by Dana Moss
Ignoring her hangover headache, she dragged herself through the shower. She had to stop by the police station on the way to work.
At the station, she was greeted by a lanky, buck-toothed Lieutenant. She recognized him as one of the pool players from the bar. His name tag said ‘A. Gravely.’
“Good morning, Little Lady. Now what can I do for you?”
“I’d like to speak to Officer Salinas.”
“You mean, Lieutenant Salinas?”
He held open the gate that divided the public space from the open office layout. “Right this way.”
As they passed a young woman with a cute pixie cut entering data at the front counter, he said, “I need that report pronto, Zoe.”
“On its way, Sir.”
“Salinas!” Gravely barked. “Pretty girl here to see you.”
Maria Salinas looked up from her computer. Her eyes hardened when she saw Taffy.
“Miss Belair, what a pleasure.” Her voice dripped with sugary sarcasm. “How are you feeling after last night? Got quite a set of pipes on you, I must say.”
Gravely left them to talk and headed toward the chief’s office. Taffy sat down in the chair next to Maria’s desk without being asked and eyed the steaming mug of coffee sitting next to her computer. She could really use a cup, even police station drip, but Maria wasn’t offering.
“Whatever you have against me, I hope you’ll put it aside and hear what I have to say.”
“It better be good,” Maria said, taking a sip of her coffee. The young woman with the pixie cut put some papers in Maria’s In basket.
“Thanks, Zoe.”
Taffy waited until Zoe left and then produced the marble.
“I think Janet Harken’s death was murder.”
Maria scoffed as she put her mug down. “Murder? Tush-tosh!”
Taffy blinked, the murder and the marble temporarily forgotten. “What did you say?”
“The medical examiner concluded the death was accidental. The case is closed.”
“No, what did you say?”
“Not murder, Miss Belair. But thank you for taking the time to come down and share your insights.”
Taffy stared at Maria Salinas, her mind working through shreds of partial memories. Her eyes narrowed, her brain strained, and then it came to her, and she sat back in her chair, dumbfounded.
“You’re Maria Salinas.”
“Bingo. Good thing we already met or I’d be blown away by your sleuthing abilities.”
“No, you’re my Maria Salinas.”
Maria met her steady gaze now.
Taffy couldn’t believe it. She was staring into the eyes of her mostly forgotten childhood friend, the daughter of her mother’s maid, who had been let go after her mother died. Maria and Taffy had practically grown up together. Maria was the one she used to sing and dance with, the one she laughed and cried with. A wave of emotion rolled through her, and she might have cried in that moment if her tear ducts hadn’t shut down all those years ago.
Maria cleared her throat. “Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way. How’s Nana?” The sarcasm wavered but didn’t completely disappear.
“That’s why you’re giving me such a hard time?”
“Hard times don’t touch Sweet Taffy Belair. She’s a good-time girl. Always looking on the bright, shiny side of things.”
Maria and her mother had been at the funeral. Taffy hadn’t seen them since. And she’d never wondered where they went, because something in Taffy froze that day. All her childhood memories jumbled and then faded. She made a habit of never looking back.
“Murder’s not very bright and shiny,” said Taffy, trying to push aside the hazy memories of her past.
“Compared to an accidental death, it’s pretty dramatic and exciting.”
“You think I’m making it up?”
Maria looked at the marble. She looked at Taffy.
“I think you’ve lost your marble.” She handed it back to Taffy. “Have a good day.”
“Now wait a minute.” Taffy held up the marble between her thumb and forefinger. “This marble means you just might have an unsolved murder on your hands.” She clicked it down onto the desk. Then she rolled it toward Maria. “The closet shelf in Janet’s foyer is so crooked, nothing could have rolled off it.”
Maria looked confused. The marble came to rest beside her mug. She picked up the marble and looked at Taffy.
“What are you saying?”
