Death of a Wedding Cake Baker

by Lee Hollis

  All appeared to be forgiven.

  For now.

  Hayley, however, wasn’t buying it.

  She suspected there was a lot more on Sonny Lipton’s mind than just a taxing workload, and whatever was preoccupying him would eventually leak out before or, God forbid, after the wedding.

  She could only hope that Liddy was ready to handle whatever might come her way.

  Chapter 8

  “She’s a backstabbing liar who can’t be trusted! How dare you take her word over mine!” Lisa shouted at Chief Alvares, who stood in front of her bakery counter as Hayley and Liddy entered the Cake Walk shop.

  “I’m not taking anyone’s side. I’m just here to ask you a few questions,” Sergio said patiently as Lisa threw off her apron and scooted out from behind the counter.

  Sergio stepped back, afraid she might be on the attack.

  “I had nothing to do with whatever she’s accusing me of!” Lisa shrieked, like a wild animal with rabies that had been cornered and was aggressively lashing out.

  “She’s saying you planted mice and rotten food in the back of her shop and then called the health department to report an anonymous tip, knowing she would fail their inspection and they would shut her down.”

  Hayley suddenly realized they were talking about Lisa’s rival.

  “I would never do anything that malicious and underhanded! What kind of person do you think I am?” Lisa wailed.

  The kind of person who would do exactly that, Hayley thought to herself, turning to Liddy, who was obviously thinking the same thing.

  “I don’t even know where that ridiculous Helen’s new bakery is even located!”

  Lisa was lying. Hayley knew it, because she had seen Lisa driving by Helen’s bakery just yesterday and gawking to see if any of her loyal customers were being turncoat traitors by patronizing her former employee’s new business. Hayley happened to be one of those traitors, since Helen’s bakery was closer to her house, and she had begun getting into the habit of swinging in to pick up a bagel on her way to work. When Hayley had spotted Lisa’s car passing by, she had quickly ducked down below the large picture window that faced the street to avoid being spotted.

  “I don’t even want to know! How did she open a new bakery so fast anyway? She must have been secretly plotting to stab me in the back for months while she was working for me!”

  Sergio sighed. “If we can get back to what happened at Helen’s—”

  “It wasn’t me! I can’t imagine where that sniveling, jealous Helen Fennow gets her crazy ideas! If you ask me, I think she planted those mice and that spoiled meat and called the health department herself just to get me into trouble!”

  “Meat? I just said ‘food.’ I never mentioned meat,” Sergio said, eyes boring into Lisa, who flinched slightly, but quickly regained her composure.

  “Meat, vegetables, whatever, I was just guessing . . .”

  “It was rotten meat, so that was a remarkably good guess,” Sergio said.

  “Listen, I’ve lost enough business to that scheming two-faced witch. I don’t need you scaring off my foot traffic by hanging around here giving the impression that the shop is a target of the police. So if you don’t have enough evidence to arrest me, then I suggest you leave right now and not come back here until you do!” Lisa screeched in his face.

  Sergio glared at her, clearly resisting the urge to snap some handcuffs on her wrists on the spot and drag her down to the station. But he kept his cool and said in a friendly tone, “I’ll be in touch.”

  And then he turned on his heel and walked out of the shop, nodding his head to Hayley and Liddy as he passed by them. “Ladies.”

  “Chief,” Liddy said, smiling.

  Once he was gone, Lisa finally noticed Hayley and Liddy and frowned. “What are you two doing here?”

  “We had an appointment. You called me just this morning and told me you had a cake you wanted me to taste!” Liddy sighed, exasperated.

  “Right,” Lisa said with a vague, distant look. “I don’t have a calendar. I’m not some anal-retentive idiot who keeps track of those kinds of details. I’m an artist and more right-brained.”

  Hayley bit her tongue. She desperately wanted to point out to Lisa that people who used the old left-brain, right-brain excuse to cover their forgetfulness were usually just not using either side of their brain.

  “Well, if this is a bad time—” Hayley said.

