Deadly Pumpkin Slice (A Sinful Sweets Cozy Mystery)

by Lee, Carol

  “Let’s go home, girl. We have scones to make with Grace.”

  Maple led the way and Sydney found herself on her doorstep, feeling exhausted from the events of the day.

  ***

  Sydney woke up at her usual early hour, but had nowhere to go. She couldn’t go to the bakery and the baking from the previous night was complete. She figured it was still too early to get together with Grace and discuss their plan of attack for interrogations—no, questionings. And it was definitely too early to find Allison at the library.

  Instead, she took a morning for herself. She grated a potato and fried it up for hash browns. She added sour cream to them so they were creamy and fluffy. She added two eggs to a different pan and made over easy eggs with pepper. She cut a tomato and avocado, catching it just before it passed its prime, and put them on a plate while everything else cooked. One piece of bread went into the toaster and she took out her blueberry jam. A neighbor had made it from her own bushes the previous summer. Sydney was surprised she still had any. Finally, she put water on to boil and took out her biggest mug. She’d take it easy this morning and enjoy an extra large cup of tea with her enormous breakfast. She’d need all the energy she could get to make it through another day of proving her own innocence.

  “Don’t worry, I didn’t forget you,” she said to Maple, giving her a rub behind the ears. “Here’s a peanut butter sandwich for your breakfast.” Peanut butter was Maple’s favorite. “What do you think, are you going to come with me today on all of my adventures?”

  Maple looked up expectantly, knowing she’d never be left behind.

  Just before Sydney sat down to enjoy her meal, her phone sang, letting her know a text had come in. Couldn’t sleep. Grace had written.

  Me neither. Kept thinking about AUSTIN and his allegations. See you in an hour at the library? Sydney checked her watch and was surprised to see it was already eight o’clock. If she didn’t get up so early every day, she’d never get anything done!

  Perfect. See you then.

  Their first plan was made.

  ***

  “So, Austin, huh?” Grace said when Sydney and Maple arrived on the front steps of the library.

  “He keeps telling me to call him that,” Sydney defended herself.

  “You can’t deny he’s quite the catch.”

  “He would be. In a different lifetime.”

  “We both know you’re innocent. If he’s moving to a first name basis, he must know something we don’t.”

  “He’s certainly not letting on that I’m about to get removed from the top of the suspect list. Let’s talk to Allison and see if she can take my place up there. Sorry Maple,” she said, turning to the dog. “You have to stay outside. This isn’t Sinful Sweets.”

  Sydney tied Maple to the banister leading up the front steps and she went inside with Grace.

  “I hope the detectives are quick about their ingredient testing. I hate thinking about all the customers we’re letting down this morning,” Sydney whispered as they passed into the main part of the library.

  “It won’t be good for business, that’s for sure. But it will all blow over. This can’t ruin us, we’re stronger than that,” Grace reassured her friend and employer.

  There was no one at the front desk, but there were also no other patrons. This was likely one of the quietest times of the day, so Allison was probably putting books away. Grace began walking up and down the aisles looking for her, while Sydney stayed at the desk hoping she’d feel their presence.

  “Good morning,” an unfamiliar man’s voice said to Sydney. She turned around to see a new face.

  “Oh, hi,” she said, trying to hide her surprise.

  “Is there anything I can help you find?”

  “Actually, I’m looking for Allison. I thought she’d be here today.”

  “She no longer works here. She was transferred yesterday to Westhedge. They found themselves without a librarian all of a sudden and she had the most seniority so she was lucky enough to get it,” the man told her, a hint of jealousy in his voice.

  Who knew the librarian business was so competitive? Sydney thought to herself.

  “And between you and me, she’s been eyeing that position for years,” he continued in a conspiratorial whisper.

  “Just having enough seniority got her the job?” Sydney asked, surprised that there didn’t seem to be any kind of application process.

  “Normally, she’d only be there temporarily, but I think she’s been sneaking favors to the man upstairs, if you know what I mean,” he continued to whisper, this time adding a wink and a nudge of Sydney’s arm.

  “You’re here permanently then?” Sydney asked.

  “It seems so. Couldn’t be happier, though. I was coming from a high school where kids just don’t care about books anymore. I’m Steve, but the way.”

  “Hi Steve,” she said, shaking his hand. “Sydney. You don’t know anything else about this vacancy Westhedge found themselves with, do you?” She plowed on, determined to get answers, even if they weren’t from the person she was tracking down. Grace made her way back to the front of the library and hung off to one side, reading a book full of canning recipes while eavesdropping.

  “Well, actually, I heard the previous librarian, Aaron, was murdered. Can you believe that? Who goes after a librarian?”

  “Do you know if Allison knew him?” Sydney was hoping she wouldn’t have to give too much away.

