by Leena Clover
Copyright © Leena Clover, Author 2018
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the author.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, organizations and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, places, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Cupcakes and Celebrities – Pelican Cove Cozy Mystery Series Book 2
By Leena Clover
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
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Books by Leena Clover
Strawberries and Strangers – Pelican Cove Cozy Mystery Book 1
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CSW34GB/
Gone with the Wings – Meera Patel Cozy Mystery Book 1
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071WHNM6K
A Pocket Full of Pie - Meera Patel Cozy Mystery Book 2
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072Q7B47P/
For a Few Dumplings More - Meera Patel Cozy Mystery Book 3
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072V3T2BV
Back to the Fajitas - Meera Patel Cozy Mystery Book 4
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0748KPTLM
Christmas with the Franks – Meera Patel Cozy Mystery Book 5
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077GXR4WS/
Chapter 1
Jenny King fidgeted with her organza dress, trying to ignore the stream of sweat trickling down her back. Why had she ever agreed to be a bridesmaid, she moaned to herself. Could you technically be a bridesmaid if you were in your forties? The peach dress she was wearing was supposed to be pretty, but Jenny looked and felt like a giant pumpkin. The May morning was unseasonably hot, the temperatures already soaring above 95 degrees.
“Stop that,” Heather muttered, jabbing an elbow in her side.
Heather Morse was one of Jenny’s new friends, a young woman she had met when she came to live in the town of Pelican Cove a few months ago. Jenny was at a loose end after her twenty year old marriage ended suddenly. Her aunt Star had summoned her to the remote Virginia island where she lived.
The past few months had been a blur. Jenny had fallen in love with Pelican Cove and the diverse group of women she befriended had made her feel right at home.
“This dress is too tight for me,” Jenny complained, giving Heather a nasty look. “I should never have agreed to do this.”
“I owe you one,” Heather sighed. “Let’s just get through the ceremony. You can change into something more comfortable as soon as they say ‘I do’.”
Jenny looked around at her luxurious surroundings. Normally, she wouldn’t have been able to set foot in the Pelican Cove Country Club. You either needed plenty of money to get in, or a certain bloodline. Jenny had neither. The Country Club catered to the Eastern Shore elite and only the top families of Virginia’s Eastern Shore were members.
“She does look gorgeous,” Jenny said, spying the radiant bride who stood a few feet away from her.
Crystal Mars was the most sought after star in Hollywood since she had signed a popular reality TV show. She had a couple of movie deals on the table too. The wedding was supposed to be hush-hush and on the QT, as they said in the business. Crystal was adamant about having a beach wedding with at least five bridesmaids. She had remembered her distant cousin Heather lived on some remote island on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. One look at the Pelican Cove Country Club had sealed the deal for her. A lavish wedding weekend had been planned, with most wedding related activities squeezed into four days.
“That dress!” Heather said enviously. “It’s Vera Wang, you know.”
Jenny admitted Crystal had been more than generous with her bridesmaids. The dress Jenny wore was a simple sheath of the finest silk, made by some pricey designer. Jenny couldn’t find fault with it, other than the fact that it wasn’t her size. But that wasn’t Crystal’s fault. Jenny was filling in for a girl at the last moment. She was just happy to be part of the wedding party.
“Everything looks beautiful,” Jenny nodded, looking around her.
Crystal had chosen white and peach roses for her wedding. The lush green grounds of the country club gently sloped toward a white sandy beach. The turquoise blue waves of the Atlantic Ocean pounded against the shore. A wedding arch covered with dozens of tiny roses in white and peach provided a stunning backdrop for the impending ceremony. The path leading up to the arch was laid with a carpet strewn with petals.
“Shouldn’t he be here by now?” Heather spoke loudly.
Crystal turned to glare at her.
A shout went up in the small group just then and someone pointed to the sky. Jenny shaded her eyes with her hands and squinted up.
“What’s going on, Heather?”
She could barely make out a small plane in the bright blue sky.
“You don’t know?” Heather panted. “That’s the groom.”
“What?” Jenny asked in confusion.
She had been trying hard to hold her tongue. The bride had walked down the aisle five minutes ago but the groom was nowhere in sight. Jenny had attributed it to some kind of Hollywood quirk.
There was a smattering of applause as something dropped from the plane. The small speck grew in size as it hurtled toward the ground. A cheer went up as a parachute unfurled over the figure.
“That’s the groom?” Jenny asked, her jaw hanging open.
“That’s the groom alright,” Heather said dreamily. “That’s Wayne Newman.”
She grabbed Jenny’s arm and forced her to look up at the sky.
The next few seconds were a blur. A second body dropped out of the plane and plunged toward the ground. It struck the first body and continued racing down. With bated breath, the crowd watched for the second parachute to open. Something shot up in the sky but no canopy opened. Before anyone realized what was happening, the figure crashed into the four tier wedding cake.