  Lisa interrupted her. “No, it’s fine. I need something to get my mind off the police harassment lawsuit I’m about to file against your brother-in-law!”

  Hayley knew Lisa would never carry out that threat, because the risk would be too great. It just might expose her for what she really was—guilty.

  Lisa scurried into the kitchen in the back of the bakery and returned with two small plates with a healthy piece of chocolate cake and a tiny silver dessert fork perched next to it on each one. She handed one to Liddy and the other to Hayley. “I thought about everything you said at our consultation, and I came up with this. You wanted something traditional and basic, with a little flare, so last night, when I was not sabotaging that Betty-dict Arnold’s stupid bakery, I came up with the perfect cake for your wedding. A chocolate walnut cake with a cocoa glaze. Understated, clean, simple.”

  Liddy stared at her piece of cake. Hers was decorated more elaborately than Hayley’s, with a chocolate rose sprinkled with bits of walnut fashioned on top—a piece befitting the bride-to-be.

  Lisa stared at them expectantly, waiting for them to taste her delicious cake, but Liddy reached over and dropped her plate on the bakery counter, refusing to take a bite. “You didn’t listen to a word I said.”

  “Yes, I did!” Lisa yelled defensively. “You wanted a traditional wedding cake!”

  “I’m allergic to nuts! How many times do I have to tell you?”

  “You need to get over that. Your guests are going to love this cake!”

  “This cake is not traditional! White frosting is traditional! Maybe some edible roses! That’s traditional! A chocolate walnut cake with a cocoa glaze is not traditional!” Liddy screamed, losing it.

  “I never should have taken this job. I knew working with you was going to be a nightmare,” Lisa growled.

  Liddy had heard enough.

  She marched forward until she was inches from Lisa’s face.

  Hayley thought about grabbing Liddy and hustling her out of the shop before the two cousins started to tear each other’s hair out, but she hung back as Liddy pointed a crooked finger in Lisa’s angry face.

  “You are a despicable, infuriating human being with no manners or people skills who should not be running a business where you have to deal with the public!” Liddy shrieked.

  Lisa stood her ground, not backing down, refusing to be intimidated by Liddy in the least. In fact, when Liddy was finished berating her, Lisa broke out into a devilish smile, almost as if she had enjoyed her cousin’s insulting tirade.

  “What do you have to say for yourself?” Liddy demanded to know.

  “I have nothing to say to someone with no taste or class,” Lisa sneered.

  “You’re fired!” Liddy screamed, and then she whipped around and barged out of the bakery, leaving Hayley behind, her mouth agape.

  “What about you? Are you going to just stand there? At least try my chocolate walnut cake and tell me if you like it!” Lisa asked.

  Hayley looked at the piece of cake she was holding, and then scooted over and gingerly set it down on the counter next to Liddy’s. “I better not. I really should go.”

  And then she chased Liddy out of the shop.

  Hayley had to run to catch up to Liddy, who was keeping a vigorous pace and was already halfway down the street.

  “I cannot believe I share the same genes as that woman! How can we both be part of the same family?”

  “Well, you do have a few things in common . . .” Hayley offered.

  “Like what?” Liddy snapped.

  �
��You’re both really stubborn . . .”

  “Not helpful, Hayley!”

  “Sorry,” Hayley muttered under her breath. “But you just fired Lisa, and your mother said . . .”

  “I don’t care about my mother! If she refuses to pay for my wedding because I don’t want that stupid, awful ogre Lisa involved, then so be it! Sonny and I will get married in my living room with just a few of our closest friends. I’m sure Sonny would prefer a much smaller, more low-key ceremony anyway!”

  “That sounds lovely, actually,” Hayley said, trying her best to be supportive.

  “And you can bake the cake!”

  “I’m sorry, what?”

  “You write a food column every day, half of which are about you baking cakes and pies and assorted desserts. I assume your recipes are all kitchen-tested, so how hard would it be for you to bake my wedding cake?”

  “Liddy, I’m not sure I should—”

  “Why not?”

  “I just don’t want to get in the middle of a family squabble. I mean, you firing Lisa and hiring me just doesn’t look good . . .”

