The Sweet Baked Mystery Series - Books 1-6

by Katherine Hayton

  “But you must have done all right, even without his support,” Holly said. “I heard through the grapevine that you run a successful recruitment business.”

  “Yeah.” Amber’s eyes slid back around to fix on Holly again. “A temping agency. I got it up and running in the end. Took a lot more double shifts at a fast food restaurant to save up the cash than I was hoping.”

  “That’s rough.” Holly leaned forward and whispered in a low voice, as though imparting a state secret, “I don’t think parents know what they’re doing half the time. I certainly don’t think that they understand the effect.”

  Halfway through, Amber started giggling, then stopped with a wince of pain. She pressed a button on the side of her bed.

  “I’m sorry,” Holly said. “I should leave and let you get some rest. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

  Amber nodded grimly. “I’ll be here.”

  As Holly walked outside, she bumped into Marshall Brent heading in. He gave her a glance of astonishment. “You’re visiting Amber?”

  Holly nodded. “I didn’t want her to be all alone in the hospital.” When Marshall seemed about to step past her, Holly quickly added, “Are you representing Sophie?”

  Marshall’s face turned into a stone mask. “I am,” he agreed, “but I can’t tell you anything about her case.”

  “What about Matthew?” Holly asked. “Do you know if her son’s doing okay?”

  Marshall gave a short nod and stepped to one side. “He’s doing fine. They tracked down his father who agreed to look after him for the time being.” Before Holly could get in another word, Marshall stepped past her and through the surgery center door.

  His father?

  A rush of questions flooded up to Holly’s lips, but she’d left it too late for there to be anybody to ask. For a moment, she considered hanging around outside the surgery for Marshall to exit, then she shook her head. He could be hours, and it seemed unlikely that he’d answer anything Holly wanted to ask.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Elvira burst into the bakery the next afternoon, fresh from school and with a face full of thunder. “How could you tell my cousin that I crashed into your car?” she demanded, ignoring the woman Holly was serving.

  Holly offered an apologetic smile to Mrs. Wallace—a regular from further down in the Hurunui who stopped by once a week when she visited the township. Mrs. Wallace just flapped her hand. “Don’t mind me,” she said. “I still haven’t made a decision about what to have. This here conversation sounds a lot more interesting.”

  It did, which was the reason that Holly didn’t want to have it in the middle of the shop. “Come through to the back,” she said, wishing that Crystal was back from her delivery break. With so little customers, she took longer over her deliveries every day. Something Holly had encouraged until right this minute.

  “Now, what’s got you so upset?” she asked, even though Elvira had already said in her initial outburst.

  “You told on me to my cousin.” Elvira’s eyes filled with tears. “How could you do that?”

  “First off, I didn’t tell on you to your cousin. Alec from the garage stopped by when we were having a meal and happily spilled the beans.”

  Elvira’s expression turned into a milder version of outrage. Holly understood in a moment of clarity where Aidan’s temper came from— apparently a family trait.

  “Second—you did crash into the back of my car. If I wanted to tell anybody that, then I have the right to do that without you storming in here while I’m trying to serve a customer.”

  Elvira opened her mouth, but Holly raised a hand to stop her. “No. I don’t want to hear it just yet. Wait there until I serve Mrs. Wallace and have a good think about what you want to say.”

  Holly stepped back through into the shop, finding Mrs. Wallace halfway behind the counter with her head tilted to catch every word. Rather than be embarrassed at being caught out, the woman just raised her eyebrows. “Kids today, eh?” she said, not expecting an answer. “They just don’t seem to instill manner in anyone.”

  “I’m sorry,” Holly said. “Elvira isn’t usually this temperamental or rude.” She cast a worried glance back over her shoulder. “I think that something must have upset her very much.”

  Mrs. Wallace nodded, seeming much happier for the small drama having played out in front of her. She selected a chocolate and a vanilla cupcake—as she always did in the end—and then waved cheerfully as she walked away.

