Cupcakes and Celebrities

by Leena Clover

  “Have you cleared Ray Fox?”

  “He doesn’t have an alibi so he’s still under suspicion.”

  “What about the pilot of the plane?”

  “What about him, Jenny?”

  “I should go talk to him.”

  “You are meddling in an ongoing investigation again.”

  “I’m just trying to find out what happened, Adam. I want to help.”

  “You are neither trained nor qualified for this,” Adam fumed. “Stop putting yourself in danger.”

  “Nothing’s happening to me!” Jenny brushed Adam off.

  “Are you done now?”

  “Do you know our town is now on Instagram?”

  “I don’t want to know. I’ll see you later, Jenny.”

  Jenny decided Adam was about to flip. She got up and said goodbye.

  “Just one more thing…”

  “Now what?”

  “Can you recommend a good contractor?”

  Adam scribbled something on a notepad and tore the paper off. He handed it to Jenny.

  “Now don’t bother me for a couple of weeks.”

  Jenny laughed on her way out. She saw Adam’s face break into a smile through the corner of her eye. So he wasn’t completely immune to her. She hoped he would hurry up and ask her out on a proper date.

  Jenny walked to the seafood market. Chris Williams greeted her with a smile and a hug.

  “Where have you been hiding, Chris? You haven’t come to the café in a long time.”

  “We did our annual inventory,” he explained. “Restocked everything. Getting ready for tourist season, you know.”

  “I’m not the only one who’s feeling neglected.”

  Chris blushed.

  “Did Heather say something? I thought she was busy at the country club.”

  “Not really. She misses you, Chris.”

  ‘You want to go on a double date? We can take the boat out one evening. You, me, Heather and Jason…”

  “Sounds great,” Jenny nodded. “Now how about some trout?”

  Jenny remembered she was out of Old Bay seasoning. It was an absolutely essential ingredient on the Eastern Shore. Star wouldn’t eat fish unless it was liberally sprinkled with the signature spice.

  She almost collided with someone in the spice aisle.

  “Jenny!” Ray Fox stared back at her.

  His eyes were bloodshot and his clothes looked like he had slept in them. Jenny wondered if he knew what Adam had told her.

  “What are you doing here, Ray?”

  “I don’t know. Just walking around.”

  Jenny picked up a bottle of seasoning, trying to think of what to say next.

  There was a haunted look in his eyes.

  “We talked about giving it all up, Bella and I. We dreamed of moving to a small town by the sea, just like this one. Somewhere we could raise our kids, far away from the shadow of Hollywood.”

  “Any luck with Bella’s family?”

  Ray shook his head.

  “I’m trying to reach out to some of her friends, girls she knew when she first moved to Los Angeles. They might know something.”

  “Why don’t you come over to the café tomorrow? Breakfast is on me. Or lunch. Whatever you need, Ray.”

  “I need my wife,” Ray said bitterly. “But she’s not coming back.”

  He turned around and walked away from Jenny, stumbling into another aisle. Chris had been watching from a distance.

  “Who’s that guy? He looks kind of suspicious.”

  Jenny told him about Bella.

  “You girls will be careful, won’t you? You had a narrow escape last time, Jenny.”

  “Don’t worry, Chris. I’m not going up in a plane anytime soon.”

  “How can you joke about it?” Chris groaned.

  “Did you hear about the Main Street project Barb Norton’s undertaken?”

  “We are at the far end so she hasn’t given us much grief.”

  “Don’t count on it,” Jenny warned. “She came up with a big list for the café. I think she secretly wants to tear the place down.”

  “No way! The town can’t function without the Boardwalk Café!”

  “Shouldn’t Barb know that? Wait till you meet her sidekick.”

  “You mean that girl who is going around snapping pictures?”

  “She’s put us on Instagram.”

  Chris whipped out his phone from his pocket.

  “This I have to see.”

