Crepes and Crimes Read online

  My two older gentlemen customers, Red and Henry, were my best. They loved to sit and gab with their coffee and muffins. I learned a lot of the town's history listening to their stories. They grew up here and the tales of their younger escapades would curl the toes of some young mothers. Like the time they and some of their friends built a makeshift sled with plywood and rope and rode down Hound Holler on it in the dead of winter. There were some scrapes and I believe one of them broke an arm. Crazy whippersnappers!

  “Oh those two,” Vivian said while shaking her head. “Coco dear, this isn’t a reflection on you, but at their age, they don’t need that many sweets!”

  “They just know how to live!” Stella exclaimed. She threw her hands up to punctuate her point. She knocked over an empty cupcake display stand in the process.

  “Oh dear me! I’m sorry, Coco. Here, let me...”

  “No, it’s okay,” I said, picking up the stand. “It’s not broken, see?” I put it back on the counter.

  “Oh that’s wonderful. Now, where was I? Oh! Yes, Henry and Red.”

  Stella grumbled a bit in response.

  “Oh, Vivian, you know that if there was a river of blood running out of the front door, they’d just build a bridge over it!”

  Their bickering did help me feel more at ease, but I still felt a dark cloud over the bakery.

  I hated feeling so helpless and lost. I wish there was more I could do.

  The recent deaths made me think a lot about endings. So many things ended before their time, and there isn’t anything anyone can do to stop it.

  But there were also plenty of new beginnings in Haverfield.

  Fear was the first beginning I could think of, now. Places like this were supposed to be safe. Next came judgement.

  With these sorts of things, everyone became a suspect. Even my bakery had a haze of wrongdoing surrounding it.

  I knew this wouldn’t stop until the murderer was found. I practically broke out in a sweat thinking about the horrible events that occurred. I was so close to it, and I didn’t even realize.

  There was still so much more to be done with the investigation. They were still collecting statements. I knew what was next for the investigators.

  I couldn’t help but think about what was next for me too. There was still a grizzly scene I needed to clean up.

  Guilty or not, soon enough, I would soon have blood on my hands.

  Chapter 4

  After Rose, Vivian, and Stella left, I went back to clean up the crime scene.

  It was a gruesome job. I felt like every inch of my skin was crawling as I thought about it.

  But, unfortunately for me, all of my supplies were still at the scene. I couldn’t afford to just leave them. I especially couldn’t afford it when business was this slow.

  Scooter picked me up. I slid into his car, and he started to drive towards our unpleasant destination.

  I couldn’t get what we were about to do off of my mind. I kept thinking about Derrick. I saw him moments before his death, and I had no idea.

  “So... have you heard anything interesting about the Everett family, Coco?” Scooter asked.

  Truthfully, even before all of this went down, I knew exactly who they were. The Everetts were well known for their hotel empire. Money goes a long way in a small town like this.

  “Yeah, I guess,” I said. “Have you heard anything?”

  “Well,” he continued. “I heard a few things, I guess. I mean, it’s just kind of suspicious, don’t you think?”

  “At this point, everyone is a suspect,” I told him.

  “Yeah, but they’re like the most suspect, you know? I’ve heard people in town talk about it.”

  “You shouldn’t believe everything you hear,” I told him. Scooter was still young. It was important that he learn these lessons now before repeating gossip as fact gets him into trouble. “With something this serious, you need more evidence to prove what happened.”

  “It just feels weird Coco. Derrick worked in their hotels as a night manager, he was the best man in the wedding, and now he’s dead? I heard that he got into it with the groom too! Isn’t that crazy? I heard they were like best friends.”

  I did have to admit that it was strange. To have everything and go south and then Derrick turn up dead... it was awfully suspicious.

  “I don’t know. Half the town thinks that I did it or that I’m bad luck or something.”

  “Well, obviously you didn’t do it,” Scooter said, trying to comfort me. “What would be the point? Besides, you’re too good to do something like that.”

