A Cake Caper

by Constance Barker

  Rose was under investigation for a murder she didn’t commit and Pawfully Groomed was a ghost town.

  And I had this cake to do that I was nowhere near close to figuring out how to make it work.

  I finished my breakfast and had a cup of coffee, but then I realized that while I might have been feeling depressed, sitting there and wallowing in self pity wasn’t going to solve anything. So I decided to do something about it.

  If I couldn’t figure out the business with the bakery today, then I might as well make myself useful in other ways. Like, for Rose. After I took some time to try and focus on a solution for the bakery, I ultimately realized that I just wasn’t in the right headspace for it. It was hard to think about sugary treats when your friend was so far under the bus. So, it looked like I was going to spend my time helping Rose.

  From everything that I had found out so far, it really did seem like the dog show was somehow involved. Maybe not the organization itself, but all of the clues that I'd found pointed to it being caught up in the middle of it. At the very least, I thought that perhaps the murderer’s motives would have had something to do with the dog shows. And, if I was going to be looking into a public event such as the dog show, then who better to tell me about it than the mayor?

  The mayor judged pretty much every single competition that came into the town as part of her role, but she also had a good understanding of the internal politics of it all. Maybe she had information about Oliver’s acquaintances at the shows, and whether there was animosity that was more than average. It was no secret that Oliver wasn’t liked in general, but usually a general dislike of someone didn’t lead to murder, right?

  So I got my bag ready and headed over to the mayor’s office, but the second I walked through the door, her secretary looked at me like I was some sort of pest. She was right, but that was beside the point.

  “Hi there.” I said calmly as I smiled at him. “I’m here to see the mayor.”

  “Well that’s unfortunate, because I know for a fact she doesn’t have time to see you.”

  Rude.

  I sighed and cocked my hip, nodding towards the hallway leading to the Mayor’s office.

  “It’s very important that I talk to her. Look I just need to-”

  He cut me off with a wave of his hand and shook his head, smirking.

  “No, she won’t see you. She’s far too busy and you don’t have an appointment.”

  He ultimately shooed me away and went back to typing, leaving me standing there wondering what I was supposed to do.

  I definitely needed to speak to the mayor. She was really the only lead I had at that point and I wasn’t about to give up just because some prissy secretary wouldn’t let me by. So, being the incredibly resourceful and intuitive person that I was, I determined that my next step was to sneak into the office to see her. Sneaking into places was my forte after all.

  I managed to slip down the hall, but when I rounded the corner towards the Mayor’s office, my heart sank when I saw that she had a couple of security guards posted outside. That seemed odd for a small-town mayor, but I guess that given what had happened recently with the murder it wasn’t so farfetched.

  I didn’t want to give up, I couldn’t. I’d come too far and I was already there, so I decided that I would try and talk my way past the guards.

  I walked up to them and they narrowed their eyes and stepped forward, ultimately blocking my path. I gave them a sweet smile and sighed, and then I batted my lashes up at them. Hey, if Masie could get away with it, why not me?

  “Hey boys, do you think you could just let me squeeze by you? I’ve got some business with the Mayor and-”

  One of them cocked one brow and snickered, and then he shook his head and rolled his eyes. Apparently I wasn’t pretty enough for bribery, though.

  “Nice try, Coco.”

  He knew who I was? Maybe I could use that to my advantage. I smiled innocently and nodded towards the Mayor’s office down the hall, and I shrugged.

  “If you know who I am then you know that I own the Mad Hatter bakery. My business with the Mayor is about some orders and-”

  “No. Listen Coco, I know that you’ve got the bakery and I also know that you’re known for sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong and you’ve been snooping around after what’s his name was murdered. I’m not letting you by.”

  I opened my mouth to protest but the man was apparently as stubborn as toffee that had been left to cool too long, not able to be manipulated or moved at all. I spent a few more minutes trying to convince them to let me pass that included offering them a free batch of whatever they wanted from the bakery, offering them money, and I even tried to convince them that the fate of the mayor’s next continental breakfast at the monthly meeting was in jeopardy if I didn’t see her right then.

  Of course none of it worked and I sighed and gave up, ultimately deciding that if I was going to be able to solve this or even find another clue or lead, I would need to find another route. What that route was, I wasn’t sure, but I sure wasn’t about to give up.

  Chapter 15

  After deciding that I needed a different route to get to the mayor because none of her staff would let me in, I opted that the route I needed to take was to break into her office. I knew how bad it would look if I got caught, not to mention how crazy it was, but I didn’t feel like I had any other option if I wanted to help clear Rose’s name. And like they say, desperate times call for desperate measures, and it felt pretty desperate to me. Besides, I was getting good at breaking into places. I was a regular cat woman....except for the time I was clunked on the head...oh and the time I was shot at. Maybe I'm not that great at it. Blech! But I had to find out what was up with the mayor, for Rose's sake.

  I waited until it was dark and the mayor’s office had closed and then I headed over and made sure that I had dressed in dark clothing so that I was less likely to be seen. When I got there I snuck up to the building, knowing that I obviously couldn’t just walk in the front door. So instead I walked around the side where I knew there was a window that could lead me to her office, and managed to swing myself up and climb in.

