Ooey Gooey Bakery Mystery Box Set

by Katherine H Brown

  “Definitely.”

  “Speaking of hair…are you going to keep your gorgeous turquoise and silver? If so, I need to schedule you an appointment with Lainey to touch them up soon. They are fading a bit and it isn’t as pretty without the turquoise.”

  Sam never pulled punches, but I knew that in her own way she said it to be helpful. “You know, that would be great thanks. I’ve grown pretty attached to the colors.”

  “Told you,” Sam winked. I had only dyed the tips of my hair as a prank to get her to stop bothering me about boring hair. The joke was on me because it turned out awesome and I really loved it.

  “What about you? Surely by now Deidra has grown used to your red layer of hair? She might even consider it normal.” I mock-gasped; Sam’s only rebellious streak against her uppity mother’s fashion-obsessed upbringing happened when she started dyeing her hair in college. It gave Deidra fits for her daughter to have “unnatural” hair which we found hilarious considering Deidra had been covering up her gray roots for longer than I’d known her.

  “I have something big in mind. When Victoria and Millie are here again later this week, I’ll tell you.”

  We finished the baking in record time, and Sam went out front to unlock the door. After setting the last cookies out to cool, I carried out two glasses of tea and joined her.

  “When do you have to appear in court?” she asked as we sat down at one of the tables.

  “Thursday, day after tomorrow. I’m kind of nervous.”

  “It’ll be like answering a few questions in a conversation; a fairly one-sided conversation. And then it’ll be over before you know it. I know you hate to speak in front of crowds, but how many people could it be anyway?”

  Chapter 4

  A lot. A whole lot of people, that’s how many. Wednesday had passed in a blur of busy baking and Thursday was upon us already. Thankfully, Sam and Griff were numbered among the crowd. They would be here for me when this was all over.

  I was seated in the second row of benches with several people I didn’t know, and one or two familiar faces including my friend Landon and Roy, the caretaker from The Cove’s Cabins. I took a deep breath and tried to calm my mind.

  “All rise for the Honorable Judge Rickson,” the bailiff bellowed.

  I stood along with everyone else. My palms poured sweat as did my underarms; boy, I hoped I put enough deodorant on today. Soon, the judge asked everyone to be seated other than those of us who would be testifying.

  “Raise your right hand,” he ordered.

  We did. I thought it strange that they would swear us in as a group, but that is exactly what happened. Before I knew it, our oath finished and we were led out into the hallway. I didn’t realize that if you were giving testimony, you weren’t allowed to sit in the courtroom for any other part of the trial.

  “There is to be absolutely no talking,” the woman who seated us outside instructed. “Remain at least one foot apart at all times.” With that, she re-entered the courtroom. I could see her stationed on alert inside the doors.

  One at a time, my companions on the hall bench were called and led inside, then escorted back out to sit and wait. Maybe they will decide they don’t need my testimony. Maybe the trial will be over before they anticipated. I watched enough TV to know that I was kidding myself. These things could last for days or weeks. Oh God, please don’t let this go on for weeks. As I dreaded, my turn eventually came.

  “Piper Rivers,” the doorwoman called in the same bored, monotone voice she had used each time she retrieved a witness.

  “Hi!” I tossed my hand up in a small wave, instantly regretting letting my nervousness take over as the doorwoman glared at me as if I’d just shot her a rude gesture. Great, I’m not supposed to be talking, I remember; now I’ll probably get arrested for disobeying the judge or something crazy. I dropped the smile and averted my gaze from the doorwoman, walking past her, back into the courtroom, and down the side aisle to the box where the bailiff held the short swinging door open for me.

  “Miss Rivers, I would like to remind you that you are under oath. Please affirm that you understand and that you swear to tell the truth,” the bailiff asked as I entered the box.

  “I do…understand that is, I understand and um, I will…” my eyes slipped to the room before me. Faces swam before me, a blur of eyes on me. “Is it hot in here?” I struggled to draw breath.

