MYSTERY: COZY MYSTERY: WOMEN SLEUTHS: Madeline's Secret Recipe Series (Cozy Humor Kitchen Detective Mystery) (Suspense Sweet Cove Short Story Culinary Comedy)
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“Madeline, I am glad that you followed my instructions and got out of that God forsaken place before it was too late for you to do so. I would be scolding you for not being careful when you were inking those deals behind my back. But after much thought, I realized that it wasn’t your fault.”
Madeline didn’t like Mary Moore’s tone and wanted to snap back. But after some thought, she realized that Mary Moore had all the right in the world to be mad. Sometimes Madeline McDougal forgot that she had entered a brand new world where people had to work as hard as possible to ensure that everything was working out perfectly for them. And for that to ever happen, they had to inform their lawyers every step that they take.
“For the umpteenth time, I am sorry. Can we just move on and would you stop yelling?”
“Ok Madeline. I won’t yell anymore. But I hope you have learned your lesson. I always need to check out the contracts before anything happens. These people are so cunning that foxes look like armatures when compared to them. And that being said, I will need for you always to take heed. Are we clear on that?”
Madeline nodded.
“Now that you are done scolding me like a child, can you tell me what these people were planning against me?”
“Well, they got you to sign very fat contracts right?”
“Yes, they did.”
“Well, that is how these people operate. They try as much as possible to confuse you with this big law jargon that you won’t understand. And a contract is pretty much like terms and conditions page, nobody goes through it. And that is where we make the mistakes.
“And needless to say, that is where your lawyer comes in. Now you understand why I am angry. But you shouldn’t confuse me like you already are. I am not pissed at you, but at them. They are trying so hard to bring you down, and that alone paints a really bad picture of their business.”
Madeline kept quiet for a moment. It felt as though she had been thinking about something very important and didn’t want to utter a single word about it. Mary Moore saw that look of thoughtfulness on her face and gave her some time just to kick back and think about everything she had said in depth.
“So, let’s say I signed those contracts. Don’t you think they will sue you for not living up to my end of the bargain? What are we going to do if they choose to sue?”
“They won’t.”
“Why not?” Madeline asked, looking a little bit confused by everything that was happening around her.
“They know that we are on to them already. And in short, a war with me is something that the television network doesn’t want with me. It will not only damage their reputation as well as lose them a lot of money.”
This little conversation was just proving to Madeline that she didn’t know a damn thing about the corporate wars and that she needed Mary more than she thought did. She took another moment just to think about life and what she was going to do if anything bad ever happens to the family business.
Mary Moore noticed this and decided that it was a good idea for her to cheer Madeline up since she had nothing to worry about at the moment.
“I need you to relax because I got this one under control. No need to worry about a damn thing, ok? I got this one under control, and the last thing I need is for you to get worked up over this. Now, I will buy you a cup of coffee.”
Madeline didn’t have anything to say on that matter. She was just thankful that she hadn’t been skinned alive. And from that point henceforth, Madeline decided that being nice was the last thing needed in this business. If at all she was going to survive, then she needed to be strong and make sure that she was staying on top of the game at all times by consulting every move with her layer.
At the end of the day, she learned that she needed to predict these sudden twists and turns. And at that point, she was more than thankful that Mary Moore was always there with her each and every step of the way.
Chapter 2:
-The plot-
Mary Moore was more than accurate especially when it came to how Mrs. Rosy Oswald and her television station reacted when Madeline McDougal left the television station. To make matters even more interesting, they came up with a very convincing excuse as to why she left in a hurry.
They said Madeline was a little bit sick, and it was overwhelming when they went on a commercial break. They had to cut the show and bring up some movie to take up the time. And at that point, Madeline knew that they were all in cahoots with the bad guys. And this pissed her off.
She didn’t understand why people wouldn’t just accept the fact that she worked hard, and now she was getting to reap the benefits of doing just that. Jealousy is a disease. But then again, Madeline remembered that she couldn’t dictate on what other people should feel. At the end of the day, people will get to think and feel whatever the heck they wanted to feel, and that was the bottom-line, sadly.
But in the end, this was behind them. And the most important thing at that moment was making sure that they were getting to do everything accordingly. Firstly, they had to plan on how to avoid sneaky people from trying to bring their secret brand.
Madeline looked around. She had the most important people in her life around her and needless to say, she was content. Ever since she was a little girl, Madeline had been taught that the most important thing in the whole world was family. And once you have your family intact, always make sure that you make them happy.
And that was what she was trying to do at that moment. After the enlightening by her friend and family lawyer, Madeline decided that it was a brilliant idea to tell the family the truth. And the truth was that not everyone was happy with the kind of success that the family was experiencing at the moment.
