Strawberry Donuts and Scandal

by Cindy Bell

  Although there weren’t more details listed with it, along with what Detective Crackle had said, the article and the image itself pretty much confirmed that Vanessa struck some kind of deal with Country Grocery Place. That was likely the evidence that Alexa planned to reveal to her followers. Even though Detective Crackle had mentioned the deal, and the article and photo supported it, Joyce still couldn’t quite believe it, she couldn’t imagine Vanessa agreeing to a deal that would put her standards at risk. She was so passionate about the food she sold being safe and organic. She decided the best way to find out the whole truth was to consult the source.

  With this on her mind, she decided to place a call to Vanessa. After the third ring, she heard someone pick up. However, there was a lot of noise in the background before Vanessa’s voice finally came on the line.

  “Hello?” The slurring of her words made Joyce wonder if Vanessa might have been sleeping, or if she was quite drunk.

  “Hi Vanessa, it’s Joyce. I’m sorry to bother you.”

  “It’s no bother. What did you need?”

  “I just wanted to ask you something. I found a picture of you at an opening of Country Grocery Place and I’ve heard some rumors. Do you have some kind of deal going with them?” Joyce braced herself for what the woman’s reaction might be. Would she deny it, or laugh it off as not being a very big deal?

  “Deal? Well, yes. I recently signed a contract with Country Grocery Place to sell packaged meals in all of their stores. I thought it was a pretty amazing offer.”

  “It sounds amazing. You were going to sell the same products you do on your truck? All vegan?”

  “Vegan and organic, yes. The same stuff I sell on my truck.” Vanessa sighed. “Well, not exactly the same. I get my produce from local sources, but in order to make the meals in the mass amounts and sell them through the grocery store I had to agree to use their suppliers for the produce.”

  “I see. Are the suppliers organic?” Joyce narrowed her eyes as a theory began to form in her mind.

  “They must be. Country Grocery Place knows that I advertise that only organic products are used in my meals. But honestly I don’t know for sure, I just presumed they must be.” Vanessa paused. Then her voice raised some. “Why? Do you know something I don’t?”

  “I was just curious. I didn’t mean to upset you, I’m sorry.” Joyce frowned as she sensed the woman was getting a bit upset.

  “It’s okay, Joyce. I’m sorry, too. It’s just that the police asked me so many questions. Many times, the same questions over and over again. I’m just feeling so paranoid, and unsettled. I didn’t mean to get upset.”

  “You have every right to be upset, Vanessa.” Joyce softened her tone. “You’ve been through a lot. I want you to know, Brenda and I never thought you were involved in any of this.”

  “Of course, you didn’t. You’re good friends. I’m afraid my reputation in this town might just be ruined, though. No one is going to forget that I was a suspect.”

  “I wouldn’t worry about that too much, Vanessa. Once they find the true killer, everyone will know that you had nothing to do with it. You would be surprised how quickly people around here move forward. It’s a kind town.” Joyce took a deep breath as she hoped that would turn out to be true. “Just one last thing, Vanessa. Why do you think Alexa asked you to meet her that morning?”

  “She told me that she owed me an apology, and she wanted to talk to me about something. I was pretty sure it was some kind of trap, but I went to meet her, anyway. I guess I’ll never know what she had to tell me.” Vanessa sighed.

  “Try to have a good night, Vanessa. I’m sure things will look brighter in the morning.”

  “I hope so,” Vanessa mumbled a goodbye, then hung up the phone.

  Joyce typed out a message to Brenda detailing what she had found. Now, she believed she knew how Alexa intended to expose Vanessa’s deal. What she couldn’t figure out was why Alexa had recorded the final video. What did she have to apologize for? Maybe Vanessa didn’t know it, but she did make a deal with the very company that Alexa had protested against. Maybe Alexa discovered that Vanessa was clueless about the pesticides and wanted to reveal the truth to her instead of ruining her reputation?

