forged that note….” Maria shook her head. “Why would she do all that if not to cover something up?”

  “Like sleeping with her stepson?”

  Maria shrugged and sipped her coffee. “I have a colleague in San Diego tracking her down now.”

  “They’ll send her back here and you’ll carry on with the case?”

  “I doubt Cara’s a cold-blooded killer, and the evidence still points to suicide, but we’ll work in any extra puzzle pieces she can provide.” Maria sighed. “What a messed-up family. Makes you wonder if marriage and kids are really worth it.”

  Taffy raised an eyebrow. “You’re still not sure about Finn?”

  “It’s not that. It’s just the whole wedding thing.

  “How did your talk go last night? Better than mine, I hope.”

  Maria managed a half smile. “Finn agreed to delay our wedding plans. I told him I didn’t want my worries about Mama to affect our own natural timing. He said it was entirely up to me.” Her smile filled out. “He said he’d be ready to dash off to Vegas in the next twenty minutes or else he’d be willing to wait for the next twenty years.”

  “Maria, I think you’re blushing.”

  She bent her head shyly. “He really loves me.”

  “Glad that’s finally sinking in.” Taffy, on the other hand, felt like she was on relationship probation. She wasn’t sure how she was going to get back into Ethan’s good graces.

  Maria’s phone buzzed with a text notification. She read the screen. “Lucy needs me back at the station. I’ll see you later this afternoon?”

  Taffy nodded. The queen and the duchess were due back from the Mayo Clinic and said they’d take a taxi from the airport. “I’ll meet you at your house after work.”

  As Maria stood to leave, she added, “Hey, I’m really sorry about Cara. I know you thought she had the makings of a good friend.”

  Taffy rolled her eyes. “I’m not sure if I could recognize a good friend if one slapped me in the face.”

  “Is that an invitation?” Maria grinned and squeezed her shoulder. “Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

  After Maria left, Taffy finished her latte. Then she dug around in her purse for a bit of lip gloss. If she really did look as ragamuffin as Maria said, she’d better make a small effort before going into work.

  Her fingers prodded and tickled the purse’s innards but she couldn’t fine her lip gloss wand. Instead, she pulled out the USB stick. Uh oh. She still hadn’t returned it to Lucy. She also hadn’t had a really good look at it. Not since she’d added that extra file.

  ~

  Later that afternoon, Taffy drove over to Maria’s house.

  A tan Jeep Sahara with a small dent on the driver’s side was just pulling away from Maria’s house as Taffy parked. So Melanie had infiltrated her best friend’s house as well? A shovel and a rake were leaning against the stair railing, and a small pile of dirt sat beside a recently dug hole. Next to that was a burlap-wrapped rose bush ready to be planted.

  Maria came out of the house. “Don’t be mad. Ethan said that Mel wanted to do something to help, and I really wanted to get this rosebush planted in honor of my mom coming home, and you know I’ve got a black thumb, and—”

  “It’s okay, Maria.”

  “She went to the nursery to get some extra soil. Just come inside until the taxi gets here. You don’t even have to see her.”

  “It’s fine. I can handle it.” Taffy walked through to the kitchen and set the grocery bag she’d been carrying on the table.

  “I brought flowers and soda and a deck of cards. And…” She dug around in the bottom of the bag and pulled out a mauve-and-white notebook. “A wedding planner!”

  Maria rolled her eyes. “Oh, boy. I’ll never hear the end of it. Are you trying to get back at me because this gets me out of camping this weekend?”

  Taffy grinned and nodded.

  “Ethan won’t hold you to it if I can’t go. That was the deal.”

  Taffy shook her head. “I apologized again this morning and told him if he gave me another chance, I wouldn’t let him down again. It’s only one night. And I’ve got a heap of marshmallows in my trunk. Ellie’s pet marshmallow project went belly up, so now I’ve got enough animal body part–shaped marshmallows to supply the whole campground all summer.”

