Black Bottom Murder: A Frosted Love Cozy Mystery Book 6 (Frosted Love Mysteries) (3 page)

The
change in Missy after meeting with her team and getting Crème de la Cupcake
back on track was dramatic. She and Cheryl invented new Cupcakes of the Day
every single day, and actively sought out new customers through advertising and
networking. The orders for holiday events were stacking up, and Missy was even
considering hiring some temporary help. When she wasn’t meeting with business
owners and party hosts, she was still badgering Chas about working on finding
Sid Hixon’s killer so that Echo could return to what passed for normal in her
world. An unfortunate consequence of all of her success and busyness was that
she had less and less time for the handsome detective who had finally started
to consider opening up to another human being. She could tell that Chas would
like to spend more time with her, and she missed him terribly, but she had to prioritize,
and right now that meant focusing on her work.

So
far the Dellville police had no leads on who had vandalized Missy’s store or
why, but were supposedly continuing the investigation. She pushed the matter to
the back burner and spent her time and energy moving forward rather than
speculating about who had done the damage or why. Heading to her car, late one
evening, after staying well after hours to bake some experimental cupcakes that
she and Cheryl had been working on, she found that two of her tires were flat.
Sighing at the inconvenience, she dialed the number for the auto club and
waited for the truck to come rescue her by reinflating the tires. When she
asked the technician what he thought had happened, the man shrugged and
suggested that someone may have deliberately let the air out by depressing the
center of the valves. Missy thanked him for his opinion, but inwardly dismissed
the idea, thinking that it was more likely a result of temperature change or
something. Early fall daytime and evening temps tended to fluctuate pretty
dramatically, making one want to wear shorts during the day and a sweater in
the evening. She got into her car after signing off on the service and headed
for home, weary after another full day.

Chas
Beckett sat on the front steps of Missy’s graceful yellow and white Victorian
home, waiting for her to arrive. When she saw him, she checked her phone and
saw that she had missed several calls and texts from him.

“Hi!
I just noticed that I missed some calls and texts from you,” she said
apologetically. “Sorry, I turned down the sound on my phone while I was in a
meeting with a group of school teachers about an upcoming Fall social, and I
forgot to turn it back on later,” she explained, coming up the steps and giving
him a peck on the cheek. She could tell that he was upset, and wasn’t sure why.

“Still
hungry?” he asked quietly.

“Hungry?
Well, I actually did accidentally skip dinner, but why do you ask?” Missy was
confused at his odd question. It was nearly 8:00 at night.

“I’m
sure our reservation at Via Tuscana was cancelled over an hour ago, but I can
take you somewhere else if you’d like,” he offered.

Missy’s
mouth fell open as the memory of agreeing to a date for the best Italian food
in town came back to her. “Oh my goodness, Chas, I’m so sorry! Dinner
completely slipped my mind – I was caught up in trying out a new recipe and
totally forgot. Have you been waiting here the whole time?”

He
ignored her question and asked one of his own. “Should we go grab something
before everything closes?” He stood, bouncing his keys in his hand.

Missy
wrestled with her response. She was hungry, but more than that, she was
exhausted, and although she’d love an evening with Chas, she’d probably start
yawning with her first sip of wine. “I’m really tired. It’s been a long day,
and I’m afraid that I wouldn’t be very good company. Raincheck?”

“This
was a raincheck. From when you had a last-minute meeting last week. Don’t worry
about it, just get back to me when your schedule opens up,” Beckett answered
quietly, looking at her for a long moment before heading down the steps.

“I’m
sorry, Chas. I’ll call you…” she called after him as he strode to his car. He
raised his hand in the air to acknowledge her comment without turning around to
look back.

“Any
news?” Missy asked Echo over tea.

“Unfortunately,
no. It’s getting so frustrating – I want to reopen the store, but I can’t, so
Safflower and I just sit here driving each other crazy all day,” her friend
admitted.

“How
long is she visiting?” Missy hoped that the younger sister would go back to
California and get out of Echo’s hair. Her friend didn’t need the added stress
of sibling conflict right now at the hands of her moody and spoiled sister.

“I
don’t know. It seems like it might be a while,” her friend sighed
unconsciously. “But enough about my troubles…how’s Mr. Wonderful?”

Missy
stared at the scattering of tea leaves in the bottom of her cup. “I don’t
really know, I haven’t heard from him for a few days. I’ve been neglecting him
horribly lately, poor thing. I’ve cancelled dates, forgotten dinners and
ignored phone calls, so I think he might be a bit upset with me.”

“Wow.
Why on earth are you doing that, girl? If I had a man like that interested in
me, I’d make darn sure that I held up my end of the bargain,” Echo remarked,
her eyes boring into Missy’s.

“I
know. I feel bad, but it’s not intentional, it’s just that I’ve been so busy…”
she replied lamely.

“Weren’t
you the one who said that it’s important to make time for what’s important?”
her friend reminded her.

Missy
nodded sadly. “I know. I just have so many things pulling me in so many
different directions.”

“I’d
be careful, my friend. If you keep heading away from someone long enough,
eventually they may stop chasing.”

“You’re
right,” she admitted. “I’ll talk with him about it soon.”

Driving
to the shop, Missy thought about the wisdom of what Echo had said. Chas was the
first man that she’d allowed herself to care about, and she was accidentally
constantly pushing him away. He’d been as reluctant to start a relationship as
she had been. Her behavior lately may have begun to make him lose faith that
things could actually work out. She hated that she was actually hurting him,
and planned to have a big talk to let him know how much she cared very soon.

