by Carol Durand
“And then we’re going to get you out of here and feed you copious amounts of Vanilla Bean Ice Dream,” her friend promised, giving her hand a squeeze.
**
Missy stood on the sidewalk in front of the jail, blinking in the sunlight as Echo and Joe brought the car around to pick her up. She had been freed, finally after spending two days in a holding cell while the police received new information that exonerated her. While it was a relief to be free and have the newspaper release a big article proclaiming her innocence, she was still gripped by the tattered shreds of despair. Chas was alive, but had not regained consciousness, and due to her altercation with Ivana in the Intensive Care hallway, she had been barred from visiting. Staying away from the hospital was probably a good idea anyway, if Officer Parsons was still standing watch. Missy had a very special piece of her mind that she’d like to share with that nasty man. She realized that he was just trying to protect Chas, but his treatment of her was inexcusable.
Joe and Echo roared up to the curb in Joe’s sleek new sedan, because Echo didn’t own a car, not wanting to increase her ecological footprint.
“Get in quickly,” the handsome reporter with jet black hair and chocolate eyes commanded.
Missy obeyed without question, but once inside, demanded to know what was going on.
“Buckman disappeared,” Echo said, clearly upset.
Missy gave her a blank look, somewhat relieved that the evil man was gone.
Her friend shook her head, frustrated that Missy didn’t understand. “Sweetie, he wants to pin the murder and attack on you. If he’s disappeared, you’re in danger,” she explained.
Chapter 15
Missy timidly approached the door to the hospital room in which her beloved rested. He had finally regained consciousness and had immediately demanded that she be given access to him. She had encountered Officer Parsons in the hall, bestowing a scathing look upon him, and he’d refused to meet her gaze, but now she stood in the hall, heart pounding. She wanted to see that he was safe and breathing and going to live, but she couldn’t bear the thought of hearing him say that he no longer wanted to see her. It was a moment of truth, and she was terrified, but realized that she should get it over with sooner rather than later. Taking a deep breath, she entered the door.
Chas appeared to be dozing, his handsome face pale, but clearly alive, and relief flooded through Missy at the sight of him. His eyes fluttered open, as though he felt her presence, and he beckoned to her by holding out his hand, covered in tape and pierced with an IV line. She walked slowly to his bedside, the touch of his hand enclosing hers nearly causing her to dissolve into tears on the spot.
“Hey you,” he said, his voice hoarse.
“Hey,” Missy replied, tears beginning to fall.
“You haven’t kissed me yet,” he observed, looking at her seriously.
“I didn’t think you’d want me to,” she admitted, her breath hitching a bit.
He frowned, blinking sleepily. “That’s crazy. Why wouldn’t I want a kiss from my girl?” he asked, seeming genuinely confused.
“I didn’t know if I was still…your girl,” her breath hitched again as her tears flowed freely.
“C’mere,” he directed, patting the bed beside him. Missy sat carefully, moving tubes and wires out of her way. “I never believed Ivana when she said that you had killed Ian. Like you, I thought that she had done it, so I figured if I played to her colossal ego, that I could get her to confess. I pretended to be infatuated with her, and she apparently used me to try to make Paul Buckman, the director, jealous. Looks like it worked,” he winced, shifting against the pain where he’d been stabbed. “I came to your house that day to ask questions because Ivana had presented me with a pair of panties that she swore were yours. She ‘found’ them under Ian’s bed. After I talked to you, I kept track of your movements, and when I knew you wouldn’t be home, I used my key to get into your house,” he confessed, contrite.
Missy’s eyes widened, but she said nothing.
“I looked at the notes about your investigation that you had stuffed into the kitchen drawer, and they made a lot of sense. Then, and I’m embarrassed to admit this…I went upstairs to your dresser, and opened all of the drawers. Know what I found?” he asked, rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb. She shook her head.
“I found four drawers that were as neat as a pin, and entirely organized, and one drawer, your underwear drawer, that looked like it had been rummaged through by someone who doesn’t care as much for neatness as you do. I knew then that Ivana had sent someone to steal a pair of your panties to try to sway me.” He gazed into Missy’s eyes, drowning her in pools of azure blue, and reached up slowly to touch her face.
