The Sweet Baked Mystery Series - Books 1-6

by Katherine Hayton

  While Crystal and Alec made their way back down the aisle, accompanied by a shower of rice, Holly went to the corner of the marquee and unhooked the microphone.

  “Thanks to everyone for joining us today to celebrate my sister’s wedding. If you’d like to make your way outside for a fifteen-minute break, we’ll rearrange the room in preparation for the reception.”

  “What if it rains?” Alec’s mother asked, her lips anxiously pinched together.

  Holly tried not to stare at the large green hat that would shelter a small family under it if it came to that. “If it pours again, then I’m sure everyone will head for shelter whether or not we’ve rearranged the room.”

  Although his mother moved along, her arm tugging at her husband to hurry him on his way, judging from her expression, she wasn’t appeased by that information at all.

  “Holly, that was an absolutely glorious ceremony,” Wendy said as she forced her way in the opposite direction to the foot traffic. “I’m afraid that some of my eye makeup didn’t survive the whole thing.”

  Holly laughed and nodded in agreement, wiping at the corner of her eye. Her makeup wasn’t heavy as she usually didn’t wear any, but what little Meggie had applied to her that morning was in a sorry state now.

  Meggie also walked against the flow of the crowd to take her place at Holly’s side. “How many are staying behind to help us out, then?”

  Holly nodded over to a corner where Derek and Brian were standing out of the way of the departing crowd. “They’re on hand, along with us and Simon. I’m sure we’ll manage fine.”

  At that, Wendy gave a snort. “With you wearing your finery? I’m not sure how many chairs you’ll be able to lug about dressed like that.”

  “I’ll do just fine, thanks.” Holly flexed her biceps in a display of strength. “It’s better than sending me outside the tent.” She shuddered. “There’s mud out there.”

  “Good point.” Meggie started to stack the chairs on top of each other, setting them aside in groups of four as per the seating plan for the reception. “The sooner we get started, the sooner we’ll finish.”

  “Is Nina helping out as well?” Wendy asked with a frown, nodding toward the last row where the woman was still sitting. “It doesn’t seem like her.”

  “No.” Holly watched her for a moment, but Nina didn’t budge an inch. Everyone on either side of her had long departed. “I’ll go and check on her. Maybe she’s just overcome with emotion from the ceremony.”

  “A likely story,” Wendy said with a sniff and Holly had to agree.

  Although she liked the woman—her bluntness and forthrightness were quite refreshing in small doses—Holly wasn’t sure that if she was stuck with her for more than an hour or two on end, she’d feel the same way.

  “Are you okay, Nina?” she asked as she drew closer. For a second, she thought that maybe Nina was sitting out of the way of the crowds to hide the fact that she and Alec’s mom were wearing exactly the same outfit.

  Then she saw the blood.

  “Nina,” Holly called out in a sharp tone. From the corner of her eye, she saw Wendy and Meggie turn at the distressed note of her voice. “Nina? Are you okay?”

  She put her hand on the woman’s shoulder and watched in horror as Nina’s body began to slump to one side. In a second, she’d tipped over so far that Holly had to catch her before she fell to the ground. The movement revealed a neat hole in the back of Nina’s dress, barely visible against the dark green fabric.

  “Help,” Holly called out, close to screaming. “I think she’s been shot!”

  Chapter Eight

  As Wendy and Meggie rushed forward to assist, Holly called for an ambulance on her mobile. While the dispatcher asked her for details, Holly stepped outside and looked frantically around for Sergeant Matthewson.

  Despite what seemed to her to have been a loud call for help, outside nobody appeared to have noticed. Holly rushed across the wet ground, no longer caring if her skirts trailed in the mud or not.

  “Sergeant?”

  The panic in her voice worked wonders on Matthewson who immediately broke away from his conversation and led her a few steps back toward the marquee.

  “What is it?” he asked in a low voice, one that didn’t carry.

