Gingerbread to Die For

by Valerie Tate

  She thought he looked tired, something that never seemed to change. If he had thought that his job would be quiet when he moved from the big city, he had been proved wrong. Middle aged, with brown hair turning grey, his face was care-worn and he had the hooded eyes of a bloodhound. She thought he looked thinner than he had in the past. His coat no longer strained across his chest and his face looked leaner. His wife must have put him on a diet, she thought, that or the stress of the job was getting to him.

  They had met on numerous occasions in the past when she and Chris had become involved in murder investigations but it had all started when Alicia had found herself the prime suspect in a murder case. Chris liked to point out to the detective that it was all his fault that she had started sleuthing.

  Theirs was a complicated relationship. While Samuel had to admit that they had been ‘somewhat helpful’ in the past, he fiercely guarded the police department’s right to exclusive investigative authority and defied any amateur sleuths to poke their nose in, no matter how successful they were in discovering the perpetrators of the crime. He would not be happy to see her there.

  And he wasn’t. A shift in the crowd and they made eye-contact. Alicia looked away quickly but it was too late. He came storming over.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.

  “Gawking, like everyone else,” she replied, trying to sound innocent. She wasn’t about to tell him about her investigation. The mayor could do that. Let her take the heat.

  “Just keep it that way,” he cautioned, his look severe. Alicia’s presence at a crime scene was always something to be concerned about. “I understand you were one of the organizers of this event,” he said, changing the subject to something that didn’t raise his blood pressure.

  Alicia nodded. Nothing to hide about that. It was common knowledge. “Yes, along with Saanvi Kapoor.”

  “I’m going to have to interview the two of you,” he said tersely, jotting it down in the small notebook that seemed to be perpetually attached to his hand.

  “Well, Saanvi’s at the town hall,” she said without thinking.

  “And how exactly do you know that?” he asked, his tone sharp.

  “Because I was just there,” she admitted reluctantly. She really didn’t like where this line of questions was heading.

  “At this hour! What were you doing there?”

  With his suspicions raised, it was no use trying to hide it. “The mayor asked Chris and I to meet her there first thing. Chris couldn’t go so it was just me.”

  “And what did her Honour the Mayor want?” His tone was scathing. He’d had run-ins with the Dragon Lady in the past.

  As much as she would like to, she couldn’t postpone telling him. “She wanted Chris and I to look into Davina’s murder.” Seeing his indignation increasing, she hastened to add, “Because I’d met her and the crew and been there to see what was going on and who might have a motive to kill her.” There, she’d said it. She waited for the explosion she was sure would follow.

  But Samuel just looked thoughtful. Finally, he said, “That’s not a bad idea.”

  She looked at him, stunned, unable to form a sentence.

  Seeing her look, he actually chuckled. “It’s not often you’re at a loss for words. No, I don’t mean it’s a good idea for you to investigate this. That’s a job for the police. But I do want to hear everything you know.” He hesitated, not believing what he was about to say. “You might also prove to be useful in getting some of these show business types to talk, since you’ve already established relationships with them.”

  Alicia couldn’t believe her ears. Marcus Samuel had just said that she might be useful in an official investigation! She glanced at the sky, certain that she’d see pigs flying overhead.

  “I could do that,” she said casually. “You know I’m always happy to assist the police in any way that I can.” She smiled demurely.

  Samuel snorted in response. “Yes, well just remember, all I want you to do is talk. No poking your nose into things and especially no trespassing.” He dropped his voice to a whisper. “I know all about your lock-picking skills.” At least, she thought, it appeared he didn’t know about fingerprinting, DNA collection and firearms proficiency.

  She raised her left hand in the air and with her right she crossed her heart. “Understood.”

  “Good.”

  “Can you tell me when she was killed?” she asked hesitantly, not wanting to press her luck. “It might be useful to know that when I’m talking to people,” she explained quickly.

