A Cherry Sinister Murder: A Culinary Cozy Mystery (Slice of Paradise Cozy Mysteries Book 1)

by Nancy McGovern

  Faith had been going to say she was wondering if it was all worth it. But as she saw the loved back to life tearoom in front of her, she knew that it was worth it. It was to be the place where people laughed and relaxed and bonded with their loved ones. Where brand new comforting recipes were created every week, and delicious new creations would be baked into life. Where Faith would finally let her baking talent benefit the world, and actually bring people joy, the way she’d always wished. Standing in front of the tearoom, imagining happy families sitting out on the veranda drinking tea and eating cake, and boisterous little children playing tag between the tropical plants, Faith knew she was in the right place. There was no way she was going to just resign herself to the fact that evil had to win. That people with bad intentions could make everyone else suffer. No way. It wouldn’t always be easy, sure, but they’d make it happen. Together.

  For some reason, Faith remembered a documentary she’d watched about bees. She’d first watched it as a wide eyed seven year old, but had tracked it down on YouTube and still watched it from time to time. There was just something about the way the bees worked together that mesmerized her, the way they passed the nectar from bee to bee, each taking the time to chew on it until it was condensed down into honey. Something about that was deeply comforting to her. Perhaps the sense of community, the sense of shared purpose.

  “I think we should start investigating today,” Faith said. “I mean, like actually go around and ask questions. Not like we’re interrogating people, but we need to get pro-active. Like Sandy said, who knows what will happen next and when? We need to get on this, like now.”

  Laura looked nervous, but nodded. “All right. Where shall we start?”

  Faith remembered when she’d been sitting in the Sheriff’s Department, what Tonya had said about her own suspicions. “I think we should go see Tonya first,” she said. “Close up at lunch and head over there. We can just tell her we want to eat there, and actually order, but we’ll ask a few questions, too.”

  Laura smiled. “Sounds like a plan.” She delved in the plastic bag she’d brought along. “Now please please please can we have a morning of nice baking and not thinking about killers on the loose?” She sat on the veranda and pulled out cake decorations one by one. “I ordered these to my house. You’re going to have to show me your genius, Miss Faith.”

  “Ick,” Faith said, laughing. “Don’t call me that.”

  “We have some edible sugar sprinkles in sparkling red.” Laura placed the container on the balcony, then dived back in again. “Then some micro mini heart decorations. And pearlescent rose gold edible dust, which looks pretty, though I have no idea what it is. Then some things that look just like pearls, but apparently you can eat them, too. The people who make these are so clever, huh? Then we have some Hello Kitty icing stickers, just because they’re soo cute.”

  “Oh, I used to love Hello Kitty!” Faith said, grabbing the stickers from her and cooing over them. Her mom had even, very begrudgingly, bought her a Hello Kitty bedcover for her 8th birthday, and “only because it’s marginally better than Barbie, though I wish not everything had to be pink and pretty and have bows on, Faith”.

  “And there’s gum paste mix,” Laura said. “Which doesn’t sound all that appetizing, but apparently you can make these little flower type things with them.” She pointed at the packet, where rose upon edible rose bloomed in the picture. “You have to teach me that, right?”

  Faith grinned. “One of my favorite things to do.” It was tricky work, molding the paste into beautiful rose-like creations, but once done, nothing looked more gorgeous or elegant.

  “Yay!” Laura reached her hand down into the bag again. “Let’s see what else is left. I feel like Santa Claus.”

  Faith sat down next to the line of baking goods and smiled. “It does feels like Christmas. Ever since forever baking stuff is like almost the only thing anyone has gotten me as a gift.”

  “Aha,” Laura said, drawing more mini packages out. “Some very pretty cupcake holders, and… edible glittery gold stars. And last but not least, these are the cutest, I’m telling you.” She held the little package in her hand, looking down at it and smiling. “Aww.”

  “Let me see,” Faith said.

  Laura handed it to her. A quiet smile from somewhere deep inside Faith spread over her face until she was grinning from ear to ear. It was a packet of icing decorations, shaped just like tiny little bees.