“It’s true Janet stored her bowling ball on the closet shelf. I saw the bag and the shoes and the empty space where the ball might have been. But it couldn’t have rolled off accidentally.” She nodded at the marble. “Somebody must have hit her with it. The bowling ball, not the marble.”
Maria cleared her throat. “Who would have done that?”
Taffy shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s your job. I’m nothing but a good-time, jaywalking sugar elf.”
She stood up to leave and then stopped. She looked back at Maria, who had picked up the marble and seemed to be lost in deep thought, and said quietly, “When you said death brought you to Abandon, you meant my mother, didn’t you?”
Maria sighed and didn’t meet Taffy’s gaze.
“That was a long time ago. My mother and I started a new life here.”
Taffy’s memories of Maria’s mom were hazy, too, as if everyone from that time in her life had faded to mere shreds of an irretrievable dream. But what little she recalled stirred a feeling of warmth in her chest.
“How is Rosa?”
Maria smiled slightly and then stiffened. “Fine. Never been better.” She crossed her arms and turned back to her work, effectively shutting down any further conversation.
Ethan might have been right about her being a good nut, but she was also a tough one.
“Well. Good luck with the case.”
Maria nodded without looking up as she started searching files on her computer. Taffy took one last longing look at the mug of coffee.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
After leaving the police station, Taffy slumped like a limp leaf inside the Aveo. Maria Salinas? How could Taffy have been so blind? They’d practically been like sisters, or for a while they had both wished that were true. Maria’s and Rosa’s lives must have changed dramatically after Ellen Belair’s death. Is that when they’d moved to Oregon? Did her Nana know they were here? Taffy had blocked out so much from that period in her life. Maria had just been a casualty to Taffy’s trauma.
She took a deep breath. There was nothing she could do about it now. The past was the past. She’d delivered the marble to prove her theory, and now it was up to the police to figure out the rest. It was up to Taffy to get herself home to New York as quickly as possible.
She was tempted to try calling Nana again, to tell her about Maria, but then she looked at the car clock and realized she only had ten minutes to get to work on time. With Maria safely behind her police desk, Taffy sped the Aveo through town and up the hill to the candy factory.
* * *
Though Taffy had hung up everything she’d tossed into yesterday’s kitchen puddle, her elf jacket was still a little damp and marked up with chocolate. When she got to work, she begged Aubin for a second jacket.
“The cost will have to come out of your paycheck, Hon.”
“What if I don’t wear it?”
“Then you’ll probably get fired and not get a paycheck at all.”
Aubin glanced at the big clock behind her with numbers in the shape of jellybeans. “And you’d better light a red-hot under that tiny butt of yours. Tick tock.”
Taffy slipped on her damp, wrinkled coat and dashed up to the second floor.
Mr. Herbert was waiting among the wafers with his clipboard in hand. He glanced at his watch. “Ninety seconds late, Belair. Clearly you don’t respect punctuality. Time equals productivity, and productivity equals profit.”
“It’s not like the wafers are going to dissolve if I’m two minutes late,” Taf
fy snapped. She still hadn’t had any coffee.
Mr. Herbert glared at her. “Excuse me?”
“They’re just cookies.”
“Just cookies?” He pushed his glasses higher up the bridge of his nose. “Are you aware of how popular these cookies are? Our handmade Wafer Wonders are sold in over a hundred shops along the West Coast. They aren’t just cookies. If you don’t have the proper respect for what we do, perhaps you don’t belong here.”
By now the rest of the floor staff were staring at her, and Herbert had gone a bit red in the face.
“And just look at your attire,” he growled. “That proves you have no respect for your position.”
Taffy remembered she actually needed this job, and she was afraid he might pop a blood vessel, so she bit her lip and said, “Sorry, Mr. Herbert, I promise it won’t happen again.”
“It certainly won’t, and to ensure you learn your lesson Nolan here is taking your position today and you’re now on sweeping duty.”
“I don’t even know how to sweep.”
