It was such a confusing offer. And one of the guys, who had identified himself as the ringleader and spokesman looked as though he was weighing his options. And at one point, he stared at all the faces around the room. But when his eyes met with Edwards, the strangest thing happened. The culprit cringed as though he was about to drop and die. And this shocked everyone considering that Edward was the quietest person in the room.
The interrogation was being held in the main house. It was to make sure that the drama wasn’t happening in the presence of the customers since it would be unethical. But even so, the customers suspected something was happening, and one of them offered to step in if these “outsiders” were giving them any trouble.
But Madeline, being the diligent business woman that cared for the well-being of her clients, said all was well. The last thing that she wanted to do was getting any of her clients into hot soup. It was her fight and needless to say, she was going to make sure that it remained that way.
And after that, they went all the way to the main house where Madeline’s anger took over. She wanted to beat the hell out of these people, but the security personnel restrained her. She kicked and punched, but the man holding her didn’t budge. He was just too strong – the kind of person who was efficient to make sure that she wasn’t going to make some really stupid mistakes that would put the family business in jeopardy.
Mary Moore had waited till Madeline had calmed down before she started talking to them. At first, they were a little bit rude since they thought they would trick their way around it. But they realized that Mary Moore was the smartest lawyer they had ever met. And once they realized that there was no way out of this, it was now time for them to be smart enough and get to cut a deal that would have been for their good.
“Please, don’t look at the sweet old man, he isn’t going to help you out. You are dealing with me now. And going back to where we were, I had offered you an option. It was either you make a point of telling me who employed you or you go in for a very long time. The choice is yours, my friends.”
Mary Moore was a lawyer. And from the look of things, these people just didn’t like working with lawyers. And so at the end of the day, it was starting to look like they preferred taking the hard way out of this. So they kept quiet and chose to wait for the competent police to show up.
Mary Moore had handled this type of criminals before. And so she wasn’t surprised at all. But from the look of things, Madeline had taken the silence from these crooks as a way of showing defiance and almost started a fracas once again. But this time round, it wasn’t the security personnel that handled her, it was Mary Moore. She took her hand and pulled her gently out of the living room for a word or two.
“Look, I know how you feel. And I don’t think I would have reacted any other way if I was in your shoes. But I will need for you to be a much better person than I am under such circumstances. These people are scared. And it’s very easy to get information from a scared person. All you need to do is learn where the relevant buttons are and get to press them. That is all it takes. So I will need for you just to kick back and pretty much bear with me. Ok?”
Madeline took a deep breath, closed her eyes and got to exhale. It was just everything she needed. And after doing that a couple of times over, she was finally calm. And Mary Moore was impressed by that.
“So, are you going to do me a favor and just walk back to the restaurant and take care of your customers? I am sure that your nieces are having a handful taking all those orders from the hungry customers. Don’t worry, Edward and I will handle this.”
And at the mention of his name, Madeline remembered just how fearful these criminals were when Edward walked into the room. It was just too darn confusing. But that wasn’t the main issue at the moment. All they needed to do was make sure that they knew who was calling the shots and then they can get to understand why these criminals were very scared of him at the end of the day.
And as Mary Moore stepped back into the living room to continue with the inquest, Madeline closed her eyes and took another deep breath. Getting angry always got a chunk out of her strength and it was no wonder she hated being angry at all. But this was just too much of bullshit that a person could take. Even she knew that she needed a break at the end of it all.
And with that, Madeline put a smile on her face and walked out of the house to go and take care of her customers. The last thing she wanted was to give them the impression that something was wrong because they would have wanted in. And that wasn’t going to happen. It just wasn’t their fight, and the last thing she wanted was to risk their lives.
Chapter 5:
-The Law Suit-
At the end of the day, it seemed as though no matter how much Mary Moore threatened these thugs, they weren’t going to budge. And at that point, she decided to let the police take them into custody.
The culprits were in for a rude shock and at one point, they wished would have taken the deal that Mary Moore had offered them and just gave out the name as they had already agreed on. It would have been much easier that way. But now, from the look of things, it was more or less too late for them.
Mary didn’t wait for any more time. As soon as the arrest had been carried out, it was time for her to prepare a kickass case that was going to put a stop to this madness once and for all. She too shared the idea that the McDougals worked too darn hard and deserved to enjoy the fruits of their labor.
The judge was also very interested in putting this case to rest as fast as possible since she had too many cases piled for the day. And the case was scheduled for hearing on a Monday morning that was three days after the arrest had been made at the McDougal residence. It was such an amazing win for the family and it goes without saying that they too were more than happy to put an end to all of the treachery that the family had been going through.
Madeline, on the other hand, couldn’t wait for the D-day. She wanted to get to the bottom of this as fast as possible so that she could get to find these idiots who looked to destroy her life’s work.
