Cornered by Cupcakes

by S. Y. Robins

  “Well, when I got to the shop, I looked through a couple of other papers. You know we thought it was leased? Jay actually owned it outright. He must have bought it with the cash that was coming in. It would be nice if we could use the premises. Maybe offer advice to people training and bulking to avoid steroids, or have an outreach programme for young drug addicts. What do you think?”

  “I think that is an amazing idea; I’d love that.”

  With that, the pair went to the police station to tell the police everything they knew. They weren’t scared; they had each other.

  *** ***

  Six months later

  “Remember, don’t avoid complex carbs, they’re great for training. Avoid sugary cereals; think more of sweet potato and wholegrain pastas. You’re in great shape, keep up the work!” Hannah beamed at the bodybuilder in front of her. She was in her final year of nutrition and was getting some excellent work experience in the drop-in centre her and Adam had set up.

  “Nice one, Han!” Adam called over. “Want to give me a hand with this display?”

  “Sure; we’re getting so busy now, I love it!” She replied.

  It was true. Since setting up the centre, they had a lot of interest. Adam focused on helping the young drug addicts, encouraging them to join sports teams or take up a hobby. Hannah often watched fondly as Adam spoke with teenagers. He was so good at understanding them. She worked with the reformed steroid users, teaching them about the benefits of a good diet while exercising. She could see the results before her eyes and felt pride; they were natural results and they were fantastic. She had second thoughts about Australia; after everything that happened, she realised family were the most important of all. She didn’t want to leave her mother.

  Instead, Hannah and Adam were going into business together. Legitimate business this time: a sort of Kupcake mark two. They were selling her delicious muffins and bars, using the money to keep the centre open. They had already expanded in the six months they had been in business, and both were extremely happy.

  Hannah felt she had finally found her place in life; she loved helping people and she could do it with her best friend at her side. Adam was more than a friend to her now; he was a brother. They both saw many happy years ahead; with the same dream of making the world a better place.

  The End

  ~ Your Complimentary Book ~

  Scoop Away

  S. Y. Robins

  About the Book

  Amber Dearing is living her dream - she's finally the owner of her own brand new ice cream shop and she's got the chance to make it a huge success. Everything is riding on the Cow & Moon launch going as planned. With all of Amber's life savings poured into the business she has no plan B. When, on the day of the official launch, a women drops dead in the middle of store, Amber is not only in danger of losing her business - she is a prime suspect.

  Taking matters into her own hands, Amber decides to investigate the case herself. She needs to clear her own name, and she needs to save the business she has worked so hard to start. When she meets Ryan, the cute barista/manager of a competitor's store, Amber really has to put her instincts to the test. Could Ryan be the one to blame, or is Amber not seeing what is right in front of her nose?

  Chapter One

  Outside the weather was burning hot, but inside the display shelves spilled over with fluffy, deviously inviting mountains of cream and sugar mixed into that heavenly desert known as gelato. The scent of vanilla, hazelnut, and chocolate hit my nose as I surveyed my creations. The aroma hit my stomach - I'd be hungry if I wasn't so nervous.

  Technically we’d been open for three days but today was the 'real' opening - the other days had been trials, a 'soft open' which had done little to qualm my nerves. In fact, with every scoop, cone, and sundae my blood pressure only seemed to increase. What would people think? Would they enjoy my creations? Would they tell their friends? Most importantly - would they return for more.

  My livelihood depended on it. I put everything into this venture, and it had to pay off. There was no other option, no back up plan, no plan b in place. What else was I going to do? I poured all my life savings into The Cow & Moon Gelato shop. It had been an uphill battle getting the thing set up. From day one, I'd been up against a national ice cream franchise - Frozen Planet - who'd tried to out bid me for the shop space. In the end a petition by the community to have more locally owned businesses in the street was the only thing that had saved me. Now everything rested on the store being a success - aside from making ice cream, the only other thing I was good at was reading murder mysteries - and I was hardly going to make a living at that was I?

