The Sweet Baked Mystery Series - Books 1-6

by Katherine Hayton

  “I’ll sort you out first, Bride-to-be, since your hairstyle will take the longest,” Meggie said and waved Crystal into a chair. “I’ve arranged for some bubbles for my wedding appointments. Help yourself.”

  Crystal had a worried look on her face that relaxed into a smile as she looked at the sparkling grape and apple juice on display. “I’ll take an apple.”

  Holly helped herself to a grape juice and took a seat at the next station in line. The radio played softly in the background, and she closed her eyes to concentrate on the music, not wanting to invite any conversation.

  “Wakey-wakey,” Meggie said a split-second later, and Holly opened her eyes to discover that she’d fallen fast asleep. A small trickle of drool ran out of the corner of her mouth, and she wiped it away quickly with the back of her hand. Given the glint of satisfaction in Esmerelda’s eyes, it wasn’t fast enough.

  “I thought I was the one who didn’t get any sleep last night,” Crystal said with a laugh while Holly stared at her sister’s transformation in wonder. Her fair hair was piled high upon her head and fixed in place with a crystal tiara. Fitting, given her sister’s name. The makeup application was light, but it certainly brought a jolt of color to Crystal’s face.

  “I want what she’s having,” Holly said with a determined nod. “If you can make me look half as good as the bride, then I’ll be happy.”

  “She’s a hairdresser, not a miracle worker,” Esmerelda said, and Crystal giggled in surprise. Holly gave the elderly woman a glance through narrowed eyes, then saw the hint of a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

  “Well, if you can make me look as good as Esmerelda, I’ll settle for that too,” Holly said in as friendly a reply as she could manage.

  “You’re in luck,” Meggie said. “It’s still the time of morning when I have full control of all my faculties. By the time I get through the last of the appointments this morning, I’m not sure I’ll be turning out such miraculous transformations.”

  The three clients laughed as Meggie got to work.

  “I really think the dress might have expanded a bit, rather than shrunk,” Crystal said as Holly maneuvered it carefully over her head and shoulders. Once it was past the danger zone of makeup, they both breathed a sigh of relief.

  “I wish I could work that sort of magic,” Holly said with a pat of her stomach. “I’ve been getting into the cupcakes too much lately. The shop’s been so busy with the summer tourists that I never seem to have the time to take a proper break.”

  “We should organize the café to bring us a proper lunch every day,” Crystal said. “I’m sure that our profits can extend to feeding the staff.”

  Holly moved around to the back of her sister to help her with the ties that kept everything in place. “Not long now.”

  Crystal offered up a shaky laugh. “Nope. Now, I’m terrified that I’ll forget all my vows and have to leave the church in shame.”

  Holly gave a sniff. “I’m pretty sure that Aidan would just prompt you. It’ll be like being in the school play back in primary school. There’s too much riding on you to let you just forget your lines.”

  Crystal nodded, but Holly could see that her sister’s nerves were winding up. Since hers had been in that state for the past week at least, she could sympathize.

  “There you go,” Holly said as she tied up the last ribbon. “You’re now locked into your dress, so it’s too late to change your mind.”

  “How long until we leave for the ceremony?”

  Holly checked her watch and hid a smile. “Another ninety minutes. I’m afraid that you’ll just have to stand there, looking beautiful until then.”

  “Or sit on the couch.”

  Crystal headed that way, but Holly dragged at her sister’s arm. “No such luck. We won’t have time to press the dress again if you give it wrinkles, and sitting down is sure to do that. Stand here and don’t touch or move until I get back. I need to take the cake over to the Masters’ house and check on how the arrangements are coming along.”

  “What?” Crystal shook her head in mock horror. “You’re submitting me to standing torture and then won’t even do me the courtesy of staying to watch.”

  “It’s better this way,” Holly said, inching toward the door as she bit her lips to hide a smile. “Believe me. You don’t want a marquee full of women raising their eyebrows because the back of your skirt is crumpled.”

