Pumpkin Spice & a Body on Ice

by Willow Monroe

  Enough to go shopping for a new outfit to wear to the dessert festival. I ended up with a pair of black slacks and a soft purple sweater that hugged my curves just right. I don’t think I’d ever been so in love with a sweater before in my life, I thought as I turned this way and that, scrutinizing myself in my new full-length mirror.

  The morning of the Sugar Hill Dessert Festival dawned clear and blue and colder than it had been for weeks. Poppy proudly delivered my cupcakes to the judging area. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. And she reported back that the competition was heavy this year. A Beautiful Balance and Naturally Yours both had entries which Poppy assured me didn’t look nearly as nice as mine. All the other single ladies in town had entered as well.

  “And, yes, there is a feta and spinach cupcake with cream cheese frosting,” Poppy announced, trying and failing to keep from laughing.

  After I finished my morning shift, we pretty much closed down the diner. I changed into my new clothes and Poppy and I headed out to the festivities, which lined Main Street and the side streets right around the center of town.

  As the day wore on the temperature remained low but that didn’t keep people away. The carnival just outside of town added a circus like atmosphere and attendance seemed to be up from years before. Children ran back and forth with balloons. Couples strolled from one craft booth to another, looking for that something special for mom for Christmas.

  The local churches had a vast array of baked goods and I made a mental note to donate some money to them for their efforts. Funny thing was, my appetite for sweets had diminished since I was now walking on my treadmill at home, sometimes two or three times a day.

  Another great thing? When I was huffing and puffing and trying to not fall off the thing, I was actually able to stop worrying for a little while. That was pretty addictive.

  “Is Tom coming by later?” I asked.

  Poppy and I had stopped by a craft booth where she gazed longingly at wedding accessories. She shook her head and looked away. “No. He’s putting on a good front, but his lawyer advised him to keep a low profile.”

  “Everything is going to turn out okay,” I told her. “I promise.”

  Poppy took a deep breath. “We’re supposed to get together for dinner this evening, but I’m going to suggest we go for a walk instead. We both need the exercise.”

  “Is it affecting his business?” I asked.

  “Yes. He swears he wasn’t on the bridge with her that morning but I saw him there. I know what I saw. I’ve done everything I know of to cheer him up but...” Poppy ended with a shrug.

  My heart ached to see her in such agony and I promised myself that somehow, some way, we would get to the bottom of this.

  We saw Chief Whitt in the crowd several times but he was always busy, either directing traffic or people or just keeping a watchful eye. He waved at us but it was hard to tell what he was thinking. He looked as stern as ever, almost intimidating, and his eyes were hidden behind those shiny aviator sunglasses.

  I did see Eva and Anna Lord looking at items offered by a craft booth that sold holistic medical products. When Poppy said hello, they replied sweetly but their smiles never reached their eyes. The Naturally Yours booth was busy, but Tiffany took a moment to glare down at me from where she stood surrounded by customers.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” Mayor Gillespie’s voice rang out loud and clear over the PA system. “It is time for the final judging of the cupcakes to decide who will be crowned Cupcake Queen of Sugar Hill. The judging will be held in front of the mayor’s tent down near the courthouse in fifteen minutes. We’d love for you all to join us there.”

  I nearly fainted.

  Poppy squeezed my hand. “Come on so we can get a good spot.”

  “I don’t want to go,” I said, even though I was letting her drag me along.

  “You have to,” she hissed.

  “No I don’t,” I said, coming to a halt so quickly that her hand slipped out of mine.

  “Coward,” she snapped, hands on hips, eyes flashing fire. “Chicken. Cry baby.”

  “Okay, I’ll go,” I gave in. “But when he announces the winner, I’m going to cover my ears.”

  “Oh, shut up,” Poppy was in charge again and we moved with the crowd toward the mayor’s tent.

