Coffee Cake & Murder: An Oceanside Cozy Mystery - Book 7

by Susan Gillard

  Heather and her friends hurried over to Madame Minerva’s. They arrived just as an ambulance was taking her away.

  Cassidy was breathing heavily and trying not to cry. “I don’t know who would want to hurt Madame Minerva. But I think it was the same person who killed Shirley. She drank some tea and then started acting really sick. I think she was poisoned. I called you right after I called 911.”

  “Did she have any readings today? Was there anyone here who could have planted the poison?” Heather asked.

  “I think someone was here right before I arrived for my mentorship. But when I asked about it, she dismissed the idea. I wasn’t sure if this was some sort of test or if she was keeping a secret.”

  “I’m leaning towards keeping a secret,” said Amy.

  "I just don't know how someone could do this. Madame Minerva is such a wonderful person. And I don't know if she's going to make it or not," Cassidy said, just barely keeping the tears at bay.

  “She was very lucky that you were here,” Heather said. “I’m sure you calling for help right away could be what saves her life.”

  “I also feel terrible because I didn’t see this coming at all,” said Cassidy. “I’m a bad psychic that couldn’t sense this disturbance. And now my friend might die because I wasn’t good enough at seeing the future.”

  “If it helps at all, she must not be a very good psychic either,” Maricela said. “I mean, she didn’t see this happening too.”

  This did cause Cassidy to start crying.

  “I’m sorry,” Maricela said. “I meant that to be practical.”

  Heather found a tissue in her purse and handed it to Cassidy.

  “Thank you,” the psychic wailed. “Can you give me any good news? Did you find any leads on the case? I didn’t have any visions about who did it. And I really tried.”

  “We’ve questioned everyone who arrived at the tea reading early, except for the seasonal staff,” Heather said. “And they weren’t in town for the successful attempt.”

  “And did you figure out who did it?” Cassidy asked hopefully.

  “I’m afraid not yet,” said Heather.

  “Madame Minerva is such a great lady,” Cassidy said. “She’s been helping me with my gifts even though the process is slow and I can’t pay her very much.”

  “You’ve been paying her?” Maricela asked.

  “Just a little bit,” said Cassidy. “For lessons.”

  Maricela frowned.

  “It was worth it,” said Cassidy. “I’ve been learning a lot. Everyone loves her readings and predictions.”

  “Well, except Andy Mathers,” said Amy.

  “The photographer from the reading?” Cassidy asked. “Why didn’t he like it? Was it bad news?”

  “No,” Heather said. “She told us that she said he was approaching a positive change in his life. He should receptive to finding love because he could bump into someone who could make his soul feel alive.”

  “Why did she tell him that?” Cassidy asked.

  “Because she read it in the tea leaves?” Amy suggested. “Why? Will he not find love that makes his soul feel alive?”

  “Did she really use those phrases?” Cassidy asked.

  “Something close to that,” Heather said. “Why?”

  "Because that phrase is one of the examples from the book I was studying with her. It's not a prediction you're supposed to give out. It's just an example of using flowery language to make what you see sound more impressive," Cassidy explained.

  “So, she told him a fake fortune?” Amy asked. “Something from a book?”

  “Or she told us a fake fortune,” Heather thought aloud.

  “Andy did say his reading was about business at first before he seemed to remember it was about love,” said Maricela.

  “But why would he lie about something so trivial?” Heather asked.

  “The future is not trivial,” Amy responded.

  “I can’t believe that Madame Minerva would tell someone a fortune straight from a book,” said Cassidy. “That’s not her way. She was dedicated to her readings.”

  “She never gave a false reading before?” Heather asked.

  “Or used insider knowledge?” asked Maricela.

  "Well," Cassidy said. "I wouldn't normally tell you this. But we're looking into an attempted murder. There were sometimes that she would give someone a future that someone else told her to say."

  “Why would she do that?” asked Amy.

  “Money?” Maricela offered.

  “Yes,” Cassidy admitted. “But it was usually for sweet reasons. A man wanted to propose to his girlfriend and used her reading to set the scene. Someone wanted to reconnect with an estranged family member before and used the reading to make it seem destined to happen. That sort of thing.”

  “Interesting,” said Heather.

  “I don’t see what it could have to do with the attempt on her life though,” said Cassidy.

  “Imagine seeing you here,” a nasty voice said.

  They turned and saw Detective Blackwell walking towards them, followed by his partner.

  “We were coming to investigate a poisoning that just happened to see if it related to our murder case, and lo and behold, our prime suspects are already here.”

  “We also thought that there could be a correlation between the cases,” Heather started.

  "The correlation is you," said Detective Blackwell. "Come with us. We're taking you to the station."

  Almost Arrested

  “We didn’t have anything to do with either poisoning,” Heather said.

  “A witness said that you were at Madame Minerva’s earlier in the day,” Detective Blackwell said. “You planted the poison then, and later came back to admire your handiwork.”

  “No,” Heather said, getting tired of sitting on the opposite side of the table in the interrogation room with her friends. “We went there earlier to ask about the Halloween tea reading. We thought you weren’t going to take our idea about the metallic tasting donuts seriously.”

