by Hillary Avis
Perfect for a talented chef’s dream wedding.
“Whoa—I’ve never seen anything like that.” Milo shook his head.
Bethany clapped her hands. “She’ll love it!”
“And the nice thing is, adding cabbage is a whole lot cheaper than adding roses.” The florist grinned and pulled a slip of paper from her apron pocket. “I told you, I have many skills. Here, sign this to confirm the order while I take a picture.”
Bethany jotted her name on the form next to the order for fifty centerpieces and almost skipped out of the shop, she was so happy. Another wedding chore down, another step closer to the big day.
The sun peeked through the clouds outside, making Bethany squint as it reflected off the trim on Milo’s car. She held up her hand to block the glare and let out a huge sigh of relief.
Milo grinned at her. “Glad to have that off your plate?”
She nodded.
“I know how you feel. I’m going to be so happy when I get Charley’s list finished. Then I’ll be able to relax and enjoy the wedding.” He glanced at his watch.
I guess he squeezed in all the time with me that he could. “Are you headed down to the office to write up your story?”
“Yeah.” His tone was apologetic, almost guilty. Was that because he felt bad ending their non-date? Or was it because he’d promised Charley he wouldn’t publish the story until after the wedding?
He seemed to guess what she was thinking. “Charley said I shouldn’t go to print before the wedding, but she didn’t say I couldn’t write it in advance.”
Bethany nodded. “I know. So what’s your working theory?”
He gnawed on his lower lip pensively. “Well, I don’t think Lucien killed Bella. Like you said before, why would he?”
“But that means someone else did.” Bethany shivered as she remembered the look on Ryan’s face when he helped open the stone coffin and saw Bella’s body. Horrifying. “The killer could be anybody.”
“The list isn’t too long, actually. It had to be somebody familiar with the estate, right?”
She nodded. “Hopefully a short list of suspects will make it easy for Charley to catch the murderer soon. Before the wedding, preferably!”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t mind that front page byline. ‘Killer Caught.’ It has a good ring.” Milo grinned at the thought.
Of course, he could have more than one front page story if he covered the investigation as it was happening. She looked at him with newfound respect. As ambitious and career-minded as he was, he was willing to hold the article for his friends’ benefit.
“You know, you’re a good person, Mr. Armstrong.”
“What did I do to deserve that? Flower shopping? If so, sign me up for another round.”
Bethany shook her head. “I’m just impressed you’re waiting to publish this one. I know that’s a big deal for you.”
“Well, if I get scooped, I get scooped.” He shrugged, his smile a little sad. “If that makes me a weak journalist, so be it.”
“It’s not weak at all.” She reached out and touched his arm gently to emphasize her point. She felt the warmth of his skin seep through his plaid flannel shirt. “It means you have integrity.”
He looked at her, surprise on his face. “You know what? Thank you. That actually makes me feel a lot better about it. All I’ve been thinking about is what my editor would say if she knew I was sitting on this, what the other reporters would say, how it’s a missed opportunity. But I know what kind of person I want to be...even if it’s a little frustrating right now.”
“Well, good.” She smiled, letting her hand drop. “I should get back to the restaurant. I’ll walk—it’s not far.”
“Are you sure? It’s not out of the way.”
“I’m sure.”
“We can chat wedding stuff in the car,” he wheedled. “We could plan the pub crawl for the bachelorette party...”
“I don’t know,” she began, and his face fell. “I think planning a pub crawl might require some in-person taste testing. Say, tomorrow? Lunch at noon at the Home Plate?”
“Yes!” His face lit up and he leaped in the air. “It’s a date!”
She caught herself before she denied it and just nodded. “Yep. It’s a date.”
“You and I are going to have some fun.” He held out his pinky finger and she twined hers around his. “Pinky promise.”
He winked at her and, with a couple of backward glances and smiles exchanged, he got into his car and headed off down the street.
Bethany shook her head. I wish he had more obvious flaws. That would make the decision between him and Ryan so much clearer.
