by Holly Plum
It wasn't long until her investigation resumed. This time, while she was sound asleep. Joy dreamed that she was back at the bake shop mopping up exactly as she had been earlier that night. She peered out the window and instead of seeing nothing but darkness, a shadowy figure floated towards her. Joy ran away frightened and stopped when she heard something rattling by the door. The doorknob to the shop jiggled.
“Oh no,” Joy whispered, running back to hide behind the counter.
The bell above the door chimed loudly as the door swung open. A gust of wind blew through the room. Joy peered over the counter and saw the shadowy figure step inside. It looked around the shop slowly, searching for Joy. She ducked out of view and covered her face with her hands, trying not to make a sound.
CRASH. The shadow smashed its way through the display case. Shards of glass and cake exploded everywhere. Joy screamed as she saw pieces of glass flying right towards her eyes.
Joy woke up from her nightmare covered in sweat and bolted upright in bed.
CLANG.
“Oh no,” Joy threw the covers off, grabbed the rolling pin she kept under her bed and raced to investigate the noise.
“Who's there?” Joy yelled as she switched on the kitchen light. It took Joy a minute to realize that she was no longer dreaming. No answer. Joy checked the back door. To her relief, it was still locked. The front door was locked too, and all the windows seemed secure.
Joy leaned against the kitchen wall and put a hand on her chest. Her heart raced out of control. The clock on the microwave said it was 3:30 am. Was the loud noise part of her dream? Maybe she really was losing it?
All of a sudden she spotted something on the kitchen floor. Three of her mixing bowls and the empty box of truffles had fallen off of the counter. Joy narrowed her eyes.
“Oh, no,” Joy gasped, reaching immediately for the phone.
Someone had been in her house. She began dialing 911, her fingers shaking and the phone rattling around in her hand. Joy felt like her nightmares were coming to life. She quickly rubbed her eyes.
A scratching noise came from inside one of the cupboards. The cupboard creaked open very slowly. First, a paw revealed the culprit. Then Cheesecake's face emerged. He was covered in flour with a smear of cocoa powder on his nose.
Cheesecake glanced around before trotting over to the mess on the kitchen floor.
“Cheesecake,” Joy whispered.
Joy quickly hung up the phone and walked over to where Cheesecake was dipping his paw in and out of the mixing bowl.
“Cheesecake, did you make this mess?” Joy scolded.
Cheesecake hung his head.
“What are you even doing awake at this hour?” Joy continued.
Cheesecake rubbed his body against Joy's leg and led her out into the living room where the television was on. It was muted, but it lit up the room like Christmas lights.
Cheesecake plopped down on the couch in his usual spot, where he had placed the remote control. Joy followed her cat and sat beside him.
“This is Make It Or Bake It,” the announcer on the television said.
Joy recognized the show. It was a reality T.V. baking contest with high stakes and high stress. Cheesecake's eyes glazed over as he watched the television, his gaze flicking back and forth between contestants and the timer counting down to their baking deadline.
“Are you the one that's been waking me up in a panic, Cheesecake?” Joy pet him. He looked at her and nudged her hand affectionately with his cheek.
The counter on the T.V. started flashing, and Cheesecake snapped his head back to watch with full attention, his pupils as wide as dinner plates and his ears pinned back.
“Come on; we're going to bed.” Joy shut the television off. Cheesecake dug his claws into the couch, but Joy pried them off and scooped him into her arms.
It took her half an hour of gently petting his soft fur and crooning to him about being a good boy, but finally, Joy got Cheesecake to sleep. He was out like a light. And soon after, so was Joy.
CHAPTER TEN
The manor where Crystal and Lucas were to be wed was right beside the sea. It had manicured gardens overlooking the ocean from atop a small cliff. Although the house itself had been built within the last ten years to maximize on the tourism boom in the Florida panhandle, it had been designed to look like a colonial masterpiece. While other resorts in the area had been slapped together in a hurry, this particular manor showed architectural finesse and attention had been paid to small details.