  Just as Holly had her hand on the doorknob, ready to make her great escape, the phone rang. “It’ll be for you,” she told Crystal. “You’re allowed to answer the phone.”

  “It might smear my makeup,” Crystal said with a sly grin and tugged on Holly’s arm. “Come on, Matron of honor. I want to get a full day’s worth of work out of you!”

  Holly answered the phone with a sigh and then listened as Alec’s voice flooded down the line in a wave of panic. “My parents are refusing to attend the ceremony. They’re scared that someone’s out to get them.”

  “Hold on a moment,” Holly said and turned to Crystal. “It’s your future husband on the line, are you sure you don’t want to take it? He says that Helen and Trevor are refusing to come to the wedding.”

  “Your parents aren’t allowed to back out of the ceremony any more than you are,” Crystal called out. “And I can’t come to the phone because you’re not meant to hear me in my wedding dress any more than you’re meant to see me.”

  Holly got back on the line with a smile. “Is this because of the fire last night? Surely, they don’t think that somebody burned down a motel just because they planned to stay there?”

  Alec sighed. “That would be a reasonable assumption to make, but I don’t think my mother woke up in a reasonable mood. She’s seriously convinced that everybody they owed money to is going to gang together and commit some atrocity against them.”

  “But can’t you ask Helen why she thinks the motel would be burned down, then?” Holly asked. She waited for a moment as Alec relayed the question to his parents in a patient tone.

  “Because that was the last project that we fully completed,” Holly heard his dad call out. “It all makes a horrible kind of sense.”

  “It doesn’t,” Holly said with a laugh, then she scolded Alec. “Put Trevor on the line, so I can talk to him directly.”

  She waited for a moment, crossing her eyes at Crystal as the phone changed hands on the other end.

  “Look, I know this seems farfetched to you, but there’re other things that have happened since we got into town,” Trevor said.

  “But you weren’t even in town when the motel was set alight,” Holly said, summoning up her most reasonable tone. She was all too aware that the clock was ticking, and she needed to get to the Masters’ house to ensure things were set up that end. “If somebody is out to get you, then setting fire to a motel that you weren’t even inside wasn’t a very efficient way to do it.”

  “We were meant to be in there,” Alec’s dad insisted.

  “I don’t mean to sound rude,” Holly said. “But our folks in town aren’t really as stupid as that. If they’re going to that amount of trouble to get rid of you as you claim, then they’d at least check the vehicles in the parking lot to ensure yours was among them.”

  At that. Crystal started to giggle, her nerves betraying her. “Yeah, our criminals aren’t as thick as two planks. They’re world class.”

  “How about you turn up for the wedding and if you’re still worried, just skip the reception? We’re going to be in a marquee crammed full of people, including the police sergeant, so it’s not as though anybody would be bold enough to attack you during that.”

  There was a hurried exchange of muffled voices. To Holly, it sounded as though Alec’s dad had put his hand over the phone so she couldn’t hear which way the winds were blowing.

  “Okay,” Trevor said after a few minutes. “We’ll turn up for the ceremony, but if anybody gives us hassle, we’re out of there, and I don’t want to hear any complaints.”
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  The phone clicked in her ear, and Holly burst out laughing at the rudeness. As she replaced the receiver, she raised one eyebrow at her sister, “Are you sure you want to marry into that family? It’s not too late to back out.”

  Then the phone was ringing again, and this time, Crystal picked up the call. “Yes, I heard,” she said to her soon-to-be husband and gestured for Holly to leave. “Don’t worry. I’m not marrying you for your family.”

  Holly was still shaking her head, bewildered at the attitudes of Alec’s parents as she walked out of the house.

  Chapter Five

  As soon as Holly walked into the marquee, she could tell that everything was on the right track. Wendy was hanging gorgeous bundles of fresh white and rose-colored flowers on the edge of each makeshift pew, and she gave a happy wave in greeting.

  “I’m so glad that you’re here,” Holly said as she moved over to give her friend a hug. “I’ve dealt with enough weirdness this morning to carry me through the next week.”

