Caramel Apples & Murder: A Sweet Treats Cozy Mystery

by Woods, Lori

  Caramel Apples & Murder

  A Sweet Treats Cozy Mystery

  Lori Woods

  Moonstone Press

  Copyright © 2018 by Lori Woods

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Introduction

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Afterword

  Also by Lori Woods

  Introduction

  Molly and her team of sweet enthusiasts are at it again - this time manning a bobbing-for-apples booth at Savannah's Back to School Bash.

  When one of the vendors turn up dead, Molly and Officer Jeffrey are on the case... but so is Molly's ex-boyfriend, Jack, who has (much to Molly's dismay) decided to pop into town for a visit.

  Can Molly and Jeffrey beat Jack to the punch? And, will Whip and Dazzle be able to perfect their caramel apple pop creations?

  Chapter 1

  It was turning out to be another exhausting yet productive day at Molly’s Dessert Emporium, and Molly Jenn was really putting her two newest employees, a sibling dancing duo who went by Whip and Dazzle, through the ringer. They had had a crazy flood of customers that morning, and the pair had hardly had a second to sit down and rest their tired feet. It was getting close to shift change, and finally the last customer exited the shop — a mom with four children, each who’d had a rather complicated time deciding which flavor of ice cream they wanted.

  “Phew!” Whip exclaimed once the mom and her children were gone. “What a day! Can’t believe how busy it was today.”

  “You should have seen it in the dead of summer when we first opened,” Molly said. “It was pretty crazy.”

  “So, it’s been slowing down some?” Dazzle asked, amazed.

  “Only a little bit,” Molly said. “I kind of expected it with the school year starting. Just not as many people out and about.”

  The door opened, and Bonnie and Braxton entered — their school backpacks in tow. “Afternoon!” Braxton called, plopping himself down at one of the pink tables that made up the shop’s foyer.

  Bonnie went straight for Whammy’s cage and released the little yellow parakeet in the store. It had become a sort of ritual for her each day when she arrived if there were no customers in the shop. Whammy was normally stuck in his cage for most of the day because of the constant movement of customers, but there was usually a little bit of downtime during shift change. Whammy seemed to thank her for his freedom by whistling around her head for a moment before fluttering about the shop.

  “How was it today?” Bonnie asked.

  “Busy,” Dazzle said.

  Bonnie went and looked at the display counter that hosted the fudges and pastries. “My carrot cake is all gone!” she exclaimed happily.

  “Yes, and I’m thinking it’s probably time for a new special,” Molly said. “Good job on that carrot cake, Bonnie. Everyone just loved it. Myself included. Pretty sure I’m going to need to pull out my fat pants after that one.”

  Bonnie laughed. “Well, I’m glad it was a hit! Oh! I almost forgot!” Bonnie threw her backpack down and knelt beside it, digging around. She pulled out a small flier. “Check it out! The city is doing a back to school bash!” She handed the flier over to Molly.

  “Didn’t they do that back in July?” Molly questioned.

  “It was rained out,” Bonnie said. “So the city rescheduled it to this upcoming weekend, and some vendors dropped out. So… I was thinking we should fill one of those spaces. I already called, and they have a spot available if you want to do it. Since it’s much later in the year, they’re kind of doing a sort of fall festival theme.”

  “It would be a good opportunity to promote the shop,” Molly said, looking at the flier with a keen eye. “What would we need to do?”

  “Set up a booth with some of our stuff on display for people to buy. We’re also supposed to have some sort of activity or game set up for people,” Bonnie said. “Something very fall festival.”

  “Hmm…” Molly pondered.

  “Oh, Bonnie and I already have an idea,” Braxton said, looking up from his homework he now had sprawled out on the table.

  “Really?” Molly asked with a grin. She expected this sort of thing from Bonnie and Braxton. Whenever they brought her something like this, they had always thought it through. “What were your thoughts?”

  “We do an old-school fall festival activity,” Braxton said. “Bobbing for apples.”

  “And then we can offer caramel apple treats!” Bonnie added. “I don’t remember the last time I had caramel apples.”

  Molly grinned. “Genius!” she exclaimed. “That would be so much fun. Bonnie, I want you all over our social media pages, letting people know where we’re going to be. Braxton, you think you can get going on designing some digital files for Bonnie to use on those pages?”

  “Of course,” Braxton said.

  “And, I’ll take some pictures too,” Bonnie said, pulling out her phone.

  “Perfect,” Molly said, turning to Whip and Dazzle. “I could probably use you two the day of the event.”

  Whip and Dazzle both frowned. “Um…” Whip said. “We can totally help out, but we’re sort of performing at the event.”

  Molly smiled. “No worries!” she assured them. “You can help out when you can. Focus on your dancing, you two.”

  Dazzle smiled. “You’re a pretty cool boss. I feel bad we didn’t think to tell you about putting the shop into the event.”

  “It’s okay,” Molly assured them. “You just didn’t think about it. Well, you two are actually good to go for the day.”

