Fudgy Fatality: A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 10

by Kathleen Suzette

  “Yes, he has. He’ll probably talk to them again at some point if he feels like there’s something going on there.” I sat back in my seat and looked at her. “So, how’s married life?”

  “Great!” she said. “I love being married. I think you’d love it, too. When is Ethan going to pop the question?”

  I grinned. “Stop it. We haven’t even talked about it. Not seriously, anyway. One of these days, maybe. I’m glad you’re happy. That makes me happy, too.”

  “You know what you could do? You could ask him to marry you. Buy him a ring. Get down on one knee and propose.”

  I stared at her. It had never occurred to me to do that, but I wasn’t sure I liked the idea. “That’s crazy.”

  “What? Why do you think it’s crazy? You’re a modern woman. You can ask him to marry you.”

  I took a sip of my coffee, thinking it over. “That has never crossed my mind.” What would Ethan do if I asked him? Would he like it? Would it annoy him? Would he say yes? Or?

  “Well it should cross your mind. Honestly, if Brian hadn’t asked me, I was considering asking him.”

  “Really?” I couldn’t imagine Amanda doing that.

  She nodded. “I was thinking about how I would do it. I thought I might pack a picnic lunch and go out to the lake and ask him. There’s that rowboat out there that everyone borrows. How romantic would that have been?”

  The lake she was talking about wasn’t very big. There was a rowboat that someone had brought and moored to the dilapidated dock that everyone used. I smiled at her, imagining it. “You softie you, Amanda. That would have been wonderfully romantic.”

  “You could do it on a night when there’s a full moon. Row out to the middle of the lake and pop the question.”

  I might not have thought of it before now, but I could suddenly see it. It would be so sweet. And then the thought of him refusing me dashed those romantic ideas. “I could never do that.”

  “Why not? I think Ethan would be touched by it.”

  “It’s not time yet. We’re just happy being together. We’ve got our cats and we like hanging out together and going out on dates. There’s nothing wrong with taking things slow.” I looked down at my cup and took another sip of my pumpkin spice latte.

  “Sure, sure. I know. Brian and I took it slow, too. There’s nothing wrong with that. But if he doesn’t make a move, then you should.”

  “Maybe,” I said, looking up at her again.

  We turned to look at the door as it opened, and John Green walked in. He glanced at me and then went to the counter as the other customer left.

  “What’s up with him?” Amanda asked.

  “He says he’s moving back to Pumpkin Hollow.” We whispered so he couldn’t hear us, but he glanced in our direction again.

  “What? Why?”

  “He says he lost his job,” I said. “I hope he stays away from Christy.”

  “I can hear you, you know,” he said, looking in our direction.

  “Good. Stay away from Christy,” I said louder.

  He chuckled. “I have no intention of hanging around Christy. Don’t worry about it.”

  “Have you found a job yet?” I asked him

  “It’s been like three days. No. I don’t have a job. I don’t suppose you’re hiring, are you, Amanda?”

  “Nope. We aren’t hiring,” she said.

  “That’s a shame. I like coffee and I’m really good at drinking it. What about the candy store? Is your mom hiring, Mia?” He grinned at me when he said it.

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “Nope. Sadly, we just hired a couple of people. You’re too late.”

  He chuckled and placed his order.

  Three more people walked into the coffee shop and got into line. Amanda turned back to me. “Tell Ethan I hope he finds the killer soon. I should get back to work.”

  “I will. I had better get back to work, too.” I picked up my coffee and headed for the door.

  “Hey, Mia,” John said as I got to my car. I turned to look at him.

  “What?”

  “We don’t have to be enemies, do we? Just because Christy and I got a divorce?” He walked up to me, and that grin was back on his face.

  “Probably. You hurt my sister, why shouldn’t we be enemies?”

  He chuckled and shook his head. “Honestly, Christy and I are fine. We parted peacefully.”

  “You might be fine, but she thought she was going to be married forever. Congratulations. I’m glad you got out of your marriage without any mess.”