  “So we’re giving the café a complete makeover. Can I count on you for some sweat equity?”

  “As long as you pay me in donuts and cupcakes…”

  “Heather said we can have a potluck, gather everyone.”

  “Now you’re talking!” Chris grinned. “Better than risking your life playing detective.”

  “Bella Darling was barely twenty two, Chris. She didn’t deserve such a gruesome end. I won’t stop until I find out who did this to her.”

  Chapter 13

  “I looked it up,” Heather told Jenny on the phone. “It’s in Baltimore.”

  Jenny had decided she needed to talk to the plane company Wayne had hired. Heather had managed to get the name from Crystal.

  “You ready for a road trip?” Jenny asked.

  “Oh yeah! Let’s ask Molly. We can go shopping and have dinner at a city restaurant. It’s been ages since I had some Thai food.”

  Plans were made and Saturday arrived soon enough. Jenny had secured an appointment at Eagle Aviation, a company that offered sky diving in the area. They also took special assignments like Wayne’s where they arranged to fly people out to specific locations. The man Jenny spoke to thought she was booking a dive. She didn’t want to tip him off prematurely.

  “Do you have a list of questions ready?” Heather asked as they set off in Jenny’s car.

  Star was pitching in at the café so Jenny could take some time off.

  “I mostly want to know if he saw Bella.”

  “Remember how she was dressed? Would be hard to miss.”

  Molly spoke up from the back seat.

  “If the pilot saw her, surely Wayne saw her too?”

  “We’ll see,” Jenny said grimly.

  Jenny followed the directions to a facility outside city limits. There was a big hangar at one end. A bunch of people dressed in colorful flying suits were avidly listening to an instructor.

  “We are looking for Captain Jorge,” Jenny told a man dressed in overalls.

  He pointed her to a small trailer a few feet away.

  Jenny, Heather and Molly trooped toward the tiny structure. Jenny knocked on the door and went in.

  “Captain Jorge? I’m Jenny King. We just talked on the phone.”

  “Hello ladies!”

  An attractive older man greeted them cheerfully. His angular face was weather beaten. His close cropped hair had plenty of gray in it. Jenny thought of Tom Cruise in Top Gun and figured this is how he would have looked when he aged.

  “Is this your first dive? We have some specials for first timers.”

  Jenny looked apologetic.

  “Actually, we are not here for sky diving.”

  The man frowned and waited for an explanation.

  “We live in Pelican Cove. It’s a small island off the coast of the Eastern Shore.”

  “Wait a minute. Isn’t that where that country singer jumped?”

  Jenny nodded. She was glad he had caught on quickly.

  “We were sorry to hear about the girl. Are you related to her?”

  “Not really,” Jenny admitted. “But I am trying to find out what happened.”

  “Are you with the police?”

  “No. I am doing this on my own.”

  “The police came here already. I talked to them.”

  “Can you spare some time for me, please? I just have a few questions.”

  Captain Jorge looked at his watch.

  “I can give you half an hour. I have to take a group of ten up a
fter that.”

  “You can take ten people up at a time?” Heather burst out. “I thought sky diving planes were really tiny.”

  “Some of them are,” Captain Jorge said with a smile. “We have a larger aircraft here. I can take 20 people up at once.”

  “Did you have any other people on the plane with Wayne Newman?” Jenny asked.

  Jorge shook his head.

  “They booked the whole plane. That’s generally what they do for special events.”

  “You mean people sky dive to their wedding a lot?” Molly asked.

  “You’d be surprised. Some people propose to their girl friends in the air.” He shrugged. “More business for us.”

  “So you weren’t surprised when Wayne Newman booked out your plane?” Jenny asked again.

  “It’s not that common,” Captain Jorge conceded. “It costs a small fortune.”

  “Wayne isn’t hurting for money I guess.”

  “No ma’am.”

  “What’s the usual process you follow for sky diving? Can you walk me through it please?”