  I’d never seen such a big crowd for this competition before. Gladys was already there and motioned for us to join her up close to the front. The cupcakes were set out on a table with the names of the contestants on little cards out in front. I saw the Lord sisters in the crowd and Tiffany was there as well. My heart was pounding so I could barely hear.

  “You’re gonna win, I just know it,” Gladys whispered.

  Poppy was on the other side of me and each of them took one of my hands as if to hold me in place. Then, suddenly, a strange kind of peace came over me. As I watched our handsome police chief pace back and forth in front of that table, I realized it didn’t matter if I won or lost, not in the grand scheme of things. What mattered was that I had my best friends beside me, a successful business that I loved and my quiet little apartment.

  Those were the things that mattered.

  Nadine would never have those things again.

  A camera flashed and Chief Whitt spoke into the microphone. “No pictures please.”

  “Wonder why he’s so camera shy?” Poppy asked.

  I shrugged and watched as Chief Whitt conferred with Mayor Gillespie, the two men whispering quietly. He looked thoughtful. He strolled back and forth. Chief Whitt paused in front of each plate and even took another bite of one or two, sipping water in between to clean his palate.

  “Man, he’s taking this judging thing seriously,” Poppy whispered.

  The crowd was quiet except for a baby crying somewhere behind us.

  He and the mayor conferred again and finally, the mayor nodded and put the microphone to his lips. “Ladies and gentlemen, our illustrious judge, Police Chief Roby Whitt, has made his decision.”

  He handed over the microphone and everyone held their breath.

  Chapter Twelve

  Later that evening, Tom came by the diner and talked Poppy into going for a walk with him. I didn’t want her to go but didn’t have the energy to try and talk her out of it. Tired and wanting nothing more than to go up to my apartment and fall into bed, I decided to close up early. There were no customers anyway.

  I was just locking the door when I saw Chief Whitt come trotting across the street toward me. He was out of uniform, wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. I was amazed that he could look so good in just about anything he wore. I opened the door and then locked it behind him.

  “Are you mad at me?” he asked, placing both hands on my shoulders. He looked exhausted.

  “No. Why?” I answered, truthfully.

  “Because you didn’t win,” he answered.

  “Disappointed. Not mad. Besides Tiffany has had more experience cooking with natural foods than I have. She deserved to win.”

  “That’s good,” he said and caught my hand

  “And I got second place,” I reminded him, pointing to the display box that now held a beautiful red ribbon tucked in neatly with the blue ones. “And some new cupcakes that are a hit with my customers both here at the diner and our new on-line bake shop that Poppy just set up,” I added proudly.

  To my surprise, Chief Whitt said, “Let’s go for a walk.”

  “A walk?” I was exhausted. The last thing I wanted to do was go for a walk.

  The chief surprised me again, taking my hands in his. If the room had been dark, you would have seen sparks of electricity shooting into the air from that touch. He brought one of my hands to his lips and kissed the tip of each finger. I was speechless and simply stood there, desire pooling in my belly, making my knees weak.

  “I was afraid I’d made an enemy of the one lady in town I’d like to see more of in an unofficial capacity,” he said, his eyes meeting and holding mine.

  I swallowed hard, tr
ied to say something, but no words came out.

  “Come on. We can talk about a real date. Dinner, dancing, maybe just a hike up in the mountains,” he continued as he started on my other hand.

  “Let me change,” I said.

  “No, that purple makes you look absolutely ravishing,” he said with a wink and led me toward the door.

  Continuing to hold my hand, we walked down the street together. The crowds were thinning out quickly, the sidewalks littered with paper cups and plates.

  “Lots of clean up to do tomorrow,” he mentioned and led me to where his SUV was parked in an out of the way spot, the evening sunshine blocked by the trees.

  “Yes,” I said, waiting while he unlocked the door and got something out of the glove box. Lord, it was getting cold and I hugged myself and jiggled from one foot to the other, wishing I’d grabbed a jacket.

  “Cold?” he asked.

