Gingerbread to Die For

by Valerie Tate

  “Well, that’s interesting,” Alicia said, echoing her mother. Has he heard something about the show ending, she wondered. Is he less sanguine about getting another gig than he let on? Is he feeling guilty because he killed Davina? The possibilities tumbled around in her brain. “That could be really important, Mom. Great work!”

  “Well, thank you, dear.” Her mother sounded quite please with herself. “You know your father and I are always happy to help. Just let me know if you need anything else.”

  “I will, Mom. Thanks, again.”

  Alicia walked to the white board and put a star beside Eric Braxton’s name and added ‘drowning his sorrows’. Very interesting, indeed.

  Chapter 15

  Alicia was dreaming about Davina Dove’s murder. She had learned something that explained everything. It would break the case wide open. But when she woke up, it disappeared. She tried to grasp it, but it was as unsubstantial as morning mist.

  She told Chris about her dream as they got dressed.

  “It was just a dream,” he said, dismissing the idea of revelations occurring during sleep. “You’re fixated on this and your subconscious is echoing that.”

  She pulled on her jeans before saying, “I think my subconscious is telling me that there is something I’ve seen or learned that’s important. I just wish I knew what it was,” she added as her head popped out of the neck of her red sweatshirt.

  When her morning barn chores were done, Alicia showered and changed and then took a hot mug of coffee to the sunroom and stood facing the murder board once more, sipping and ruminating on who and why and how, the latter since the police still hadn’t identified the murder weapon. Nothing cried out to her, ‘Look at me! I’m the solution to the whole thing!’ She sighed in frustration and plopped down on the sofa. Charlie immediately jumped onto her lap while Molly curled up at her feet.

  “The answer is there. I’m sure of it,” she told them. The terrier just yawned and curled up for a nap. “You’re no help,” she said with a fond smile.

  Who? Well, she still hadn’t ruled out Fiona James, Mike Manning, Eric Braxton or Magnus Wolff.

  Why? That depended on the ‘who’. So many possible notions sprang to mind – anger and frustration over Davina’s callous disregard for their feelings; jealousy at her success; worry about being fired; and possible unknown factors they had yet to discover, might never discover. That was a depressing thought. But they really knew very little about the real lives of these television people. Sure, they lived in a goldfish bowl but they were very skilled at revealing only those facts which supported their on-air personas. Who knew what was hidden underneath the facades? She was glad she didn’t have to live her life like that. What you saw was pretty much who she was, and the same held true for Chris. Now her mom, that was another matter. Alicia shook her head and turned back to the board.

  The ‘how’ was less open to question. Of course she had died of blunt force trauma to the forehead, but what had been used to do the evil deed? Something heavy, flat and rectangular with a smooth surface. Not a rock or a piece of wood. What else could someone find lying around? A piece of camera equipment? Something from the kitchen? A pot or a frying pan? It really depended on whether the killer had planned on murdering her or had done it on the spur of the moment. If he or she had planned it, they would have brought something with them. Spur of the moment meant they had found something at the scene.

  And what about the cookie shoved in her mouth? What was that for? Was it a message? Or a final humiliation? Was it at all significant that it was a dove? It must have meant something.

  Her mind was awhirl as she considered all of the different elements and possibilities. She went to the board and began to write down all of her thoughts and questions, hoping that would somehow provide some order and clarity.

  How she wished Davina Dove and her show had never come to town! The mayor’s brilliant idea had been tragic for Davina and a bust as a tourist attraction for the town. She could take some satisfaction in not having to listen to the Dragon Lady crow about it any more.

  When she’d finished recording it all, she called out to Chris, “I’m heading into town to do some shopping.”

  He clattered down the stairs, clean-shaven once more she was pleased to note, closely followed by the dogs. “What kind of shopping?” he asked with a grin.

  “Nothing I can tell you about,” she replied, laughing, and then hurried out the door before he could press her further. Really, he was just a big kid at heart this time of year, she thought as she climbed into the truck. Good thing his gifts were hidden at her parents’ house.