  Joyce looked back at a picture of Alexa on her website. She had those black spiked cuffs around her wrists. They looked so sharp she wondered how she didn’t scratch herself on occasion. Suddenly, the scratch on Mark’s neck flashed back through her mind. Maybe those spikes had scratched Mark. Her stomach flipped at the thought. Mark had motive, he had opportunity, and he had a scratch on his neck. Maybe Detective Crackle was focused on Vanessa, but her attention had just shifted entirely onto Mark. The problem was Mark was nowhere to be found. But perhaps someone else knew where he was, someone who knew him well enough to shove him. Did Poppy know that Mark planned to kill her best friend?

  Chapter 11

  Joyce immediately shifted gears and began to hunt down Poppy. There weren’t too many motels in the area, and she guessed that the woman had to be staying in one. With her bright red hair, she would be fairly easy to remember. One by one she called each of the local motels until a clerk, who was luckily a regular at the donut truck admitted that he’d seen a woman with bright red hair. After an elaborate story about how they were friends, but she had lost her number, he told her the room she was staying in.

  Joyce jotted down the address for the motel, then glanced at the clock. It was nearly nine. But that could work in her favor. If Poppy was staying at the motel, then she would likely be in for the evening, or coming back soon. She decided she would stage a little stakeout of her own. For a moment she considered contacting Detective Crackle to see if he wanted to join her, but she decided against it. He had his own way of investigating, and she didn’t want to be held back by it. She didn’t want him to try to stop her either.

  Joyce grabbed her jacket and a few snacks to stash in the car, then headed out. It wasn’t that long ago that she locked the door around six and went to bed an hour or so later. After Davey died, she focused on routine to get her through her grief. Eventually, she sank into an extreme sense of boredom. It was then that she began to get a bit more creative with her time. But staking out a motel room after dark was a new kind of creativity for her. She parked far enough from the motel room to go unnoticed, but close enough to be able to see who was going in and out the door. As she turned her radio on low she thought about what Brenda’s evening might be like. She hoped it had calmed down at least a little bit, but if Detective Crackle had anything to do with it, she doubted it would. The man could be so stubborn.

  Joyce settled back in the driver’s seat and watched the motel room through the windshield. As she broke open her first bag of chips, she wondered if she would really find out anything by being there. As if to answer the question, a car pulled up in front of her. The headlights flashed through the windshield for a few seconds before the car turned into a parking space in front of the motel room.

  Joyce leaned forward, ready to see Poppy step out of the car. The lights on the outside of the motel were bright enough to illuminate the sidewalk that ran in front of each door. As a figure stepped out of the car, she peered through the glass. A second later the figure stepped into the light, and to her surprise she discovered it wasn’t Poppy at all, but Mark.

  Joyce’s heart jumped into her throat. What was he doing there? Was he staying at the same motel? She couldn’t imagine that he would be, otherwise Detective Crackle would have been able to find him easily. Whether or not he was staying there, he seemed at ease as he walked up to the door of the room where Poppy was supposed to be staying.

  Joyce’s heart lurched. What if he was there to go after Poppy? If he had done something to hurt Alexa, he might feel the need to harm Poppy as well. As he reached for the door handle, she began to panic. If Mark was there to harm Poppy, then it could all happen very quickly, and she would have no way to protect herself.

  There wasn’t really a decisio
n to make, she had to do whatever it took to protect Poppy. As she stepped out of her car, the door to the motel room swung open. She couldn’t tell whether Mark had opened it, or Poppy had, as the woman stood in the doorway.

  Joyce froze where she was. If she was spotted, neither of them showed it. They stood in the doorway for a few minutes, their voices just loud enough so Joyce was able to catch a few tidbits of their conversation.

  “We can’t wait any longer. We have to move forward.” Mark insisted, then glanced over his shoulder.

  Joyce ducked down behind her car, out of view, though she could still hear them.

