by Joyce Tremel
I was glad he didn’t want to come with me to see Candy. That wouldn’t have gone over well at all. Instead of Candy telling me what was going on, she and Elmer would be at each other’s throats and I wouldn’t learn anything at all. He promised to get back to me as soon as he had any news.
Elmer wasn’t gone for five minutes when Daisy walked in. “I just talked to Kristie.” She hopped up onto a bar stool. “What the heck is going on? She told me one of the band members was killed. She saw something on the news and recognized the name. The reporter said he was murdered by a possible intruder.”
“Did they say anything else?” I asked.
“Like what?” Before I could answer, her eyes grew wide. “You didn’t. Tell me you didn’t find another body.”
I felt my face get warm. “I wish I could tell you that.”
Daisy grabbed both of my hands. “Oh, Max. How horrible for you. I’m so sorry. What happened?”
I wished I could have gathered everyone else I knew together and only have to tell the story once more. I’d lost count of how many times I had repeated it. It was getting monotonous. “Do you remember how the one band member thought he recognized Candy on Friday night?”
“Was he the one who was killed?”
I shook my head and explained everything that had happened since then. “I’m worried about Candy,” I said when I’d finished.
“I was so busy on Saturday that I didn’t see her, and then I was closed Sunday and yesterday. Now I feel bad that I didn’t check on her.”
“You shouldn’t feel bad,” I said. “You didn’t know anything was going on.”
“That’s not the point. I’ve spent too much time focused on my own issues without even thinking about anyone else’s problems.”
“You had good reason to take care of yourself.”
“I know I did, but that’s over and done with now. I’m starting over. I’ve put that horrible man out of my mind for good. I’m not going to let one bad person ruin my life,” she said. “What can I do to help?”
I didn’t have to think about it for long. My friends—and especially Candy—had banded together to help me on more than one occasion. The least I could do was to do the same for Candy. Back when I was trying to figure out who killed my friend and assistant, Kurt, she had given our little group a ridiculous nickname, but now I was going to use it again. “What are you doing tomorrow evening?”
“Not a thing,” Daisy answered.
I grinned at her. “If Kristie and Elmer are free as well, I propose another meeting of Max’s Marauders.”
Daisy returned my grin and gave me a high five. “I’ll be there.”
• • •
“I thought you didn’t like that name,” Jake said. We had just wrapped it up for the day and were leaving the brew house to go next door to the bakery. The pub was in Nicole’s capable hands for the rest of the night and I was filling Jake in on what he’d missed over the last couple of hours.
“I didn’t at the time, but Max’s Marauders seems to fit. Besides, Candy was the one who came up with the name. She’ll like that we’re using it again.”
He put his arm around me. “It does kind of have a nice ring to it.”
Since Cupcakes N’at was closed for the day, we had gone through the pub kitchen saying good night to the remaining kitchen staff, then out the door to the alley that ran behind the businesses. The alley was wider than some in the city—wide enough for garbage trucks to enter to empty the Dumpsters behind the stores. And for the occasional fire truck. I had learned that firsthand when the person who killed Kurt set a Dumpster on fire to try and scare me away. The bakery had a steel fire door just like the one at the brewpub. As a matter of fact, the only difference between it and any of the places that opened onto the alley was that mine also had a garage door that opened into our storage area. It made it convenient for deliveries like large bags of hops and malt.
I pounded on the bakery door with my fist. “Candy, it’s me and Jake.” Seconds later the door opened.
“Come on in,” she said.
As soon as we were through the door, Candy pulled me into a bear hug. Jake took a step backward, probably to avoid the same fate.
“I’m sorry I put you through so much this weekend,” she said.
I extricated myself from her arms. “Did you get my message about Detective Raines?”
“Yes, I did,” she said. “I’m meeting with him tomorrow morning. I didn’t mean to put you in that situation.”
“I know you didn’t, but you do owe me an explanation.”
Candy sank onto a stool beside a stainless steel table. “I didn’t kill that man.”
“I know you didn’t.” I took a seat on the other side of the table and Jake followed suit.
There was a long pause as she tapped her Steelers-decaled fingernails on the table. “I’m not sure where to start.”
Jake said, “The beginning usually works.”
She looked from me to Jake and back again. “I’ll tell you what I can, but there are some things that I can’t talk about.”
“Why not?” My concern was beginning to turn to aggravation. I wanted to know everything.
“It’s complicated,” she said. “It involves a lot of people, and my former employer would frown on me talking about certain issues.”
I’d wondered numerous times about Candy’s background. She often knew what was going on before anyone else did. She had a knack for being able to find out anything about anybody. At first I thought she was just a gossip, but as I got to know her better, I realized there was a lot more to it. Anytime I asked her about how she knew so much, she changed the subject or gave me a dumb reason to explain how she came about certain information. I wasn’t going to accept her excuses this time. “I don’t care what your former employer wants. You don’t work for them anymore. You don’t owe them anything.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.” She stopped tapping her nails and folded her hands on top of the table. “I don’t want to put anyone else in danger. The less you know the better.”
