Cupcakes and Killers

by Laina Turner

  “Do you think it was Stephen?”

  “Yes. I’m sure it’s him. Besides, I’m not in the habit of getting phone calls like that. I haven’t ticked off that many people. Can you trace it? See where it’s coming from?”

  “Not after the fact, but with your permission, we can put a device on your work phone and cell, if you want to track all calls going forward. If he calls again, we might be able to find out where he is. Though today, with technology and cell phones, if he has a pre-paid or a block of some sort, it might prove difficult getting a fix on him.”

  “You have my permission, our permission. Do what you need to do. All three of us are more than a little nervous.”

  “I will send one of our tech guys over tomorrow morning. Then, if you get a call, just note the time, then call me and give me that info.”

  “Okay.” I stood up to go, smoothing down the front of my tweed trousers.

  “Trixie, don’t worry. If this is Stephen trying to cause trouble, I won’t let that happen. We’ll catch him.”

  I forced a smile. “I know. I’m more worried for Sally and Cora’s sake than I am for myself.”

  “Well, don’t be. By the way, Katherine said you’re doing a fantastic job with the women down at the shelter.”

  “I really like it. It was a good punishment.”

  “Maybe I should have picked something you didn’t like,” he grumbled good-naturedly.

  “Yeah, yeah. You get any closer to finding out who killed Harvey yet?”

  “No. If Doris didn’t have an alibi, I would like her for it. There wasn’t any love lost between those two. Though, on second thought, I think she liked making his life miserable too much to kill him.”

  “This is a horrible thought, but could it have been random? Someone poisoned a cupcake for giggles and Harvey happened to get the short end of the stick? Or maybe Avery and her business were the target.”

  “I haven’t ruled that out either. Forensics should be done processing everything from Avery’s soon, so once we have a clearer idea of where the cupcake was poisoned, it might give me a better idea of what the hell really happened.”

  Clive’s secretary poked her head in and said, “Clive, Sergeant Richards is on the phone for you.”

  “I’ll leave you to it,” I said, walking to the door.

  Clive reached for the phone.

  I turned back around. “One more thing.”

  He looked at me expectantly, hand paused on the receiver.

  “Cora has an old ex-boyfriend who harassed her where she used to live. She received a note from him the other day and is worried that he’s found her again. Can you go by the shop and make sure she talks to you? We told her to tell Jonathan, but she doesn’t want to yet. She didn’t want to tell anyone, so you need to get it out of her without letting her know you know.”

  “Well, she should definitely tell Jonathan. He would be a pretty good deterrent to anyone wanting to mess with Cora, but I’ll run out and chat with her. You girls have your hands full. Now, get out of here!”

  “I’m going, I’m going.” I walked out of the police station to my car and headed down the highway to where the shelter was located. It was about a ten-minute drive out of town in an old farmhouse that had been donated to the town when the owner died. She hadn’t had any dependents, and town gossip was she had been abused by her husband for forty years and suffered in silence up to the day he died. Supposedly, this was her way of making sure no one else went through the same thing. Whatever her reason, the shelter was a needed community initiative.

  “Hi, Katherine,” I called to the executive director as I walked into the office and put my things in my locker. She was in her sixties and wore her hair in the most beautiful silver bob. She look younger than her years, and she joked it was because she served others.

  “Hi, Trixie. Glad you’re here. Phyllis has been asking for you.”

  Phyllis Tuttle was a young woman, only twenty, who had run away from her husband and brought herself and her five-year-old daughter to the shelter. Pregnant at fourteen, she was pushed into marriage and had already suffered years of abuse before gaining the courage to get out. She had severe anxiety and was frightened her husband would find her. It had lessened a bit in the few weeks she had been here, but she wasn’t comfortable with anyone but Katherine and me. So when I was here, I tried to spend as much time with her as I could.

  “Where is she?”

  “In her room. She didn’t want to come down for dinner, so we took their food to the room. She needs to eat. The poor girl is skin and bones. All she wants to do is smoke.”

  “It’s her nerves, but I think she’s getting better.”

  “Let’s hope.”

  The four-hour shift at the shelter flew by, as it usually did. Even though it was almost midnight by the time I left, I wasn’t tired. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Hopefully, the drive home would help me wind down, and if not, a glass of wine would surely do the trick.

  I zoned out listening to the radio, thinking about how excited I was to see Cody tomorrow. He had been at his dad’s the last couple nights. It was football season, and he had a lot of practices. His dad enjoyed taking him and watching. More importantly, my ex could give him pointers after the games. I didn’t know much about sports. I enjoyed watching him but didn’t understand the lingo. I even tried watching a few YouTube videos on football so I could talk with him, but I just didn’t get it. My mind didn’t work that way. I heard my phone ring, and it startled me out of my thoughts. Who in the heck was calling me this late? Late-night phone calls always gave me a start. I was afraid there was an emergency. A far cry from twenty years ago, when a call at midnight meant a party was happening somewhere.

  The number was blocked, but I didn’t want to ignore it in case it was one of my friends and they needed me.

  “Hello?”

  “You told the police about me calling Read Wine?”

