by Emily Greene
“Of course, don’t I seem okay?”
“Well, honestly, no. You’ve barely spoken to any customers this morning and you just told me to get more cookies from the dishwasher,” she said, concern filling her voice.
“I did?”
“Yes, what is going on?”
“Carrie, I am so nervous about my date with Andrew I can barely think straight.”
“Nervous? You should be excited! You have wanted to go out with him for a long time.”
“I know, but the butterflies keep getting stronger as the hours pass by.”
She looked at me and smiled, not saying a word.
“What?” I asked.
“Harper Madison, I do believe you are completely smitten.”
“I don’t know about that, Carrie.”
“Well, I don’t remember the last time I saw you act like this about a guy.”
I let out a deep breath as I set the tray of cupcakes on the counter.
“I know, but I think I’m just nervous because I haven’t dated in a while.”
“Um, nice try, but you were kind of dating Matthew. It’s okay to be nervous and excited about Andrew, Harper. He is devastatingly handsome and a bit mysterious at the same time. Try to focus on having a good time and forget about being nervous. Enjoy yourself, Harper.”
I smiled at her; she was such a good friend.
“You always make me feel better, Carrie. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Now, where are the fresh batch of chocolate crunch cookies?”
“Right over here,” I said as I pulled them out of the smaller oven.
“Okay, chop, chop, back to work! No time to brood over the handsome detective!” Carrie said as she made her way to the front of the bakery.
She was right; it was time to snap out of it and get back to work. Edna and her friends always made me feel at ease, so I decided I would go chat with them for a few minutes while I waited for the strawberry cupcakes to cool. It was nearly noon and the day could not pass fast enough for me.
I was leaving around 5:30 that day to give myself enough time to go home and look nice for my date, and at 5:00 I was literally watching the minutes crawl by. I went to the back to frost the last few cupcakes we had for the day, when Carrie sidled up next to me, looking over my shoulder like a curious little kid.
I giggled as I tried to shrug her off of me.
“You are a silly nut!”
“Maybe,” she said, “but I just thought of a genius idea. Why don’t you carve your initials and Andrew’s initials into the frosting and bring it to him as a gift this evening!”
Just as I was about to playfully scold her, a memory hit me like a ton of bricks. I looked over at Carrie and grabbed her arm. I had to leave immediately to see if my hunch was correct. I quickly untied my apron and handed it to her, my mind barely functioning.
“Carrie, I have to go. I’m sorry to leave so soon but I just remembered something and I have to go check it out.”
“What? What did you remember?”
“I can’t get into it now, but I promise I will tell you everything when I know more.”
I grabbed my purse and coat, rushed out of the bakery, and drove straight to the park. I texted Andrew when I got there and asked him to meet me ASAP because I was pretty sure I had figured out who killed Sarah. I wanted him to see the proof for himself.
Night began coming early that time of year so I relied on the street lamps to guide me. I walked toward the green lamppost with the white base, saw the bench next to it, and about 10 feet from the bench was the huge tree Justin had described. I slowly walked over to it, looked for the carving, and there it was. Shivers ran down my spine as I saw the words, with slashes carved through them, my fingers lightly tracing each hill and valley.
“You just couldn’t keep your nose out of it, could you? You had to come snooping around didn’t you?”
I whipped my head around to see Caroline standing under the light holding a syringe in her hand. She started to slowly walk toward me and I put my hands up, slowly taking steps away from her.
“No, no, Caroline, I just came here to clear my thoughts, I’m not snooping at all.”
“Ha! Don’t lie to me, Harper!” Her eyes were darting round the park. “You have been snooping around ever since that pathetic excuse for a human, Sarah, died. Why are you so concerned about what happened to her? She was a horrible, evil person and she deserved what happened to her!”
Caroline turned crazy eyes to me, and cocked her head to the side as she slowly took a step toward me.
“Did you know?”
I had no idea what she was talking about.
“Did I know what?” I asked cautiously.
She cocked her head to the other side, taking another slow step. “Did you know that she wanted to take him away from me?”
“Your brother?” I asked as I stepped away from her.
“Of course my brother!” she screamed.
“No, Caroline, Sarah loved your brother!” I did my best to make the lie sound like the truth.
“Liar! She didn’t care about him at all, she just wanted his money! She pretended to love him and she was mean to him! Justin works so hard, and that little witch was draining him for every penny he had. He was so in love with her, he would do anything for her, including ignore me! She just used him and treated him like garbage! She had to go. She was going to take him from me and I couldn’t let her do that.” Those last few deadpan words hung in the air as my heart was trying desperately to pound its way out of my chest. She furrowed her brows and leaned in toward me, as if seeing me for the first time. “You agree with me that she had to go, don’t you, Harper?”
Where in the world was Detective Sloane?
“Caroline, I know you’re upset, but everything will be okay. I think we should probably get out of here since it’s so dark out. Let’s go somewhere where we can sit and talk about this. What do you say?”
“Me and you, just us two.”
“Yes, just…” I stopped because I realized she was quoting the words carved into the tree. Caroline was not hearing a word I said and as I watched her keep a tight grip on that syringe I realized I was in real danger.
