Hot Cider and a Murder

by Kathleen Suzette

  He turned to look at me. “Cinnamon crumb cake? Something about that sounds familiar.”

  I couldn’t help but grin. I had recently had a run-in with a killer that had issues baking cinnamon crumb cake. “Yeah well, I was left frustrated with the quality of the one I tasted not long ago, so I decided the only remedy was to make one of my own. It’s a classic fall favorite, you know.”

  He chuckled. “Sure does smell good,” he said and turned back to the grill. “I’d eat that any time of year.”

  “I’ll let this cool off before cutting into it. I have to get back out front and see if there’s anyone new at the front counter,” I said and laid down the oven mitts. When I got back out front, my mother was sitting at the front counter. I hesitated. I hadn’t told her about the new flower shop; I was still trying to process the whole idea that Gina was opening one up.

  “Good morning, Rainey,” she said, pursing her lips. “I’ve been waiting out here forever.”

  “Now you know I’m not going to believe that,” I said, pulling my order book from my apron pocket. “I was only in the kitchen for a couple of minutes. What would you like this morning?”

  “Do I smell cinnamon?” she asked, peering at the kitchen pass-through.

  “I made a cinnamon crumb cake, but it’s too hot to serve. I just took it out of the oven,” I said.

  “Well get me a cup of coffee, and I’ll wait until it cools down enough that you can cut me a piece. It smells too good to pass up.”

  I raised one eyebrow at her. “Cake for breakfast? That’s not exactly the breakfast of champions. If it were me, you’d tell me to eat some protein.”

  She shrugged. “I’m old enough to make my own decisions, you know.”

  I chuckled and got her a cup of coffee and brought it back, setting it in front of her. “Mom, did you know that there’s a new flower shop opening?”

  She looked up at me as she reached for the sugar. “I heard a rumor, but I haven’t had time to check into it. So it’s true?”

  I thought that was odd. My mother was the nosiest person I knew. “Really? You didn’t check into it? I would have thought you would have been all over that. Gina Richards is opening it up right around the corner from your shop.”

  Her eyes went wide. “Right around the corner? How right around the corner?”

  I nodded. “Two blocks away, on Fifth Avenue.”

  She poured sugar and creamer into her coffee while she thought about this. “Well, Lana didn’t tell me they were planning on opening a new business. I just spoke to her two days ago.”

  I could tell she was bothered by the news. “I would imagine she’s got her mind on Daphne,” I said softly. “I spoke to Gina for a few minutes yesterday. She seems very bitter toward just about everyone in that family.”

  She looked up at me. “I always had that impression about her. If you want to know the truth, I think she worries Lana terribly. I remember last year when she came in to buy flowers for Gina’s birthday. She told me she felt she had to spend a lot of money on a big arrangement, otherwise Gina would disapprove and cause trouble in the family. She spent a hundred and fifty dollars on flowers for her.”

  “Wow. Nothing like making sure the person buying you a gift knows they need to spend a lot of money on you or else,” I said. A hundred and fifty dollars was a lot of money to spend on flowers, especially since it was for her daughter-in-law and not someone closer to her.

  She nodded. “Lana nearly broke down in tears as she looked through the book. I asked her if everything was okay, and she just shook her head and was quiet for a few minutes. I didn’t want to push her, so I waited.”

  “She was that upset?” I asked.

  She nodded. “She said Gina and Daphne fought all the time. The two of them couldn’t be in a room without one or the other being hateful. She said holidays were bad. It seemed to bring out the worst in both girls.”

  What she said didn’t surprise me at all. From what Gina had said the day before and from what I had observed between Gina and Daphne on the night of the party, I believed every word of it.

  “Poor Lana and Bryan,” I said, still holding my order book. “It’s a shame Daphne died on her father’s birthday.”

  She nodded and took a sip of her coffee.

  The diner door opened, and Cade walked through it. He stopped and gave me a big smile, heading to the front counter and taking a seat next to my mother. “Ladies, how are we this morning?” he asked brightly.

  “We are doing just fine,” Mom said as she reached over and gave his hand a squeeze. “Have I mentioned how glad I am that you’re dating my daughter? I was so worried about her being alone for the rest of her life. But here you are, my knight in shining armor, rescuing me from having to take care of her in her middle-age.”

  I rolled my eyes as Cade chuckled. “Well, Mary Ann, I’m glad to be of service to you. It’s what I live for.”

  “Oh I’m sure it is,” I said, rolling my eyes again. The two of them could go on a comedy tour. “Scrambled eggs and white toast?”

  He nodded. “That’s what I like. I don’t have to explain myself; you already know what I want.”

  “It’s not exactly creative, now is it?” I said and jotted down his order and headed to the kitchen to turn it in to Sam.

  Georgia gave me the evil eye as I passed her. I decided to just ignore her. Daphne and Gina may have had their issues, but they weren’t the only ones with issues.

  “I heard something about Daphne,” Georgia said, following me into the kitchen. “She was driving drunk one night and nearly killed a woman crossing the street.”

