by Carol Durand
“A theft?” Missy was astonished. “But we were still open an hour ago, how could there have been a theft?”
The detective sighed, annoyed at having been interrupted. “That’s what we’re trying to determine here, Ms. Gladstone. Apparently, Mr. Radigan had gone into the back to make preparations for the products that needed to be generated for tomorrow, leaving his assistant, Chris, to count the money and close out the register receipts for the day. The assistant claims that he ran to the back for just a moment, leaving the money from the register below the counter, so that he could grab a deposit bag, and when he came back, the money was gone.”
“But, Chris, didn’t you make sure that the front door was locked before you ran to the back?” Missy asked the glum-faced youth.
“I thought I did, but I may have forgotten,” he shrugged, embarrassed. Ben stood behind him, glaring at his grad school buddy, arms crossed.
“So there you have it,” Keller said, peeved at being interrupted yet again.
“What are the chances of recovering that money?” Missy asked the detective.
“In cases like this, usually slim and none. There was no break in, little time to leave trace evidence. We’ve dusted any surface that the thief might have touched, to try to get some fingerprints, but there’ve been so many people in and out of here today, that even sweeping for trace evidence would be nothing but a waste of time.” Keller leaned closer to Missy, saying in a voice low enough that she could hear it but the guys could not, “I’d be very careful. Most of the time in situations like this one, the culprit ends up being one of the help.”
Missy was shocked, and wanted to dismiss the detective’s idea outright. She knew that Ben would never do such a thing, but she really didn’t know Chris at all. She had hired him simply because Ben had vouched for his character, but now she wondered if perhaps he’d had Ben fooled. “Thank you Detective,” she murmured, wondering what to do. She’d talk with Chas about it later, and would call Ben for his opinion after they had all left the shop and he could talk freely. Rather than having any discussion at the moment, she merely told Chris and Ben that they were free to go and that they’d talk more about what had happened later. She stood at the counter watching them go, surprised to see Chris meeting up with a young lady who looked like she had been waiting for him. Missy thought that it was cute and was glad to see yet another example of young love until the girl turned around, staring inside the shop. Missy would know that insolent glare anywhere – apparently Chris was dating Echo’s obnoxious sister, Safflower.
Because of the previous day’s robbery, Missy let Cheryl and Grayson handle the majority of the baking at the LaChance store, spending most of her time puttering around at the Dellville shop. She subtly observed how Ben and Chris worked with each other, and tried to figure out how she could unravel what had actually happened during the theft. Chris was behind the counter when Missy saw Safflower crossing the street, headed for the shop. The haughty brunette came in, lounging on the front counter, smudging the glass and flirting with Chris. Missy deliberately moved to the seating area, where she could both see and hear the couple, under the pretext of wiping down the tables and pushing in the chairs. She filled the napkin dispenser, as well as the cinnamon and sugar shakers, wondering when Chris intended to stop flirting and attend to the tasks that she was currently doing. After a particularly loud burst of giggles, she decided to be more direct in her approach.
“What are you planning to purchase today, young lady?” she asked Safflower, drawing a contemptuous look.
“Why would I bother buying anything here, when I can get whatever I want for free?” she challenged, turning her back on Missy and batting her eyes at Chris.
When Missy turned her gaze to her employee, he rushed to explain. “I give her cupcakes Ms. G., but I pay for them with my own money,” he assured her.
Missy brought her icy stare back to Safflower. “Well, if you’d like to continue making a paycheck that will allow you to buy all the cupcakes you’d like, this young lady needs to leave so that you can actually do your job rather than leaning on my counter flirting while you’re on the clock.”
“Yes ma’am,” Chris said meekly, leaning over to whisper something in the rude young woman’s ear.
“Whatever,” she sniffed. Turning to look at Missy, she glared and said, “I’ll leave whenever I feel like it, Missy. Fortunately for you, I no longer want to be in this dump.”