  “It doesn’t seem like the right time.” Poppy grabbed his sleeve. “Come inside.”

  “No, I can’t stay long. I’m doing this, tomorrow. Are you ready?” He pulled back a few steps from her.

  “We need to talk about this.” Poppy grabbed his hand, and pulled him towards the door.

  This time Mark didn’t resist. Instead, he disappeared inside the motel room. When the door closed, Joyce straightened up. Her knees ached from crouching so long. But she wasn’t ready to get into her car and leave. She suspected there was more to find out. What she’d overheard didn’t make much sense to her. She wanted to find out what they were planning to do, and whether it had anything to do with Alexa.

  As Joyce crept closer to the motel room, the very lights that had allowed her a clear view of the pair on the sidewalk, seemed to work against her. At any second, she expected to be noticed, and what explanation could she give for her presence? She had no reason to be out at the motel at that time of night. Still, she couldn’t resist pressing her ear against the door. Their voices were muffled, too muffled for her to make out many words. As she continued to listen, she heard their voices become clearer.

  “I’m counting on you, Poppy.”

  “I know, I know. Just be patient with me.”

  It suddenly occurred to Joyce that the reason their voices were clearer was because they were getting closer to the door. She gasped as she ducked back into a small alcove just before the door swung open. Had they heard her? She held her breath as Mark walked past, and headed back to his car. He glanced back once over his shoulder at Poppy. When she closed the door to the motel room, he pulled open his car door, and slid inside.

  Joyce lingered there, even after the car pulled away. She thought for a moment about knocking on the motel room door and having a conversation with Poppy. But again, there was no good excuse for her being there, and she doubted that Poppy would be too eager to speak to a stranger.

  Armed with the knowledge that there seemed to be some secrets between Poppy and Mark, Joyce got back into her car and drove back to her house. In just a few hours she would be at the truck with Brenda, and she hoped that she would be able to shed some clarity on what might be happening between Mark and Poppy. One thing she noticed, was that Poppy didn’t seem all that broken up over her friend’s death. Perhaps she was just putting on a brave face for Mark, or maybe she was scared of him. Did she know what happened to Alexa? The question burned through her mind as she paced the living room. If even the people closest to Alexa were up to something behind her back, then did she truly have any friends?

  When Brenda woke up the next morning, she smelled coffee. It was a lovely smell, until she realized that it shouldn’t be wafting through her bedroom. Her alarm hadn’t even gone off, yet. Had she left the pot on from the night before? She sat up in bed and reached for her husband. When she found Charlie’s side of the bed empty, her focus shifted to the bedroom door. What was he doing up so early? She made her way into the kitchen and found toast just popped out of the toaster, and Charlie with the coffee pot in his hand.

  “Morning, sweetheart.”

  “Morning.” Brenda blinked. “What are you doing up?”

  “Listen, I’m sorry about last night.” Charlie poured coffee into a mug for her, then handed it to her. “I know I was out of sorts, and I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that.”

  “It’s okay, Charlie, I know how much pressure you were under. I should have just sent Detective Crackle away.” She took the coffee from him. “Thanks for this.”

  “No, it was the right thing to do, I wouldn’t want to interfere with the investigation. But it never feels good when the suspicion turns on you.” He grimaced.

  “The best thing I can think of to do is help find out who really did this. Once this is solved you won’t have to worry about it.” Brenda picked up her phone and powered it on. “I’m hoping that maybe Joyce will have some ideas when I get to the truck.”

  “That would be good.” Charlie took a sip of his coffee.

  “Oh, actually I have a text from her.” She read it out loud to Charlie. “So, it looks like Vanessa is almost definitely involved with Country Grocery Place and that would certainly cause Alexa to target her. But according to Joyce, she doesn’t think that Vanessa was aware of what she was committing herself to. Maybe that’s why Alexa never went through with exposing Vanessa’s connection.”