  Maria grinned. “Your making progress, Taff.”

  “Any word on Cara yet?”

  “She’s not at the spa like she said she’d be. But Noel gave us contact numbers for some of her golfing buddies. We’re on it. You just forget about it all for this weekend. My buddies in San Diego will do their part.”

  Taffy didn’t think she could forget about it. Not after reviewing those extra files. There were still some missing puzzle pieces. But she knew it was time to leave things to the professionals and get her own life in order.

  They heard a car honk and stepped outside as an airport taxi pulled up out front. Nana unfolded herself from the back seat and waved to Taffy and Maria as they came down the front steps. Rosa emerged behind Nana with only a cane for assistance. She wore a radiant smile.

  “Mama!”

  “Maria!”

  The taxi driver carried the suitcases to the front door while Maria hugged her mother and helped her up the steps.

  Nana beamed and said, “The good doctors at the Mayo say she’s got a new lease on life. They say she’ll probably live to be a hundred.”

  “Which means I might even live to see great-grandchildren!”

  Maria groaned. “Listen, Mama. There’s something I—”

  “I wrote to my sister Antonia and told her to send out her wedding dress. Our mother’s dress. Did it arrive yet?”

  Rosa was practically giddy as she made her way to the living room. Nana helped her into her chair and reminded her she was under doctor’s order to rest for the better part of the following month, but her eyes glittered with mischief.

  “And the pearls. I told her to send the pearls too.”

  “Mama, please!

  Taffy tried to give her a look. She didn’t want Maria to crush her mother’s enthusiasm, but at the same time, she needed to support her friend. “Rosa, I need to ask you a favor.”

  Nana lifted a curious brow.

  “Maria has asked me to be her maid of honor, and it’s such a big job, but work is so busy right now, and we’ve got the Fourth of July parade coming up, and the church is all booked up, and so I was wondering…”

  Rosa listened with concern.

  “If the wedding could be a little later in the summer, or the year?”

  Rosa’s face fell.

  “What she means is that what Finn and I have planned is going to take a little more time to organize. Can you handle it, Mama? Since you’re now going to live to be one hundred.”

  Rosa scrunched her eyes thoughtfully. “What about great-grandchildren?”

  “Let’s take things one generation at a time, shall we?”

  “I suppose I can wait until the end of the summer,” Rosa conceded. Then she waggled
her finger. “But before Christmas!”

  Maria sighed. “We’ll see. If you don’t chase Finn off by then.”

  Taffy laughed. If that was the criterion, Maria would definitely be married before the year was out.

  They got Rosa settled, and then Taffy suggested she take Nana back to her house. Nana had nearly choked with disbelief when Taffy said she was going camping that evening with Ethan, but she was more than happy to have the house to herself for the night after being away for a week.

  As they were walking out to the car, Melanie was packing her tools into her Jeep. Taffy mustered her manners and walked over to her. “So. Um. Thanks for helping out. With the dirt. Um. And everything.”

  Melanie looked shocked at being spoken to. “Sure. Yeah. No problem.” And then she actually blushed before climbing into the driver’s seat.

  Taffy took a deep breath. That hadn’t been so hard.

  And now for the next hurdle.

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  Taffy showed up at Ethan’s with a newly purchased backpack and sleeping bag.

  “I assume you’re providing the tent?”

  Ethan looked up from packing the truck. “I was afraid you weren’t going to show up.”

  “When do I ever let you down?”

  He raised one critical eyebrow but seemed to have the sense not to retort. Taffy liked that about him. He didn’t hit her when she was down.

  “Listen, I’m sorry about… before. All of it. If we could just get through this weekend without talking about Melanie, then I’m prepared to start fresh next week. I’ll invite her to karaoke next Friday like you suggested. It that a fair truce?”

  “What did you do with that envelope from Peach Privates?”

  “I burned it.”