“That’s Ms. Gladstone to you, young lady, and you’d be well advised to get a move on and not come back,” Missy raised a disapproving eyebrow.
“I’m going to tell Echo that you were rude to me,” she threatened on her way out.
“You do that, darlin.’ You do that.” Missy nodded, fed up. By the time she turned back around, Chris had cleaned the glass counters and taken the register drawer to Ben, who would count the proceeds in the business office, per the new protocol. It added to Ben’s responsibilities, but it was the only way that Missy could think of to prevent robberies for now.
When she walked into the employee break room for a bottle of water, she saw Chris putting on his jacket, getting ready to leave.
“I’m really sorry about that, Ms. G., I finished all of my tasks for today. Am I fired?” he asked, shoving his hands in his pockets and keeping his head down.
“No, Chris, you’re not fired, but you might want to take a good hard look at the company you keep,” she advised.
“Yes ma’am,” he replied, heading for the door. “Have a good evening.”
“You too, Chris.”
Missy hadn’t been back to visit with Echo since she had given her little sister a piece of her mind, and didn’t know how she’d be received, but crossed the street anyway, determined to talk things out. She was relieved when she walked in and saw that Echo was behind the counter and that there was no one else in the store.
“Hey stranger!” her friend called out with a smile.
“Hey yourself,” Missy answered, glad to discover that Echo was indeed still speaking to her.
“I’ve missed you – what have you been up to?” Echo asked, fixing a Vanilla Bean sundae without bothering to ask. She fixed one for herself as well, and joined Missy at one of the tables in the seating area.
“Well, let’s see…aside from working myself into an early grave, I’ve made up with Mr. Wonderful, bought a new red dress, and dealt with being robbed as of yesterday,” she summed up.
“Oh my gosh! You were robbed? Holy cow, what happened?” her friend exclaimed, the words muffled by a delicious bite of ice cream.
Missy related what had happened, leaving her encounter with Safflower out of the story.
“Wow, crazy,” Echo said, shaking her head and licking her spoon. “Who do you think could have done it?”
“I have my suspicions,” Missy said gravely. “But I don’t want to say anything until I can find something more concrete than a gut feeling to go on.”
“That’s understandable,” Echo nodded. “Can’t be too careful these days.”
Missy decided to bite the bullet and bring up her encounter with Safflower, glad she could share her side of the story before the contrary little creature massaged the truth to suit her needs. Hearing of her sister’s antics, Echo shook her head sadly.
“She’s always been difficult, I’ve never understood it. My parents raised us to be free-thinkers and express ourselves, and she and I have always done that in very different ways. I learned early on that when you treat people with kindness and respect, you get kindness and respect in return. Safflower used her freedom to learn how to manipulate people into bending to her will and meeting her every need and whim. She’s never held a job for longer than a few months, and probably never will because Mom and Dad supply her with everything she needs. I feel sorry for her, really. She may never know the fulfillment that comes through working hard and accomplishing something worthwhile,” Echo lamented.
“That’s sad,” Missy nodded, understanding.
“But it certainly explains a lot.”
The conversation moved to other, lighter topics, and the two friends never even noticed the shadow that slipped silently away from behind the doorway to the kitchen.
Chapter 9
Missy was at her LaChance shop, helping Grayson box up a massive order for a church social, when her phone rang. Pulling it out of her pocket, she saw Echo’s number and answered the call. Her friend was in a state of panic, and Missy couldn’t seem to calm her down enough to get a coherent picture of what was upsetting her, other than that something had apparently happened at Sweet Love.
“Do you need me to come over?” she asked, interrupting an endless bout of teary explanation.
“Yes, please,” Echo replied.