  His mouth made a straight line. “I guess I had that coming. I’m sorry things didn’t work out between us. Sometimes things don’t.”

  “Sure,” I said with a curt nod. “I’ve got to get back to work.”

  “Say, has Ethan figured out who killed Olivia?”

  “No, it’s a little early yet. Why do you ask?”

  He shrugged. “I just wondered. It’s a shame she was killed, that’s all.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “I’ll tell Ethan you’re concerned.”

  He shook his head. “All right Mia. I can see this isn’t going to end well. I need to get going. I’ve got jobs to apply for.”

  “You do that.” I got into my car. John Green was never going to be a friend of mine, regardless of whether Christy had forgiven him or not.

  Chapter Nine

  It was time to do some investigating now that it was Tuesday and the crowds had thinned out. There would still be plenty of tourists stopping by the candy store in the afternoons once schools were out and people got off work, but most of the action happened on the weekends. It was good to not have to wear a costume during the week, too. I headed over to the offices of Storage Inc to see if I could find out anything about what had happened to Olivia. Maybe she had let something slip to one of her coworkers that would be helpful in figuring out who killed her.

  Storage Inc manufactured business shelving, among other things. The warehouse was several miles outside of town, but the offices were here in town. I didn’t know a lot about them, but I knew they manufactured items for businesses, and since my family owned a business, I had a good excuse to stop by and snoop around.

  “Hello,” a young woman said without looking up when I entered the office. After a moment she looked away from her computer screen and smiled at me. “Hi Mia.”

  I smiled back when I realized who she was. “Hi Carla. How are you?” Carla Steele was just the person I wanted to speak with. Amanda had said Olivia had trouble with her here at her job and I wondered how extensive that trouble had been.

  “I’m doing great. I’m so glad fall is on the way and we can get everything pumpkin spice.” She chuckled. “Me and my pumpkin spice coffee, I tell you, my boyfriend says I’m an addict. He might be right.”

  There was a cup of coffee from Amanda’s shop on her desk. “Fall is my favorite time of the year. I love everything pumpkin spice, too. It’s been a long time I’ve seen you, Carla. How have you been?”

  She nodded. “I’m great. Just great. I bet the candy sales are crazy now that it’s Halloween season.”

  “Crazy doesn’t begin to describe it, but it’s the biggest part of the reason why I love fall.”

  “I’ve got to get over there and buy some pumpkin spice fudge. Is there something I can help you with today?”

  We were out in the open and I glanced around. There were cubicles filled with people that lined the walls. “Business has picked up so much at the candy store with the online sales, we’ve been talking about making some changes to the kitchen. We need more storage, not to mention staging areas for the candy we’ve packed up that needs to be shipped out.”

  She nodded. “I bet you do need some rearranging of that kitchen. I was in there years ago when my mom stopped in to say hello to your mom. It was while you were away at college if I remember right. It seemed like the kitchen was pretty small.”

  I nodded. “The kitchen was fine when we were just making enough candy for local sal
es, but the Internet sales have really put us in a squeeze. I think the space could be better utilized if we really thought about it. I wish it was bigger, but for now we’ll have to make better space choices to capitalize on the room we do have.” The idea that one day we might have to move the shop had occurred to me, but the thought made me feel ill. We had been at the same location since my grandmother had opened the business.

  “I can imagine. But we only sell wholesale to distributors. Our organization systems and shelving units go out to retail outlets that sell them, or to contractors that do renovations. We don’t sell to small businesses.”

  “Oh? I had no idea,” I said. That was disappointing, we really needed to make changes in the kitchen. “When I told my mother we were in need of a better space solution, I thought of you all first.” I shrugged. It really hadn’t occurred to me that they might not sell to me. We were a business after all, and we always bought wholesale from all of our suppliers.

  “What you need is a company that can come in and design a better space for you. They would buy the items you need and sell them to you as part of their service.” She smiled and picked up a pen. “I think I might have some business cards here from some contractors that might be able to help you out.” She pulled open the thin drawer on her desk and rummaged through it.