Chapter 15
“FLOWERS ACHIEVED,” Bethany said happily as she reached out to hug Kimmy hello. Kimmy leaned in, holding up her messy hands to avoid coating Bethany in flour. “You are going to love the centerpieces.”
“I’m glad to have a little bit of good news!” Kimmy smiled to herself as she went back to mixing up a batch of sourdough.
“Has it been a rough day?” Bethany glanced around, sizing up the few remaining customers seated in the café. With only about fifteen minutes left until closing, it wasn’t too crowded, and everyone seated looked content with their food and drinks. Viv was serving a couple of people at the counter like a pro.
Kimmy shook her head. “No, just my usual wedding anxiety. It feels good to be one step closer to getting married. I swear, I will never marry again. The stress just isn’t worth it!” She grinned.
“Well, what can I do?” Bethany tied on her apron and scrubbed her hands in the sink.
“You can tell me how the meeting with Ryan went, that’s what!” Kimmy rubbed some flour off her nose with the back of her hand.
Bethany’s forehead creased until she remembered the small white lie she’d told that morning about meeting with Ryan to plan the future museum café. “Oh, that. Fine, I guess.”
“You guess?” Kimmy frowned. “So is it happening?”
Bethany nodded hesitantly. “No contract yet, but I think we’re on the same page.”
The page where we find a murderer before your wedding in ten days.
“So...I take it this business meeting with Ryan didn’t include a whole lot of business?” Kimmy smirked. It was pretty clear what she thought they’d been up to.
Bethany’s mouth opened and closed like a fish. She wanted to protest that of course it was business, but she didn’t have much to report on that front. She’d completely forgotten about her “work meeting” excuse during all the excitement of the morning.
I have to get Kimmy off this line of questioning before my cover is blown.
“So how was the cake tasting with Olive? What flavors did you pick out?”
Kimmy sighed and turned off the mixer and dumped the dough out onto a floured board. She and Bethany began shaping rolls and setting them in rows on pans lined with parchment paper.
“I shortlisted a few flavors, but I can’t decide between them. Maybe Charley will help me with that.”
“Help with what?” Charley who’d just walked in, leaned over the counter to see what they were working on. “Oh, bread. Boo. I was hoping for some cookie dough I could steal.”
Kimmy stuck out her tongue at Charley. “I was hoping you would help me choose the final cake flavors. I put the samples Olive left in the fridge for you. They won’t be as good as they were this morning, but at least you’ll have an idea.” She motioned toward the cooler with her head, never stopping her quick motions as she filled the tray with plump sourdough rounds.
Charley didn’t need to be told twice. She bounded for the cooler and quickly found the cake box Kimmy had stashed. “Can I have a coffee to go with this, Viv?” she called.
Viv rolled her eyes and nodded. She poured Charley a cup and set it on the counter. “That’ll be a buck fifty.”
“Law enforcement eats free,” Charley said smugly. “Isn’t that right, Bethany?”
“Yep,” Bethany said.
“Wife, I like the sound of that.” Charley put down her fork full of cake to lean around Kimmy and plant a peck on her cheek.
Kimmy ducked and blushed. “So do I. So, wife-to-be, what kind of cake do you like?”
“This one.” Charley pointed to a blonde cake with caramel-colored frosting before stabbing the last piece and devouring it.
Kimmy smiled affectionately at her. “Dulce de leche. I should have known.”
“Is that okay?” Charley’s face looked worried. “Do you want something else? It’s OK if you pick something else.”
Kimmy shook her head. “Nope—I like that one, too.”
That caramel icing will go perfectly with the floral arrangements. Bethany smiled to herself. This wedding was going to be amazing—as long as she and Charley could figure out who killed Bella LaFontaine.
“Are you sure that flavor is OK?” Charley asked Kimmy. “I mean, really sure?”
Kimmy paused her work on the sourdough rolls and stared at Charley suspiciously. “OK, what’s really going on? You already asked me that four times.”
Charley tugged at the end of her ponytail and let out a big sigh. “I just got some news today.”
“Bad news?” Kimmy’s shoulders tensed.
