“Who’s to say that he didn’t poison her and then take off?” Nate asked.
“He could have, but Carrie wasn’t feeling well at the Pancake Breakfast, remember?” Yvette reminded Nate.
“Maybe you have better detective skills than I thought.” Heath laughed. “The rest is up to us. I only told you because there was no doubt that you’d hear it from someone else and go digging around. I have to get back to work. Can I trust the two of you to not get yourselves in trouble?”
“Go, Dad,” Nate said rolling his eyes.
While Heath was saying goodbye, Yvette got up and ordered herself a coffee. She was barely back to the table when Nate began speaking.
“So, what are you thinking?” he asked.
“About?”
“Quit it. You know that’s all you’ve thought about in the last three minutes.”
Yvette laughed. “I searched antifreeze poisoning on my phone while I was waiting for my coffee. It says people get headaches and can act like they’ve consumed too much alcohol. Carrie was complaining that she didn’t feel well, and had been leaning on things and holding on to things to keep her balance while she was at the breakfast. It said that can start pretty soon after ingesting it, so it had to have happened there.”
“But how does someone ingest antifreeze? That’s so strange.”
“Someone gave it to her, obviously. I’m not sure how no one else got sick. We all ate the same food, and I cooked it. Oh, my gosh... I cooked it. What if I accidentally added antifreeze to her food?”
“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard you say.” Nate stared at her. “One does not accidentally add antifreeze to a single persons food without realizing it. Did you poison Carrie?”
“What?! No, of course not!” Yvette gasped.
“Okay, then. Someone did. Who was there and why would they have done it?” Nate asked. “And more importantly, how did no one else get sick?”
“Julie wasn’t feeling well either,” Yvette recalled. “When I got into the kitchen, she went outside to get some air soon after. When we saw her at the ceremony, she said she still wasn’t feeling that great.”
“Lots of time had passed by then, though. If she was poisoned too then she may not have been shopping all day, and then been at the ceremony like it was no big deal.”
“What about the cream cheese icing? Carrie poured a ton of it on her pancakes right before Serena spilled it.”
“Did she eat it?” Yvette asked.
“I don’t know. I left to go to the kitchen right after. Who made the icing?”
“Serena? I don’t even know. All I know is that she spilled it all over Julie. What if that was her whole plan? She made it, served it to Carrie, and then spilled it so no one else had the chance to eat any?” Yvette’s eyes got larger as she considered the possibility.
“But why would Serena want to kill Carrie?” Nate asked.
“Maybe she just wanted to make her sick, but Carrie ate more than she’d planned. She could have consumed so much that she’d gone home sick from the breakfast, and fallen down the stairs because her body was slowly shutting down.”
“Wow.” Nate shook his head.
“This changes everything.”
Chapter 15
Yvette had agreed to meet Amelia at Carlisle’s Bistro for lunch and was sitting at one of the tables waiting for her to arrive. She’d just gotten a text from her saying that she was running a little late and asked Yvette to order for her since she’d be cut short on time.
Amelia was the Director of Tourism and Activities in Heritage, and this time of year was always busy. Yvette was surprised that Amelia had even been able to get out of the office at all, but was excited to see her. The two had been best friends for years and when they got the chance to enjoy each other’s time, they always made sure to take it.
“Afternoon, Yvette,” Yvette’s waitress said, coming up to the table.
“Kristy, hi!” Yvette smiled at the woman. “How are you?”
“I’m well, thanks. Are you meeting someone?”
“Amelia will be here shortly, but I’d like to get our order placed so it’s ready when she gets here,” Yvette requested.
“Sure thing. What can I get you?”
“How about two cups of chicken and wild rice soup and two grilled cheese sandwiches with muenster cheese on sourdough bread?” Yvette thought that was the perfect meal for a quick lunch on a chilly December day.
“I’ll get that right in for you.” Kristy smiled, lingering at the table for a moment.
“Did I forget something?” Yvette asked.
“No. I’m sorry. I just can’t believe about Carrie. You heard, right?” Kristy whispered.
Yvette sighed. She’d hoped to have gone at least part of the day without thinking about murder but apparently, Heath and Nate had been right. She was a magnet. Not that she could deny enjoying a little bit of hearsay every now and then. It kept life interesting if nothing else.
“I did,” Yvette said, not wanting to say too much in case she and Kristy weren’t talking about the same thing. Heath may have said everyone knew the actual cause of death, but Yvette wasn’t going to be the one that spread it more if that wasn’t accurate.
“Didn’t you think it was weird that Julie was sick the same day?” Kristy asked.
Yvette thought back to the day of the breakfast and into the evening where she ran into Kristy and Julie standing together in line at Stafford’s. The two of them had been talking about Carrie.
“I hadn’t really thought about it,” Yvette fibbed.
“Neither did I until I heard how Carrie really died,” Kristy stated. “Poisoned. I can’t imagine.”