The manor was three stories tall with a circular driveway, and majestic staircases. It almost felt like it had real history surrounding it beyond the weddings, retreats, and celebrations that were hosted there in its short lifetime. Joy remembered that her mother had created a cake for the grand opening. It had been a replica of the house complete with a seashell garden made of colored marzipan.
Now Joy stood outside the manor, marveling at the grandeur of the facade that was glowing in the dawn light. She felt tired, but she was hopeful. The business they had generated yesterday had helped to build her faith that the murder scandal would soon blow over, and leave the shop's reputation unscathed. Joy knew she wasn't in the clear yet, and wouldn't be until the murder investigation was solved and she was officially off the suspect list.
In the meantime, Joy had a plan. Crystal had invited more than half the town to the wedding and, thanks to her extravagant taste, the wedding cake was going to be completely over the top. Magnificent. A serious crowd pleaser. Joy felt optimistic that she would be able to use the positive exposure from the wedding to put the town's mind at ease. Surely the murder would be solved soon, and all that anyone would remember would be the grand cake from Patty Cakes Bake Shop.
Sara Beth arrived on site with enough sweet tea to serve the entire town. The two of them began unloading the wedding cake. Each layer of the cake, the icing, and decorations had all been boxed separately to be assembled on site.
"Breakfast muffin?" Sara Beth offered Joy a morning snack.
“You're a life saver.”
The muffins were topped with mango and coconut, and the flavors ran throughout the chewy oat flour muffins. It was exactly the pick-me-up Joy needed before getting to work.
“Hello, ladies.” Crystal's roommate Kendra greeted them. “Crystal is upstairs. Come and say hello when you get a moment.”
“Sure.” Sara Beth waved at her.
Joy and Sara Beth carried boxes inside the manor to the huge industrial kitchen that was already bustling with the catering crew. It took nearly half an hour to get all of the layers of the cake inside since the boxes had to be carried one at a time. But after nearly half an hour they were set up, and Joy began to assemble the cake. Sara Beth finished the laying out the decorations, ready to put on the cake's finishing touches.
The catering crew rushed back and forth around them, occasionally bumping them without apology. They were loud and crude, using profanities as punctuation and throwing things to one another from across the kitchen.
“Occupational health and safety mean nothing to some people,” Sara Beth muttered.
Joy had assembled the first three layers of the cake when she and Sara Beth heard shouting coming from upstairs.
“Oh, no,” Joy whispered.
As the shouting grew louder, Joy gave Sara Beth a concerned look. Joy tilted her heads towards the staircase, and her assistant nodded in agreement. They both dropped what they were doing, walked out to the foyer, and carefully started up the stairs. Kendra came barrelling down the steps towards them.
“Look out,” Kendra shouted. They pressed themselves to either side of the stairs, and Kendra pushed through the middle.
“What's going on?” Joy demanded, panicked.
“Crystal is having a...,” Kendra stopped and sighed. “She's having a rough morning. I've been sent on a coffee run. Do you two want anything?”
“No thanks, we've got our caffeine needs covered,” Sara Beth replied.
Kendra raced off, and Joy suggested Sara Beth continue with the cake. Sara Beth obliged, and Joy headed up the stairs to see what was going on with Crystal. She found the bride-to-be in a dressing room with the door cracked open. Joy knocked lightly and stepped inside.
“Oh, Joy. It's you. I'm so glad to see you.” Crystal gasped and reached out towards Joy. She was wearing a huge, white wedding dress and matching tiara. Her make-up had obviously been done before she'd started crying because it was now running down her face.
“I heard shouting, and I was worried," Joy confessed. "Is everything alright?”
“Fine,” Crystal said cheerfully. But she began crying, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue that was already caked with mascara.
“Are you sure?” Joy said gently.
“I'm fine, Joy. Really, I am."
