Ooey Gooey Bakery Mystery Box Set

by Katherine H Brown

  “After that, he started coming to buy cookies though?”

  Millie smiled. “Yes. I remember thinking that even though I goofed things up for you, at least some good came out of it because he must not have heard of the Ooey Gooey Goodness Bakery before that day.”

  “He could buy cookies at the grocery store,” Sam told her. “He came back here because he met you. Today’s exchange could have told me that alone; if you need further proof, a note and a phone number should really be enough.” She handed the paper back.

  We didn’t have time to discuss it further; Victoria popped up behind us from the kitchen with a tray full of truffles. “Who wants to try an Almond Crunch Truffle?”

  My hand shot into the air. Sam and Millie’s followed swiftly behind.

  Smiling, Victoria held out the tray with one hand, grabbing her own truffle with the other. “I haven’t tried them yet,” she admitted. “Plus, there’s another tray in the kitchen that I made completely different.”

  I raised the powdered-sugar-coated chocolate ball up in the air. “A toast to truffles.”

  Three truffles tapped my own. “Cheers,” Sam grinned.

  I bit down directly in the center of the truffle. Tasty! I studied the layers of the truffle in my hand as I allowed the other half to roll around in my mouth, chewing slowly to discover each little surprise. Working my way outside to inside, I detected powdered sugar and cocoa powder, a coating chocolate for a crunchy outside shell, a soft brownie-like textured chocolate middle filled with chopped almonds, and a hint of almond extract.

  “That is one good truffle!” Sam tossed the rest of hers into her mouth.

  Millie, remaining somewhat lost in thought, continued to nibble on her own and nodded in agreement.

  “Are you sure you’ve never made a truffle before?” I tilted my head at Victoria. Natural talent is one thing, but this girl was skilled.

  “I’m positive. Eaten them, of course, but never made one.” She smiled. “Until you explained them, it always seemed too complicated.”

  “You said you made others?” I finished eating the delectable little bite in my hand.

  “Yep. Come on, we can go try those now.” Victoria spun toward the kitchen.

  Following, I promised to bring one out for Millie and Sam to try.

  A clap of thunder sounded. I glanced over my shoulder before the swinging door shut. Looked like the downpour was beginning early. Yikes.

  ~

  Victoria’s White Chocolate Almond Truffles had been to die for, we all agreed. After sufficient taste-testing, we put the remainder of both types of truffles away. If Gladys came tomorrow and we didn’t have any, she would be one upset lady.

  “Uh-oh. Not good.”

  I looked over at Victoria, worried that a cookie disaster might be in progress, only to find her phone the object of her distress. “What’s the matter?”

  We had been mixing up and baking extra cookies to have on hand tomorrow, in case the storm caused any electrical problems this evening. If we already had cookies baked, we could still open for business.

  She grimaced, shaking her head, and handed me the phone rather than answering.

  Uh-oh was right. Another headline, another unflattering photo. This time, Deidra of the present, not Deidra of the past, carousel-ed across a banner on social media. The post, submitted by screen name TheTruthWillOut, boasted the heading: A Rat by Any Other Name Would be as Hideous.

  The photos…oh the photos! First up, Deidra tripping in the gopher hole at the courthouse; someone had caught it in full-on digital color, down to the irate red of her scowling face. Second spin, the banner photo showed flooded streets dotted with floating gopher traps. A few of the traps even had deceased rodents attached. Yuck! The final photo on the reel showed Deidra smiling, holding an umbrella. Tiny caption at the bottom of the post in bright red letters claimed: Town menace strikes. Deidra determined to destroy anything that she doesn’t like. Poison being detected entering public water mains. Is this from illegal quantities of poison used on gopher holes with no concern for groundwater? What secrets will the next storm reveal? Stay tuned to find out.

  “This is bad. Very, very bad.” I gave the phone back to Victoria.

  ~

  As the rain picked up that afternoon, customers dwindled. By four it was evident we might as well close up Ooey Gooey Goodness Bakery for the day. Before we did, I pulled Sam aside for a pow-wow. Millie went to the kitchen to get a head start on cleaning.