  "Amber? Hellllooo?" June, my 19 year old employee, and the one and only staff member I could afford, waved a hand in front of my face. "Are you in there? Earth to Amber..."

  I shook myself back to conscious thought and brought a bright smile to my face. "Yes, I'm here! All good. Just hoping we've got enough to go round... it's a hot day out there." Not that my real concern was that we'd sell out of ice cream. In fact, just the opposite was true, but as the boss it was my responsibility to put on a brave face.

  June seemed to see right through it. She rested her hand on her hip and cocked her head to look at me. "Amber, relax." She grinned at me. "It's going to be fine. I'm sure we'll be turning a profit by the end of the week!"

  That was easy for June to say, of course. She was only 19, still a student at my former university. She knew nothing of the kind of responsibility that starting a business took. The sleepless nights, the rapidly depleting bank account, the 80 hour work weeks. Still, June was a sweet girl, and there was only a 6-year age gap between us. Even though we were technically boss and employee, I liked to think we were friends. She been there since the start to support me - I'd really come to rely on her.

  I smiled back and nodded, forcing myself to relax. "You're right June - it's a beautiful day and the customers are going to come pouring in!" I patted her on the arm before turning to walk towards the front door. With a deep breath and a quick silent prayer upwards to anyone who might be listening, I shut my eyes, and then turned around the "Open" sign.

  ***

  We were so run off our feet that I barely had time to catch my breath, let alone get a meal break - or even a moment to myself. Still, the ache in my feet and ankles was a pleasant one, as I grinned around at my bustling little shop. My baby! I'd done this, I thought, giving myself a little metaphorical pat on the back. Why had I been so worried?

  June pushed past me at the gelato fridge and grinned. "See, Ambs? This is a roaring success!" She elbowed me in the ribs and began to scoop up a generous portion of peanut butter gelato for a pair of ladies who'd just sat down. The sweet smell hit my stomach and I realised how hungry I was.

  I began to untie my apron. "It's starting to quieten down a bit - do you mind if I leave you in charge for five minutes while I grab a bite to eat?" I looked around to make sure it would be okay for me to leave June in charge.

  "Of course! No problems! Go eat girl - you deserve it."

  I nodded. "Okay! Don't worry, I won't be long."

  "I can handle it." She shot me a reassuring grin. "Don't worry, I've got it all under control."

  Bustling into the back room I closed the door behind me and let out a breath I hadn't realised I'd been holding for the past five hours. Gratefully, I staggered towards the staff table and reached over to the fridge for the salad I had stored away in there. I pushed my shoes off and stretched my feet. Hunger had overtaken my nerves now and I eagerly enjoyed a few mouthfuls before I heard a screaming coming from out the front of the shop.

  I dropped my salad and ran back to the door without even putting my shoes back on, pushing the swinging plank of wood out. There was another scream.

  "What on Earth is going -" I stopped, bringing my hands up to my mouth to stifle my own scream. There, in the middle of my store, was a woman, lying flat and limp on the floor.

  "Watch out," a woman said, rushing over
to the body. "I'm a nurse." She checked for a pulse at the women's neck, and after a few moments that seemed to drag on for a thousand years, she looked up at my gravely. "She's dead. I'm sorry."

  I looked at June, who was in despair. All I could do was stand there, as around me people's abandoned ice cream started to drip onto the tables. They all looked at the ice cream as though it was poisonous.

  My stomach no longer filled with nerves, or hunger was suddenly filled with dread. Was I to blame?

  Had my ice cream actually poisoned a woman?

  ***

  The following day The Cow & Moon was less playing home to a bustling crowd of customers, and more host to a pile of tumbleweeds blowing through. Outside it was still blistering hot, but inside the gelato cabinets remained untouched.

  "I can't believe this is happening..." I murmured.

  Besides me, I heard June gulp. "Amber this is all my fault - you left me in charge and-"

  "Nonsense," I said, straightening myself up. "You've been nothing but help to me June." I forced my face into a smile, but tears threatened to spill down my cheeks.

