Dead on Doughnuts: A Culinary Cozy Mystery (Coffee Shop Mysteries Book 1)

by Sarah Jane Weldon

  Sophia piped up again, a little too keenly for Théo’s liking. “Well it’s obvious isn’t it? The girls are so desperate to set up their detective agency one day, that they needed to have some murders to work on, to help them build up their reputation. You only have to look at all those detective and forensics books in their room at the chalet. I’ve never seen so many books about poisoning and how to catch a killer”.

  Théo laughed. “You can hardly use the possession of text books as evidence for a murder Sophia. The girls are off to university to study forensics and criminology next year, I expect they just want to read all the course text books before they arrive. Nothing wrong with that is there?”.

  “Hey, you asked my opinion and I gave it. I just think it’s odd that Audrey died after eating doughnuts that we all know that Madeleine baked. She is the Queen of the doughnuts after all. Everyone says it”.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Interview Room, Val D’Isera Police Station, Austria: 5th December 2018

  “How much longer are you going to keep me here?”. Violetta asked the Police Officer.

  Bastian pushed his slipping glasses back to where they belonged. “Actually I’m going to release you, but don’t think that means you got away with it. It just means that we haven’t found enough evidence against you YET. But I’m working on it, so don’t go leaving town anytime soon”.

  Violetta wanted to cry. Partly from anger and partly from relief. “Well, good luck with that. I’m innocent so I doubt that you’ll find anything incriminating against me”.

  Bastian opened the door to the interview room and pointed Violetta towards the exit. Violetta turned to him not quite sure what to do now that she had been set free. “How am I supposed to get home? You wouldn’t let me pick up my things when you arrested me at the restaurant. I’ve not got my wallet or phone or anything with me. I’m not even wearing my proper clothes. Do you expect me to freeze to death in the snow?”.

  Violetta looked down at her kitchen overalls. She felt quite horrid in them after a full day of prepping in the kitchen, followed by a shift washing pots and portering, and more recently a night in the cells and interrogation room.

  The police officer wasn’t very sympathetic to her plight. “It’s not my problem. Can’t you just call someone to pick you up?”.

  “I would, but you arrested them for questioning remember”. Violetta shook her head in disbelief.

  Violetta wasn’t even sure who she could call to come and get her. Audrey was dead, Stefan would be grieving, Eloise, Nicklas, and Madeleine were still being detained at the station, and besides, she didn’t have a phone on her. The only person she could possibly call was Karl but he didn’t have transport and he’d probably be sleeping after his long shift. She’d just have to wait in the reception area until the others were released. She curled up on the reception room chairs and quickly fell asleep.

  Bastian called Eloise and I from our police cell and brought us into the interview room, this time together which was a lot less daunting than being interviewed on our own.

  “Right then. I’ve had a very interesting anonymous call about you being the most likely suspects for this murder. It really isn’t looking good for you, I’ll be honest”. Bastian smirked, pleased with himself for being close to solving his first ever murder case. He really didn’t know what all the fuss was about. It was hardly difficult. “Now tell me about these books of yours”.

  I was confused for a moment, and from Eloise’s face she seemed as stumped as me. “Books?”. I enquired.

  “Yes books. The ones in your bedroom at the chalet, all about poisons and forensic psychology and criminology. Don’t go denying it. I’ve got proof”. Bastian held up a book in a sealed plastic bag. I recognised it immediately. It was the one that my parents had got me for my birthday and was entitled “Forensic Psychology for beginners’. I couldn’t help but stifle a laugh as I recalled the words that my parents had written inside:

  To our darling daughter, we saw this book and thought of you. Hope it helps you with your criminal masterminding. Lots of love, mum and dad xxx

  I knew at once who the anonymous tip off was from. It was Sophia. She was the only one in the ski chalet with access to the girl’s quarters, and I’d recently found one of my poisons books hidden amongst a pile of her laundry. I wouldn’t have even known about it if it weren’t for me being a bit clumsy and knocking over her chair as I tried to pull on my ski salopettes in the dark for an early morning ski. I was trying to be quiet as I could and didn’t want to disturb anyone.