Herbert and Nolan, who’d already tugged on his pink-striped latex gloves, looked at her oddly. Herbert pointed to a wide push broom leaning against the wall.
“Crumb duty,” Herbert repeated. “And I expect you to be wearing a clean, pressed jacket by lunch time.”
Taffy swallowed her pride and reached for the handle of the broom. Silently, she assessed her unfair situation: humiliated candy elf fantasizes about dipping boss’s glasses in marshmallow sauce. Mr. Herbert could go suck lemon drops.
In her hungover state, she was hardly feeling dextrous enough to glue wafers with icing anyway, and the repetitive motion of sweeping gave her time to think.
What would Maria do now that she had the marble? If Taffy was right, and Janet’s death was not accidental, how would they find the murderer now? Who might have had it in for Janet? Ethan and Mr. Davenport had implied she was beloved by all. But Taffy knew things weren’t always what they seemed. This small town might appear innocently sweet, but if she dug past its sugary surface, she was sure to find some bitterness.
When it was finally time for first coffee break, Taffy beelined for the staff room and crossed paths with Ellie.
“I hear you upped the Herbster’s blood pressure this morning.”
Taffy filled a paper cup and guzzled back the weak, bitter staff-room coffee. “A broken pencil would get that man going.”
Ellie giggled.
“You’d better change your jacket so you don’t incite a heart attack.” She pulled something from a bag she was carrying. “Here, you can borrow my spare.”
Taffy took the folded pink jacket. “Thanks.” It drooped around her small frame but it was clean and wrinkle-free. It smelled like roses.
Ellie glanced past Taffy, and a blush surged up her round cheeks. Taffy turned and saw a skinny boyishly handsome young man swagger into the staff room.
Ellie tried to hide behind Taffy, which wasn’t really possible given her girth. She whispered. “That’s Vanilla Boy.”
“Who?”
“You know.” Ellie’s eyes widened meaningfully. “The one I’ve got the big crush on?”
The young man helped himself to coffee and then looked at the two of them. He smiled their way and then headed back out the door.
Ellie seemed to melt next to Taffy. “Isn’t he dreamy? He’s in charge of making all the vanilla icing.”
“Does he have a real name?”
Ellie didn’t seem to hear her. “Should I invite him to my party?” She nodded to herself. “I’m definitely going to invite him to my party.”
Absently, she reached for a handful of sugar packs and creamers next to the coffeepot. She stuffed her pockets. Winking at Taffy, she said, “For the party.” Then she headed back to the chocolate-dip department.
* * *
When Taffy got home from work, there was a police cruiser parked in her driveway.
Maria was sitting on Taffy’s porch with Midnight curled in her lap.
Taffy said, “The cat likes you better than me.”
“Jealous?” Maria shrugged. “I get the cat, you get Ethan. Seems like a fair trade.” Smiling, she stood up. Midnight trotted off toward the trees.
Taffy joined Maria on the porch.
“Why are you here?”
“I spoke to Chief Green. He’s not keen to reopen the case, but Gravely overhead us talking and supported the idea, so while the chief deliberates, I have permission to have another look around. I figured you wouldn’t mind.”
“Be my guest. The door’s open.”
Maria raised an eyebrow.
Taffy explained, “I don’t have a key for the front door, so I thought it was easier to leave it open.”
Maria smirked. “That’s interesting, considering you’re trying to get me to believe there’s a murderer on the loose.”
“I lock everything up at night when I’m inside.” Taffy pushed the door open for both of them. “I can’t afford to get the locks changed yet so—”
“What’s all this about not being able to afford anything? The Belairs are one of the richest families in New York,” Maria said, following Taffy inside and peeking in the parlor and living room.
Taffy led the way to the kitchen.
“Nana cut me off and sent me here. She set me up with a job and a place to live, and she expects me to make a go of it on my own. She won’t even return my calls.”
“Well, good old Nana. She always liked teaching people lessons. What about your dad? Why doesn’t he bail you out?”
