A Cake Caper Read online

  Clive headed out of the shop right as Laney finished packing up Stella and Vivian’s order. I gestured for them to sit down at the counter by me and waited until Laney went to the back.

  “Did you read Oliver’s obituary?” I asked.

  “Oh yes,” Stella said. “I never knew you could have such malice in a memorial for the dead. To call Oliver a ‘vociferous opponent of charm’ seemed rather...pompously rude, to be honest.”

  “It’s weird, right?” I said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. And he was so proud of it. Literally coming over here to puff up his chest about this snuff piece?”

  “That was mighty strange,” said Stella.

  “Do you think he could be the killer?” I asked. “He seemed to really hate Oliver. He hated him enough to not even put aside their differences in death, and to write this...rudeness.”

  “And all over a dog,” Stella scoffed. “People are weird.”

  “A lot of people didn’t like him,” Vivian said. “He had a bad temper, and the people on the dog-show circuit didn’t like him either.”

  I lowered my voice. “Even Laney could be a suspect. He was always flirting with the judges for better scores, and she doesn’t seem too broken up by his death.”

  “She even already had a plan in place to take his dog,” Stella added.

  “That is strange,” Vivian said. I can't see Oliver giving up his first love.”

  “Even Sam Porter hated him,” I said. “I guess Oliver fed his dog a laxative to get him out of a competition.”

  Stella shuddered. “Oliver was such an unpleasant man. He upset most of the town.”

  I felt my cell phone vibrate. Rose was calling.

  “Hello?” I said, taking a break from my conversation with Stella and Vivian to answer.

  “Hi, Coco. It’s Rose. Logan’s at Pawfully Groomed, can you come over?”

  “I’m on my way,” I said.

  I hung up and said my goodbyes to Stella and Vivian. I rushed out of the shop to meet Rose and Logan.

  The cake design changes would have to wait. It was hard to have inspiration with all this murder business.

  Chapter 12

  I arrived to Rose’s dog grooming salon and while I wasn’t surprised to see that there were no customers, I was still disappointed. Her place was always so hustle and bustle and it was usually hard to even get a moment to chat with her because she was so busy, but it seemed liked the murder had sent everyone running scared. Pawfectly Groomed was disturbingly empty.

  “Hey Rose,” I said as I strolled inside with a smile on my face, trying to be positive. “How’s it going?”

  She gestured vaguely around the store with a sigh, and then she shrugged her shoulders as she sauntered over to the counter and started to wipe it down.

  “Not great, honestly. Other than Charles and Dogspeare, I haven’t had a single customer since I found Oliver here that night.”

  Charles worked at one of our local grocers and had a gorgeous red setter that he brought in to Rose for a primping before the dog shows. I had seen him on one or two occasions when I’d come to visit, and he seemed nice enough. It was kind that he was making the effort to support her.

  “Well,” I said reassuringly, “I’m sure that will turn around soon.”

  I spotted Logan sitting at the counter and I chuckled, a smile spreading on my face as I saw him eating some of the cookies there that were shaped like dog biscuits. He spotted me and his face brightened up, and he almost seemed relieved when I walked over to him.

  “I’m really glad you’re here, Coco.”

  I leaned in with a smile and saw that Rose was busying herself with something away from Logan and he seemed to be sort of trying to leave her be. Odd, they weren’t usually so distant with each other but just then it felt like I could cut the tension in the room with a knife.

  “Hey, is everything okay?” I gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze and nodded over to Rose who was still doing something else. “You seem a bit tense, did something happen?”

  He smiled at me and sort of leaned into me for a split second before he sighed and sat up straight, and he started to say something when Rose cut him off and appeared next to us.

  “Coco, Logan was just telling me that at this point in the investigation, there is only so much he can do to keep me out of the station. Apparently I’m the main suspect.”

  Well that certainly explained the tension between the two of them.

  I frowned and looked to Logan for reassurance that it wasn’t true, but his expression told me the opposite.

  “You’re kidding, there’s no one else?”

  Logan shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck, clearly uncomfortable and while I felt for him, I also didn’t want my best friend to be the center of a murder investigation for a murder she didn’t even commit. I knew first hand just how stressful that could be, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

  “Look,” he said with a sigh as he glanced between the two of us, “I’ve been trying to find another angle, I really have, but there just isn’t anything else. I want to keep you guys out of this and get you in the clear as much as I can, you know that, but there just isn’t enough evidence to point me elsewhere. My bosses are really laying on the pressure to get me to find something in this case, and so far the only viable evidence we have is Rose’s fingerprints all over the salon.”

  Rose scoffed and rolled her eyes, and crossed her arms over her chest in frustration.

  “Yes, because why else would my fingerprints be all over the business that I own and operate?”

  Logan sighed and looked down at his hands with a nod, and then he shrugged his shoulders and looked back at Rose with a troubled glance.

  “Rose you don’t have to convince me, okay? I want you to be proven innocent...I just need to figure out a way to do that.”

  I didn’t want there to be any more animosity or tension between my friends so I jumped in and gently touched Logan’s hand to get his attention. It worked and the tiniest of blushes spread on his cheeks for a second, making me smile.