  “You’re my best friend, and I want you to bake my wedding cake. There’s nothing controversial about that. And the best part is, you’ll design and make the cake I want! Angel food cake with buttercream frosting!”

  There was no squirming out of this one.

  Liddy had made her decision, and for the sake of their friendship, Hayley knew she had no further choice in the matter. After all, Liddy’s wedding day was supposed to be about her, not the wedding cake baker, and it was Hayley’s responsibility to make sure her big day was a happy one.

  “Okay, I’ll do it,” Hayley said, however reluctantly.

  In hindsight, she should have chosen to put her own happiness first and refuse Liddy’s request, because there was no doubt in her mind she was going to rue this day—the day she crossed the very mean and spiteful Lisa Crawford.

  Chapter 9

  Not even two hours after Liddy had drafted Hayley into baking her wedding cake, it was as if a small explosion erupted inside the building of the Island Times when Lisa Crawford blew through the doors, wild with fury.

  Most of the reporters fortunately were out of the office covering stories, and Sal, the paper’s intrepid editor and Hayley’s boss, was at a dentist appointment, so they were all mercifully safe from the verbal shrapnel Lisa was spewing.

  Hayley, however, was on the phone with a subscriber from California, who was complaining that she had missed an issue and was droning on about how it might be the fault of her mail carrier, who was forever losing her mail before it made its way to her mailbox. Hayley, trying to keep a paying customer happy, offered to stuff a copy of the missing back issue into a large manila envelope and send it her way immediately.

  She couldn’t hear the grateful customer thanking her profusely for being so kind, because Lisa was standing in front of her desk screaming at the top of her lungs.

  Hayley held the phone to one ear while plugging the other with her finger so she could hear what the caller was saying.

  “Is everything all right there?” the concerned caller asked, suddenly aware of the yelling in the background.

  “Yes, I will get that issue out to you right away,” Hayley said.

  The customer spoke, but Hayley couldn’t make out what she had said.

  “What?” Hayley asked.

  “I said thank you!” the caller screamed.

  “You’re very welcome, have a nice day!” Hayley said, hanging up the phone and finally turning her attention to Lisa, who was now pounding on Hayley’s desk with her fist.

  “I knew you couldn’t be trusted! Just like that crooked and hypocritical Helen Fennow! I have to say, I’m surprised at you, Hayley, I thought you had more scruples!”

  Hayley sighed deeply. “Is this about the wedding cake, Lisa?”

  “You’re damn right it is! I called Celeste and she told me everything! How dare you swoop in and steal my client! When did you become such a conniving backstabber? I used to like you! Have you been hanging out with Helen lately?”

  “I didn’t steal anything from you, Lisa,” Hayley said calmly. “You refused to do what Liddy wanted, so she decided to make a change. And for what it’s worth, I don’t want anything to do with baking Liddy’s wedding cake, but she insisted.”

  “That’s richer than my chocolate walnut cake—which was delicious, by the way, and the perfect choice for Liddy’s wedding, if she wasn’t so mule-headed!”

  “It’s not the cake she wants. End of story.” Hayley sighed.

  Lisa sized her up derisively. “You’ve always fancied yourself a master chef, haven’t you? Ever since Sal Moretti was dumb enough to let you write the Times’s food column! It’s been torture for everybody in town having to put up with your cutesy stories about how much you like food and your idiotic anecdotes about your stupid family! I mean, who cares about that crap?”

  Hayley bristled.

  She could handle some well-directed criticism, and had been given plenty in the Letters to the Editor column, but this was a full-frontal attack, especially on her family, and she was not going to just sit there and take it.

  Hayley stood up from her desk. “That’s enough, Lisa. If you want to meet later and have it out, fine, but this is not the appropriate place to do this. This is a business—”

  “You think I care about causing a scene at this muckraking rag you call a newspaper? Please, there is nothing legitimate about this dump! Everything you people print is fake news! The best use I have for it is lining the bottom of my cat’s litter box!”

