A Cake Caper

by Constance Barker

  Rose thought about it, clearly tempted. Only Rose would find cleaning someone else’s cupboards to be a tempting offer.

  “Okay,” she said. “You’ve convinced me.”

  “Perfect,” I said, handing her a bag. “You won’t regret it.”

  We headed back to my place. As soon as we set up everything for Candy, Rose immediately went into the kitchen to organize my cupboards in a way only Rose could do.

  Candy seemed equally curious about my home. She sniffed practically every single thing I owned to check it out. For the time at least, it seemed that my home belonged to my two house guests.

  I settled in on the couch and turned on a reality program. Candy settled in next to me for a while, but got up after a bit.

  I was engrossed in the show, but I realized I hadn’t seen her in a while. I went looking for her and found her in the kitchen with one of my half-chewed shoes in her mouth and a graveyard of chewed shoes next to her.

  “Candy.” I exclaimed. I went to take the shoe from her, but then I saw its twin in the pile of destroyed shoes next to her. I sighed. “Forget it.”

  Rose looked over from the cupboards. She looked surprised to see what Candy was doing and then tried to not laugh at my sad predicament.

  “Well,” I said, kneeling down to clean up what was left of my shoes. “Now I see why you let me take her so easily.”

  Chapter 23

  I woke up the next morning knowing that I had so much work to do for the quinceañera. I dragged myself out of bed and got ready for the day.

  It was still early, so I moved quietly so I wouldn’t disturb Rose, as she had slept over the night before. I was reassured that she was with me rather than at her house where anything could happen.

  I finished getting ready and headed out to The Mad Batter. I sent Rose a text saying where I was and to help herself to whatever she wanted in the fridge.

  Laney, Scooter, and I all arrived at The Mad Batter at the same time. I knew that Scooter was always punctual, and I was happy to see that Laney was as well, despite the early start time. This was an important project, and I couldn’t disappoint my clients.

  I was still worried about the killer being on the loose, but I had to put that aside while we worked on this cake order.

  The cake was an elaborate creation. Even though we started in the early hours of the morning, it was late in the morning by the time we finished. However, everything looked absolutely beautiful. Scooter was an incredible decorator, and all three of us made a great team.

  We put the cake in the large walk-in cooler and waited for the clients to arrive. It wasn’t long before they walked into The Mad Batter, excited to see their cake.

  When they looked at the cake, however, I knew there was a problem.

  “These flowers are the wrong color.” My clients pointed to the middle tier of flowers. “They need to be a bright pink. Not pale like that.”

  I grabbed a piping bag and some parchment paper. “Let me just mix up a new color.”

  I made a nice bright icing and piped a rose onto the parchment paper. They looked relieved.

  “Yes, that is perfect.”

  I turned to Scooter. “Get to work scraping the flowers off. We can change this, don’t worry.”

  Scooter carefully removed the flowers while I assured the clients that it will still look beautiful. They left satisfied, and I got to work piping the new flowers.

  After they left, Masie arrived to watch the front of the store. I was in the back trying to figure out how to best remove the pink flowers when Rose walked in, terribly shaken.

  She was pale and looked terrified when she came into the back to talk to me.

  “Rose, what happened?” I asked, immediately concerned. She looked so frightened.

  She wordlessly handed me an envelope. It was a well-made, fancy envelope with a wax seal. On the outside of it was a rose. I opened it up, and in fine calligraphy, it read “My Rose, I know where you are.”

  I felt as shaken as Rose looked reading that.

  “Where did you get this?” I asked. I dreaded the answer.

  “Someone slipped it under your door this morning after you left,” she said. Her voice was tight.

  A jolt of fear coursed through my body. My mind raced with possibilities. We had to act fast or else Rose could be in grave danger.

  I took her hand and led her over to a stool.

  “Sit down right here. I’m going to call Logan,” I said.

  I pulled out my phone and called him, hoping desperately that he would answer.

  “Hello?”

  “Logan, it’s Coco. I have something very important and scary to tell you.”

  “What is it?” I could hear the seriousness in his voice.

  “I had Rose stay with me last night. This morning, a note was put under my door that said I know where you are.”

  “Alright, where are you? Is Rose with you?”

  “Yes. We’re both at the bakery.”

  “I’m on my way. Don’t go anywhere.”

  He hung up the phone. I rushed back over to Rose, who still looked incredibly shaken.

  “He’s on his way,” I said. “Logan will know what to do. He’ll keep you safe.”

  “Yeah. Safe,” she said. I hoped she believed me.

  I held Rose’s hand as we waited for Logan. He got there in record time and went straight to the back room where we were.

  “Rose, are you alright?” He asked, going over to her.

  “I’m okay,” she said. “Just freaked out.”

  “Do you have any idea who could have done this? Did you tell anyone where you were?”

  She shook her head. “No. It was such a spontaneous thing that I didn’t think to tell anyone.”

  “Did you hear or see who left the note?”

  “No. It was just there when I woke up.”

  “Okay. I think we have to assume someone is watching you, Rose.”

  “Watching me?”