  ~

  I blinked. Opening my eyes wide, I spotted dirt gray ceiling tiles. Ceiling tiles? The sea of faces was gone. I blinked again and heard voices approaching.

  “Piper, are you okay?” Sam’s face loomed over mine.

  Griff appeared on my other side and helped me to sit up.

  “I’m good. What…are we still at the courthouse?”

  “Yes. You fainted when you sat down to testify. Thankfully, the bailiff was still standing close and prevented you from hitting your head or anything.”

  Griff picked up where Sam stopped, “They brought you into one of the antechambers. A paramedic should be here any minute.”

  “I don’t need a paramedic,” I grumbled. “I’m just an idiot scared of public speaking.”

  “You are not an idiot. I don’t want you to talk like that,” Griff rubbed my back and massaged my shoulders. I could get used to this. No wonder you were always reading books about women in the middle ages passing out at the drop of a hat; if they were coddled later, who could blame them.

  “Hey!” I jerked upright from my relaxed posture. “You never told me about the date with Kendra.”

  Griff had been booked with multiple inspections yesterday so he hadn’t stopped at the bakery. Sam and I spent big portions of the day fine-tuning our plans to team up with Flo for some summer sales and I hadn’t had time to pester Griff with texts or phone calls.

  A door opened and a fresh-faced boy with a light blue paramedic uniform hustled to my side. He placed his fingers on my wrist, checking my pulse.

  “Don’t worry, I’m alive,” I quipped. He only nodded and continued with his check-up. After I answered an onslaught of questions concerning how I felt, what I’d eaten, if me passing out ever happened before and so on, the young man cleared me to go home for the day and left.

  Before I could go anywhere, the bailiff came in. “Miss Rivers, I’ve been instructed to inform you that trial has gone into recess and will resume next Monday morning at eight. You are to be here and be ready to testify or be held in contempt.” A swift turn on his heel and he retreated from the room.

  Cradling my head in my hands, I sighed. What in the world was I going to do? The thought of getting back up in front of the room full of people made my head spin and my stomach nauseated.

  “Let me take you home,” Griff spoke as we exited the courthouse.

  Sunshine spilled across the steps and I inhaled a deep breath of the warm, salty air. “No,” I said with a shake of my head. “I feel completely fine now and there is too much to do at the bakery. Please, drive me back there.”

  He agreed and we began the trek across the road and parking lot to his truck, Sam by my side. As we rounded the end of a gray van, a man walked straight into me from behind, separating me from Sam and causing me to stumble into Griff.

  “Hey!” Griff yelled at the man while trying to steady me with both hands. The man took off at a run and jumped into a waiting white Mercedes. They sped away.

  “Sam,” he looked to his sister as she glared after the fleeing car. “Sam, are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. Piper, check your purse. We may have been mugged.” She flipped open her purse and searched its contents. “My wallet is still here. Phone, keys, pepper spray, lipstick, everything I think.”

  My wallet and phone, normally kept in my cargo pant pockets, hadn’t fit in those of my slacks so I’d been forced to use a purse to carry them to court today. I opened the mouth of the purse wide and dug around. “Phone, wallet, keys, phone, gum…wait a minute.” I reached back into the purse and handed out the conte
nts to Sam and Griff one at a time. Sure enough, there were two phones.

  My own phone, a touchscreen smartphone with the saying ‘Life is short, lick the spoon,’ on the case went back in my purse with the wallet and other items, but I held onto the strange little red flip-phone. When it rang seconds later, I nearly had a heart attack.

  “Hello?” I answered.

  “Pity, passing out on the stand. Testifying might be dangerous for your health, don’t you think?”

  “Excuse me?” I received no response; the caller had disconnected.

  “Let’s get in the truck,” I told Griff and Sam, walking that direction before they had time to object.

  “Who was that on the phone?” Sam asked.

  “That man dropped it in your purse on purpose, didn’t he?” Griff’s voice hardened. Something in my face must have given it away. I refused to look back. I had to get to the truck, get my friends in the truck, and process this somewhere out of the open.