  The operator informed Holly that assistance was on its way and she dropped it from her ear and leaned toward the sergeant. “Nina’s been hurt. I think that somebody might have shot her.”

  The sergeant took a step back and shook his head—not in denial, but apparently in an effort to get his thoughts straight. “Where?”

  Holly led him at a run back to the marquee. “The ambulance is on its way,” she called out to Wendy and Meggie who were kneeling beside the victim.

  Meggie looked up with a bleak expression. “I think it’s too late.”

  “When did this happen?” Matthewson called out as he dropped to his knees, feeling at Nina’s neck for a pulse. Wendy shook her head then reached a hand up toward Holly, who helped her to stand.

  “I don’t know,” Holly said, her voice still shrill with panic. “She was sitting in the chair long after everyone else left, so I went to see if she was okay.”

  “It was Esmerelda,” Meggie suddenly said. When Holly gazed down at her, not understanding, she also struggled back to her feet. “When Esmerelda stood up to do her little performance, I heard something like a car backfiring.”

  “Yes,” Holly said while Wendy nodded. “I heard that too.”

  “But that was twenty minutes ago, at least,” the sergeant said in a worried voice. “There should be a lot more blood.”

  Holly followed that thought along to its logical conclusion. If the wound hadn’t bled, then Nina must have been killed by the bullet pretty much straight away. Holly raised a hand to her mouth, fighting to stop from making any noise.

  Although she’d called for help earlier, now Holly didn’t want any of the other guests to attend. The tent needed to be secured so nobody else could come in.

  “The ambulance is just pulling into the drive,” Wendy said, her eyes fixed on the Masters’ long entranceway. “I’ll go meet them and point out where to come.”

  “No!” Holly said in alarm, then pointed down at Wendy’s dress, which was now smeared with blood. “I’ll go and do it.”

  She ran out of the tent, waving to a few guests when they looked over at her with puzzled expressions. Holly had a quick scan of the faces, searching for her sister or Alec, but they must already have departed further into the grounds to have their photos taken. Thank goodness. The last thing that Crystal needed was to see her day ruined like this.

  The paramedic was already out the front door of the vehicle when Holly reached him, out of breath. She pointed over to the marquee and gasped, “Nina’s in there,” then took off at a job back to the scene. The paramedic grabbed a kit and followed, then overtook her.

  “What’s happening?” Simon asked, appearing at Holly’s elbow all of a sudden. When she tried to pass by him with a shake of her head, he reached out and held onto her arm.

  “People are getting worried.”

  “Just tell them there’s been a small incident, nothing to be concerned about,” Holly said, pulling her arm free. “It’s just that someone had trouble getting up after the ceremony.” Her voice rose a half-octave while she spoke, edging into squeakiness. “I’m sure they’ll be fine.”

  Instead of dropping back, Simon read her expression and followed along behind her back into the marquee. He gave a low gasp when he saw the situation, immediately sizing it up.

  “We need to keep everyone out of here,” he said, the same conclusion that Holly had reached a short time before. “Can we zip up the opening?”

  Just as Holly joined him at the tent opening to look for a way to seal it shut, the skies opened and produced another downpour. Like the one earlier in the morning, it was as though the heavens above had just turned on a tap.

  As one, all the wedding guests turned and ran
for the shelter of the marquee.

  “Keep them away,” Sergeant Matthewson called out in a strong voice. “Where’s PC Chandling?”

  Holly quickly looked over the incoming flood of guests and tugged on Graham’s arm as he entered the tent. “Your sergeant wants you,” she said in an urgent whisper, pointing.

  Wendy and Meggie had done their best to form a human shield between the body and the reassembling guests. Although they provided a bit of shelter, heads were still turning, brows creasing, as the party-goers began to realize that something was wrong, aside from the weather.

  “What’s happened?” Alec’s parents called out as Holly tried to push past them to get back to Nina’s side. “Where’s Alec?”