  “Tell me something I don’t already know,” I said and went to the crumb cake. It was probably still too hot to cut, but I picked up a sharp knife and decided I’d give it a shot anyway. I was careful with the knife and then used a cake server to hold the piece together and cut one for both my mom and Cade. Cade loved his sweets and I knew it would be a nice surprise on a cold morning. It smelled wonderful and I couldn’t wait to try it myself.

  “I think whoever killed her did the town a favor. She was dangerous.”

  I don’t know why Georgia suddenly wanted to make conversation with me. She couldn’t stand me. “Well I guess she won’t be a menace to pedestrians anymore.” I picked up the plates and headed back out to Mom and Cade.

  “Your mother’s telling me there’s going to be a new florist shop in town,” Cade said as I set the cake in front of him. His eyes went to the cake. “What is this?”

  I poured him a cup of coffee and set it down in front of him. “Cinnamon crumb cake. I have it on good authority that it isn’t dry and overcooked.”

  He stirred sugar into his coffee and kept an eye on the piece of cake. “I hope the new florist shop isn’t going to hurt your business,” he said to Mom.

  She shrugged. “I hope not either. But I’ve been in business in Sparrow for a lot of years. I’m not worried about a thing.” Mom’s words were confident, but I heard a hint of doubt in her tone. I thought Mom’s business would be fine. If she was worrying, it was for nothing.

  “What do you know about the murder?” I asked Cade, lowering my voice.

  “We have a dead woman on our hands,” he said with a smirk.

  I groaned. “I heard she had a problem with her younger brother,” I informed him.

  He looked at me with interest, eyebrows raised. “Oh?”

  I nodded. “According to Gina Richards, Daphne’s brother Mark just about had a job at Stedman Security, but when Daphne heard about it, she supposedly went and turned the charm on to Alex Stedman and swooped that job right out from underneath her brother.”

  “If that’s true, then I’m sure there was a whole lot of uncomfortable moments at family get-togethers,” he said thoughtfully.

  “You can say that again,” I said. “But Gina is very bitter toward not only Daphne but everyone in that family other than her husband. Could be she’s exaggerating.”

  “Want to hea
r something funny?” he said, taking a drink of his coffee, then set the cup back down.

  I nodded, leaning on the front counter.

  He looked over his shoulder and then back at me. “We got some of the labs back on some items that were removed from the lodge. Remember the Styrofoam cup? It had aconitine in it, along with a trace of cyanide.”

  “I know what cyanide is. But aconitine?” I asked. “What’s that?”

  “Wolfsbane. It’s a flower that is deadly, causing an unsteady gait, slurring of speech, unconsciousness, and if given in high doses, death,” he said.

  “Why would Daphne eat that? Or drink it?” I asked, glancing at my mother who was all ears.

  “It can be dried and ground into a powder and put into capsules. It’s rather common and grows naturally in North America,” he said.

  “Wow,” I said, taking this in. “And what about the cyanide?”

  He shrugged. “Cyanide occurs in a lot of places naturally, and we aren’t sure yet if what we found was in a large enough concentration to kill her.”

  “But it could have been the combination of the two?” I asked.

  He nodded. “It could have been. But what’s more interesting is that the Styrofoam cup also had traces of apple juice, cranberry juice, cloves, cinnamon, and other spices in it.”

  I stared at him, straightening up again. “My punch?”

  He nodded. “The one and only.”

  “Rainey, you have some explaining to do,” Mom said sternly. “Didn’t I teach you better than to poison people?”

  I narrowed my eyes at her. Someone might think I did have some explaining to do. I had just written an article with the cider punch recipe and it was set to run in today’s newspaper. Sans poison, of course.

  Chapter Thirteen

  I couldn’t get over what Cade had said earlier in the morning. My fall cider punch had been used to poison Daphne. I knew no one was going to try and pin the murder on me, or at least I didn’t think they would. But it was sinister—the idea of someone using something as tasty as my punch to kill poor Daphne.

  Right after Cade had told me about the punch, things had picked up at the diner. I didn’t get a chance to speak to him about anything else, but we were going to meet later in the evening for dinner. As soon as my shift ended at the diner, I went out to visit Lana at her home. I hoped she had something new to tell me that might help in finding Daphne’s killer.

  Lana opened the door, and I could see the toll Daphne’s death was taking on her. My heart went out to her, and I resolved to do everything I could to help Cade find the killer as soon as possible.

  “Hello, Rainey,” Lana said quietly. “Would you like to come in?”

  I nodded. “How are you holding up, Lana?” I followed her into the living room and took a seat next to her on the sofa.

  “Oh, you know how it is. I’m doing the best I can. Poor Bryan though, he just can’t get over the fact that our little girl is gone.” Her voice cracked on the last word.

  I reached over and squeezed her hand. “That’s completely understandable. You all have suffered a tremendous loss.”

  She looked at me, her eyes tearing up. “This isn’t what you picture happening to your family. This thing has got us all in a mess.”

  “I’m so sorry. It just breaks my heart that you’re going through this.”

  She blinked away the unshed tears. “Poor Tim is having a terrible time with this. His wife Gina has been down at the new shop and doesn’t seem to care what her husband is going through,” she said, and then her eyes got big. “Oh my goodness, did you even know about the flower shop that Gina is opening? Does your mother know? I told Gina to go over and discuss it with her, but I bet she never did.”