  “Sorry,” Whip said under his breath. “I really do feel bad we didn’t think about telling you about the event. It’s a good opportunity for the shop.”

  “You guys really have nothing to be sorry about,” Molly said. “Bonnie brought me the flier. And I should really be looking into these sorts of things myself.”

  Whip and Dazzle nodded, but Molly could tell they were still a bit bothered. The two of them left, and Molly and the twins got right to work on preparing for the back to school bash. It was around this time that Officer Jeffrey entered into the shop, and before he had even made his way up to the counter, Bonnie had already fixed him his usual strawberry and marshmallow ice cream. He laughed as he took the cone from her and offered her a card. “You know, that fall weather is starting to kick in,” he said. “I might have to find myself a new favorite if it keeps getting colder. You’re out of the carrot cake special, I see. What do you guys have coming up?”

  Molly smiled. “We’re doing caramel apples.”

  “That’s different,” Jeffrey said, sitting down with her at one of the pink tables while Bonnie and Braxton remained by the counter, helping out a slight influx of customers. “What gave you the idea to do caramel apples?”

  “Bonnie and Braxton’s idea,” Molly said. “We are getting ourselves signed up to do a booth at the back to school bash.”

  “I thought that was in July,” Jeffrey said.

  “Usually, yes,” Molly explained. “But it got rained out this summer, so they rescheduled it. Now they’re doing a sort of ba
ck to school fall festival theme. Each vendor has to do an activity or game at their booths, so we are going to do bobbing for apples and serve caramel apples as our dessert special.”

  “Sounds awesome,” Jeffrey said, taking an enormous bite out of his favorite flavor ice cream that Molly served.

  Just then, the door opened, and in walked Marionette. She was a kindhearted French woman who ran a shop next door that sold art and handcrafted dolls. When Molly’s shop had first opened, she had seen Marionette just about every other day, but the woman had been rather quiet recently. “Marionette!” Molly exclaimed, standing upright to go greet her friend. “Where have you been lately?” she asked. “I haven’t seen you around much. Went into your shop the other day, and you weren’t even there, just some of your employees.”

  Marionette grinned ear to ear, and then held out her left hand, revealing a shimmering diamond ring. “Oh, I have been vacationing with my new fiancé!”

  Molly squealed. “You and Thomas are engaged?” she asked, taking Marionette’s hand and looking at the diamond up close. “Whoa — what a beautiful ring, Marionette!”

  “I am sorry I have not told you yet,” she said. “It was all very sudden. Thomas planned a little last-minute trip; he set everything up with my employees in the shop and changed their shifts to accommodate me being gone. We went on a cruise, and it was lovely, and on our first night out at sea, he proposed to me. It was so sweet!”

  “Good thing you said yes,” Braxton muttered with a slight smirk. “Otherwise, that would have been one awkward cruise.”

  Marionette laughed. “You are such a troublesome little boy; you know that, Braxton? Molly! You and I must catch up. I have been gone for several weeks, and I must hear all of the local gossip! What is this I have heard about a dog show you catered?”

  Molly shook her head. “Yes, I’ll have to tell you all about that.”

  Jeffrey, who had been sitting at the table during Molly and Marionette’s conversation, cleared his throat. Marionette turned her attention on him. “Oh, yes! Hello there, Jeffrey.”

  Jeffrey laughed. “Congratulations on the engagement, Marionette.”

  “Thank you, dear!” she exclaimed. “We are very excited. We will be doing an engagement party soon. You all simply must attend!”

  “Of course,” Molly said. “We’d be happy to.”

  “I will need a dessert caterer, of course; anyone know where I might find one?” Marionette asked in a singsongy voice.

  Molly laughed. “I would be happy to cater your engagement party! Let me guess, you want fudge; am I right?”

  “But of course!” Marionette exclaimed. “Although with fall coming up, perhaps some pumpkin themed treats?”

  “Yum!” Molly said. “We’ll hash some ideas out.”

  “Excellent!” Marionette said, spinning on her heels and heading towards the door. “But for now, my friends, I must return to my own shop. We will talk soon!”

  Jeffrey watched her leave, laughing slightly under his breath. “She sure does have a taste for the dramatic flair, doesn’t she?”

  Molly nodded, snickering. “Yes, but that’s what I love about her. Now, let’s focus. We need to come up with something special for our caramel apples to make them stand out. Something unique to make them more than just your typical carnival treats.”

  Bonnie nodded. “I think I can come up with something.”

  Chapter 2

  Molly stood back to take a good look at the booth once she and the twins had finished putting on the finishing touches. They had begun by parking the ice cream truck, the bluish teal colored truck that had been the start of Molly’s enterprise. The bright colored truck had a giant picture of a strawberry ice cream in a cone on the side, the shop’s emblem. They had set up some of their shop’s pink chairs in front for people to sit at, and then they had themed the booth completely around apples and back to school. Since bobbing for apples and caramel apples were the main attraction of their booth, they had decided to do some back to school teacher accessories. They had prizes for those who could snatch up their apples in under thirty seconds — gift baskets full of school supplies for winners to hand out to their favorite teachers. Bonnie had gathered some “School” décor, such as a blackboard where they could write up the names of people with the best time of the day and, of course, posters you would find in a classroom that she had taped up all over the ice cream truck. Frankly, it looked like an elementary teacher had thrown up all over the booth.

