Brownies & Betrayal (Sweet Bites Mysteries, Book 1)

by Heather Justesen

  When the flour was mixed thoroughly, I added the eggs to it a little at a time, blending them in until the dough was more like a batter. Had Millie torn apart my apartment tonight, or had it been someone else? And why? Were they looking for something, or just bent on destruction? Would I survive this investigation—because slashed tires, personal attacks and break-ins aside, I was getting very tired of working to get my business up and running while trying to find a murderer.

  I filled a pastry bag with a large round tip and piped the éclairs onto a cookie sheet before sliding them into the oven.

  I looked at the clock. It was late. I needed to talk to someone, but was it fair to wake Honey up? I considered for a moment before sending a text. You up?

  A minute later, as I started mixing milk into my softened cream cheese, my phone rang. I snatched it up. “Hey, I hope I didn’t wake you.”

  “No,” Honey said. “Zoey’s cutting teeth again. She’s been fussing for the past half hour.” The sounds of a crying baby came through the phone to verify Honey’s story. “What’s going on? How was the date with hunky Shawn?”

  I grinned. “It was great. Seriously great. Well, until we got back here.” I started whipping in the pudding mix.

  “Did you fight?”

  I filled her in on my newest excitement. “I have a couple of theories I want to pass by you.”

  A giant yawning sound came across the phone line, and I realized Zoey had stopped crying. Honey spoke again. “She’s finally asleep. Give me a minute while I put her down. I’ll call back.”

  I agreed and set aside the filling. It was perfect. I scrubbed the original pan—I really needed to bring my nice set from Chicago—and tossed in chopped chocolate, water, heavy cream and a little vanilla.

  The phone rang and I picked it up. “I’m back,” Honey said when I answered. “So are you cleaning your place tonight or taking it easy?”

  “Neither. I needed some éclairs. You care to come over in the morning and join me for a treat?”

  “For your éclairs, I’d get dressed and come over now,” she said through her yawn.

  “Yeah, because you’re not tired at all, are you? How about if you pop over when you get the kids running for the day and we can finish this chat. You need your beauty sleep.” I’d been making too many demands on her time this week—something I seriously needed to consider in the future.

  “Thanks. I love it when you imply I look like the walking dead.”

  “No problem. Any time. Rest so you’ll look like that fresh-faced teen so many people mistake you for.”

  She laughed and said goodnight.

  I continued stirring the chocolate sauce until it came to a boil, then turned off the heat and checked on the éclairs. I knew precisely how long it took to bake the shells to perfection at work and at my condo in Chicago. Since I was still learning the quirks of Grandma’s oven, I pulled one of the browning pastries from the baking sheet and thumped the bottom. Not quite ready. I put it back and set a timer to remind me again in a couple of minutes.

  I looked over the living room, and the items the intruder had pulled from my kitchen cupboards. Cans and boxes were jumbled on the table where I’d stashed them while I cooked. The whole apartment would need a thorough cleaning in the morning, but since the kitchen mess drove me the most nuts, I started on it while the éclairs finished baking and cooled for filling.

  Pastry

  1 cup butter

  2 cups water

  2 cup all-purpose flour

  1/2 teaspoon salt

  8 eggs

  This makes a big batch of éclairs. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Grease two cookie sheets.

  In a medium saucepan, combine 1/2 cup butter and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil, stirring until butter melts completely. Reduce heat to low, and add flour and salt. Stir vigorously until mixture leaves the sides of the pan and begins to form a stiff ball. Remove from heat. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well to incorporate completely after each addition. With a spoon or a pastry bag fitted with a No. 10, or larger, tip, spoon or pipe dough onto cookie sheets in 1 1/2 x 4 inch strips.

  Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven, then reduce heat to 325 degrees F and bake 20 minutes more, until hollow sounding when lightly tapped on the bottom. Cool completely on a wire rack.

