Teaberry Baking Contest

by R A Wallace

  Barbara followed her gaze. “Caitlyn? How so?”

  “I swear that girl could have eaten everything in the room,” Matthias said with a wave at Caitlyn. “But she knew what she was doing.”

  Caro nodded in agreement. “She is a bright young thing, that’s for sure.”

  ***

  Caitlyn waved to the group across the room before taking her seat at the table next to Doug. Jax and her mom, Susan, sat on the other side of the table.

  “I started craving barbeque as soon as you mentioned coming here,” Susan said.

  Caitlyn noticed that her mother looked happier than she had in a while. Not that she was ever unhappy. But she seemed to be glad that Jax was back home. And she had made it pretty clear to Caitlyn that she liked Doug.

  “It’s not as busy as the last time I was here,” Jax said. “When the baking contest was in town, this place was standing room only.”

  “It was pretty crazy,” Doug agreed. “But I won’t complain about too much business.”

  “You were here Saturday night?” Caitlyn asked her brother.

  Jax gave his order to the waiter for a beer and waited until everyone else had put in their drink orders before answering.

  “I was. And I have to tell you, being the brother of a contest judge was quite the trial for me.”

  Caitlyn laughed. “What? Why?”

  “The contestants kept following me around, asking where you were. Women were throwing themselves at me, hoping to get a chance to get closer to you.” Jax made an effort to look every bit the suffering brother.

  Caitlyn laughed at him again. “Right. Like who?”

  Jax rubbed his face. “Well, actually, there was only one. It was Tara Hartle. At first, I thought she was trying to pick me up, but then I realized she really was more interested in you.”

  Caitlyn thought about what Megan had said earlier. “Do you remember who Gladys Hawkins’ friends were or if Tara and Gladys were friends when we were in school?”

  Jax and Doug looked at each other and then shook their heads. “They were both older than we were,” Doug said.

  “Don’t you remember?” Susan asked, lowering her voice so others couldn’t hear them. “Those two hated each other.”

  “They did?” Caitlyn tried to remember why but couldn’t come up with anything.

  Susan drew her brows together in thought. “They were kids, so I didn’t really know them, of course. It had something to do with a boy, I remember that much.”

  “They were fighting over a guy?” Caitlyn asked. Neither woman had ever married. She wondered what had happened to the guy.

  Susan shook her head. “I don’t really remember. You must have told me about it at the time. I can’t imagine how else I would even know that much.”

  Caitlyn looked at Doug and Jax as their drinks were delivered but they both shook their heads. They didn’t remember anything either.

  “So, what plans do you have now that you’ve moved back to Teaberry?” Doug asked Jax.

  Jax explained his plans for his landscaping business.

  Caitlyn watched her mom smiling at the two of them as they talked. She was right. Her mom definitely looked happier than she had in a while. Caitlyn turned to look at Doug and Jax. Come to think of it, Caitlyn thought with a smile, she was pretty happy too. But she needed to call Megan right after dinner. Discovering that Tara and Gladys had hated each other might be one of the puzzle pieces Megan was looking for.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Megan had been so busy visiting contestants to question them, she hadn’t had much time to cook dinner. She had the remains of a salad in her refrigerator from the weekend. She quickly made fettucine alfredo for two and took some of the emergency cookies from her freezer. She always tucked a few cookies in the freezer from every batch she made. They would thaw quickly and be as soft as if they were freshly baked.

  After the dinner dishes were cleared, she and Dan took a walk out to the paddock to check on the animals. Henry was nowhere to be found near the chicken coop and Megan wasn’t surprised to see him perched on top of Dora. Casey had been out to check on the miniature donkey’s leg a couple of times and said it was now healing nicely, apparently thanks to Henry’s calming presence.

  “What have you learned so far about the murder?” Dan asked.

  They were standing near the paddock fence with Megan sandwiched between the fence and Dan. Her back was leaning against Dan and he had his chin resting on the top of her head, his arms wrapped around her. The donkeys were in the paddock, the sheep were in the field beyond it.