  Wendy smiled and shook her head. “And it’s only just getting started,” she reminded Holly who received the news with a groan.

  “Don’t remind me. Why would anybody want to do this to themselves?”

  “Hey,” Wendy said and dug an elbow lightly into Holly’s ribs. “You did this silly thing once yourself, remember? I think it’s only fair that Crystal gets her turn too.”

  “I suppose.” Holly looked at the display inside the marquee with a satisfied expression. “You’ve done a lovely job setting this up.”

  “Hey, it’s not just been her,” Brian Masters said as he walked into the large tent. “Me and Derek have been scurrying around like madmen this morning too.”

  Holly walked over and gave him a welcome hug also. “Well, thank you too. I’m starting to think that this day might actually turn out okay.”

  “Don’t let the wonderful arrangements fool you,” Brian said with a cheeky grin. “There’s still time for all kinds of terrible things to happen.”

  “Don’t,” Holly said, raising a finger in warning. “I’ve already had Alec’s parents on the phone today, having a fit about the whole town being against them.”

  Brian Masters rolled his eyes at that. “It’s not true, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of people had them marked on their naughty list. They left their business in a shocking state. I know that sometimes people let things go too far in the hope that a miracle will let them correct things, but there was no excuse for the amount of debt that couple ended up with. Their business should have wound up a good year before it did, then they wouldn’t have hurt so many people when it liquidated.”

  Holly’s eyes widened. “Do you think there’s a genuine chance that somebody is out to get them, then? I just spent ten minutes telling them their fears were nonsense.”

  Brian shrugged. “They probably are. Even if someone wanted to get at them, I can’t imagine they’d do it today.”

  Holly nodded, hoping that his assessment of the situation was spot on. “Do you mind if I come inside to check on the wedding cake?” she asked. “I’ve had horrible dreams all week that the silly thing would wait until the day of the wedding, then fall apart.”

  Holly hadn’t even thought of the possibility of somebody else creating the centerpiece of the wedding meal. She’d held up her hand for the honor so fast that Crystal hadn’t even had to ask. Ever since, the notion that Holly would somehow muck it all up had her waking up at night, in a sweat.

  “Follow me,” Brian said as he walked out of the marquee. Holly followed alongside Wendy, pressing a hand to her stomach as they approached the house.

  “It’s fine,” Wendy said. “What’s the worst thing that could happen?”

  “So many things,” Holly whispered. “I wish my imagination would stop providing them every time I close my eyes.”

  But Brian and Wendy were right. The cake was fine. Or cakes, rather. Holly had come up with the idea of mimicking a croquembouche, and the individual cinnamon and vanilla cupcakes were stacked twenty high.

  “All the catering is fine and ready to go,” Brian said as they walked through his kitchen, food piled on every available surface from there clear through the lounge. “We just need the spit roast people to turn up with the freshly cooked meat, and we’ll have a feast fit for kings.”

  “It certainly smells divine,” Meggie said from behind them. “I hope you don’t mind me letting myself in, Brian—” she leaned over to give him a one-armed hug “—but I saw you walk inside so hurried up to join you.”

  “Not at all,” Brian said as Meggie joined Holly and Wendy in staring at the layout in amazement.

  “Have you seen the marquee yet?” Holly asked, and when Meggie shook her head, followed up with, “You must come along right now, then. It’s a real treat.”

  The three women walked out of the house together and made their way back to the tent. Just as they reached it, the sky above them clouded over, and an ominous crack of lightning split the air in half.

  “Get in,” Holly yelled as the thunder roared in the air around them. It was so loud that she fancied the storm must be right above their heads. A theory born out a moment later when rain began to pour out of the heavens.

  “Oh, dear,” Wendy said with dismay. “I hope it doesn’t keep up at this pace for long. I can’t believe that we have another storm on another wedding day.”

