Pastries and Puzzles

by Constance Barker

  “No, will you listen to me, we need a cemetery on the cake.”

  “We do not need a cemetery on the cake and while we’re on the subject will you please stop turning everyone into ghosts.”

  I laughed at their antics and they turned towards the door in unison, both covered in flecks of icing and ganache. I quickly filled them in on the happenings of the day before, and they stared open mouthed as I related how I had almost been shot.

  “Your day does sound a lot more dramatic than ours. We’ve done nothing but argue about our entry for the baking competition for the last few days,” Masie said, holding up one of Scooter’s tombstones as proof of their falling out.

  “Oh custard creams, the baking competition,” I cried. I thought over everything quickly. I didn’t really want anyone to be in the bakery, especially alone.

  “Listen guys, I’m closing the bakery for a while. I’m worried about us all, I don’t want anyone to get hurt if someone comes here looking for me. Besides, it’s not like there’s any paying customers we’re going to lose by being closed for a few days.”

  “You can’t close, we need to practice for the competition. I think you’re overreacting to everything, because of the shock,” Scooter argued. Masie nodded in agreement, but I had made up my mind.

  “No, we’re not entering the competition. I’m sorry but we have no chance of doing well with our reputation right now. It’s better to just not focus on it.”

  “But I’ve made 212 tombstones for the cake,” Scooter gestured to the bench. Masie rolled her eyes again at the mention of tombstones, but I felt tears prick my eyes. Scooter was so talented, and always went above and beyond.

  I stuck to my guns and left a sullen Scooter and Masie to lock up the bakery. I was exhausted, and just wanted to doze in front of the TV. I had only just reached my front door when Logan called.

  “Coco? I’ve been to Lyall’s house and there’s no evidence that anyone except you were there. Definitely no broken picture frames or bullets to be found. I’m sorry but I’ve looked everywhere.”

  I sighed and thanked him, but my head was in turmoil again. Maybe I really had dreamt the whole thing up...or hallucinated it. Scooter would start calling me Crazy Coco instead of Coco Cabana.

  The knock at the door made me jump, and I opened it gingerly. Masie, Scooter and Rose all stood outside clutching bags of ingredients and mixing bowls.

  “If you won’t let us bake at the bakery, we’ll just have to do it here,” Masie said, pushing her way past me into the apartment.

  “Yeah, you don’t have to go through this alone you know,” Scooter chimed in, heading straight for the TV and scrolling through channels full of repeats.

  “Besides, Logan said you weren’t supposed to be alone,” Rose finished, handing me a cookie.

  “Guys, I don’t think it’s safe for you to be around me. What if someone comes back for me?”

  “That’s why we brought Scooter. We can throw him at the killer and flee into the night.”

  Scooter flicked icing sugar at Masie in response. “If you let me get murdered, I won’t be able to make you my signature pineapple upside down cake.”

  “Where did you learn to do upside down cake?” Rose asked, handing round mugs of cocoa.

  “From my home ec teacher, Mr. Cavill. He always encouraged me to bake in class, even when the other boys said it was too girly. When I release my bestselling cookbook, I’m going to dedicate it to Mr. Cavill.”

  I smiled. Scooter rarely mentioned his school years, but I knew he had been teased for his interest in baking and cake decorating. Sometimes when he constructed his masterpieces they were partially made out of spite and a need to prove people wrong about him.

  Though I was worried sick about them, it warmed my heart to see how much my friends cared about me. I broke out my special space themed cookie cutters to loud cheers.

  “Well if you’re not going to let me wallow alone, I guess we’d better have a baking party.” I said, smiling at them all and putting my own apron on. If you can’t beat them, join them.

  Chapter 23

  I woke up the following morning feeling much more cheerful. The mystery surrounding the murder and the threat of the incident at Lyall’s house still weighed on my mind, but after being surrounded by my friends all evening I slept better and had some more perspective on everything.

