Alex nodded. “Rob’s right. You’re still a good person. You’re still someone I like spending time with, and I know your friends feel the same way, but it’s hard for them, because they like the old Mary-Ann as well. Sometimes I think they feel like they’re being disloyal to her.”
“Maybe they are.” Mary-Ann shook her head. “There’s plenty of food there for all three of us.”
“She’s been cooking every night and making certain there was extra to go in the freezer. I think she was worried about me not eating enough while you were gone.”
Laughing, she looked down at the floor. “Maybe a little.”
“At least someone’s here to look after you when I’m not.” Robert kissed the top of Mary-Ann’s head again. “I’m going to have a quick shower. Will dinner wait that long.”
“Of course it will.”
“Great.”
Robert walked away, dragging his suitcase behind him. “He loves you.”
“He’s never said that.”
“Eventually he will, but it’s going to take some time, because the last person he told he loved them hurt him.” Alex sighed. “You should get him to talk to you about it some time.”
“Do you think he will?”
“Yes, because it’s you, but it’s not going to be easy for him. He hates the thought of her, even though he loved her. They were going to get married, until he found out what she’d been doing, and then… I didn’t think he was ever going to fall in love again. I’m so glad he did.”
“Thank you?”
“Honestly, he changed in ways I didn’t think was possible. We both did, for different reasons, and having you in our life has made things better. It’s good. I do appreciate all the help you’ve given me, both with the cases and with the food, because I’m not the greatest cook in the world.”
“You do a very good beans on toast.”
“I do. That’s true.” Alex laughed. “You don’t have to get involved next time. I understand if you don’t want to.”
“We’ll see what happens, Alex, because I don’t think it’s going to be that simple.”
“You might be right.” He stirred the pot. “You’re probably the best person to be keeping an eye on this if you don’t want it burnt.”
A Slice Of Murder
A Green Springs Cozy Mystery
Book 2
By Kathy Hunter
Copyright 2015 by Kathy Hunter - All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without permission from the publisher.
Hannah had a tight grip on Mary-Ann’s hand. She was the most nervous out of the two of them. Mary-Ann was more laid back. Winning the competition would be nice, but losing it wouldn’t be heartbreaking. It was just a way of getting her life back to being as normal as possible, and she knew people would be expecting her to enter, because of the shop. When she glanced at Sally, her rival, their eyes met, and Sally smiled. Had they not been rivals Mary-Ann knew the two of them would be sharing recipes. That’s what they normally did when they got together. The competition meant they couldn’t, at least until it was all over. Sighing, Mary-Ann brushed her free hand through her hair, as she looked back at where the judges were trying two final round cakes.
All three of them were people both Mary-Ann and Sally knew, and all three of them already had their favourite out of the two of them. That was what happened when you lived in a small town. Occasionally Mary-Ann did think about going back to the city, where she could be anonymous, but her life had changed so much, and she knew she wouldn’t be happy there any longer. Being surrounded by people she knew, most of whom she thought of as friends, had made everything so much easier than it would have been. Slowly she looked around the tent they were doing the final tasting in, seeing all her friends there, as well as Robert O’Connor, who was busy writing down everything for the report he was going to write. Meeting him had changed her life in ways she never could have imagined. When he felt her eyes on him he looked over at her. She could tell he wanted her to win.
That meant she wasn’t paying attention when one of the judges collapsed. “Please tell me he wasn’t eating my cake, Han?”
“I can’t.” Hannah sighed. “Someone’s already calling an ambulance, and it won’t be long before the police arrive.”
Nodding, Mary-Ann pushed everything she was feeling aside. “At least I know the person who’ll be in charge of the investigation.”
“Yes, you will, and that should mean he won’t be going after you this time.”
Mary-Ann shook her head. “Why me?”
“I don’t know, sweetie. I’m sorry.”
“Being here was meant to be a good thing for me, and for the shop, but now…”
She shook her head again. “I know I didn’t put poison in the cake. There are too many people involved in this I know.” She looked over at the judges’ table. “Was it Kevin that collapsed?”
“It was.”
“Oh, great.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Kevin and I have history, don’t we?”
“You were in high school when you were in a relationship. That’s not going to mean anything to anyone.”
“Maybe not, but someone is using me again, and I don’t like that. I really don’t.”
***
“Did you poison the cake?”
“No, I didn’t.”
Alex ran his tongue over his bottom lip. “Last time something like this happened you managed to prove the murderer was someone else, someone who’d poisoned your pie, and I don’t doubt the same thing has happened this time.”
