Murder in the Oven: A Camellia Cove Mystery Book 1

by Jessica Preston

  “What?” Kim asked. “Why?”

  “He moaned and groaned and went all limp every time I mentioned killing Pat,” Natalie told her. “He couldn't stand the idea of killing anybody, no matter how much money we stood to make from it. And then when I told him I broke into your shop and poisoned the cream cheese frosting, he started crying. Can you believe that? A grown man—crying!”

  Kim and Betts exchanged glances.

  “That fool barely had the courage to poison the rats in his bakery,” Natalie went on. “He never had the guts to do anything, let alone do what had to be done. He was nothing but a millstone around my neck from the very beginning. And then when he found out I planned to drive you out of business into the bargain, he couldn't stand it. He came over here to help you, but by then, it was a done deal. Pat was dead, and you were down at the station being questioned for the murder.”

  Kim blinked at her. “How could you do this, Natalie? How could you kill your own husband and frame me?”

  Natalie pulled her head down between her shoulders. “Isn't it obvious? Pat loved you.”

  “He what?” Kim yelled.

  Natalie nodded. “He loved you a lot more than he ever loved me. He thought you were brave and smart and kind. He looked forward to every inspection he ever made to your shop, and he sang your praises every time he came home. Then he started coming here every morning for cookies with cream cheese frosting. That's all I ever heard from morning ‘til night—cookies with cream cheese frosting. Well, I wiped the cream cheese frosting right off his face, didn't I?” She dissolved into maniacal laughter.

  Aaron nodded and collected the evidence under his arm. He tugged at her arm. “I think you better come down to the station, Natalie.”

  Kim shook her head. “So Ivor really did come to lock up after the murder. He was telling the truth.”

  “You two always got along with each other,” Betts pointed out. “You never let competition get in the way of an amicable business relationship. He must have been pretty upset when he found out Natalie planned to ruin you with Pat's murder.”

  “And don't forget,” Aaron added. “Natalie would have implicated Ivor by using the rat poison from his bakery. She tried to leave a trail of evidence leading back to him to divert suspicion away from herself. She might have had an affair with him, but even that could have been a pretext to cover her tracks.”

  He led Natalie away. Betts turned to Kim. “How does it feel to be free?”

  Kim clapped her friend on the shoulder. She couldn't wipe the grin off her face. “Pretty good.”

  “Hey, I've got a great idea,” Betts told her.

  Kim groaned. “Oh, no! Not another one.”

  “This is an even greater idea than any idea I've ever had before,” Betts told her. “Just wait until you hear it.”

  “What is it?” Kim asked.

  “Let's go back to your place,” Betts replied. “Let's go back to your place and make some cookies.”

  Kim burst out laughing. “All right. I can get on board with that.”

  Chapter 10

  Betts smiled at Kim and set both her hands down on the front counter of Pembrooke Bakery. “The usual, please.”

  “Sorry, sweetie,” Kim replied. “The Chocolate Cherry Bomb is all sold out.”

  Betts gasped. “What? Not the Cherry Bomb! This can't be happening.”

  Kim nodded. “I've had a hundred customers in the last three hours, and would you believe it? I sold out of the Chocolate Cherry Bombs in half an hour. I'll have to make a lot more from now on.”

  Betts pouted. “But it's my favorite.”

  “I know, darling,” Kim replied. “I'm really sorry. I didn't know that celebration ad campaign would bring in so many new customers. I sold out of three other kinds of cookies, too. If this keeps up, I'll have to bake more of everything on a daily basis.”

  Betts surveyed the display case. “Well, what do you have?”

  “What about the Peanut Supreme?” Kim asked. “You had that before when you wanted something different.”

  Betts made a sour face. “No. It isn't sweet enough. I need something loaded with sugar and very, very bad for me.”

  “What about the Frosted Angel's Wing?” Kim asked. “That's got more sugar than the Cherry Bomb. It doesn't have the chocolate. I know you're partial to chocolate, but it's still really sweet. And the lemon layer is really good. They're Winslow's favorite.”

  Betts brightened up. “Really? Well, Winslow can't be wrong. Give me one. I'll try it.”

  Kim served. Aaron came into the shop behind Betts. Kim smiled at him, and he took his place at the counter next to Betts. “Natalie just had her indictment hearing. The judge denied her request for bail. He said she was too much of a flight risk.”

  Kim sighed with relief. “Thank goodness all that is behind me. I can't thank you both enough for your help getting out from under Pat's murder.”

  “Did you hear about Dappley Donuts?” Aaron asked.