  “That’s probably the best idea, anyway,” I said. “I bet a professional will be able to see things with a better eye than we can and make recommendations.” I hated to spend the money. I really just wanted to put in a new shelving rack that would allow us to stack up more boxes that were ready to be shipped. But she might be right about someone coming in that had ideas that would help us out. I just didn’t want to think about what that might cost.

  “Here you are. This one is in South Lake Tahoe. I’ve had a couple of people tell me they do good work.” She slid the business card across the desk to me.

  I picked it up and looked it over. “Any idea what the pricing might be?”

  She shook her head. “No, sorry. I don’t know. The owner is a nice guy though. Ask for Stan Sigall. I deal with him when he places orders for materials.”

  I looked up at her. “What exactly do you do here, Carla?”

  “I’m in sales. That’s what most of us do. I know, with me sitting out front like this, you might think I’m an administrative assistant, but I’m not. Business has really been booming around here for a while now and all the cubicles are filled with salespeople and materials buyers, so here I am. Out here like I’m a secretary or something.”

  Her face scrunched up when she said it. I didn’t think she liked someone making the mistake of thinking she was a secretary.

  “That’s great that business has been booming. I like to hear that sort of thing.”

  She sighed. “You have no idea. We’re the top supplier in California, but we ship all over the country. Around here, it’s sell, sell, sell. It’s not my favorite thing to do, but hey, it pays the bills.”

  “Sometimes you have to do what you have to do,” I said. “I heard about Olivia Summers. It’s a terrible shame. How are things going around here with her gone?”

  Her brow furrowed a moment. Then she nodded. “It’s unbelievable. She was just here on Friday. We said goodbye and that we’d see each other on Tuesday. Then I heard she died.” She shook her head sadly. “We had talked about all the events during the Halloween season and how much we were looking forward to it. I can’t imagine what her family is going through. Especially her mom and dad. I only met them once, at a company picnic, but they seemed really nice.”

  “They are nice. I’ve known them a long time. Olivia was really sweet, too. It’s just a shock that something like this could happen. Did she work here long?”

  “A little over a year. I’ve been here for nearly six years. I never planned on being here this long, but sometimes things happen.” She shrugged.

  “You’ve been here that long?” I said, glancing around. There wasn’t another desk out here and it made me wonder why she had been stuck out here if she had seniority over Olivia. “Did she sit in one of the cubicles?”

  Her mouth made a straight line. “Yes, she had that one over there.” She pointed at one that was just behind her and to the right. From where I stood, I could see flowers on the desk and a little stuffed dog sat on her keyboard.

  “Oh, I see. I’ve never worked in a cubicle before. It might be fun to have one to decorate. At least, that’s what I’d do.”

  She sighed. “That’s what I did when I had one, too. I changed everything out with the seasons. Olivia did, too. She had one of those scented candle warmer things too, but it smelled up the whole office and people complained. It was kind of inconsiderate of her to use it though. People have allergies.”

  “Why don’t you have a cubicle now, then?”

  She looked away. “It seems some people like to stab you in the back around here.” She looked at me again. “It’s always that way at a job when sales are involved. We get a small commission and people act like it’s gold.” She shrugged.

  “Oh, I guess that’s a negative to working here, then.”

  “That’s a negative to working in sales, period. But until something better comes along, I’ll take it.” She forced herself to smile now. “It’s not a terrible place to work.”

  I nodded. I wondered who had stabbed her in the back and what had led to her losing her cubicle, but I didn’t want to seem nosy. “Any idea who might have killed Olivia?”

  Her eyes narrowed in thought. “I really can’t say, but if I were going to take a guess, I’d say it had to be one of her boyfriends. She had a lot of them. But she used to argue with Aaron Cox on the phone a lot.” She folded her hands together on top of the desk. “I really don’t know, though.”

  Aaron’s name kept coming up. I needed to talk to him.

