Killer Cupcakes

by Milda Harris

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  Murderous Muffins

  Read the first chapter of the next Celebrity Cupcakes Cozy Mystery!

  It had been one week exactly since the killer cupcake murder and Celebrity Cupcakes and Coffee still had a line around the block for a good part of the day. We were infamous and our cupcakes were delicious. It was a winning combination for drumming up business.

  Our best seller so far was the Marilyn Monroe cupcake. It was quickly followed by the classics, chocolate and vanilla. There were no fancy names for those since they were in the classics cupcake section of the bakery case. Nina also had a cupcake of the day and that one usually went quick too. Today's was the Elvis cupcake. It had peanut butter frosting on top of a banana cupcake. Yum. I tried it right before my shift and it was absolutely delicious.

  I'd only worked three shifts so far, both about eight hours apiece. By the end of each one I found that my feet were killing me. I was either on register and handing out baked goods or playing barista and making coffee drinks, but I never stopped moving. When I took the job I thought it would be low key because I was working at a bakery. Boy, was I wrong. 
There were thirty minutes left of my shift. I'd been watching the clock between taking customer orders. It wasn't because I couldn't wait to get off work. It was because I knew Easton was coming in.

  I hadn't seen him all week and I'll admit, I'd been pretty disappointed about that. Today was actually the first time I was going to see him since Celebrity Cupcakes and Coffee opened for business. I was super excited about it too. I'd even taken care to touch up my makeup during my break. I looked as great as I could in a T-shirt, jeans, and work apron. The only downside was that I was working with Skylar. I'd been lucky earlier in the week since I'd gotten to work with Charlotte. 
I was starting to wonder if Skylar was as wary of me as I was of her. In theory we should have tons to talk about. We were both wannabe writers in Hollywood and I was pretty sure we both had a crush on the same guy. It should have made for an interesting shift. 
It hadn't, though. We hadn't talked at all except for the occasional necessary request. Of course, it had been busy. Still, in other jobs I had, even if you were swamped, there was usually some gossip time in between. With Skylar and I it had been silent. Was I just feeling awkward? Or did she dislike me too?

  It was lucky then that in the last two hours we'd had a trainee. Even though we were all new too, he was there to observe and help us. His name was Dylan. He was twenty-four and a musician. I would have guessed that anyway from how he looked. He had dyed black hair and a small eyebrow ring over his left eye. Other than playing and writing music, he worked a few part time jobs and Celebrity Cupcakes and Coffee was going to be one of them. He seemed cool enough. Unlike Skylar, at least he was trying to make small talk. He had asked us both questions about ourselves, trying to get to know us. The mood had actually lifted considerably since Nina had brought him over to join us.

  “Excuse me, sweetheart. We’d like to have some cupcakes,” my current customer asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.

  I turned away from Dylan and back to the register. I thought it was so weird when random guys called me honey or sweetheart, but I just ignored it. Then I tried not to stare. He totally had that old Justin Bieber swoop haircut. It was completely outdated. Then again, maybe he wanted to be Justin Bieber. He sort of looked like him, although maybe it was just the haircut. His clothing style wasn’t the same at all. He was dressed in a really expensive button-down shirt and pants.

  Before I could wonder if he liked to flip his hair, he turned to his friends and said, “You guys should all get one. This is the place where Penelope Rose ate a killer cupcake and dropped dead. It’s famous.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, Dylan raised his eyebrows. We hadn’t talked about Penelope yet. He probably had a thousand questions. I know I’d want to know more if I hadn’t had a front row seat to what happened.

  “Ryder, I can order for myself and Luca, thank you. Excuse me, can I have a muffin?” Ryder’s friend pushed his way to the front, knocking him aside.
I wanted to roll my eyes. I swore Ryder might have. I noticed that Dylan smirked at me, silently laughing at the uncomfortable situation I'd just been thrust into. Maybe he wasn't as nice as I'd first thought. I hoped the customers didn't notice.

  Seriously, though, why did people come into Celebrity Cupcakes and Coffee for muffins, doughnuts, and cookies if we were known for our cupcakes? Of course, I'd never say that. I was great at customer service. I couldn't help my thoughts, though. At least I wasn't like Charlotte, who would have just told the person exactly what she thought of their request. Then again, I hadn't seen or heard of her doing that so maybe she did have a little bit of a mental filter when it came to job preservation. 
I looked at the customer. He was in his late twenties with sandy brown hair and brown eyes, one of which had a lazy eyelid. Then again, maybe he'd been so busy sightseeing he just hadn't gotten any sleep the night before. He was obviously a tourist because he was wearing a Hollywood T-shirt.

