Cupcakes and Conspiracies

by Katherine Hayton

  “Well, that’s your own fault,” Holly said. The aftermath of her terror left her grumpy. “Why are you sneaking around someone else’s house in the middle of the night?”

  “It’s only just gone nine,” Humphrey said in a reasonable voice. “And I’m not sneaking. I’ve got keys to this place, you know.”

  “You’re using a flashlight,” Crystal said in an accusing tone. “Who does that?”

  “The lights are out,” Humphrey said. “It’s the overhead wires—they sometimes short out on the trees. I only needed to get something quickly from Brian’s office, so I used the emergency flashlight from my car.”

  As he spoke, the light downstairs flickered and then turned on. “And we’re back,” Humphrey said, turning off his light and reaching over to flick the switch next to Holly’s shoulder. The change had her shielding her eyes for a minute, weird shadows cavorting across her vision.

  “Wait a minute,” Humphrey said. “Why are you two here?” He pointed a finger at Crystal. “No offense, but I really don’t think you should be in here, Miss.”

  “I also have a set of keys,” Holly said, dangling them as proof in front of Humphrey’s eyes. “Derek left me in charge of feeding Mittens. Crystal only came in here because I screamed.”

  “At nine o’clock?”

  Holly blushed crimson and looked down at her feet. “I kind of might have forgotten a little bit.”

  Humphrey laughed. “Well”—he tapped the side of his nose—“your secret’s safe with me.”

  “What did you need at nine o’clock?” Crystal said. Holly couldn’t work out if her sister genuinely suspected him of wrongdoing or if she was just miffed at being called ‘Miss.’

  “I’m visiting Brian in the hospital tomorrow,” Humphrey said. “I thought I’d also check in on Derek and see he’s holding up okay. Since I’m going to Christchurch, I thought I’d check and see if Brian had got around to signing the papers for the Supermarket expansion. He promised he’d have them on my desk two days ago but, well…” He shrugged. “Things didn’t quite go as planned.”

  Humphrey’s face was overwritten with sadness. He and Brian Masters were the same age, and although it had never occurred to Holly, it fitted that the two of them would be friends.

  “I’ll pop downstairs and see to Mittens,” Holly said. When her sister didn’t budge from glaring at Humphrey, she prompted, “Are you coming, Crystal?”

  They trotted downstairs, one after the other, Holly’s heart beating far slower than it had on the way up. “That was too much excitement for one evening,” she said. “I hope all the adrenaline doesn’t keep me awake.”

  “Do you believe his story?” Crystal said. “That he’s sneaking around here with a flashlight at night just looking for some signed papers.”

  Holly looked at her sister with surprise. “Of course. Why? Don’t you?”

  Crystal cast a glare at the ceiling as a floorboard upstairs creaked under Humphrey’s weight. “I trust him about as much as I trust Mr. Masters. And I never trusted him an inch.”

  “But what else would he be doing here? It’s obvious he was given the keys to Mr. Master’s office.”

  “So were you, but you’re not poking around in there.”

  “No, I wasn’t. They’re not on my key ring.”

  At the sharp look that Crystal gave her, Holly struggled to maintain her composure. Foot in mouth disease strikes again.

  “How about we just feed Derek’s cat and get out of here?” Crystal suggested. “I hate to think what would have happened if I left you to turn up here by yourself.”

  “I would have been done by now?” Holly joked, emptying the single serve can into Mittens’ bowl.

  The cat looked quite content with the absence of his master. Although it made a fuss and purred while waiting for food to arrive, once the bowl was down Holly and Crystal may as well not have existed.

  Although she couldn’t resist one long stroke along the cat’s back before she left, Holly couldn’t fool herself it was for Mitten’s benefit.

  “Hurry up,” Crystal said as they stepped out onto the drive. “He’s coming downstairs. The last thing I want tonight is to be stuck in a boring conversation with our accountant.”

  Agreeing with the end result, if not the sentiment, Holly matched her stride to her sister’s until they were around the bend and safely out of sight.