  Megan gathered her thoughts before speaking. She enjoyed this time with Dan, talking things over. It helped her to put her ideas in order.

  “I’m pretty sure that Gladys sabotaged at least one of the entries in the baking contest. Actually, Sasha Chantelle did another so Gladys wasn’t the only one.”

  “You mean, food that the other contestants had baked?” Dan seemed surprised. “Why would they do that?”

  “I don’t know, maybe they felt it was the only way they’d have a chance to win but there were so many entries, it really doesn’t make sense.”

  “Did those contestants lose because of what Gladys and Sasha did?” Dan asked, still trying to figure it out.

  “No, actually one of them won first place in his category. The other one won third.”

  “Maybe Gladys and Sasha had correctly identified those entries as being possible winners and that’s why they targeted them,” Dan guessed.

  “That makes sense and I was thinking the same thing. They also would have been restricted to availability. Lauren was the last one to get there, for example. Gladys wouldn’t have been able to sabotage Lauren’s entries while she waited in line,” Megan said, working it through her own mind as she spoke.

  “Why do you think Gladys had samples of both Lauren’s food and her own when she died?” Dan asked.

  “Erica said that Gladys had both samples of Lauren’s Nutmeg Cookies and her own cookie entry. I was wondering if she was trying to figure out what made Charlotte LaMonti sick.” Megan smiled when Henry turned around on Dora’s back before settling again.

  “I’m not sure I see a connection between any of this and why Gladys was killed,” Dan said.

  “That’s just it. Neither do I.”

  “You don’t think it’s all connected?” Dan asked, his voice showing his surprise.

  “No, I mean, I think there are two separate puzzles. They both have Gladys in them, but the first one is just a smaller puzzle that deals with Gladys wanting to win the contest. She deliberately sabotaged at least one entry that I know of, as did Sasha, but in the end those people still ended up getting ribbons, as far as I know.” Megan turned around to face Dan. “Gladys may have sabotaged others that I haven’t learned about yet.”

  “What is the other puzzle?” Dan asked. “Her murder?”

  “Yes, and I don’t have many pieces to that one yet. Do you remember Gladys from when we were in school together?”

  Dan took a moment to think back then shrugged. “She never had anything nice to say about anyone and if she did, you knew she didn’t really mean it.”

  “Yeah, but what about her friends. Who were they?” Megan asked as she turned to walk back to the house.

  Dan matched her stride and took her hand. “I can’t say that I would have paid any attention, to be honest. But I also don’t remember anything, sorry.”

  “And that’s one of my problems with fitting this puzzle together. None of us can remember her having any friends. I guess, technically, she had a lot of enemies if you count all of the people she’s been mean to over the years.” Megan spoke slowly as she walked up the porch steps in the rear of the house, thinking it all through.

  “That means everyone is a suspect?” Dan asked.

  “We saw Tara Hartle with her recently at the Jammin’T. They were making fun of Lauren because she hadn’t gotten her notice for the baking contest yet.” Megan saw Em
ma through the screen door. She opened the door and picked Emma up then sat on a rattan sofa.

  “That sounds like Gladys,” Dan said, taking a seat next to Megan on the sofa. “I can’t say that it really sounds like Tara though.”

  “That’s true. I was upset for Lauren at the time and didn’t think about it. I wonder why Tara was with Gladys?” Emma stretched out, the way that only cats can, so that her body was across both laps.

  “Wow, I didn’t know she was that long,” Dan marveled as he rubbed Emma’s belly. He was rewarded with a loud purring noise.

  Megan smiled, then continued her musings. “They were together at the baking contest, too. I stopped at Tara’s to talk to her, but she wasn’t home.”

  Dan shrugged. “Maybe they’ve recently become friends.”

  “You’re thinking Gladys finally became friend material just before someone killed her?” Megan thought about it. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she saw it was Erica.

