Maddie's Recipe Of Mysteries (A Rockcrest Cove Cozy Mystery Book 1) (7 page)

“So the rumors were true?” Bailey asked.

“Without a doubt.” Kelsey turned so she could look Madeline directly in the face. She leaned in a little.

“As a matter of fact, Madeline, the whole affair was your fault.”

“Me? How could I be responsible? I never put Emma and your husband together.”

Her defensive posture was understandable. First, she was accused of murdering her long-time rival, and now she was being accused of setting up an adulterous affair.

“Oh, let me explain myself,” Kelsey offered.

“I didn’t mean it was you directly that set up the affair, but it was your praline cupcakes,” she explained.

“Ever since your bakery opened, my husband couldn’t get enough of your pralines. Every time we had an event, he had to place a large order with your bakery. You are the only one that can make them, you know.”

‘Yes, I know,” Madeline said with a little relief.

“Well, I always thought it was the cupcakes that he loved, so I never questioned why he wanted to order them all the time.”

Kelsey paused for a minute while she tried to recall the events of that day so long ago. Even years later, her emotions were still raw.

“I didn’t know anything, as I was busy, involved in my own projects as the wife of the mayor.”

“I see,” Madeline said. She felt she had to interject something, but she really wanted the lady to continue on without interruption.

“Anyway, I was often out during the day, going to my different events, but on that day, I had forgotten my calendar, so I had to return home to pick it up. That’s when I found them.”

Bailey gasped. “You found them?”

“Yes. Upstairs in our bedroom.” She rounded on Madeline.

“With your cupcakes all over our bed. They didn’t even have enough sense to use a guest bedroom, where they were less likely to be caught.”

Madeline was mortified. She had allowed Emma to make deliveries for several of her clients before. Could she have done this with any of her other clients as well?

“I’m so sorry, Kelsey,” Madeline said. “Emma made a lot of deliveries for me. I never thought about the possibilities.”

“Well, it backfired on my husband,” Kelsey continued.

“He thought he had caught himself a young little filly he could keep on the side, but it turned out she only wanted the affair as a way to exploit the relationship and get money out of him.”

She took a deep breath before she continued. “I was furious, and I wanted a divorce right then and there. Tom was afraid that a divorce would ruin his chances at reelection, so he decided to get rid of her instead.”

“So, what did he do?”

“That’s when her true colors came out.” Kelsey spoke now with bitterness and anger in her voice.

“She threatened to expose him and do a full exposé in the local paper. Tom ended up having to pay a lot of money to keep her quiet. It took a lot of lawyers and hard-core negotiating to keep things quiet.”

“Oh my! I had no idea,” Madeline said again, stunned.

“Oh, you don’t know the half of it,” Kelsey continued.

“Where do you think she got the money to get that new bakery off the ground? Emma had no money, and her partner, Evan, he had even less.”

“She couldn’t qualify for any type of bank loan, so she did what she did best.” Kelsey stopped to get a little more control of her voice before she continued.

“She started doing the same thing to a whole host of people. Martin, the president of First Allied Bank, Allen, the owner of Barclay’s Investments, Peter, president of Constance Property Management—”

“Wait,” Bailey interrupted. “Are you telling me she did the same thing with all of these men?”

“Yes,” Kelsey confirmed.

“And more. That’s how she made the money to get that rival bakery off the ground.”

“She was clever, that one. I knew that one day, she’d get it in the end.”

Chapter Eight

Madeline and Bailey drove out of the Kelsey’s driveway, speechless. While they expected to uncover some of Emma’s secrets, they didn’t expect the earful they had gotten. If Kelsey’s accusations proved true, there could be a host of possible suspects who had wanted to see Emma eliminated. But there was a nagging bit of doubt running through their minds.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and it was clear there was no woman more bitter than Kelsey Bryson.

Still, as they discussed the details of their afternoon with Kelsey, there seemed to be one continuous thread that ran through all the evidence they had uncovered so far: the rival bakery on the other side of town was the one thing that linked everything else together.

From what Madeline remembered, Evan Foster was a relatively simple man. He was neither outspoken nor pushy. Yes, he had his own ideals and dreams, as did everyone else in the school, but he was rather mousy for a man.