Missy made sure that Grayson could handle the rest of packing and delivery for the church, and headed for Dellville, parking at Crème de la Cupcake and walking quickly across the street to Sweet Love. She was horrified at the sight that met her eyes when she opened the front door. The entire room was filled with colorful puddles of melted frozen treats. Echo was sitting at one of the tables, sobbing, and her clothes covered in goo. From what Missy could deduce, given the footprints and streaks on the floor, coupled with the mess on her friend’s clothing, Echo had walked into the mess, skidded in the sloppy goop, and fallen. The table as which she sat, crying, was the only one that hadn’t been upended into the mess. Chairs were scattered about, and round cardboard containers that had once held the now liquefied treats rolled on their sides in various places around the seating area.
“Oh my,” Missy shook her head, gazing at her friend with sorrow. “This is awful.”
“Why?” Echo moaned, miserable. “Why would someone do this? So many hours of work, so much revenue, melted into nothing…” she laid her head down on her arms, defeated.
Missy hadn’t even noticed Safflower standing in the doorway that led to the kitchen, surveying the mess, until she spoke. “Wow, sucks to be you, sis. It’s going to take hours to get this cleaned up. Have fun with that,” she tossed over her shoulder as she flounced from the room.
Missy gasped aloud at the selfish girl’s callous disregard for her sister. “Echo, I don’t know how you put up with that girl. She needs to learn how to mind her manners.”
Her friend didn’t even raise her head from the table. “I don’t need your judgment right now, Missy. I have enough to deal with, thanks,” she muttered.
“Honey, I’m not being judgmental, that girl treats you horribly…and you let her get away with it.” Missy was outraged on her friend’s behalf and said more than she should when her emotions got the best of her. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she was behind all of this,” she remarked, sorry immediately when the words left her mouth.
Echo sat bolt upright, a look of fierce protectiveness on her face like none Missy had ever seen before. “Now you listen to me, Missy Gladstone. I know you’re trying to be my friend, but no one comes between me and my family, do you understand? My sister may not be an angel, but she’s my sister, and she would never do something like this to me. You know what – I’m sorry that I called you this morning. I thought you’d encourage me and lend a helping hand like you’ve always done, but instead you came in spewing negativity. I don’t need this right now, Missy, I really don’t. You can just take your opinions and suspicions and go right back across the street,” she glared, breathing heavily.
“Echo…I…” Missy began.
“Just go,” Echo said wearily, waving her off and putting her head back down.
Missy hesitated for a moment, then turned toward the door.
Chas Beckett frowned, not wanting to contradict his girlfriend, but unwilling to let her follow a path that would only bring her unhappiness. “Missy, sweetie, let’s think about this for a moment. Safflower is Echo’s sister. Why would she come all the way out to Louisiana to ruin her sister’s life and friendship? It just doesn’t make sense,” he finished gently.
Missy sighed. “Chas, the police have come up with nothing. I’ve had my tires deflated, my shop destroyed, a day’s proceeds stolen, and Echo has now had her shop destroyed. Doesn’t that seem a little coincidental to you? Who else would do such horrible things to a couple of honest business people?”
“I understand your frustration, but it seems a little too convenient to local law enforcement that these things are happening to two honest business people who are suspected of murder.”
“Do you mean to tell me that, after all of this, Echo and I are still suspects?” she was aghast.
“Well, persons of interest, technically, but yes. Since they can’t seem to find any evidence to support their suspicion of Roger Bowden, by default, they’re looking more closely at you and Echo. The damages and theft are being considered a potential smoke-screen attempt to throw them off,” the handsome detective explained. “I’m doing everything that I can to chase down information on this, Missy. I not only want to clear your name and Echo’s, I want to find out who murdered two innocent people.”
“What if….” she hesitated to finish her sentence, knowing how terribly it was going to sound.
“What if what?” Chas prompted.
“I hate to even say this, but…what if Safflower is the murderer?”
“You can’t be serious,” he raised an eyebrow in astonishment.
“Well, I mean…she’s a really selfish and negative person…” she trailed off lamely.