  She hadn’t, actually. Not yet. She planned to put it in the campfire tonight, after Ethan fell asleep. It was tucked in her backpack. She hadn’t even opened it. She’d decided she would simply get to know Melanie. Treat her like a proper friend. Not take her for granted, like she sometimes did with Maria, and not assume she was perfect, like she’d made the mistake of doing with Cara.

  Ethan offered a half smile. “So you really don’t care about her past? Or what she used to be?”

  “Nope.” Because it didn’t matter.

  “And you’re not going to go spreading rumors?”

  Taffy bit her lip and shook her head. Maybe she should have opened that envelope?

  Ethan came over to her, wrapped her in a bear-like embrace, and lifted her off of her feet. “That’s the Taffy I’m in love with.”

  Love? She let that sink in.

  Ethan agreed that if Taffy were really uncomfortable, or really afraid of the dark, she could go home. He was willing to take her growth in stages.

  They drove the Blue Bear to the campground, and Taffy smiled and waved at Melanie as they drove past the ranger station. Ethan noticed and nodded appreciatively.

  It took three times longer than normal to put up the tent—at least that’s what Ethan guessed after Taffy had managed to thread every tent pole into the wrong gusset at least once—but eventually it was standing. It seemed so flimsy to Taffy. But once Ethan had blown up the air mattresses (which he said he hadn’t slept on for years but brought along so Taffy could have a bit of extra comfort) and laid out sleeping bags and pillows, the inside of the tent looked like the forts she and Maria had made at home when they were ten. Ethan then built up a fire, and they grilled burgers and drank his Abandon Sip ale. And they roasted and ate marshmallows. A dozen very oddly shaped marshmallows.

  They had talked about the case. Taffy had explained some of what she’d learned about the Bradfords, and in the end she had agreed, with Ethan’s urging, to leave the rest up to the professionals.

  As they sat side by side in their folding lawn chairs watching the rising moon cast its glittering light on the dark, glassy lake, Taffy also agreed that camping wasn’t pure torture. And by the time they’d snuggled into their tent in their joined sleeping bags, she had to concede that outdoor horizontal aerobics were much more fun than expected.

  ~

  Later that night in the tent, Taffy lay on her back unable to sleep. Outside, the campfire hissed quietly. An owl hooted nearby. And Ethan snored beside her. She was doing it. Maybe not joyfully or expertly, but she was doing it. She was camping.

  But she wasn’t sleeping. Not through Ethan’s snoring. Also, she was pretty sure the air mattress was a little softer than it had been an hour ago. They would probably wake up on the ground, the mattress completely deflated. She rolled over again, trying to get comfortable. The tent smelled faintly of mildew. When she reached out to touch the angled side, her fingernail made a whispery scratching sound. She wondered if the neighbors two campsites away could sleep with the racket Ethan was making. Taffy rolled onto her back and stared up at the peaked roof. The remains of a burnt marshmallow (in the shape of a rabbit’s hind leg) was stuck on the outside up there somewhere. That little maneuver had been less than ladylike. But, she had argued vehemently, who could be ladylike under such conditions? She prodded Ethan, but he just snuffled, shifted slightly, and then kept on snoring.

  Taffy sighed, thinking about how she could be sleeping in her own cozy bed. But she was glad she had followed through on this. For Ethan. It had made him so happy. Especially the joined-sleeping-bag part. That had been so fun she’d forgotten all about burning the envelope from Annabelle. Since she couldn’t sleep, she considered doing that now, while Ethan was sawing his sweet, hunky logs.

  She carefully unzipped the tent. The zipper gave a tonal rasp, but Ethan’s rhythm didn’t change. She crab-crawled her way out and then turned back to pull the envelope from her backpack. The fire embers still glowed. Curls of smoke danced upward.

  The rest of the campground was quiet but not quite silent. The lake water lapped against fallen logs. The owl she’d heard earlier hooted again. In the distance, seeming so far away but probably just at the far end of the campground, a woman laughed.