“I know this is strange because we barely have family meetings ever since mother died. But I think this is what she would have wanted especially now that we are facing a very difficult time.”
It is the kind of thing that always made them united. And needless to say, it was about time the McDougals got back the spontaneous unity.
“I called you guys here because I had a meeting with the family affairs attorney, Mary Moore, who unveiled a very complicated plan that is meant to undermine this family and everything that we stand for as a family. And as the head of this family, I am not going to allow such a thing to happen. We are going to fight this by any means necessary. We don’t need just to sit and wait for these anonymous people to get us.”
There was some silence all over the living room. Nobody had any idea what their sister was talking about at all. But from the look of things, Mary knew whatever the heck she was saying. And so after giving her family members a chance to let the whole fiasco sink in, she cleared her throat and continued with her speech.
“The interview that I did with Mrs. Rosy Oswald was all planned. The aim wasn’t letting people know all about me. They wanted to use it as a platform where they would turn the people against us. And I know you are all very smart, and this shouldn’t be a difficult thing to comprehend.
“Firstly, they wanted to make sure that people to ask me questions and one of the questions was…”
“… to reveal the secret recipe.” Edward interrupted.
“Yes. And they had tailored it in such a way that I would look selfish when I chose not to share the recipe with the entire world. To me, I think this is the most selfish thing that a human being can ever do to another. People out there aren’t happy that we are succeeding as a family and needless to say, they would do anything to see us fall. And that brings us to the reason I brought you guys here. I need for you to give me a chance to read this for you.”
And with that, Madeline pulled out a piece of paper that had been written by Mary Moore about the plot that these competitor corporates were having to bring them down. And as she read it, Madeline would pause from time to time just to check out the expression on her siblings’ faces. They were starting to get pissed at virtually everything that was coming out of her mouth.
“As a family we need to stand our ground and fight for this incredible gift that our mother had left us. Without being able to fight, then the kind of message that we are sending out there is that we are vulnerable and that everyone can walk over us without any consequences.” Edward was infuriated.
But despite that, Madeline was calm. She knew jolly too well how the system worked. And any single thing that could have happened out of anger was going to be their stumbling block. It is because their competition was waiting for them to make one awful mistake. And once they did that, their enemies would capitalize on that and zero in for the kill.
“Daddy, let’s not get blinded by anger. That is what they are counting on at the moment. Once we go public and start bringing lots of confusion amongst ourselves, then we would have just sealed our fates. And yes, they are counting on us to do just that. That explains all the pushing and shoving.”
For the umpteenth time, nobody uttered a word. It was as though they were all thinking critically before opening their mouths. And Madeline liked it a lot. For the first time, her elder sisters were starting to get involved with the family business, and that was such an amazing thing at the end of the day since it meant less work for her.
Even Edward, who had earlier busted out of anger, decided to shush for a moment and appeared to be putting his stepdaughter’s counsel to thought. Those were the moments that Madeline came to cherish for a very long time to come. Not for a moment did she ever think that her family was ever going to be this united in a very long time. But here they were and needless to say, it was just an amazing site to see.
“I think we need to come up with a plan.” One of Madeline’s sisters suggested.
“… and the plan is easy to execute. We need to pretend not to notice anything and continue working as usual. And when they make a move against us, they find us ready to fight them.”
“The art of war,” Madeline said with a nostalgic smile on her face.
Their mother always insisted that they read the art of war. And now Madeline understood why. It seemed as though her mother had predicted something of this magnitude coming to happen and needless to say, she was preparing her children to handle the pressure without her being necessarily present.
And that was how the girls came up with a plan of execution.
Chapter 3:
-The investigations-
When the McDougal family decided to go back to work and make sure that their enemies weren’t doing a damn thing to stop them from rising and reaching their potential, their enemies were still working round the clock for new ways to bring the family business down. It would have gone the other way round but since the Queen of Pastries business was a sure way for them to be extinct. The only way was bringing the McDougal family down by any means necessary.
Thankfully, that was a fact that Madeline and her family members were very aware of and needless to say, were ready for anything. Mary Moore was always on the lookout, and she had promised the family that no harm was ever going to come their way as long as they listened to whatever she was telling them.
A couple of days went by without the family getting involved in any form of drama. And for a moment, Madeline thought that their enemies had thrown in the towel. But that wasn’t the case. In fact, they had just gone back to the drawing board to see how best they were going to bring them down since everything that they had been trying had failed miserably.
From the look of things, it seemed as though she wasn’t the only person who was getting to use the all-important art of war. But either way, Madeline knew that she had to stay strong for the entire family if at all the business was to see the light of day. She would make a point of calling Mary Moore randomly just to see if she had come up with anything useful that they could use when it came to the protection of the family business.
