by M E Harmon
I continued on my way, dusting off my hands and thinking. Who had motive? It could’ve been any one of the bridesmaids. And if Anna was the culprit, she might’ve had the contact numbers for Jenna’s friends. I’d have to ask. Was there anyone else who could’ve had all of those numbers? Who stood to benefit if someone had confessed to a dirty deed? From my account, there were a few possibilities.
Hannah, Abby, and Madison all had a lot to lose if their secrets were exposed. From what I could tell, Gwen may be in some type of trouble, but it wasn’t clear what. She was the flightiest one of the group and the most likely to do something strange. Like sending the text.
But if it was Gwen, her motive wasn’t clear.
Then there was Bree and Anna. Did Bree volunteer all that info just to be vindictive? And Anna’s reputation made it clear she absolutely would dish out some mayhem to get revenge.
Finally, what about the person all of this circled around? The only person who didn’t get the poisoned text? Jenna. I’d almost forgotten about her as a possibility. True, it wouldn’t make sense for the culprit to ask me to investigate. However, that would be the best way to detract attention from herself.
Jenna would have justified reasons to be bitter about some of the things her bridesmaids had been up to.
And what if the sender of the message wasn’t in Jenna’s circle at all? Despite everything I’d learned so far, pieces were still missing.
Soon I found myself by the front door. The sky was empty of drones, to my chagrin. If I’d been able to follow it this time, at least one mystery could’ve been solved.
The other side of the Carter’s home didn’t reveal much either. So sooner than expected, I found myself back in the kitchen.
I’d only been gone a few minutes, so the cupcakes hadn’t cooled enough. Just as I became resigned to go talk to Gwen, I heard someone cursing under her breath. Jenna entered the kitchen carrying something cupped in her hands. Gwen walked in behind her.
Jenna dumped the contents on the island with a huff. Things that looked like thick black spider legs skittered across the countertop.
She said, “My brother’s stupid toy. I broke it earlier and told the little snot to come pick up the mess but he didn’t.”
The toy, whatever it had been was now smashed to bits. I scooped up a few of the pieces. Each one looked like a segmented joint of a spider leg made out of plastic and a cheap bendable metal. Black holes ran vertically along the sides. I clicked the remnant of one section into another. These were meant to lock in place, sort of like a Lego set. All put together, it looked like it had been some type of monster-like toy that crawled on the floor.
Jenna continued, “Anyway, I brought Gwen down to talk to you. She said you two never had a chance to speak.”
“Uh-huh, thanks, Jenna,” I said, turning over one of the toy fragments in my hand. This thing had movable joints; it was meant to crawl. But was it meant to move by kid power or battery? I had a hunch. “Jenna, are these all the parts?”
“I don’t know. I just picked up what I saw. Why?”
I didn’t bother answering but moved past her and Gwen. The kitchen had two ways to enter. One was from a short hallway that led out to the foyer. The other way was through another brief hall that opened into a dining room. Jenna had entered from that way, and if memory served, it was where she’d kicked Junior’s toy.
In the dining room, it took me a minute to spot the bit of color against the blue carpet. Sure enough, tucked against a table leg, I found it. A square flat base the size of my palm. Several legs still dangled from where they’d been snapped in. On one side of the base held a compartment for batteries. I flipped it over. The key thing I’d been looking for was missing.
Another search of the room came up with nothing. But my hunch started to feel stronger.
Jenna and Gwen eyeballed me with furrowed brows, waiting and watching.
Watching.
Everything I had seen and heard today were like disjointed parts of a picture—like bits of a puzzle tossed on the floor. But suddenly they all started to click and form a solid picture. My hunch grew, until it was able to stand up on tippy-toes and wave a sign that said, “I know who did it! I know who did it!”
I brushed past the two women. “I don’t need to speak to Gwen anymore. Jenna, go get your mother, and meet me back here.”
“You figured it out?” Jenna asked. She sounded surprised.
I didn’t bother looking back. “Yes. I know who did it.” Or rather my hunch did. But first I needed to go outside to confirm what it suspected.
***
Less than five minutes later, I sauntered back into the dining room. Jenna sat at the table. Anna stood tapping her foot against the carpet.
I slid the evidence onto the dining room table. Jenna glanced at it, and her expression went blank. Anna, on the other hand, gasped.
“No!” she said and leveled a very stern glare on me. “Are you sure?”
“Let’s ask and find out,” I said and met her stare-down with my own. Then I added, “I can run down the facts for you beforehand if you want.”
Jenna touched one of the items on the table. “I don’t get it. What is this?”
“It’ll be explained in a second, honey.” Anna pivoted and screamed aloud toward the dining room’s second entryway. “Dorrick! Junior! Come to the dining room right now!”
Further off in the house, I immediately heard a door open and close. Jenna’s father appeared first and out of breath as if he’d jogged the distance between rooms.
He said, “What? What is it? You’re using your angry voice.”