“She’s teaching him a lesson, too. I don’t even know where he is.”
Maria nodded. “Interesting. Mind if I look at the hall closet?”
“Go right ahead.”
Taffy put a pot on the stove. It would be plain pasta for dinner once again, with Wafer Wonders for dessert. The pantry was stocked with them.
When Maria came back, she said, “Well, you’re right about the closet shelf.”
Taffy rolled her eyes. “Glad you checked for me. I was worried I’d made a mistake.”
“If it happened like you said, and Janet’s bowling ball didn’t kill her accidentally, then we’re not only short one murderer, we’re short a weapon as well.”
“I can’t help you with that.”
She sighed. “Guess we’ll figure it out somehow.”
Maria stood behind Taffy as she opened the fridge and revealed its mostly bare shelves.
“I guess it’s a bit weird for you to be here. Sorry about your family troubles.”
Taffy shrugged. “You can’t have family troubles if you don’t have a family.”
Maria tucked her flashlight back in its hip loop.
“I told my mom you were here.”
“Was she as thrilled to find out as you were?”
“Actually, she insisted I invite you over for dinner Sunday night.”
Taffy turned, surprised. “Really?” She stared at Maria’s face to see if she was joking.
“And you know there’s no arguing with my mother.” Maria half-smiled, and for a brief second, Taffy was transported back to her ten-year-old self and Rosa insisting on putting Taffy’s hair in braids one Sunday for church.
“I remember,” she said, smiling.
“So. Dinner. Can you make it?”
“I wouldn’t want to disappoint Rosa.”
The water started to boil, and Taffy dumped some dry noodles in the water before getting a plate ready for Midnight’s food.
“I should let you—”
A loud crash above their heads cut Maria off. Her hand went immediately to her holstered gun. “What was that?”
“Ghost?” Taffy joked, but her adrenaline had spiked at the noise. Had someone snuck in while she was at work?
Maria went up the stairs quietly, her back pressed against the wall, her hand on her gun. She motioned for Taffy to stay back, but she followed a little ways behind, too curious and nervous to stay in the kitchen by herself.<
br />
Maria checked the back bedroom. A window was partially open, and a table had been knocked over.
Midnight emerged from under a chair, his fur all puffed up.
“It was just the cat,” said Maria.
He wove affectionately between Maria’s legs.
Taffy peeked out the window. A trellis was nailed to this side of the house, and a thick vine intermixed with an heirloom climbing rose grew up its grid work.
“He must have climbed up from the porch.”
“Some ghost.”
Maria and Taffy laughed. When Maria heard Taffy’s snort, she said, “Oh my God, I’d forgotten that!” And she laughed even harder, which spurred Taffy on more.
When their giggling subsided, they bent down to pick up the fallen box and the papers and envelopes that had poured out. The pages had bits of newsprint stuck to them. Taffy opened one up.
“Maria?”
She had opened one, too. The pages contained threats written in individual words clipped from newsprint.
“Someone was threatening Janet?”
The letters seemed almost childish. They said things like “back off” and “stop meddling” and “you’ll be sorry.”
Maria reached into her pocket and pulled out a pair of latex gloves.
“Don’t touch anymore. I’ll have to take these down to the station and check for prints.” She gathered up the papers and the box.
“Who do you think..?”
Maria shrugged. “No idea, but I guess Janet wasn’t as ‘beloved’ as everyone thought. This is some can of worms you opened.”
“It was the cat.”
Maria rolled her eyes.
Midnight meowed.
“He wants his dinner,” said Taffy.
“Now that you mention it, so do I.” Maria carried the box and letters downstairs. “Are you sure you’re comfortable staying here on your own?”
She wouldn’t admit to Maria that she wasn’t.
“I’ll be fine,” she said. “I’ll lock everything up after you go. Midnight will protect me.”
“I’ll speak to the chief in the morning. Your marble theory, and now these letters, bring up some new questions with this case.”