"Okay," Joy responded. "Then I guess I'll see you—"
"My veil is ruined,” Crystal interrupted. Her voice raised an octave. “And the caterers insisted that I didn't request a vegetarian option on the menu, so I'm going to have to ask some of my guests to kindly avoid the dead animal on their plates.” She inhaled, and then held her breath for what seemed like ten minutes. “And I have lost my engagement ring!”
“Oh, Crystal, that's terrible --”
“I'm fine,” Crystal repeated.
“Can I help?”
“I'm fine, Joy.”
Crystal did not look fine. She looked like she was on the edge of a mental breakdown, but Crystal kept insisting there was nothing Joy could do to help. Suddenly Kendra entered the room holding seven different coffees, with a huge, friendly smile on her face.
“Here we are," Kendra announced. "I got nothing but the very best for the most gorgeous bride-to-be in the entire world."
Crystal sniffled, and reached for two coffees at once. Joy wasn't sure if the extra caffeine would help Crystal or make her anxiety even worse, but Crystal seemed to calm down for the time being. Joy quietly made her way out of the room and raced back to the kitchen to give the catering crew a talking-to about the vegetarian menu. It was the least she could do to help.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Four hours later, the wedding cake was fully assembled, decorated, and perfect. Joy and Sara Beth had even successfully moved it to the reception room with no accidents.
"It's beautiful." Sara Beth stood with her hands over her mouth in awe.
“That's one more check off of our to-do list.” Joy took a breath and stepped back, admiring the huge cake. She was quite proud of the masterpiece she'd put together. The catering crew even made a few comments of approval as they scooted past.
Crystal had ordered a challenging design for the cake's decorations – dark chocolate ganache with an elaborate collection of marzipan, fondant, and sugar paste flowers cascading down one side. The color scheme was bright, and eccentric much like Crystal.
At first, Joy had thought the colors were too loud for a wedding, but the tangerine, aquamarine and yellow that Crystal had ordered actually worked together really well. The flowers flowed together in a rainbow of colors. Joy was excited to see the bride and groom cut into the cake and reveal the dark, chocolate cake inside.
“Everything looks incredible," a voice called from the foyer.
Joy turned to see Crystal and her four bridesmaids entering the reception room, all gasping and clapping their hands excitedly at the spread of food and the huge cake centerpiece.
“Is it really dairy-free?” Kendra asked as she walked around the cake, inspecting it with her lips pursed.
“Yes, it is,” Joy assured the crowd. "It was tough, but we pulled it off. Luckily, chocolate tastes good with or without butter and cream."
“Thank you so much, Joy.” Crystal started to get teary again, “You and Sara Beth are such wonderful souls.”
“Hey, no leaks. Remember?” Kendra rushed to dab Crystal's eyes with a fresh tissue to save her makeup.
A member of the catering crew rushed past to grab a tray of hors d'oeuvres. Joy watched, as if in slow motion, as the caterer's hip brushed the cake table. The table wobbled.
Crystal gasped.
The cake's weight caused the slight wobble to become a significant tilt. Kendra lunged to steady it, but it only made it worse. With a huge CRASH, the table finally fell, and Crystal's wedding cake tumbled with it.
Crystal screamed.
“No!” Sara Beth cried.
Kendra gasped, her eyes as wide as doughnuts, as everyone fell silent.
The caterer responsible ducked out of the room with the hors d’oeuvres.
The cake was fragmented on the floor. Sugar flowers were strewn across the reception room, and a mess of chocolate ganache was smeared across the floor. Joy couldn't bear to look at it.
“I think I'm going to explode!” Crystal screeched. She began breathing as though she were going into labor, pursing her lips as she hyperventilated.
“Okay, alright, okay.” Kendra grabbed her by the shoulders and steered her away from the scene. “We'll take care of it. It's going to be fine, okay. Just close your eyes, and run through some breathing exercises.”
"We'll fix it, Crystal." Joy nodded, confident that she could salvage some of it. It wouldn't look the way it had before, but at least Crystal would still have a wedding cake to cut into.