  “This is insane.” Sam scrolled through the loop of photos. “Now we have to worry about contaminated water supplies? No wonder someone is going after her; she thinks that rules don’t apply if she wants to get something done.”

  “At least she can’t blame you for this one.” We were seated at one of the round tables in the café. Only two other people remained, finishing up the last bites of a shared pie slice, and I didn’t worry about them overhearing our conversation. I could barely hear our conversation. The torrential rain drowned out most sounds; I couldn’t imagine how loud it would be when we actually went outside to leave later.

  “What makes you think that?”

  “The angle this photo was taken from,” I tapped the photo of Deidra, legs splayed wide, one heel sunken in a gopher hole. “There isn’t any way you could have taken it from that direction or that far away considering she tripped trying to usher your patriotic-haired-self off the courthouse lawn.”

  “Reason and logic will not stop my mother from blaming whomever she wants.”

  “Fine, I’ll give you that. But at least there is a chance she admits it couldn’t have been you, no matter how small.”

  “I still can’t figure out what makes her think I have something to gain from ruining her image. This is all because the first picture included us both with wilder hair.” Sam leaned forward, resting her forehead in her hands. “I wish I knew who kept posting all of these things.”

  “You know what Gladys would say, right?”

  Sam groaned without looking up.

  “Time to investigate.”

  “How? Where?” She sat up, rubbing tension from her neck. “If there were a way to track the person behind the account ‘TheTruthWillOut’, don’t you think Mother would have found it by now?”

  “We start with who would hate your mother enough to try and ruin her.”

  Sam arched a thin eyebrow at me in disbelief.

  “Okay, let me clarify. We figure out who, out of the admittedly long line of people who hate your mother, would have access close enough to her to take or discover these new and old photos.”

  “You mean, like her assistants?” Sam tapped her long fingernails up and down on the table.

  “Exactly. They would be a smart place to start. Didn’t she fire two more recently?”

  “I’m sure. It’s really much too difficult to keep up with.” Sam sighed.

  “Where do you think we can find the names of the last three or four assistants?” I rubbed my temples. Obviously, it wasn’t like we could approach Deidra for the information.

  “We could ask the current assistant, I guess.” Sam shrugged.

  “Unless the current assistant has it out for Deidra and gets suspicious of why we are asking questions.”

  “Easy.” Sam smiled. “I’ll tell her that I’m looking to hire my own assistant.”

  Lightning cracked outside. Our customers scurried out the door. I watched as the man attempted to hold an umbrella over his wife and keep it from blowing away at the same time. “Obviously we aren’t doing anything today.”

  “Agreed.” Sam nodded and stood. “Let’s get this place closed up and go check on Flo and BeeBee.”

  “Yeah. If they don’t plan to close early, maybe there is something we can help them with to get them finished sooner.”

  Sam took one look at the rising water in the street. “I definitely hope Flo plans to close early.”

  Flo did indeed decide to close early. She and BeeBee were washing down the f
lower cutting station when we knocked on the back door. “Come in, come in.”

  Crossing the eight feet between the back door of Ooey Gooey and the back door of Flo’s Flowers had Sam and I both looking like drowned rats. “We’ll just stand by the door, so you don’t have to mop everywhere we drip.” I looked down at myself. Oh well; I’d be wetter than this by the time we got to the truck. Maybe I should have reconsidered the umbrella.

  “We wondered if you needed any help getting finished with orders?” Sam held her hands out. “It is getting pretty bad out there and we closed the bakery early.”

  “Millie and Victoria are waiting for a text whenever we get ready to take them home; they’ll lock up the bakery and meet us at the truck. Until then, we’re all yours.” I smiled.

  “That’s very sweet!” Flo tossed a damp paper towel in the trash and pulled a dry one from the roll by the sink. “We actually planned to call it quits early today, too.”

  “Do you need a ride?” It might be a tight fit to get everyone in my truck but I trusted it to handle potentially flooded roads much better than any car that sat much lower to the ground.

