“Wow, what’s that?”. I asked him.
Karl ran the back of his hand across his brow to mop up some of the sweat. “Parampampoli. It’s all the rage at the moment. Loads of people have been asking for it, and once you make one, suddenly everyone else wants one. Going to be a busy night at this rate. I’ve already lost count of how many I’ve made”.
“What’s in it?. I asked quizzically, I was always on the look out for new flavours for my coffee shop bakes.
“It’s pretty simple really”. Karl replied. “Just espresso, red wine, grappa, brandy, honey, oh and some sugar”.
I’d never tried grappa before, and I decided to ask Karl later on whether he could tell me a bit more about it and maybe spare some for me to experiment with in the coffee shop. We set fire to our Christmas puddings with our Christmas dinner each holiday at home in England, and having seen how impressed the crowd were with the flames, I wondered if I might begin a range of flaming bakes.
“I’m sure I can hear a phone ringing?”. Eloise looked around her and stuck a finger in her ear, wondering if it might be just her ear ringing from the loud music on the dance floor.
“It’s not me. I forgot my phone completely”. I said, looking around. I thought I could hear a phone ringing too.
“Don’t look at me”. Karl threw up his hands to declare his innocence. I’d get fired on the spot if the boss caught me with my phone on a shift. Mine’s switched off in the drawer down there”.
Nicklas almost fell off his stool, as he pulled out his phone from his back pocket. “I think it’s mine, but no one ever calls me, and Violetta’s at work so it can’t be her. It was a withheld number. Nicklas looked mystified, the only people who ever called him were Karl and Violetta and it wouldn’t be either of them, since both were currently on shifts, with bosses who banned their employees from using phones at work.
It was a very bad line, and it took Nicklas a while to recognise the voice on the end. “Hello? Hello? Who is this? Whose calling? I’m afraid I can’t hear you very well, the line’s very bad”. He pulled the phone from his ear and fumbled for the volume button on the side. “Hello? That’s a bit better, I can hear you a little more clearly now. Violetta? Is that you? Wait, I thought you were at work?”.
I could see from Nicklas’s face that he was distressed. I didn’t need to be in the clear light of day to recognise that his face had become pale all of a sudden, even with us being in a dark club.
He steadied himself with a hand on the edge of the bar. “It’s Violetta”. He whispered to us as we waited for further information. He spoke again to Violetta. “Shit. I can’t believe it. Are you for real? Why would they think that? Violetta? Violetta? Wait give me your number, I think my battery is about to die. Of course I’ll come and get you”.
Karl passed him a scrap of paper and a pencil as Nicklas frantically wrote down a phone number. “Got it. I’ll call you back in two secs. Don’t go anywhere”.
Nicklas shoved his dead phone in his back pocket and looked desperately at his brother. “Karl I need to use your phone to call Violetta. It’s an emergency”. Eloise and I looked at each other for a moment. Whatever was going on, it sounded very serious.
“Come on mate. I’m dying of thirst over here”. A drunk man called over to Karl who was so caught up in the moment that he had neglected his bar customers.
“In the drawer bro, help yourself, you know my phone lock code right?”. Karl walked along the bar and took the drunk man’s drink order, leaving Nicklas to rummage around the drawer. But he couldn’t see Karl’s phone anywhere.
“Oh come on. Seriously!”. Nicklas muttered, as he fumbled around in the drawer. He was shaking with the fear of what he had just heard from Violetta and couldn’t make head nor tail of things as he desperately tried to find Karl’s phone.
Seeing he was distressed I offered to help him, and moved him to one side as I crept behind the bar and looked in the drawer myself. “There it is”. I exclaimed, passing the phone to Nicklas. It was right on top. But my eye was distracted by something else in the drawer, something very sparkly, that was covered in diamonds. I grabbed hold of the object, not quite believing my eyes. I held it up to inspect it more closely.
“Wait! Isn’t that Audrey’s watch?”. Eloise observed.