  Her spirits rose as she drove into town. She decided to put the murder out of her mind and just enjoy the day. Chris had said he would bring in the horses and feed them so she didn’t need to hurry to be home before dark, something that came too early on these final days of December.

  The sun was shining in a cloudless sky and there was just enough snow on the ground to create a ‘Currier and Ives’ winter wonderland. The main street sparkled as she drove through town, giving her a profound sense of joy. Dunbarton would always be her home and she was grateful that she had grown up there, despite the ups and downs of her childhood family life. It hadn’t always been easy being a Dunbar.

  An afternoon’s Christmas shopping did her a world of good. The lovely decorations in the shops and the general good cheer of all she met reminded her where her priorities should be.

  She had just left Ex Libris books, after a quick visit with ‘Uncle’ Ned, when she saw someone that brought the murder back to the forefront of her mind - Mike Manning exiting The Kitchen Cupboard.

  He was alone, she noticed, as she hurried after him down the street. He didn’t seem to be in a hurry. In fact, he was strolling along in quite a leisurely fashion, pausing now and then to look in a store window. She tried to be inconspicuous as she tailed him but it was difficult with her arms laden with bags. But then she realized, that was exactly what made her inconspicuous. Everyone was encumbered with bags. Everyone was looking in shop windows, rushing here and there, stopping to chat with friends and neighbours. She stopped worrying and relaxed. He didn’t know her and, even if he did, it was perfectly natural for her to be there. It was Christmastime in Dunbarton. Where else would she be?

  Even with the Christmas crowds on the sidewalk, he wasn’t hard to follow. People kept stopping him to ask for his autograph, something which clearly pleased him. The women gushed and gazed at him with enraptured expressions and it wasn’t hard to understand why. In person, he was definitely dreamy, just as Marjorie had said.

  When he reached the park with Santa’s Castle, at the south end of the main street, she thought he was going to turn back but instead he walked over to a parked car and hopped in. Before she had time to realize what was happening, he was driving off, turning onto Glengarry Lane and heading north. Luckily, she’d left her truck in her parents’ driveway so she hurriedly crossed the park, dumped her bags in the back seat, climbed in and pulled out. Thanks to the low speed limit on that road, she could still see him. It looked like he was heading out of town.

  As it turned out, that’s exactly what he was doing, but not far out of town, just to the new hotel out on the highway. She wasn’t too far behind him when he pulled into the parking lot and stopped, close enough even in the dimming light, to have a good view of who he was meeting there. With what she had learned from the Silver Hair Brigade and her mother, she wasn’t surprised to see it was Fiona James. What did surprise her, however, was the intimate kiss and embrace that followed. Then the two lovers, for that is what they obviously were, headed into the hotel.

  Without taking time to think, she jumped out of the truck and scurried across the parking lot to the entrance where she paused, took a deep breath and then casually walked in. If she had hoped to see what floor the elevator stopped at, she was disappointed because they weren’t heading for the elevator. Instead they were just entering the hotel restaurant. She str
olled over to the menu posted on a stand by the reservations desk and stood pondering it thoughtfully while, out of the corner of her eye, she saw them shown to a table by the window and handed menus. She glanced at her watch. It was a little after five. Afternoon tea or an early dinner? Whichever it was, it should give her time.

  Rushing back to the truck she pulled out her phone and called Chris.

  “Hi, honey, how would you like to take me out to dinner?”

  “Sure, Angelo’s?”

  “No, the restaurant at The Seagull Inn, you know, the big white monstrosity on the highway.”

  “Why there?” he asked. “We’ve never eaten there before.”

  She quickly explained about following Mike Manning to the hotel and seeing him meet Fiona James. “If we hurry, we can get there in time to watch them and see where they go afterwards. But I’ll need some clothes.” She mentally ran through her wardrobe. “My red wool dress, I guess, no better make it the black one – less conspicuous. And my black, sling-back pumps.”

  “Your what?”

