Crepes and Crimes

by Constance Barker

  “I know. I’m sorry. Just promise you’ll be careful,” I pleaded.

  “I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about. You’re the only one gallivanting around town egging on a murderer,” Rose scolded.

  Scooter grinned. “I’m not involved in any of this. I just make cakes. No one would want to hurt me.”

  Masie hesitated. She saw what happened last night, but she’s always been too carefree to really worry about the consequences of her actions. Why would anyone come after her for mine?

  When it was almost time to close up shop, I finally called Logan. I’d put it off all day, not wanting to worry him. I knew he would be angry, but I had to let him know what happened.

  “Are you kidding me?” His voice echoed through the receiver.

  “I should have left the gift shop when you did. I’m aware of that, now.” I conceded, genuinely ashamed.

  “I’ll make sure to have an officer keep an eye on the bakery.” His voice was tight, and I knew he was worried about being able to make sure I was safe and continue with the investigation. The police department was stretched thin enough already, without my helping the situation.

  Before disconnecting, I assured him I would stay out of trouble. I hoped I’d be able to follow through.

  “We should stay here tonight,” I blurted out. Anxiety coursed through my veins.

  Masie and Scooter shot me startled expressions.

  “Safety in numbers, right? If we’re all here together, the murderer won’t dare come after us. And that way, we can all look after one another,” I claimed.

  Reluctantly they agreed. Scooter called his mom and explained he had a big order that had to be filled tonight if he was going to have it ready for morning. She wasn’t suspicious.

  Rose showed up after she closed her shop. She brought pizza, sodas, and a variety of snacks. “If we’re going to be locked in here all night to keep a killer from getting to us, I’m not about to starve to death.”

  The drama started almost immediately. If I had enough cameras inside the bakery, we most likely could have sold the footage to broadcast television and made a show out of it.

  “That was an entire bag of red vines, Masie. What the heck?” Rose yelled.

  “What? I like red vines.” Masie replied.

  “Those were supposed to be for everyone.”

  Scooter and I sat in rapt horror as Masie and Rose argued back and forth over the appropriate way to divvy up snacks and not hog them all to oneself. Rose’s argument was that it was not socially acceptable to eat an entire pack of something that was brought to share with a whole group.

  “Your anal retentiveness is a bore. You need to loosen up,” Masie countered. Scooter snickered, his face turning bright red.

  “Well, you need to stop always flying by the seat of your pants. Think a little before you act. Try considering other people’s feelings before you jump head first into a bag of red vines,” Rose responded.

  “I’m pretty sure there’s some gum paste over there calling my name,” Scooter murmured. He got up and headed over to his station.

  Rose and Masie continued their back and forth verbal sparring. If nearly getting killed wasn’t enough, all this bickering was starting to stress me out. The tension in the room was too much. I was about to walk out the back door, when Scooter’s voice echoed through the room.

  Son of a biscuit eater!” Scooter cried. He jerked his hand in the air, shaking it vigorously.

  Rose and Masie instantly went quiet. Blood seeped from the tip of Scooters left pointer finger. We rushed over to him like a bunch of crazed mother hen’s.

  “Sorry, I caught it with the cutter,” Scooter apologized.

  I helped Scooter disinfect and bandage his finger up and then disinfect the work space. At least the cut wasn’t bad enough to need stitches. When I was finished, Masie and Rose had the bed’s all set up.

  “We had better get some sleep,” Rose suggested.

  “It’s getting late,” Masie agreed.

  This was something we could all agree on.

  Chapter 22

  The next morning, everyone was incredibly cranky. Imagine that. Even after some rest, everyone was unhappy. The events of the previous night were clearly not forgotten.

  I was groggy. It felt like I was moving through water as I did the simplest things. Even making coffee, something I had done many times before, became a nearly impossible chore.

  With my cup of caffeine and wakefulness ready in a to-go cup, I announced to the others that I was going home for a quick shower. This was met with no resistance.

  If I wasn’t so desperate to get home, I would have been a little insulted.

  I got to my apartment and fiddled with the keys for a moment, still hazy from the night before. I managed to get the key into the lock and let myself in.

  I almost didn’t notice that it was already unlocked.

  When I walked in, the first thing I noticed was something strange in the air. You almost never notice the smell of your own home until it has been changed. And mine was changed.

  The apartment smelled sweet, like it always did. The smell of baked goods hung in the air, same as usual. It wasn’t as intense as it was in The Mad Batter, but it was still ever-present.

  But there was something else too. It wasn’t unpleasant, just unfamiliar. It smelled like perfume.

  And it didn’t smell like my perfume.

  It took a moment in my sleepiness to notice what else was wrong. The entire apartment had been tossed. As I looked from side-to-side, I saw that all of my things were out-of-place.

  My heart began to race. I didn’t need a shower to wake me up anymore.

  I stood there for a second, taking everything in. My mind was so overwhelmed with the amount of new information that I couldn’t even think of what I should do.