“You’re not making any sense.”
Candy sighed. “Like I said, it’s complicated.”
I wanted to pull the information out of her. As hard as it was, I kept quiet and waited. I learned from my dad that if you were quiet long enough, the other person became uncomfortable with the silence and tried to fill it. He’d gotten a lot of confessions from people that way. Including one from me when I stayed out way past curfew when I was sixteen. I should have known it wouldn’t work on Candy, though. When I stared at her, she stared right back. I finally caved. “So explain it to us.”
“I’ve always liked to bake. When I retired, all I wanted to do was own a bakery and make irresistible treats to make people happy. I made good money over the years and I had enough saved to buy this place and not have to worry about being in debt. It was something I’d looked forward to for a long time. It was a change to a very different career.”
Jake smiled. “That sounds familiar.”
Candy patted his hand. “You know what I’m talking about, then. I had almost forgotten you made a drastic change of your own.”
Going from playing professional hockey to being a chef was definitely a career change.
“Anyway,” Candy said, “I thought I’d left my old life behind me. I thought I’d be safe.”
I didn’t understand. “Safe? From what?”
A timer dinged. “I have to tend to this batch.”
While Candy went to the oven and removed several trays of thumbprint cookies, I impatiently tapped my foot on the floor until Jake touched my arm. “That’s not going to accomplish anything,” he whispered. “Be patient. Let her tell her story in her own time. We’re not going anywhere.”
“What if Mitch Raines decides not to wait to talk to her tomorrow and hauls her off to ja
il instead?”
“Then she’ll have all the time in the world to talk to you.”
“You’re a lot of help.”
He grinned. “You’re welcome.”
Candy loaded up the oven again and sat back down. “Where were we?”
“You mentioned something about thinking you’d be safe,” Jake said.
“I’ve kept this to myself for so long I’m not even sure how to explain. I know you’ve had questions for a long time about what kind of work I used to do, Max.”
“How did you know that? I never said anything out loud.”
Candy smiled. “You didn’t have to, dear. You dropped plenty of hints and your curiosity was written all over your face.”
“Speaking of curiosity,” I said, “What exactly did you do before?”
Candy looked at Jake. “She’s not very patient, is she?”
“No, she’s not.” He squeezed my hand.
She took a deep breath before continuing. “I worked for the government.”
I wasn’t exactly surprised. “Why is that such a big secret?” I asked. “I’ve met a few feds before and they didn’t hesitate to say where they worked.”
“I’m sure they must have been with other agencies—not the one I worked for.” Candy folded her hands on the top of the table and stared at them. I was about ready to reach over and pull the rest of the story out of her when she finally said, “I worked for the CIA.”
I’d long suspected something to that effect, but it felt strange to hear it from her own lips. It explained how she knew background on a lot of people and how she seemed to know everything that went on, sometimes before things happened. “The CIA?”
Jake added, “You were a spy?”
“I guess you could call it that,” she said. “Although at the agency we referred to our jobs by other names.”
“I’m sorry,” Jake said, shaking his head. “But I just can’t picture you as a spy. You’re more like someone’s grandma, not some Mata Hari.”
“You never saw me in my younger days,” she said with a smile.
I’d seen a few photos of Candy when I’d been to her house, but I hadn’t paid a whole lot of attention to them. When I asked about them, all she said was that she’d spent some time in Europe when she got out of college. I remembered one had the Roman Coliseum in the background and one had the Eiffel Tower in Paris. She’d been “quite a looker,” as Elmer would have said, with her long blond hair and miniskirt. And her clothes weren’t all black and gold then, either.
As much as I wanted to hear all about her former career, it wouldn’t explain anything that had happened over the last few days, and that was why we were here. We could delve into the past later. “Why were you at Doodle’s house on Sunday?”
“To find out what he knew.” Her tone of voice made it sound like she should have added “duh” to the end of the sentence.
“About what?”
“Felix Holt.”
It suddenly hit me how ludicrous it had been that I had thought Felix was romantically interested in Candy. Maybe it was the stress of the whole situation but I started laughing.
Candy gave me a stern look. “I’m glad you find this so amusing.”
Still laughing, I said, “I’m sorry. I was just thinking about how when all this started, I thought you were avoiding Felix because he wanted to get into your pants.”
“What?” Candy’s eyes widened. I’d never seen her look so shocked.
I shrugged. “It made sense at the time.”
Jake tried to suppress a laugh with no luck. “Max was going to try and fix the two of you up.”
She shook her finger at us. “This situation is nothing to laugh at. Felix Holt—”
Just then there was a knock on the door.
“Shh.” Candy put the finger she’d been shaking to her lips.
The knock continued in something that sounded like it might be a code.
Candy seemed relieved. She relaxed. “It’s okay.” She got up and opened the door. A man who looked to be in his early seventies came into the room.