  “Yeah, do you have a jacket in there or...?” I spotted one lying across the back seat, opened the passenger door and snatched it up. “This will do.”

  “Okay,” he said, eyeing me closely while I put it on. Then he held out his hand. “Let’s go.”

  Surrounded by his spicy scent from the warm jacket, I let him take my hand. My hand fit in his as neatly as a glove and I followed him out of the near darkness to the main entrance of the park. Here, the evening sun made everything look like it was on fire. The sight of the deep reds and golds and flaming oranges of the trees lining the path nearly took my breath away.

  Then my gaze dropped to where Chief Whitt held my hand and I saw that I was wearing a dark green jacket. Trying not to let him see, I felt around the neck with my free hand. Yes, there was a hood. I didn’t dare look at him but stumbled along, my thoughts going in a million directions at once. Had I ever seen him wear that jacket before? I didn’t think I had. In fact, the only man I’d noticed wearing a green jacket with a hood was Tom which was why everyone kept saying...

  “Well, I guess we’d better head back now,” I said, coming up short. “It’s getting kind of late.”

  “Just a little further,” he said, tugging me along. “There’s something I want to show you up here.”

  To my surprise, he began leading me off the path. I stopped. Warning bells were going off in my head. No way was I going into those woods alone with him.

  “Come on,” he said, the sound of his voice somewhat harsh.

  “I don’t think so,” I said, jerking my hand free.

  He turned to look at me and it was as if I was looking at a total stranger.

  Taking a step backward, I lifted my chin and glared at him. And then I jammed my hands into the pockets of his jacket so he couldn’t lead me any further. My fingers closed around something soft and lacy in one of them and I pulled it out.

  “Panties,” I whispered, not believing or even understanding what I was seeing. “You. You’re the panty bandit?”

  He simply stood there glaring at me.

  My brain was screaming, run, run, run. But my feet were frozen to the spot.

  Until he lunged at me, and by that time it was too late.

  The park was completely deserted as he clamped a hand over my mouth and dragged me into the woods, kicking and fighting with every ounce of my strength. I could feel the dead leaves slipping away under my feet. It was useless. He was much stronger and faster than I could ever have imagined. Within minutes, I gave up and stumbled along beside him, tears streaming down my face.

  “Why? How?” I sobbed, not even know how to ask the questions.

  “Never mind why or how,” he snarled and dragged me through a dense copse of trees and into a small clearing at the crest of a hill. Suddenly, he shoved me away from him and I landed on the ground so hard that I was stunned for a moment.

  I sat up, trying to get my bearings and the setting sun blinded me. His body was nothing but a black shape looming over me.

  “You killed Nadine and when I coaxed a confession out of you, you ran. I had no choice but to shoot you,” he explained.

  Heart pounding, I remained on the ground, dampness soaking through my clothes.

  “Get up,” he roared.

  “Not until you tell me the truth,” I shouted back.

  He laughed. “The truth is that Nadine came home a little too early one evening and caught me in her house.”

  “Stealing panties?”

  He laughed again and I could make out the glint of sun on something metal in his hand. There was that gun again.

  “Stealing panties.”

  “You’re the panty bandit?” I asked, still not believing my own words.

  “Nadine threatened to turn me in, but I promised her she would win the cupcake competition if she kept her mouth shut,” he explained.

  “So that’s all it took?” I asked, incredulous.

  “It was a temporary fix. The next morning, I coaxed her up onto the railroad bridge, strangled her with a boot lace and tossed her onto the tracks below. It was supposed to look like suicide. And the train would have come along just in time to make anything else impossible to determine. You found her instead.”

  “So when Poppy thought she saw Nadine on the bridge with Tom, it was really you.”

  “Yep. Pretty clever, huh?”

  “Pretty clever,” I said. My voice was hoarse.

  “Then you started asking too many questions of too many people and I knew I was going to have to shut you up sooner or later.”

  “The night you were in my diner?”