  *****

  Chapter 17

  Laura and Faith spent the morning losing themselves in a decadent new creation – double chocolate caramel éclair cupcakes. Faith had made up the choux pastry, piping into shape in the new cupcake holders and putting them in the oven. Meanwhile, Laura was in charge of the chocolate ganache to go on top, and the chocolate cream that was to be stuffed inside. As soon as the pastry was in the oven, Faith got started making caramel out of sugar.

  “That’s the thing about éclairs,” Laura said. “I really like the whole pastry and chocolate on the top. But this big fat layer of cream? I think it spoils it. The cream doesn’t taste of anything.”

  Faith measured out some water and tipped it in the pan with the sugar. “Hmm, I see what you mean, I guess. I do like regular éclairs, but I think different flavors are much more fun. I think you’ll like it better with the chocolate cream.”

  Once Laura was done making the ganache and cream, she took her apron off and hurried out the door. “Oh, gosh, I just realized I left something back at the apartment. I’ll just go get it.” She scooped up her purse and hurried out of the tearoom, not even looking back.

  “Laura!” Faith called out after her. She was going to ask her to check up on the kittens, but she was too late. She put a lid on top of the pan, to encourage the water-sugar mix to work itself into a boil, and sent a quick text from her flip phone to Laura, telling her to make sure Cirrus and Nimbus were all right. Even though the apartment was perfectly comfortable and they had everything they needed, she still worried a bit about them.

  It felt horribly quiet once Laura had left. Even though Faith could hear Lula and her team banging nails in as they framed up the veranda roof, and knew Nathan was there too – he’d just started pruning and cutting back the existing bushes around the tearoom – she felt eerily alone. She flicked on the radio and some 80s hit blared out. Laura would have been a fan, and Faith tried to persuade herself to dance around as the warm smell of caramelizing sugar filled the kitchen, but she couldn’t bring herself to. Her mind just kept jolting back to Joanne’s death, to the attack on Ellis. What was really going on? Were they going to be targeted next? She wanted to go outside and talk to Nathan about it, but she had to watch the sugar. She got the butter and a bowl ready and watched, knowing her caramel would turn from pale gold to deep amber to mahogany brown if she didn’t take it off the heat in time. Faith wanted a deep, rich gold, but not quite as dark as brown. As soon as it hit the right color she scooped a dollop of butter out of the packet and began to mix like crazy with a long wooden spoon as the mix spat and hissed like it was mad with her. Hot, angry drops of caramel leapt halfway up the spoon. Faith had learned the hard way, the first time she’d made caramel, that sugar burns hurt, perhaps more than anything else in the kitchen, and she’d always made sure a super long spoon was available for the job ever since.

  Laura returned a little while after Faith had finished cleaning up, lining all the bowls up with each of the respective layers for the éclair cupcakes. She hadn’t wanted to put them together, since Laura needed to get as much experience as possible.

  Laura came in with a big smile all over her face and took off her extra large white rimmed sunglasses, shoving them in her purse. “So, where are we up to?”

  Faith’s confusion forced her face into a smile-frown combo. “What’s up? What did you forget at the apartment?”

  “My… money,” Laura said, so obviously lying. “You know, we’ll need to pay Tonya for the pancakes, of course, and, well… I’d j
ust brought cards. And I know that sometimes Tonya has trouble with her card machine.”

  “Oh, really?”

  Laura, avoiding eye contact, fished her huge glasses back out of her purse and slipped them on, so she could hide behind them. “Mm hmm.”

  “Right.” Faith wiped off the counter, rolling her eyes. “Care to tell the truth yet?”

  Laura grinned. “Nope. You’ll find out later. Now, let’s fix up these éclairs, make some sponge cake and head over to Tonya’s. I already asked Nathan if he’ll cover and he said yes. Well, actually he said as long as we give him a million dollars.”

  “Ha!”

  Laura took her glasses off again and looped the apron over her head. “Yeah, not even a million cents.”

  Faith noticed a shining coin on the kitchen side. “Maybe one cent,” she said, holding it up.

  Laura laughed. “Is that your party trick?”

  “Nope,” Faith said, giggling. “I’m the classic wallflower introvert. Put it this way, I snuck out of my high school prom to go home and bake cookies.”