“Well, what do you think?” Bailey spoke up first.

“I’m not entirely sure what to think,” Madeline answered.

“Do you think you can believe what Kelsey said about Emma and all of those men?”

“I’m not sure. It’s a might convenient that all of this comes out after her death.”

“Well, I believe it,” Bailey asserted.

“I mean, she’s been around the block, there’s no secret about that. She’s shrewd and conniving. You know that for yourself.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean that she got into bed with all of those men.”

“Think of it this way, Gran. If she slept with even half of the men Kelsey commented on and then blackmailed them into backing her business with Evan, it creates a lot more possible suspects. That could be enough to take some of the heat off of you.”

“True,” Madeline said, thinking about the possibilities. “But all of these things supposedly happened several years ago. Why would they wait until now to try to kill her?”

“Good point,” Bailey said. “But I did find out a lot about her from those social media sites. She wasn’t a very popular woman.”

“Everybody knows that,” Madeline continued.

“But Emma didn’t just get that way recently. She’s been that way her whole life. Why would anyone try to kill her now?

It doesn’t make any sense.” Madeline thought for minute. “Something must’ve happened recently to change things.”

“Maybe we should talk to Kyle about this,” Bailey suggested.

“Of course,” Madeline agreed. “But there’s something we need to do first.”

Bailey strongly objected to the suggestion that they go to visit Evan and Emma’s bakery across town. It seemed like a foolish and risky step that could turn out to be nothing but trouble.

“Think about it,” Madeline tried to explain.

“That bakery is at the heart of everything we’ve uncovered so far.” She began to count off the connections on her fingers.

“One, she and Evan were secret partners in this bakery while she was working for me. Two, she blackmailed Bryson to get the money to finance the bakery. Three, she was clearly stealing my recipes to give to Evan. Four, they were trying to sabotage my business and steal my customers away.”

“Ok. Ok. I get it,” Bailey said.

“I’m just worried that if Evan is behind it all, it’s not going to sit well with him if we just walk in there like regular customers.”

“Well, there’s only one way to find out,” Madeline said. “Turn the wheel.”

“Now, Gran, let’s think this through a bit more.”

“Turn the wheel, Bailey.”

“But wait a minute.”

“Turn the wheel, Bailey.”

“Yes, but—”

“Bailey! Turn the wheel,” Madeline insisted.

Bailey reluctantly did as she was instructed and turned the wheel. “I think,” she said, trying to get her gran to see a little reason,

“I think we should call Kyle and let him know what we’re doing.”

“We can talk to Kyle later,” Madeline said.

She knew if Bailey spoke to him, there was a good chance he would talk her out of it. What would Evan do? She thought to herself. It was the middle of the day. If he were going to try something, he would do it much later.

They parked outside The Baker’s Cup for about thirty minutes, watching a brisk business go in and out. She could see why her business had seen a drop in customers recently. Again, she watched as many of her former customers went in and out of the establishment. Obviously the new business had somehow lured them away.

“Let’s go,” Madeline said, and she jumped out of the car.

“Wait!” Bailey said. “Not so fast.” She got out, but not nearly as fast as Madeline had. “Gran. Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Yes,” Madeline said with a little irritation in her voice.

“Then we need a cover story. We can’t just walk in there.”

“Of course we can,” Madeline said.

“It’s the only way we can go in. I can’t go on any pretense; Evan and I went to school together. He’ll see right through any scenario we might make up.”

Bailey was still not sure about entering a rival shop so openly, but she followed her gran anyway.

They entered to a busy and brisk business. Customers were happily chatting away at different booths, sipping their coffee and discussing whatever was on their mind. Unlike at Madeline’s shop, where business came and went in spurts, this shop seemed to have a steady flow of traffic, and business was booming.

The plan was to enter as customers, but that idea went out the window as soon as they entered the door. Evan immediately recognized Madeline almost as soon as they arrived.

“Maddie!” he exclaimed, appearing genuinely happy to see her.

“What a pleasure it is to see you in my shop!”

He came over and gave her a great big hug, catching her completely off guard. “What brings you to my neck of the woods?” he asked jovially.

“Well, I just heard how well you were doing and decided to come check it out.”