  “The black shoes with the pointy toes and the strap behind the heel,” she explained. “And I’ll need some pantyhose and my makeup bag. I have a brush in my purse. And you’ll need to wear a suit and tie.”

  “Gotcha. I’ll be there as fast as I can.”

  “Don’t forget to feed Horace and the dogs. We might be late.”

  “I already did and I brought in the horses and fed them, too. See you soon.”

  Alicia was always amazed at how quickly men could get ready to go out. It was barely thirty minutes before Chris pulled into the parking lot looking like the cover of GQ magazine. He took a garment bag out of the back seat and then joined Alicia in the truck.

  “I brought everything you mentioned plus your favourite perfume.”

  She kissed him quickly and said, “Have I ever told you how perfect you are?”

  “Yes,” he said with a smile that never failed to give her butterflies in the stomach, “but I don’t mind hearing it again.” Now that was dreamy, but there wasn’t time to pursue it now.

  She hopped out and grabbed the garment bag. As she was climbing into the back seat of the truck he asked, “What are you doing?”

  “Getting changed.”

  “Here?!” He looked around quickly to see if there was anyone nearby as she started to pull off her clothes.

  “It would look odd if I did it in the restaurant. Just keep watch. If anyone is coming, I’ll duck down.”

  Pulling on a dress wasn’t too difficult but the pantyhose had her bouncing on the seat.

  “You’re going to attract attention doing that!” Chris hissed.

  “It’s either this or on my back with my legs in the air and I don’t think that would look too good! Here,” she said turning her back, “zip me up.”

  After he’d done as she asked, she slipped on her shoes and then slid out of the back seat and put her jacket on over the sleek, black dress.

  “I wish I’d remember to ask you to bring the necklace I always wear with this.”

  “It’s in your makeup bag. And before you ask, your black coat is in the car.”

  “Just perfect!” she said with an ardent smile.

  Blessing the driver-side makeup mirror, she added eye shadow, blush and lipstick and then touched up her mascara and finished with a spritz of cologne. Chris went and retrieved her coat and then helped her into it. Checking her watch she was pleased to see it wasn’t yet six o’clock.

  Arm in arm, they strolled casually to the entrance. Once inside, Chris took Alicia’s coat and hung it up and then, together, they approached the hostess and asked for a table for two. The restaurant wasn’t busy at that hour so they had no difficulty getting a table partially obscured by the Christmas tree in the centre of the room, but with a good view of Fiona and Mike by the window.

  “This is perfect,” Alicia said as she surveyed the room. “We can see when they leave but, hopefully, they won’t notice us.”

  It was a large room with brick walls on three sides and a window vista on the fourth. There were tables and red leather banquettes along the walls as well as round tables and chairs in the centre. Besides the large Christmas tree, containers of pine boughs and holly and potted trees with twinkling lights were placed decoratively around the room.

  “Would it matter if they did see us?” Chris asked.

  “I suppose not. Nothing unusual in our having dinner out.” She looked over the menu and then said in surprise, “This looks quite good. Why haven’t we eaten here before?”

  Chris shrugged. “We have our favourite places. I guess we’re in a rut.”

  When the waitress came, Alicia ordered the grilled Atlantic salmon, roast potatoes and salad while Chris chose the ribeye with sweet potato fries. Seeing Alicia’s look, he added a green salad to go with it.

  Alicia glanced casually over to Fiona and Mike’s table. The couple was leaning forward, deep in discussion.

  “They’re feeling pretty confident if they can risk being seen together in public like this,” Chris observed.

  “I wish I could read lips,” Alicia muttered, straining to figure out what they were saying.

  “They’re too far away for that. You’d need binoculars.”

  “If this were a television show, I’d bribe a waitress for her uniform and then hover near them so I could hear what they were saying.”

  “Fiona would recognize you,” he pointed out practically.

  “No one looks at waitresses,” she countered with scorn.

  “You’re pretty memorable.”