  As soon as I processed that my home had been broken into, my mind started to race. Someone had been here. Was it the murderer? I felt a wave of fear wash over me.

  I knew I had to call someone. I desperately dialed Masie’s number, but she didn’t pick up. It was the same with Rose.

  As I waited and listened to the phone ringing, it struck me that I had a clue. It was just one, but I smelled perfume as soon as I walked in.

  Could the murderer be a woman?

  With neither Rose nor Masie answering their phone, I decided to call Logan.

  “Hello?” he answered.

  “Logan, something happened! Someone broke into my apartment!” I said, breathlessly. Saying the words made everything so much more real. I had to sit down so I wouldn’t pass out from the stress.

  “Is there anyone else there?” he asked. His voice was suddenly much more serious.

  “No, I came here alone.” I said. I realized he might be asking if the intruder was still there too. I felt a sense of dread. “I haven’t heard anyone else in there. I think whoever was here is gone now.”

  I looked nervously around the apartment anyway. I was worried that someone might pop out at me.

  “Stay where you are,” he said. “Try to find someone to wait with you if you can. Stay by the door.”

  “Okay,” I said shakily.

  “I’ll be there soon.” He hung up.

  I immediately called Vivian. Luckily she answered the phone. I quickly filled her in on the situation and she promised to come over as fast as possible.

  I hung up the phone and wondered what else I could do. It felt wrong to just sit still and wait.

  I decided to check if anything was missing. I didn’t want to disturb the crime scene too much. I tried to carefully look at anything without touching it or moving it.

  Nothing of value was taken. My television was still there, as were the more expensive items I owned that I remembered to check. This obviously wasn’t a robbery. Whoever came here did so with a different purpose.

  Vivian and Stella arrived just before the police. We sat down on the couch together as they went through everything. Vivian held my hand
s in hers. It made me feel a little comforted, but I still felt on edge.

  When Logan arrived he came over to me looking stressed out. He ran his hands through his hair.

  “Well, Coco, did you notice anything obvious missing?”

  “No,” I said. “I tried not to disturb anything, but everything of value seemed to still be here.”

  He looked frustrated. “I hate to say it, but I think we have to assume that it was someone involved with the murder.”

  “Oh...” I said. My voice trailed off. Confirmation of my worst fears took the breath out of me.

  “I’m just glad you weren’t here when they broke in. We’ll make sure to give you extra security. Nothing will happen to you on my watch.”

  I still felt the adrenaline of the discovery rushing through me, but the presence of everyone there was starting to make me less fearful.

  I saw an officer go into the kitchen with my broom and dust pan. I wondered to myself if they were cleaning everything up. It seemed like a strange thing for them to do.

  “Be careful. We have broken glass here,” the officer said.

  I felt my heart drop as I went over to the kitchen. I stood in the doorway and saw what was broken.

  My favorite glass measuring cups had been broken. They were smashed on the floor. Even without getting closer, I could tell there was no way to fix them.

  They perfectly measured every ingredient I used. I had never been able to find a set like that again.

  I felt my anxiety turn to rage. I was determined to find out who did this. And they would pay dearly.

  Chapter 23

  Vivian and Stella took me back to the bakery. After the incident with the measuring cups, everyone thought it was best that I get out of my home for a while.

  I returned to the Mad Batter without accomplishing my goal of getting a shower, but I was more awake than ever.

  When I walked in, I saw why Masie and Rose weren’t answering the phone. They were in the middle of shouting at the Everetts.

  It took me a moment to process all of the questions going through my head. I wondered why the Everetts were in my bakery and why they were being screamed at.

  “Whoa!” I yelled, trying to calm the fight that had broken out. “What's going on here?”

  Everyone turned to me. I could see on their faces how angry they were. The Everetts looked incredibly stern while Rose and Masie just looked plain old mad.

  Jordan turned to me. “Good. You’re here.”

  “Yeah, I’m here. What’s going on?” The repeated question hung in the air. Everyone knew what was going on except me. I knew I wouldn’t like whatever he was about to say.

  “We stopped by to tell you that, unless this problem is solved soon, the wedding will be delayed indefinitely and we’ll be canceling our order with you.”

  My heart dropped into my stomach. I would lose a lot of money if the order was canceled. I’d already sunk money into this wedding, and business had been so slow lately.

  I was depending on this order for my business to stay afloat.

  There was something threatening and tense with how he told me about the wedding delay. I could understand being stressed out about this, but there was such malice in his voice.

  “But I’ve already spent so much time on this,” I said. “I’ve put so much into this order!”

  Jordan sneered at me. “Have you?” He asked. “It’s amazing how you find time to do anything else. Don’t think we haven’t noticed what you’ve been busy with.”

  Uh oh. He knew that I’d been looking into him and his family. It wasn’t my fault they were at the center of a major investigation. They had the motive, opportunity, and means to do this!

  I had to control my flare of anger. There was still so much left to do in the investigation. I wasn’t convinced Jordan wasn’t one of my prime suspects, but I really needed their order if I want to keep getting by.