  “Why don’t you like Humphrey?” Holly asked, trying to fathom out Crystal’s response again. “Dad always seemed pretty fond of him.”

  “For a while,” Crystal said, then went tight-lipped. No matter how Holly pestered her on the walk home, she wouldn’t be drawn.

  “At least it’s only a half day tomorrow,” Holly said as she bade her sister good night. “I’m looking forward to doing absolutely nothing in the afternoon!”

  Crystal shook her head.

  “What? Tell me!”

  “You’ll find out. There’s a hard road ahead for you, but it’ll spoil the surprise if I tell you all about it. Just be sure to get everything ready by ten. There won’t be a minute to spare after that!”

  With her sister’s warning taking up chief residence inside her head, Holly spent the next day preparing the shop in tense anticipation. A few minutes after the church bells struck ten, Holly found out exactly what she’d meant.

  Churchgoers flooded into the bakery, stomachs demanding a treat to swallow along with the words of wisdom from the recent sermon. Even two staff serving would have been run off their feet. By the time the last churchgoer was served, Holly felt as though she’d been wrung out and thrown on a line to dry.

  When Meggie poked her head in through the door, she insisted that Holly sit while she fetched the coffee. “If you don’t sit soon, lovey, you’ll fall down. And then where will we be?”

  “Don’t you have the same flood of customers coming in?”

  Meggie popped back to the table and laid a brimming coffee cup in front of Holly, along with a misshapen cupcake that had been tossed to one side.

  “Oh, I get the ladies through, all right,” Meggie said. “But they turn up early, wanting to get their hair set before they go to church. Bring back hats, that’s what I say.”

  “Didn’t you want one for yourself?” Holly asked as Meggie sat down with just the coffee.

  “That was all there was left. They’ve eaten you out of stock.”

  “Oh, goodness.” Holly broke off half the cake and pushed it across the table. “Sorry about the fingers.”

  “For a bite of this,” Meggie rolled her eyes up to heaven. “I’ll put up with a fair sight more.”

  Holly crossed her arms on the table and laid her head down. “I feel like I could go to sleep for a week!”

  “Knock yourself out. I’ve turned the sign to closed.”

  Holly groaned. “There shouldn’t be this much temptation on a Sunday, it’s not right.”

  When her coffee began to kick in, Holly sat upright in her chair again, hiding a yawn behind her hand. “Did you hear anything about how Alice fared with the police?”

  “As far as I can gather, they just wanted to go over her statement again,” Meggie said. “Checking that she hadn’t remembered something further after the commotion died down.”

  “Had she?”

  Meggie shrugged. “If she had, Alice didn’t mention it to me. But then again, she and I aren’t really close.”

  “How can she not be close to you?” Holly asked. “You’re adorable.”

  “Oh, stop it.” Meggie smiled and flapped her hand at Holly. “Or go on, I don’t care.”

  “I just realized that I never shouted you out for dinner,” Holly said. “Do you want to go out somewhere tonight.”

  Meggie’s face darkened, and she looked out the window. “Not tonight, lovey. I’ve got myself some other plans.”

  Her tone of voice was so different and so much glummer than usual that Holly took the warning and didn’t pry.

  This time, Holly remembered her fel
ine responsibilities and stopped by Derek’s house on her way home. She was so early that Mittens didn’t seem as enthusiastic about new food in his bowl as usual. Instead, Holly got the chance to play with him, teasing the keys into moving along the floor while Mittens jumped after them, entranced.

  When the cat grew bored of the game and wandered off, tail in air, to find a patch of sunlight to lay in, Holly moved outside.

  The walk to the Masters’ house had renewed the ache in her feet from the morning’s rush, so Holly kicked off her shoes and sat out on the lawn, digging into the springy garden with her toes.

  The coolness of the grass against her bare feet felt wonderful. Switching over and laying on her stomach, Holly picked up a few daisies, daring to sprout on the otherwise immaculate lawn, and started to intertwine them into a crown.

  With the precise monotony of the task, Holly’s mind wandered. It traveled back to the surprise that she’d experienced on her first day, seeing the crowds of people flocking in through the door.