  “Ah, thanks, sweetie.” She flashed him a grateful smile before turning back to her quarry. “Looks like we’ll have to pull the ‘Fancy running into you.’ bit.”

  “Not until we’ve finished eating,” he protested, looking worried.

  “Okay, but if it looks like they’re getting ready to leave, you’ll have to skip dessert.”

  Chris’ face fell. “But they have chocolate truffle cake!”

  She patted his hand and said, “We’ll order some to go.”

  The other couple didn’t seem to be in any hurry. They ate in a leisurely fashion, still deep in conversation, ordered a bottle of wine and then coffee and dessert. By then the restaurant was full and Alicia and Chris didn’t need to worry about being spotted as they ate their slices of truffle cake and sipped their coffees.

  The waitress had cleared the table and they’d paid the cheque but their quarry still showed no sign of leaving.

  “It looks like we’ll have to arrange the accidental meeting after all,” Alicia said, standing up and preparing to leave.

  They strolled casually past the other couple’s table. As they drew level, Alicia started as if surprised to see Fiona.

  “Hi, Fiona. I didn’t notice you here.”

  A look of dismay crossed Fiona’s face briefly but then she put on a smile and replied, “Hi, Alicia. You’re having a night out, too?”

  “Yes, date night. I don’t think you’ve met my husband, Chris.”

  The introduction forced Fiona to reciprocate. “And this is Mike, a friend of mine from the city.”

  “Yes, I recognized him right away. You’re Mike Manning from Chef in the House,” Alicia gushed. “I just love your show! I watch it all the time,” she lied.

  The chef smiled brightly at the compliment but Alicia noticed that his eyes had a wary look. She wondered if Fiona had told him about the questions she’d been asking. “It’s always nice to meet a fan,” he said.

  “Imagine, meeting you here! How wonderful! And just after we had all of the excitement of The Divine Miss Dove filming a show here. Of course, that turned out badly in the end. Such a tragic loss.” Alicia realized she was babbling and fizzled to a halt.

  Fiona was looking at her as if she had two heads but Mike just smiled gently and said, “Yes, a tragic end to a brilliant career. She will be greatly missed.”

  Alicia put on her best sympathetic look. “I guess
you knew her.”

  “Of course, ours is a small world, as you can see by my having run into Fiona.”

  “Oh, so you didn’t plan on meeting here?” Alicia tried to sound guileless but the narrowing of Fiona’s eyes told her she’d failed utterly.

  But Mike Manning was used to acting a part. “No, just a happy coincidence,” he replied, succeeding at sounding ingenuous. “I came for a few days pre-Christmas R&R and discovered that Davina was filming here. And it’s such a small town, I couldn’t help meeting Fiona.

  “Now, it has been lovely meeting you, but I should get Fiona home. She has a long drive tomorrow.”

  “Oh, you’re heading back to the city?” Chris said, trying to cover for Alicia’s startled look.

  “Yes.” Fiona’s answer was curt. She seemed to have finished with the social niceties.

  Did Marcus Samuel know about this, Chris wondered.

  “When are you starting your new job?” Alicia asked.

  She noticed that Mike looked startled at the question but Fiona answered, “After the holidays.”

  Smiling conspiratorially, Alicia said, “And can I take a wild guess that the television show you’re going to work for is Chef in the House?”

  Fiona gasped but Mike merely laughed and said, “Well, you caught us. Yes, she’s coming to work for me. We’d kept it a secret because I didn’t want Davina to know that I was poaching her assistant. She would have made life difficult for Fiona had she found out. But now that Fiona is out of a job, it doesn’t have to be a secret any longer.”

  “And, of course, you don’t have to worry about Davina Dove finding out that it was Fiona who gave you her recipes and the show’s schedule.” Alicia hoped that shock tactics would get some results. They did.

  A look of icy rage replaced the chef’s good humour. “You’ve no proof of that,” he hissed, “and if you repeat it in public, it will be slander.” He stopped briefly and then added, “And for the record, the night of Davina’s murder I was in my room all evening. The key card record shows I never left.”