Once
Missy stepped foot in the shop, she became immersed in baking and time flew.
The Cupcake of the Day was a German Chocolate Delight that had gooey caramel
held together with freshly grated coconut in the center and on top. It was a
sumptuous treat, and despite having baked double her usual amount, they sold
out in record time. The last two special treats went to a rather nervous young
man who couldn’t seem to get out of the door fast enough.  Missy wondered at
the somewhat scruffy young man’s behavior, but was busy enough that she
certainly didn’t dwell on it.

Once
the lunch rush was over, and things had settled down a bit, Missy became
entirely absorbed in plotting out a strategy that would permit her to have
enough time to do all of the holiday baking and arrange for deliveries as well.
Now that she was fully staffed at both of her locations, she could do most of
the baking and delivering herself, but she might need to hire out some of the
delivery as the holidays approached. Satisfied with her progress for the day,
Missy headed home, eager to spend time with Toffee, fix herself a microwave
dinner and spend some well-earned time zoning out in front of the TV. She’d
rather read a book, but doubted that she’d be able to keep her eyes open or
concentrate.

Returning
from a vigorous romp in the park with her beloved golden retriever, Missy
pulled her phone out of the pocket of her warm-up jacket when it buzzed,
indicating a text.

“
Need
to talk. I’ll be at your house in 15 minutes. C.”

The
message was brief, but she was glad that she’d have a chance to talk to Chas
and let him know how sorry she was and that she really did care, and wanted to
make her inattention up to him somehow. She would have worried about the
brevity of his message, but Chas Beckett was a man of few words, so the text
was typical of his communication style. Missy led Toffee into the house, then
quickly showered, dressed casually in jeans that hugged her curves and a fitted
v-neck light blue tee shirt, and left her still-damp hair in ringlets on her
shoulders. She had just opened a bottle of Cabernet, letting it breathe on the
kitchen counter, when the doorbell rang. Her heart skipped a beat in her
excitement, and she jogged to the door, Toffee trailing behind.

“Chas!”
she exclaimed with a brilliant smile. “I’m so glad to see you, I wanted to…”

“There’s
trouble,” Chas interrupted her, his jaw muscles flexing.

“Trouble?”
Missy asked, her heart sinking. “What now?” She turned and went to the kitchen
table and sat, indicating the chair across from her for Chas.

“A
man was murdered in Dellville this evening.”

“Another
one? What on earth is going on in that town?” she shook her head in disbelief.
“What happened this time?”

“Looks
like another poisoning,” he said grimly.

“Well,
as much as I hate to say it, in a way, that’s actually good news in a way,
because if someone else was poisoned, then it’s ridiculous to blame Echo for
the first poisoning – her shop is closed, so she couldn’t have done the second
one. Two poisoning in two weeks have to be related, meaning only one person
could’ve done it and that one person is not Echo.”

Chas
paused for a moment. “Yes, that does make her situation better. The unfortunate
reality is that now you’re the suspect.”

“Me?
What could possibly make me the suspect?” Missy was astonished.

“An
anonymous witness called in and said that the young man who died had bought
cupcakes from you a few hours earlier.”

“Well,
that’s easy enough to disprove. If my cupcakes were poisoned, more than one
person would be dead. Besides, someone calling in anonymously? Doesn’t that
strike you as terribly suspicious? It sounds to me like someone is trying to
lash out against the business community in Dellville. Sid Hixon, who died, was
a business owner, Echo, who is suspected of murder, is a business owner, and
now me. Who would do such a thing, and why? Was the second victim a business
owner too?” she asked Chas.

“No,
the second victim was a jobless youth, who has been known to hang out downtown,
occasionally panhandling and asking for food from passersby.”

Something
clicked in Missy’s mind. “Did he have longish light brown hair and a goatee?”

Chas
nodded. “Yes, he did. Did you know this young man?”

She
shook her head. “No, I don’t recall ever having seen him before, but he
definitely came in the shop today. I remember him specifically because he
seemed to be terribly nervous about something. Do you think it’s possible that
he took drugs or poison of his own accord and just wanted a cupcake as a treat
before he died or something?”

“Anything
is possible, I suppose,” Chas answered, sounding skeptical.

“I
hate that they think I killed a harmless young man,” Missy’s eyes filled with
tears. “If I had known about his situation, maybe I could’ve helped him, and
now it’s too late.”

“Well,
for now, it’s probably best that you close the Dellville location temporarily.
The police will be doing an extensive investigation anyway, and they’ll want to
question you,” he advised.

Missy
nodded. “I’ll just have to switch operations entirely to the LaChance location
and do all of the baking and deliveries from there.”

Chas
looked thoughtful, and stood to go. “I’ll keep you posted if I hear anything
new,” he turned, making his way to the door. “You should expect to hear from
the Dellville PD soon,” he said, opening the door.

“Chas…wait!”
Missy called, following him. “When you have time, I’d like to talk to you about
a few things.”

“
When
I have time…
” Chas thought, feeling the irony. “Let’s focus on clearing you
of murder for now, okay?” he replied quietly, going out the door and closing it
behind him.

Shortly
after Chas Beckett drove away, Detective Richard Keller of the Dellville police
department arrived to talk with Missy regarding the murder.

“Were
you acquainted with the victim?” Keller probed.

“No,
I had never met him before today, when he came into the shop,” Missy shook her
head.

“Did
you bake the particular cupcake that he purchased?”

“Yes,
I almost always bake all of the specialty Cupcakes of the Day.”

“Did
anyone else have direct access to the cupcakes?”

“My
staff does, of course,” she replied.

“Were
there any deliveries, or visitors that had access to the shop during the day?”

“Not
while I was there. I can check with my team to see if anyone came in during my
absence,” she offered, trying to be helpful.

“No
need, we’ll take care of that,” the detective responded, taking notes. “I’ll
need the names of everyone who was working today, along with contact
information.”