Here Comes the Fudge

by Nancy CoCo

  “No.” I shook my head. “No, we were all sort of frozen. It was hard not to go and help him.”

  “All right, that’s all I needed,” Rex said. “You and Mal can go home, but I may be calling on you again, and don’t forget to let me know if you remember anything else.”

  “Okay,” I said and stood, picking up Mal.

  We both walked to the door and he held it open for me. As I passed by him, he said, “And Allie, please don’t meddle in this case. Okay?”

  I studied his handsome face and gorgeous blue eyes. “You know I don’t stay out of things if my friends are involved.”

  He cocked his head to the left and narrowed his eyes. “Allie.”

  “Have a good night, Rex.” I walked quickly down the hall and out into the cold spring night.

  * * *

  When I arrived home it was nearly time for me to get up and start making fudge. I took the wrought-iron stairs that went up to the fourth-floor owner’s apartment and let myself inside. The lights were all on and Jenn was pacing the kitchen floor. The kitchen was galley style. The entire place still smelled fresh with the replaced cabinets, appliances, and new wood floors.

  “Oh good, you’re home,” Jenn said and rushed to me. “What happened? What did Rex say?”

  I gave her a quick hug and then bent down to release Mal from her leash and halter. “He asked me standard questions, like did I see Shane kill the victim and what did I see and what happened next.” I straightened. “I imagine they were the same questions he asked you.”

  “Yes, most likely they were the same,” Jenn said and wrapped her arms around herself. “He wouldn’t let me see Shane. I have no idea what happened. Why didn’t Shane meet me for dinner? What was he doing in the alley? Who was the victim? Who was that woman who was also stabbed? What happened?”

  “I know,” I said and hugged her again, but she was restless from adrenaline. “I’m going to make us some tea.”

  “That would be great,” she said and walked around to the opposite side of the kitchen island that served as a breakfast bar and paced back and forth in front of it. “What can we do? Should we call a lawyer for Shane?”

  “Any lawyer wouldn’t get here until the planes or the ferries are running,” I said. “I’m sure Shane is smart enough not to say anything until he has a lawyer. He’s probably just hanging out in an interview room.”

  “I hate this,” Jenn said.

  “Me, too,” I took two mugs from the cupboard beside the stove. “Earl Grey?”

  “Yes, please,” she said. “I really don’t think I’m going to sleep tonight at all.”

  “Me, either,” I said as I put tea bags in the mugs, poured in the boiling water, and turned to place one in front of her. “But you need to stop pacing. I don’t want you to wear a hole in my new floors.”

  She sighed and half sat on one of the barstools. “My mind is racing,” she said.

  “Mine, too.” I sipped the tea. I wasn’t going to tell her that Rex had tried to get me not to investigate. He’d tried and failed a few times before. You would think he would give up and just let me work with him, but Rex was a sucker for the rule book.

  “Did you get a glimpse of the victim or the injured person at all?” Jenn asked me.

  “No, it was too dark, and then, when the ambulance came, all I could do was try to keep you still and watch Shane as he carefully stepped away from the scene and then was cuffed.”

  “It about broke me to see those guns pointed at Shane,” she said in a half whisper. “To see them make him get on the ground and cuff him.”

  I reached over the wide island and rubbed her arm. “That was pretty scary.”

  “You see it on cop shows, but when it’s live and someone you love . . .”

  “Do you want some breakfast?” I asked and straightened.

  Meow. At the sound of the word breakfast, Mella hopped up on the counter and rubbed against me.

  “I don’t think I can eat,” Jenn said, her expression looking far away.

  I picked up Mella, put her on the floor, and opened the cupboard where I kept her dry cat food and poured some in her bowl. Mal was suddenly beside me, sitting pretty and looking up at me with sweet eyes. I put kibble in her bowl and set it on the ground on the opposite side of me. Unlike most people who had to feed their pets in different rooms or they would fight over each other’s food, I had trained my pets to eat only out of their bowl. Of course, once the bowls were empty and I left the kitchen, I suspected they each checked out the other’s bowls.