  “Unfortunately, yes. We’ll have to take you into custody and have you lay low for a while.”

  “Into custody?” she asked.

  “But she hasn’t done anything wrong,” I protested.

  Logan put a hand up. “I know. I really do. But this is for your own good. We can keep you safe.”

  Rose blinked a few times. She looked like she was in a daze.

  “Will it be somewhere neat and tidy?”

  I hated that this was happening to my friend. Rose hadn’t hurt anybody, and she had to deal with this day-after-day. It felt incredibly unfair. I was furious at whoever sent the letter. I was going to find them and bring them to justice.

  That will teach them to scare my friend.

  I ran through the list of suspects in my head. I couldn’t be too careful now. The stakes were higher than ever.

  Rose and Logan discussed the logistics of getting her into custody.

  I took her hand again and listened to her as she went through her worries about when the last time someone used Lysol at the safe house. Listening to whatever she had to say was the best thing I could do right at that moment.

  She needed a friend to be strong for her. I was going to be her rock.

  And while I was doing that, I was going to solve the murder.

  Chapter 24

  We eventually convinced Rose that going into custody was the best option, even if we couldn’t guarantee that everything would be clean and sanitized to her standards.

  We went back to my place to get her things together. Most of her things were at my place, so we didn’t need to worry about going back to her house in case it was still being watched. Or worse, in case someone was waiting for her there.

  “Alright, is this it? Is there anything else you need?” Logan asked. “Once we put you somewhere, we really don’t want you going in and out.”

  Rose thought for a moment and then gasped. Her hands flew up to cover her mouth.

  “My client book,” she exclaimed. “It’s still at the
salon.”

  “Rose, do you really need your client book right now?” I asked. I was trying to be gentle, but I also needed to be the voice of reason.

  “You don’t understand,” she insisted. “That has a record of everything in Pawfectly Groomed. It’s irreplaceable.”

  “Alright, where is it?” Logan asked.

  “It’s in the salon,” she said. She was shaking like a leaf. I’ve never seen Rose so overwhelmed before. She was usually so unflappable.

  “Okay. You and Coco go to the salon to get it. In the meantime, I’ll sort out the details with the safe house,” Logan said. He turned to me. “Whatever you do, Coco, don’t let her out of your sight.”

  I nodded. I didn’t need to be reminded of how serious this situation was, but I liked that Logan was extra cautious.

  I got Rose into the car, and we drove over to the grooming salon. When we stopped and got out of the car, my stomach dropped.

  Rose’s salon had been defaced. In giant, red letters, someone had written “MURDERER” all over her storefront.

  I saw Rose’s jaw drop when she saw it. I wished I had a magic wand that I could wave to make the graffiti go away, but it just stared back at us.

  Rose stood up straighter and marched to the salon. I had to admire her ability to recover.

  She pulled out the keys and unlocked the salon. She threw open the door and confidently walked inside. Remembering Logan’s warning to not let her out of my sight, I followed her in.

  Rose went to the front desk and began to shuffle through things looking for her client book. While she was doing that, the front door opened.

  I spun around, ready to fight another attacker. Standing there was Arabella Sweet. She looked quite sour and unlike what her name would suggest.

  I was still on the defensive. We didn’t know who the murderer was. Arabella hadn’t pinged very high on my radar, but everyone was a suspect.

  “What are you doing in here?” I demanded to know.

  Arabella crossed her arms. “I could ask you the same thing, Rose Clark.” She glared daggers at Rose.

  “What are you talking about? This is my salon,” Rose said.

  “You’re not the only one on this street, Rose. Your business being here and you coming in and out of here all the time is bad for my business. And I hope you have a plan to deal with that horrible graffiti out front.”

  “Oh, you have just burned every favor you had out of me,” Rose said. “Don’t even think about ever asking me for anything ever again. Not after this.”

  “I don’t know what I could possibly need from you, Rose Clark.”

  “Oh why you—”

  Rose was cut off by Charles walking into the store. How did this quick retrieval trip turn into a free-for-all?

  “Rose, what’s going on?” Charles asked. “I’m sorry if I’m intruding. I heard people arguing and thought I should make sure everything was alright.”

  Arabella rolled her eyes and flipped her hair over her shoulder. “I was just leaving.” She turned on her heel and walked out of the door.

  Rose sighed. “Thank you for that, Charles. I was about to say some pretty harsh things.”

  “It’s no problem,” he said with a smile. “I’m happy to help. Anyway, I’m glad I caught you here. I wanted to wish you good luck with everything.”

  “Oh, thanks,” Rose said. “I really appreciate that.”

  “Of course. Hey, I’m really sorry about what it says out front. That’s not fair to you. I know you didn’t do it. Other people will see that eventually too.”

  Rose sighed. “I don’t even want to think about that right now.”

  I gave Rose a look. We had to get going.

  “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I’ll have to cut this short,” she said. “I’m going away for a while.”

  “Oh, really? Well, I’ll see you soon then. Goodbye Rose. Coco.” He waved at us before walking back out of Pawfectly Groomed.