  With the numbers that the bakery was pulling in with turnover, their overheads must be entirely out of whack for them to be in as much trouble as they were. Although Holly couldn’t remember the exact numbers, she also couldn’t recall them striking her as odd.

  The daisy chain done, Holly lifted it onto her head, placing it with care. As she stood, she saw that there were grass stains on her pale dress. No wonder her dad always used to bring a rug for them to lie on when they had picnics. Hopefully, they’d come out with a good soak. Then Holly shrugged. No matter either way.

  “Totally worth it,” she said as her feet treasured the walk back across the lawn to the path where she’d left her shoes.

  “Howdy, stranger. What are you doing here?”

  Holly was startled out of her peaceful reverie. Dale was waving at her from beside his car. She’d been so lost in thought that she hadn’t even twigged to the crunch of gravel as he drove up.

  “Hey, there.” Holly leaped over the flowerbed marking the divide between drive and lawn. “I’m the chief cat feeder around these parts, don’t you know.”

  “Derek asked you?” The surprise in his voice was so evident that Holly laughed.

  “What? Am I not good enough?”

  “I thought your family hated cats.”

  “My dad was allergic.” Holly shrugged. “But then again, he was allergic to almost everything. I don’t know Crystal’s precise opinion, but it does seem to skew negative, I’ll agree. Me, though? I love ‘em.”

  “That grand,” he said. “Because my mother told me never to trust a person who doesn’t love cats.”

  “Does that mean she’d consider Crystal untrustworthy?”

  Dale cocked his head to one side, and the smile faded into something grimmer. “There was a lot of stuff happened when we were at school that would back my mother up in that regard.”

  Holly swallowed, wanting to defend her sister, but not knowing precisely what the charges were.

  “She was a bit wild,” Holly eventually said, hedging her bets.

  “I think that as soon as she began drinking, wild became an understatement for what Crystal was. It may have been hard to see from Christchurch University, but it was obvious to everyone here at home.”

  A flush spread across Holly’s chest and her eyes stung from a sudden prick of tears. “I wasn’t my sister’s keeper,” she muttered. “That wasn’t my job.”

  The look on Dale’s face turned in an instant from stern to shocked. “Oh, my goodness, I didn’t mean that the way it came out.” He held his hands up to either side. “Honest. I’m sorry, I’ve been having a bad day.”

  “You’ve been having a bad day?” Holly sniffed. “You should try serving sixty churchgoers with fifty cupcakes and then tell me about your bad day.”

  For a moment, Dale stared at her with wide, disbelieving eyes, then he burst into giggles. While Holly watched with a frown on her face, he cracked up, even more, holding his stomach as though to keep the laughter in.

  “Serving ch-churchgoers cupcakes?” he finally managed to stammer out. “That’s your idea of a bad day?” Dale wiped tears out of his eyes as he regained some control. “Oh, dear, I needed that!”

  “Glad I could help.”

  “Every time you’re around, you seem to help,” Dale said with a broad smile. “How do you fancy a drive out into the country?”

  Holly tilted her head to one side and cocked an eyebrow. “Are you saying, this isn’t the country?”

  Dale smiled again but didn’t laugh this time. Maybe his store needed to be replenished.

  “Even further into the country, then. How about it? I need to check on a drover that your sister swears made her hours late.”

  “I’ll go on one condition,” Holly said. “I get to pet a lamb.”

  “Hey, that’s a big ask,” Dale said. “And I can’t make any promises. They’re his sheep, not mine.”

  “Fine. I’ll take the chance. Just let me lock up here.” Holly walked over to the front door and found it locked tight already. She frowned, but given the level of exhaustion overtaking her on arrival, it was no shock that she couldn’t remember doing something that small.

  That tiredness had evaporated. Some lifted by the bright sun and the brilliant green lawn, more by the arrival of a handsome young policeman.

  No, not young, Holly corrected herself. My age but for a year, and after forty, that’s no difference at all.

  “Can I just ask something important before we go?” Dale said after Holly slid into the passenger seat of the patrol car.