  "Oh Amber." June leaned over and gave me a hug. "It's okay. We'll get past this. We'll be back on track in no time. This will all blow over."

  "Will it? Who wants to come and eat at an ice cream shop where a woman dropped dead on the first official day of business?"

  June didn't reply. I knew I had her there.

  "Come on," she eventually said, patting me on the back. "Let's just try to make the best of this."

  "How, exactly?"

  "The quiet time will give you a chance to catch up on you book work?"

  I sighed. "Not much book work to take care of considering we've taken in exactly zero dollars of profit today." I looked down at the tubs of over flowing ice cream. "Though if we don't sell any I AM going to have to record a loss-" I was just about to take off my apron when the doorbell jingled to let me know we had a new customer. I looked up with high hopes, only to have them dashed when I saw two blue-uniformed police officers standing there.

  I gulped. "I don't suppose you're interested in sampling some of our new vanilla fudge ice cream, are you?"

  "We're more interested in asking you about an incident here yesterday."

  I shot a look at June, who managed to speak up when I couldn't get my voice to work. "And what do you need to speak to us for?"

  "Are you Amber Dearing?"

  June shook her head and pointed to me. "This is Amber."

  Words were still not my friends. I wiped my rapidly sweating hands and reached one out to shake the officer's hand. June shot me a funny look. "What?" I whispered to her.

  "You don't have to shake their hands. They're obviously here to accuse you of something."

  "I panicked," I whispered back. Besides, I didn't want to appear guilty. Not that I had anything to feel guilty about. Still, cops in uniforms had a way of inducing guilt, even when you never so much as gotten a parking ticket in your life.

  "So you're June." The officer, who announced himself as Officer Tomlinson took out a notepad and snapped the lid off a pen. He gave me a skeptical look as he began taking down my details.

  "How long have you owned this store?"

  "About a week."

  He raised an eyebrow. "And how long have you been open for."

  "Well, one day, technically."

  His brow shot up even higher. "And you killed someone on your first day open?"

  "I didn't kill anyone."

  He put the cap back on his pen. "Well someone died immediately after eating at your store."

  "But - but surely it was an accident?" My palms were practically dripping.

  Officer Tomlinson gave me a slow look. "We're still waiting for the autopsy report, but it looks as though Monica Musgrave was poisoned. Deliberately."

  "But I didn't - I couldn't- I mean, I didn't even know her," I tried to protest.

  "You're the one who makes all the ice cream, aren't you?"

  "Yes, by hand," I replied. "All natural ingredients, all made right here in the back of the shop." That had supposed to be our biggest selling point. Now it seemed like it was going to land me in prison for murder.

  "We'll be in touch Ms. Dearing, don't worry about that." Tomlinson put away his notepad and turned to leave. "Make sure you don't go too far."

  As soon as they were out the door, I spun around to look at June. Now the tears that had threatened to spill out did. "What am I going to do? They think I that I poisoned Monica on purpose?" I was horrified.

  June reached over and patted my shoulder. "Don't worry Amber - they'll obviously clear you - realize it wasn't your fault-"

  "Oh what does it matter?" I brushed her hand off my shoulder and looked around at the empty shop. "Whether or not I get cleared doesn't matter - no one is ever going to eat in an ice cream store where a woman died! They are going to assume my ice cream killed her, one way or the other..."

  Suddenly I pulled myself up. "Unless..." I began.

  "Unless what?"

  "Unless I - "I turned to look at June and wiped my cheeks with the back of my hand. “ Unless I figure out who killed Monica, myself."

  June straightened herself up. "Can you do that though?"

  "Well why not? I read enough murder mystery novels, don't I?"

  "I suppose so-"

  "And I know enough from the books I read to know the police will never do a thorough job. No, if I rely on them to solve this case I'll be bankrupt by the end of the week." I waved my hand around the store, where I could have sworn the cobwebs were already starting to spring up. "No. I need to take matters into my own hands June." I sniffled and straightened myself up fully. "One way or the other I will find out who killed Monica Musgrave, and save this business!" I banged my fist down triumphantly on the bench.