  “I heard they were friendly. But if you ask me, you have to check out the members of the Library Commission. They’re like the board of directors. There have been shady things going on with the Westhedge Library budget for years. I don’t know any details, but the commissioners will.”

  “Thanks Steve. We’ll head over to Westhedge to find Allison.”

  “No problem. See you around.” He waved as he turned back to his work.

  Sydney walked out the front door with Grace close behind. She untied Maple and they started walking back to Sydney’s house.

  “Can you believe that?” Sydney nearly shouted. “This goes deeper than either of us knew! I bet either he was skimming off the top of that huge library fund and got found out—but why kill him over it, why not just fire him?” She was thinking out loud and there was too much to process.

  “Or one of the commissioners was using the fund for personal use and Aaron found out. This was their way of shutting him up. If Allison was eyeing that job, they probably think they’ll have her wrapped around their finger or they’ll threaten to fire her,” Grace countered, adding plenty more suspects to their list.

  “Either way, we need to find out what was going on with that money. But first things first, we have to meet with Mia to get her ready for tonight’s wake.”

  “What about the Westhedge customers? Have you heard back from any of them?”

  “I’ll have to brave going back to Sinful Sweets before we leave. I’ll stop there after we see Mia. Hopefully they’ll have cleared out. But if not, I’ll sweet talk my way into my office again.”

  ***

  “Auntie Sydney!” Ariel cried as soon as Sydney opened the door to her sister’s house. She opened her arms and Ariel flew into them.

  “Hi Ariel. Where’s your mom?” she asked, knowing that her day was packed and as much as she’d love to spend quality time with her niece, she had to get straight to business.

  “She’s putting Aiden down for a nap,” the three year old told her. “Can I play outside with Maple?”

  “Of course. Grace and I will come too. We’ll wait outside until your mom comes back downstairs.”

  “Hooray!” Ariel shouted and Sydney knew she should try to keep her quiet. Going outside would help solve that problem.

  Sydney found herself pushing Ariel on the swing again. Grace sat on the second one, barely moving, absorbed in her phone, looking up members of the Library Commission in Westhedge. Everything was public on the library’s website, so she made a point to save the page before
Googling their names.

  She found six members, including two couples. One couple—Lewis and Linda Page—was made up of an accountant and a well known author. Linda had been a local sensation since her first novel hit number one on the New York Times Bestsellers list 20 years earlier. Her husband flew to the top of Grace’s suspect list. An accountant would know exactly how to manufacture the books to look legitimate, even when they weren’t.

  Another couple—Arthur and Marilyn Jeffreys—included a former Wall Street broker who had retired in Westhedge with his children’s book illustrator wife. They’d have to check them out, but they seemed to pose little risk in the way of stealing money.

  The final two members—Kevin Markus and Jordan Nash—were both lifetime residents of Westhedge—a bus driver and a business owner. Grace would have to ask Sydney if she knew them from the three years she’d lived there with Aaron.

  “Sorry Sydney, Aiden just wouldn’t fall asleep!” Mia complained when she came outside.

  “Don’t worry about it. That just meant I got more quality time with Ariel.”

  “Why don’t you come inside and we can talk about tonight,” Mia suggested. “Ariel, do you want to do fingerpaints in the play room?” Sydney suspected this would be a special activity for her and would keep her occupied to prevent overhearing anything she might question later.

  Ariel nearly ran straight into the glass sliding door on her way back inside, her excitement all consuming.

  “Lunch?” Mia asked.

  “That’d be great. Whatever you have.”

  “So, what do you want me to look for tonight?” Mia asked, setting peanut butter, jelly and bread out onto the counter.

  “Anything suspicious. I think it will be more about listening to people,” Sydney started.

  “What do you think of as suspicious?” Mia asked.

  “If anyone is too adamant that I’m the killer. We all know I didn’t do it, so see who is blaming me.”

  “Or anyone who is grieving just a little too much, but maybe didn’t know Aaron well,” Grace added.

  “Or anyone who knows too much about the hotel room details—that there were two pumpkin pies, that they came from my bakery, that my fingerprints were found in the room.”

  “Those details haven’t been made public,” Grace explained when Mia looked confused.

  “So I should be schmoozing?” Mia asked.

  “Definitely. And keep all your conversations light, don’t let anyone know that you’re digging for clues or suspects. Oh, that reminds me. We have a list of suspects for you to look out for too.” Sydney wrote down the names of the customers they were hoping to question. “We don’t know any of them, and we don’t even know if they’ll be there. But they all ordered pies from us right before the murder.”

  “And I was able to find the six members of the Library Commission. Keep your eyes open for them too.” Grace added six more names to the list. “We’ll try to find out as much as we can about each of them before tonight and we’ll let you know if there’s anyone you can skip.”