  Holly grabbed her friend around the waist and gave her a reassuring squeeze. If anybody had a reason to avoid weddings, it was undoubtedly Wendy. “Don’t worry,” Holly said, frowning in consternation as she failed to take her own advice. “I’m sure that it can’t keep up at this rate for very long.”

  As if hearing her words and taking it as a challenge, the sky redoubled its efforts to drench them with rainfall. Just as Holly was wondering if the roof of the tent would hold, a woman burst into the marquee, water dribbling off every part of her body.

  “Oh, dear,” Wendy said hurrying forward to greet her. “Are you okay?”

  The woman shook her head—not to indicate that she wasn’t but to try and fling some of the excess moisture off.

  “I don’t suppose anybody has a towel,” she said in a forlorn voice. “I really don’t know why this day has it in for me, but it really does seem to. When I parked the car up on the main road, the sky above me was completely clear.”

  Holly looked around the setup without any luck. The closest thing they had to a towel was the taffeta ribbons strewn in decoration over the rows of seating. “It certainly did seem to come out of nowhere,” she said in agreement, then held her hands up in defeat. “We don’t have anything out here to get you dry, sorry.”

  “It’s okay,” the women said and began to squeeze excess moisture out of her dress. “Oh, no,” she exclaimed suddenly and dropped down to open a case that she must have carried into the marquee. “My equipment!”

  “You’re the photographer?” Holly asked as she moved closer. “Is it all okay?”

  “Yes,” the woman answered, “and yes. It seems to have escaped the weather unscathed. Thank goodness for the case, it must be waterproof.”

  The woman stood and reached her hand out to shake. “I’m Gwen Robertson, assistant to Isobel, who couldn’t make it.”

  “Oh, you work with Isobel,” Wendy said, clapping her hands together. “We used to be in the same class at school.”

  Holly turned to her friend. “I forgot to tell you. She phoned last night to say that she couldn’t make it.” Then she put a hand over her mouth as she remembered the other invited guest who wouldn’t be able to make it to the wedding. “Minister Woodfield is also out. Guess who he roped in to officiate in his place?”

  Meggie took one look at Holly’s face and gave a bark of laughter. “Aidan, right?”

  Holly nodded with a rueful expression. “Not to mention that I found out last night that Crystal invited my ex-husband Simon to walk her down the aisle.”

  Both Wendy and Meggie stared at Holly in sho
ck, their mouths dropping open.

  “You’re kidding,” Gwen said. “That sounds like a rougher day than normal. Are you the sister of the bride?”

  “Yeah, I have that honor,” Holly said with a giggle, remembering her manners and introducing herself and her friends. When she finished, she tilted her head to one side. “Is it just me, or is the rain easing a little bit?”

  “I certainly hope so,” Meggie said. “If it does, I’ll run back to the house for you, Gwen, and fetch something to dry you off.” Then she frowned. “Although, you might need something to change into as well. I don’t think we’ll be able to get your uniform into shape before the ceremony.”

  “We can always hope that it keeps raining, so everyone turns up looking like a drowned rat,” the photographer said with a smile. As though she’d flicked a switch, the rain immediately stopped. A minute later, the clouds were swept across the sky to reveal a canopy of blue. The sun was a welcome sight.

  “Thank goodness.” Holly breathed a sigh of relief. She ventured outside, picking her way carefully along the path that had turned mostly to mud in the brief minutes of the downpour.

  “Are you okay?” Derek called out from the back door. “We were going to venture out and check, but… Well…”

  “I’m fine, but our photographer got caught out in the middle of it.” Holly ran the last few steps of the path and ended up on the more solid footing of the concrete porch. “I don’t suppose you happen to have a couple of towels handy?”

  “Sure thing. I’ll just be a minute.”

  As Derek disappeared indoors, Holly cast another suspicious look at the sky above. It amazed her that in the space of a few minutes, the day could go from heavy storm clouds full of thunder and lightning to a clear sky brimming with sunshine.

  And the same in reverse, she thought as her eyes scanned above her.

  “Here you go,” Derek said as he reappeared with an armful of thick bath towels. “Will these do?”