  "That sounds great Amber."

  "So are you in?"

  June nodded. "Yeah." She grinned. "You'll be Inspector Gadget, and I'll be your niece!"

  "Or... you could be Watson, and I could be Sherlock..."

  "Either way."

  I took my apron off and strutted over to the door, turning the sign to "Closed."

  "It's time to get started then."

  Chapter Two

  "Monica Musgrave...Monica Musgrave..." I muttered, as I typed her name into every social media platform in existence. Monica was in her mid 50s, but I was hoping she had been active online. I didn’t know how else to find out who she was or figure out who might have wanted her dead.

  "There she is!" I shouted, with a little too much glee.

  "Where?" June asked.

  "Her Facebook profile. Hmmm." I skimmed over the basic info, before pointing to something. "Look! She posted that she was attending a meeting of a local book club this Tuesday. That's - that's today!" I turned around and grabbed June by the shoulders. "You know what we have to do then?"

  "What's that?"

  "We need to go and attend that book club meeting."

  June frowned and turned to look at the other members of the book club. "I don't think we'll exactly fit in there June. Everyone is over 50. I'm only 19. Besides, what will our excuse be for suddenly wanting to join them? They look like a pretty close knit group."

  "Right." I thought for a moment. "Well, where is the meeting supposed to take place?"

  "The Coffee Corner," June answered, leaning closer in towards the computer. "That's right near here, isn't it?"

  I nodded. Believe me; I did my research on the area's competition. The Coffee Corner, like The Cow & Moon, supplied coffee; they even had a homemade gelato counter. The selection was considerably smaller than ours was, but I was still wary of them. "I guess we're going to have to go scope it out," I said reluctantly. Checking the time, "We'd better hurry up, if we want to catch Monica's book club. It's already 10 o'clock, and they've been meeting since 9.30! Let's just hope it was an interesting book that they read this week."

  We swung through the doors of The Coffee Corner and I imm
ediately stopped dead in my tracks. "What the..."

  The store was full to the brim with customers. The hot weather outside meant that iced coffees seemed to be the order of the day, along with - you guessed if - gelato. "So I guess this is where all our customers have gone."

  A young man, with brown curls and tan skin, grinned at us from behind the counter. "Hi there ladies." He waved towards the ice cream counter. "Can I interest you in one of our homemade ice cream cones?"

  "No thanks," I snapped. I quickly eyed the display cabinets. He had a very small selection - basic flavours like strawberry, vanilla, and hazelnut. Nothing like the artisan selection, I provided at The Cow & Moon, or had intended to provide...

  His smile faded a bit. "Right. That's okay. What can I get you then?"

  I glanced over my shoulder towards a space in the store where a group of well-groomed ladies were gathered round a table, sitting on comfy sofas and lounges. They were all holding the same book with the same red cover. That's our group, I thought.

  I turned back to the man behind the counter. "I'll just get a latte, thank you."

  "No worries."

  June ordered the same and as he began to grind the beans, I pulled June towards me and whispered to her. "Watch out for an opening, then try to snatch a table for us near that group."

  "Do you think that's them?"

  I gave her a look. "It's obviously them June. They are all reading the same book." I was starting to think that June might not be the best detective's assistant.

  "Right. Okay - look, that couple is getting up. I'll go grab us a seat."

  I smiled at her before turning back to the coffee counter, where the cute guy was frothing the milk for our lattes. I watched his technique carefully. He poured the milk with a deft touch, causing the cream to rise to the surface perfectly, before he embellished the top with a leaf design. A little basic, I could do better, but he seemed to know what he was doing.

  "So," he started. "What are you getting up to today?"

  I had to think quickly. I hardly wanted to tell him the truth. That I owned a rival store that was in danger of shutting down due to my product, so I was here to spy on his customers.