  Nerves sparked in her belly, tightening the muscles in her throat until she could barely speak to ask, “What is it?”

  “Are you aware that you have some foliage on your head?”

  In her relief and the smile lighting up Dale’s face, Holly chuckled and gave his shoulder a slap.

  “That’s not foliage, you commoner.” She touched her hand to the wilting crown. “That’s a tiara!”

  The road out of town wasn’t yet filling up with the weekly exodus. That was what the locals called it when the weekend stayers up from Christchurch began to filter out of the township on their way home. Luckily, the other tourists didn’t stick to a strict timeline, or Hanmer Springs would be empty from Sunday night to Friday.

  In fact, as they turned the corner that took them past the maze then the last hotel in Hanmer Springs proper, only one car shared the road, and it was headed toward them.

  “Who is this farmer, then?” Holly asked. “Has he always been local?”

  “Yeah. The Henderson family’s been farming the land here for generations. Before even the township was first built, I think.” Dale looked over at her. “Even longer than your naughty great-granny.”

  “Ha!” Holly said with good humor. “Until you provide me with proof of my ancestor’s wrongdoing, you know I won’t believe you.”

  “But I’m a policeman! Don’t you know that cops never lie?”

  “Strangely enough, that information hasn’t made it all the way out to Christchurch. Perhaps you should have provided your advertising campaign with a bigger budget.”

  The road turned and narrowed, a gap carved out of a hillside, sheer rock cliffs rising on either side. This portion always made Holly hold her breath, trying to be thinner. Even worse was still to come, though, as they rounded the last bend before the narrow-one-lane bridge.

  Once, when she was much younger, Holly had a dream in which the bridge featured prominently. Her dad had given way to the traffic coming toward them, then nosed the car out and started to cross.

  Then the car engine stopped.

  To add to the trouble, a car was headed straight for them from the other direction. Instead of holding back and giving way, it was trying to force its way through and make them retreat.

  As the cars sat, one idling, one stalled, the bridge began to shudder, crumbling under the weight. Before Holly woke, screaming, she had felt the car tip and plunge toward the river be
neath.

  Crossing it since had made her nervous.

  “Faster or slower?”

  “Pardon me,” Holly said, trying to look anywhere but out the windows.

  “You’re scared. Would it be better if I drove faster or slower?”

  “Faster and please don’t judge me if I close my eyes.”

  “There’s no judgment here. The only thing I’m curious about is how you made it over the bridge to begin with.” After a moment’s pause that verged on uncomfortable, Dale continued, “Please don’t tell me you came over the exact same way.”

  Holly gave a brittle laugh. “Scouts honor, I looked at the road.”

  Holly’s heartbeat raced and sweat beaded out on her forehead. With her eyes still squeezed shut, she reached up and pulled down her daisy crown, wiping her brow with a surreptitious jerk of one hand.

  “Almost there,” Dale reassured her. “Nothing’s coming the other way.”

  Even though she knew it was stupid, Holly’s jaw continued to clench harder. If they didn’t get over the other side soon, a headache would reward her for the remainder of the day.

  Then Holly felt the vehicle gain speed and turn. She cracked open one eye to investigate just as Dale happily announced, “We’re over.”

  Holly breathed out a shaky sigh of relief and rubbed her damp palms together. “You must think I’m an idiot.”

  “Lots of people don’t like bridges,” Dale said. “My mother couldn’t stand it, either. I think that’s why she stayed with my dad as long as she did—the only alternative was taking the one bridge out of town.”

  He turned the car off the main route back to Christchurch, onto an old gravel road winding down the side of the hill.

  “I’m sorry.” Holly sat up straighter in the seat, knocking the daisy chain to the floor. “I didn’t realize your parents had split up.”

  “That’s old news. Even the hardiest of town gossips have moved on with their chatter.” Dale winked at her. “Though I’m trying to convince Dad to sign up for Tinder. If I succeed, that’ll get their tongues wagging again.”

  Holly laughed and bent forward, minding the dashboard, to stretch her fingers out for the daisy chain.