“I pretended to like Ivana, which wasn’t easy to do when I was so entirely in love with you. I had to do my job, Missy. I had to be remote and pretend not to care, when that was the furthest thing from the truth. I never stopped loving you, and I never will,” he promised as tears rolled down her cheeks anew. “Now, kiss me woman,” he ordered with a tender smile.
Missy leaned over and brushed her lips against his, relieved that her world hadn’t come crashing down after all.
**
Chas had to stay in the hospital for a few more days, just to make certain that no infections developed, and that he’d be able to function somewhat normally when he returned home. Missy carried a balloon bouquet and a large order of crawfish etouffee from their favorite Cajun restaurant to help make his time in confinement more pleasant. Stepping off the elevator, she was startled by a melee in front of Chas’s door. Paul Buckman was being wrestled to the ground by two hospital security guards, one of whom then handcuffed him and dragged him to his feet by one bicep. Nurses were bustling in and out of Chas’s room and Missy sprinted to the door, giving the men scuffling on the floor a wide berth.
“Chas, what happened? Are you okay?” she called out, unable to get past the nurses surrounding him.
“Ma’am, I’m going to have to have you wait in the corridor,” a thick-waisted nurse said firmly, taking her arm and leading her out in a hurry.
“But…what’s…” she began, terrified.
“I’ll update you soon,” the nurse interrupted, closing the door behind her.
Chapter 16
Chas’s hospital stay was extended for another week, and Paul Buckman was placed behind bars where he sang like a canary in hopes of getting leniency from the courts. The director had timed a visit to the detective to coincide with the lunch break of the officers on watch. He slipped into Chas’s room while he slept and tried to smother the detective with a pillow. Chas was too weak from his injury to fight back, but he pushed the call button for the nurse on the controller that rested in his hand under the sheet. The nurse burst in upon Buckman, witnessed an attempted murder, and screamed for security, who, fortunately had come up to check on the detective and were just outside in the hallway.
With the killer behind bars, both Missy and Chas were now safe enough to be in their homes without worry, and life could return to some semblance of normalcy. Missy had a dinner party with Chas, Echo and Joe, to thank the reporter for his help in exonerating Missy and finding out the identity of the real killer.
Another director had been hired to pick up where Buckman had left off, and in an act of pure Karma, he’d fired Ivana Cherie almost instantly, and re-hired the security guard and props assistant whom Buckman had fired before disappearing. Missy still supplied the cast and crew with cupcakes and had even wangled a chance for Cheryl and Ben to be extras in one of the scenes of the movie.
**
Missy was relieved to once again be immersed in the familiar world of cupcakes and customers, and was glad when Whispers of Blood was finally done filming, the actors and techs heading back to sunny California. She had just finished polishing the glass cases of Crème de la Cupcake to a sparkle, when the bell over the door jangled, and her favorite group of ladies came in laughing and chattering as usual.
Sally Higgins, the ringleader of the “Burgundies and Books” book club, came up to the counter to place the group’s order, while the other ladies waved hello and made themselves comfortable after pushing together two tables in the corner, the way that they did every Tuesday.
“Morning, Missy! Life returning to normal yet?” the elegant housewife asked with a grin.
“Finally,” Missy breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s so good to be back here providing coffee and cupcakes to the ladies,” she smiled. “What’s your pleasure today?”
“Tell me about your Cupcake of the Day,” Sally said, rubbing her hands together in anticipation.
“You’ll laugh,” Missy giggled.
“Great – lay it on me, I could use a good chuckle.”
“Okay, it’s called “Cereal Killer,” and it’s a vanilla cupcake with strawberry preserve filling, topped with buttercream frosting and corn flake sprinkles drizzled with blood-red strawberry syrup,” she announced proudly, having come up with the idea specifically for the book club ladies. She knew that they preferred to read mysteries, and wanted to come up with themed cupcakes for them every Tuesday.