  “Looking good!” Molly proclaimed excitedly. “Bonnie, as usual, you blew me away on décor.”

  Whip and Dazzle had just arrived as Bonnie had finished positioning the blackboard. While the two of them were performing at the event, they had, of course, stopped by to check in on their friends and co-workers and had helped with setup. “You came up with all of this, Bonnie?” Whip asked, sounding impressed.

  “She sure did,” Braxton said. “It looks really good, doesn’t it?”

  “It looks incredible,” Dazzle said. “It sort of reminds me of my first grade classroom.”

  “Please allow me to be first to try the bobbing for apples game,” Whip said, placing a dollar in a jar they had set up for anyone wanting to play the game. He dunked his head in the water, and as it turned out, bobbing for apples was a lot more difficult than any of them had anticipated. Bonnie timed him, and it took him nearly three minutes to retrieve an apple. “I almost drowned myself trying to do that,” he groaned.

  “And now I have to redo your makeup,” Dazzle grunted. “And your styling gel is all messed up too.”

  “Why are you wearing makeup, dude?” Braxton asked.

  “I always wear makeup during our shows,” he said. “Looks better on stage. Without stage makeup, you look like you don’t have eyelids or something.”

  “That’s weird,” Braxton said. “I mean, the part about the no-eyelids, not the wearing makeup part.”

  “Good save,” Bonnie said with an eyeroll.

  “We got to go finish getting ready,” Dazzle said, huffing under her breath about having to do touch up with Whip.

  “Well, for now, you go up on the board for best time,” Bonnie said. “I mean, you’re the first person to go so far, but you will get to hold your number one spot for a bit.”

  “Sweet,” Whip said with forced enthusiasm as he and his sister trotted off to get ready.

  “Looking good, Jenn!” a voice called from behind, and Molly spun around to see Officer Jeffrey dressed in his uniform, grinning back at her. “I see you are prepped and ready to go. I’m really liking the way you guys did the setup on this one. Any teachers who come today are going to love the concept, I’m sure.”

  “I think so,” Molly said. “We hit up some sales to do the back to school gift baskets. I think they will be a real hit.”

  “Well, let me start by trying out one of those caramel apples,” Jeffrey said. “Got to support my favorite shop in Savannah.” Jeffrey exchanged money with Braxton, and Bonnie fetched him one of the many apples on a stick that had been dipped in caramel and coated with colorful candy gems. “Nice touch,” he said, referring to the colorful gems. He bit into it, satisfied with the crunchy and chewy texture of the caramel treat. “Excellent.”

  “I’m thinking about walking around and checking out some of the other booths before the place gets too crowded,” Molly said. “Want to escort me around, Officer?” she asked.

  “Sounds fun,” he said.

  Molly left Bonnie and Braxton to work the booth while she and Jeffrey went about the public park where the event was taking place. The first performers of the day were already up on stage; it was a singing group playing some old country tunes. They stopped by Marionette’s setup, and they congratulated Thomas for his impressive proposal they had heard about before continuing through the park.

  “Ooh, look!” Molly exclaimed, pointing to a booth that was filled to the brim with beautiful collectible dining wear. “My mom keeps collectible plates. I should
see if there’s one she likes.”

  They headed over to the booth that was loaded down with warning signs depicting the infamous expression “You Break It — You Buy It.” And, based on some of the prices of the plates, Molly knew better than to touch a single one of them. They were all very beautiful and elegant. Some had elegant decorations like flowers or vines, while others were part of collections. She had nearly thirty presidential plates available for purchase, some from a Cherokee Warrior collection, and some lovely Disney plates. “I think Mom would like the Disney plates,” Molly said. “Ooh! She actually has some from this collection.”

  The woman running the booth, a short woman with fake red hair, scurried over with a large grin on her face. “Which ones does your mother have?”

  “She has Donald and Goofy with this collection,” Molly said.

  “Well, I can do you a deal if you want to get her the rest of the set,” the woman said. “My name’s Rita, by the way. I just opened up a collectibles shop just down the road from here.”

  “I think I’ve seen it,” Jeffrey said. “Rita’s Fine Collections, right?”

  “That’s me!” she said.

  “You’ve been open for a couple of months, right?” Jeffrey asked. “Business good for you?”

  “Yes, actually!” she said, grinning ear to ear. “Well, I did have a little incident my first week open, isn’t that right, Charlotte?”

  There was a loud groan behind them, and Molly and Jeffrey turned to see a petite older woman struggling with a heavy box. “Let me help you with that,” Jeffrey said, taking the box from her and sitting it down in the booth. Rita opened it up and tore it open; she started putting out various plates on display.