  I put a smile on my face and said as sweetly as I could, "I'm sorry we don't have muffins. We only serve cupcakes."

  The girl holding his hand spoke up, "Well, I'll have a chocolate cupcake and a latte."

  I punched it into the register. "Would you like anything, sir?" 
He frowned at me, "I'm actually still having a problem. You should serve muffins. Aren't they pretty much the same as cupcakes anyway, except with no frosting? Plus they go great with coffee."

  "Honey," his girlfriend said. 
I kept the smile on my face, "Sorry about that. If it helps, I know there are other coffee shops around if you want muffins. Otherwise, I swear we have fantastic cupcakes." 
He wasn't done, "Yeah, except I don't have time to go down the street and find something. We're going on a tour. I want a muffin."
“I’m sorry,” I said and when he didn’t say anything I added "Cupcake?" 
The customer still didn't answer and he wasn't paying for his girlfriend's order or moving aside for anyone else to order either. I wondered if he was thinking of causing a scene. I stopped myself from glancing at Skylar and Dylan. I doubted either of them would help me out anyway.

  The girl behind him nudged him. "I have some muffins in my bag."

  He turned to look at her. "What?"

  She shrugged. "I get hungry."

  "Thanks," The guy's girlfriend said.

  He'd already turned back around to face me. "You seriously don't have muffins?"

  "No," I said.

  "Well, what about the Taylor Swift cupcake?" The guy's girlfriend asked. "That's kinda muffin-y."

  Somewhere Taylor Swift had said that one of her comfort foods was Cinnamon Toast Crunch and the cupcake inspired by her was a vanilla cinnamon swirl cake batter topped with cinnamon sugar frosting. So, it was actually probably closer to coffee cake than a muffin. Still, I didn't say anything. Maybe he'd go for it.

  "No. It's not muffin-y at all," He said. "I just want a plain muffin. Blueberry, banana, whatever."

  "They have a..." His girlfriend started to say.

  He cut her off. "Cupcakes are not muffins."

  "And I told you I have some muffins," The girl behind him said again.

  He turned to look at her. I swore it was more of a glare, but his voice came out polite, so maybe I was wrong. "I'm fine. Thanks."

  He turned back to me. He did not look fine. I didn't know what more I could tell him. We really didn't have muffins. I wasn't lying. This was one of the bad parts of customer service. Sometimes you had an irrational customer. It wasn't fun at all.

  "So..." Mr. Muffin Man, as I preferred to think of him, started to say.

  "Hey, Cam. Let the pretty girl off, dude. You’re embarrassing Luca. Just order something," Ryder said as he did a Justin Bieber-like hair flip. “I told you, I’ve got this.”

  Mr. Muffin Man didn't even acknowledge his friend. Instead, he looked at me. I really wished he would look away because the bad vibe I was getting was only intensifying.

  As if on cue with my thoughts, I saw Nina come
out from the back. Dylan moved aside to let her pass. Mr. Muffin Man and his friends were all getting kind of loud. This was a train wreck. I was pretty sure I'd said the right things, though. Still, I suddenly felt a little nervous. This was a new job and I really didn't want to get fired. I glanced over at Skylar, but her face was completely blank. Would she back me up if I needed her to? Surely she thought the customer was being irrational too. I was pretty sure Dylan was on my side. Maybe. I didn't know him at all, though, and he hadn't moved to help me yet.

  "What's up, Ava?" Nina asked, coming to stand next to me. 
"He wants a muffin," I told her while eying Mr. Muffin Man nervously.

  "That's right. I do," Mr. Muffin Man was so ready to get me in trouble. I could see it in his eyes. "Your employee here says that you don't have any and I don't understand why..."
Nina cut him off before he could ramp himself up and said, "Sir, I'm so sorry. She's right. We don't make muffins currently. We might have some alternative options eventually. Right now we only have cupcakes, though. I'm happy to give you one on the house to try. And I'd love it if you filled this out."

  Nina handed him one of the comment cards we kept next to the register. He took it. I doubted he was going to take the time to write anything on it. At least he seemed on the downside of his anger now, though. Maybe he just wanted a free cupcake all along.

  Nina continued. "We only just opened, so your comments would really mean a lot." 
He nodded at her and then looked at me. "I'll have a coffee then...and the Taylor cupcake or whatever it is. And my whole order is on the house, right?"