  “You don’t think I’m bad luck?”

  “Bad luck? Hey, what did you just say about listening to rumors?” He said with a laugh. “If I can’t then neither can you. Especially when yours are definitely wrong.”

  I smiled a little at that. Scooter was good at helping me cheer up.

  We reached our destination and went inside. I took a deep breath to steady myself. I didn’t want to do this, but it got me that much closer to putting the whole thing behind me.

  We went into the room where my cart was. I flashed back for a moment to finding Derrick’s body. Even though I knew I couldn’t possibly find him there again, my blood still ran cold in my veins.

  I felt my hands shake a little as I began to lift the cloth laying over the trolley. I had to assess the damage and see what we were dealing with.

  I took the cloth off, and Scooter and I both knelt down to look at it.

  There was blood on it. That was no surprise. But I also noticed something shiny sitting in the corner of the cart.

  I reached out to pick it up. It was a cufflink.

  “What’s that?” Scooter asked.

  “It’s a cufflink. It must have been Derrick’s,” I said. It felt weird to be holding the possession of a dead man, even if it was as small as a cufflink.

  A small shudder ran through me. If Scooter noticed, he didn’t say anything.

  “You think a guy like that would keep a better handle on his stuff,” Scooter said.

  “Well, to be fair, he is dead.”

  “Yeah, but what if he left that over at a woman’s house or something and her husband found it? I think he would have been more careful, you know?”

  “A woman’s house? What woman’s house?”

  “You know,” Scooter insisted. He gestured vaguely around us. He was being really strange.

  “No, I don’t know,” I said.

  “Because he was a lady’s man!” He exclaimed, gesturing more wildly than before. I almost laughed but stopped myself. It seemed too gleeful of a reaction for what we were doing.

  “Yeah, I guess I have heard some stuff about that,” I admitted.

  “Isn’t that crazy? I mean, most of the men in town must be glad he’s dead! The suspect list has to be a mile long!”

  “Scooter, just because he liked getting around doesn’t mean that it was always with married women.”

  “Maybe not, but with everyone in town that he’s connected to, at least someone has to be angry about him pursuing certain women. If it’s not their husband it could be a parent or friend. Actually, I heard this could have even been a mafia hit!”

  I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at that one. “Scooter, come on. Rumors are just that. Rumors.”

  The door opened and Sam Porter walked in. He was here to collect his things. If a suspect list existed, Sam was already on it. Everyone knew he didn’t have any love for Derrick.

  “Coco found something of Derrick’s!” Scooter exclaimed. I gave him a look. He really couldn’t help but repeat everything he heard.

  “Something of Derrick’s?” Sam said. “Honey, why don’t you let the real police do their job.”

  I felt my face grow hot. I wanted to protest and tell him that I wasn’t trying to do anything, and the police weren’t doing their job if they left this.

  But embarrassment made my throat tight. I couldn’t get my body to react quickly enough to tell him any
of that.

  Sam took the opportunity to keep talking. He rolled his eyes as he spoke. “Colleen, if you couldn’t notice a dead body amongst your food, then I wouldn’t recommend adding amateur detective to your resume. You don’t need anything else amateur on there.”

  Scooter looked at me guiltily. I could tell he didn’t mean to turn Sam onto me.

  But it wasn’t Scooter’s fault. It was Sam’s.

  “You can help him, right?” I said to Scooter. I got up. “I’m done here.”

  I walked out the door with my head held high. I could feel Scooter and Sam watching me as I did.

  I was going to prove Sam wrong. I was going to find out who did this and clear The Mad Batter Bakery's name.

  Chapter 5

  The next morning shortly after I opened, Logan stopped by. He gave me a warm smile.

  “Good morning, Coco. How are you?” he asked.

  “I’m fine,” I responded. “How are you?”

  “Oh, I’m doing alright,” he said. He took a seat at the counter. “What do you recommend that’s sweet but won’t give me a sugar rush this early in the morning?”