  Filling

  1 (5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix

  2 1/2 cups cold milk

  1 cup heavy cream

  1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  ¼ cup cocoa powder

  For the filling, combine pudding mix and milk in medium bowl according to package directions. In a separate bowl, beat the cream with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Beat in 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Fold whipped cream into pudding. Cut tops off of cooled pastry shells with a sharp knife. Fill shells with pudding mixture and replace tops.

  Icing

  4 tablespoons butter

  1 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  3 tablespoons hot water

  For the icing, melt the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Stir in 1 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar, ¼ cup cocoa powder and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Stir in hot water, one tablespoon at a time, until icing is smooth and has reached desired consistency. Remove from heat, cool slightly, and drizzle over filled éclairs. Refrigerate until serving.

  “So you think they have enough real evidence that Millie killed Analesa, or is she going down just because she stole the necklace?” Honey asked me when we were seated at my kitchen table eating the éclairs with gusto. “Okay, seriously, these things are amazing! Hands down winner over the ones I brought you.”

  I felt more than a little smug about her compliment, but didn’t allow it to derail me from the main topic. “I don’t know. It seems a little too convenient to me—and the destruction of my home only reinforces that. I mean, Tingey nearly arrested me because of my fingerprints on the murder weapon—never mind how they got there or that I was nowhere near the hotel that night.”

  “That is pretty damning evidence,” Honey said. “Especially since they didn’t find a second set of prints. You’re lucky Jeff agreed with your story. If he hadn’t, it might be you in that jail cell right now.”

  “Yeah, and I’m not saying that lying about the theft wasn’t dead stupid, because it was, but that doesn’t make her a murderer.” I took another bite of éclair, trying not to get it all over myself.

  Honey used her finger to swipe some chocolate icing from her plate and licked it off. “You still have to talk to Tad this morning, though. Maybe he knows something more.”

  “Maybe. But I don’t like him for the murderer and I don’t know what I’m missing, though blackmail is always a powerful motivator.”

  “I guess we’ll have to see what we can see, won’t we?”

  We finished eating and cleared everything out of the way before my appointment with Tad.

  The drive to Tad’s apartment in Prescott didn’t take very long, and when I pulled up to the condo where he and Analesa lived, I wasn’t sure if I was grateful for the ringing of my cell phone or not. That was, until I saw who was on the other end. “Hey, Lenny, tell me you found what I needed.”

  His gravely smoker’s voice ground across the line. “I tracked the last call made from that number—it was about midnight your time. Then I followed the number back to a Theodore Richardson. Mean anything to you?”

  Tad. So I wasn’t wrong. “Oh, yeah. It’s exactly what I needed to hear. Thanks. I owe you.”

  “You can owe me one of your chocolate cheesecakes when you get back to town. You never shared the recipe with me—what’s up with that? You really didn’t trust me?” The question must have been rhetorical because he continued without giving me a chance to answer. “You really staying in that hole in the ground forever?”

  “That’s the plan.” I felt defensive, but tried to keep it out of my voice. W
hat was everyone’s problem with Arizona, anyway? And did they think I was such a city girl that I’d wither up and die if I had to drive more than an hour to a mall once in a while? “You’d be surprised at how great it is to live here. I bet you could be converted into a country boy in no time.” That would be as likely as Gandhi starting a jihad, but it was fun poking at him.

  “So not happening, babe. I might be serious about that job, though, if you need help in a while. Working here with Karen is enough to drive anyone batty.”

  “If you decide to put in applications around town, feel free to use me as a referral. You do good work, considering you went to community college.” I was pushing his buttons now, but it was an old joke between us. He’d learned great things in his local classes and through his own hard work and determination—he was better than some of my former assistants who’d attended prestigious programs. I admired the way he’d managed to turn his life around, and he knew it.

  “You’re such a snob, but I’ll take you up on the referral.” A door opened and closed and I could hear footsteps on the stairs, indicating he was on his way to the diner next door for breakfast. The man was a creature of habit. “When’s the boss man coming back, d’you know?”

  “He’d better be at the airport headed home now. Did you get the plans for this week’s cakes? Any problems?”