Adrenaline jolted through Bethany. Was Charley going to tell her about finding Bella’s body at the wedding venue, just when Kimmy was starting to relax about all the wedding stuff?!
She shot Charley what she hoped was a meaningful look. Don’t do it. Don’t do it! Now is not the time!
Charley shrugged helplessly at her. “It’s good news—I guess.”
Kimmy pursed her lips. “Then why are you afraid to tell me about it?”
“Well. You know how my dad’s side of the family wasn’t going to come to the wedding because it’s too expensive to fly from Puerto Rico? Well...”
Before Charley could finish, Kimmy groaned. “Nooo...don’t say it!”
“They’re coming.” Charley cringed, waiting for Kimmy’s response.
“How many?” Kimmy asked, ten different emotions flashing across her face.
Charley squeezed her eyes shut. “Fifty-three.”
“Fifty-three?!” Kimmy shrieked. Everyone in the restaurant turned their head at the sound. Thankfully, only a few customers were lingering over their coffees. She waved apologetically at them and lowered her voice to a hiss. “Fifty-three? Where are we going to put them all?!”
Charley shot Bethany a panicked look. “Um...”
“We’ll squeeze them in,” Bethany said smoothly. “Don’t worry about it. I haven’t done the seating chart yet, so it’s no problem. The conservatory has plenty of room.” She crossed her fingers behind her back, willing it to be true.
“But how are we going to feed them?! The catering budget is totally maxed out!” Kimmy rubbed her forehead. “I can’t believe this is happening now. Why couldn’t they have decided this a month ago?”
“It took them a while to scrape the money together.” Charley looked miserable.
“What’s a few more aunties?” Bethany said, in what she hoped was a cheerful tone. “Olive can throw another tier on the cake. And I can cook something to help stretch the buffet.”
“I’ll help!” Viv piped up. “We can make a big pot of something that will fill people up. Beans and rice or something.”
Bethany nodded, thankful for the backup. “What about soup? It’s filling and best of all—cheap!”
Resignation on her face, Kimmy slapped the last ball of dough down on the tray. “I guess that’s that, then.”
“Hey, it’s going to be fine.” Bethany patted her gently on the back. “Your wedding will be even better with all of Charley’s family there.”
“I know. I’m just exhausted.” Kimmy straightened up and stretched her arms. “It’s been a very long day, and I can’t take another surprise.”
Tell me about it. Bethany stifled a sympathetic yawn. “Why don’t you take off? Viv and I will close up.”
Kimmy nodded gratefully. She hung up her apron and gave Charley a quick kiss. “See you at home, hon.”
“Do you mind wiping down tables?” Bethany asked Viv. She hoped to steal a few minutes to catch up with Charley on the murder investigation. She had to know what had gone down at the police station!
Viv nodded and quickly got to work. As soon as she was beyond earshot, Charley grabbed Bethany’s arm. “OK, that stuff about Lucien making Bernard LaFontaine into a mummy is insane. If I didn’t see the contract myself, I wouldn’t believe it!”
Bethany leaned forward and tried to keep her voice low. “I know, right? It’s so weird and creepy! If Ryan hadn’t made him turn it in, he would have kept that mummy foot. I mean, where do you put something like that?”
“I don’t even want to know.” Charley wrinkled her nose. “Now every time I search someone’s house, I have to worry about finding mummy parts. I didn’t even know that was a thing!”
“So you didn’t arrest him?”
Charley shook her head. “Nope. It’s not illegal. As long as you have permission, the state of Connecticut thinks it’s A-OK to make a mummy out of them. Go figure.”
Bethany made a face. “I don’t think I could do it even if it is legal. I mean, take a dead guy out of a grave in the middle of the night on Halloween?” She shuddered.
“Well, funny you should say that. That’s actually the illegal part. In this county, you need to get a permit to take someone out of a grave.”
“Wait, it’s fine to mummify them, but you need a permit to dig them up?” Bethany giggled.
Charley nodded. “Yep. They need a permit and the permission of the family.”
“Well, he didn’t have that. Seems like there should be some consequence.”