  As she had feared, he reacted poorly to the question and she was afraid she’d pushed him too far. But instead of insisting that time of death was a matter for the police, like he usually did, he thought for a minute while eyeing her warily, and finally said, “The medical examiner’s rough guess is between eight o’clock last night and midnight. The cold weather makes it difficult to be any more specific than that, although the killer would have been smarter to leave the body outside. Heat loss would have been faster making it harder to come up with an estimated time of death. Being in the little cottage, and the fact that she was wearing a winter coat and boots, slowed temperature loss. Her body hadn’t reached ambient temperature when the M.E. took her core temperature. If it had, we couldn’t have used it to determine time of death at all.”

  “Thanks, Marcus. I’ll keep that in mind when I talk to the crew.”

  “Well, good.” He seemed at a loss. This was uncharted territory and he wasn’t sure how to react. “Once I’ve finished here, I’ll come out to the farm and find out what you already know about these people.”

  “Okay, see you there,” she said with barely contained glee. Wait ‘til Chris hears about this!

  And then she remembered his last words to her, early that morning. Wait ‘til Chris hears about this.

  Chapter 8

  Alicia hurried home, collected Charlie and Molly from the house and took them out for a romp in the barn. She was still being cautious in case Molly decided to try to hit the road again. Later that day she would make some signs to put up around town.

  After mucking out the stalls, putting down hay and preparing the feed for later, she rushed in to start writing down everything she knew about ‘The Divine Miss Dove’ crew. If Marcus Samuel was going to trust her to help with the investigation, she didn’t want to let him down.

  And besides that, it was almost Christmas and she really loved the Christmas season, for so many reasons – for the memories of Christmases past and the joys of Christmas present; for the way it brought out the best in people; for the beauty of the decorations that brightened even the dark days of December; and for the love that was evident in the faces of her friends and family. And no murderer was going to spoil it for her or for anyone else in Dunbarton, that she promised herself. Failure was not an option, she thought defiantly.

  As she ate a quick lunch, she checked out what she’d written. It was disappointingly slim, but it was a start. She added a lot of questions she wanted to get the answers to. She also thought it would be a good idea to google the major players and see what popped up. People, especially those in show business, lived their lives in the goldfish bowl that was social media. It was really hard to keep a secret, especially a juicy one, and those were the ones that could provide a motive for murder.

  Showered and wearing a clean pair of jeans and an Arran sweater, she was walking downstairs when she heard a car pull up outside. Thinking it was the detective, she ran to open the door only to find Chris standing there.

  Drat, she thought as she put on a happy face. “Hi, honey, you’re home early,” she said, trying not to look or sound guilty.

  Chris walked in, tossed his briefcase on a table and hung up his coat. Then he turned to Alicia and said, “I ran into Marcus in town.”

  “Oh.”

  As Alicia tried to think of something more to say, Chris went on, “I thought we agreed that we weren’t going to get i
nvolved in this.”

  “We did, but the mayor was quite insistent.”

  He snorted derisively. “Since when did that ever cut any ice with you?”

  “It doesn’t, usually,” she admitted. “But then she suggested that my mom could be a suspect because one of her cookies was stuffed in Davina’s mouth.” It sounded lame as she said it, even to her.

  “That doesn’t mean Alice put it there,” he said, exasperation making the words curt. “They were left on the table in the rotunda on public display. Anyone could have taken one.”

  “That’s what I said. But Marion pointed out that the police might not see it that way, so… I said yes. I’m sorry.” She tried to sound penitent but failed miserably.

  “No, you’re not,” he said astutely. “You’re itching to start sleuthing again.” He threw the accusation at her inf frustration.

  She gave up the pretence. “All right, I admit it. I am. I was right there when the lead up to the murder was happening. I know all of the suspects, or at least, I think they are all the suspects. Unless there was someone hanging around who had a motive… like that guy at the opening ceremony.” She was lost in thought for a moment before noticing Chris standing there with a big ‘I told you so.’ expression on his handsome face. She realized she’d lost track of the conversation. “Sorry. You were saying?”