As the rest of Crystal's bridesmaids, and some of the catering crew, helped Sara Beth clean up the wrecked crumbles of cake, Joy began to salvage what she could. Her pulse raced, and her hands shook.
I need a miracle to pull this off, Joy thought to herself. She saved the largest pieces of cake and the most intact decorative flowers. Just throw something together, and make it look good.
Sara Beth raced to the kitchen and came back with a new cake plate, and spare frosting. She began assisting Joy in piecing together a new wedding cake.
“We can do this,” Sara Beth insisted.
Luck was on their side. Joy and Sara Beth were able to create a similar but smaller wedding cake out of the wrecked version. Joy used frosting to slap together the broken pieces of cake. Sara Beth rolled out a sheet of tangerine marzipan and draped it over any cracks, smoothing it out to create a satin finish. Joy bunched together all the flowers that had survived the fall, and pretty soon the wedding cake looked like new.
“Wow,” a bridesmaid said as she glanced up from sweeping up crumbs. "You two are quite talented."
Someone coughed loudly, interrupting Joy's concentration. She turned to see a young man, a member of the ignorant catering staff, holding his hands to his throat. His coughing became wheezing, and he started to turn blue.
“Somebody call an ambulance,” Joy cried, rushing over to the man as he collapsed onto the floor, unconscious.
“He was helping us clean, and I told him not to eat cake off the floor,” one of the bridesmaids said.
"He ate cake off the floor?" Joy questioned.
"I know," the bridesmaid responded. "So unhygienic."
The paramedics arrived immediately and loaded the unconscious caterer into their vehicle. Crystal began hyperventilating again from just inside the front door. She'd given up trying to hide her wedding dress from the crowd. Joy made her way over to Crystal, but was stopped by Detective Sugar, and a shorter man who Joy assumed was his deputy.
“Joy Cooke.” The detective looked at her. “It seems that your baking is linked to yet another crime.”
“I can't help it if the guy choked,” Joy responded, upset that the detective had yet to return her mother's secret spice blend. It belonged on in the bake shop, not some darkened evidence room.
The sirens coming from the ambulance drowned out the detective's reply, and Joy took the opportunity to excuse herself. By the time the ambulance had sped away, Joy was inside the manor with Crystal, Sara Beth, Kendra and the rest of the bridal party. Joy watched through the front windows as the detective began questioning the crowd.
“I'm –,” Crystal wheezed, “I think I'm dying this time. The universe hates me
.”
“You're having a panic attack,” Kendra cooed softly, rubbing Crystal's back.
“This is a disaster,” Crystal screeched. "I should have foreseen all of this, but the cosmos hid it from me. I'm being punished!"
“It's just a panic attack.” Kendra shrugged. "It's not the universe."
“What can we do to help?” another bridesmaid asked.
“Tell everyone to go home.” Crystal sobbed, burying her face in her hands.
“Alright –,” Kendra made for the front door.
“No!” Crystal cried, changing her mind in an instant. She started to bawl her eyes out, “Don't do that!”
“Crystal, you need to calm down and decide if you want to cancel the wedding or not,” Kendra said. "I think Lucas and your guests will understand if you decide to postpone."
“We're all here to help you, Crystal,” Sara Beth said softly.
Crystal's wailing began to slow down to sniffles and sobs.
“I don't know what to do,” Crystal admitted.
“Go with your gut,” Joy commented.
“I need someone to decide for me,” Crystal blurted out. "This is too much pressure."
Joy, Sara Beth, and Kendra looked at each other.
“Attention, everyone.” Detective Sugar shouted from outside. “We just received word that the caterer did not make it to the hospital. We will be questioning everyone regarding this potential homicide. No one is to leave the grounds until we have questioned you all.”
Crystal shook her head and raced up the stairs.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Joy and Sara Beth hid in a pantry and spoke in hushed tones.