  “Most people go for a tandem dive. That’s where we provide one of our own people to accompany you.”

  “Do they have a choice?”

  “You need to be licensed if you want to do a solo dive. We make sure you have the right credentials.”

  “And Wayne Newman produced them?”

  “He sure did. He said he was going to do a tandem dive with his wife to be. He was going to take her down himself.”

  “Did he have his own parachute?”

  “I guess. He was already rigged up when I saw him that day.”

  “Do you inspect the gear before the jump?”

  “Of course,” Captain Jorge said quickly. “We follow the necessary guidelines. If he rented one of our rigs, it must have gone through a quality check.”

  “Who was flying the plane that day?”

  “I was. I’m the only pilot around here.”

  “Can you describe what happened?”

  “The girl arrived when I was doing my flight checks. She was wearing a fancy wedding dress so I thought she must be the bride.”

  “Did she say who she was?”

  Captain Jorge blinked, then shook his head.

  “She told me she wanted to surprise her husband. Would I play along?”

  “Then?”

  “The way the plane is outfitted, there’s hardly any room to hide. I put some stuff up there so she could crouch behind it and stay out of sight.”

  “What happened after that?”

  “This guy arrived wearing a tux. He said his wife was afraid of heights. She wasn’t coming after all.”

  “Go on.”

  “I played along. I figured the guy’s going to get a nice surprise from his missus once we go up.”

  “When did he realize Bella was on the plane?”

  “I don’t know. I’m not sure.”

  “You must have heard them talk.”

  “We hit some unexpected turbulence. I wasn’t really paying attention to them.”

  “What did you do after they jumped?”

  “I realized the second chute didn’t open. But there wasn’t anything I could do at that point.”

  “Where do you keep the parachutes? Could someone have tampered with them?”

  He waved his hand toward the hangar.

  “There’s plenty of people underfoot here all the time. I guess anyone could have done it.”

  “Do you have any security cameras?”

  “Just one. The cops are going through the tapes.”

  “Could it have been an accident?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Surely the parachutes have some wear and tear? Could it get ripped on its own?”

  “Unlikely. If the chute is not packed properly, it can get stuck. But there’s always the reserve.”

  “What’s that?”

  “It’s a backup parachute,” Captain Jorge explained. “If the main parachute is not open at a certain altitude, the backup opens. It’s a lifesaver.”

  “But that didn’t happen in this case,” Jenny sighed.

  “I heard it was turned off.”

  “Could that have happened accidentally?”

  Captain Jorge shook his head.

  “Anyone who values his life would never turn the reserve off. So no. And it doesn’t get turned off on its own.”

  “So someone made very sure neither chute would open,” Jenny pressed.

  “Sure looks that way.”

  “Could Wayne have caught hold of her mid-air?”

  “It depends on a lot of things,” Captain Jorge said. “It’s possible theoretically but it’s not easy.”

  “Are you a sky diver too?” Jenny asked. “Just curious.”

  “I am. But I’m also an overworked pilot. I hardly ever get to jump.”

  “Did you notice anything out of the ordinary that day?”

  “That singer guy was sweating like a pig. Wedding jitters, I guess.”

  Wedding jitters, or a guilty conscience, Jenny wondered.

  “Look, I have to go now,” Captain Jorge said, glancing at his watch again. “Here’s my card. Why don’t you give me a call if you have any more questions.”

  The girls thanked the suave pilot and loitered around for a while.

  “We should go sky diving some time,” Molly said enthusiastically. “Looks like fun.”

  “Count me out,” Jenny shuddered. “I’m twenty years too old for it.”

  One of the instructors looked up when he heard that.

  “Age has nothing to do with it, lady. You need a strong will. Ain’t nothing like that feeling, when you spread your arms up in the sky and feel the wind in your face.”

  “Sorry, but it’s not my thing,” Jenny said, thanking the man.

  They piled into the car and drove into the city.