I thought Nicklas might faint at any moment, and he lost all power of his muscles, dropping Karl’s phone on the floor. “It can’t be?”.
I quickly closed the drawer and rushed to Nicklas’s side as Eloise and I tried hard to steady him. “What is it Nicklas? What’s going on”. I asked, not especially wanting to hear whatever it was that had got Nicklas so full of fear.
Nicklas reached his hand to his jaw, in an attempt to make his lower jaw reconnect with the rest of his face. “Audrey’s dead”.
I shoved the watch in my pocket, thinking I had misheard. “Dead?”. I mouthed.
Nicklas was struggling to speak and seemed to be only cable of single words right now. “Murdered”.
“Wait. What?”. I spluttered.
If Audrey had been murdered then there were two very obvious suspects in my mind right now, one of them was Karl because the dead girl’s watch had turned up in his drawer at his workplace, and Violetta who, as Nicklas’s girlfriend also had access and knowledge of the drawer behind the bar, and also had turned up unexpectedly at the glacier the day that someone tried to kill Audrey and when the watch had gone missing.
Nicklas fumbled and picked up the dropped phone, and grabbed at the scrap of paper with the number for Violetta on it. She had been very distressed on the phone and he had, after all promised to call her right back. “Violetta”. He said in haste.
Eloise misunderstood Nicklas’s meaning. “Do you really think Violetta did it? But she’s your girlfriend? Surely?”.
Nicklas looked annoyed. “Of course Violetta wouldn’t do it. That’s not what I meant. But I have to phone her back. She’s been arrested but she says she is innocent. They’re saying that Violetta gave her the doughnuts that killed her”.
“Oh my God” I cried, suddenly realising that I too might be a suspect in the case. I was after all the main person at the resort, famous for baking doughnuts. What if Audrey really had been killed by a doughnut, what if it had come from Emilio’s coffee shop, baked by me?.
Eloise grabbed my arm. “What is it Maddy? What’s wrong?”. I didn’t want to share my concerns in front of Nicklas right now and make things worse. “Nothing. I’ll tell you later OK. But we need to get to the station, see if we can help solve the case and clear Violetta’s name”.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Interview Room, Val D’Isera Police Station, Austria: 4th December 2018
Violetta sat very still and quiet at the interrogation desk in the small, confined room. She wasn’t actually sure what the room was called, but it sure felt like an interrogation.
The Police Officer switched on the recorder. “This is Bastian Rainer of the Val D’Isera Police Department interviewing suspect Violetta Gruca at 11pm on the 4th December 2018. For the purposes of the recording can you please confirm your name”.
“Violetta Gruca”. Whispered Violetta, her mouth suddenly dry.
Bastian asked Violetta question after question about the events of the day, leaving out no detail at all. “Are you in the habit of lying Miss Gruca? Would you say that’s a fair statement?”.
“What! No, of course not. I’m not a liar”.
Bastian continued his probing. “Let me get this straight, you say that you are not a liar, and yet not 60 minutes ago, you confessed to me at the restaurant, that you had lied about giving the card, flowers, and doughnuts to Audrey by way of an apology. So which is it to be? Are you a liar or aren’t you? It’s a very simple question”.
Violetta was agitated. It didn’t matter what she said, this Bastian would only twist her words to mean something else. “Look. I’m not a liar. But I did for some unknown reason to me, tell a small, white lie today. But it was only because I w
anted to make someone else happy, to stop them from suffering”.
“So did you or did you not give the card, flowers, and doughnuts to Audrey?”. Bastian repeated.
“I did not give them to Audrey, nor did I leave them on the desk for her to find, I simply did not correct Stefan when he suggested that I had left them there as a peace offering for Audrey”.
There was a knock at the door, and a second police officer popped his head into the room. “A word please Sir”.
Bastian cleared his throat. “For the purposes of the tape, Officer Bianco has asked me to step out of the interview room for a moment”.
It didn’t take us long to get to the police station, and we were quick to give our names and involvement in the case to the police officer at the desk in the station entrance. He eyed us rather suspiciously and called through to one of the officers.