  Bastian looked at us with his beady eyes. “So what did you poison her with then? Come on, spill”.

  We were both quiet, not quite knowing what to say. Bastian continued his line of enquiry.

  “What was it then? Arsenic? Rat poison? Snake venom?”. It was Eloise’s turn to snigger a little and I was having trouble controlling my own twisted sense of humour too. “Poppycock”. Eloise spluttered unable to control herself.

  The police officer was understandably growing tired of us, but it was difficult to be serious around a man who had clearly watched too many murder mysteries on the telly. We were both innocent and it would be like talking to a brick wall the more that we tried to defend ourselves. Bastian had already made up his mind. It was us who had killed Audrey.

  Eloise pulled herself together as best as she could. “If we were going to kill anyone, then I doubt very much that we would poison them, and if we were to poison them, then we would certainly not do it using arsenic or rat poison or anything like that”.

  Bastian felt like he was making headway at last, and he rubbed his hands together with glee. “Go on”.

  I tried as best I could to keep things simple for him. “You see, the thing is, there are actually very few poisons that leave no trace in the system, so most poisons would be picked up on an autopsy. Poison would be a sure way to leave traces and get yourself caught for it”.

  Eloise continued my line of thinking. “And it’s a common myth that poisons kill quickly and are undetectable, so poison really wouldn’t be the way to go if we wanted to murder someone and get away with it”.

  “Are you admitting that you murdered someone then?”. Bastian asked, suddenly excited. “So you’re saying that you actually WANTED to get caught, that’s why you used poison?”.

  I rolled my eyes. “You’re not listening to us. Audrey died within a few hours of eating the doughnuts right?”.

  Bastian nodded.

  “Well then, if we were to use arsenic, then we would need to be giving it to her over a number of weeks for it to kill her and she would be unwell for weeks before she died. But we’ve only been here for just over a week, so we can’t have killed her with arsenic”. I was about to mention that we had met her once in the summer at our party, but that would just make things worse right now. Overcomplicate things.

  Bastian interjected before I had time to mention the summer party anyway. “But what about rat poison?”.

  Eloise leant forward. “If we had killed her with rat poison, she would have died a quick and messy death, with very different symptoms, apart from which, it would have been very difficult to administer to her without her noticing. She would have tasted it immediately and we didn’t even see her all day”.

  There was a sudden knock on the door, that made both Eloise and I jump as we remembered that we were being accused of murdering Audrey. I rather hoped that the officer who entered the room might have come to tell us that it had all been a big misunderstanding, but it was not to be.

  “I need a quick word with you Sir, if you don’t mind. I’ve got the toxicology report back”.

  Bastian looked triumphant. “Ha! Now we’ll really find out what you used to poison her with”.

  The officer who had knocked on the door, left as quickly as he had arrived, followed by Bastian. “Do you have any idea who murdered Audrey?” I asked Eloise now that we were alone again.

  “I’ve got my suspicions, but I just do
n’t know how we can prove it yet”. Eloise replied.

  Bastian came back into the room and sat down at the interview table, switching the recorder back on.

  “It seems I quite underestimated you both. You’re much more clever than I first anticipated”. Bastian looked down at a piece of paper he was holding. “To be honest you might have got away with this, but nothing gets past the Val D’Isera police department.

  Eloise and I looked at each other, none the wiser.

  “Very clever indeed. Cerbera odollam. Better known as the Suicide Tree. The perfect murder weapon. I bet you never thought we would run a toxicology report on that, did you?”.

  “I’ve never heard of it, have you?”. I asked Eloise.

  “It doesn’t sound very familiar”. Eloise replied.

  Bastian really did look pleased with himself. Not only had he now solved the murder, but he had discovered that the murder weapon was very rare and especially difficult to trace. He was sure to get an award and a nice big pay rise for his sleuthing abilities from the police commissioner. “Hats off to you both. Really, I mean it. I’m impressed. According to my man in the toxicology department you can actually eat the fruit, but the seed itself is deadly. He reckons that you grated the nut finely and added it to the doughnuts. You’ll be going down a long time for this”.