  “Nah. It went great. Who needs your brilliance, anyway?” A door slammed and the sounds of the street rushed through the background. “Hope you figure stuff out. Don’t get in too much trouble.”

  “Yeah, yeah. I’ll stop by when I reach town, bring you that cheesecake. And Lenny, you’re the best.”

  “I know.” He hung up and I sat in the car for a long moment while I dealt with the answer I’d just gotten. Knowing it had been Tad Valerie had spoken to last didn’t make me feel better. Instead, it made me wonder what I was doing at his apartment. Surely the detective had already chased this lead, but I was here now.

  I saw the door to Tad’s condo open and watched him step out, look straight at me and walk my direction.

  I’d thought I was coming to Tad’s to satisfy my own curiosity, but now I wondered if it had been a mistake. Why was I so inquisitive?

  I put the key back into the ignition, thinking I’d tell everything to Detective Tingey. Then Caroline pulled up behind me, blocking me in. Perfect. I did not want to have this conversation in front of Tad’s mother. Did she even know about Dahlia?

  On the other hand, maybe it was better this way. Not being alone with Tad when I confront him might be safer. That made me pause—did I really think he could be the murderer? My gut said no, but my gut also said Millie wasn’t the murderer, so it wasn’t exactly reliable.

  I opened my door and slid out, then locked up behind me, greeting mother and son. “Hello, how are you both doing?” I turned my gaze on the mother. “Caroline, I didn’t expect to see you here this morning.”

  “It seems Tad isn’t surprised to see you, however. What’s going on?” She was put together as flawlessly as usual with her starched peach blouse over a matching skirt that reached just above the knees. She topped it off with a pair of no-nonsense dress shoes, two inches tall with a solid heel. She was perfect from her white pearls to the matching clutch purse in her hands. The woman never missed a detail. The frost in her look could have frozen the entire metropolitan area of Phoenix in August.

  “I had a picture and a question for him. Maybe this is a bad time, though?” Did I want to let the cat out of the bag if Caroline didn’t know? Would he have told her?

  “No, I imagine this is best.” She folded her hands over her purse in front of her. “When I called earlier, he mentioned you were stopping by, but I thought you’d be done by now. I must have miscalculated.”

  I didn’t buy her innocent act. She knew I had just arrived, that the appointment was for now. “It happens to all of us at one time or the next.”

  “So what was it you wanted to talk about?” Tad asked.

  I was glad to see that my hands stayed steady as I reached into my purse and slid out the photograph of Tad and Dahlia at the wedding rehearsal. “I thought you might like this, since Lidia is going to be taking Dahlia back to California with her next week. I noticed how attached the two of you are.”

  He paused for a moment when he saw it, love and longing in his eyes, then he smiled and slid the picture into his breast pocket, all casual grace. “Sure, she’s cute, isn’t she? Such a sweet kid.” He watched me for a moment. “But that’s not what brought you into town. You wouldn’t have made an appointment to drop off a picture.”

  I looked at his mother again and back to him. “Could I talk to you privately?”

  “Anything you can say to Tad, you can say in front of me,” Caroline insisted.

  I glanced at her and eyed the pocket where he’d stuck the picture before lifting my gaze back to his face. I willed him to understand what this was about.

  A couple of seconds passed before he nodded. “It’s okay. What’s going on?”

  If that was how he wanted it. “I couldn’t help noticing that Dahlia looks a lot like you. And the way you treat her made me wonder if she isn’t more than just the daughter of your wife’s best friend.”

  I saw the shock zip across his face, quickly replaced with an expression of amusement. He flicked a glance at his mother that said I was clueless, though she didn’t seem as entertained by my suggestion. “That’s quite a leap, don’t you think? She’s a cute little girl who happens to have blond hair and green eyes. There are thousands of others out there like her.”