“That is my only explanation.” Mary-Ann sighed. “I knew Kevin. We were close, once, and I think he thought we could go back to them when I came home, but I changed. Being away from Green Springs gave me a chance to work out who I was. Coming back… it was the right choice to make.”
“Cities are strange places.”
She nodded. “They are. As much as I loved being anonymous there were times when I missed being known by everyone. I missed the support of my community, of my friends, and if something like this had happened there I know it wouldn’t have been as easy for me to prove Tom was the one who murdered Paul.” She glanced over at the cake. “Kevin and I might have had a couple of arguments when I came back, but things were back to normal. We were friends, although not as close as we once were, and I wouldn’t have done this to him.”
“Which means we need to find out who did, and quickly.”
“We?” She sighed. “If this hadn’t involved my cake I would have walked away.”
“I know, but it has involved your cake, and I know how you feel when someone uses one of your creations as a murder weapon.” He smiled. “Talking to the people involved can be easier for you, because they find it easier to open up to someone who isn’t a police officer. Of course it doesn’t help that I was in the city for much longer than you were.”
“What do you need me to do?”
“Find out who might have wanted Kevin dead. You and Sally, unfortunately, are currently the main suspects. As it was your cake I should be focusing on you, but I know now that I should believe you when you say you were the one who poisoned the cake.
Can you think of anyone now who have the motive or opportunity?”
“The cakes have been sitting around for hours, Alex. Anyone could have poisoned them. It’s obvious they chose me for a reason, however, and I think that might be due to the relationship I did once have with Kevin, because it gives me a ‘motive’. Someone could easily say they saw me arguing with him before the competition.”
“True.” Alex sighed. “You have my number. Keep in contact. If they did pick you for a reason it’s entirely possible they might want you out of the way as well.”
“Thank you for that.” She gave him a look. “I know a couple of people I can talk to, but this is going to take a while.”
“Cases like this always do, Mary. Robert will help you. He didn’t leave Green Springs, so people t
rust him the same way they trust you, while I…” He shrugged. “I made my decision and now I have to live with it.”
***
A hand rested on her shoulder. Mary-Ann didn’t need to look to know who it was. “How are you?”
“Furious, mostly.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe someone would use my cake to poison Kevin, Rob, but they have.”
“I take it Alex asked you for help this time.”
“He believes it wasn’t me, at least for now.”
“You think someone will have gone to a lot of effort in order to frame you.”
“Right now I think anything is possible.” Breathing deeply, in an attempt to calm herself, Mary-Ann turned to look at Robert. “I need to talk to Sally. She’s going to be the other main suspect and I think she’ll need support in a way I don’t. Second time round this is all so much easier.” She laughed. “Did you see anything unusual?”
“No, but then I spent far too much of my time looking at you, Mare.” He kissed her forehead. “I’ll talk to Hannah and Darren. They might have noticed something.”
“That sounds like a good idea.” She reached out and took his hand. “We’ll get through this together, won’t we?”
“We did last time. I’m sure we’ll be able to do the same thing this time.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Leaving Robert behind was the simple part. As Mary-Ann got closer to Sally she found herself wondering if it was possible her rival would have poisoned her cake, before pushing the thought away. It was impossible. Sally was a good person, and definitely not the sort of person who’d be willing to kill anyone, for any reason.
Especially Kevin. Kevin and Sally had been friends since high school and everyone had been talking about how the two of them had been getting closer. When Mary-Ann was a couple of steps away it was possible to see the tears were streaming down Sally’s cheeks, which made it impossible for Mary-Ann not to wrap her arms around Sally.
“How are you doing?”
“Not great.” Sally rested her head on Mary-Ann’s shoulder. “Kevin and I… last night we were talking about making a go of things, and now… he’s dead, Mare. How can he be dead?”
“Sometimes, unfortunately, these things happen, Sal.” Mary-Ann tightened her arms around Sally. “I hate to ask this, but can you think of anyone who might have wanted to hurt him?”
“I… no, not really. My head’s all over the place.”
“That’s to be expected.”
“How are you so calm?”
“I have other things to focus on. While I do it’s easy enough to keep the grief at bay.” Mary-Ann looked over at where Kevin’s body had been. “There was a time when the two of us were talking about getting married. It was a long time ago, but I will never forget how happy he made me. Ending it was the only thing I could do when I made the decision to leave town. Sometimes I did regret it, but, at the same time, I knew it was best for both of us.”
“Do you still love him?”
“No, not now. I moved on. He moved on. That’s what I wanted to happen. I’m glad the two of you were going to make a go of things. I just wish everything could have worked out for you.”
“We’re suspects, aren’t we?”