  “What I can’t understand is why Marcus Samuel is encouraging you,” he said, irked that Samuel, normally his ally in keeping Alicia out of murder investigations, had apparently lost his mind and changed sides.

  She hurried to explain. “That’s because I went to have another look at the crime scene and he saw me there and we got talking. He thinks I have the inside track with the television and kitchen crews because of all the time I’ve spent with them this week. He just wants me to nose around and see what I can learn from them. They might be more likely to tell me things than the police – you know, gossipy things about Davina.”

  “I suppose it was too much to expect that you wouldn’t get involved in this,” Chris said, resigned to his fate. “So what do you want me to do?”

  “You’ll help?” Alicia was both surprised and relieved that he’d given in so fast. She’d thought she’d have to do a lot of cajoling to bring him around.

  “I will, if only to get this cleared up before my family gets here.” It certainly wasn’t because he thought she needed protecting. With a black belt in Taekwondo, two levels above his, something they’d taken up after nearly losing their lives to an axe-wielding killer, he knew she was well-equipped to take care of herself. “You do remember they’re coming for Christmas?”

  “I do. How could I forget? I have to cook a turkey.” Her face fell at the thought. She’d managed to put that out of her mind for a time.

  “Okay, well after tomorrow I’m on two weeks vacation and I’m all yours.”

  “Fantastic!” She threw her arms around him and expressed her appreciation exuberantly. “Now, why don’t you change out of that suit? I’ll make you some lunch and show you what I’ve got so far. Marcus is coming some time this afternoon. After he’s gone, I’ll bring in the whiteboard from the barn and we can set up the ‘murder’ board.” Her face lit up at the thought. She did love her murder board.

  Chris was eating his sandwich when there was a knock at the front door and the dogs took off, barking hysterically.

  “Stay here and finish your lunch,” Alicia said, heading for the door. “I’ll bring Marcus back here.

  When Alicia opened the door, Samuel was surrounded by two very excited canines. Charlie was a favourite of his and the detective greeted him affectionately. Then he looked at Molly.

  “New dog?” He crouched down to make her acquaintance.

  “A rescue,” Alicia explained, looking at Molly who was enjoying the detective’s attention. “I found her running along the highway outside of town. She wasn’t wearing a collar and she isn’t microchipped.”

  “Could have been dumped,” Marcus said, looking angry.

  Alicia nodded. “That’s what the vet said. We’re taking care of her until we find her owner.”

  “If she was dumped, you won’t find him,” he said grimly.

  Alicia gazed at Molly fondly. “If that’s the case, then we’re keeping her.”

  Samuel stood up and said decisively, “Then she is a lucky dog.”

  “Thanks. We’d be the lucky ones. She’s a terrific dog. We love her already. Anyway, come through to the kitchen. Chris is just having lunch. Would you like a sandwich?”

  “That would be great, thanks! I got called out early and haven’t eaten all day.” If that was his normal routine, it explained the weight loss.

  As they passed the living room, Samuel took in all of the Christmas decorations – the garland on the mantle, the tall fir tree in the corner by the window, the bells and balls and bows everywhere – and remembered guiltily that it was less than two weeks until Christmas day. It was easy to forget when he was on a case.

  He gave a sigh of relief as he sank down on a chair and joined Chris at the oak table by the kitchen fireplace. “Hi, Chris, sorry to disturb your lunch.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” He eyed the detective critically, noting the bags under his eyes and the weary-looking lines on his face. “You look like you could use a rest and some food.”

  Shrugging off his coat, Samuel nodded. “You’re right there. Alicia has kindly offered to fix me a sandwich.”

  “Would you like a beer to go with it?” Chris asked, getting up and going to the refrigerator.

  Samuel’s eyes lit up briefly but then he shook his head. “Better not. But some coffee would be nice.”