  And of course as soon as I opened the window and stepped inside the alarm started to blare and for a split second I froze in panic, wondering what the hell I should have done differently. Probably shouldn’t have climbed into a window armed with an alarm at a local official’s office Sherlock, but it was too late for that.

  It took me all of three seconds of standing there frozen to decide that I needed to in fact get my hiney out of there before someone inevitably showed up, so I hauled myself back out of the window and fled on foot. I managed to get away without anyone seeing me, but as I was jogging down the pathway I’d taken, I suddenly remembered something that I had heard the mayor talking about. When she was in the bakery earlier she said that she would be at an official governmental dinner that evening, which meant that her house would be empty.

  And that meant I wouldn’t have to worry about being caught if I wanted to break in and look for something I could use to clear Rose’s name. I knew it wasn’t a good idea to break into the mayor’s house, especially after trying to break into her office, but I didn’t feel like I really had any other options left. If I thought it was a desperate time before, I thought there was a desperation alarm going off in my head right now.

  I had exhausted all leads and things had only been getting worse for Rose with every passing day.

  I decided that the risk was worth the potential reward if it meant I could find something to help Rose, so I made my way back to my car and drove to the Mayor’s house. The whole drive there I was nervous and tried to come up with a mental game plan so I wasn’t wandering around aimlessly, and ultimately I decided that going through her office was probably my best bet. I felt like if there was anything to be found regarding the dog show or Oliver’s murder, it would probably be hidden in there.

  When I arrived I parked further down the street so that
my car, Daisy, wasn’t just sitting outside of her house, and then I quietly crept down the back lane and towards the side door. I made sure that no one was around and when I was sure that the coast was clear, I took out a bobby pin from my hair and bent it in half, and then I spread the pieces apart. I did one last final check to make sure I was still alone, and then I used the bent pin to pick the lock. I never thought that I’d be so thankful to Vivian for showing me how to pick a lock, but there I was, grateful.

  I managed to get the door unlocked and quickly crept inside and gently shut it behind me, and then I froze in place and listened. The only sounds I could hear were my own heartbeat and the muffled sounds of the outdoors that came through the window, so I took a deep breath and calmed myself before I went any further.

  Upon a quick inspection I learned that the house was quite nicely decorated and had way more rooms than I thought it would, and for a brief moment I was worried that finding what I needed could take too long. However after a few minutes of glancing around and perusing the place, I found what was quite obviously her office, so I beelined it in there.

  It was well decorated and it was clear that she spent a lot of time in there. The chair was worn from someone sitting in it, the desk had spots that were weathered from where she obviously rested her elbows, and I even found an end table with a coffee maker and a rack of mugs. A person didn’t put a coffee maker and mugs into a room other than their kitchen unless they spent a lot of time in there, so at least I knew I was looking in the right place.

  I wandered around the room and didn’t find anything of note, so I sat down at the desk and started to look through that in hopes that I would find something. I went through the top drawers and while I found a ton of information—including some past dog show reports—I didn’t find anything regarding Oliver, or that seemed to have to do with his murder.

  There was a whole file folder and reference list for some gardening club that was apparently starting and if I ever needed information on how to make sure that my amaryllis bloomed during the correct time of year, then apparently the mayor was who I needed to talk to.

  I sighed in frustration and was about to give up when I noticed what looked like her date book peeking out from underneath the keyboard tray, so I pulled it out.

  Jackpot.

  I opened it up and inside it had every single appointment and meeting listed that she’d ever had or was planning to have, and much to my surprise I see a familiar name pop up on more than a few occasions.

  Clive.

  I dug a bit deeper and see that they’ve had several meetings, and judging by the margin notes in her calendar it looked like they were discussing a series of propaganda articles that Clive would be running for her. It looked like she was trying to get them published in the local newspaper to boost her campaign and help her get re-elected, and I shook my head in disbelief. It took all kinds, I figured.

  I was starting to feel good about it but then I saw that one of the meetings was scheduled during the time that Oliver was murdered, and my heart sank. That meant that she couldn’t have been involved, right?

  And it also meant that Clive couldn’t have been involved.

  Great, so I had broken into both the mayor’s house and her office, only to come up with nothing except for the fact that I’d cleared up someone else’s name. Way to go Coco.

  Chapter 16

  After I cleared Clive’s and Marion the Mayor's name instead of finding anything to help Rose, I spent the rest of the evening combing over any possible details that I may have missed. I wasn’t able to find anything and finally after an hour or so I decided to give up and go to sleep, not wanting to make the next day even harder than it needed to be by adding exhaustion to the list. At the very least I’d removed a suspect from the potential pool of killers, and I used that tiny comfort to allow myself to drift off to a restless sleep.

  I woke up and although I had slept most of the night through, I didn’t feel very motivated to get on with my day. So I meandered around and had a cup of coffee, but then I scoffed at myself and made my way to the bedroom to get dressed. There was no point in wandering around my place like a mopey muffin, so I decided to make the best of things and do what I could. I figured that the best way to help Rose right now when I didn’t have any clues to bring her was to take her breakfast. The plus side is that it would probably cheer me up too, so really it was win/win. Besides, just because I hadn’t made progress on the case didn’t mean I needed to leave my friend high and dry when she needed me the most.