  “Hey, what’s up?” Megan asked when she answered her phone.

  “A couple of things. First, I wanted you to know that it wasn’t Lauren’s food that made the judge sick,” Erica said.

  “Really? Wow. I mean, I knew it wasn’t anything she would have done but I didn’t want it to be her food either, you know?” Megan was relieved.

  “Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. What have you learned?” Erica asked.

  Megan explained what she had discovered about the mischief Gladys had caused with some of the entries in the contest.

  “Allison and Walter did come in and amend their original statements with additional information,” Erica said. “We should now have an accurate accounting for everyone who had a key to the multipurpose room.”

  “Do you know yet which of the food samples Gladys had at her home?” Megan asked.

  “It was the two cookie samples that we had tested when the judge became sick. One theory being tossed around is that she wanted to prove somehow that her food didn’t make the judge sick or maybe that Lauren’s did.”

  Megan nodded, thinking to herself. She’d surmised the same thing, but then had discarded it as a possible option.

  “But you just said that you accounted for everyone who had a key. And didn’t the police take the suspected samples away for testing once Charlotte became sick? That makes the window of opportunity even smaller for Gladys to have gotten access to those entries.”

  She heard Erica sigh on the other end of the phone. “Yeah, I know. Everything doesn’t add up.”

  “The entries were all inside of a locked room. You’ve determined that no one with a key went in. Therefore, Gladys couldn’t have had samples of the cookies from the contest.”

  “Yes, I’ve been running that all around in my head all day also. I still haven’t come up with a plausible explanation.” Erica sounded annoyed with herself.

  “I may have one. Try this out. Gladys didn’t have the samples from the contest. She went home and baked more cookies.” Megan waited while Erica ran it through her own head along with everything else she knew about the case.

  “That solves the locked door mystery. Why would she do that?” Erica finally asked, thinking out loud.

  “You should be able to confirm my theory once the samples are finished being tested, right? If it were from the actual contest, specifically her entry that made Charlotte sick, it should have the same substance in it. Maybe she was just trying to replicate the scenario and run her own tests for whatever reason.”

  “Whatever her reasoning, I have to say I like your theory. I’ll see what we can learn,” Erica said, sounding a little less annoyed.

  “Great.” Megan thought that she might have been helpful to the case and it made her happy.

  “… and I wanted to talk about something else,” Erica continued.

  Megan realized she’d missed a part of what Erica had said. “Wait, what’s that?”

  “I said, you’re going to be an aunt.”

  “I am?” Megan looked over at Dan to see if he’d heard, her eyes wide with surprise. “You’re pregnant? You are? I’m going to be an aunt? That is so awesome!”

  “Remind me you said that when I need a babysitter,” Erica chuckled. “Hey, I gotta go. Be safe, don’t do anything stupid.”

  “I’m going to let Lauren know it wasn’t her food. Can I tell her about the baby?” Megan asked.

  “It isn’t a secret. Talk to you soon.”

  Megan saw the call was ended and immediately texted Lauren and also asked to meet with her early the next morning. Her phone buzzed, and she thought it was Lauren until she saw Caitlyn’s name.

  “Erica’s pregnant!” Megan answered.

  “She is? That is so awesome. They must be thrilled. We’ll have to plan a bigger party now. We still haven’t gotten together to celebrate their marriage,” Caitlyn said.

  “Good point. What’s up?”

  “Doug and I had dinner with mom and Jax. Mom remembered something that might be a puzzle piece,” Caitlyn said. “She said that Tara hated Gladys when we were younger. Something happened, something apparently extra bad even for Gladys.”

  “Did your mom say what it was?” Megan asked.

  “No, she couldn’t remember and didn’t even remember where she’d ever heard it to begin with. Hey, I gotta go. Doug’s here. I just wanted you to know in case it helps.”

  “Well, that was a lot of news in a short time,” Dan said. “What do you make of Tara and Gladys?”