  I quickly ran over the case in my head. I had to buy more time. I had to keep this wedding on schedule. My business depended on it.

  There had to be something there. Something I missed. A little detail I hadn’t figured out.

  Then it hit me. I had finally made a break in the case.

  I just needed to figure out how to stall them.

  “Please, I know the police are so close to making a break in this case,” I begged. “Don’t call it off just yet. They just need a little more time.”

  “We’ve given them plenty of time,” Mr. Everett said. “We cannot have the wedding under these circumstances. Weddings never go perfectly, but any reasonable person would agree that a murder investigation is egregious!”

  “I know you don’t want to cancel though,” I said. “No one wants to cancel their wedding. And if you just hold off on canceling, this may all be solved and you won’t have to worry about it.”

  I looked around and spotted a red velvet cupcake in the display at the front. I knew for a fact that red velvet was his favorite. I quickly grabbed a napkin and the cupcake. I handed it to him from behind the counter.

  I hoped it would be enough to soften him up.

  He looked surprised as I handed him the cupcake. It was a nice break from the angry look on his face. To my shock, he accepted it.

  He just stared at the cupcake for a moment before taking a bite. He tried hard to hide it, but I could tell that my plan had worked.

  “Just a little bit more time. That’s all the police will need.” I had to remember to say police instead of revealing myself to be the true force behind this investigation.

  I knew that Jordan would think that if my cupcakes from yesterday were this good, they would be even better for an event as important as his wedding.

  Jordan and his father exchanged glances. I could tell they were having a silent conversation, weighing the pros and cons.

  “Alright,” Jordan said in defeat. Relief washed over me. “Truthfully, I think this is delaying the inevitable, but we’ll hold off on canceling just yet.”

  Without saying goodbye, he and his father turned on their heels and walked out of the bakery. The tension in the room left with them.

  Masie clapped her hands together. “Your cupcakes are magic, Coco!”

  I reached for my car keys and started to walk out the door.

  “Where are you going?” Rose asked.

  “I forgot something,” I said. “There’s something I need to do.”

  I left the bakery and got into my car. I put the keys in the ignition and pulled out my phone. I called Logan.

  It rang a few times before I went to voice mail. He was probably still busy with the break-in at my apartment.

  “Logan, it’s Coco,” I said in the voice mail. “I’m about to go after the main suspect. I can’t believe I didn’t see it! It’s the only person who makes sense!”

  I felt a rush of adrenaline as I told him my discovery, even if it was just through voice mail.

  “It’s Maribelle!” I exclaimed. “I saw her with Derrick’s missing cuff-link at Reggie’s! She was fiddling with it in her pocket!”

  I hung up the phone, satisfied with my discovery. The only thing left to do was to find and confront Maribelle about her heinous crime.

  Chapter 24

  As I drove to Maribelle’s house, I felt butterflies in my stomach. I was so sure I had finally found the murder.

  I parked in her driveway and walked up to her door. At least I knew for certain that Jordan wasn’t home.

  Maribelle opened the door. She looked surprised to see me. Even though I had just surprised her at home, she was still dressed up. If someone had surprised me at home like that, I would look like a mess.

  “Coco, what are you doing here?” she asked.

  I couldn’t be so upfront with my true intentions for being there. I had to be more subtle.

  “It’s about the investigation,” I said. “I think you may be able to help me with something.”

  I tried to phrase it so that, if she was the murderer, she wou
ld still have a reason to talk to me. Of course the murderer would want to help. It would draw suspicion away from them.

  She thought about it for a moment and stepped aside.

  “Alright. Come in,” she said.

  I walked into her home. It was really beautiful. She led me to the sitting area. She stepped into the kitchen and came back with a display of petit fours and coffee for both of us.

  “I have other things if you would prefer something else,” she said as if she didn’t just to put Betty Crocker to shame.

  “No, I’m fine, thank you,” I responded.

  She sat down on the couch across from me, primly crossing her legs. I knew I looked like a total mess, especially compared to how perfect she looked. I was too focused on the case to care, however.

  “Do you remember when we talked at Reggie’s?” I asked her.

  She thought for a moment and then looked deeply embarrassed.

  “Oh gosh. I didn’t say anything rude, did I?”

  “No, you didn’t,” I said. It felt strange to comfort her like this when I was accusing her of something so serious. “You had something in your pocket. You were playing with it.”

  She stiffened up. I knew she knew what I was talking about.

  “It was the cuff-link,” I said. “Derrick’s cuff-link, right?”

  “Yes,” she said. She was keeping as still as can be and her voice was tense. I had her right where I wanted her.

  “You were close to Derrick, yes?”

  “You could say that.” She was playing coy, but I held all the cards here.

  “I know that you once had an affair with him,” I said. I cringed a little on the inside. I wasn’t used to confronting someone over such personal rumors.

  Her demeanor changed from tense to annoyed.

  “What is it that you want here, Colleen?” she asked.

  “I know what you did,” I said. It was time to come clean. “I know that you killed Derrick!”