  “Logan, have you or the department looked into Sam or Clive yet?”

  He looked back at me almost like he was stunned, and then he turned his gaze to Rose and then back to me, shaking his head.

  “No, we haven’t, why? Should we?”

  “You should.”

  “Okay...” He said cautiously, narrowing his eyes as he spoke. “Care to tell me why or are you simply going to leave me in suspense? I can’t exactly go banging on doors and searching for things without motive.”

  “Well I’ve spoken to both of them recently and they’ve given me some interesting information in our conversations. I know that Sam didn’t like him because Oliver had done some pretty shady work and overcharged him for it, but that could be said for most of the town. What I didn’t know until he told me though, was that Sam also competes in the same dog show that Oliver does...did. Anyway, Sam told me that one time Oliver gave his dog a laxative right before the show, and apparently it cost him the win.”

  Logan’s jaw dropped and his brows rose in surprise, and I wasn’t sure if he was more shocked about what I was telling him about Oliver or Sam.

  “All that over a dog show?”

  I shrugged my shoulders and nodded.

  “Apparently.”

  “Okay,” he said with a sigh, nodding, “I can talk to Sam. What about Clive?”

  “According to Clive, Oliver’s dog was always chasing and going after his cat. He seemed pretty annoyed by it and when I was heading back to the bakery he was on the phone with a friend, saying something about being thankful that Oliver was gone.”

  Logan nodded and sat back in his seat, taking it all in and then he stood up and headed towards the door. He turned to us then and spoke, and his voice was firm.

  “Alright, I’m going to look into both of them and talk to some people, but please, keep a low profile in the meantime. Both of you.”

  “Hey Logan,”
I said with a smile. “Why don’t I come with you to help?”

  He gave us both pointed glances and he shut it down quickly, much to my disappointment.

  “No, Coco. I’m sorry but with your history with the two of them, I’m less likely to get any information out of them.”

  He was right so I nodded. “Best I stay out of police work,” I said and sighed.

  Logan headed out.

  Rose turned to me. “Feels like you’re the only one doing any investigating.”

  “Well.” I grimaced. “I’m not. But I don’t really have anything. No one does.”

  “I have an overwhelmingly disordered grooming station I could use a hand with,” Rose said and sighed with a half-hearted smile.

  “Let me help you with that,” I told Rose.

  I just wished there was more I could help her with.

  Chapter 13

  “I know you’re frustrated with the investigation,” I said, handing Rose one of many checklists she had for different appointment types.

  “Yes, because it is frustrating. There aren’t really any major leads yet, and I’m still the main suspect, and everyone’s treating me as if I’ve already been charged and convicted guilty if they pay any attention to me all.” Rose threw her hands up in the air. “I know that Bertha Thompson is not cutting her poodle’s toenails herself, it makes her flush and she almost fainted one time, yet when I ran into her at Maggie’s Market yesterday, she immediately gave me an impassioned speech on how it is nothing personal, but she’s learn to enjoy canine nail care.”

  “That’s awful,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

  “And I know you don’t want to hear me gripe about Logan, your almost boyfriend, almost doing nothing, but he was at Maggie’s yesterday, too, and he said nothing when Gertrude Simmons sharply rolled past him, saying she didn’t want to be near a murderer.”

  “Whatever I think or don’t think or do or don’t do with Logan,” I started but paused as I tripped over some hairbrushes that fell out of a container.

  Rose kneeled to help pick them up with me and I looked her in the eye.

  “But honestly, Rose, there’s no conflict of interest in me wanting to prove one of my best friends didn’t kill Haverfield’s least-missed plumber, and I know what you’re going through. And I know that you’ve got inventory to fill.”

  She smiled at me and took the rest of the hairbrushes.

  “But you don’t know if your business will ever pick up again.”

  Rose nodded.

  “And you don’t know if you should even be open. If you close up, do you look guilty?”

  “Or like you’ve given up?”

  “Right.” I patted her on the back. “This is hard, but it isn’t forever. It makes it so difficult to focus on what you need to do.” A certain cake entered my thoughts and the dismaying knowledge that I felt little inspiration when my friend suffered filtered through my mind and out again. “But you should carry on and keep your chin up, and know that it will pass. Because you didn’t do it, and we all know that, so figuring out who did can’t be impossible.”

  “Thanks,” Rose said, hugging me tightly. “I do have a lot of spreadsheets that need updating. Vendors I need to contact. And I know you have actual clients that need your creative genius. But your pep talk was just what I needed.” Rose had a little more of a shine in her eyes now so I felt better trusting her.

  “I think Mrs. Riviera will have the next three counties gossiping on my lack of creativity if I don’t come up with the right cake design, so I think I will go back if you don’t need me right now.”

  “I’ve got this.”

  “Okay, because not only did I still have to finish preparing for the photoshoot for my cousin’s cookbook, but I needed to finish mocking up the final plan for the cake so I’m not a mockery.” My eyes widened. “No pressure or anything.”