  I nodded. “I heard about it yesterday. You all must be excited for her.” I forced myself to smile. I didn’t want her to think I was upset about it. She had enough on her plate.

  Her mouth formed a hard line. “I don’t think excited is the word for it.”

  I sensed there was trouble where this flower shop was concerned. “No?” I said and left it at that.

  She shook her head. “I don’t mean to complain, but I was completely against loaning her the money for the flower shop. Especially after I learned that everything was in her name, and Tim wasn’t really going to have anything to do with it.”

  That seemed odd to me. Tim and Gina had been married for more than ten years, and I couldn’t imagine why they wouldn’t go into business together. When we had talked, she acted like he was as much a part of the flower shop as she was. “Oh? Tim isn’t going to help with it?”

  She shook her head again. “She insisted that he had enough to do here at the lodge. And that’s true, we do rely on him for an awful lot around here. If it weren’t for him, Bryan would be working himself to the bone. But Tim is such a big help and sure has made things easier around here.”

  “I always thought he was a good worker,” I agreed. I had only heard good things about Tim for as long as I could remember. He was quiet and a good guy, always pleasant to talk to.

  “Tim has always been a hard worker. I’ve always been so proud of him,” she said and looked away. “I told Gina she needed to speak to your mother about the flower shop. Just to give her a heads up. I can imagine this is a shock to her. I sort of feel like I’ve betrayed her just a bit.” She looked down at her hands.

  “Don’t you worry about my mother. She understands you’re going through a lot right now and that the flower shop is the last thing on your mind.”

  She looked up at me again. “That Gina is something else. All she does is complain about everything Tim does, and of course, Daphne could never get along with her.”

  “Sometimes different personalities clash,” I said, hoping she would elaborate.

  She chuckled bitterly. “You can say that again. Now look at me, sitting here complaining about somebody else complaining. I’m a piece of work, aren’t I?” she said and laughed a genuine laugh this time.

  “Lana, you’ve been through so much that I wouldn’t blame you for anything you said or did.”

  She looked at me again. “You don’t know how much I appreciate hearing you say that. I think I listen to what Gina says more than I should, and I guess I take her criticism to heart. It’s just a breath of fresh air to hear you say something that sweet.”

  I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was. Was Gina always as negative as she had been the day before? I would have thought she would at least try and hold back some of the vitriol.

  “You should never take other people’s criticisms to heart. You never know what it actually stems from, and some people are just negative people.”

  “You’re right. I need to learn to ignore her, don’t I?” she said.

  I nodded. “Lana, what happened to Daphne’s job? Didn’t she work for Stedman Security?” I asked.

  She nodded. “She was laid off. She said her boss was having financial trouble and had to cut back staff. It was a shame. Daphne really liked it there.”

  I tried not to let the surprise show on my face. It made sense that Daphne wouldn’t tell her mother the truth about her job. “I guess there’s not much you can do if a company is struggling and lays you off. I bet she was disappointed if she loved the job.”

  “She was. She moped around for weeks. To make matters worse, she had just bought a new car. Bryan and I helped her out with the payments; we couldn’t let her lose the car. Getting laid off wasn’t her fault.”

  We both looked up when the front door opened and Mark walked in. He stopped, looking surprised to see me, and then smiled. “Hi, Rainey,” he said and walked all the way into the living room. “How are you doing?”

  “I’m fine. How are you, Mark? I was just in the neighborhood and decided to stop by and see how you all were.”

  He nodded and smiled. “I guess we’re doing as well as can be expected. With Daphne gone, there’s just a hole left in our lives.”

  “Poor Mark has been
so distraught over this,” his mother said.

  “I can imagine. I’m sure the police will find the killer soon,” I said.

  “I just don’t understand a crime like this. Who in their right mind would kill a person? I can’t wrap my mind around it,” Mark said, shaking his head. I wasn’t sure if either of them knew that my punch had been used to give the poison to Daphne, and I didn’t want to volunteer the information.

  “I know the police are working on it. Cade has been putting a lot of long hours in,” I assured him.

  “Yeah, I don’t think he has that far to look, if you want to know the truth,” Mark said bitterly.

  I looked at him wide-eyed. Had he heard about the punch? Certainly he didn’t blame me, did he? “Oh? What do you mean by that?”

  He glanced at his mother, and she gave a slight shake of her head. “My mother doesn’t want me to say anything, but I know the truth. It was Gina. She’s the most bitter, hateful, spiteful person I’ve ever met in my entire life.” His face turned red, and he clenched his fists at his side.

  “Now, Mark,” Lana said softly. “We need to be more understanding of others. You know she had a rough upbringing and has a hard time dealing with people.”

  I didn’t know anything about Gina’s upbringing, and now I wondered about it. Was there a reason Gina was so bitter?

  “You always say that, Mom,” Mark said and slumped down in the chair across from the couch we were sitting on. “But I’ve had just about enough of being understanding about her attitude. She’s been nothing but hateful since she joined this family. It’s like she resents all of us for something that we didn’t do.”