“Right, but Bella is dead, so she doesn’t care what happened to her husband. And Simon didn’t seem too perturbed about his dad being mummified. Normally we’d pursue a fine or jail time if the family was upset, but since they’re not, we just let him go.”
“Huh.” Bethany frowned. “I’m kind of surprised Simon isn’t upset. I would be if someone dug up my dad.”
“Me too. But he said, and I quote, ‘It was Dad’s wish, and Dad always got what he wanted, whether it was a piece of art or a woman like Bella.’” Charley shrugged.
Bethany shot a glance at Viv to see if she was eavesdropping, but she was busy saying goodbye to the last customer. “Simon doesn’t seem to have liked his stepmother much.”
“Well, she was younger than him! And she wasn’t exactly loyal to his father. Plus, she stood to inherit half the LaFontaine fortune. So I guess that’s plenty of reasons not to like her.”
“Do you think he killed her?”
Charley shrugged. “Hard to say. He didn’t seem to have any serious ill will toward her. He accepted the terms of his father’s will, and he did put aside half the proceeds from selling the estate for her. I don’t think he’d have done that if he thought she was dead.”
But he could have killed her afterward.
Bethany frowned. “When did Bella die? Did the coroner make a determination yet?”
“It’s been a while. Maybe even a year. It’s possible Bella and Bernard died within a few days of each other.”
“Then Simon did it,” Bethany said firmly. “Or he knew about it.”
Charley sat down on one of the barstools. “Why do you say that?”
“Because he told me and Ryan that he chased her all over Spain to get her signature on the sale paperwork. If Bella has been dead for a year, then he couldn’t have gotten her signature six months ago. He must have faked it and lied about how hard it was to find her!”
“Hm.” Charley traced the design on the countertop and then tapped it with her fingernail, thinking. “Maybe Bella never went to Spain at all. Maybe after Lucien dropped her off at the a
irport, she just came back.”
“Why would she come back, though? She needed that year in the convent to get her half of the estate, right?”
“Well, Simon mentioned...” Charley paused as Viv passed by, and then resumed her thought. “He mentioned that Bella and Ernesto were close.”
Bethany nodded. “Lucien said the same thing! He said they spent a lot of time together in the gardens. Do you think they were having an affair?”
“That could be why Bernard stipulated that Bella had to stay celibate for a year. It may have been punishment for her infidelity. If she was in love with Ernesto, maybe that’s why she didn’t go to Spain. Maybe she thought she could pretend to go to Spain and then came back to be with Ernesto in secret.”
“Ooh, intriguing!” Bethany gripped the edge of the counter. “So you’re thinking when Simon found out she tried to get around his dad’s will, maybe he snapped and killed her, and then faked her signature on the sale paperwork a few months later?”
Viv leaned over her shoulder. “Which telenovela are you talking about?”
Charley jerked her head up. “Viv! Butt out! This is none of your business!”
“OK, OK.” Viv shrugged and flipped the end of her cleaning cloth over her shoulder. “You’re not my boss, though, Bethany is. I don’t have to do what you say.”
Bethany grinned. “Let’s call it a day. I’ll lock up. Thanks for all your help, Viv. I’ll see you bright and early in the morning if I don’t catch you at home tonight.”
“Cool.” They watched as Viv hung up her apron and gathered her things to leave.
“Smile, sis.” Viv punched Charley on the shoulder on the way by. “You’re getting married in less than two weeks.”
Charley pasted on a grin, but it faded as soon as Viv walked out the café door to the street. “Less than two weeks to solve this thing, or I have to break the news to Kimmy that there’s an ongoing murder investigation at our wedding.”
“We’ll figure it out. There are only so many people who could have done it. My money’s on Simon LaFontaine. There was no love lost between them.”
Charley nodded grimly. “And if Simon didn’t do it, then he knows who did. Because if he thought she was alive when he sold the estate, he never would have faked her signature. Viv was right, in a way—this LaFontaine family drama belongs in a soap opera. Seems like I need to have a long conversation with Simon.”