Hardly anyone paid attention to the second big thump. Jenny looked up to see a man dressed in a tuxedo rolling on the ground, trying to untangle himself from a colorful parachute.
A scream pierced the air jarring Jenny’s senses. It wasn’t the only one. A buzz went up as people swore around her.
“She’s dead!” someone said unnecessarily, pointing at the body sprawled across the remains of the lavish wedding cake.
It had cost five figures, Jenny remembered Heather telling her. She leaned closer to peer at the unfortunate soul who had just got a free ride to the other world. The girl looked beautiful even in death. Golden blond hair covered her head like a halo. Her deep blue eyes, now lifeless, stared up at the sky. Her svelte body and long limbs indicated she was well over six feet tall. Jenny’s eyes popped out when she noticed a large sapphire nestled between the girl’s breasts. Her eyes grew larger when she noticed what the girl was wearing.
“Isn’t that…” Heather mumbled next to her.
“It’s a wedding dress alright,” Jenny said
grimly. “The exact same dress Crystal Mars is wearing.”
“But isn’t that couture? I thought they didn’t make two of anything?”
Sirens sounded in the distance, and reality set in slowly as people came out of shock. The groom raced up to the body on the ground, still attached to his parachute. His arm hung at an awkward angle and one side of his face was caked with a mixture of grass and blood.
“Bella!” he exclaimed, running a hand through the girl’s hair.
“Don’t touch her,” Jenny sprang forward to caution him. “The police are on their way.”
“What was Bella doing on the plane with you?” Crystal Mars asked.
She held the groom’s other arm and her face was white with shock.
“I didn’t know she was on the plane,” the groom wailed.
People around them looked up then, probably trying to spot the plane. It was nowhere to be seen.
“Make way, please,” a familiar voice called out and Jenny felt a surge of relief.
Adam Hopkins, the sheriff of Pelican Cove, emerged through the crowd, followed by a bunch of deputies and law enforcement types. He took one look at the prone body and started clearing a perimeter around it. Crime scene tape went up and a couple of policemen stood on guard.
“Why don’t you folks head over to the club house?” Adam ordered. “We will want to take a statement from each of you.”
The crowd slowly made way to a pavilion at the end of the grounds. Finally, Adam spared a glance at Jenny.
“Hello Jenny,” he said softly. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Crystal’s my cousin,” Heather spoke up. “A distant cousin.”
“I heard about that,” Adam told her.
“One of the bridesmaids pulled out due to a last minute gig,” Heather explained. “There was a spot in the wedding party. Crystal wanted Jenny to be part of it.”
“Another one of your fans?” Adam asked Jenny, cracking a smile.
“Jenny made cupcakes for the wedding shower,” Heather nodded vigorously. “Crystal can’t stop raving about them.”
“So what happened here? Did you ladies see anything?”
“It was all a blur,” Jenny spoke up. “Literally. It all went down in a couple of minutes. One minute we were watching the groom arrive in his parachute, and the next we were staring at that poor girl.”
“Do you know who she is?” Adam asked Heather. “Is she one of your relations?”
“Oh no,” Heather shook her head. “She wasn’t in the wedding party. And I don’t think she was on the guest list either.”
“Looks like someone decided to crash the wedding,” Adam said, scratching his head. “I wonder why.”
“Crystal and the groom both seemed to know her,” Jenny supplied. “They called her Bella.”
“Bella Darling was the girl Crystal replaced on the show,” Heather said, snapping her fingers. “She had the lead role first but then they pulled her out and Crystal got the part.”
“Bella Darling?” Adam said doubtfully. “That’s actually a name?”
“It could be her professional name,” Heather explained, “but it’s a name nevertheless.”
“Just like Crystal Mars, I guess,” Jenny shrugged.
“I need to go talk to all the guests,” Adam said. “I’ll see you ladies later.”
He barely leaned on his cane as he walked away.
“Is Adam getting better?” Heather asked Jenny. “He’s hardly using his cane now.”
“It depends,” Jenny said, not wanting to speak on Adam’s behalf.
Adam was dealing with a war wound which hadn’t quite healed yet. He was in extensive physical therapy and Jenny had seen him popping pain pills quite often. He hobbled around with a stick but lately his condition seemed to be improving.
“Has he asked you out yet?” Heather giggled.
Adam Hopkins and Jenny King had been at odds with each other since they met. But neither could deny the spark between them. Jenny’s inquisitive nature did not help. When her aunt had been unjustly accused of a tourist’s murder earlier that spring, Jenny had done all she could to help her out. Adam saw it as interfering in police work and he made his opinion clear.
“He doesn’t see me that way.”
“Are you kidding? Adam Hopkins has the hots for you. We can all see it clearly.”
“I don’t,” Jenny said stoutly.
She secretly had a big crush on Adam but she wasn’t ready to admit it yet, not even to the Magnolias, the group of friends who met for tea everyday at the Boardwalk Café.