Sally burst out laughing. “I absolutely love it, Missy, you are such a dear! We’ll take five, along with five coffees, as usual, please. Feel free to join us if you’d like, we’d love to have you.”
“I wish I could,” Missy shook her head ruefully. “But I have several deliveries this afternoon, so I’ll be taking off in a bit. Thanks for sending me the book list though, I’ve been enjoying reading through them.”
“My pleasure! I’m hoping you’ll be able to join us for some of the book club meetings at some point.”
“Me too, now that life has slowed down a bit,” Missy nodded. Sally went back to the table, and Missy had Ben serve the ladies their coffee and cupcakes while she packed up the delivery orders.
Chapter 17
Missy yawned and stretched, waking up to another toasty Louisiana early Fall day. Hearing her movements, Toffee and Bitsy came trotting over, tails wagging, ready for their morning walk. Trotting down her front porch steps, leashes in hand, happy dogs eager to head for the park, she paused for a moment to enjoy the sunshine streaming through the remaining leaves in brilliant shades of crimson, tangerine and saffron. The breeze was cool, and Missy was glad that she had selected a long-sleeved knit top this morning.
The park was deserted, a strange thing on a beautiful Fall morning, so Missy was able to let the dogs run off leash for a while, chasing each other round and round, before collapsing in a happy heap at her feet. She gave them a drink of water, snapped their leashes on, and took the panting pups home, glad that her life had resumed its normal course of canines, cupcakes, and crushing on the handsome Detective Chas Beckett. The couple was going out to dinner this evening to celebrate Chas’s recovery, and he hadn’t told her where they were going, but had indicated that it was somewhere special, so she had bought a new dress for the occasion.
As much as Missy was looking forward to dinner with Chas, she had a mountain of work to do before she snuck out early to get ready for the occasion. There were deliveries that needed to be made, new cupcake flavors to invent for the next week’s cupcakes of the day, and two shops to run, so when she came home with her furry friends, she made sure they had plenty of food, water and toys and headed for the shower.
**
Grayson, the pale, dark-haired youth who had worked at the LaChance shop for more than a year, and who was warmly embraced by both Missy’s staff, and their considerable customer list, approached his boss nervously when she came in the back door.
“Hey, Ms. G.,” he began nervously, glancing up at Missy and down at the floor again.
“Good morning, Grayson, how are you today?” she replied cheerfully, grabbing an apron from the hook by the kitchen door.
“Um, I’m okay. Could I…do you have time to talk for a minute?” he asked, running a hand over his smooth, shiny, ponytail.
“You betcha,” Missy smiled, reassuringly, wondering what was wrong. “Let’s go sit in the break room,” she said, leading him down the hall.
“What’s bothering you, Grayson?” she asked gently once they were seated in the sunshine-yellow break room.
“Well, it’s just, I, uh…” he stammered, then took a breath and plunged in. “I got accepted to art school in New Orleans,” he said in a rush.
“Oh Grayson, that’s wonderful!” Missy exclaimed, truly happy that someone had finally realized the extent of the talented young man’s artistic abilities.
He nodded and finally cracked a nervous smile. “Yeah, I’m excited, but…” he trailed off.
“But what?” Missy prompted, puzzled.
“But, I’ll have to be in the city three days a week, which means I’ll only be able to work here on the other days,” his huge brown eyes were troubled. “But, I have a friend, Cassandra, who is really responsible and hard-working, who could work on the days that I’m gone, if that’s okay…?” he proposed, ducking his head, hoping he wasn’t about to be fired.
“Well, look at you, young man,” Missy smiled maternally. “Not only did you get into art school, but you’ve already found a solution for the work days that you’re giving up. You’re something special, you know that?” she said.
Grayson blushed to the roots of his hair. “Thanks for understanding, Ms. G., I was afraid that I might get fired,” he admitted, relieved.
“Fired? Are you kidding? I can’t afford to lose your creativity,” she said. “Besides, your regulars would throw a fit if they couldn’t see your smiling face at least a couple of times a week,” she teased, making his blush deepen even further.