  Holly took a step back and scanned the crowd, unable to see the newlyweds. “They went to have their wedding photographs taken in the grounds,” she said. “I guess they got caught out in the rain. I’m sure they’re sheltering someplace dry.”

  “Would everybody step back,” Sergeant Matthewson ordered as a few eager beavers crushed closer to the small protective circle. “We’ve had an illness among the guests, and the patient needs space to breathe while the paramedic helps her.”

  PC Graham Chandling stood a yard away from the sergeant, also with his hands raised to encourage people to stay back. Still, one man ducked his head down for a clearer line of sight—Willis Mathieu from the fish and game club in town.

  “Is that Nina?” Willis asked as he pushed forward. “Let me through,” he said when his way was blocked. “She’s a friend of mine. There should be a medic alert bracelet on her arm.”

  “Let the paramedic help her,” Sergeant Matthewson said, standing his ground and refusing to let Willis any closer. “Why don’t you move to the other side of the marquee while he does what he can?”

  “She’s dead,” a woman shrieked from farther away. Her curiosity must have got the better of her, and she knelt on the ground, peering at Nina through the chair legs. Her eyes widened as she saw more of the scene. “She’s been shot!”

  The woman jumped to her feet, grabbed her partner and pulled the bewildered man in front of her. “Somebody here must have a gun. They’ve shot Nina!”

  Suddenly, the crowd tried to stampede the other way, back out into the pouring rain. Matthewson moved quickly to stop them.

  “Everyone needs to stay exactly where they are,” he ordered at the top of his lungs. “If anyone attempts to leave this marquee without clearance from me or PC Chandling, then you will be placed under arrest. Is that clear?”

  “You can’t do that,” Willis spat out. “We could be in danger every second we’re standing here. If somebody in here has a gun, it’ll be like shooting fish in a barrel.”

  “Who would bring a gun to a wedding?” another man called out. “What on earth is going on here?”

  For a moment, everyone was giving curious glances at every other member of the crowd, then, almost as one unit, they all surmised the most likely person to own a gun in town.

  The congregation all stepped away from Willis, leaving him standing in the center of the marquee on his own.

  “What?” he called out, then pulled open his suit jacket.

  The crowd gasped and retreated another step.

  “You can check,” Willis called out. “I don’t have a gun on me. This is a wedding, for goodness sake. I’d never bring anything like that anywhere except on the hunt.”

  While Holly had been observing the crowd, the paramedic had raced back to his vehicle, and it now edged up next to the marquee. He opened the back and pulled out a stretcher, then he, Chandling, and Matthewson lifted Nina onto it.

  As soon as she was safely in the back of the paramedic van, the vehicle took off. As Holly watched it roll down the driveway, she realized that there were no sirens and the vehicle only traveled at average speed.

  Nina was definitely dead.

  Chapter Nine

  “If you know where your sister and her new hubby are, go and fetch them,” Matthewson told Holly. The crowd inside the marquee was still on a knife’s edge, any sudden movements resulting in a group intake of breath. Although she wasn’t looking forward to breaking the news to her sister, Holly was glad of the chance to get away.

  The rain was still coming down with steady persistence, but it felt refreshing compared to the stuffiness inside the tent. Now that her appearance was bottom of the list of things to worry about, Holly took off at a run straight across the muddy back lawn. If she read the situation correctly, then her sister and Alec should be somewhere around the pond on the far side of the property. As she ran past the back door of the Masters’ residence, she saw Brian and Derek staring out with worried expressions on their faces.

  Matthewson hadn’t told her to bring them on over, but Holly surmised that would probably be what he wanted. She changed direction and made a beeline for the back door instead.

  “It’s really coming down, isn’t it?” Brian said as Holly walked a step inside. “I hope that nobody is too badly drenched. It kind of mucks up the outdoor ceremony altogether.”

  “There’s a lot more messing it up than the rain,” Holly said between pants for breath. She was so out of shape it wasn’t funny and pressed a hand to her side to fight off the pain from a stitch.

  “Why? What’s happened?”