  I took a look over to the baked goods in the display.

  “I think that sounds like a blueberry muffin,” I said.

  “Sounds perfect.”

  I grabbed a plate and a napkin and got the muffin. They were an underrated treat, but I enjoyed them. I handed him the plate.

  He took a bite out of it. “Now, Coco, I wanted to assure you about something. Unless you have something you want to confess to me, at this current juncture, there’s no reason for us to suspect you of any foul play.”

  I felt some of the tension that had accumulated on my shoulders leave. But I still felt anxious about the future of my shop. Hopefully the others in town would hear my name had been cleared and business would pick up again soon.

  “That’s great to hear,” I said. “I don’t have anything to confess. That’s a good thing though. As delicious as that muffin is, I don’t think it’s a very good bribe.”

  He smiled at me again. “I’m afraid I can’t be bought, but if I could, your baking would do the trick.”

  I smiled at his joke. “Too bad a bakery isn’t a church confessional.”

  “Yeah. I guess it’s not.”

  “Do you have any leads in the case?”

  He sighed and suddenly looked very tired. Maybe that was the wrong thing to ask.

  “Not yet, Coco,” he said with a small, forced smile. “Believe it or not, there’s too many directions to go in. Half the town had a reason to want him hurt. I don’t want to believe anyone in town could be capable of that, but I guess someone just snapped.”

  He finished his muffin. “That was good,” he said. “Just the right amount of sweet.”

  “How do you like your coffee today?” I asked. “I’ll put a pot on.”

  “Oh,well, if you’re starting up a pot, I’ll take it with one cream and one sugar.”

  I made up the cup of coffee for him and set it in front of him.

  “It’s on the house,” I told him.

  “Really? Are you sure? I don’t want to put you out.”

  “No, really. It’s okay. It’s to help you keep track of all those leads.”

  “I guess I need it then,” he said with a chuckle. “You’re an observant woman, Coco. If you ever get a moment free from baking, we could always use your help solving cases.”

  I knew he said this as a bit of a joke, but my mind went back to my conversation with Sam yesterday. It’s almost the total opposite of what he was saying now.

  Sam and Logan were pretty opposite people. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. Logan was warm, and I liked being around him.

  Sam was different. I got a bad feeling from Sam.

  A feeling he could have done something horrible to someone.

  I tried my best to hide what I was thinking, but I knew it was written all over my face.

  “What? Did you remember something?” he asked.

  “Sorry, it’s just...” I trailed off. I thought about what I was accusing Sam of. I worried for a moment that I was doing the wrong thing.

  But then I realized that I wasn’t. Sam had been acting suspicious, and he had a motive. Moreover, it was more than a little strange that he didn’t want me looking around for clues.

  If he really thought I was that incompetent, then why should my involvement matter?

  “It’s just...?” Logan asked, repeating what I said.

  “It’s Sam,” I said.

  “Sam? Sam Porter? You have proof Sam killed Derrick?”

  “No, I don’t have proof. I can’t even say for sure that he did. I just know that he had a motive, and I have a weird feeling about him. I know you can’t go on feelings.”

  “That feeling is intuition,” he said. “And I’ve heard that Sam would stand to benefit from Derrick’s passing too.”

  He drained his coffee cup and stood up.

  “I should get going. I’ll be sure to look into Sam,” he said.

  “Yeah, of course.”

  “Let me know if you find anything else. I’d be interested to hear it.”

  I was taken aback by that. This really was the total opposite of my conversation with Sam. I wasn’t playing detective, as had been implied. I was using my intuition.

  I smiled at him and he smiled back. It was a nice smile that made me feel cozy.

  “I’ll let you know if I find anything,” I said. “And please, come back whenever you want a muffin or cup of coffee.”

  “If you tell me that, you’ll never get me out of your hair,” he joked. “And really do tell me if there’s anything else. You have my number. If you need me, I’ll come running.”