“Cool,” the youth bobbed his head with an embarrassed grin, standing and giving the best boss in the world a brief hug. “Well, I’d better get up front, or Cheryl’s gonna come looking for me,” he said, heading for the door.
“Go get ‘em tiger,” Missy chuckled, watching him go.
She had just arranged a notecard, pen, and possible ingredients for formulating new recipes on the long stainless steel counter in the kitchen, and was sitting on a tall stool, brainstorming, when Chas came in the back door, looking as though he’d seen a ghost.
“Chas, honey, what’s wrong?” Missy jumped up and went to him, concerned that his injury might not have healed.
The handsome detective took a deep breath, muscles in his jaw flexing. “It’s my father.”
Chapter 18
Missy immediately went to Chas and wrapped him in her embrace, and he let himself be held, struggling to maintain his composure. She stroked his hair, his face, his neck, as he bent to bury his face in her shoulder, breathing deeply.
“What’s going on, sweetheart?” she asked, hurting for him. “What’s going on with your daddy?”
Chas stood, trying to gather himself, and closed his eyes briefly before speaking. “He had a massive heart attack about an hour ago. I’m on my way to the airport, and I hope I can get there in time. It doesn’t look good, Missy,” he let out a shuddering sigh.
“Oh Chas, I’m so sorry,” Missy touched his cheek. “Is there anything I can do? Do you want me to go with you?”
“Not right now,” he said quietly. “I’m literally heading to the airport now, but later, if…something happens…I’ll need you with me then,” he said, closing his eyes again.
“Oh, love, I’m so sorry,” Missy said, tears welling in her eyes. She kissed him softly, and he seemed to draw comfort from the simple pleasure of her lips on his. Drawing back after giving him another hard hug, she said, “Go. Be with your daddy. Love him with whatever time he has left, and let me know how you’re doing, okay?” She kissed him again, and stroked his cheek. “I love you, Chas Beckett, and I’m here whenever you need me,” she promised.
Chas gazed into her eyes, his pain evident. “I love you too, Missy. More than you know,” he said quietly, kissing the top of her head and turning to go.
**
&n
bsp; Missy stood in the guest room of the Beckett mansion again, checking her waterproof mascara, as Maggie, the stout Irish maid looked on approvingly.
“Such a sad occasion, lass, but my oh my, yer lookin’ lovely in black,” the faithful servant nodded. “Mr. Charles is gonna need ya today,” she said, shaking her head sadly. “He’s a strong man, and everythin’ seems to fall to him to take care of, but mark my words, he’ll be lookin’ to you fer his strength today.”
“My heart hurts for him, Maggie,” Missy admitted, trying not to cry, again. Chas had remained strong throughout the ordeal of getting his father’s affairs in order, making funeral arrangements, and notifying friends and family, and Missy had cried enough tears for both of them. The detective had kept her by his side as much as possible, since the day his father had passed.
“I know, lass. I’m just glad that Mr. Charles has ya to lean on.”
**
Missy had thought that she and Chas would be returning from New York as soon as the funeral was over, but such was not the case. His father’s estate was extensive, and Chas, as executor of his will, had a whole host of responsibilities that had to be attended to before he returned to Louisiana.
At a loss as to what to do with herself while Chas met with his brother Reggie, and his sister, Olivia, regarding the disposition of the estate, Missy wandered the halls of the huge mansion, hoping that she didn’t get lost. She would never have guessed when she met Chas Beckett, that he had come from such grand wealth, despite his impeccable grooming and manners. He’d always been so humble and down-to-earth, which is probably why he had refused his father’s invitation to run the empire, and had removed himself from his family’s trappings at his earliest opportunity.
She paused outside the closed doors to the library, startled by the sound of Reginald shouting, Livvy crying, and Chas calmly acting as the voice of reason. She couldn’t hear what was being said, but it was evident that there was an impassioned discussion going on. Feeling as though she was eavesdropping on something that was absolutely none of her business, she hurried past on tiptoe, not wanting the family to know that she was even nearby, and headed for the cool oblivion of the in-home movie theatre.