“Take a seat please. Officer Bianco will be with you shortly”. The officer at the desk pointed Nicklas, Eloise, and I to a row of plastic seats in the waiting area and the three of us sat in silence, processing the events of the day.
“Where’s Violetta? Is she OK? Can I see her?”. Nicklas babbled as the police officer approached us. “Not just yet I’m afraid. I need to interview you separately first, to see if we can shed more light on events”.
Officer Bianco interviewed Eloise and Nicklas first, and I began to grow very anxious as I waited for my turn. It felt like hours had passed by the time I was finally called in for my interview.
I found myself fidgeting with my fingers as Officer Bianco sat and stared at me in silence. I was sure he was trying to psyche me out. The officer pulled out a photo. “Do you know what these are?”. Of course I did, I had slaved over them for hours this morning. I looked at him in earnest. “Yes sir. Those are doughnuts, More specifically, they are the red velvet doughnuts that I baked myself this morning at the coffee shop, I’d recognise them anywhere”.
The officer seemed surprised that I had admitted it so easily. He’d expected at least a bit of resistance before I made my confession.
Bastian returned to the interview room and re-started the recording. “For the purposes of the tape, I’m showing Miss Gruca Exhibit A”. Bastian placed the photo of the doughnuts in front of Violetta. “Do you know what these are?”.
It seemed like a trick question. Anyone in their right mind could see that they were doughnuts. Violetta shrugged her shoulders. “Doughnuts?”.
“Don’t try and be funny with me miss”. Bastian complained, feeling as if Violetta was trying to play dumb but was in fact Audrey’s cold and calculating murderer. “Where did you get them from?.
Violetta blinked. “I didn’t get them from anywhere, I’ve never seen them before in my life”.
“Don’t try and pull the wool over my eyes missy. You know exactly where they came from don’t you?”. Bastian was growing tired of Violetta’s avoidance of admitting that she killed Audrey.
“Look”. Violetta gave a huge sigh of frustration “I’m telling you. I’ve NEVER seen these before. All I can tell you is that yes, they do look like doughnuts, but beyond that I have nothing to add. If you really are in need of a doughnut expert, then I suggest you speak to Madeleine Cooke”.
Finally, Bastian felt like he might be getting somewhere. “Madeleine Cooke? Why do you say that?”.
Violetta shook her head in sheer amazement. This Bastian couldn’t have been a very good police man if he didn’t know who to speak to about doughnuts in the small ski resort. “Are you for real? Everyone knows that if you want a doughnut expert, you go to see Madeleine. Surely you’ve seen the queues outside the coffee shop when people know she’s baking?”.
In fact, Bastian had often wondered why there was always a crowd outside the coffee shop first thing in the morning. It had never occurred to him that it might be people waiting to get their doughnuts. Personally, he didn’t care for cakes and pastries very much, and he saw people who ate them or who drank coffee as being weak-willed. He was more of a carrot stick and hummus man himself. Far better for you, and without the calories. He liked to treat his body as a temple.
I waited for Officer Bianco to ask me another question, but he seemed to look a bit scared by me.
“Just a moment”. He said. “I’ll be back shortly”.
Officer Bianco kept looking at me sideways as he left the interview room. It seemed as if he was nervous that I might suddenly do him in. He was still looking right at me as he blindly fumbled for the handle on the door, and reversed out of it, not wanting to have his back to me. He was a very nervous and strange chap.
I sat in silence, staring at the blank walls and ceiling of the poky room. It could certainly do with a fresh lick of paint and a few pictures to brighten the place up. Officer Bianco returned with another officer. and the two of them slumped into seats on the opposite side of the little table facing me, both with arms folded.
I waited and watched them, expecting them to say something, but they seemed to be a bit lost for words. I wanted to say something, to break the ice, but I couldn’t think of anything appropriate right now, so I tried to keep my expression as straight and neutral as I could, for fear that I might burst out laughing as I watched the eyebrows on the new officer dance about on his face as he thought whatever it was he was thinking.