Anna didn’t respond to him but hollered. “Dorrick Junior Carter! Front and center this instant!”
Dorrick Sr. and Jenna exchanged nervous glances. Their anxiety was contagious. I folded my arms and denied the urge to bounce my leg.
Rick Jr. slunk into the dining room via the same entrance his father used. Anna flung out an arm, frosted pink nail tip aimed at what I’d placed on the table. Her son looked to where she pointed and blanched. He seemed to shrink an inch within his clothes.
Anna said without taking her eyes of Junior, “Go ahead, Ali. Tell us what you discovered.”
I had a moment of sympathy for Rick Jr. and then pointed to the smashed spider-leg bits I’d put on the table. “I didn’t put it together until Jenna came in with these black leg joints. Then I found this thing.” I picked up the square base I’d found under the dining room table and said, “This part goes with those legs, it all comes together to form what’s called a crawler.”
I opened up the large folded cardboard box I’d put down next to the toys. “I took this out of your recycling—”
“—you went through our garbage?” Jenna asked aghast.
Blood rushed to my cheeks. I held up a hand with scrapes along my palm. “No, I was taking a walk around the house and tripped on the recycling lid. When I went to put it back on, this box was sitting on top. That’s the only reason why I noticed it.”
Anna put a hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “Jenna, hush. I want to hear all of this.”
I tapped the box. Splashed across the top in a yellow racing font it read The Super-Tech Jonah Danger Spy Kit. The outer packaging displayed in bright glossy graphics everything that had been included inside the box. “I know that toy is called a crawler because it’s right here.” Their eyes all followed to where I pointed to the picture of a spider-like thing with a round cylinder. “The only thing that isn’t here, that is on the box, is the camera that’s supposed to be mounted on the top.”
At this, Rick Jr. shrunk another size inside his t-shirt.
Anna used a finger to circle the picture of a device with large black wheels. “I almost tripped on this thing outside earlier.”
“Yes,” I said tapping another image, “and this is the drone that followed Gwen. It has the same red stripe along the bottom just like on the one I saw flying outside earlier.”
Dorrick turned
to his son as he rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt. “Junior, are these yours?”
“Yes, it’s his!” Anna snapped. “I bought them for him myself yesterday! But what I don’t understand is what this has to do with Jenna’s friends.”
I swallowed, thinking of the best way to phrase this. Parents tend to get touchy. “A spy kit is no fun without people to spy on. A boring party may be interesting but not nearly as fun as a bunch of women going at each other’s throats.”
I pulled my cell out and tapped in my security code. Then I handed it to Anna to scan. “Once I found the spy kit, I did some research. The Jonah Danger kit has an online forum where they give tips on how to best use the gear, and some other...interesting things. Like how to pull pranks and then spy on the mayhem. And what types of apps to use if you want to send anonymous text messages to start the fun.”
“You little monster!” Jenna screeched. Her father put a warning hand up, then folded his arms. “Wait, just wait.”
Anna scrolled through the forum I’d brought up. She handed the phone back to me. “There’s a chat right on top about how to guess someone’s phone lockout code.”
I nodded. “I’ve been hearing odd noises all day. Like small things moving around. I’d guess they were some of the other gadgets featured here in the kit.” What they called slinky ears looked on the box looked like a thin cord with a suction-cup like attachment on the end. That could’ve been the thing I’d seen and heard while talking to Abby.
Jenna jumped to her feet. “You guessed my code, went through my phone and texted my friends, all so you could watch us fight?”
Rick Jr. backed up against the wall. His voice sounded whiny, but it still had a trace of bite. “You fight with your dumb friends all the time. So what if I pulled a joke on them?”
“That’s not the point!” Jenna lunged but Dorrick threw open his arms to block her.
He started to speak but Anna beat him to it. “Rick, your arm, you’re bleeding!”
Sure enough, the white fabric in the crook of Rick’s arm was marred with red. He glanced at it with the rest of us, and this time his face lost some of its color. “It’s nothing, I had a little spill on the golf course this morning.”
Rick Jr. did everything he could to disappear behind his father’s back.
Anna stormed over and reached past her husband. “Front and center, young man. Explain yourself!” She pulled the boy to stand between her and his father.
“I-I-I didn’t mean to. I didn’t know—”
Jenna interrupted her brother. “Does anyone else smell smoke?”
We all froze in place. The acrid tang of smoke did fill the air. The oven! Had I left it on? I pivoted on my heel trotted through the kitchen. The lights on the Carter’s high-tech oven were dark. It wasn’t the oven. I headed back to the dining to find it empty. A breeze swept through the house, and I followed it back to the source.
I found the Carters. They all bunched around the open front door. Anna screamed, “Who has a phone? Who has a phone!” Oddly enough, only Rick Jr. had one on him.
As I approached, the odor of smoke became stronger. When I finally reached the door and stepped out, my mouth dropped open.
The Carter’s hedges were on fire.
The flames shot up in pale yellow and reds. It spread horizontally along the bushes as if pulled along by a rope.