  Eloise suddenly had a flash of inspiration as she remembered something that Emilio had said on our first day at the coffee shop, but she couldn’t believe for a minute that Emilio was the murderer and she didn’t want him to get in trouble either. But she really had no choice.

  “What is it?”. I asked.

  Eloise hesitated. “You remember our very first day in the coffee shop, when Emilio showed us his secret stash of beans? Well, there was something in one of the jars that he said was really poisonous as a nut, but that the fruit itself was perfectly safe and tasty to eat”.

  “Oh Yeah”. I remembered. “The beans he got on his trip to India in the summer”.

  “Yes, that’s the one”. Eloise nodded.

  We looked at Bastian, who suddenly seemed deflated, at least until the part where we mentioned Emilio having a secret stash of beans. That seemed to appeal to Bastian’s sense of importance and he suddenly changed his tune.

  Bastian thought hard. If he could catch this Emilio, then not only would the murderer have been caught, but he could reduce the risks of heart disease and diabetes amongst the resort visitors too. The coffee shop would have to close down, and no one would be able to to indulge in cakes, pastries, and coffee any more. There would be less rubbish on the streets too, without people dumping coffee cups and paper bags everywhere.

  “Emilio you say? And where exactly is this secret stash of beans?”. Bastian asked.

  I felt the need to try and put things into context a bit, before Bastian got ahead of himself again. “Well he calls them his secret stash of beans, but that’s more for fun really. They’re not really secret”.

  “And who has access to these beans?”. Bastian enquired.

  I looked at Eloise as I tried to recall and not forget anyone. “Well, that would be Emilio, me, Eloise, and Sophia. No one else”.

  “Very well”. Bastian said as he escorted Eloise and I back to our holding cell and locked the door behind us.

  Eloise leant against the wall, and I rested my head on her knees. “Let’s look at this from a new angle, just for the sake of argument, make sure we aren’t missing any obvious clues here”. Eloise suggested. “What motive does Emilio have for murdering Audrey?”.

  I wracked my brains, struggling to find a motive. “Well, I suppose the restaurant is the only competition for the coffee shop?”.

  Eloise frowned. “But that makes no logical sense at all. The coffee shop has been doing brilliantly since we arrived, and Sophia’s and your baking has brought in a lot of extra revenue. If anything, the coffee shop is taking business away from the restaurant, not the other way around, but I don’t even think that is the case”.

  I listened carefully, processing my own thoughts and Eloise’s ideas. “If that was the situation, then the most likely outcome would be Stefan murdering Sophia, or trying to frame Emilio for the murder, to get rid of the competition. It makes no sense for Stefan to kill his own award winning pastry chef”.

  Eloise stretched out her arms against the cold, hard walls of the cell. “Unless, Emilio was having some kind of secret affair with Violetta, and he wanted revenge for the way that Audrey treated Violetta in the workplace?”.

  I wondered that too, but it just seemed ridiculous. “Beats me. I don’t see any reason at all why Emilio might murder Audrey. Unless it has something to do with Théo, but I’ve got no means or motive there either”.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Snow Mountain Cafe, Val D’Isera ski resort, Austria: 5th December 2018

  Bastian entered the coffee shop with an over-inflated sense of self worth. He had expected there to be at least a few people here to witness his detective skills and grandeur. Rumour had led him to believe that the coffee shop was popular, and he had himself seen the long queues outside when passing in his police car. But alas, there was no one here today, just a single customer, who had his head buried in the crossword of the local newspaper.

  He strutted over to the counter, eager to see what this Emilio character was like.

  “Can I help you?”. A man enquired, with a thick South American accent, and olive skin.

  Bastian puffed out his chest and dusted off his epaulettes. “I’m looking for a man by the name of Emilio Silvestre. He’s a suspect in our murder enquiry. Have you seen him?”.