  “Do you think they’ll arrest him?” Jenn’s voice was shaky.

  “That would be absurd,” I said and moved around the kitchen island, took her arm, and walked her to my new blue velvet Chesterfield couch. “Shane is our crime scene investigator, and a very good one. If he were to kill someone, it would be very difficult to prove. Don’t you think? I mean, he’s smart enough to know what the police look for when they investigate and he would take precautions.”

  “Right,” she said and sat down on the couch. I sat beside her. “That’s right,” she said. “Shane is too smart to just stab someone and wait for the police to come . . . unless it was in self-defense.” She turned her head and looked at me with an emotion I couldn’t label in her gaze. “What if it was self-defense? What if the victim wasn’t a victim at all? What if he attacked that woman and Shane and then got in a scuffle with Shane and he stabbed the dead guy?”

  “We can’t try to imagine what did or did not happen,” I said and put my arm around her shoulders. “We just have to sit and wait.”

  “I hate waiting,” she said. “And who was the woman? What was Shane doing with a woman in a dark alley?

  “First off, Shane most likely heard a scream and came to her rescue. Secondly, I don’t know a single person who likes waiting,” I said. “But there truly is nothing more we can do until we hear from Shane or Rex.” I patted her knee and stood. “I’m going to take a shower and get ready to make fudge.”

  She glanced at her phone. “Wow, I didn’t realize how close it was to your time to get up. Are you sure you don’t want to get at least an hour or two of sleep?”

  “I can grab some sleep after the fudge is made and Frances comes in to work,” I said. “Without an assistant, I need to make all the fudge and get online sales in the mail before noon.”

  “You should put up a sign for a new assistant,” Jenn said. “You really shouldn’t be doing it all alone.”

  “It’s what I signed up for when I took over the family business,” I said. “But you’re right. I’m still sad that Sandy Everheart got a better offer at the New Grander Hotel, but I need to list the job in the Town Crier before it’s too late and all the summer workers are snatched up.”

  “Oh, you should put an ad in at the culinary school in Chicago. I’m sure some of the students there would love a candy making internship for the summer,” Jenn said.

  “Great idea,” I said and put my half-empty teacup in the kitchen sink. Mal was curled up in her doggie bed fast asleep and Mella slept on top of the cat tree in the corner of the living area nearest the windows. “I’m off to take a shower. Why don’t you try to get some sleep? Shane is going to need you well rested when he gets out of jail.”

  “Ugh, that’s so weird to hear.” She frowned and stood. “Shane in jail instead of investigating a crime. I’m pretty sure I won’t sleep, but you’re right, I should try.”

  Decadent Salted Caramel Pretzel Brownies

  Ingredients:

  Crust:

  1½ cups crushed pretzels

  ¼ cup brown sugar

  ½ cup melted butter

  Brownies:

  12 ounces butter (melted)

  1¾ cup brown sugar

  3 eggs

  1⅓ cup baking cocoa

  1 teaspoon vanilla

  ⅓ cup caramel topping

  Himalayan Pink Salt

  Directions:

  Mix crust ingredients in a medium bowl until co
mbined. Scoop into an 8 x 8-inch parchment-lined pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 8 minutes. Remove.

  In a medium-sized heavy saucepan, melt butter. Remove from heat, add sugar, and stir. Add eggs one at a time and stir until combined. (Don’t over stir the eggs.) Add baking cocoa and vanilla. Mix until well combined. Pour over the top of the crust and bake at 350 degrees F for 30–35 minutes until a toothpick poked in the center comes out moist but not gooey. Remove from heat. Let cool completely (if possible). Then warm the caramel by microwaving for 10–20 seconds until easy to drizzle. Drizzle caramel over brownies. Sprinkle salt on top for decoration. Slice and enjoy. Makes 16 2-inch squares

  Chapter 3

  Friday

  Jenn told me that Shane didn’t get out of police custody until four o’clock in the afternoon. It had been a crazy day. I managed to run on pure adrenaline and worry, finishing my fudge orders early, filling the fudge shop glass-fronted display case, cleaning the fudge shop kitchen, shipping the boxes, and walking my pup. We had ten guests check in and one check out. After lunch I managed an hour nap before getting up and working in the office on the ads for a new assistant candy maker.