  Kim cocked her head. “I didn't hear anything. I've been too busy getting back into business myself.”

  “The new Health and Safety Officer shut him down,” Aaron told her.

  Kim gasped. “But he just had a written warning from Pat. How could he be shut down so fast?”

  Aaron shook his head. “Pat gave him more than one warning. He let Ivor stay open longer than he should have. The new inspector isn't so nice.”

  Kim cringed. “I hate to think what he'll do to me.”

  “He'll be happy with you, just like Pat was,” Betts replied. “Ivor didn't do enough to get rid of his rats. He won't be able to re-open until he fixes that problem.”

  “No wonder he was upset about Natalie killing Pat,” Kim remarked. “He must have known a different inspector wouldn't give him any leeway at all.”

  “He still insists he had nothing to do with the murder.” Aaron told her.

  “Do you believe him?” Kim asked.

  Aaron nodded. “He offered to testify against Natalie. He claims she told him many times not to worry about the rat problem, that she would solve it for him, and that she told him they would be rich so he wouldn't have to work. He claims she hated Pat, and she hated you, too, Kim. She's been stewing about Pat's feelings for you for a long time.”

  “But I never did anything with Pat,” Kim pointed out. “She's the one who cheated with Ivor.”

  “Ivor claims Pat never cheated on Natalie,” Aaron went on. “Even Natalie says Pat was faithful. It was his admiration for you she couldn't stand.”

  “It doesn't make any sense,” Kim murmured.

  “Murder never does,” Aaron replied.

  Aaron looked around at the clusters of customers. “Your business certainly seems to have bounced back. I've never seen your shop so crowded.”

  Kim beamed. “I should have advertised a lot more before now. I could have been doing this kind of business all along.”

  “Don't let your mother hear you say that,” Betts warned. “Here she comes now.”

  Candace barged into the shop. She waved her hands “Well, I hope you're proud of yourself. Look at this place. It's like a circus ring. When are you going to clean up the front window? It's got paint all over it.”

  Betts made faces at the back of Candace's head, but when Kim's mother scowled at her, Betts gave her a sweet smile. Kim swallowed her laughter. “That's not paint, Mom. It's glue. The glass company had to glue the new pane into place, and I haven't had time to clean it off. That ad campaign I ran did the job, and I got a lot of new customers. You should be congratulating me on re-opening instead of berating me.”

  Candace compressed her lips. “I won't congratulate you on doing a shoddy job of running your business.”

  “I'm not doing a shoddy job,” Kim replied. “I just re-opened. I still have a few odds and ends to clean up before everything gets back to normal. Personally, I can stand a little glue on the window as long as my customers are happy.”

  “Who could be unhappy
on a day like this?” Aaron asked. “You should have balloons and streamers flying from the roof. You should be setting off fireworks over the city.”

  Kim shot him a radiant smile. “Thanks. I'm glad someone feels the same way I do.”

  Candace set her hands on her hips. “Doesn't my opinion mean anything to you? Don't you listen to anything your mother tells you? I'm only trying to help you run a successful business.”

  “Your opinion would mean a lot more to me,” Kim replied, “if you offered it in a supportive way instead of criticizing everything you see.”

  “Besides,” Betts added, “you are running a successful business. You've got crowds of satisfied customers and more coming in every day. You bounced back from that murder charge with no trouble at all. From where I'm standing, you couldn't be more successful than that.”

  “Thanks, Betts,” Kim exclaimed.

  Just then, a man in a suit strolled into the shop with a leather briefcase in one hand. Kim didn't recognize him. He surveyed the shop and shouldered his way up to the counter. “You must be Kim Harris.”

  “I must be,” she replied. “What can I get for you today?”

  He laughed and shook her hand. “I'm not here for the cookies. I'm Parker Tompkins. I'm Ivor Wilson's defense attorney.”

  Kim stiffened. “What can I do for you? Ivor doesn't want me to change my story about him, does he?”

  “No, nothing like that,” Parker replied. “He has a business proposition for you.”

  Kim help up both hands. “Stop right there. I'm not interested in donuts.”

  “Ivor knows that,” Parker told her. “He wants to offer you a very attractive price on his shop. He wondered if you might want to capitalize on your new success by expanding your operation.”

  Kim's eyes widened. “Expand? I only just got my doors open again. I don't know about expanding.”

  Parker leaned forward and lowered his voice. “He would offer you a very attractive price—a very attractive price, if you know what I mean.”

  Kim frowned.

  “You said yourself, Kim” Betts chimed in. “Ivor's shop has everything going for it. It's in a prime location, it's got more curb appeal than you could ever need, and it's got all that Ivor's customer traffic to go along with it. It could be the beginning of your global cookie empire.”