Behind me, Anna yelled frantically at a 911 operator to send the fire department.
Helpless, I did the only thing I could. Watch. In my side periphery, I spied Rick Jr. coming to stand next to me. After a second or so, he turned and pointed at the burning bushes.
“I did not do that.”
“No problem kid. I believe you,” And I did believe him. But if he didn’t set the fire, who did?
Cupcakes Finally
I slid the second pastry box into the refrigerator. “Are you sure you don’t want me to set them up outside?”
Jenna waved a hand. “After everything that has happened today? No, thanks. We’ll just pull them out later when it’s time to serve. If something happened to this batch, I’d cry.”
So would I. But I was seconds from escaping the Carter house. Once my bottom hit the van’s seat, Ali Daniels was no longer going to be concerned about this particular batch of chocolate mousse cupcakes.
“Sure you don’t want to stay? After all of your help, you’d be welcome to join us. My entire wedding could’ve been ruined over this, but you saved the day.”
I untied my apron. “No,” I fibbed. “I have plans for later, so I can’t stay.” I had zero plans for later. My good-girl gene didn’t like the fact that I just lied. I told her to be quiet.
“Jenna,” I patted my pocket, “You’ve paid me very generously for today. So thank you. I’m fine. So please, go outside and enjoy your guests.”
She smiled and backpedaled slowly. “OK, OK. I’m out of your hair for now. Again I’m so sorry for the extra work, and I’ll call you soon to confirm everything for the wedding. Oh and Mom says thanks, too.”
I returned the smile and waved her off. She crossed through the kitchen and left through the patio doors. By the time the guests started to arrive, the fire department had doused the flames. But the hedges were burned to a fine crisp. The smell of smoke still lingered in the air.
I glanced outside as I passed by the windows. Anna Carter was in full-on hostess mode, giving air-kisses left and right. No one would’ve guess she’d been about to permanently do away with her son just a few hours before. That wasn’t to say Rick Jr. wasn’t in a boatload of trouble with his parents. He was. I’m glad I wasn’t going to be around when his punishment was handed down.
Laughter drifted in from the foyer. I entered the hall to see Dorrick slap one of the policemen on the back, and whisper something the cop laughed at.
The fire department had quickly determined the fire wasn’t some weird accident. Someone had sprayed an accelerant on the shrubbery and lit it aflame. Discovering that, the firemen called the cops. I guess Dorrick was still giving a statement.
Dorrick nodded to me as I passed through the foyer. I said goodbye to him and to the two policemen. As I shut the door, they burst out in laughter again. Seemed like Dorrick was being Dorrick and charming the heck out of the cops.
My van looked like an oasis on wheels. I opened the door and happily whiffed the scents of pastry that permeated the upholstery. I could think of worse odors to have in a vehicle.
I turned over the engine, pulled out, and drove down the driveway. The hedges looked like charred spiky bones left over from a horror movie. And despite the windows being closed, the smell of smoke stayed in my car for a full five minutes after I passed.
When the sign for the parkway became visible in my windshield, I let loose a sigh of relief. The Carter home was full of people with secrets. And though I loved a good mystery to solve, the energy in the house felt oppressive in some odd way. Once the culprit of the text message had been revealed, there was no reason to discuss anything I’d been told by the Barbies. I’m sure they’d been happy about that. And I knew it was better to let those sleeping dogs lie.
Yet, I still had one more job to fulfill for the Carters. Jenna’s wedding cake. I sighed as I turned onto the parkway. One more job but already a mystery loomed. Someone had set fire to those bushes. Who did it and why? Was the fire the first hallmark of more serious things to come?
Even as I posed the question, I knew the answer. Something wicked this way comes. A house with that many secrets was like a powder keg next to a match factory. At some point, the tiniest of sparks would set the whole thing off.
The only real question was—would I be in the middle of it when it blew?
Another answer came unbidden to my mind, and I pushed it away by thinking about a cupcake recipe I’d been tinkering with.
Thinking about sweet things almost always made me feel better. Yes, better to think about sweet things than what would happen at Jenna Carter’s wedding.
But even as I eased into the middle lane on the bridge heading for Manhattan, doubt seeped into my thoughts. It grew until it stood on tippy toes waving a flag with a message.
Be prepared, Ali. Be prepared.
OK, I’ll prep for some rough times ahead.
And in the meanwhile, I’ll think about sweeter things.
Coming Up Next...
What's going to happen at the Carter wedding? Murder! The next book in the HoneyBun Shop Mystery series, Villains and Vanilla Cream, will be available soon.
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HoneyBun Shop Mystery Series
Sweet and Salty Treachery
Barbeque, Bourbon, and Bullets
Candy Canes and Criminals
Macaroons, Mummies and Murder
Secrets and Sweet Rolls
Chaos and Chocolate Mousse
Fantasy
The Blood Gem
Pristine
Alien Soldier (as Philipa Marvel)
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