A fortnight passed without any shred of drama. But one Monday afternoon, the police force sent two health officials to come and check out the place. Madeline was suspicious since the people from the health department had just been there a week earlier and so she demanded to see some ID before allowing them to get into her premises and conduct a search that seemed out of place.
“We have a court order from the judge. And that is why we have these police officers to help us execute the law.”
And with that, the produced the search warrant and handed it to Madeline. But Madeline didn’t seem interested in reading it since, as Mary Moore had advised her extensively, every legal document had to run through her. And as a US citizen, Madeline had the right to an attorney.
“I am not well versed in these legal matters and so don’t expect me to read this. We all know that this warrant is motivated by some people who want to bring us down. So please, if it’s not a bother, we would like for you to come inside, sit put and have some of our pastries as we wait for my kickass lawyer to come and take a look at the documents. The last thing we want to do is do something that will come back to haunt us.”
“You do not understand ma’am. We are just health department officials that have been given a responsibility to carry out.”
“I think I fully understand what you are up to my good health officers. But as I had said, I will need for my lawyer to come over and take a good look at these documents. And once we are cleared, then you will have all the access in the world to this restaurant. And to show my good will, I have invited you to have a bite at the best pastries in the world.”
The health workers and the two police officers looked uneasy. And according to Mary Moore, things don’t just get to happen in these top-notch businesses. They are usually planned and getting caught off-guard was something that nobody ever wanted in the first place. Madeline was just trying to take precaution, and she was too smart for that.
“I think we should get back to our station and then we will come back when your lawyers are back and would have checked the warrant.”
“No please, don’t go. We don’t want to defy the judge now do we? Please, come on in.” Madeline insisted.
And to make sure that the intruders didn’t take her invite as optional, the security personnel that she had hired to keep the restaurant safe came in too close, almost pushing these individuals.
The health workers and the two police officers looked around as though they were trying to find a way out of this predicament. But there was none. In simple terms, they had been outwitted and outnumbered and thus left with only one choice. So they slowly and quietly started moving away from the place and made sure that they were always looking over their shoulders.
At that point, Madeline stepped outside and took out her phone. It was time for her to talk to her lawyer and fill her in on what had just transpired. She was worked up, and Mary Moore had to remind her about the importance of keeping calm under such kinds of situations.
“Trust me, Mary, I am as calm as a human being could get under this circumstance. If I weren’t I could have told my people to tear these people up!”
“And that is a brilliant idea. I don’t want you to be involved in any of these skirmishes because that is what they are counting on at the moment. If you rough these people up, even if they aren’t legit, then you would have started another candle since these people can easy shift to being customers and thus getting you into lots of troubles. I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you are walking on the glass right now. Keep your cool, I will be there in half an hour.”
And with that, Mary Moore hung up the phone. Madeline figured that maybe her lawyer was right. These people just weren’t going to stop coming at her. But if she were going to lose her head, then that would spell the end of their family business.
Madeli
ne was worked up. And after that quick thought, she figured that it would be a nice thing for her not to get back into the hole-in-the-wall. So she tucked her phone in her apron and walked away. Her security personnel had been instructed not to allow these people to leave the papers as well as their badges had been ascertained.
Chapter 4:
-The inquest-
“I am afraid we will have to call the police.” Mary Moore said with no expression on his face.
It looked as though Madeline McDougal’s instinct was correct. All she wanted to do was never to ignore her instinct. And from the look of things, it seemed as though she was right all along. And this was just about the best chance they had to get to the bottom of this.
Everyone was furious, all except for Mary Moore. She looked as though she was happy that they had finally found a way to know who was behind the blackmailing and plotting. The IDs that these people had presented were fake and also the police officers that accompanied them. It was a difficult thing for them just to give the names of the people who had employed them out of what looked like fear.
But Mary Moore wasn’t giving up at any given moment. All she wanted to do was make a point of enlightening to the culprits what was in store for them if at all they weren’t going to be careful about what they get to do.
“I don’t think you guys understand the magnitude of what you have done. All I am asking for you to do is tell us whatever you know about these people who hired you. And if you do that and get to testify, the only thing that you will be in a position to do is getting a good and comfortable sentence. But if you want to play tough guy, then you will be slapped with a life incarceration with your bosses still out there enjoying their billions.”
Mary Moore then shut the hell up and let whatever she had told the culprits to sink in. There was no time for them to play any games. And needless to say, they were going to do all in their power to get things running as soon as possible. And Madeline was the most impatient one. All she wanted to do was to be given a chance to beat the hell out of these people who had decided to make her life a living hell.