  “Okay,” I said. I made a mental note of that. I didn’t think anything would happen, but I didn’t think there would be a death in this wedding either.

  “Have a good day, Coco,” he said. “Don’t worry too much about what’s been going on. Everything will be just fine in the end.”

  Somehow that sentiment reassured me. For the first time since I found Derrick’s body, I felt all of the stress leave my mind. There wasn’t a single gnawing anxiety left.

  Before, I had determination. Now I had determination and hope.

  I waved to Logan as he exited The Mad Batter. I hoped he wouldn’t be the only customer I served that day. If he was, the free coffee would hit me harder than usual.

  I cleaned up the counter, making sure to get all of the muffin crumbs. I played our conversation over again in my head. I took another sigh of relief as I reached Logan’s final sentiment.

  Everything would be just fine in the end. At least that's what I hoped.

  Chapter 6

  “Pastrami is, hands down, the best sandwich you could ever eat.” Henry’s voice echoed from the front of the store.

  “You’re losing your marbles, old man. Pastrami is what you get when your taster doesn’t work no more and you don’t care what you put in your belly.” Red fired back.

  “You just don’t understand how to appreciate the finer things in life. Pastrami comes from a simpler time. Before everyone started twitting and social mediating. When people knew how to look at each other and have a real conversation,” Henry assured.

  “Give me a big juicy pulled pork any day, I tell you. That’s the sandwich a man can be proud to eat,” Red stated.

  The two men were seated at a table by the window in a heated debate over their favorite sandwiches. Their eyes twinkled with excitement as each tried to convince the other who was right.

  “You wouldn’t know a decent sandwich if it bit you in the butt.”

  “Well, you wouldn’t know a decent sandwich if you choked on it.”

  I knew a story was coming...and I was right.

  “You know, I can barely eat chicken to this day,” Red replied.

  “Oh no, not the chicken story again,” Henry replied.

  “He was a rooster,” Red shot back the
n he became a little misty eyed. “Mom and Pop had chickens back in the day and this rooster got hurt bad by a fox or coyote or something. His head hung down...he couldn't lift it up. So I took a few pieces of wood and string and wrapped it around his neck so he could hold his head up. That darn rooster was so grateful. He followed me around like a pup. After a couple of weeks I took the contraption off his neck and he could hold his head up on his own.”

  “Did he continue to follow you around?” Henry asked although he know what the answer would be. We all knew.

  “Naw,” Red answered. “When the hens came a clucking I was old news.”

  This was my lunch rush. I couldn’t believe people would let something like a little dead body influence their decision to stop by the bakery.

  Leaving Masie in charge of the front, I headed to my work station in the back room. Grabbing a piping bag, I dropped the number 122 tip down the center. I filled the bag with a few spoons of pale pink butter cream, before setting a handful of flower nails on the counter of my work space.

  Maribelle wanted an assortment of ranunculus, chrysanthemum, and hydrangea on her wedding cake. I needed to have each of those perfected before attempting the final product.

  “If you fellas need anything else, talk to Masie. I’ll be in the back elbow deep in icing.” I popped my head back through the door.

  “Thank you, Coco,” Henry answered.

  “Have fun back there. Be sure not to find any dead bodies,” Red added. I almost added he better hope it wasn't his, but I bit my tongue.

  The gentlemen continued their friendly banter, as I got to work. Methodically, I squeezed the bag in my hand, adjusting the nail at various angles to create the most perfect petals. A dozen flowers in, and I was quite pleased with the results.

  “Tell Coco thanks again for lunch,” I heard Henry say to Masie through the closed door.

  A few minutes later, the bell on the front door jingled wildly.

  “Oh, good afternoon, Mr. Porter. How are you on this lovely day?” Masie said from the other side of the door.

  “I’d be better if I didn’t have to deal with other people’s garbage getting mixed up with my things,” he sneered.