One Last Bite_A Darling Bakery Cozy Mystery

by Brenda De Witt

  The backyard was small, but a comfortable enough size to entertain in. There was a small patio area and a hot tub with a tattered cover over it. The grass in the backyard was as neatly trimmed as the front, but there was a little bit of trash strewn around the back door. It looked like someone had been eating lunch there and a left a fast food bag and a bunch of cellophane candy wrappers on the ground.

  Dani was about to climb the steps of the back porch and look into one of the windows when she heard a car pull into the driveway. She hurriedly walked back around the side of the house feeling like an intruder on the property.

  “Hello!” the driver greeted cheerfully when Dani stepped into view.

  The stylish Mercedes looked out of place next to the tattered house and so did the driver. The first thing Dani noticed when the car door opened was the bottom of the driver’s shoes. The bright red soles made it clear that the woman driving the car lead a luxury lifestyle.

  Dani was trying to think of what to say to explain her presence on the property. Wouldn’t it seem kind of weird for her to just be snooping around? She was still trying to think of something to say when the woman spoke again.

  “Are you here to see the house?” she asked in a voice that sounded surprised and hopeful at the same time.

  Dani looked over at the peeling paint and understood.

  “Yes, I am,” Dani replied with a half-truth.

  “Oh, that’s great!” the woman exclaimed. “My name is Lisa Atwood of Atwood Realty. I’m the listing agent for this house. Do you already have representation?”

  “Representation?” Dani asked.

  “Do you have a real estate agent you’re already working with?”

  “Uh. No. I don’t have representation,” Dani replied wondering if now was the time to tell this woman why she was really there.

  “Well, that’s just fine. Come on in. I can show you around and if you like the place I’d be happy to refer you to an agent who can help you with your side of the purchase.”

  Dani followed Lisa back to the front porch. The real estate agent smiled nervously as she removed the police tape from the door.

  “There was just a little incident here a few days ago,” she said trying to sound nonchalant. “Nothing to worry about.”

  Now Dani didn’t feel as bad about lying to Lisa. The real estate agent wasn’t exactly telling the whole truth herself.

  Lisa crumpled the tape into a tight ball and stuffed it into her purse.

  “The place could use a little T.L.C. but I promise everything is structurally sound.” She banged her fist on the door jam for emphasis. “And this is a great neighborhood. There’s a school and a park nearby. Do you have children?”

  Dani could see this line of questioning was going to get more intense as they moved through the house, so she decided to end her charade.

  “I’m sorry, Lisa. I wasn’t exactly clear about why I’m here.”

  The agent stopped and looked at Dani suspiciously.

  “I’m not in the market for a home. I’m actually here…” Dani paused. What was the best way to say this? “I’m here because I knew Guy Mason,” she finally confessed.

  Lisa’s smile vanished and her tone changed from friendly to tense.

  “Oh. I’m sorry for your loss,” she mumbled through clenched teeth.

  Dani could tell Lisa was trying to maintain some sense of compassion for someone who might have just lost a loved one, but her disappointment over losing a potential commission was obvious.

  “Thanks. I mean, I’m not a family member, but I did know him. My name is Dani Darling.”

  Lisa’s compassionate look was quickly replaced with irritation.

  “Darling? Aren’t you the one the police suspect of killing him with your cupcakes?”

  Now it was Dani’s turn to be irritated.

  “I assure you my cupcakes had nothing to do with Guy’s death. As a matter of fact, I’m here to prove just that.”

  “And how do you plan to do that?” Lisa asked in a tone that was more curious than hostile.

  Dani let out a sigh. “Well, I’m not exactly sure, but I guess I thought if I could at least see the place.”

  Lisa turned back to the door. “Well, I guess that couldn’t hurt. I’m only here to remove any signs of the police presence. You’re free to look around while I check the premises.”

  There was a keypad lock on the door and Lisa started pressing numbers being careful not to mess up her nicely manicured nails.

  “2. 6. 5. 7,” she mumbled, probably not even aware that she was talking out loud. She tried the lock, but it didn’t open. “2, 6, 5, 7,” she repeated again as she pressed the buttons quickly. Still nothing. “I know no one has changed the number without telling me,” she said impatiently. Lisa focused and tried again, pressing the numbers more slowly.

  Dani found herself silently repeating the numbers with Lisa.

  2, 6, 5, 7.

  Finally, the lock opened with a click.

  “There’s not much to see,” she said as she stepped inside. “The place is in pretty bad condition. The owners inherited it from relatives and they live out of state so they haven’t been willing to put much into fixing it up to make it more attractive to potential buyers.”