  “Just because she didn’t like your donuts doesn’t mean that it was a murder attempt,” Detective Blackwell said.

  “But I’m starting to think it all fits,” Heather said.

  “You should trust us to solve this case,” Detective Thorne said. “We’re the experts.”

  “We’re experts too by now,” said Amy.

  “They are,” Maricela said.

  “And they have positive auras,” Cassidy assured them.

  “What possible motive could we have for trying to kill Madame Minerva?” Heather asked the detectives.

  The partners looked at one another.

  “Maybe you found out that she helped with the bad review,” Detective Blackwell suggested.

  “Or she found out how you killed Shirley Hunt and you wanted to quiet her,” Detective Thorne said.

  “I think the second motive idea is better,” said Amy. “Just not for us.”

  “I’ll play along for a moment,” Detective Thorne said. “What do you think happened?”

  “Anyone in town could have snuck into the sandwich shop the day she was killed and planted the poison in whatever she was going to eat that day,” Heather began.

  “Exactly,” said Detective Blackwell. “Anyone in town.”

  “But only a few people had the opportunity to poison the donuts the day of the tea reading,” Heather continued.

  “This is all theoretical. The donuts were thrown away,” said Detective Thorne. “We can’t test them for poison. We don’t have any evidence for this day at all.”

  “I might have something,” Heather said. “Can I see those pictures before the event started again?”

  Detective Thorne set out the pictures and they all looked at them.

  “Just like last time,” said Amy. “There’s no one in these pictures near Shirley’s donuts.”

  Heather smiled. “You’re right.”

  “Then how does it help us?” asked Amy.r />
  “Look at the placement of some of these photos,” said Heather. “Some of them show what was on the opposite side of the room as the donut box.”

  “Right,” said Amy. “So, the donut box is not in the picture, and we can’t see who is standing next to it, and it’s not helpful.”

  “But where is the photographer standing?” Heather asked.

  “That’s it!” said Maricela. “The photographer Andy was standing next to the box. He could have planted the poison.”

  “Just because he was next to the donuts doesn’t mean that he poisoned someone,” said Detective Thorne.

  “No,” said Heather. “But it does give him the opportunity to do so.”

  “Why would Andy kill Shirley though?” asked Cassidy. “Did he not like his prediction and the event so much that he went after those two women?”

  “To an extent,” said Heather. “I think that the prediction he received was his reason for killing both of them. But not because it was a bad reading.”

  “What do you mean?” Detective Thorne asked.

  “When we asked Madame Minerva about any predictions she made before the donuts were thrown away, she said that she gave Andy a reading. However, the prediction that she told us was something out of a book,” said Heather.

  “And Madame Minerva would never do that,” said Cassidy. “She would never tell someone a fake fortune like that.”

  “Meaning?” asked Detective Blackwell.

  “Meaning that she told us a fake prediction,” said Heather. “She didn’t want to tell us what she really told Andy, so she told us the first thing that popped into her mind – a passage from a book she knew well that she didn’t expect we’d recognize.”

  “We didn’t,” Amy said. “Cassidy was the one who knew it.”

  “And why did she tell you this fake prediction?” asked Detective Thorne.

  “Because I think Madame Minerva did what she has done occasionally before,” said Heather. “She delivered a fortune that someone else wanted her to deliver to a client.”

  "She's done it before," Cassidy agreed. "She helped with a proposal."

  "Shirley had been visiting Madame Minerva before the event. I think during one of those visits, she told the psychic to deliver a specific message to Andy. He didn't like it and decided he had to kill Shirley. Later, when he thought we might figure out this connection, he went after Madame Minerva," said Heather.

  “It’s unfortunate and it backfired,” said Amy. “Because going after Madame Minerva is what led us to the motive. Not the other way around.”

  “What you’re saying does make some sense,” said Detective Thorne.

  "But what could the victim have said in the message that made Andy need to kill her?" Detective Blackwell asked dismissively.

  “I have an idea,” Heather said. “But I can’t back it up.”

  “Unfortunately, we can’t back any of this up. It’s all completely circumstantial. There’s no hard evidence back up these accusations. And the one witness who might have been able to help is fighting for her life in the hospital.”

  “That’s true,” said Heather. “We’re going to have to find the evidence. But I think I might have a plan.”

  Photo Evidence

  "What brings you back?" Andy asked as Heather and Amy ran towards his photo area. He was closing up for the day and it was dark inside. The monster's images from the photos looked creepy in the shadows.

  “We need to hide here,” Heather panted.

  “What?” Andy asked.

  “Be quiet!” Amy shouted. “Do you want her to find us?”

  “Who?” Andy asked.

  “Shirley,” said Heather.

  "Shirley is dead," Andy said, paling.

  “Not quite,” Amy retorted.

  There was a loud banging sound and then Cassidy walked inside, looking deranged. Her hair was a mess and she was making pained groaning noises.

  “What’s going on?” Andy asked, backing away from her.

  “We tried to have a séance,” Amy said.

  “We wanted to apologize to Shirley,” Heather said.

  “But this happened to Cassidy,” said Amy. “She’s become possessed by Shirley’s spirit!”