  “Who is this?” I was shaking. I knew full well who it was, and wondered how he’d already found out I went to Clive.

  “Don’t play stupid. You know who this is, Trixie. You have something that belongs to me, and I want it back.”

  I wanted to pull over to the side of the road because I was shaking so badly, but I was afraid to. After all, I had no way of knowing if he was following me. “Stephen, if that’s you, you know I don’t have your money. The cops do. Or did. I have no idea where it would be now.”

  “I don’t care. You cheated me out of that money, and you owe me what’s mine, and I don’t care how you get it. Let’s say it’s in your best interest to figure it out.”

  “Where am I supposed to come up with that kind of money?”

  “Not my problem. You figure it out. I’ll be in touch.” And he hung up.

  I made it the rest of the way home and was still shaking badly when I pulled into my driveway. I ran into my house and locked the door behind me. I went to the refrigerator and poured myself a glass of wine. Leaning against the counter, I drank the glass in one swallow and poured myself another. I called Clive and left a message. I took my second glass of wine into my home office, after making sure all the doors were locked, and wiggled the mouse on my computer so the screen would wake up. I checked out what everyone was doing on Facebook, checked my emails, and clicked through to a few ads, seeing what great sales I could take advantage of. But no matter how much I tried to distract myself from what had just happened with some mindless activity, it wasn’t working. I would’ve almost rather thought about the Harvey incident than this. Stephen was back, and it didn’t seem like he would go away unless he got what he wanted.

  Chapter 5

  I heard my phone vibrating on the passenger seat where I had thrown it when I got in the car. Trying to keep my eyes on the road, I reached over to feel for it until my fingers finally closed around the case. I looked at the display and saw it was Clive.

  “What’s up, Clive? Did you get my message from last night?”

  �
�Where are you?” he demanded.

  “I just dropped Cody off and am on my way to work. Why?”

  “I need you to call Sally or Cora to cover for you and come over to the old Baxter farm.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “I just need you out here,” Clive said, not answering my question of why, which made me nervous. Especially since I hadn’t totally calmed down after last night’s events.

  “Okay. I can get there in twenty.” I hung up, then made the call to Sally with promises to call her back as soon as I had some details, then I headed out to the Baxter farm. It was just outside of town and not far from the women’s shelter, which was what gave me the pitted feeling in my stomach. I hoped this didn’t have anything to do with Phyllis or any of the women at the shelter.

  I got close and saw smoke and the lights from sirens flashing. What the hell is going on? I thought. I rounded the corner and could see there was a vehicle charred beyond recognition, although it looked too big to be a car, so I assumed it was an SUV of some sort. Clive must have been watching for me and flagged me to pull over and park on the side of the road. He walked up to my car as I got out.

  “What’s going on. Whose car is that?”

  “Follow me,” he said, and we walked up the small embankment to where the police had roped off the burning car.

  “Whose car is that?” I asked again.

  “Not anyone you know. Candace Gropman. She was a visitor to the shelter.”

  “Oh my God. Was she . . . ?” I trailed off, not wanting to hear the truth. That someone might have been in the car when it caught on fire.

  He grimly nodded.

  The color drained from my face, and I got light-headed. “Oh my God,” I said weakly.

  “Here, take a drink of this.” Clive handed me a flask. When I looked at him, he said, “It’s not mine.”

  I took a large swallow and choked. This was moonshine. It tasted nasty, and, man, it burned all the way down, but it did the trick. I wasn’t light-headed anymore. “Is this left over from the Baxter’s still?” I coughed.

  Clive laughed at me, but it was hollow. “Feel better?”

  “A little.” I paused to catch my breath.

  “Good, because there’s more.”

  “More? I don’t want any more,” I said, handing him back the flask.

  “Not moonshine. There are indications that this was for you,” Clive said softly.

  “This? As in the burned-up car?” My eyes widened and filled with tears again, the moonshine in danger of coming back up. He couldn’t be serious.

  “I know it’s upsetting to hear, but I need you to hold it together so we can figure this out.”

  I took a couple of deep breaths. Clive was right. Falling apart wouldn’t help anything. “Okay,” I said, calming a little. “Tell me why you think this was meant for me?”

  “This was left close to the car, but far enough away it wasn’t in danger of being burnt and therefore destroyed. We’re assuming it was planted at the scene because, as far as we can tell, it wasn’t hers,” he said, handing me a Hello Kitty backpack. Like the one that had been taken into evidence, the one that had contained Stephen’s money. I turned it over and looked inside. Nothing.

  “Are you sure this wasn’t just left here and it’s a coincidence? Maybe kids or something?” Though, even as I said the words, I knew this being a coincidence wasn’t likely. Not with everything that’d been going on.

  Clive shook his head. “There’s more. The make and model of the car is the same as yours, and the bomb wasn’t built by an amateur. Someone knew what they were doing. Stephen served time for a similar act committed for the crime family he worked for back in California, and that, plus the Hello Kitty reference, well, it doesn’t seem it was anyone other than him. He either thought this was you or he’s trying to scare you.”

  “It’s working.” I shuddered. “Who was this Candace person?”