  “I really think you should leave now—”

  Lisa boiled over with rage and picked up Hayley’s desktop computer off her desk, yanking free the attached cords, hoisted it above her head, and hurled it across the room, where it smashed against a wall and crashed to the floor, the flying cords nearly whipping Hayley in the face.

  Hayley gasped, shocked as she stared down at the busted computer.

  Even Lisa was taken aback for a second, stunned by her own unbridled rage. But she quickly recovered and turned her attention back to Hayley.

  “I’m not going to let you get away with this,” Lisa growled.

  Suddenly Bruce raced into the front office from the back bull pen. “What the hell is going on out here?”

  Hayley had completely forgotten Bruce was back in his office, typing up a column with the door closed.

  Hayley calmly held up a hand to Bruce. “Everything’s fine. Lisa was just leaving.”

  “This isn’t over, Hayley,” Lisa snarled. “Not by a long shot! I’m going to make sure you regret this for the rest of your life!”

  “Lisa, if you don’t get out of here right now, I’m calling the police,” Bruce said, his eyes drawn to the shattered computer on the floor.

  Fists clenched, Lisa, who appeared to be on the verge of lunging at Hayley and physically attacking her, suddenly realized she was outnumbered and thankfully retreated, backing out of the door to the Island Times, her angry, threatening eyes still locked onto Hayley until the door slammed and she was finally gone.

  Hayley dropped back down in her chair, her whole body shaking.

  Bruce scooted around the desk, leaned down, and put a comforting arm around Hayley’s shoulders. “Are you okay?”

  “I knew she had a volatile personality, but I had no idea . . .” Hayley’s voice trailed off.

  “She vandalized office property. We have every right to call the police station and report it.”

  Hayley shook her head. “No. The IT guy is coming tomorrow to install a new computer. This one was heading to the scrap heap anyway. And besides, I don’t want to set Lisa Crawford off any more than I already have.”

  It took Hayley most of the afternoon to calm down her nerves.

  She debated whether or not she should call Liddy and tell her what had happened, but she decided against it. Liddy had enough on her mind already with all the wedding preparatio
ns. She didn’t need one more thing to worry about. But Hayley knew she had to do something. She didn’t need an enemy plotting against her. Especially one as unstable and unpredictable as Lisa Crawford.

  She had to at least try to make peace before the situation worsened to the point where Lisa might carry out her threat and show up at Hayley’s house one night. She might just wake up to find Lisa standing over her bed brandishing a baseball bat, which was exactly the nightmare scenario that was currently running through Hayley’s jittery mind.

  Chapter 10

  When five o’clock rolled around and it was finally quitting time for the day, Hayley gathered up her tote bag and was halfway out the door when Bruce bounded out from the back bull pen.

  “Want to go to Drinks Like a Fish and wind down from the day a bit?”

  She stopped in the doorway and spun around. “I’ll meet you there.”

  “Got an errand?”

  “Yes, just something I need to take care of first,” Hayley said.

  She was being purposefully vague, and Bruce picked up on it immediately.

  “Want me to go with you?” Bruce asked.

  “No, that’s all right. You go on to the bar, and I’ll be there in a half hour.”

  Bruce folded his arms, suddenly suspicious. “Honestly, I don’t mind.”

  Hayley sighed. “No, Bruce, I should handle this myself.”

  A light bulb went off in his head.

  “You are not going over to the Cake Walk bakery, are you?”

  “No! What makes you say that?”

  She was a terrible liar.

  At least when it came to Bruce.

  He had become remarkably good at reading her face, and it bugged her, because the idea that he knew her so well was a bit unsettling. Even her ex-husband Danny had never been so clear-eyed when it came to picking up on what was really going on in her mind at all times.

  However, Bruce Linney, much to her dismay, had become a master.

  It gave her goose bumps that he knew her so well.

  She didn’t know whether to be happy or terrified, but she had to admit, it sort of warmed her heart too.

  “Hayley, why on earth would you go over there? That horrible woman almost physically assaulted you earlier today! If I hadn’t been here—”