  Emilio thought the strange police officer might be joking for a second. “Um, sure. Yes, that’s me. I’m Emilio Silvestre. But I didn’t know I was a suspect? That’s the first I’ve heard of it”.

  Sophia and Théo both came to the counter, eager to hear more, but for very different reasons.

  “I’ve cause to believe that you have a secret room, filled with murderous poisons”. Bastian announced, as two further police officers arrived in the coffee shop and stood next to him, shoulder to shoulder. “I’m here to do a search of your premises”.

  Emilio looked at the three officers. There was no way that they were going to have access to his collection of beautiful beans. Some of them from trees and plants that were now extinct. He didn’t trust them to take care of the neatly arranged jars, or to understand their worth, not just to him, but to the world. He knew he would get into trouble, but he couldn’t put his collection in harm’s way. “Secret stash of poisons? No, sorry I can’t help you there”. It wasn’t exactly a lie, he didn’t have any secret stash of ‘murderous poisons’.

  “They’re through here”. Sophia told Bastian. “Follow me”.

  Théo looked horrified. “Sophia? What are you playing at?”.

  Bastian followed Sophia into the store room and watched her as she entered the code on the keypad. There was a click, and she opened the vault door fully. She was a very pretty young lady, and he was most appreciative of her kindness and good nature. He ruled her out as a suspect in his enquiries. A girl like that could never hurt a fly. “Thank you for your help and co-operation Miss….”.

  Sophia held out her hand to him, and Bastian kissed it. What a charming lady indeed. “Sophia Saner. Pleased to meet you Sir”. Bastian was quite taken with the girl’s perfume and her accent. “French?”. He asked, entranced.

  Sophia smiled sweetly. “Yes, Paris”.

  “Very good”. said Bastian.

  Sophia pointed at the many shelves filled with jars. “Here, these are the beans. are you looking for anything in particular? ”.

  Bastian was by now very confident that Sophia was not his killer. He had been eavesdropping on Madeleine and Eloise in the police cell and they had talked about how they thought Sophia was the most likely murderer, but Bastian couldn’t see it himself. “Actually perhaps you can? I’m looking for Cerbera odollam”.

  Sophia smiled again,
trying hard to look like she wasn’t very bright. “Well, I know that Emilio likes to arrange the jars in alphabetical order, he’s a bit neurotic like that, obsessive you know - between the two of us, I think he might have a mental health problem - If this aero-whatever it is that you are looking for is here, then my guess is that it will be on the shelf with other things starting with the letter ‘c’”. Sophia knew exactly where the jar was, but she pretended to search for it for a little while, careful to make sure that Bastian caught sight of her curves from behind. It worked as planned and Bastian suddenly forgot why he had come to the coffee shop in the first place.

  “Is this the one?”. Sophia asked, handing the jar to Bastian, careful to accidentally touch his hand with hers.

  Bastian almost dropped the jar. “Aha! That’s it, the very one I’m looking for”.

  “And will this help you to solve the murder then?”. Sophia asked him. Knowing full well, that if Bastian tested it for finger prints, he would now find Emilio’s prints, her prints, and Bastian’s on it. The only person whose prints were not on it, were Madeleine’s but that was exactly as Sophia had planned. Of course Madeleine would have been very careful to hide her tracks.

  Bastian carried the jar of Cerbera odollam out into the coffee shop and enquired as to how Emilio had come to have access to this particular substance.

  “I picked it up on my travels to India”. Emilio answered, rather matter of fact. He had nothing to hide.

  “So you admit it then?”. Bastian said.

  Emilio was starting to feel quite cheesed off. “Admit what exactly? I’ve not done anything wrong. I had permission to bring that back through customs and the fruit is perfectly edible and non toxic. It’s hardly a crime to keep a cupboard full of coffee beans is it?”.

  Bastian order the two assisting officers to arrest Emilio. In fact, if it had been up to Bastian then all coffee drinkers would and should be arrested for drug use, but it was not the law, not yet anyway. “But when I asked you if you had a secret stash of poison, you told me quite clearly that you did not”.