  Laura hurried over to the éclair bowls, like she knew what she was doing. “Don’t lie.”

  Faith went quickly after her. “Look, you take the éclair pastry cupcake, take the top portion off, then put the chocolate cream in the middle, and a drizzling of caramel, then you put the top portion back on, then put the chocolate ganache and more caramel. Easy as anything.”

  They quickly set up a little assembly line, with Faith in charge of the cream and caramel middle layer, and Laura responsible for the ganache and caramel on top.

  “So…?” Laura said.

  “So what?”

  “So prom, cookies. Explain!”

  Faith smiled, which was a good sign – she could finally laugh about it. “Put it this way, high school was not my favorite place.” She glanced at Laura. “I bet you were really popular, right?”

  Laura snorted. “Whatever gave you that idea?”

  “You’re nice and bubbly and blonde,” Faith said with a shrug. “That was the criteria at my high school.”

  “Well, at my high school, it was kind of like, the more of a ‘gangsta’ you were, the better. See those kids that came in and attacked Ellis?” She rolled her eyes. “They would have been the cool guys.”

  “Wait a second,” Faith said, pausing with a cupcake in her hand. “Why didn’t we even think of that before? Maybe those guys were the ones who attacked Ellis outside the gate. Maybe… maybe they were the ones who killed Joanne, too.”

  Laura’s eyes widened, but then narrowed quickly afterward. “Maybe the Ellis thing, yeah. But poison? I don’t think that’s their style. Anyways, why would they want to poison Joanne?”

  Faith slumped down on a stool. “I don’t know. There’s so much to figure out. I can’t wait to go to Tonya’s and get some info. She said in the Sheriff’s Department that she had an idea of who it was. I wanna see if she still says the same thing.”

  *****

  Tonya’s Pancake House really did look awesome. Even though Faith was a competitor, she couldn’t deny that. The place was elevated up on pillars and modern, designed in two triangles that didn’t quite match up, with huge panes of glass, allowing the clientele to look out into the dense foliage. And it really was dense, covering most of the place in deep shade. A large deck wrapped around it in a modern pine color.

  “Wow, it’s so nice here,” Faith said.

  Laura, who had been all smiles and bubbliness, now bit her lip as they made their way up onto the deck. “Yep.”

  Faith gave her a concerned glance.

  “I’m not going to cry,” Laura said. “Don’t worry. I just hate asking people questions and being all tough.”

  Faith linked her arm into Laura’s. “Ooh, yeah, we’re super scary, us. Better run and hide, suckers.”

  Laura laughed, then nodded resolutely. “Anyway, we’re not doing this to be horrible or make anyone feel bad. We’re here to clear your name.”

  Faith pushed open the glass door and took in the most comforting mix of smells as they walked in. The doughy, slightly sweet smell of pancakes, and maple syrup, and then, weirdly, cheese, and chopped bell peppers, and was that… beef? “We’re here to clear my name and, more importantly, to eat pancakes,” she said.

  The pancake house was quite busy, with families and couples stuffed in at tables all over the place. There was an open mezzanine floor up above where more people dined, and the clatter of cutlery against plates sounded throughout.

  A cheerful looking hostess with a long black ponytail came up to them. “Welcome to Tonya’s Pancake House. I’m Stephanie. A table for two?”

  “Yes, please,” Faith said.

  “Hey,” Laura said as they weaved their way through busy tables. “Stephanie? Aren’t you Tonya’s daughter?”

  Stephanie gave her a huge smile. “Yes! I am. Umm, don’t tell me. Laura, right?”

  “Yes!” Laura, her usual friendly self, launched right in and gave Stephanie a hug.

  “I think I’ve seen you around, maybe once,” Stephanie said, frowning as she looked at Faith, trying to place her.

  “I’m Faith. Miss Bessie’s granddaughter. I’m running, well, with Laura, I’m running the tearoom now.”

  “Oh, right!” Stephanie said. “I heard it was being renovated. Awesome.” She gestured to two chairs and handed them menus once they’d taken a seat. “Here’s your menus. Do you want a drink for now?”