  Once he’d eaten a ham and cheese sandwich and downed a mug of coffee, Samuel sat back in his chair and reluctantly took out his notebook. “Thanks, that really hit the spot.” He looked at Alicia, suddenly all professional. “Now tell me what you know about Davina Dove and the crew of her show.”

  It was what she’d been waiting for. Grabbing the pad where she’d made her notes, she began, “Well, the first thing you should know is that Davina Dove was not an easy woman to work for.”

  Samuel looked surprised. “Really? Everyone on the show has told me how great she was to work for – all sweetness and light.”

  Alicia smirked. “More like vinegar and a black hole. From the moment I first saw her she was haranguing someone about something. She had unrealistic expectations and made unreasonable demands. The crew had barely arrived in the community centre and had just started setting up, when she arrived and demanded to know why they weren’t ready to go. She humiliated Fiona James in front of everyone and intimated that she would be fired if she didn’t improve. I had the feeling that it wasn’t the first time that happened, either.

  “Everyone in the crew seemed to be on edge. Eric Braxton, the director, said Davina had been upset ever since their schedule was leaked and some of her best recipes started showing up on another television cooking show.”

  That got Samuel’s attention. “Do they know who was stealing them?”

  “If Eric knew, he didn’t tell me. Also, I had the feeling that Davina wasn’t too happy with him, either. After the show, she told him she wanted to see him in the morning to talk about it and she sounded positively glacial when she said it.”

  Samuel was noting it all down, writing feverishly. She really was observant he thought. “Anyone else she had a problem with or who had a problem with her?”

  Alicia hesitated for a moment but then reminded herself that they were dealing with murder. “Betty Campbell.”

  The detective’s professional veneer slipped and he cried out in disbelief. “Of ‘Betty’s Baked Goods’?” He loved her cookies and she’d always seemed like the cosy, grandmotherly type when he was in her shop.

  “That’s her. She entered in the cookie category and Davina annihilated her.” She looked him straight in the eye before adding, “On camera.”

  “Ouch! Well there’s a motive if
I ever heard one.” He shook his head. You just never knew about people. “Anyone else?”

  “Well, Magnus Wolff, the sous-chef, had a bit of an edge to his voice when he talked about her, but he didn’t say anything to suggest he wanted her dead.” Remembering the broad shoulders, rippling hair and big blue eyes, she really hoped it wasn’t him. She caught Chris looking at her and quickly rearranged her face.

  “And there was one thing more. Something odd happened at the opening ceremony.” She told him about Davina’s noticing someone in the crowd and muttering about why he was there. “She told the mayor that it was someone named Mike Manning but she didn’t say who he was or why she was surprised to see him there. I thought it was strange at the time because his being there rattled her and Davina didn’t appear to be a woman who rattled easily.”

  After noting the name in his book, Samuel asked, “Anyone else?”

  “That’s all I’ve got for now.” She added the last with a sidelong glance, hoping he hadn’t changed his mind about her helping out.

  He snapped the book shut and tucked it into his pocket. “Thanks, that’s really valuable information. You’ve given me a much different picture of what went on than I was led to believe by the crew.”

  “And you still want me to nose around and see what else I can learn?” She tried to make it sound like a statement but her voice quivered at the end.

  He nodded slowly, clearly at war with himself. “Yes, more than ever I think you can learn things that they won’t reveal to me. I’ve told them that they have to stay in town and leave the cooking set and all of the equipment exactly as it is. That goes for all of the entries, as well.”

  “What about the public viewing,” she asked anxiously. “People were supposed to be able to go and see the display of houses and cookies.” If that was going to be cancelled, she certainly didn’t want to be the one who had to tell the mayor.

  He thought a moment, and then said, “Yes, that can still happen. It will give you a good excuse to still be there. I’ll leave an officer posted at the gingerbread house crime scene. Put out an announcement that it can go ahead tomorrow.”