  We hopped in the truck, me in the passenger seat and Sam in the back. Griff cranked it and drove out of the parking lot, stopping at the exit to pass the parking stub to the attendant and pay.

  “Yes,” I said fingering the phone in my hand. “I’m certain this phone was the reason that man jostled me in the parking lot. I don’t know who it was, but they must have been in court today.” I relayed the cryptic conversation.

  “I’ll drive you to the police station.”

  “What? Why?” I asked Griff.

  “Piper, you can’t be serious. You need to turn that phone in. Maybe the police can pull a print or something.”

  “I agree with Griff,” Sam said. “Which obviously means you are going to disagree if we’re judging by our recent track record.”

  “No, I know. You’re both right.” I touched Griff’s arm as he started to flip the blinker on. “Please, can we go to the bakery first and grab a snack? Give me a short time to think about who it could be, then maybe when we take it to the police, I’ll have some other thoughts or information to share with them, too. I’m sure I’ve smudged any prints by now anyway, so what could a few more hours hurt?” I gave him my best puppy-dog eyes, even though I hadn’t perfected them over time as Sam had.

  “I got a partial plate on the car I think,” Sam spoke up from the backseat a while later. “At least, I tried. It was hard to read since they were going so fast, but I believe it started with CA1.”

  “I’m impressed, Sis.” Griff eyed her in the rearview mirror.

  “Thanks. That was when I still thought the guy might’ve nicked something from our purses.”

  “What doesn’t make sense to me is, I thought Regina was calling the shots on trafficking those women at the Thai Massage Parlor. If she’s in custody, who would be out here worrying about me? Another goon? Or a bigger fish?” I crossed my arms and leaned back in my seat, mulling it over.

  “Goon? Fish? Have you been watching mobster shows?” Griff laughed.

  Nobody seemed in the mood for any conversation. Eventually, we pulled into the lot behind the Ooey Gooey Goodness Bakery.

  Sam scooted out of the seat and made her way to the back door.

  I lingered.

  Griff combed rough fingers through my hair, sweeping it behind one ear. “I have to go to work,” he said. “Promise me you will take that phone to the police.”

  “I will.”

  “Today.”

  “Later today.” Much, much later I thought to myself. “Yes, I will.”

  “Hey,” I remembered what was niggling at the back of my brain as I opened the door. Turning back, I asked, “How did dinner with Kendra go?”

  “It went fine. She loved the flowers, especially when I told her my girlfriend picked them out. She’s looking forward to meeting you.”

  I shook my head and waved as he drove off with a grin. Boy, to have been a fly on the wall for that conversation. I’d pull it out of him though, sooner or later.

  My steps were considerably lighter as I made my way into the bakery. “Blessed air conditioning,” I smiled as a wave of cool air hit me. Things were heating up fast outside.

  “Oh good! You’re here. Taste this,” Victoria appeared in front of me with a spoon.

  Taking it, I shoved a full bite of cream into my mouth and let it sit. “Butterscotch and coconut?” I asked, running my tongue over the roof of my mouth to explore the lingering hints of flavor.

  “Yes. What do you think?”

  “It’s surprising but yummy,” I told her honestly. “What is it going to be for though?” I couldn’t for the life of me imagine what Victoria had come up with today. The girl was a fountain of experiments and ideas; most of them turned out to be delectable. Between her natural baking talent and her willingness to cover the bakery so that she could gain experience, Victoria was turning out to be a Godsend.

  “I’m going to do a twist on an Oatmeal Cream Pie and make Butterscotch Oatmeal Coconut Cream Pies instead.”

  I stared at her a moment, the picture coming together in my head.

  “You don’t think it’s a good idea?” she took the spoon back from me and tossed it in the sink dejectedly.

  “Victoria, I think it is brilliant! I imagined them, the textures and flavors, and already my mouth is watering.” I placed a hand on her shoulder. “Please let me know the moment they are done; I want to taste the first one.”

  The teen rewarded me with a mile-wide smile. “You got it!” She turned to the cabinets, already collecting mixing bowls and measuring cups.