  “I’m afraid that Nina’s been hurt,” Holly said, hedging her words. Then she changed her mind. It would take about three seconds inside the marquee for the Masters to find out the truth. “Actually, it looks like someone shot her,” Holly said, then started to cry. “I’m pretty sure that she’s dead.”

  “No!” Derek said, his voice shocked. “Should we call the police?”

  “They’re already in there,” Holly said as she recovered her composure. “Sergeant Matthewson and PC Chandling are handling the crowds, and the ambulance has already taken her body away.”

  “Have they got the gunman?” Derek asked, his face a study in dismay. “Do they need help getting him down to the station?”

  Holly shook her head. “They don’t know who did it. Matthewson sent me to fetch Crystal and Alec since they were missing from the scene.”

  “Sod that for a joke,” Brian said in a stern voice. “I’m not sending you and your sister back into a tent on my backyard if there’s a possibility that there’s a murderer in there. I’ll go over there myself and tell Matthewson that you’re staying in the house.”

  “No, Dad,” Derek said, putting a restraining hand on his arm. “We should all stay here. I’ll phone the police and tell them what’s happening and where we are. The sergeant will have his radio. That’ll let him know where we are if he needs us.”

  Holly felt a flood of relief at the suggestion and wiped the tears out of her eyes again. “I still need to go and get Crystal and Alec. They must be caught out in the rain.”

  Brian nodded. “I’m coming with you, and, Derek, until they catch the person who did this, I don’t think any of us should go anywhere alone.”

  Another rush of relief traveled through Holly’s body. The shock of seeing Nina hurt had scrambled her thoughts, so she was glad that somebody had a clear head. “Thank you. Let’s get a move on. I don’t like to think of them out there with no idea of what’s going on.”

  The three of them moved out the back of the house and quickly traveled along the back hedge and through into the fancy garden hidden in behind. Even in the midst of the storm, the garden looked divine, but Holly’s mind wasn’t on appreciating the natural beauty. Her eyes restlessly scanned the horizon, looking for a sign of Crystal and Alec.

  “There they are,” she called out to the Masters as Holly caught sight of the couple, huddled under a wooden pergola. She waved to them, and Crystal returned the gesture. Halfway through, her expression of happiness transformed into one of fear.

  “Has something gone wrong?” Crystal asked as soon as Holly was within earshot. Her hand clutched Alec’s so tightly that he winced.

  “There’s
been an incident in the marquee,” Holly said quickly and nodded to Gwen, the photographer, who was also caught under the wooden structure with the pair. “I’ll fill you in when we get back to the house.”

  Crystal nodded and slipped her arm around Holly’s waist in a quick hug that appeared to reassure her more than a thousand words would.

  A large puddle of water had formed between the hedge and the back door. As the group approached it, Holly jumped valiantly into the middle so she could then lend a hand to Crystal and spare her the mud splatter up the side of her dress.

  Instead, she landed awkwardly, her ankle twisting as her shoe landed on the side of a lump. Thinking it was a stone, Holly bent down to pick it up and toss it aside, then froze as she felt the cold metal underneath her fingertips.

  “What is it?” Brian asked as he came up beside Holly. “Have you hurt yourself?”

  Holly turned a stricken face toward him. “Get everybody indoors and then call Sergeant Matthewson and get him to come over here, right now.”

  To his credit, Brian waved the others forward to where Derek had the door open to usher them safely into the dry house. Only when the last of them were indoors did he bend down to her level. “What’s happened?”

  Holly flicked her wrist toward the side of the puddle. “I think I’ve just discovered the murder weapon,” she whispered. “It’s right under my foot!”

  Chapter Ten

  Sergeant Matthewson came over, bringing with him an umbrella that he’d scored from somewhere. Given the flagrant pink and orange swirls on it, that somewhere wasn’t from the police station.

  “Honestly, did you have to drive it into the mud?” Matthewson grumbled as he assessed the situation. “And how the hell have you also managed to get your fingerprints all over it?”