  Lisa walked over to the living room window and kicked a chipped baseboard with her foot. “It was hard enough to muster up any interest before. Now that it’s the scene of someone’s death I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to sell this place.”

  Lisa turned toward the kitchen and Dani followed. There on the floor, next to the granite top island was a chalk outline of a body. Guy’s body. Dani just stared at the floor unable to move. Now she understood why Anne Davenport had been so upset when she talked about finding Guy in the house. It was upsetting enough seeing the chalk outline. Dani couldn’t even imagine seeing a lifeless body laying there.

  Lisa scrounged around in her purse and pulled out a handkerchief. She dropped the cloth to the floor and began scooting it around with her foot trying to rub the chalk away. It wasn’t very effective.

  “Great,” she said, frustration filling her voice. “I know the owners aren’t going to want to pay a cleaning service to mop this up properly.” Lisa kicked the now dirty handkerchief into a corner with her foot and walked away from the mess on the floor.

  There was nothing much in the room — except dirt. Everything seemed to have a dingy film on it and imagined that the place must have been vacant for quite some time.

  “So, Guy was here doing an appraisal on Wednesday?” Dani asked.

  “Yes,” Lisa replied. “Sad thing is he wouldn’t even have been here if I hadn’t agreed to give him one more chance to work for me.”

  “What do you mean one more chance?” Dani asked surprised by Lisa’s statement.

  Lisa’s brow furrowed.

  “Well, he used to be one of the most dependable appraisers I know, but a few months ago he started making strange mistakes. Turning in appraisals late and sometimes incomplete. I don’t know what was going on with him, but it was almost like he’d turned into a different person in the past few months.”

  This was the same odd behavior that Marla had mentioned. Clearly whatever was going on in Guy’s life was having a pretty negative impact.

  Lisa ran her hand through her hair as if she was trying to untangle a thought, then she changed the subject.

  “Well, I just stopped by to take down the police tape and make sure the police hadn’t left anything unseemly behind. Is there anything else you’d like to see?” she asked Dani with a polite realtor voice, but it was obvious that Lisa was ready to get out of this house.

  Dani glanced around the kitchen again. If there was something else she needed to see, she certainly didn’t know what it was.

  Chapter 12

  Dani watched Lisa pull away from the house and drive down the street. She was about to get into her car when she noticed the neighbor next door retrieving his mail from the mailbox at the cur
b. She quickly opened her car door and grabbed a small box of four cupcakes.

  The man was still standing by the mailbox mumbling to himself as she approached.

  “Junk. Junk. Junk,” he said as he stuffed the unwanted mail into the plastic grocery bag in his hand. “Why do they send out so much junk?” he asked directing his question toward Dani as she approached. “And this,” he held up a bright green flyer. “Ben Campbell knows darn well that I do my own lawn. I wish he’d tell those boys that work with him to stop putting these fliers in my mailbox. It’s a waste of paper and it’s downright annoying.”

  The elderly man tilted his head down and looked over the top of his reading glasses at Dani who was now standing a few feet in front of him.

  “Can I help you with something young lady?” he asked squinting his eyes at Dani.

  “Hi. My name is Dani Darling.” Dani paused before continuing. “I run The Darling Bakery over on Main Street.”

  A flash of recognition crossed the old man’s face. “Oh, yeah. You’re the one Eunice Bradshaw is all up in arms about,” he said chuckling and shifting his gaze to the box in Dani’s hand.

  “I remember The Darling Bakery and your grandparents,” the man continued. Good people and good deserts.”

  Dani took a chance and opened the box in her hand and extended it in the man’s direction. “Would you like to try some of our new cupcakes?”

  “Hmm, maybe I’ll give one a try,” he said reaching for a Red Velvet cupcake. “If only to spite Eunice Bradshaw. That woman is a pest!”

  Dani giggled as she watched the man fold the baking paper away from the bright red cupcake and take a bite. He was silent for a moment, but he was smiling as he chewed.

  “Well, young lady, you certainly inherited your grandmother’s baking skills. This cupcake is pretty darn good.”

  “Thank you, Sir,” Dani said as a wave of relief washed over her body.

  “Oh, where are my manors,” the man said as he crumpled the now empty cupcake paper and tossed it into the bag with his unwanted junk mail. “My name is Jones. Stewart Jones,” he said and extended a wrinkled hand to Dani.

  “Nice to meet you Mr. Jones and I’m glad you liked the cupcake. Would you like another one? I’ve got German Chocolate too.”