  ONCE I GOT BACK TO the Mad Batter I started to get to work right away, not wanting to delay it any further than I had to. It was going to take a long time to get to work on such an intricate cake and display piece as it was, not to mention the fact that I was more distracted than I usually was.

  My thoughts were swarming in every direction but focusing on the task at hand, and I had to stop and take a breath. My mind continually wandered back to the murder and the investigation behind it.

  It was difficult enough to come up with a cake in a palace design that was fifteen tiers high, but also making it structurally sound was a whole other batch of cupcakes.

  And thankfully I had Scooter and Laney there to help me, because I definitely needed it. After a few moments of me toying with some layers and designs, Scooter tapped on my shoulder.

  “Hey Coco, that’s not going to stay standing, we need to start over.” He sighed. “Not to be the bearer of bad news. But I know there’s a lot on your mind.”

  “I just want this to be perfect for them so I’m trying to stick to the design that they wanted.” I tried to keep any snip out of my voice but I knew I should calm down.

  Scooter sighed and nodded, and I knew that he was only trying to help.

  But I was too frustrated to listen.

  Luckily, Scooter’s young and therefore willing to repeat himself to be heard.

  “I know Coco, but we’ve also got to make sure that it doesn’t come crumbling down. A pretty palace cake is great, but then what happens when everything falls apart and the poor girl is left standing there with her dress ruined because the buttercream splattered onto it when the graham wafer columns snapped? We need to make sure that it holds up.”

  His arm wrapped around my shoulders and he gave me a squeeze. “Coco, you got this. I just think you need another pair of eyes so you don’t frost yourself into a corner.”

  I took a deep breath and stepped back, fingers rubbing on my chin as I tried to figure out how to best adjust the cake. “I know you’re right. We have to find the perfect balance between glamorous and sturdy.” I cocked my head to the side, my brain working on it. “Thanks, Scooter.”

  “Anything for you, Coco.”

  So we all got back to it, trying out different layers with various kinds of cookies and wafers to stabilize each floor of the palace. Scooter was great in noticing areas of weakness, and Laney was surprisingly upbeat and helped me get out of my gloomy mood.

  “So,” Laney asked me with a smile, brows raised. “How are things with you and Logan. Is there even a you and Logan? Are you dating? Just friends? Best friends?”

  Then she giggled and wiggled her eyebrows at me.

  “Friends with benefits?”

  I smirked and felt a tiny blush spreading on my cheeks, and then I looked back at her and shrugged my shoulders with a sigh. The truth was that I had been asking myself the same questions. I had been wondering for a long while if there was something between Logan and I that was more than what we made it out to be.

  “To be honest with you Laney, I really don’t know what Logan and I are. Things are...well, they’re sort of up in the air right now I guess. One thing I do know for sure though, is that I really wish we had a chance to finish our date. It got cut short by...well, you know.”

  I hadn’t meant to bring up the investigation because not only was I trying to stay focused and positive, but I didn’t think that Laney really wanted to talk about the fact that her boyfriend was murdered.

  However Scooter, always the breaker of tension, took it upon himself to grin at me.

  “Maybe you don’t know what you and Logan are, Coco, but I bet I know what you’re wishing you were.”

  I rolled my eyes at him with a sigh and a lazy smile, and continued to toy with different layers of cake over icing layers, but he just kept going.

  “Coco and Logan, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”

  That caught me off guard and I threw my head back with a laugh and looked over at him with a playful grin and my brows raised in disbelief.

  “Are you kidding me, Scooter? I haven’t heard that line since middle
school.”

  “Oh, so you’ve been lusting after our dear Logan since middle school, have you?”

  I laughed and shook my head and I playfully shoved his shoulder.

  “That’s not what I meant by that and you know it.”

  We bantered back and forth for a few minutes and Laney joined in, and before I knew it, this had turned into an all out food fight. Cake and icing and bits of graham wafers flown about the room. By the time it ended we were all covered and barely able to breathe we were laughing so hard, and we definitely had a mess to clean up.

  All in all though, I think we all needed to let out some pent up energy. We may not have come up with any solutions to the cake’s structural problems yet, and we may not have done anything to help Rose either, but at least we all had a good and hearty laugh.

  Laughter might not solve problems, but it sure can clear up the fog that prevents you from doing just that. Or so I hoped.

  Chapter 14

  Although the day before at the bakery had been much better than I thought it would, the feel good mood I had after our fun little food fight was nowhere to be found the next morning.

  I don’t know if I didn’t sleep well or if I simply woke up in a mood, but I was feeling pretty down and out about...well everything, really.

  There was still more organizing to do for the cookbook photoshoot, the cake revisions were still nowhere close to being done, and the investigation I couldn’t investigate in...well, yeah, no progress there.

  I was trying to stay positive, but it seemed like everything was falling apart and I couldn’t do a darn thing about it. Was I being dramatic? Maybe, but the fact of the matter was that it didn’t seem to matter what I did, nothing would work out in my favor. Just a week ago, my life had been great. The bakery was doing well, Logan and I were talking more, and I was having loads of fun with the girls whenever we went out.

  Now? I didn’t know what Logan and I even stand.