  Knowing she wouldn’t need me for a bit, I pushed through the swinging door into the café to find Sam and Millie conspiring again, bent over a table with papers spread before them.

  “Where’s Gladys?” I asked, not seeing her behind the counter or among the tables of customers.

  “She excused herself for a while when I got here. I believe she mentioned a few errands that would take her hours to complete.” Sam raised her eyes up and down suggestively and slid me her phone.

  “Ah, gotcha.” I handed the phone back after seeing that Sam had looked up the schedule for cooking classes with Chef Fabio at the Senior Citizen Center. According to the schedule posted online, the next class would start in fifteen minutes. It would last for two hours. “Did Victoria tell you about her next cookies?”

  “Yes. They sounded great.”

  “She’s been baking since we were like twelve,” Mille smiled. “I can’t tell you what it means to her that you’ve given her a job here. Well, both of us really. And to think, we thought we just wanted a quick job and money for electric scooters.”

  “Did you get them?” Sam asked.

  “Yes, we earned enough over the weekend, combined with the slight advance you gave us, to buy them. But really, we’ve gotten so much more than that working with you guys. Not many people would let two teenagers come in and trust them with the projects you’ve given us.”

  “It has been our pleasure to have you here,” I assured her. “You’ve both worked your tails off and are doing an amazing job. Speaking of, what are we working on here today?”

  “Millie brought the graphics for us to choose one to use in the flyers advertising the flower/cookie sale.”

  “Did you pick one?”

  “No, I thought that you and Flo should have a vote before we decided. Why don’t you tell me which is your favorite and then I’ll go next door and ask Flo? I’ve picked mine.” Sam held three papers up for me to look at.

  “This one,” I waved the middle page and handed them back. “Though they all look incredible, Millie.”

  “Thanks,” she blushed.

  “Sam,” I added as they began to clear the table. “You mentioned you had a new idea for your hair?”

  “That’s right!” The grin that spread across her face held so much mischief, I found myself worried.

  “Tell me you aren’t chopping it all off?” I begged. Even to poke at Deidra, that would be going too far.

  “Nope. I’m going to issue
a challenge on the flyers. If Flo sells 150 arrangements and those people bring their coupon by and all purchase Fourth of July cookies, then I will dye my hair patriotic before the Independence Day Parade.”

  She and Millie breezed out the door before I could formulate a response. The only one currently running through my head was: Patriotic hair? What does that even mean? Followed immediately by 150 arrangements! There are only ten days until the Fourth of July.

  I worked the register for the rest of the afternoon. We were still getting a lot of moms in, bringing in kids for a summer treat. Sam and Millie popped back in just long enough to tell me they had finalized the flyer design and were going to make copies and start hanging flyers.

  “Bring some back here first,” I told them. “That way I can start telling customers right away.”

  “Will do, be back soon,” Sam agreed.

  As the crowd dwindled, I stuck my head through the door to the kitchen to check on Victoria. “How’re things going?” I called. “Sorry!” I cringed as the girl jumped.

  “It’s okay. I was really concentrating and didn’t hear you come in. I’m almost finished,” she gestured at the stations of cookies, cream, and finished creations spread out before her in an assembly-line manner. “Things took a little longer because on the first cookie, the butterscotch coconut cream all leaked right out the sides; it needed to be thickened up just a smidge.” She wiped her hands on the towel in her apron. “I think I’ve got it now though.”

  “Good for you,” I glanced back into the bakery as the bell over the door tinkled. “Why don’t you bring a small sample plate up front when you finish? Then you and I can try them and get the opinions of a few customers, too.”

  Back in the café, I greeted the man who had entered. He was new, or at least not someone I recognized and I think I would have remembered the eyebrow piercing. “Good afternoon, how can I help you?” I asked him.

  Rather than acknowledge me, he looked around the room. Apparently satisfied that we were alone, he stalked forward. “Are you the owner?” His voice, gruff and low, was difficult for me to understand.