“Great! That’s awesome,” he said excitedly. He directed them to a corner booth.

“Why don’t you have a seat and I’ll be right back.” He walked a few feet away from them and then turned back.

“Order whatever you want,” he said.

“On the house.” And then he disappeared into the crowd.

“Doesn’t seem like someone who was out to run you out of business,” Bailey observed.

“I’m inclined to agree with you.”

The two women sat across from each other and observed the goings on in the small bakery.

Bailey was the first to speak. “Gran, do you see…” she pointed to the menu card. “These are all your specialties.”

“I see that.”

“And look!” Bailey pointed at the table decorations. “These are yours too.”

Evan returned quickly with a couple plates of praline cupcakes. He placed them on the table in front of the women.

“My specialty,” he said proudly.

Madeline looked at the cupcakes before her. This was her specialty. How did Evan get ahold of it? She wondered. As she looked around the shop, it was clear Evan’s place was simply a copy of her own.

“Oh, Evan,” Madeline spoke up. “I don’t believe you’ve met my granddaughter, Bailey.”

Evan turned to face Bailey and offered his hand. “Nice to meet you, Bailey.”

“Nice to meet you too,” Bailey responded. “This is quite a business you have here.”

“Oh!” he responded enthusiastically. “I’d love to show you around,” he offered.

“You know, I have your grandmother to thank for my success.”

“Oh really,” Bailey responded, intrigued by his enthusiasm and seeming innocence.

“How so?”

Evan slid into the seat next to Madeline and started to explain.

“Well, it was your grandmother that changed my life.”

He settled in, and Bailey knew she was in for a long story, but before he could get started, he was interrupted.

“Ah, excuse me while I take care of this matter,” he said. “When I come back, I’ll take you on a tour of the kitchen,” he said, and was gone.

“Something’s not adding up, here,” Bailey said after he left.

“It’s obvious that the whole layout of the shop, the items on the menu, even the decorations came from you. But he doesn’t seem to know that.”

“I told you, Evan is a rather mousy type of guy,” Madeline offered.

“I’m pretty sure that Emma was leading him around by the nose. She probably had him thinking that everything was all her idea.”

Evan returned quickly and ushered the two women out of their seats and into the back room. Even as busy as the shop was, he took the time to give them a brief tour of the kitchen, showing Madeline all of her ideas in full force. When the tour was finished, he was beaming from ear to ear.

Bailey took note of everything but was very confused. She decided she needed to go a little deeper than a casual observer.

“Evan,” she started as they headed back toward the front of the store. “Where did you get your recipes that seem so popular today?”

“Well, to be honest,” he said, “many of them came from my two business partners.”

“Two business partners?” Madeline asked. She had only known about one, Emma.

“Yes,” he continued. “Emma, you knew her,”—a look of sadness flitted across his face—“and my sister, Rachel.”

“Oh, yes.” Madeline remembered Rachel. The woman left a sour taste in her mouth. From what she recalled, Rachel was rather competitive and definitely was not inclined to the team effort that Evan, Emma, and Madeline had once had a long time ago.

“Well, she’s here now!”

He said, and then turned in his seat to see if he could spot her in the crowd. He turned back.

“She must be in the back.”

He paused for a moment before he continued. “It was so sad to hear about what happened to Emma.” He waited for a response, but neither Madeline nor Bailey said anything.

“I didn’t even know you two were still talking. I’d heard you had a major falling out a few years ago.”

It was Madeline’s turn to speak. “To be honest, Evan, I hadn’t seen Emma in two years. I was just as surprised as you were that she had been in my store.”

“I’m not surprised,” Evan said thoughtfully. “She could be quite a pill when she wanted to.”

“That she was,” Madeline agreed.

“I don’t know if you were aware of it,” Evan continued, “but Emma and I had a major falling out of our own, just a few months ago.”

Both Bailey and Madeline were trying to keep the confusion off their faces.

“We had to part ways,” he continued. “Which was very sad since most of the décor, the recipes, and even the way we run things were her idea.”

So, there it was. It appeared that Emma had only worked for Madeline in order to get at her secrets, and it seemed as if Evan was genuinely duped into doing whatever she said. Or he was a really good actor.