  “I don’t know. But I do know that I want to talk to Tara tomorrow as soon as I can track her down.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Megan woke early on Tuesday morning. Her first coherent thought was about becoming an aunt. She was happy for Erica and Brad. Her thoughts were interrupted when Emma made her wish to be fed apparent. She then complicated the process by weaving around Megan’s feet as she walked toward the kitchen. After feeding Emma and getting that much needed first cup of coffee into her system, she went out to get some eggs and to feed and water the chickens.

  She found Henry, already perched on Dora. From what she could tell, they all seemed happy. She took the eggs into the house and then spent some time watering all of the flowers in pots and flower beds around her house. She and Dan had given the garden a good soaking after dinner yesterday. She thought about her plans for the day while watering the flowers. She definitely needed to talk to Tara, but she wanted to touch base with Lauren also.

  After putting the hose away, she returned to the house and checked her phone. There was a text from Lauren saying that she would be home whenever Megan got there. Megan quickly got dressed and headed to town. She’d drive by Tara’s first and try to find her. Maybe even try to spot her delivering mail. Otherwise, she’d keep driving and meet up with Lauren at home.

  ***

  After driving around town slowly for about an hour, Megan turned another corner and saw Tara Hartle in the town square with the water fountain. She was sitting on a park bench, feeding the birds. Megan parked her truck in a metered parking spot and walked over to join her. Tara ignored her when she walked over.

  “Mind if I sit?” Megan asked as she took the seat next to Tara.

  Tara continued to throw seeds to the birds. “I wondered when you’d catch up to me.”

  “I’ve been talking with people who competed in the baking contest,” Megan said.

  “I didn’t win.”

  “Well, there were a lot of contestants. Most of them didn’t win, but I’m sure they all enjoyed being part of the contest.” Megan watched the birds squabble over the seeds as Tara methodically threw them, a few at a time, from the paper bag she was holding. “I didn’t ask anyone. Do you know if Gladys won?”

  Tara slammed her bag of seeds down. “No!” She huffed, taking in heavy gasps of air before calming herself down. Then she smiled. “No, she didn’t win.”

  Megan thought about the time. It was early on a workday. Tara was wearing a uniform. “Why aren’t you delivering
mail?”

  Tara stopped smiling and shrugged. Then she picked up her bag and started throwing seeds again.

  “I don’t remember you and Gladys being friends when we were in school. She would have been a few years older than you though.” Megan waited for a response but didn’t get one.

  She thought about what Caitlyn’s mother had remembered. The story about Tara hating Gladys because of a guy.

  “I remember that Gladys tried to steal Justin away from my cousin, Lauren. This was before they were married.” Megan watched Tara freeze, hand in midair as she was about to throw more seeds. “I think I’ve heard stories about Gladys trying that with other people too.”

  Tara glanced over at Megan and started to say something, but then stopped.

  Megan gave her a surprised look. “She didn’t try it with you too, did she? I wouldn’t be surprised.”

  “She was always that way,” Tara said, her voice filled with hatred. “She always wanted what someone else had.”

  “Is that why she was always so mean to everyone?” Megan asked innocently. “I know she said some mean things to me over the years.”

  Tara let out a hoarse laugh. “That one never stopped. If she wasn’t being mean, she was pretending to be nice but really she just wanted to stab you in the back.”

  “Was she that way with you too?” Megan asked.

  “Always. She always had to have the last word. But not this time. This time, I did.” Tara looked at Megan triumphantly. Then she blinked and looked around them. “I have to go.”

  “Wait, I’d like to ask some more questions,” Megan said.

  Tara jumped up, leaving the paper bag on the bench, and quickly walked away.

  Megan watched her go then texted Erica. She fed the birds from the bag while she waited for Erica.

  “Thanks for coming,” Megan said as she saw Erica and Jerry approaching.

  Jerry nodded to Megan as they stopped in front of her.

  “You okay?” Erica asked.

  “I think I have most of the pieces now,” Megan told them about Tara.

  “What do you think set her off?” Erica asked.