“Missy, honey, take my advice. Stop pursuing that line of thought. It’s going to lead nowhere, and will most certainly cost you a valuable friendship, if it hasn’t already,” he advised.
“Maybe you’re right,” she murmured, fervently believing that he wasn’t.
Chas Beckett had been in the business a long time, and he knew that Missy was less than convinced, but didn’t want to see her ruin a friendship by barking up the wrong tree. “Look,” he said, taking her hands in his. “If you feel that strongly about this, let me do some checking around. I can run her name through the database, look through the evidence for any possible matches – but please, promise me you’ll leave this alone for now. Safflower may have done the mischief at the shops, but to think that she’s capable of murder is quite a leap from spilling some ice cream and cupcakes. Let’s leave this one to the pros, okay?” Missy nodded, but he could tell by the determined look in her eyes that this was far from over for her. He sighed, shook his head and kissed her lightly. “I’m going to get back to work. You stay safe – I’ll update you whenever I find something.”
Missy was frustrated that she was a suspect, frustrated that Chas, of all people, didn’t believe in her ideas, and frustrated that Echo was so blind to her sister’s antics that she might just be enabling her to literally get away with murder. She knew that she was onto something that no one else could see, and that being the case, she was going to have to be the one to do something about it.
Chapter 10
Missy parked in the alley behind Crème de la Cupcake a couple of hours past closing time and practically flew from her car when she saw Safflower coming out of the back of her shop with a large box in her hands.
“What’s in that box, young lady?” she demanded confronting Echo’s sister, hands on hips.
“I dunno…your brain maybe?” Safflower replied, sounding bored.
Missy moved closer and peered through the plastic window on top of the box, seeing a batch of cupcakes. “I knew it!” she exclaimed. “You little thief, you’re going to put those back right now,” she shook her finger in the girl’s face.
“Thief? Puhleeeze. Even if I were a thief, I certainly wouldn’t steal this trash that you try to pass off as food,” she scoffed.
Missy made a chilling realization. “You poisoned them, didn’t you? Just like you poisoned the sundae at Echo’s store, and the cupcake!”
Safflower’s eyes narrowed into a hateful glare, her entire countenance changing in an instant, before she replaced her mask of indifference. “Is that what yo
u think, you ignorant hick?” she taunted, and before Missy could even move to stop her, she dumped the entire box of cupcakes upside down. Different varieties of cupcake landed in colorful splats on the pavement. Missy was furious, but, as she opened her mouth to speak, Chris came bounding out the back door with an identical box in his hands, stopping dead in his tracks at the sight of the destroyed cupcakes.
“Oh no!” he exclaimed, surveying the mess. “We needed every single one of those for April Mathews’ bridal shower. What the heck happened, Saff?”
“I tripped,” she replied snottily, her gaze never leaving Missy’s.
“Bridal shower?” Missy said, suddenly remembering. “Oh my goodness, that was tonight?”
“Yeah, I’m supposed to have all of these cupcakes over there in half an hour. Safflower was helping me carry them,” he admitted, blushing a bit.
“Did she have access to them at any point when you were out of the room?” Missy demanded, staring the girl down.
“No. Yeah. Maybe…I don’t know. Why?” Chris was more than confused.
Safflower finally broke eye contact with Missy and turned to Chris. “Have fun with your crazy paranoid boss, I’m out of here,” she said, walking away.
Chris stared after her for a moment, shocked by her appalling lack of manners and turned back to Missy. “I’m really sorry Ms. G., I figured if she helped me, I might get done fast enough to take her to a movie.”
Missy seemed terribly preoccupied. “Let’s not worry about that right now. Load up the box that you’re carrying in my car, then we’ll stop by the LaChance store to get the extras that are needed and we should still be able to deliver them on time if we hustle. I’ll have to come in early in the morning to bake enough to make up the difference in our inventory for tomorrow. After we get back from this delivery, you and I are going to have a nice long chat.”