  “Do you miss it?” Heather asked, as Jenny peered at the tall buildings and big shops.

  “Not one bit,” she smiled, honking her horn as a semi cut her off. “See that? Who needs that in life?”

  Heather had looked up a Thai restaurant she wanted to visit. They ordered the largest mai tais and toasted their friendship.

  “Ooooh, spicy!” Heather exclaimed, fanning her mouth as she dunked curry puffs into a sweet chili sauce.

  “What did you think of Captain Jorge?” Molly teased. “Was he a hunk or what?”

  “Molly Henderson! I saw how you were staring at him.”

  “I’m single and unattached. I can look. Unlike you two.”

  “My divorce is final now,” Jenny declared tipsily. “I’m as single as they come.”

  “What about the two men you’ve wrapped around your finger?”

  “There’s no such thing,” Jenny muttered, sipping her cocktail through a straw.

  “And Heather’s with Chris. Let’s not say any more.”

  “Until Chris pops the question, I am free to flirt with whoever I want to.”

  “Why don’t you propose to him?” Jenny suggested. “It would be the scandal of the century in Pelican Cove.”

  “I know what you should do,” Molly laughed. “Go sky diving with Chris and propose to him in the air.”

  There was a moment of silence and they all turned serious.

  “What do you think Bella planned to do?” Jenny asked the girls.

  “I think she wanted to ruin Crystal’s wedding but it went horribly wrong.”

  “What if Bella messed with the parachutes? The bad chute could have been meant for Wayne but she wore it by mistake.”

  Jenny looked at Molly in shock.

  “So you’re saying she was the actual killer. But she ended up killing herself.”

  “It’s possible,” Molly protested. “Why wear a wedding dress at all? I think it was a ruse.”

  “How so?”

  “She wanted to pass herself off as Wayne’s bride. No one was going to stop a woman dressed like that. The sapphire must have
been part of her disguise.”

  “I guess that makes sense,” Jenny agreed.

  “What if Wayne wanted Crystal out of the way? He booked the flight for the both of them, right? He could have messed with the parachute beforehand. But Bella wore it and jumped to her death.”

  “Who do you think Wayne was actually interested in?” Heather asked. “Crystal or Bella?”

  “Maybe he was sick of them both,” Jenny mused. “But chances are, he didn’t want the baby.”

  “What baby?” Heather and Molly chorused.

  Jenny told them about Bella’s condition.

  “Only a monster would kill his unborn child,” Molly spat.

  “We don’t know who the father is,” Jenny said.

  “Do you think Crystal found out about the baby?” Heather asked. “She could have decided to get rid of Bella.”

  “But how did Crystal know Bella was going to be on the plane?” Jenny shot back.

  “You’re right,” Heather sighed. “That doesn’t make sense.”

  “What about that girl who talks to you?” Molly asked Jenny. “She knew Bella, didn’t she?”

  “Rainbow?” Jenny asked. “Are you saying Rainbow sent Bella up on that plane? But why?”

  “It could have been a gag of some kind.”

  “Everyone I talked to said Bella was a sweet girl. I find it hard to believe she wanted to ruin Crystal’s wedding.”

  “Nice girls don’t have affairs,” Molly argued.

  “Surely Wayne must have noticed her on that plane?” Jenny asked. “What do you think?”

  The girls had peeked into the airplane while Captain Jorge was doing some pre-flight checks.

  “There’s no way anyone could stay hidden in that space,” Heather nodded.

  “So Wayne Newman is definitely lying about something.”

  Chapter 14

  “How was your trip?” Star asked Heather on Sunday morning. “Did you find out anything useful?”

  “I am more confused than I was before,” Jenny admitted, taking a big sip of her coffee.

  “Why don’t you write it down? It must be hard to keep it all straight in your head.”

  “You spoke my mind,” Jenny told her aunt. “I made a rough sketch in a notebook last night. I couldn’t sleep.”

  “Sketch?”