  Now, I made lasagna in my kitchen while Jenn sat on the couch drinking a big glass of wine.

  “So they didn’t charge Shane after all?” I asked as I put the lasagna in the oven and set the timer for forty-five minutes.

  “Rex told me that there wasn’t enough evidence,” Jenn said. “Because he didn’t do it, right? He wouldn’t do it. He would never attack two people, kill one outright, and then stay at the scene.”

  “What does Shane have to say?” I asked. “I presume you’ve been in touch. In fact, I sort of figured he’d come here first.” Jenn planned on continuing to live with me until the house they bought was habitable.

  “He did call me to let me know he was out and not charged,” Jenn said and took a sip of wine. “But he won’t talk about what happened.”

  “Not even a little?”

  “Nope,” she said, her expression unhappy.

  I grabbed my smaller glass of wine and took the chair across from the couch. Mal jumped up in my lap. Mella was already in Jenn’s.

  “So, what did he tell you?” I asked.

  She took a large swallow and stared at the contents of her glass for a moment. “He said he loved me and he wasn’t going to tell me anything so you and I wouldn’t get involved.”

  “Did you ask him about who the woman was?”

  “Darn right I did,” Jenn said.

  “What did he say?”

  “He said it was none of my business. I got so mad I hung up on him.” Jenn frowned. “I haven’t talked to him since.”

  “If it helps, Rex isn’t talking to me about the case, either,” I said.

  “Well, Shane had better bring me into the case or there might not be a wedding,” she said.

  “Don’t say that. You’re just scared right now,” I said. “I would be, too. Do we even know who the male victim is?”

  “All I’ve heard is that identities were pending family notification,” Jenn said. “That was a few hours ago.”

  “I think it’s because with Shane out of the picture, we have to go to Cheboygan for information,” I said. “Plus, they medevaced the woman there as well.”

  “I wish I lived in Cheboygan,” she said.

  “Is Shane going home on the late shuttle tonight?”

  “No,” Jenn said. “That’s one thing I did get out of him. Rex asked him to stay on the island until further notice. He’s going to stay with his buddy, Scott Vaden. Scott lives near the airport. Seems they went to school together.”

  “That’s good,” I said. “I was worried he was going to stay at your house even though it doesn’t have power yet. When you’re under suspicion it’s good to have someone around to keep an eye on you should something else happen and you need an alibi.”

  “Yes,” Jenn agreed. “We learned that the hard way.”

  “But he never explained why he stood you up for your dinner date?”

  “He refused to talk about it,” she said and got up to pour herself more wine.

  “Well, don’t give up on him yet,” I said. “I bet we can still figure out what happened. Mackinac is a small island. Someone has to know something.”

  “I don’t know how I can keep planning my wedding, not knowing if Shane is even going to be there.” She hugged her waist with her left arm, the wineglass in her right hand.

  “Don’t you worry about it,” I said. “I’m going to take care of the details from now on. You can concentrate on the Wilkins wedding.”

  “And our investigation,” she said.

  “Yes,” I agreed. “And our investigation.”

  * * *

  After dinner, and after the dishes were washed, I went into my bedroom and called Liz McElroy. Liz and her grandfather Angus ran the Town Crier newspaper. If anyone knew what was going on, it would be Liz.

  “Allie,” she said. “What’s up?”

  “Hi, Liz,” I said and closed my bedroom door. “I saw the article you wrote on the latest murder on the island.”

  “Leave it to you to discover yet another dead body,” she said. “Is there anything you can tell me?”

  “I was hoping there was something you could tell me,” I replied. “Any word on who the victim is or the name of the woman?”

  “Well, it’s not official and you haven’t heard it from me, but the dead man is believed to be Christopher Harris, the local pharmacist. All of his family is in Florida right now for his grandmother’s funeral. It’s probably why they are waiting to let the family know.”