  She carried the envelope to the fire, feeling just a teensy bit afraid of the surrounding darkness. The night was peaceful and only scary if she imagined a boogeyman or a wolf lunging from the stands of trees and shrubs separating the sites to give them privacy from one another. She assessed her situation: Grown woman trying hard not to imagine red wolf eyes, limping boogeyman footsteps, or axe-wielding, hockey mask–wearing psychopaths on the hunt for teenage blood.

  When had she become so afraid of nature? Of the world really, even though she’d grown proficient at presenting confidence and capability. Under it all, was she just a little girl afraid of the dark? What lived there? All the things she was unwilling to look at in the light of day… All of her shadow selves. Like the one that made a demon of Melanie because she’d been too scared to face her insecurities about one day losing Ethan. She made it someone else’s fault. And by doing that, she had nearly lost him. How silly she’d been for getting off on the wrong foot with Melanie. All because she was afraid to look at herself and afraid to show what she saw there—a vulnerable, scared little girl—to Ethan. But she wasn’t only that scared little girl. She was a tough nut too, and a smart one, and a caring one. And, she had to admit, sometimes a gullible one. She’d fallen for Cara’s false charms and ignored Melanie’s good qualities.

  What would happen to Cara now? What would happen to the remains of that family? What of Shannon and Noel? What of Todd? Tyler and Todd, two peas in a pod. He’d had secrets too.

  She hadn’t told Ethan everything about the Bradford family, but then Todd didn’t quite count as family, did he? And was it really Taffy’s business to meddle in another family’s messed-up business? Still, what she’d read in that computer file she’d lifted from Todd’s computer had disturbed her and had made Maria’s theory about Cara having an inappropriate relationship with Tyler much more probable. Even though she’d agreed it was best to let Maria take care of the rest of the Bradford case in her own way and her own time, Ta
ffy couldn’t control the thoughts bouncing around in her mind.

  Taffy gazed up at the moon and the glittering stars. She marveled at the vastness of the universe. The human mind seemed just as vast, and mostly dark, like the sky, with only tiny pinprick lights of hope and possibility.

  She picked up a marshmallow stick and poked at the embers. Her stirrings ignited a small flame. She held out Annabelle’s envelope, fingering the seal. She had the best of intentions. She really did, but maybe she should just take one peek? She’d paid good money for this information. She promised herself that nothing inside would change her plans to treat Melanie with the utmost respect and friendliness.

  A few minutes later, she heard that lady’s laugh again, the high clatter of it bouncing across the lake. Taffy didn’t think it was coming from the campground anymore. It seemed further away, traveling dissonantly and quickly across the surface of the lake. From one of the family cabins perhaps? The laugh turned into a sharp reprimand, and then it faded, as if whoever carried that voice had given up on the moon and stars and returned to the limited views of indoor ceilings. Or had been taken inside.

  The Giffords’ family cabin was somewhere across the lake. The Bradfords’ too. Somewhere to the west. In the direction of the laugh…

  Taffy’s mind started whirring. Cara’s sudden flight, the contents of the USB stick—and the secret file from Todd’s computer that neither Lucy nor Maria knew about yet—and it suddenly struck her where Cara might be. And it wasn’t San Diego where Noel thought she was.

  Taffy could hear Ethan’s admonishments and reprimands in her head as she slipped away from the campsite and walked silently and quickly toward the campground beach. The moon was high now, small, full, and bright in the dark dome of night. Pale silvery moonlight cast shadows of the picnic benches and logs. And the hut that housed the park’s rowboat. Taffy had taken the key from Ethan’s ring in the truck. She intended to return it before he’d finished snoring.

  She unlocked the small boathouse and dragged out the rowboat they had used to first find Tyler. She stuck the oars in the rings and waded into the water, pushing the boat in front of her. Then she climbed in.