  Nina paused, but then nodded even though his order wasn't supposed to be completely free. I wondered if Nina wanted to get rid of him just as much as I did. I now definitely had the impression that he just threw that fit to get free food.
Regardless of what I thought, though, I added those items to his order, got their cupcakes, poured him a plain cup of coffee, and gave it to him. 
He and his girlfriend picked up their food and went to wait for Luca's latte. Skylar had it up and on the pickup counter just as they reached it. That was my only indication that Skylar wanted them to leave too. 
Nina nodded at me and went back into the kitchen. A wave of relief swept over me. Nina was a cool boss, but she was still my boss so having her watch me ring up customers was nerve-racking. The next customer was waiting.

  It was the girl who offered up the muffins, "Sorry about that. He can be a bit of a..."

  I heard Dylan mutter something under his breath that I hoped the girl didn't hear.

  I didn't want to cause more trouble, so I cut her off and changed the subject, "What can I get for you?"

  "Oh. I'll have a Marilyn Monroe cupcake and my fiancé will have an Elvis cupcake. And we'll also have one regular coffee with room for cream."

  “And I’ll have a Marilyn Monroe cupcake too,” Ryder jumped into the conversation, pulling out his wallet.

  “I can get this,” The girl said. “You’ve been so great, Ryder. Let us treat you.”

  Ryder nodded after a moment. “Okay, thanks.”

  I rang her up and got their coffee and cupcakes. She handed me a credit card. She had an interesting name - Amelie. I saw the movie with that name in college, but I'd never met anyone with that name. I didn't mention it to her, though. It might be awkward. I'm sure she got the movie comparison all the time.

  Ryder and Amelie’s fiancé took the cupcakes and coffee and walked off to go talk to Mr. Muffin Man and his girlfriend, who had sat down at a table toward the back of the shop. I swiped Amelie's credit card and waited for it to clear. Our machine could be slow sometimes. As I waited for it to go through, I smiled at her.

  Amelie smiled back and then said, "I like your eye shadow. It's a great color."

  "Oh, thanks," I said. I'd especially put it on for Easton, so it was cool that somebody else noticed. Maybe he would too.

  The credit card went through.

  "Thanks and sorry again about..." Amelie started to say.

  "No worries," I repeated.

  Amelie nodded and smiled, then turned and walked over to her friends. At least she'd been nice. I was glad Mr. Muffin Man was a tourist and hoped I didn't see him back in the shop again. I sometimes just didn't get people. I mean, seriously, how could you get mad that a cupcake shop doesn't have muffins? It's a cupcake shop. We logically serve cupcakes. I sort of wished now that Nina hadn't given him the free food. Upon further thought, I didn't like the idea of rewarding an annoying scam artist customer.

  "Does that happen often?" Dylan asked.

  "A few a day for different reasons," I answered.

  "Fun," Dylan said.

  I glanced at Skylar worrying she might tattletale on my complaining and quickly added, "But most of our customers are awesome."

  “Of course,” Dylan said. “So, tell me about the awesome dead one.”

  “Later,” I hedged as the next person stepped up.

  I processed a flurry of new orders. I forgot all about the last five minutes until I saw Mr. Muffin Man walk off with his friends, tossing his barely eaten cupcake in the trash. I wondered if he'd even tried it or if someone else had taken the bite. I wasn't surprised, though. He was probably going to drag his friends off in search of a muffin before their tour just to annoy everyone. He seemed like that kind of a guy. 
I shook myself out of my thoughts. It really wasn't my problem anymore since they were officially gone. I glanced at the clock. Easton should be here any second. Nervous butterflies fluttered around my stomach in anticipation.

  Another group of customers came in. I saw Easton walk in behind them, heading toward the back. My heart leapt at the sight of him. I waited for him to look at me. A second passed, then another. I wondered if I should look away, but I couldn't.

  I smiled hopefully, but he kept walking and didn't even look over to acknowledge me. A wave of disappointment washed through me. I pushed it away and focused on the customer in front of me. Still, another part of my brain wondered if Easton had forgotten all about me already. Unless... I glanced at Skylar. Had she somehow managed to ensnare Easton in her claws this week when I wasn't around? Is that why she'd been so standoffish today? I took a deep breath. I was obsessing. If Easton went out with Skylar, it was none of my business. We weren't together. Still, my heart hurt just thinking about them together despite the rational thoughts in my brain telling me that I was jumping to unfounded conclusions. He hadn't looked at her either, after all. Besides, there were probably a billion other reasons why he hadn't looked in my direction and acknowledged me. Right?