  “Now,” Holly called out, “if I come back through there, am I going to get another earful?” She rolled her eyes, glad that Elvira couldn’t see her for the moment. Holly’s mother had a few handy catchphrases for times of trouble—that was one of them.

  “I’m sorry,” Elvira said, coming out into the shop so that Holly didn’t have to come through after her. “Everybody was on my case about the terrible thing I’d done, as though it was a war crime or something! After three days of lectures, I’d had enough and wanted to take it out on somebody, but that’s not right.”

  She paused for a moment, gulping in a few breaths of air while she appeared to fight back tears. “There’s no excuse for me to barge in here and start yelling. Everything that happened was my own fault, and I should take responsibility.”

  “Well, then,” Holly said, amazed at the eloquence of the girl’s apology. When she was a teenager, if she was in the wrong, the most she had ever managed was a sullen, sorry.

  “Why don’t you have a seat and tell me all about it?” Holly said. She was about to offer Elvira a cupcake when she thought better of it. Just because the girl had apologized didn’t mean she’d earned a treat.

  “It’s been awful. Every time I try to open my mouth and say something, either Aidan or Granny are yelling at me about my behavior. I don’t understand what’s so wrong.”

  Given Holly’s own surprise when Aidan went ballistic over dinner, she didn’t either, but adding in her two cents right now wouldn’t help the situation.

  “I mean,” Elvira continued after a short pause, “I do understand what they’re upset about. If I’m truant from school, then they get all the blame.”

  “I’m sure that’s not the true reason they’re upset,” Holly interjected. “It won’t help your cause, but I think they’re both able to explain the situation rationally. It’s not like you make a habit of it, is it?”

  At that, Elvira’s gaze slid down and away across the floor. While Holly looked on, starting to gain a better understanding, the girl’s cheeks flushed bright red.

  “I did skip out on school a lot when I first had to go and live with Granny.” Elvira sighed. “It wasn’t that I didn’t like living with her, but everything was so strange, and I didn’t feel I could cope with going to school on top of it.”

  “What did you do?”

  Elvira glanced up with a frown of confusion.

  “Sorry, I meant what did you do when you weren’t in school?” Holly thought back to the few occasions that she’d bunked off. The thrill of being naughty was soon eclipsed by the fear of being caught. Small towns weren’t conducive to bad behavior.

  “I used to cycle into the paths behind the creek,” Elvira said. “I’d find a hidey-hole in the forest and just tuck myself away for the day and read.” She sighed at the memory. “It was so peaceful, you know what the forest noises are like.”

  Holly nodded. She enjoyed them herself whenever she found time to walk through them. The thick layer of discarded pine needles turned to mulch on the forest floor and acted like a thick carpet, muffling sound. The native birds would flit about in the branches above her head, calling out to each other with an opera of song. It was always a treat if a fantail swooped low, showing off its glorious tail.

  “When the truancy officer kept insisting that I wasn’t making it to school, Aidan took some days off work to follow me. He yelled a lot when he found me. All about how dangerous the woods were for people on their own. How I could’ve broken a leg and lain for days in the fores
t, with nobody knowing where to search. That the wrong person might have come along with the evil intention at the wrong time and I could’ve spent the rest of my life with a stain on my memory that I couldn’t remove.”

  “Ouch,” Holly said. “I’m sure nobody is wandering around the forest, thinking that!”

  Elvira shrugged. “It didn’t matter. Aidan thought of all the worst possible things that could happen and piled them on. All I wanted was someplace nice and quiet and safe. By the time he finished, it didn’t seem like that anymore.”

  Holly clicked her tongue. “You certainly deserved a telling off, but I hope you don’t think the forest is full of danger. There are so many people going through there, if you did hurt yourself or feel scared, you could always yell for help.”

  A giant smile shot out of Elvira’s face. “I know. I thought of all that later. Considering the trouble I had to take in order to hide away out of sight, it wasn’t as though I could genuinely lie there for days, undiscovered!”