“Can you believe she would write something so selfish for all the world to see? She was practically bragging about getting rid of me! Justin is all I have, he is my best friend and she wanted to leave me all alone with nobody! We have been inseparable since we were kids and then she comes along and tries to ruin everything! Well, I showed her! She didn’t suspect a thing when she drank that glass of wine at the Hanson’s party. It was so easy to slip the poison in because I was able to get a job as a server at the event. Did you know that? My plan was perfect!” A maniacal laugh escaped her lips as she scratched her head with one hand, the syringe held firmly in the other.
“Caroline, I really think you should put the syringe down,” I said softly so as not to upset her further.
Her head snapped in my direction, her eyes filled with rage.
“You really disappoint me, Harper. I knew you were on her side!”
She raised her hand in the air and lunged at me with the syringe. I immediately raised my arms, blocking with one arm while capturing her wrist with the other. She was strong and twisted her body, trying to free her wrist, but I held on tight. We fell to the ground and that is when I realized I had to pin her beneath me if I was going to avoid getting stabbed. Caroline was able to free her arm and wrapped it around my neck, cutting off my oxygen and I began to panic because I couldn’t breathe. There was no way I was going to die in that park. I managed to roll over, taking her with me, and before she could stop me I pinned her beneath me, pressing the hand with the syringe into the soil. She squirmed like a slippery pig and I’d had enough.
“Caroline! Stop! This is ridiculous and I am not going to let your wrist go, so just give up, I mean it!”
She seemed startled by my words and just when I thought I had gotten through to her, sh
e tried to wrap her legs around my waist and flip me over. We wrestled for another minute and just as the hand holding the syringe tried to plunge it in my neck, we heard a gunshot and we both froze in place.
“Freeze! Don’t move!” The deep voice boomed into the night.
I was so happy to hear Andrew’s voice. He quickly ran over to us and in one fell swoop yanked the syringe from Caroline’s hand and slapped handcuffs on her. I rolled away and jumped up, wiping dirt off of my clothes.
Seconds later two more police cars arrived, including Greg, and he immediately rushed over to me as Andrew handed Caroline off to one of the deputies who put her in a police car.
“Harper, are you okay?” he asked.
“Yes, just a couple of scratches.”
Andrew was at my side seconds later and he gently put his arm around me and looked me over.
“Did she hurt you?” His voice was filled with concern and it was very sweet to see that side of him.
“No, I just have a couple of scratches.”
“Sheriff, we need you over here.” One of the deputies motioned for Greg and he stepped away.
Andrew turned to me, his eyes searching mine.
“How in the world did you know?”
“I remembered that Justin had mentioned to me that Caroline freaked out when he told her that Sarah had carved those words in the tree, and I wanted to see them for myself and to see if there were any clues around. I didn’t think anything of it until today because I was so focused on Joe Dibello. I forgot about Justin’s sister’s creepy obsession with him. Once I saw those slashes through the letters I knew there was real rage behind them, and then she was here.”
“When I was reading her her rights she confessed to me that she had been following you for a while now. She also is the person who broke into your house that night and left you the note. She needs serious mental help and we are going to do everything we can to make sure she gets it,” Andrew stated.
“After everything that has happened I feel sorry for her, Andrew. She feels alone and that is just plain sad.”
“We will call her brother and fill him in on what happened. With proper help, hopefully she will be okay.”
“I hope so.”
He gently stroked my arm.
“Hey.”
I looked up at him, emotionally exhausted.
“Yes?”
“I am glad you didn’t get hurt.”
“Thanks, me too.” I gave him a small smile.
“It looks like I am going to have a long night tonight. I hate to do this, but can we move dinner to tomorrow night?”
“Of course.”
“Great, thanks. Do you want someone to drive you home?” he asked.
“No, I have my car here.”
“Well, I am going to have someone follow behind you just to make sure you make it back safely. Don’t fight me on this, Harper.”
“Okay, I won’t.”
“Jake?” he called out to a deputy, “can you make sure Ms. Madison makes it back home safely?”
“Will do, sir!” Jake replied.
Andrew turned to me and smiled. “Okay, drive safe and I will see you tomorrow night.”
*~*~*~*~*~*
I took a sip of my wine and glanced around the restaurant and then my eyes settled on Andrew. He looked dashingly handsome in his dark blazer and crisp white shirt, his hair perfectly in place. I felt like I was living in a fantasy because I was with my dream date in my dream restaurant. Divine was Prairie Cove’s one very fancy and expensive restaurant in town and I had never been there. Andrew had arranged for us to be seated in a secluded corner, tucked away from everyone else and it was perfect.
“How did Justin take things when you told him what happened with his sister?” I asked.
“Better than expected. He was upset that she was the person who murdered Sarah, but he is happy that she is going to get the help she needs.”
“He is such a nice guy, I hope he’s going to be okay.”
“I think he will be just fine.”
Andrew looked at me, gave me a very sweet smile, and the butterflies danced like crazy in my belly. I couldn’t help but smile back.
“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You look so beautiful, Harper and I am really happy that we are here. I hoped that we would get here, and I am so happy that we finally did.”
I knew his words had a much deeper meaning and I agreed with him. I also was happy we had finally gotten there, so I smiled at him and slowly nodded my head.
“Me too.”
~*~*~*~*~*~
Thanks for reading Frosted Cookies ‘n Murder! I hope you enjoyed reading the story because I really enjoyed writing it. If you would like to be notified of the next cozy mystery in this series, be sure to sign up for my Newsletter.
Sign up to be notified of my new releases!
Books by Emily Greene
Chocolate Dream Cupcakes ‘n Murder
Apple Turnovers ‘n Murder