  “Candace Gropman, mid-thirties professional woman from the town of Tridsel. She was here visiting someone and bringing some donations. As far as we can tell she doesn’t have any ties with Stephen, with you, Sally, or Cora. I think she is a case of wrong place, wrong time. I’m worried. This is much more than a harassing phone call. This is serious.”

  “Clive, that means this is my fault,” I said, tears spilling over onto my cheeks. I was responsible for someone’s death.

  “Trixie, don’t think that way. You are in no way responsible for anything he does. He’s responsible for his own actions. My goal is to keep you safe and make sure we catch him.”

  “What can I do?”

  “Call Sally and Cora and have them meet us in, say, an hour. I need to finish up some things here.” He looked at his watch. “I want to have a conversation with all three of you.”

  “I can do that.”

  Chapter 6

  “Not that I’m one to complain about a free brunch, but why did Trudy have to come over to watch the shop while we met you?” Cora asked me. “Is this about Harvey? Has something else happened?”

  “You look upset. Is everything okay?” Sally asked me, as the waitress poured our coffee.

  “I’m not upset about Harvey. I had a late night at the shelter, but that’s not what caused these bags under my eyes. I couldn’t sleep last night, and then this morning . . .” I faltered.

  Cora paused in the middle of taking a drink of coffee and stared at me expectantly. “What’s wrong, Trixie?”

  “You’re not sick, are you?” Sally asked worriedly, frown lines between her eyes.

  “Oh, no. Nothing like that. But I do have some bad news.”

  “Stop keeping us in suspense. What is it?”

  “Stephen’s back, and I don’t mean just calling.”

  They looked at me in shock for a few minutes before Cora finally spoke. “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah. He called me last night and wants his money back.” I was stalling, waiting for Clive because I didn’t want to be the one to tell them what had happened this morning. “It has been him calling and hanging up.”

  “What are we going to do?” Sally asked. “Did you tell Clive?”

  “I talked to Clive this morning, and he’s going to meet us here to talk about what we can do. He should have already been here,” I said, glancing at my watch, wishing he’d hurry up.

  “Wait a minute. I thought you were at the shelter last night,” Sally asked.

  “I was.”

  “Then how did he call you?”

  “On my cell.”

  “Oh God. He has your cell number?” Sally said.

  “He sure does. Which means he probably has yours and Cora’s as well.”

  “That’s a scary thought,” Cora said. “And you’re sure he’s in town?”

  “You don’t know the half of it. And yes, either in town or very close.”

  “What do you mean, Trix?” Sally asked, her eyes narrowing. “There’s something going on you don’t want to tell us, isn’t there?”

  “Well . . .” I hesitated, not really wanting to be the one to fill them in. It was too gruesome. I would much rather Clive do it, but I knew I couldn’t put them off much longer. Just then, Clive came through the door and over to our table to sit down. I was so relieved to see him. I knew when Sally and Cora found out what had happened they would have a lot of questions, and I didn’t feel equipped to answer them. I wanted to forget what I’d found out this morning, not discuss it.

  “Clive, what is Trixie not telling us?” Sally demanded.

  “There was an incident this morning—”

  “This isn’t going to be good news, is it?” Sally interrupted.

  “Let him finish, Sally,” Cora told her.

  “No, I’m afraid it’s not good news,” he said patiently. “There was a car fire this morning, and we think it was meant for Trixie.”

  “What do you mean?” Cora asked.

  “Upon initial investigation, it appears as if the car, identical to Trixie’s, was
rigged with a device causing it to catch on fire, and we found a Hello Kitty backpack near the scene that we think was planted there as a message.”

  “You think Stephen did this?” Sally exclaimed.

  “You’re kidding me!” Cora said at the same time.

  They were both as shocked as I had been.

  “It looks that way.”

  “So, you think we are in danger, then,” Sally said in a matter-of-fact tone. “Was anyone hurt?”

  He nodded. “I’m afraid so, on both accounts. You’re all going to have to take extra safety precautions until we can find him. But we will find him,” he said, pounding his fist on the table.

  Sally’s hand flew to her mouth. “Someone was hurt because Stephen wants to get to us?” Clive nodded. “Oh my God. I don’t even know what to say.”

  “I’ll tell you what I told Trixie. None of this is your fault. You aren’t responsible for someone else’s actions. The best thing you can do is to stay calm, be careful, and be very aware of your surroundings. Let me and my guys find him and put him in jail, where he belongs.”

  “Do you think Stephen could be the one who poisoned Harvey? Maybe it was another way to scare us?” Cora asked.

  “I don’t think the two incidents are related. It was likely coincidental timing.”

  “How can you be so sure?” I asked.

  “No one I’ve talked to mentioned seeing anyone fitting Stephen’s description anywhere near your shop, and you three would have noticed if he’d been in. Plus, you said no strangers had been in that day. For now, though, I don’t want any of you to be at the store alone. I will have extra police patrols scheduled at the shop and at your homes. We already started working to put a tap on the shop phone, and we will do the same for all your cells and home phones.”

  “We can work the schedule so we aren’t at the store alone, but what about at home?” Sally said. “All of us live alone or with just kids.”