  “Christopher Harris, the local pharmacist,” I parroted. “I don’t think I know him. I don’t really use prescription drugs.”

  “Oh, you know him,” she said. “Tall, lanky, with dark brown eyes and sandy hair. He’s about thirty-five and hangs around with Rex and the others who grew up here.”

  “I’m sure I’d know him if I saw a picture,” I agreed. “What about the woman?”

  “What woman?” Liz asked.

  “There was a woman in the alleyway,” I said. “She was badly hurt and they life-flighted her to Cheboygan.”

  “Interesting,” Liz said. “Why did I not know that?”

  “Was it not listed in the police blotter?” I asked.

  “I didn’t see it in there,” Liz said. “I’m going to contact the station right now to find out why it wasn’t listed. Thanks for the tip.”

  “If you find out anything, let me know, okay?” I asked.

  “You bet,” she said and hung up.

  Mal scratched at the door, and I opened it and picked her up.

  “Did you learn anything?” Jenn asked.

  “I learned that the police blotter didn’t mention the woman,” I said. “Why not? How were they able to keep that quiet?”

  “There’s something going on,” Liz said. “We need to find out what.”

  “It’s late,” I said. “I got so little sleep last night. I’m going to turn in, but I promise you, tomorrow I’m going to figure out what is going on.”

  “Not if I do first,” Jenn said. “Not if I do first.”

  Chapter 4

  Saturday

  The next morning I was up at five a.m. to make the fudge. One thing about living on Mackinac Island was that the sun rose early and set late because we were so far north. Frances came in by eight a.m. and refreshed the coffee in the coffee bar.

  Frances stuck her head into the fudge shop area. “Good morning,” she said. “Douglas is in the back fixing that lighting problem we had late last night.”

  “Great, I’ll be out in a moment for our morning staff meeting,” I said. Then I sliced up the last batch for the online orders, boxed them up, and took off my hairnet and apron. Frances sat at her station behind the registration desk working on her computer. Mal got out of her doggie bed beside Frances and greeted me. Mella opened an eye but didn’t move from her place in the window,
soaking up sunshine. It was supposed to be warmer today, in the high sixties, which made the window pretty comfy for a kitty.

  I poured myself some coffee and Douglas met me at the reception desk.

  “Good morning,” he said with a nod.

  “Good morning, team,” I said. “What all is scheduled for today?” Frances let me in on which guests were coming in and which guests were leaving. We still weren’t running at full capacity.

  “Let’s see if we can incentivize people to write some good reviews online,” I said. “That way people will know we are up and running.”

  “What would you suggest?” Frances asked.

  “We could give a pound of fudge, or we could offer a twenty percent discount on their next stay over five days,” I said.

  “Great idea,” Frances said. “I can design some flyers and send out some emails.”

  “Where’s Jenn this morning?” Douglas asked. “It’s not like her not to be down here plotting and planning things.”

  “Let’s give her some time,” I said. “She wasn’t feeling happy when we went to bed last night.”

  “Is Shane not talking about what happened?” Frances asked.

  “How’d you guess?” I asked.

  “I figured he and Rex would tighten ranks to keep you guys from investigating this.”

  “They have,” I said. “And Jenn is definitely not happy about it. She was talking last night as if the wedding would be postponed.”

  “Oh dear,” Frances said.

  “We need to keep an eye on her,” I said. “I’ve never seen her so down. She feels like Shane doesn’t trust her, and then finding out a woman was also involved and Shane won’t talk about it is like a knife to the gut. No pun intended.”

  “We’ll see what we can do,” Frances said.

  “In the meantime, I’m going to do some work in the basement,” Mr. Devaney said. “Frances had a great idea for adding flower boxes on the outside of the windows to keep the crowds from pressing their noses on the glass.”

  “I’m hoping it means less window cleaning,” she said.

  “Sounds good to me,” I said. “I’m ready for flowers to bloom.”