  Flo shook her head. “No. I don’t live far from here. It will take me less than five minutes to get home.” Rain pounded harder on the roof, driven by furious winds. “Okay, maybe less than ten minutes,” Flo amended her estimate. “BeeBee can go ahead if you girls are ready.”

  I glanced at Sam; she gave a barely perceptible shake. We stayed on the same wavelength most of the time and today was no exception. “No. We’ll wait until you leave. I’d feel better knowing we all got out of here together.”

  Flo finished drying the counter. “Sounds good. I only need to give the shop out front a look, turn the lights out and lock up. Should be ready to go in no time.”

  “No rush,” Sam assured her.

  Flo had been right. In no time at all, the four of us huddled beneath the new canopy outside the back door as Flo turned the key in the lock. Across the way, Victoria gave me a thumbs up from below the bakery canopy; she had locked up and they were ready. I clicked the unlock button for my truck, the lights blinking in the gray light. For the middle of the afternoon, visibility was slim. Sheets of rain blew sideways and trash gusted through the back lot. The dumpster lid banged, blown open and pummeled by the wind.

  “Text me when you get home.”

  “What?”

  “Text me when you get home,” I yelled louder. When Flo nodded that she understood, we all took off running to the vehicles. Doors slammed in concert, one after the other, as we all piled into my truck. Sam’s door was the last to close. I looked over at her in my passenger seat and chuckled. Her pointy-heeled stilettos were clutched in her hand.

  “At least I didn’t try to run in them.” She pursed her lips.

  “But only you would have worn them to begin with on a day when the worst storm of the season had been forecasted.” I looked down at her bare feet. “Did your extra bag of clothes include rainboots, by any chance?”

  Sam looked down at her bare feet, then out the window in the direction of her car which we couldn’t even see through the curtains of rain; she groaned.

  “You didn’t get your clothes out of your car, did you?”

  Slowly, she shook her head.

  “I have them.”

  Sam and I turned to stare at BeeBee scrunched behind Sam’s seat. Two large bags, one an army-green duffle and the other a quilted animal print tote, covered her entire lap and part of Victoria’s beside her.

  Sam clapped her hands together. “You’re amazing.”

  “When in the world did you grab those?” I knew there was no way she’d had time; I mean, Sam was the last one in the truck after all.

  “Just now.” BeeBee shrugged.

  “What?!”

  “I dashed over and got them on the way to the truck,” BeeBee said matter-of-factly. “I knew I needed mine and Sam’s bag happened to be in front of it in the backseat so I snagged them both since you said we were going to your place for the night.”

  “Good grief you’re fast.” I eyed her in wonder.

  “Oops. Does that mean I left my new car unlocked?” Sam chewed on her lip.

  I rolled my eyes. “Let’s get home and get dry.” Flo had left the parking lot already, so I pulled out into the road, windshield wipers set to the highest setting or what I like to call see how long they can go this fast without flying off speed.

  Victoria’s mom called with a change of plans. I drove both Victoria and Millie to Victoria’s Aunt Sophie’s home. It happened to be closer to downtown and a greater distance from the beach than Victoria’s house; Millie would stay with them tonight as well. From there we continued on to my apartment. I stuck to the main highways to avoid washed out roads. We only passed one wreck – a Corvette sideways in a ditch.

  Street signs swayed precariously from traffic light poles. Lines in the road blurred, making lanes hard to distinguish. My knuckles gripped the wheel, clenched white, as I tried to avoid the same fate as the Corvette on the flooded roads.

  “Home sweet home.” I sighed as I maneuvered the truck into the only parking spot that I could find close to my apartment door. “Ready to make a run for it?” I looked at Sam, then at BeeBee. Both nodded.

  “One, two,” I grabbed the door handle. Sam reached back and took her tote bag from BeeBee. “Three!” We each hopped from the truck and dashed through the rain. Grateful for my cozy apartment being on the ground floor, doubly thankful it had a covered awning, I searched my key ring for the right key and in we went.