  Mr. Jones let out a hearty laugh. “I want to, but I haven’t even had breakfast yet and my wife will fuss at me if I don’t eat the scrambled eggs she’s in there fixing.”

  “I understand,” Dani said with a laugh. “Why don’t you take the rest of these.” Dani closed the box and handed Mr. Jones the remaining three cupcakes. “Maybe you and Mrs. Jones can have them for dessert after lunch or dinner.”

  “Thank you, young lady. That’s very nice of you.” Mr. Jones looked at Dani over his glasses again. “So Dani Darling are you selling your cupcakes door-to-door now? If so, you’d better watch out for those girl scouts. They’re pretty territorial and I wouldn’t want to get caught in the middle of a turf war.”

  Mr. Jones let out a big belly laugh at his own joke and Dani couldn’t help but giggle.

  “No, I just happened to have a few boxes in my car and you looked like a cupcake person to me.” Dani winked at Mr. Jones. “I was here talking to the real estate agent next door.” Dani looked over her shoulder. “I was trying to find out some more information about what happened to Guy Mason,” she said solemnly.

  “Oh,” Mr. Jones said his voice taking on an identically somber tone. “What a shame that was. Guy was a good person. It’s so sad to see him pass away so young.”

  Dani started to react to the comment about Guy being young, but she guessed from Mr. Jones’ perspective — he looked to be at least 75 — Guy must have been a young man.

  “I was here when they brought the body out,” he continued. “Our local coroner couldn’t tell a gunshot from a mosquito bite so he was pretty useless on figuring out the cause of death. Other than the knot on Guy’s head he couldn’t find any evidence of what happened. Between you and me, I think he just pulled the theory about the cupcake from out of his…” Mr. Jones paused. “From out of his ear.” The old man winked and laughed at his own joke.

  Dani breathed a little sigh of relief. At least Mr. Jones didn’t seem to think her cupcakes had anything to do with Guy’s death. Maybe the coroner and Eunice Bradshaw were the only ones who’d initially jumped to that ridiculous conclusion.

  “Yeah. It’s really sad. So, did you know Guy well?” Dani asked.

  “Pretty well. I’ve lived in Riley my whole life, so there aren’t too many folks I don’t know. That young police detective came over and asked me if I saw anything strange on Wednesday morning, but I couldn’t offer much help. I didn’t see what time Guy got here. He parked his car around the corner on the side street and the only thing I heard over there on Wednesday was Ben Campbell fussing at one of his young employees.”

  “Who’s Ben Campbell?” Dani asked.

  Mr. Jones dug into the bag he was holding and pulled out the green flier and handed it to Dani. “He’s the gardener who does most of the yards on this block. During the summers he hires some of the local high school boys to help him, but it usually causes him more frustration than anything else. Young people these days seem to be afraid of hard work.,” Mr. Jones complained. “Present company excepted,” he said with a smile.

  Dani couldn’t help but giggle at being put into the same young people category as a bunch of high school teenagers.

  “Ben says the boys are always seeking off behind the houses to smoke or eat. They just don’t have the stamina to do a real days work.”

  That must explain the trash behind the house, Dani thought.

  “So, you heard Ben yelling at one of his workers that day?”

  “Yeah, I remember Mrs. Jones and I were watching Good Morning America. They were doing a segment on summer fashions, so I was nodding a bit,” Mr. Jones chuckled. “Then I heard the commotion next door. I told the Mrs. those boys were going to be the death of Ben.” Mr. Jones shook his head.

  “Stewart!” a woman’s voice called through the open front door.

  “Oops! There’s the Mrs. I’d better get back inside. Thanks again for the cupcakes. If that Red Velvet one was any indication I think your Grandmother would be proud of you, Dani Darling,” Mr. Jones said with a bright smile.

  “Thank you, Sir. You have no idea how much it means for me to hear that.” Especially right now, she thought.

  Dani waved as Mr. Jones walked back into his house. When she turned to walk away she realized she was still holding the flier he’d given her. “Ben Campbell Landscaping. Your garden is our business. Call for FREE estimates on landscaping and lawn care.”

  Dani looked back at the yard next door. It was obvious Ben did good work and she sure could use someone to get her yard in line.

  Dani pulled out her cell and dialed the number on the flier. The voicemail answered.

  “Hi, my name is Dani Darling. I’d like to get an estimate for yard service at 5627 Seymour Rd. as soon as possible. Thank you.”

  Dani saved the number in her phone and then went back to her car. She didn’t feel like she’d made any headway in clearing the family name, but at least she might have found a gardener before her unkept yard became another featured story in Eunice Bradshaw’s blog.

  Chapter 13