“Yeah, we are. His current girlfriend, and his ex-girlfriend, which makes a lot of sense if someone wanted to frame us for his murder.” Mary-Ann shrugged. “When you’ve had a chance to calm down it would be really helpful if you could try to work out if someone might have had a grudge against Kevin. Detective Inspector O’Connor will be able to do more to help us if he knows who else it might have been.”
“Surely he’s going to be investigating the two of us first.”
“Not after the last time this happened. As it’s my cake that was used as the murder weapon he’s willing to give me the benefit of the doubt, for now, which gives us a little time to work out who might have wanted to kill Kevin.” Saying it over and over was making it more real. Mary-Ann didn’t want it to be real. When it was Paul it was easier not to let her grief get the better of her, but with Kevin there was a part of her that just wanted to stop what she was doing and cry. “I thought everyone liked Kevin.”
“Until today so did I.” Sally looked over at where the cakes were. “Could it have been meant for one of the other two judges, because I can’t imagine anyone would have wanted to kill him?”
“Maybe, but we wouldn’t have had a motive to kill either of the other two judges, and I’m certain whoever it was chose to use one of the two cakes for a reason. It’s possible they had a grudge against one of us and Kevin was the innocent victim in this whole mess.”
Nodding, Sally wiped the tears off her cheeks. “I’ll have a think.” She sighed. “I don’t know what’s worse - someone wanting to kill Kevin or someone wanting to frame me for his murder.”
“Take your time. The last thing we want to do is accuse the wrong person of murder, because that will just make everything much worse.”
“I will.” Their eyes met. “Thank you.”
“You’ve been a friend for a long time, Sal, and I’m not going to leave you to deal with something like this alone. Call me if you need anything.”
“I want you to do the same. I think this is something we’ll need to help each other through.”
“I will.” Mary-Ann smiled. “Call D.I. O’Connor if you think of anything useful, because he is going to be doing everything he can to find who murdered Kevin.”
Even though Mary-Ann knew she should head home she found herself walking around Green Springs instead, thinking about things she hadn’t thought about in a very long time. There were memories everywhere. She’d kissed Kevin beneath the big oak tree in the park more times than she could remember. Knowing he was dead… it was impossible to get her head around. Not being as close as they once were didn’t change anything. It didn’t change the fact she’d spent years of her life with him and she still cared deeply about him. She couldn’t help smiling as she remembered the last conversation they’d had.
“You don’t mind?” Kevin had sounded so worried. “I know we’ve been over for a while, but…
Mary-Ann laughed. “I don’t mind, Kev. I’m glad you’re happy and Sally’s a lovely woman.”
“She is.” The worry left his voice. “She makes me happy. The only other person who could make me happy in the same way was you, and I know there’s no chance of us getting back together.”
“I’ve changed too much.”
“That I know. I don’t think my Mary-Ann would have done what you did when Paul was killed in your pie shop. I believe she would have left the investigation to the police, even if they did end up screwing things up.”
“You’re probably right about that.” Mary-Ann smiled. “Be happy, Kevin.”
A tear trickled down her cheek. Kevin couldn’t be happy, because he was dead. Someone, for some reason, had killed him, and she needed to find out who it was, so they’d be put in prison, where they belonged. When a hand took hold of hers she turned to look at Robert. “I take it Hannah told you where I’d be.”
“She knew this was going to be hard for you.”
“She was right.” Mary-Ann wiped the tear away. “Kevin and I talked recently, about his relationship with Sally, and I was so glad he’d been able to let go of us. It was something I wasn’t certain he’d be able to do, but he did. He found someone who made him happy.”
“Tell me about him.”
“Is this because you want to know more about him or for the report you’re going to write for the paper?”
Robert laughed. “A bit of both. I want to know more about him because he meant so much to you, but I am going to be the one writing about the murder for the paper, so it would be helpful to know as much about him as possible for that.”
“Let’s get a coffee. I can answer all your questions.” She looked at him. “You don’t mind that this is getting to me?”
“I’d mind if it wasn’t getting to you, Mare.
Then I’d know there was something wrong, and then it might cross my mind you were the one who murdered Kevin.”
***
For a few seconds Mary-Ann couldn’t help herself from thinking about the number of times she’d been to that coffee shop with Kevin. She pushed the thought away as she watched Robert getting them both a coffee. Thinking about the past wasn’t going to do her any good. It was understandable, especially as she knew it wouldn’t be that long before she had to go to Kevin’s funeral, and that was something she hated the thought of. He shouldn’t be dead. He was too young to be dead. He was too good a person to be murdered. Whoever it was definitely deserved a long stretch in prison.
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