“So, you think Julie was poisoned too?” Yvette asked, wanting Kristy to get to the point.
“After I heard about Carrie, I did a little Internet searching. I swear I saw something on TV about this and I was curious, so when I was looking, I found out that alcohol can reduce the symptoms of antifreeze poisoning. Almost like it acts as an antidote or something.”
“Okay,” Yvette said slowly. “That’s good to know.”
“Julie and I went for lunch, and had a drink before we continued shopping. What if she really was poisoned and the vodka in her Bloody Mary counteracted it?” Kristy stared hard at Yvette, as though she was waiting for her to solve the murder right then and there.
Yvette was more than surprised to learn this information. If it were true and Kristy was right, that meant someone had tried to poison both Julie and Carrie. The only person that was at the breakfast with access to have done that was Serena. The problem though, was that Serena didn’t have much of a motive. The only thing Yvette recalled hearing was that she’d had a few of her hours taken from her by Carrie and given to Julie, but it seemed like a pretty far reach to have felt the need to kill someone over that.
“Anything is possible,” Yvette told the other woman. “I’m afraid that I don’t have any answers.”
“You should think about it. You seem to have a knack for this, and you’d be crazy not to at least try.” Kristy shrugged and walked off to place Yvette’s order.
Yvette did think about it. In fact, she spent most of her time thinking about it, but she was trying to back off a little. She had to face the truth though, backing off wasn’t typical for her. Yvette needed to figure out what reason, if any, Serena would have to try and poison two of her coworkers.
“Hey, did you order yet? I really want some soup!” Amelia said, arriving at the table and snapping her out of her daydream.
“I did.” Yvette laughed. “Soup and grilled cheese.”
“Awesome. So, what’s up? You look like you were deep in thought when I came in.” Amelia pulled out a chair and sat down.
Yvette took a breath, and told her friend everything that she knew. The last time she’d spoken with Amelia, it seemed as though Molly had every reason in the book to be upset with Carrie. There hadn’t even been time to consider that before the
next thing happened. Yvette couldn’t help but think that maybe she needed a vacation herself. Getting out of town sounded better and better every day. There was just so much going on, and it seemed like everyone she knew was running around like crazy with their jobs and if that wasn’t the case, they were involved in a murder. Yvette needed a break before all this mess took away her Christmas spirit. As it was, she’d barely even decorated for the holiday, and it was coming up pretty quickly. Just a few days ago, she was feeling calm and relaxed but that had been taken away just as fast as it had come.
“So, everyone hated Carrie. That’s really all I can come up with.” Yvette put her head in her hands.
Amelia looked at her friend with concern. “Who was in the kitchen that day?”
“Everyone.” Yvette sighed. “Julie, Serena, Molly…”
“Well can you safely say that Julie may have been poisoned as well?”
“Safely? No.”
“Let’s say she was for a second. She wouldn’t have poisoned herself, so that leaves Serena and Molly. What motive do they have?” Amelia asked.
“Molly has a big one for Carrie, but not so much for Julie. Plus, Molly is about the sweetest person on the planet.”
“Okay, so, Serena. What about her?”
“It doesn’t matter what I think about her. There is no proof that she did it, and no reason for me, or anyone else to accuse her.” Yvette lowered her voice, realizing she’d been getting louder. It wasn’t Amelia’s fault, she was just trying to help.
“Let’s just eat our food and talk about something else then. I see Kristy bringing it over now.” Amelia offered her friend a smile.
“Thanks. Tell me about you and Mark. Is everything still going well?” Yvette asked.
“We still don’t love how much time the other spends at work, but we’ve been trying to plan date nights pretty often, so we never lose sight of each other.”
“That’s sweet, and a really good idea too.” Yvette knew that was part of the reason they’d broken up in the first place. Mark was always at the farm, keeping things running and Amelia’s job kept her busier than she ever expected.
“This is so good,” Amelia said, taking a spoonful of her soup.
“It is! I’m thinking of taking some to go so I can have some for dinner later. I invited Nate over to sample some desserts I’d like to try out for a new menu item or two, but we agreed to eat dinner ahead of time on our own.”
Amelia gave her friend a knowing look. Yvette knew that if she said too much, Amelia would start trying to use her shoddy matchmaking skills. So, she grinned and took a bite of her grilled cheese, not letting the conversation continue. Yvette may be starting to like Nate, but adding a relationship to her life right now was more than she thought she could handle.
Chapter 16
How do you feel?” Yvette asked, looking on as Leslie made a banana split.
“I like it. I’m having a lot of fun, and everyone is so nice. So much less toxic than the diner was.” Leslie shook her head and got back to work.
“I never would have guessed that about Molly. Every time I’ve gone in there it never showed. All the staff looked happy, and the food was good too.”