  I also decided to open the bakery again as usual. I was still worried about Masie and Scooter, but it wasn’t fair to let this whole affair interfere so much with our daily lives and my business. I still wasn’t sure about entering the baking competition, but we’d cross that bridge when we came to it.

  I headed across town and as I approached the bakery, I braced myself. I had just reached the side of the building when I spotted Stella and Vivian outside and I smiled. At least somebody hadn’t lost their faith in Mad Batter.

  “Hey girls. Give me a few minutes and I’ll get us a pot of coffee going.” I greeted my two favorite sweet old girls with a smile and a wave, always happy to see them.

  Stella and Vivian jumped as they saw me, worry evident on their faces. I frowned, unsure why they weren’t happy to see me but suddenly feeling nervous too.

  “Oh, Coco dear. We weren’t sure if you’d be open today or we would’ve gotten it all cleared away before you saw it, give you less of a shock,” Stella exclaimed, starting towards me with her arms outstretched.

  “What do you mean, clear what-oh...” I strode forward and stopped suddenly when I saw what they had already discovered. My hands flew to my mouth and my heart stuttered in my chest.

  Stella put her arms around me, but I pulled away to run to the front of my bakery. The beautiful big window that usually housed our menus and a selection of delicious cakes had been completely shattered. I reached out to touch the frame, but Stella pulled my arm back.

  “I wouldn’t dear. There might be sharp bits, you could hurt yourself.”

  I was in shock as I turned to her. “What happened?”

  “We don’t know my dear. We just pottered on over here like we usually do to see if you were open yet, and we saw it all smashed up. It’s just awful.”

  I swallowed and turned to look at my building again. I was about to speak when something caught my eye inside. I entered the bakery and picked up a heavy brick wrapped in paper that had clearly been used to break the window.

  I unwrapped the paper and gasped. I had to blink back tears as I read the single word written on it in big, blood red letters.

  KILLER.

  I wavered on my feet and was thankful to feel Vivian’s cool hand on my elbow. She gently guided me to a seat and handed me a cushion. She walked away and a few moments later I heard the sounds of the coffee machine purring into action.

  I put my head in my hands and tried to breathe deeply. I had worked so hard for my bakery and look what had happened to it. I just couldn’t understand why this was all happening to me.

  “What have I done to deserve all this?”

  “Not a single thing, my dear, and don’t you go on thinking otherwise.” I hadn’t realized I’d voiced my thought out loud until Stella’s voice cut across my despair.

  “Don’t you worry, we’ll sort everything out. We’re champion sorters, we are,” Vivian chimed in from where she was wrestling with the coffee pot.

  I watched numbly as Stella called Henry and Red and told them that if they didn’t source a replacement window in under two hours, she would drive them to Area 51 and leave them there for the aliens. Despite myself, I had to chuckle at her threat.

  Vivian popped her head up from behind the counter. “There you are my dear, you just keep smiling. If you want the rainbow, you’ve got to put up with the rain. Storms make trees take deeper roots.”

  “What?” I was suddenly confused again.

  “It’s Dolly Parton, dear. She always has the answers when you’re feeling blue. We should all strive to be more like Dolly.”

  I wasn’t sure how to respond
so I nodded numbly. Stella winked at me. “It’s alright dear. Vivian might have Dolly Parton memorized but I won’t subject you to any quotes from my hero.”

  “That’s because your hero is a spy. Spies aren’t as quotable as songstresses,” Vivian argued.

  “That’s what you think. Now shush, I need to find someone to clean this mess up.”

  “Someone” turned out to be Scooter, as Stella called him next. He must have argued more than Henry and Red because she used her special threatening voice on him that always made me suspect she had a rather colorful past before she retired. It worked though, and not ten minutes later Scooter arrived, out of breath and clutching a dustpan and brush.

  “Hecks specks, Coco Kitty Cat. What happened here?”

  I waved in the direction of the note and brick and his eyes widened as he pieced it together. He hugged me firmly before dutifully heading over to the window with his pan.