  “I was going to take care of you then, but you’d already called the state police. They knew I was on duty that night and I would be the one to answer the call,” he explained.

  “You could have told them you shot me by mistake.”

  “Could have, but I couldn’t risk an investigation,” he said.

  “Because you’re not who you say you are,” I guessed. That’s why I couldn’t find out anything about Police Chief Roby Whitt. Either he didn’t really exist or...

  “He’s dead. The real Roby Whitt is dead. Identities are so easy to steal, new personas, backgrounds are easy to create. I knew this little hick town wouldn’t do much in the way of background checks.”

  “That’s why you didn’t want your picture in the paper,” I said.

  I’d been hoping that if I kept him talking long enough I could think of an escape plan. Now, I seemed to be out of subject matter and still no plan.

  “You’re a smart cookie. Too bad I’m going to have to shoot you.” He let that sink in. “Now, on your feet,” he commanded loudly. “And take off. You won’t get far”

  I moved to my feet, my knees as weak as water, but I knew the minute I turned to run he was going to shoot me. So, I backed away from him.

  “Go ahead,” he said, motioning with his gun.

  “No,” I said, anger suddenly flooding my body, taking over my terror. “No.”

  “Ah, come on.”

  “NO,” I shouted, ripped off the jacket I wore and tossed it aside.

  “You’re just making this harder on yourself.”

  “NO,” I screamed over and over, pulled my new sweater off and tossed it aside as well.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m not going to let you put a bullet hole in my new outfit,” I shrieked. “How are you going to explain shooting a half-naked woman in the woods?” Now my pants were off and I stood there defiantly in bra and panties, even though there was really nothing left to do but run from him.

  “You are crazy.” He had to shout over my screams.

  “No, you’re crazy,” I screamed back at him, turned and ran into the trees as hard as I could go.

  The sound of his gun was way too close for comfort. Something whistled past my head and embedded itself in a tree trunk just ahead. I kept moving, slipping and sliding on the leaves, low branches slapping my face and arms and shoulders. Falling, getting up again and running for my life.

  Another shot rang out and I went down, my head hittin
g the ground hard.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Starla. Oh, my God, Starla.” Poppy was leaning over me, tears streaming down her cheeks.

  “Poppy,” I moaned. “Are you in heaven, too?”

  “What?”

  “If I’m dead and you’re here...”

  Poppy laughed through her tears. “No, honey, you’re not dead.”

  My surroundings were slowly coming into focus. I was wrapped in a blanket, sitting in the back of a police car. I ran a hand through my hair and it came away filled with leaves.

  “I’m not dead.”

  “No. Thank God.”

  “What happened?”

  “Tom and I were walking in the woods. We heard voices, realized it was you and Chief Whitt,” Poppy told me.

  “So you heard everything?” I asked, thankful that I really hadn’t just imagined the whole thing.

  “Everything. The plan was for me to call the state police while Tom followed you two. Things escalated pretty quickly and he ended up taking Whitt down before he could shoot you.”

  “Is Tom...?”

  “He’s fine. He’s giving his statement now and officers are already heading for Whitt’s place. They should find all the evidence they need there.”

  “That’s not his real name,” I whispered.

  Sugar Hill, Virginia, is a resilient little town. Within days, things were back to normal. I was back at work, hustling around the diner and taking care of my customers just like I always do, practically running from one table to another, filling coffee cups and taking orders. I joked with long-time friends, flirted with some of them simply out of habit and made sure my older customers were comfortable, Mrs. Blake in particular.

  “I’ll get your check, darlin’,” I whispered to Tom Brown when I saw him glance at his watch.

  Before I could move, Poppy was there beside me with his thermos filled with JoeToGo. And she knows just how he likes it. He smiled his thanks and kissed her quickly before heading out the door. When she returned to her spot at the register, she was glowing.

  I had a feeling it wouldn’t be long before she would get to wear that wedding dress she’d purchased. This town’s recent trouble made us all appreciate each other a little more.