According to Mary Moore, the case that they had against these intruders was solid and needless to say, they were going to make sure that they had them by the balls. And the only way that she could stay focused was getting to stay in the kitchen for hours, making free pastries for her neighbors’ kids. And if she weren’t doing that, then she would be out there trying to chat with friends about something else other than the case or the business.
And just like that, Madeline was able to survive the weekend and finally, it was time for them to appear in court and find out just what these people wanted to do with her and her family business. All that time, Edward was unusually quiet. And when Madeline asked him, he just said that he wasn’t happy with how the success is stressing his family.
Madeline held his hands and told him that everything was going to be ok. And all that they needed to do was to put their trust in God and the rest will just work itself out without a doubt. Edward was also very glad that her daughter had stepped up to the plate and acted like a very mature person. And for that, he was very proud of her.
Mary Moore came to pick them up and took them to the hearing. She was dressed in black and that, as she confessed, was her lucky suit. And that meant that she was going into that cold courtroom to kick some ass. That was reassuring to both Edward and Madeline. The children wanted to come to, but the last thing Madeline wanted to do was to put her sisters’ daughters into all the media bullshit.
There were plenty of media personnel who had showed up to follow up the development of the case as it was very interesting. Everyone in the country wanted to know the person or corporates that were giving the McDougal family hell just because of a secret recipe. At first, they had thought that it was selfish of them not to share.
But as time went by, they realized that it was out of the respect of their family traditions that they were keeping it a secret. Besides, the people realized that didn’t care what they put in those p
astries as long as they tasted like tiny pieces of heaven away from heaven. And that was what they decided to do at the end of the day.
The three maneuvered through the journalists and managed to block their eyes from the flashing lights hoping that they would get to the safety of the courtrooms before they got blind.
***
At the end of the day, it seemed as though things had gone the McDougal way since the men were found guilty of sabotage. It was a big win, and it sent a message to the rest of the country that they weren’t going to put them down since they were working hard. And Mary Moore was more than glad that the case had gone their way.
The judge ordered the police to look into the sabotage while giving the Queen of Pastries a pass to continue their operations without having to worry about any false allegations thrown against them.
From the look of things, virtually everyone in the country was infuriated by the kind of behavior that these corporates were exhibiting. Judging from the Madeline McDougal scenario, it seemed as though those big companies feared competition and thus always trying to bring people down.
Madeline McDougal, on the other hand, was happy. In as much as she was trying to conceal her happiness, it just came out without her even knowing all about it. They came out of the courtroom and just like the first time, the journalists were all over them, clicking cameras and shouting questions all over the place.
But this time, Mary Moore didn’t even bother trying to protect her from the media. All she did was give her a nod which meant that she was clear to talk to her fans. It was an amazing thing and in the end, things got to work out in their way. Madeline, who had started getting used to addressing press conferences, took to the center stage and cleared her throat.
“They didn’t want us to make the pastries. But now, thank God, my family can embark on some serious business of making you all healthy and happy. Thank you.”
One of the journalists uttered something about the secret recipe, but Madeline pretended not to have heard a damn thing. She just waved and joined her kith and kin in the SUV and off they went.
Indeed, it was a good day for the McDougal family, and this called for a celebration.
Chapter 6:
-The return of Lewis McDougal-
There was a big party in Tarpon Bay. Indeed, it was a big day since their daughter had finally managed to kick some corporate ass and that was a big deal. Most of these corporates always mistreat people only to get away with it since they have the money and the best lawyers. But Madeline was in a position to rise above the hate as well as the schemes to beat them at their own game.
Madeline had the party already planned in her head. And it was getting to use some of the money that they had accumulated over the past couple of months to throw and a free party at their farm. It wasn’t going to be a big party, but she figured that the villagers would be more than happy to turn up and have a good time.
Thankfully, her siblings were around, and that meant that they were going to help her with the pastries using the secret family recipe. She was thinking of inviting over two hundred people and pretty much have a good time. Part of the reason as to why she was strong was because the good people of Tarpon Bay had been with the family through thick and thin and needless to say, they were in a position to stay on top of the game at all times.
“What are you so quiet about?” Madeline asked Mary, nudging her a little bit with her elbow.
“Well, I like seeing you and your family happy. But it’s my job to make sure that you get to stay that way. It is a good idea for you always to stand out in virtually everything you do. And that is why I am seated here thinking of another scheme these people will be planning against you.”
Madeline stopped smiling for a moment or two and thought about what her attorney had told her. The first time they thought they were victorious, something just came out of the blue and made sure that they were thrown back to the miasma of confusion. And Madeline knew that Mary had a point though it was healthy for them to at least kick back and have some fun once in a while. So she tried to convince her to do just that.