  “That’s impossible,” Andy said.

  “Why did you kill me?” Cassidy groaned. She inched closer and closer to the scared Andy.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Andy. “I barely knew you – knew her. This isn’t real.”

  “I know that you tried to kill me with the donuts,” said Cassidy. “And then you came back. I didn’t think you had it in you. I underestimated you and you caught me by surprise. But I’m not going to let you get away with it.”

  “I don’t believe this,” Andy said, but he shaky knees said differently.

  “I know you didn’t like my message in the tea leaves. You won’t like this message either. I’m going to tell them how to catch you. I’m going to lead them to the evidence now. And then you won’t have a chance,” Cassidy said evilly.

  “Oh yeah?” Andy said. “Try and stop me.”

  He ran ahead of them and into his office. He quickly unlocked the "Werewolf" drawer and grabbed its contents. He almost made it out the back door ahead of them but was then stopped by the police.

  Heather, Amy, and Cassidy arrived just in time to see him being read his rights. Maricela, who had kept her promise to stay out of harm’s way, also ran up to join them.

  “She’s not really possessed?” Andy asked.

  “No,” Cassidy admitted. “I haven’t worked up to that level with my gift yet.”

  “But your prediction that we would solve the crime did come true,” Amy said.

  Detective Thorne flipped through the file of photos that Andy had run out of the office holding.

  “These don’t look like tourist photos,” the detective said. “They look like photos you’d try and blackmail people with.”

  "That's a different type of photography," Amy commented.

  “And Shirley found out about it,” Heather said.

  “She wanted a piece of my action,” Andy said. “Can you believe it?”

  "That's what she meant when she first said that she might come into money someday," Heather said.

  “She tried to blackmail a blackmailer?” Amy asked. “That’s brazen.”

  “She sent a message to my shop demanding half of my profits,” said Andy. “I wasn’t sure exactly who it was at first. But I started collecting poison just in case. I thought that I might need it when I discovered who it was that was trying to blackmail me.”

  “And then when Madame Minerva delivered her message you knew it was Shirley that had done it?” asked Heather.

  “She was trying to scare me into thinking that something bad would happen if I didn’t respond to a business offer. But the way that Shirley was watching me when I had the reading, I knew that it wasn’t something that the psychic was reading in the leaves. I knew that she had orchestrated it, and I decided that it was the perfect time to stop her scheme,” Andy said. “I put the poison on her donuts in the box by her purse because she said she was going to bring them home. I thought that she wouldn’t eat them until later, and then a whole party full of people would have had the opportunity to plant the poison. I thought there would be a ton of suspects.”

  “But she ate it too early, and didn’t eat enough of them?” Heather prompted.

  “That’s right,” said Andy. “I waited so that some time would pass, so the two attempts wouldn’t seem connected. But when she started pestering me for the money again, I knew I had to act. I snuck into her shop and made sure that I put enough poison in her lunch to kill her.”

  “I think we’ve heard enough,” said Detective Thorne, as she directed him to the back of the police car.

  The most surprising part of this ordeal wasn’t that Andy had confessed after being caught but that Detective Blackwell thanked them for all their help.

  Home Again<
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  Heather and Amy dug into their Coffee Cake Donuts, pausing only to admire Dave and Cupcake in their new dinosaur costume attire.

  “It’s good to be back,” Heather said.

  “Agreed,” said Amy with a full mouth.

  “I’m not sure what you missed more,” Ryan said. “Your endless supply of donuts here or me?”

  “Can’t it be a tie?” Heather joked.

  Ryan kissed her and then said, "I can't believe that you went on this trip and solved a murder case and I was stuck here catching a bicycle thief."

  “Did you catch him?” Heather asked.

  “Yes,” said Ryan. “But it wasn’t very exciting. The boy’s cousin borrowed the bike without asking.”

  “Not quite as exciting as ours,” Heather admitted.

  “You didn’t have a murder, an attempted other murder, and lots of psychic help?” Amy asked.

  “No,” said Ryan. “We just made sure the bicycle was returned to its proper home.”

  “That’s all right,” said Heather. “I think I had a little too much excitement on this trip.”

  “Have you heard if Madame Minerva is going to make it?” Ryan asked.

  “Yes, thankfully,” said Heather. “It was a close call for a while, but Cassidy called us and told us that she is going to be all right.”

  “And it was the doctors that told her that,” said Amy. “Not a vision.”

  “Well, I’m very happy to hear that,” said Ryan.

  “And Cassidy was happy to hear that her vision did come true,” said Heather.

  “What vision was that?” asked Ryan.

  “When we first ran into Cassidy she said a love life might be confused but there was great happiness in the future,” explained Heather.

  “Should I be concerned?” teased Ryan.

  “Of course not,” said Heather. “We decided she was talking about Maricela and Jung. They were having some problems, but Maricela said that since she landed, the two of them have been talking more honestly about their feelings and they’re in a very good place now. She’s never been happier.”

  “And Cassidy feels like she’s had a real vision now,” said Amy. “Of course, we’ve discovered that if she ever wants to change careers, she’d be great at impersonating ghosts.”