  Elvira paused for a minute, rubbing the back of her neck. A customer walked in, the tinkle of the bell making both Elvira and Holly jump.

  When Holly finished serving the woman, she returned to the table.

  “Granny told me after that, if I didn’t go to school, then she’d be in the line of fire. Apparently, they can fine a parent or guardian if they’re not doing anything about truancy.”

  Holly nodded. She remembered the law change to allow it, though she didn’t know how widely it was practiced. As a threat, though. Gold.

  “I guess you already understand why everyone’s so upset, then,” Holly said. She sighed with sadness. “I wish that I’d known your history and I could have talked it over with Aidan quietly. I’m afraid that instead, we had a very public row.”

  Elvira’s eyes opened wide. “You did? Over me?”

  Holly laughed and shrugged again. “That was what started the fight, but I don’t know…” She turned and gazed outside. A lone patron was sitting at a table in the small square, a large cup of hot chocolate in front of them. Given the breeze cutting through there at the moment, Holly wouldn’t trade places.

  “I think that we’re just not enough alike. Otherwise, we might have lasted a bit longer,” Holly said at last. Then she turned back to Elvira and rapped her knuckles on the table. “But that’s not your concern. Is your bike okay?”

  “Yes,” Elvira said, then frowned again. “Not that I’m allowed it. Aidan is dropping me off at school and picking me up in the evening at a friend’s house.”

  She looked up at the clock on the bakery wall and gasped. “He’s picking me up in five minutes. I’d better run!”

  As Elvira tore out of the shop and down the street, Holly sat back and stared after her with some sadness. It was a pity that things hadn’t worked out with Aidan. For a while there, she’d been sure that he would be the one to take refuge in her heart.

  “Never mind,” Holly whispered to herself, hearing the back-door bang as Crystal returned. “There’s plenty more fish in the sea.”

  If only she liked fish.

  That night, when Holly visited Amber, she was up and out of bed. Clutching a walking frame in a death-grip sure, but still mobile.

  “You appear to be much better,” Holly exclaimed after one turn around the room left Amber exhausted. “Is the doctor pleased with your progress?”

  “He seemed happy enough,” Amber said with a grin. The change between her attitude the day before and now was nothing short of amazing. The enforced bed rest must have been even more distressing to her than Holly had imagined.

  It only took a few minutes to find out that it was a different set of news that had Amber beaming.

  “Did Marshall tell you the good news?” she asked when she’d struggled back into the hospital bed. “About Matthew?”

  “I’m not sure,” Holly hedged. “I’d heard that he found a place to house him out of the system.”

  Amber threw her head back and burst out laughing. “Yes. That’s the polite way of saying it. After spending a week with everyone pointing their fingers at Samuel and me and accusing us of being illegitimate, turns out the shoes on the other foot!”

  “I didn’t realize that Sophie had been accusing you of anything.” Holly took a seat near the bed even though she felt awash with dismay at the direction the discussion was headed. “Have you even heard from her since the arrest?”

  “No and good riddance.” Amber sniffed, tilting her nose up. “Since she’s not allowed to profit from a crime, her bequest goes back into the estate. That effectively cuts her son—her illegitimate son—out of the will, so I guess that leaves me as the sole inheritor. Turns out Dad will be investing in my business after all!”

  The change in mood was so abrupt that Holly had trouble keeping up with her. After a shorter visit than previous, she left Amber to it. As she was about to walk out of the clinic, Holly changed her mind and waited for a nurse at the front desk to finish with another patient.

  “I wondered if there’d been a progress report on Amber Willoughby?” Holly asked. “I’ve been visiting her regularly, and she seems much better today. I wondered when she might be expecting to be discharged.”

  The nurse grumbled under her breath. “She should have left long before now,” then made a show of looking it up on the computer system. “You’re family, I take it?”