“You are an amazing lawyer. And I think you have the best interests of this business as well as this family at heart. And as your friend, not your client, I think you should sometimes let the guard down and have some fun even if it’s for a couple of minutes. You feel me?” Madeline said with a smile on her face right before nudging her once again. This time round, Mary moved a little and smiled. Madeline was glad, and she smiled back.
Edward was driving and from the look of things, the victory hadn’t affected him in any way. And that was a little bit confusing. If anything, he was supposed to be the one who was the happiest since it was his money that started the business. And Madeline was starting to feel a little confused with how her stepdad was behaving. It wasn’t the Edward she knew, and so she made a secret plan to have a conversation with him as soon as they got home and prepared for the party.
It seemed as though their blessings didn’t come to an end by the courtroom. It seemed as though the traffic had died down and they cruised softly and got to their village thirty minutes earlier than they had planned. And on getting there, they were more than glad to find that everyone was already out there, cheering them for the big win.
Once again, Mary didn’t stop Madeline from getting out and greeting her family and friends. And this time round, she also got pulled out, and she had no other choice but to meet and greet. Mary Moore wasn’t good in this sort of thing. But it was a good thing for her to show up since she had been very instrumental especially in making this business the success that it had been.
And for that, it was a very amazing thing for them just to kick back and pretty much get to enjoy it together.
Edward wasn’t happy. It had now become very certain since Madeline had known him for a very long time and for that matter knew his moods pretty damn well. And the conclusion that Madeline drew was that the case, as well as the publicity, was getting to him.
Edward was a cool old man who was as simple as the kind of life that he led. And all the airplay that the family had been getting of late wasn’t good for him, and he tried as much as he could to stay away from it.
But from the look of things, he just wasn’t trying hard enough. And with every drama that the family business got dragged into, he most definitely found himself also dragged in. He was old and such kind of drama made him frail and very tied.
They were already at the homestretch and so Madeline peeped through the front window and asked Edward to drive home since they would walk with everyone else home.
“…and dad, I think we need to have a talk. See you when we get home.”
“Ok Madeline, I will be waiting.”
And with that, he drove off, leaving Madeline and Mary to walk around the people and give them the details of the encounter. It was just too darn thrilling for them since for most of them; they had never been in a courtroom with television cameras all over the place. Madeline was equally thrilled and from the look of things, she and her people were just cut from the same cloth.
It was also an amazingly new experience for Mary Moore. As far as she was concerned, it was just too amazing to see the impact of her work first hand. She didn’t know that her hard work had touched so many lives and not just the McDougals. And yes, she loved the experience. She wasn’t a big fan of walking but since the experience was worth it, she thought she would give it a try.
“Hello, Madeline. I am so happy and proud of you.”
Madeline came to a screeching halt, and so did the rest of the people in her company. She didn’t expect this to happen. Her jaws hit the roads, and she wasn’t in a hurry to pick them up.
“Lewis?”
“Yes, sister. It’s me. And there are some things you need to understand about our family. And that is why I am here.”
Chapter 7:
-Kicks of a dying horse-
Madeline was surprised. To be honest, Lewis was the last
person that she had expected to see at that point. She tried to say something to him, but the words just couldn’t come out of her mouth. Even Mary Moore saw that Madeline was struggling, and she tried to intervene, but Madeline moved her lips. From the look of things, it seemed that the last thing she needs to do was to show the entire family and friends that they were disunited.
And without waiting any longer, Madeline moved forward and hugged his stepbrother. Everyone was delighted by the reunion that they clapped and cheered. But even Lewis himself wasn’t stupid enough to think that a hug was all it had taken before he was invited back. And the fact was that he wasn’t back because he wanted to be accepted into the business.
His was a genuine concern of what the family was going through and was there to show his full support, something that Madeline knew was noble. Lewis was many bad things, but in the end, he was always loyal to the family. And that was what made him an amazing sibling.
***
When everyone else had settled down, Madeline and her stepbrother found a very quiet place and decided to have words. Lewis had told her initially that he had some information that she needed to know about the family. And since Madeline wanted to know what it was up, she couldn’t wait until all the guests had left. It was just too good to be true.
Lewis was in good health and from the look of things, a little chubby. And Madeline just couldn’t resist teasing him about how good life had been after their unfortunate breakup. Lewis just laughed it off.
“You know; I don’t know what I can say. All is well until you realize that you only have yourself to blame for your misfortunes. I know all of you had given up on me. And so I decided to pick up the pieces and start living my life. It was incredible and to a point, I thought that I was dreaming. But no, I wasn’t. I just took responsibility and went out to look for a job.
MYSTERY: COZY MYSTERY: WOMEN SLEUTHS: Madeline's Secret Recipe Series (Cozy Humor Kitchen Detective Mystery) (Suspense Sweet Cove Short Story Culinary Comedy) Page 8