  Vivian appeared by my elbow again and dumped a cup of tea in front of me. I started to ask about the coffee she had been making, but one glance over towards the coffee machine made me stay quiet. There were coffee beans littering the entire counter and floor, the milk steamer seemed to be bent in two and the machine was making a low groaning noise I had never heard before. “You might want to get someone to have a look at that,” Vivian said sheepishly.

  I smiled and squeezed her hand. “I like tea too. Thank you for being here.”

  “I don’t think Dolly has a reputation for destroying other people’s coffee machines,” Stella said wryly.

  Before Vivian could argue back, the door opened and Logan strode in, looking serious and worried.

  “Oh, Logan!” I couldn’t hold back my tears any longer and ran to him. He pulled me into his arms and hugged me firmly.

  “Shh, it’s okay Coco. I’m going to find out who did this, I promise you.” He stroked my hair and rocked us gently.

  “I’m not resting until this is solved, Logan. The Mad Batter is my home. I can’t let anyone attack my home or my family.”

  He rubbed my arm comfortingly. “We’ll figure this out, Coco. Don’t you worry about that.”

  Chapter 24

  After Logan left I sat in silence for a while, staring at the mug in front of me. My head was swirling with possibilities. Who could have done this, and why?

  I was lost in my own thoughts until a clattering of china made me look up. Stella was stacking plates on the counter with a stern expression, but when she saw me looking she smiled brightly.

  “Don’t worry dear, I’ve banned Vivian from touching the breakables again.”

  I smiled as Vivian’s head shot up from below the counter, eyes wide.

  “You say that as if I break everything I touch, Stella.”

  “You do,” Henry and Red said in unison from their spot by the window.

  “I’m not the one who breaks people’s noses, am I?” Vivian argued to Red. He grinned.

  “I only broke one guy’s nose, and he knocked my tooth out so we were even in the end. Still beat him though. I was the best boxer in the wider Midwest area, don’t you know?”

  “Of course we know. You never stop talking about it.” Henry rolled his eyes and winked at me.

  The men finished putting the new window in and stepped back to allow Scooter to sweep up the dust. A lump stuck in my throat as I watched them all work on the bakery and listened to their lighthearted bickering.

  I was more determined than ever to not let this murder and everything that had followed it stop me. If someone wanted me to give up and run away, they’d have to try harder than that.

  I went into the back and returned with the goodies that had been baked last night. There were some interesting concoctions, the result of Scooter and Masie constantly attempting to one up each other, alongside our more usual fair. I set everything out in the counters, even Scooter and Masie’s experiments.

  If someone in town was desperate to try a hot sauce and strawberry meringue, we were here for them.

  I spent some time rearranging items and trying to figure out what Vivian had done to the coffee machine. Finally, I took a deep breath and looked at the others.

  “Okay guys, I think it’s time to open.”

  The five of them cheered, Scooter lifting his broom in triumph that we had not been defeated by the mysterious vandal. I had just turned the sign on the door to OPEN when Masie rushed inside.

  I started to tell her what had happened, but she held up a finger to stop me. She was panting for breath and I realized that she must have ran all the way up the street to the bakery. Finally, she thrust this morning’s newspaper at me, her eyes wide and serious.

  As I took it from her and surveyed the front page I gasped, and for the second time that morning my heart felt like it might burst from my chest.

  “DID COCO GO LOCO? LOCAL BAKERY OWNER IS PRIME SUSPECT IN THE MURDER OF POPULAR LIFE COACH GILBERT LANE”

  I gaped at the heading, not sure if I understood the words on the page. The chorus of gasps and mutterings behind me told me that the others had also crowded round to read it.

  “But I don’t understand, who wrote-” I trailed off as I saw the name under the headline. Clive Banks. What??!!

  How could Clive have done this to me? All the things I told him, everything we discussed about the suspects and what I thought had happened was in this article.

  The realization hit me like an under whipped meringue. He had just been using me to write this filthy article.