After some time, he finally spoke. “Right then missy, let’s be having you. What are these? And don’t be telling me doughnuts, I know they are doughnuts”. The officer, Bastian - as I later learnt he was called - handed me the same photo that Officer Bianco had shown me. It was hard to think what to say, because he had asked me what they were, and I had wanted to say they were doughnuts because that’s what they were. If I said anything else I’d have been lying.
“Well?”. I answered. “These ones are in fact red velvet doughnuts and I cooked up a huge batch of them this morning right before the coffee shop opened”.
“Did you now?”. Bastian commented.
I pulled a funny face without meaning to. “That’s what I just said. I’m not denying that I baked these doughnuts this morning. I can tell they are mine because they have my signature ‘m’ right there in icing. It’s my little trademark”. I pointed to the tiny letter on the side of the doughnut.
“And did you at any point give these doughnuts to Audrey?”. Bastian asked.
I thought about it for a moment, realising that I needn’t have been worried at all. I hadn’t even seen Audrey let alone given her one of my doughnuts and I certainly hadn’t poisoned them. “Actually I’ve not seen Audrey at all today, but her fiancé Stefan did come in to the coffee shop, which he very rarely does, and he was dressed in a fancy business suit, and got into a nasty argument with our pot washer Sophia - she’s the one who taught me this recipe, she’s a pastry chef really, but Audrey stole her job from her at Sebastian’s restaurant”. I feared that I might have said too much and I didn’t want to get anyone else in trouble. But it was too late.
Officer Bianco was frantically scribbling down notes, trying to keep up with me as I spilt all my knowledge to him and tried to piece the events of the day together.
“And how did Stefan seem to you? Was he angry with Sophia?”. Bastian asked.
It was an odd thing to ask, and it now seemed strange to me that Stefan had not been angry at all, given the circumstances. “Actually he was quite alright with things. Didn’t seem to be much bothered. He even asked Emilio - my boss - not to give Sophia a hard time or to fire her for throwing the coffee over him. He was so nice about things, that Emilio decided to give him a bag of my doughnuts to take with him to enjoy with Audrey. You can ask Emilio yourself if you need proof”.
Officer Bianco looked up from his notes for a moment, before scribbling down some more. He wrote the name Emilio in capital letters and drew several lines underneath the name to highlight it as if it were somehow significant. It didn’t occur to me at the time, that in explaining what had happened I had some how incriminated Emilio in the process.
> It took a long time to recollect all of the events of the day, and when I got to the part about sitting in the nightclub and finding Audrey’s watch, I wondered whether I should say anything at all, because I doubted very much that Karl might be the murderer. But I felt it was my duty as a future detective to tell them everything I knew.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Snow Mountain Coffee Shop, Val D’Isera ski resort, Austria: 5th December 2018
With news of Audrey’s murder and Madeleine and Eloise being held at the police station overnight for questioning, there were very few customers at the coffee shop that morning. But plenty of people peering through the window or hanging around outside, hoping to catch sight of some arrests. Emilio looked glum. It seemed that it was hard to know who to trust these days.
“I’m sure it’ll all be fine”. Théo said, in an attempt to console his best friend Emilio. “And for what it’s worth, I don’t think for a moment that Maddy or Eloise are guilty. Chances are the police will figure that out too very soon”.
Théo called Sophia over to help provide some reassurance to Emilio. “Wouldn’t you agree Sophia? There’s no way that Madeleine or Eloise would harm anyone?”.
Sophia said nothing.
Emilio threw his head into his hands. “Oh God. Don’t tell me you think the girls are guilty too?”.
Sophia made as if she were reluctantly offering her opinion on the matter. “I’m afraid that the evidence does rather overwhelming point to Madeleine committing the murder”. She said. “You can’t avoid the facts can you?”.
Théo was curious to hear Sophia’s take on the subject. “In what way Sophia?”.
Dead on Doughnuts: A Culinary Cozy Mystery (Coffee Shop Mysteries Book 1) Page 12