“I guess we won’t be able to sample the wedding brunch now,” Heather grumbled. “It’s been ages since I had the Eggs Benedict at the Country Club.”
“For shame, Heather,” Jenny said. “Show some respect.”
“We didn’t know her,” Heather objected. “Why do all these people drop dead in our town?”
Jenny had no answer for that.
Chapter 2
Jenny walked to the café the next morning, taking deep breaths of the fresh morning air. The sun was rising over the Atlantic, painting the sky in tones of pink and orange. She sat on her favorite bench overlooking the ocean and watched the sun come up. This was her special time of the day, a few moments to herself before the day caught up with her. The Boardwalk Café was getting busier as the tourist season ramped up.
“Good Morning!” Petunia Clark greeted her with a fresh cup of coffee. “How are you, Jenny?”
Petunia’s double chins wobbled as she spoke. She had been running the Boardwalk Café for the past twenty five years.
Jenny barely had time to gobble a blueberry muffin before the breakfast rush started. Her favorite customer was first in line.
“Blueberry muffin for you, Captain Charlie?” she asked an old sailor who came to the café for breakfast and lunch.
“What’s the world coming to?” Captain Charlie clucked. “I heard a young girl died at that fancy club yesterday.”
Jenny spent some time telling Captain Charlie about the poor dead girl.
“Sounds like some funny business,” Captain Charlie said, narrowing his eyes at Jenny. “Are you going to look into it?”
“Oh no! I have enough to do here. See you at lunch, Captain Charlie. I’m making crab salad again.”
Jenny flipped her special pancakes, baked trays of muffins and poured endless cups of coffee for the next few hours.
She glanced up at a wall clock when she heard Heather’s voice. Heather peeped into the kitchen just then, looking for Jenny.
“Ready for a break?” she smiled.
Jenny had begun to look forward to these mid-morning breaks with her friends. The group of ladies got together at the Boardwalk Café and exchanged gossip and pleasantries over coffee and muffins. Jenny heard the clacking of knitting needles and knew Heather’s grandma Betty Sue had accompanied her as usual.
Heather and Betty Sue Morse ran the Bayview Inn on the island. Betty Sue was the fourth generation descendant of James Morse, the first owner and inhabitant of the island. It had been called Morse Isle then.
James Morse of New England travelled south with his wife Caroline and his three children in 1837. He bought the island for $125 and named it Morse Isle. He built a house for his family on a large tract of land. Fishing provided him with a livelihood, so did floating wrecks. He sent for a friend or two from up north. They came and settled on the island with their families. They in turn invited their friends. Morse Isle soon became a thriving community.
Being a barrier island, it took a battering in the great storm of 1962. Half the island was submerged forever. Most of that land had belonged to the Morse family. A new town emerged in the aftermath of the storm and it was named Pelican Cove.
Betty Sue was a formidable woman in her seventies and her word was law.
“Take a break now, Jenny dear,” Petunia ordered.
The ladies sat at their usual table out on the deck overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
>
“Where is your aunt today?” Betty Sue asked, pulling some lavender wool over her needles.
Rebecca King or Star, Jenny’s aunt, was an artist. Now that the days were warmer, Star spent most of her time painting outdoors, her easel set up on one of the numerous beaches or bluffs across the town.
“I’m coming, Betty Sue,” a voice sounded as Star came up the stairs from the beach.
She was dressed in a loose, bright colored kaftan that had been hacked off mid thigh. A couple of paintbrushes poked out of her pockets.
“Stop harassing my niece.”
“Who said I was harassing her?” Betty Sue took the bait.
“Where’s Molly?” Jenny asked, pulling out a chair for her aunt.
Molly Henderson worked at the local library and was Heather’s age. She was another of Jenny’s new friends.
Petunia came out with a tray loaded with a fresh pot of coffee and a plate piled high with muffins.
Jenny sniffed at her sweaty armpits and longed for a cold shower.
“I never knew it could get so hot in Virginia.”
“Wait till July,” Star said, “or August. You’ll have sweat pouring down your eyes.”
“Settle down, girls,” Petunia twittered. “I want to hear about what happened at the club.”
“Me too,” Molly, a tall lanky girl with thick Coke-bottle glasses said as she came out on the deck through the café, slightly out of breath. “You’ve done it again, Jenny.”
“What have I done?” Jenny asked, stuffing a piece of muffin in her mouth.
She savored the flavor of the organic vanilla extract she used. She liked to use plenty of berries so they just burst forth in every bite.
“You have all the fun,” Molly said petulantly. “I hear you were present when that girl fell from the sky.”
“Are you out of your mind, Molly?” Jenny growled. “A poor young girl lost her life. Where’s the fun in that?”
“I guess it wasn’t fun for the girl,” Molly agreed. “So does anyone know what happened?”
“It looked like she jumped down,” Heather told the girls. “Now why should she do that? Do you think it was suicide?”