  “I see Olivia has some flowers on her desk. They’re really pretty.” The bouquet had yellow and orange sunflowers, an orange rose, and a white Gerbera daisy with some other fall flowers. The vase was wrapped in burlap and it shouted fall.

  She glanced over at the flowers. “Those came for her Friday. I would have thought she would have taken them home for the weekend, but I guess not. She said the flowers came without a card and she didn’t know who they were from.”

  “A secret admirer, I guess?” I asked.

  “I guess. Like I said, she had a lot of boyfriends. I figured she just didn’t want to admit who had sent them.”

  “That’s possible.” I glanced at the flowers again. It wasn't a large arrangement and didn’t seem like the sort of thing an admirer would send. “Well, I had better get going. I’ve been on my feet all day and I’m beat. Thanks for the business card. I’ll give them a call and see if they can help us out.”

  “No problem. I hope Ethan catches her killer soon.”

  “I’m sure he will,” I assured her. “Talk to you later.”

  Olivia received a bouquet of fall flowers the day before she died, sent anonymously. I needed to find out who sent them.

  Chapter Ten

  It was the middle of the week, but I thought chances were pretty good that I’d find Aaron Cox out at the haunted farmhouse. On my lunch hour I drove over to the farmhouse and parked next to a white Chevy Silverado pickup truck parked out front.

  The door of the farmhouse was locked, so I turned toward the barn. One of the horses neighed from inside and I headed in that direction. Before I got to the barn door, I was met by Aaron, leading one of the horses out. When he saw me, he grinned.

  “Hi Mia, what brings you to the haunted farmhouse in the middle of the week in the middle of the day?”

  I smiled back. “Hi Aaron, it’s a wonderful day, isn’t it? I had a few minutes and I thought I’d stop by.” The leaves on the trees were beginning to turn and it wouldn’t be long before they dropped to the ground. A breeze blew and I could hear the rustle in the nearby trees.

  “It sure is,” he said putting a hand on the big bay mare�
�s nose. She tossed her head and knickered softly. “I can hardly believe it’s fall already. Seems like the year has just flown by.”

  “You can say that again,” I said. “I think having Pumpkin Hollow Days made the summer go by quickly. But I sure am glad it’s fall now. It’s my favorite time of the year.” I was trying to come up with a way to ask about the things I’d heard about him without being obvious about it. Talking about the weather was usually a good opening.

  “I second that,” he said and scratched the horse’s ear. “I was just leading Belle out to the pasture to get some fresh air. I usually get down here first thing in the morning and let all the horses out so they’ll be fresh for the evening hayrides, but I had a lot of errands to run this morning, so I’m running a little behind.”

  “I love coming down here and seeing the horses,” I said and reached out and scratched Belle’s cheek. “I always wanted a horse of my own. I told Ethan one of these days I was going to have a farm where I could have a couple horses, and maybe some goats and chickens.”

  He chuckled. “So you’re a farm girl at heart?”

  I nodded. “I guess so. I don’t know where I get it from, my mother says it doesn’t come from her, and my dad claims I must be a throwback from a few generations ago.”

  “I’ve always liked the animals too,” he said. “If I get around to it, I might add a few more to this place. Make it feel more like an actual farm.”

  I nodded. “That’s a good idea. Aaron, I haven’t seen you since I heard about Olivia Summers’ death. I just wanted to tell you how sorry I was that she passed away.”

  He sobered now. “Thanks, Mia,” he said, looking away. “It just doesn’t seem real. I don’t know how this could’ve happened.”

  “Did Olivia have problems with anyone that you were aware of? Did she mention anything that makes you think she was worried someone might harm her?”

  He turned and looked at me again. “Olivia and I broke up more than a month ago. To be honest, we had a rocky relationship for some time before we broke up.” He swallowed and breathed out heavily. “I don’t know what it was, but we couldn’t seem to work things out. We were always at odds with one another. But if there was someone she was worried about, she never mentioned it.”