  Although Holly wanted to say yes, her truthfulness overwhelmed her longing, and she shook her head. “Just a friend.”

  “I’m afraid I can’t give out that information,” the nurse said, shutting down the file and turning away from the computer. “Privacy laws forbid it.”

  “Of course.” Holly nodded as she turned away. Still, from the quick aside before the information came up, it seemed clear the nurse thought Amber would be leaving them soon.

  Never mind. None of my business.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “I don’t know why I bother sticking my nose into other people’s business,” Holly complained later that night, lolling on the couch next to her sister. “Since the laws of the land cut out all the juicy details, it hardly seems worth my time.”

  “Perhaps you should take that as a recommendation to keep your eyes on your own page.” Crystal yawned and stretched her arms above her head. “I don’t know why you’re prying into everybody’s relationships when you should be concentrating on your own.”

  There was a long pause as Holly peered with pretend interest at her own fingernails. She didn’t know what to say so chose to keep quiet instead. That may as well have waved a red flag in Crystal’s face.

  “What is it?” Crystal asked after an intense minute spent scrutinizing her sister. “Aren’t you going out on a date with Aidan again this weekend?”

  “I thought I might stay at home. I’ve got some reading to catch up on.”

  “Tell me.” Crystal stood and launched herself at Holly, tickling her in every spot she could lay her fingers on. “Tell me what it is that you’re hiding!”

  “No.” Holly tried to fight back against the onslaught, but it was no good. Every time she managed to hold off an attack from one quarter, Crystal would find another vulnerable spot. When she’d laughed herself breathless, Holly held up her arms in mock surrender, unable to speak.

  “Do you promise that you’ll tell me everything?” Crystal said, pulling back for a moment, fingers waggling in threat of further harm.

  Holly nodded, still fighting to stop laughing long enough to draw breath.

  “Okay, then. You have five minutes to recover, then I expect you to start coughing up the goods.”

  Just as Holly recovered enough to open her mouth, there was a knock at the door.

  “I’d better go get that,” she chirped, sticking her tongue out at Crystal as she made her escape.

  “Just a minute,” she called out halfway down the hall as the knocking sounded again.

  “Who would be coming around at this time of night?” Crystal asked in a worried voice
.

  Holly stopped, with one hand on the door handle and turned back. A ribbon of dread curled through her belly. Only one way to find out, though. She pulled open the door and slapped a makeshift smile on her face.

  “Alec!” Holly stepped forward because he was standing right back on their concrete landing. “What are you doing here?”

  “Who is it?” Crystal asked from behind her and Holly turned around.

  “It’s Alec from the garage. He fixed up my—”

  Her eyes widened as she realized a possible reason for his visit.

  “Oh, my goodness.” Holly clapped a hand over her open mouth.

  “What?” Crystal cried out in alarm, but Holly couldn’t answer because she’d gotten the giggles again, worse than being tickled.

  “Um, hello, ma’am,” Alec said, introducing himself to Crystal as Holly sagged against the door frame overcome with laughter. “I’m Alec from the garage. Your sister keeps forgetting to drop by and collect her car.”

  “You dimwit,” Crystal announced, giving Holly a mock slap on the arm. She turned back to Alec with a frown. “How much do we owe you?”

  “It’s all paid for,” Alec said quickly, holding his hand out to stop her reaching for her purse. “Your sister left a credit card on file for the payments. It’s just, I don’t have much room in the shop as it is, so I really needed to clear out space.”

  “I don’t know why my sister thinks this is so hilarious,” Crystal said, shaking her head. “But thank you very much for dropping it around. Do you need a lift back anywhere? It’s getting pretty late.”

  Alec shook his head but hesitated on the landing for a moment. “I don’t need a ride but, if you don’t mind, could I grab a glass of water?”

  “Sure.” Crystal opened the door wider and waved him through. She pulled Holly all the way back inside as well for good measure. As she led Alec through to the kitchen, Holly trailed along behind, wiping her eyes.