  “Maybe.” He frowned. “It sounds like some possibly dishonest practices on the part of Country Grocery Place. But why would that stop Alexa?”

  “Let’s say that Alexa figured that out. What if she was going to go after Vanessa, but then she realized that Vanessa had no idea what kind of mess she’d gotten herself into. She realized that she was about to destroy her business, and her life, and decided not to do it.”

  “That’s quite a theory. But I’m not sure how you could prove it.” Charlie set his coffee mug down and wrapped his arms around her. “I just assumed that the person who abducted her had forced her to post that video.”

  “I think we all assumed that. But what if the person who abducted her was really trying to stop the video? It was live, so it was being actively posted as Alexa recorded it. Maybe whoever took her wanted to silence her, and couldn’t prevent being recorded in the process.” Brenda tapped her fingers on her coffee mug. “But who would want to stop that video?”

  “Do you think the final video was going to be an apology to Vanessa?” He leaned back against the counter.

  “I think it could have been. I imagine Vanessa had already suffered some loss of business just from Alexa mentioning that she might have something to hide. Maybe Alexa wanted to set the record straight.” Brenda took a sip of her coffee. “A last act of kindness.”

  “See, that’s the part I’m not so sure about.” Charlie shook his head. “Alexa never seemed like a kind person to me.”

  “I’d have to agree with you there. And apparently Mark wasn’t fond of her. Maybe Poppy was her only true friend. She would probably be the best person to ask.” Brenda glanced at her phone again. “I wonder if the police have been able to locate her.”

  “Well, Detective Crackle sure had no problem locating me.” Charlie chuckled. “I think I owe him an apology, too.”

  “Really? I thought he was a bit intrusive and rude.” Brenda pursed her lips.

  “As he needs to be in order to solve a crime. I could have been far more accommodating. Honestly, I give him credit for not putting me in handcuffs.” He blushed as he set his empty coffee mug in the sink.

  “I would never let that happen.” Brenda cupped his cheeks and looked into his eyes.

  “Oh really? And how would you stop it?” He grinned as he gazed back at her.

  “Well, I would have knocked him out of course.” She smiled.

  “Sure, then we could be in handcuffs together.” Charlie winked at her.

  “I could think of worse things.” Brenda grinned as she placed a light kiss on his lips. “Thanks for the coffee. I need to get the truck moved so I have to go. I love you, Charlie.”

  “I love you, too.” He pulled her into a warm hug. “Always.”

  “I know, sweetheart.” She kissed his cheek. “Even when you’re on a deadline.”

  After Brenda dressed and gave Sophie a kiss goodbye she headed out to her car. In the darkness that lingered before dawn she coul
d see the town was still not ready to wake up. Some houses had lights on, while most were still dim and quiet. She was lulled into a comfortable sense of peace. When her cell phone rang, she nearly jumped out of her skin. She checked the phone and saw that it was Melissa. Once she reached the truck, she returned her call.

  The phone rang several times before Melissa finally picked it up.

  “Hi Brenda. Sorry I called so early.”

  “It’s fine, I’m just moving the truck to the new spot.” She paused as she unlocked the door. “So, what’s up?”

  “I just wanted to tell you, I really enjoy my job on the truck. I know I still have a lot to learn, but I promise I will try hard.”

  “I know you will, Melissa. You’re doing a great job.” Brenda climbed into the truck and checked over everything to make sure nothing was out of place. “What’s going on, hon? Are you okay?”

  “I just wanted you to know that I’ll be there this morning. Thanks so much for this opportunity.”

  “You’re welcome, Melissa.” Brenda frowned. “Are you sure there’s nothing wrong?”

  “Nothing. I’ll see you soon.”

  Brenda hung up the phone and stared at it for a moment. She’d noticed Melissa acted strangely when the police were around. Now it seemed she was acting even more strangely. She knew that she couldn’t force her to talk, she just hoped that when she was ready to express what was on her mind, she would.