“I’ll give credit where it’s due. They hold it together well, and never show the customers their drama. When I confronted Carrie about thinking that I was being shorted on my tips, she blamed Serena saying she was being kicked out of her apartment and needed a place to stay. She didn’t have the first, last and security to do that, so Carrie shrugged and said it was probably her, and that I should just take it up with Serena and leave Carrie out of it.”
“Jeez. That’s not very professional of Carrie,” Yvette said. Normally she tried not to judge the way people conducted their business, but to not act on something like missing money, was just awful.
“I agree. Julie and I were pretty close, or at least I thought we were, so I asked her what she thought about it right before I left. I didn’t want to ask Serena or even go to Molly and make a big deal out of it. I don’t like confrontation, and I didn’t want to get involved in whatever they all had going on.”
“What did she say?” Yvette was intrigued.
“Nothing really. She didn’t seem to care either… Like I said, I don’t really care to be part of it. I only told you about the restaurant because I overheard you talking. Seemed to me like Carrie could have been the one that the guy seeing your boss said backed out on him. I don’t know. After a while, they all just stopped talking about it and I quit, sick and tired of everyone hiding things from Molly, and lying to one another.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry. You didn’t leave there to come work here and talk about it even more. Go deliver your order,” Yvette said, knowing she’d been unfair.
Yvette was crossing people off her mental suspect list just as quickly as she was adding them. What if Leslie was right and Drew was involved somehow? He was alone with Emma right now and Yvette couldn’t bear the thought of her being hurt. But what about Julie? She knew that Carrie had intentions of opening up a new restaurant and was planning on bringing Julie with her? Poor Molly. No matter how awful it sounded, if she was the one to poison both Julie and Carrie, it almost seemed fair. She trusted them and they both were going against her.
Deciding that she’d had enough, she looked at the clock perched on the wall of Sundae Afternoon and noted that it was just after three. The diner was closed for their mid-afternoon break before they opened back up for their weekly fish fry. If she hurried, Yvette could get to the diner before they reopened for the evening, and get to the bottom of this once and for all. At this point, it wasn’t even about the murder for her. It was about the mystery of who did what, and why. Yvette was exhausted even thinking about dealing with it for a minute longer.
“Are you guys good for a little while? I have to run an errand,” she asked Vanessa.
“We’re good. See you later,” Vanessa told her boss, assuring her that there was nothing to worry about.
Molly’s Diner was only a few minutes drive from Sundae Afternoon, so Yvette had arrived quickly and was sitting in the parking lot trying to muster up the courage to go inside. She thought back to when she’d gone to the Hudson’s home and ended up in the room with a killer. She was afraid that was going to happen to her this time, but was banking on the fact that since she was in a public place, nothing that bad was going to happen.
Yvette got out of her SUV and went to the front door of the diner, she saw that the place was empty but could see Serena, Julie, and Molly sitting together rolling silverware in napkins. She knocked on the door, hoping to get their attention.
“We aren’t open for another hour and a half,” Molly said, opening the door.
“I know. I’m sorry…”
“We have some soup going though, and there’s always coffee,” Molly offered.
“I’d like that, thanks,” Yvette said, stepping into the building. “I was hoping I could talk to Julie and Serena too.”
“Of course.” Molly nodded.
“I came here to ask you a couple of questions,” Yvette said, thinking on her feet. “The fact that Carrie was going to be opening up a restaurant of her own wasn’t a secret, and I think that’s what got her killed.”
“Please tell me you aren’t here to accuse me,” Molly gasped. “I’ve had more than my fair share of that already.”
“Not at all,” Yvette replied. “I wanted to ask you three to set aside your differences for a moment and put your heads together.”
“About what?” Serena asked.
“Drew Ross. From what I know, he was the realtor that Carrie had been working with. For whatever reason, Carrie backed out of the sale and it cost Drew some sales award or something. I know we all heard that the cause of death was poisoning, but what if we’re still all wrong? Drew has a big ego and it would have hurt his pride to not have been the highest seller. What if he was the one to kill her?”
“Drew wasn’t even at the brea
kfast,” Julie pointed out.
“Exactly. I’m not denying that she was poisoned, but I’m saying that Drew could have gone to her house and killed her. Don’t forget she was found at the bottom of the stairs,” Yvette said, looking around the room for reactions.
“Don’t remind me,” Molly cringed.
“Okay, so Drew killed her, but who was it that poisoned her?” Serena asked.
Yvette hesitated before slowly turning her eyes toward Julie.
“Me?” Julie’s eyes widened.
“I saw the bowl of icing in the kitchen before you left the room to get some air. When you came back from outside, you went back to the kitchen to keep working. I think you went outside to get the antifreeze, and added it to the icing when you got back. It wasn’t green before that. When Serena brought it out to the table, it was green.” Yvette kept her eyes on Julie who was looking into the distance.
Puffed, Stuffed, and Melted Murder Page 7