  I decided I’d do better if I laid it out for him. He still might choose not to give it to me straight, but I knew I was right. “You had a relationship—it was before Analesa came around, so you were single and available. You hadn’t planned on it, but she got pregnant. Valerie chose to keep the baby. For whatever reason, you decided to pretend the baby wasn’t yours, but since Dahlia’s birth, Valerie’s been blackmailing you to keep quiet. From what I could see, she soaked you for twenty grand about every three months.”

  When he tried to speak, I held up a finger, wanting to get this all out. “Then Friday night she called you and asked you to meet her downstairs, where she probably asked you for more money. Her bank account was getting low.” I flipped my hand over as if this was practically a matter of course and only to be expected.

  When I stopped, he scratched his cheek and blew out a huff of breath. Again, he looked to his mom as if worried about admitting the truth, but pushed ahead anyway. “You have a lot of it right, but I’ve only been paying a couple times a year. I didn’t like the terms or the amount, but it wasn’t as though Val wasn’t entitled to child support, as there was no adoption paperwork.”

  Caroline sucked in a breath and set a hand on her chest. The thought of her son having an illegitimate child must have given her heart palpitations. “Tad, I can’t believe you didn’t say anything—or that Ana would have Valerie as her maid of honor if she’d known.”

  “She doesn’t know anything about my relationship to Dahlia, and I couldn’t say anything. There was too much at stake. I’m sorry, Mother.”

  I ignored Caroline’s comments, as they didn’t get me the answers I craved. “Then who do you think’s been paying on alternating quarters?” Maybe that’s who I really needed to track down.

  He leaned back against my car. “I didn’t know someone else was paying her. It could be anyone, but my guess is Lidia.”

  It was my turn to be surprised. I tried to decide if I’d heard that right. “Lidia? What did Valerie have on her?” Lidia had been helping me with the investigation—why would she do that if she were paying her sister hush money?

  His brows lifted. “Wait, how did you find out about Dahlia?”

  “Honey’s son is studying family trees. He talked about how much people look like their parents and there was a picture of you holding Dahlia—the picture I gave you. I looked at it and saw what I’d never noticed before.” I g
estured to his pocket. “The project wasn’t supposed to be about you—just her, Lidia and Valerie.”

  Tad pursed his lips and rocked back on his heels. “So Lidia didn’t tell you Dahlia is her daughter and not Valerie’s?”

  “Theodore Geoffrey Richardson!” His mother’s exclamation showed that this shock was even worse than the first. “She’s a married woman.”

  My jaw dropped. “What? What do you mean? I thought you and Valerie—”

  He snorted. “There’s never been a ‘me and Valerie.’ She hinted that she was interested a few times, but I wasn’t. Lidia, on the other hand, is so different from her sister—at least on the surface. That’s why I couldn’t let anyone know I was Dahlia’s father, because Lidia was already married.” He shot Caroline a look of guilt and apology all rolled into one. “I wasn’t in a hurry to admit that I’d had a child outside of marriage, either, no matter how common it is. Can you imagine what it would do to my future political career if word got out?”

  Disappointment flooded me. This was about politics, not about what was good for his child, and though I had been ready to vilify Valerie for blackmailing him when he did owe her some child support, now it turns out she had been raising a child that wasn’t even hers. If it weren’t for the blackmail, I’d have to reconsider my bad opinion of her. “So how did she end up with Dahlia? Did Lidia’s husband not want to raise some other man’s child? She said they wanted kids, but apparently hadn’t had luck together.”

  Tad grimaced. “Do you know what he does for a living?”

  I tried to remember what Lidia had told me. “Something about military contracts, software, lots of travel. She was vague.”

  “Yes. And he’d been out of town for a few months when Lidia decided to visit Valerie. That was before Analesa and I started dating, but we were friends and hung out with the same people. I knew Lidia was married, and though I’m not proud of it, after a while, it didn’t seem to matter all that much. He was never around, she was lonely and we became friends.” Tad crossed his arms over his chest, looked away from me to his mom, explaining to her. “It started innocently enough, but we had dinner together one night, too much wine and things . . . happened.”