  “Nine people to check out. People are going to be suspicious of me!”

  “Hm, they might be,” Sydney agreed. “We hadn’t thought that far ahead. Just, be careful. How about we stay in Westhedge and you can call us if there’s anything you overhear that you think we should check out. And we’ll be able to Google anything too. Maybe I should try to get into Detective Massey’s good graces beforehand so I can give him a call to get even more information if needed.”

  “You’ve fallen out of his good graces?” Mia asked.

  “Well, I was brought in for questioning yesterday and they’ve closed down Sinful Sweets to test for poison in our ingredients. I didn’t have much for patience when he was telling me we wouldn’t be able to work this morning. I got short with him. But I have to go back and check my email before we go to Westhedge—we should probably get going, Grace!” Sydney looked at her watch and was surprised it was already after one.

  “Thanks for lunch,” Grace said.

  “Thanks for giving me a list of suspects,” Mia said sarcastically.

  “We’ll be in Westhedge all afternoon, so if we hear anything, we’ll let you know. Thanks for doing this!”

  Sydney and Grace brought Maple back to Sydney’s house and picked up her car before stopping at Sinful Sweets. Sydney rarely left her home alone, but today was one of those rare occasions. They’d be going into uncharted territory and they couldn’t risk being kicked out of places because dogs weren’t welcome.

  Back at the bakery, Sydney was thrilled to see no police presence. She unlocked the back door and everything was cleaned up. She hoped that meant she’d be able to reopen the next day. She made a mental note to call Detective Massey to double check.

  Grace headed to the front to do a quick cleaning so they’d have less work the next day. Sydney went into her small office.

  She stopped short when she got to the door.

  On her desk, on top of her closed laptop, was a gruesomely carved Jack-‘o-Lantern. It had been carved such that it appeared to be in extreme pain. Her own name was written in Sharpie so there would be no mistaking that it was a threat.

  “What is it, Sydney?” Grace had seen her turn white as a sheet when she’d reached her office.

  “I think we’ve been warned.” Sydney walked to the pumpkin and picked it up. Inside was one of her ramekins, smashed to pieces. Also included was a note.

  Two can play at your games.

  “This isn’t good,” Grace cautioned. “We should call Detective Massey right now.”

  “Let’s give it 24 hours. We have a lot of leads to check out, and he wouldn’t want us doing that. This could clear my name, but we have to find whoever it was because they seem to be after me right now. Stopping our investigation wouldn’t keep me safe.”

  “At least take a photo so we can send it to him if needed,” Grace suggested.

  Sydney snapped out of her shock and turned on her computer. As she waited, she looked at the note again. Each word had been cut from a magazine. It would be impossible to trace without fingerprinting the page, which they couldn’t do without help. She took out her phone and snapped a photo of the whole scene, then each individual piece.

  Grace went back out front to finish cleaning. She found a note on the register from Detective Massey.

  Sorry for the inconvenience. You’re cleared to reopen, effective immediately.

  Sydney logged into her email and saw two responses from the survey—both Jody and Michael were willing to meet with her this afternoon. She’d bring each of them a half dozen donuts instead of one each. This was a better response than she’d expected. Only Madelyn hadn’t responded.

  CHAPTER 6

  “Thanks for responding to our survey and meeting us on such short notice,” Sydney said to Jody as they sat down at the bar. There were no bakeries in Westhedge, so they were at the local diner instead. Afternoon coffee. Sydney and Grace would be full of it after talking to Jody and Michael.

  “I’m just so thrilled to be able to buy your sweets without having to find the time to go to Twin Peaks! I know it’s not far, but with all the work teachers are expected to do outside the classroom, I’d never be able to enjoy your goodies,” Jody gushed.

  “Thanks. We take great pride in being able to ship our products. But we also love to know our customers. And from our survey, it looks like you’ve been a customer since we started shipping.”

  “That’s right. A friend let me in on the secret of how good everything you make is, and as soon as I could place orders, I did. I must order something every month. But your pumpkin pies—they’re, hands down, my favorite.”

  “Do you ever bring them to gatherings with friends? Share them at events? We love to know how they’re being used so that we can add personalized touches to them.”

  “That should be something you ask when placing an order!” Jody offered. “It could be an optional answer, but then maybe offer additional
toppings for extra costs for those special occasions.”

  “I love that idea!” Sydney said, smiling at Grace. This might have to become one of their customer service trademarks—visiting with customers.

  Jody beamed. Both Sydney and Grace could tell that she couldn’t hurt a fly, so they weren’t even going to dig into her possible knowledge of Aaron’s death. But they did still want to know how she’d used her recent pies to more fully rule her out.

  “Your most recent order—four individual sized pumpkin pies—did you share those? Would it have been helpful if we’d included anything else with them to fit a special occasion?” Grace asked.