  “I’m going to find him. He’s not going to know what hit him when I get hold of him,” I swore, grabbing my bag and heading for the door.

  I hadn’t made it out of the bakery before someone else barged in. This time it was the mayor, looking stern and angry, and carrying a copy of the newspaper. I glanced behind her and my heart sank as I saw a crowd of locals all whispering and clutching copies too.

  “Miss Foster.”

  I blanched at the formal greeting. “Hello Mayor. I see you’ve also seen the absolute tripe that journalist has written.”

  She didn’t look impressed. “This is all too much. You’ve caused too much trouble and every time the police or someone else asks you to mind your own business or just stay out of things you have not only ignored them but blatantly defied them. And now this.”

  “Mayor, trust me, I’m as angry as you are and-”

  “I’m afraid I find that hard to believe, Coco. You will close your bakery and it will remain closed until the police have finished investigating you and solved this case. I will ask you one final time to stay out of other people’s business and leave the crime solving to the people whose job it is to do it.”

  I tried to argue but she wouldn’t let me speak. The Mayor was a woman on a mission, and everyone in town knew better than to try and argue with her when she was in a state like this.

  “This is not a request, Coco. This is a small town where good people live, and it has found itself in more and more trouble since you started poking your nose into things that don’t concern you. If you want to solve crimes, you can apply for a job with the police force but until then you will leave it alone.”

  I felt too numb to reply, so I sat down heavily on one of the chairs. Stella, Vivian, and Red took charge and started shooing people away from the store. A couple tried to resist but Vivian grabbed the broom and started swinging it at them.

  With the mob dispersed, Henry turned his attention to the mayor.

  “Come now Marion, you’re being very unkind to poor Coco. Did you know that someone broke her window last night? She’s been through more than anyone else and now everyone is being cruel to her as well.”

  The Mayor deflated slightly when faced with her uncle, and even had the grace to look slightly sheepish. She was very close to Henry, and he had stepped up as a father figure to her ever since her own father died when she was a teenager. If anyone could get her to change her mind it would be Uncle Henry.

  But I knew before she spoke again that
she had been serious.

  “I’m sorry, Coco, but it’s for the best. For you as well as everybody else. The Mad Batter is staying closed until the murderer is caught.”

  I nodded but said nothing, not trusting my voice not to break. She hovered awkwardly for a second before patting me lightly on the shoulder and stalking out onto the street, past Stella who had to quickly grab the broom to stop Vivian from whacking the mayor too.

  Masie locked the door again and I looked up to address the crowd. “Well, there’s only one thing for it. We have to find the murderer, and fast.”

  We were in the middle of discussing the suspects again when Rose arrived, and we quickly filled her in. I was trying to decide who seemed most suspicious, and my eyes settled on one name in my notes.

  “Arthur Kennedy. He seemed suspiciously nervous last time I spoke to him, and he certainly didn’t care that Gilbert died. Plus, he arranged everything, so he’s got to be involved.”

  “I know him, he’s talked to me about science before. He’s got a passing interest so he might know where to get those chemicals and how to use them,” Rose confirmed.

  “Maybe he’s working with Hestia too. Yes, he must be, to get the paper for that letter,” I finished, nodding to myself.

  I raced out of the bakery and to my car. As I got in I rang Logan, leaving a hasty voicemail to let him know what I was doing. Then I sped away, desperate to get some answers.

  Chapter 25

  I wasn’t about to let things go any further after what had happened, because I was afraid that the next step wouldn’t be someone throwing a brick through my window but a brick to my head. Or to Masie’s or Rose’s, or anyone else who was close to me and the bakery. No, I was going to stand my ground and figure out who was terrorizing our town and turning everyone against me. I was done letting others do all the legwork, and it wasn’t working anyway.

  So I drove over to where Arthur’s office was, but I parked a little bit down the road so I could walk the rest of the way there. I didn’t want him to see my car, plus the walk and fresh air calmed me down a bit.