  Kim laughed out loud. “I didn't know I was building a global cookie empire. Besides, Ivor's shop also has a whopping rat problem.”

  Parker set his briefcase down on the counter. He popped the latches and handed Kim a piece of paper. “This is a quote from Acme Pest Extermination Company. They say they can solve the rat problem by blocking the access tunnels under the building to stop the rats coming up from the basement. The cost can be shared by all the businesses on that side of the street across from the courthouse. You wouldn't have to bear all the expense yourself.”

  “If that's true,” Kim asked, “why didn't Ivor do that himself?”

  “He was in the process of negotiating with the other business owners,” Parker replied. “That's why Pat Malloy agreed to give him a reprieve on his Health and Safety warnings. He allowed him extra time to arrange the procedure, but he died before Ivor could complete the process. The new inspector doesn't shared Pat's lenient attitude.”

  “Too bad,” Kim murmured.

  Parker handed over another large folio of papers. “Ivor is willing to include all the equipment and all the stock in the shop in his sale package.”

  “Donut making equipment,” Kim corrected. “I told you I don't want to make donuts.”

  Parker shrugged. “I'm sure you could use the equipment for something. And if you really don't want it, you could sell it.”

  “Doesn't Ivor want to re-open some day?” Kim asked. “He agreed to testify against Natalie. He should be clear to return to work soon.”

  “He doesn't want to come back to Dappley Donuts,” Parker told her. “His experience with Natalie and Pat's death left him shaken. He also doesn't want to continue the negotiations to get the rat problem dealt with. He wants to leave town and start fresh somewhere else.”

  “I'm sorry to hear that,” Kim remarked. “I enjoyed having another business owner in town to compete with. It gave me a way to challenge myself.”

  “What about it, Kim?” Betts asked. “Why not challenge yourself by opening another shop?”

  “I don't know,” Kim replied. “I would have to hire someone to run it. I might even have to hire people to run both shops while I managed them from above. I always loved serving my customers in person. I don't want to give that up.”

  Parker snapped the clips of his briefcase closed. “Well, you think about it. Here's my card. You can let me know what you decide.”

  They watched him walk away, and Betts grinned at Candace. “Now do you believe Kim is a success?”

  Candace glared at her. Then she rounded on Kim. “You're not seriously thinking of doing this, are you? You can't!”

  “Why can't I?” Kim asked. “I wasn't thinking of it, but if you think it's a bad idea, maybe I should consider it.”

  Betts choked on her cookie and had to stuff the crumbs back into her mouth.

  “You're a small-time bakery owner,” Candace barked. “You're not Colonel Sanders.”

  Kim shrugged. “Even Colonel Sanders had to start somewhere. If the rat problem is that easy to solve, it might be worth taking a look at Ivor's shop. I don't know if I'll do it, but I'll definitely give it a lot of thought.”

  “Good for you,” Betts exclaimed.

  Candace scowled at her. Then she threw up her hands. “Well, I never!”

  Kim watched her stomp out of the shop. Then she sighed. “I wish I could figure out what would make her happy. I would gladly do it.”

  “Good riddance,” Betts grumbled. “Now if we could only get Winslow to eat real cat food instead of cookies, we'd be batting a thousand.”

  Winslow blinked up at them from his place in the sun by the front window seat. Kim laughed. “That'll be the day.”

  “He's worse than me,” Betts went on. “He never eats anything but cookies.”

  She set down her tongs and took off her apron. “Well, it's all over now—for me, anyway. I'm putting all this murder stuff behind me and moving on to a glorious future. So I'm going to have to ask all of you to leave now.”

  “What?” Betts cried. “Why do we have to leave?”

  “It's two o'clock,” Kim pointed out. “It's closing time. You know that.”

  “Yeah, but I just got here,” Betts replied. “I thought I could hang out and keep you company while you clean up.”

  “I'll clean up later,” Kim told her. “Right now, I've got an appointment to keep.”

  Betts put her head on one side. “What appointment is that?”

  Aaron put out his hand, and Kim put hers into it. “We have an appointment to take a walk along the river. I'll be back in an hour or two, and you can help me clean up then.”

  Aaron led her around the counter toward the door. The other customers migrated out onto the sidewalk and dispersed. The sun blazed in the sky, and birds chirped in the treetops.

  Betts stared at Kim and Aaron. “It's not fair.”

  Kim locked the shop door behind her. “I'll see you later.”

  The End.

  A letter from the Author

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