Dapper was the first word that came to mind as I took in his appearance. He was very old-time British, right down to the white curled mustache and bowler hat. He even carried an umbrella. He removed his hat and bowed when he spotted me and Jake.
Candy kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks for coming.” She turned back to us. “Max and Jake, I’d like you to meet my husband, Tommy Fleming.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
My jaw just about dropped to the floor. I couldn’t have heard her right. “Husband?” Candy was married? My mind couldn’t wrap around that thought. When did this happen? How did this happen? Where did she meet him? Why had she never said anything?
“If you want to get technical,” Candy said, “he’s my ex-husband.”
“Ex-husband,” I said. I was beginning to sound like a parrot.
Tommy grinned and put his arm around Candy. “I think she’s a bit flummoxed, my dear.”
“Of course she is, but she’ll get over it.” Candy motioned for Tommy to sit. “Would you like a cup of tea?”
“That would be splendid, if it’s not too much trouble.” He took a seat across from Jake, and the men shook hands. “You must be this young lady’s beau.”
Jake introduced himself and they chatted while Candy went about boiling water for tea and removing trays from the oven like having her secret ex-husband show up was an everyday occurrence. I couldn’t do anything but stare at Tommy. I was still at a loss for words, which didn’t happen all that often.
Tommy reached across the table and patted my hand. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions. We’ll have some nice tea and some of Candace’s lovely biscuits and we’ll have a little chat.”
Candace. He called her Candace. Other than some of the names Elmer had used, I’d never heard her called anything except Candy.
“Maxine is such a beautiful name,” he said. “Perfect for a beautiful young lady.”
I finally snapped out of it. Staring at the man was not going to answer any of my one thousand and one questions. I thanked him for the compliment, then said, “Will one of you please tell us what’s going on? Candy, why didn’t you tell me you’re married?”
“Was married.” Candy reached for a box of Earl Grey on a shelf then turned to Tommy. “I told you she was impatient.”
“I’ve been very patient,” I said. “Thanks to me, the police haven’t knocked down your door and hauled you off to jail.”
“The police are the least of our worries, my dear,” Tommy said.
“Candy should be worried about the police. She’s not in the clear yet. Detective Raines was not happy when he found out she’d been in Doodle’s house,” I said. “Did she tell you what happened?”
Tommy nodded. “Candace told me everything.”
“Here you go.” Candy set a plate of cookies on the table. “I made your favorite.”
Tommy picked up a snickerdoodle and bit into it. “I’ve missed these, love.”
I cleared my throat. “I don’t mean to be rude, but do you think you could have your little reunion later? We have more important things to discuss.”
Candy brought a teapot and four cups to the table. “Fine.” She sat down beside Tommy and poured. “Remember the other night when Felix Holt was sure he knew me?” she said to me.
“How could I forget? He wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
“The truth is . . . he was right. He did recognize me.”
“Then why did you deny it?” Jake asked. “What was the big deal?”
Candy glanced at Tommy, and he patted her hand. “Go ahead and tell them, love. They need to know what we’re dealing with.”
“I had to pretend I didn’t know Felix Holt,” she said. “I had no choice. Until I know why he’s here,
it’s better that he doesn’t know who I am. Frankly, I was shocked that he recognized me after all this time. I don’t exactly look the same and I haven’t seen him since 1968.”
“But he does know who you are,” I said. “We told him your name. He even knows you own this bakery.”
“He doesn’t know Candace by her real name,” Tommy said. “She went by another moniker back then.”
“I take it he wasn’t an old boyfriend,” Jake said.
Tommy chuckled and Candy made a face. “Hardly,” she said. She slid the plate of cookies across the table. “It’s a long story. You’re going to need these.”
Finally. We were going to learn the truth. I leaned forward and rested my elbows on the table.
Candy took a sip of tea then said, “When I was about to graduate from Georgetown—”
“You went to Georgetown?” I blurted out.
Candy gave me the look she usually reserved for Elmer. “Are you going to interrupt me every sentence? If so, I’m going to stop now.”
“Sorry,” I said. “I’ll shut up.”
She continued. “I was in my last year at Georgetown in 1966. I was twenty-one years old, with a major in European studies and a minor in political science, and I was ready to take on the world.”
I opened my mouth to ask how she went from that line of study to baking cookies, then quickly closed it again. I had no doubt she’d end her tale if I so much as let out a peep.
“A few months before graduation, there was a career expo with a lot of local companies and, since we were in the DC area, many government agencies. I hadn’t had much luck with my job search up until then. I’d go on an interview and the boss would basically pat me on the head and offer me a secretarial job.”
I couldn’t imagine anyone trying that now. Or even Candy putting up with it.
“I wanted more than that,” she went on. “It wasn’t long before I realized no one had any use for a woman with a European studies degree. The career expo was my last chance to find a meaningful job. If I didn’t, I’d have to move back to Polish Hill and live with my parents, and I sure didn’t want to do that.”