  Once I was dressed I sent Rose a quick text to let her know that I was going to come by and bring breakfast, and then I made my way out to my car and drove to Charles’s Groceries. I wanted to grab some of the essentials for a good meal, and I figured that I’d support Charles as well while I did it. I loved Maggie’s Market, but after hearing Rose complain about the treatment she’d gotten there recently, I thought I needed to go somewhere else. He hadn’t treated Rose any differently since the murder despite everyone else doing the opposite, so I definitely wanted to give him my business.

  I meandered through the aisles grabbed the basics to make a delicious breakfast including all the fixings, and brought my stuff up to the counter. Charles was there and he gave me a warm smile, looking over my haul.

  “Eggs, bacon, sausage, fresh fruit, hash browns...I’d say you’re about to make a great breakfast, yeah? Who’s the lucky soul who gets to benefit from your kindness and culinary expertise?”

  I chuckled and smiled back at him with a nod, and then I started to help him bag stuff as he rang it through.

  “I’m actually heading over to Rose’s place to make her some breakfast and hopefully cheer her up.”

  Charles grinned at me and waved me away from helping him.

  “That’s kind of you, she needs it, I reckon. How is she doing anyway? I felt so awful when I heard what happened, especially when I realized that her salon went from hot stop to dead zone. Poor girl.”

  I shrugged my shoulders and forced a smile to my face, not wanting to be a downer but I wasn’t going to lie either.

  “Honestly I’m not sure. She’s okay, but there’s only so much a person can take. She’s being investigated for a murder that she didn’t commit, and now her livelihood is being impacted. But,” I added with a smile, “She’s making the best of it. And I’m going to do everything I can to help.”

  He smiled and finished bagging my things, and then he picked up one bag containing the bacon and sausage and winked at me.

  “This bag is free of charge. Consider it my way of trying to help.”

  “Charles, you didn’t have to do that. Thank you so much, that’s very kind of you.”

  “Don’t even mention it, you just tell Rose to keep her chin up. She’s a good woman and I’m sure she’ll be cleared in no time. You’ll see.”

  With that he gave me another warm smile and we said our goodbyes, and I found myself leaving the store feeling better than I had. I made my way to Rose’s quickly and actually had fun making breakfast, and I told her about Charles’s kind gesture which helped boost her mood as well.

  “Well wasn’t that sweet of him?”

  “Right?” I said with a smile, laying things out. “Such a thoughtful thing to do.”

  We sat down to eat and we were discussing the case, and the feel-good positivity we had previously felt from Charles’s good deed was quickly disappearing. We had no new leads, no witnesses, and the only evidence that had been found so far all pointed to Rose. Just as I was about to say that maybe we weren’t going to be able to figure this out ourselves, we heard the sound of squealing tires and brakes and we both jumped up out of our chairs to see what the commotion was. Before we can even make it to the door though Masie comes rushing in, out of breath and looking like she just ran a marathon.

  “Masie, what is going on?”

  She took a deep breath and held her hand up to motion for me to hold up a second, and then she quickly grabbed a plate o
f breakfast and sat down, to which we followed suit. It's bacon people...we girls got to eat.

  She looked at us with bright eyes and that smile that she always had when she knew something we didn’t, and the two of us leaned forward with our elbows on the table and eagerly waited for her to tell us what was going on. Finally after what seemed like forever and eating two strips of bacon, she grinned at us both, brows raised.

  “I think I have another lead, ladies.”

  I gasped and my eyes went wide in surprise, and I gently slapped her hand and nodded, urging her on.

  “Well? Are you going to tell us or make us guess? Come on Masie, spill it.”

  “Listen, Laney and Oliver weren’t just fighting about Oliver’s dog winning the dog shows. Laney had filed an entry into the next dog show, and she listed Candy’s owner as herself.”

  I gasped and looked at Rose and then back at Masie, a small smile creeping onto my lips. This meant that we had a possible motive, and as small as it may be. A lead was a lead.

  That changed everything.

  Chapter 17

  “How did you find this out? You have to tell us everything Masie, all the details.” I demanded, finally getting my mouth to work again. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, and Rose was similarly shocked.

  “I don’t really know any more than that.” Masie looked at us triumphantly, excited to be the bearer of such big news. “My new boyfriend told me, you know, he’s the mayor’s secretary. And obviously the mayor is a dog show judge, so she gets a list of all the entrants for each show and he says that everyone knows about Oliver and Candy because they win all the time. So when he saw Candy’s name alongside Laney’s he knew something fishy was going on, and then he asked Oliver about it but he didn’t know anything about it and there was a huge thing about it all.”

  Masie broke off to take a sip of coffee and I thought hard. So, Laney had tried to enter Candy under her own name? If she was so desperate to win a show that she’d fraudulently enter someone else’s dog, what else could she be capable of? Not that it ranks up there with murder...but what were we missing here?