  “Okay, we really have to go,” I said. “Do you have your book?”

  “Yup. I have it right here,” she said.

  “Great. Let’s get out of here.”

  I drove Rose to meet Logan. I dropped her off and made sure she got to him before heading back to The Mad Batter. Masie and Scooter were both there as well as Laney.

  I went in and plopped down at the counter, totally exhausted.

  “What happened?” Masie asked.

  “We need to solve this case, and we need to solve it fast,” I said.

  “Okay, well, let’s go through the suspects,” Scooter said. It was a bit disturbing that this had happened enough times that we were settling into a routine with it.

  I counted the suspects off on my fingers. “There’s Sam, Terry, Clive, everyone who has been involved with the dog shows...”

  “Well, let’s think about this more critically,” Masie suggested. “Who has the most to gain? Who has the best motive and the weakest alibi?

  I hesitated before giving my answer.

  “I know she works here and everything, but I really think that the most likely suspect right now is Laney,” I said.

  A shudder went through the three of us as we all wondered if we had been working with a killer.

  I looked at Scooter. “Work on fixing the flowers on the cake. I need to talk to Laney again and figure this all out once and for all.”

  Chapter 25

  I left Masie in charge of running the front of house for the bakery and Scooter was in charge of fixing the big cake for the Riveria’s party the next day, so that gave me the perfect opportunity to talk to Laney when she arrived.

  “Hey Laney?”

  She looked up with a smile, brows raised.

  “What’s up, Coco?”

  “I need to talk to you, follow me.”

  Although she looked reluctant and skeptical, she agreed without any fuss.

  I took her into the small room off to the side of the bakery that I usually used for my accounting and paperwork—basically anything that I needed to make sure I didn’t spill cake batter on—and I closed the door behind us, and gestured for her to sit down. She did and I sat down as well behind the desk, and a sigh left me as I tried to figure out how best to word what I needed to ask her.

  Was I supposed to just come right out and ask? It seemed like the easiest way to go about it, though it definitely didn’t seem like the wisest. What if I did that and she freaked out, or clammed up and refused to talk to me at all? The last thing I needed was to be back at square one.

  Except I had evidence, good evidence that pointed to her being the potential killer. So I decided that ultimately, as much as it lacked tact and seemed a bit crass, I was just going to come right out and ask her if she was the murderer.

  As if on cue she raised her brows at me with a huff, arms crossed over her chest.

  “Coco? You brought me in here saying that you had something very important that you needed to talk to me about, and so far you haven’t said a single word. So do you have something that you need to ask me?

  Oh, did I ever.

  She was right and I nodded over at her as I leaned forward on my elbows and rested them on the desk, and then I looked her in the eye.

  “I do Laney, yes.” I said with a deep breath and raised my brows. “Did you kill Oliver?”

  Laney clapped her hand to her mouth in surprise and gasped, nearly falling out of her chair as she looked back at me with wide eyes.

  “Are you serious?” She balked, shaking her head. “Of course I didn’t kill Oliver, are you insane? Who do you think I am?”

  “Look Laney, I’ve got evidence that points to you being the one who took him out.”

  Her face paled and she frowned, and shook her head.

  “No, you can’t, that’s not possible. What are you even talking about?”

  She seemed legitimately confused so she was either a very good liar, or she actually wasn’t the killer. I wasn’t about to give up though so I started to list off all of the e
vidence I had, not giving her a chance to cut in and come up with an excuse.

  “It’s not hard to see it, Laney. You’ve been happy and your regular normal self since the murder and it didn’t even seem to upset you. I know that you were trying to steal Candy from Oliver, and while I don’t know if it was for a win at the dog show or not, I know that you were planning to do it. You’ve been shifty and avoiding discussing Oliver at all costs, and you even went out to dinner with your dog show group and celebrated the fact that he wasn’t around to get in your way.”

  I sat back in my desk feeling confident, and I crossed one leg over the other with a sigh.

  “Not to mention the fact that you were having an affair with Terry.”

  I could see that she was getting nervous and her hands were shaking, but she was still shaking her head and she muttered no under her breath several times.

  “Of course I’m upset that Oliver was killed Coco, people grieve in different ways, you know.”

  She was trying so hard to convince me that she missed him, but it missed the mark entirely. She wasn’t crying, she wasn’t heartbroken. She was simply trying to cover her own butt in the situation that she found herself in.

  “Nice try, Laney.”

  “No, I swear. I didn’t do it and I’m not going to let you sit there and tell me that I’m a murderer when in fact I had nothing to do with it. I’m never going to admit to this, because I didn’t do it and you don’t have any actual proof anyway.”

  I smirked at her and shook my head.

  “That’s where you’re wrong, Laney. I know about the letters.”

  The colour drained from her face and she stammered, looking back at me.

  “Th-the letters? Wh-what letters- I don’t know-”

  “Oh you know exactly what I’m talking about, that’s why you’re so nervous right now. I know that you had threatening letters to Oliver in your house, so do you care to explain those?”

  “And how exactly do you know that those letters were in my house, Coco?”