  “Yes, please,” Laura said. “I’ll just have a water.”

  “Me, too.” Faith nodded. “And we really need to speak to your mom. It’s urgent.”

  “Oh.” Stephanie looked wrong-footed. “Are you… well, she’s… all right. I’ll go tell her.” She walked off, looking flustered, then turned back. “And two waters.”

  Faith flashed her eyes wide at Laura. “What do you make of that?”

  Laura watched Stephanie as she hurried away and out of sight into another part of the pancake house. “I don’t know. Strange.”

  Just then, Faith remembered something. She leaned forward Laura, keeping her voice as quiet as the buzz of the restaurant would allow. “Remember when Ellis called us all to the mango tree?”

  “Sure,” Laura said, draping her napkin over her lap.

  “And Tonya was trying to calm him down. Remember he made a big fuss because not all of Tonya’s staff were there?”

  “Yeah, he said he wanted every single staff member at the park there.”

  “Well, maybe there was a reason for that,” Faith said, her pulse beginning to race. “Maybe he particularly wanted Tonya’s staff there because he knew the murderer was among them.”

  Laura sank back into her chair, thinking. “You mean, Stephanie? Or…”

  “I don’t know,” Faith said, shaking her head. “I mean, maybe Stephanie and Tonya worked together, or something. Maybe they had a grudge against Joanne we know nothing about. You know of anything between them?”

  “Not that I can think of.” Laura looked down at her menu. “They’ve changed the dishes.”

  “And maybe Tonya could have said she thought she knew who it was just to make herself look innocent,” Faith said.

  “Ooh, I’m having this one,” Laura said. “Tell me this doesn’t sound like heaven. Savory garlic-rosemary pancake with roasted corn, avocado, bacon and melted cheese.”

  “That does sound good.” Faith tried to look over the menu, but her eyes just wouldn’t focus. She looked around, hoping she would see Tonya come bustling over, but she did not. She just couldn’t concentrate on reading at all, so randomly thrust her finger on one of the lines of text. “Courgette-stuffed pancakes with feta, red pepper and chicken,” she read. “That’ll do fine.”

  Stephanie and her mother appeared together a short while after, Stephanie with the drinks, and Tonya with a displeased look on her face.

  “Hello, girls,” Tonya said, the smile she was flashing quite obviously fake. “We’re extremely busy right now. What
can I help you with?”

  “Sorry, Tonya,” Laura said. “We’ll just be quick.”

  “Let me just take your orders,” Stephanie interjected, a pen already to her pad.

  Tonya waited impatiently as Faith and Laura ordered, then pulled up a chair from an empty table nearby and sat down. “Shoot.”

  “When we were at the Sheriff’s Department, you said you had an idea of who could have killed Joanne,” Faith said, getting right to the point. “Who?”

  *****

  Chapter 18

  “I don’t want to throw names around,” Tonya said, getting up from her chair.

  “Please,” Faith said desperately. “It’s not throwing names around. It’s just that… Deputy Valdez thinks I did it.”

  “And she didn’t,” Laura said.

  Faith nodded. “I swear I didn’t. Please, we won’t go spreading it around. We just want something to look into. We need to find out the truth.”

  Tonya let out a deep breath and sat down, adjusting her stylish purple peplum jacket. “All right. But this does not get repeated, do you hear? I’ve told the Sheriff already, but I don’t want my name spread around, right? Otherwise you might just find me dead next. You’ve seen what he did to Ellis already.”

  “Who?” Laura pressed.

  Tonya leaned forward and whispered, “Josiah.”

  Faith nodded, thinking back to the previous night, as she and Nathan had met him on the beach. He had certainly been heading out of Paradise Point at the exact time Ellis was due to lock up. “But why would he want to kill Joanne?”

  “Because he wanted her spot. He had his beach shack, but he wanted one near the swimming pool area, so he’d get the customers from the pool and the beach. Joanne’s is… was… is actually very close to the swimming pool, but there are a bunch of trees blocking the access from that side. He’d said he wanted to take over her place and cut those down. And he’d pay for her to build a new place somewhere else in Paradise Point.”