  CHAPTER 13

  “Scoot over.” I wedged myself between the end of the couch and Sam later that night, placing the tray of ooey gooey Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies on the coffee table in front of us. BeeBee sat on the other end of the couch. The couch was new. A light tan color, Sam and I found it at a discount furniture store – boy was that an adventure –, along with the new side tables and a taller coffee table, when we went shopping to redecorate my apartment after the shooting.

  Reaching for a cookie, BeeBee said, “Not that I’m complaining, but I thought you said you were making supper?”

  “She did.” Sam paused the Cookie Cake-Off on TV and snagged two cookies at once. “This is Piper’s version of baked oatmeal.”

  “Guilty.” I shrugged. “You are welcome to go raid the fridge if you want anything more though; it won’t hurt my feelings a bit.”

  “Nope. Baked oatmeal is fine with me.” BeeBee winked and munched on her Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookie, holding a napkin below her chin to catch any crumbs.

  “BeeBee, would you like to finish telling us about Eva?” Sam put a hand on BeeBee’s knee. It was the first time we had all three been alone together since she left off on the story Saturday.

  “Yeah, I think I would. I didn’t expect it, but I’ve actually felt a little better since talking about her. Like she’s with me again, not just a figment of my imagination.”

  I nodded. “You said that you got her out?”

  “That’s right.” BeeBee leaned back on the couch, closing her eyes. “Mrs. Clark. I think that was the woman’s name; it’s been so long ago.” She sat back up. “There was this one woman who came in to get foot rubs. I don’t think the poor lady had any idea what other businesses were being run in that massage place. She came in every week for three months and boy did she love to talk. Over time, I could see that she was lonely. She only had a cat and a little bird for company.”

  I laughed, picturing Granny, Sylvester, and Tweety-Bird in my mind. “That must have been a well-behaved cat to live with a bird.”

  “Probably. Anyway, I started putting together a plan. One day, I snuck the keys out of her purse and hid my sister in her car.” BeeBee took a long drink from the tea glass in front of her. “Gosh was I nervous! If they caught us outside, we would have been in huge trouble. I still don’t know how we managed but I got Eva out the back door and hid her under a blanket in the backseat of Mrs. Clark’s car.”r />
  “Maybe this is a dumb question,” Sam interrupted, “but why not just reach out to Mrs. Clark to help both of you?”

  BeeBee cast sad eyes down to her lap. “Too afraid. If she didn’t believe us it would do no good, if she talked to the owners about what I said, they would hurt us, maybe even hurt her.” When neither Sam or I spoke further, BeeBee resumed her story. “Once Eva was hidden, I went back inside just in time to magically find Mrs. Clark’s keys under the massage table. She thanked me, handing me an extra tip, and left. One of the older girls snatched the tip from me and sent me to clean the bathrooms.”

  “That’s it?” I gaped. “Wouldn’t Mrs. Clark have brought Eva back when she discovered her? You really never saw her again?”

  A single tear rolled down the side of BeeBee’s nose. She flicked it away. “I never saw either of them again. As soon as the woman in charge of us realized Eva was missing that night, they packed us all up and shipped us out under the cover of darkness.”

  “Why?” Sam’s brows furrowed.

  “To minimize their risk. They moved us around often anyway, probably so we couldn’t make friends and spill to the clients. If someone ran away though, the move was immediate.”

  “I guess they didn’t want the person coming back with the police or something.” I picked up another cookie and chewed thoughtfully. “And you’ve never tried to find Eva?”

  “No. I couldn’t.”

  “We can now.”

  BeeBee and I both looked at Sam, who swiveled her head between us.

  “What do you mean?” BeeBee frowned.

  “We can look for her.”

  “How?” Desperation hung heavy in the word. BeeBee’s fists tightened, her knuckles turning white, like she was holding on to something for dear life.

  “Yes, please explain.”

  “BeeBee, do you know what city you were in when you helped Eva to escape?” Sam clasped her hands together, hopeful.

  “Umm…” BeeBee squeezed her eyes shut, rubbing her fingers in circles over her temples. “Fair-something, maybe?”