Cupcakes and Killing: A Cozy Mystery (Sweet Shoppe Mysteries - Book 2) (4 page)

BOOK: Cupcakes and Killing: A Cozy Mystery (Sweet Shoppe Mysteries - Book 2)
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“Zara, try to breathe!” I said, squeezing her hand. “Paramedics are on their way.”

“Are you allergic to anything?” Kaye added, her eyes wide with fear. “Zara? We need to know what you’re allergic to!”

Zara was panting heavily now, trying to breathe, and her lips were beginning to turn blue. “I think…I think it was the…the…”

With that her eyes closed and her head lolled forward, and Tori stood up and shouted at everyone in the crowded marquee. “Everyone out, please! We need to make space for the paramedics!”

The place was so loud and crowded that barely anyone heard her, and only a few people close to us seemed to have realized that Zara had even collapsed. Chris dashed to the front of the marquee, where a microphone for wedding toasts and speeches stood, and he grabbed the mic and spoke it into it. As his voice boomed out, everyone finally stopped to listen.

“Everyone, there’s been an accident! I think Ms. Keilson is having some sort of allergic reaction, and we need to make space for the EMTs!”

The guests went into a sudden panic, and there was sheer pandemonium for a moment as everyone made a run for the marquee exits. Poor Mrs. Barnaby looked crushed that her reception was falling apart, but there wasn’t time to worry about that right now.

“Oh God…where are the paramedics?” Kaye said, her finger on Zara’s neck. “I can’t feel a pulse!”

“They’re on their way,” Chris said as he returned. “Does anyone here know CPR?”

A tall grey-haired man appeared beside us a moment later, and I recognized him as one of the local doctors. I couldn’t remember his name in my panicked state, but he told us to stand back.

“I’m going to try and resuscitate her while we wait for the paramedics,” he said.

He knelt down next to her and began chest compressions, leaning close to her face every few seconds to breathe into her mouth. Despite his best efforts, Zara didn’t wake up, and then her body began to convulse. Sirens in the parking lot outside alerted us to the arrival of the paramedics, and the doctor looked up at us, still compressing her chest in regular intervals.

“You need to call the police as well,” he said.

“I saw Deputy Ted and Officer Bobby here earlier,” Tori said. “I’ll go find them.”

“Why do we need the police?” Kaye said, her voice shrill.

“Because,” the doctor said, pausing to breathe into Zara’s mouth again. “This is not an allergic reaction. I have a feeling it’s much worse than that.”

“What is it?” Chris asked.

The paramedics arrived before the doctor could answer, and we all stood back, glad to let them take over. A few minutes later, Zara was being wheeled into an ambulance, and Tori eventually returned to us with Deputy Ted, Officer Bobby and also Captain Treloar, the local police chief.

“What happened?” I asked. “Is she going to be okay?”

Captain Treloar sighed. “She’s being taken to the hospital, but she wasn’t breathing when they left. I’m going to have to ask you all what happened.”

He motioned to Ted and Bobby, and they left to question other witnesses still standing around the marquee.

“We were toasting each other with our glasses,” Chris said. “She finished her drink and then she just collapsed.”

“Was that drink all she had?”

“No.” Chris shook his head. “She had some cupcakes earlier too.”

“And I gave her some of my crackers with salmon pate,” Kaye interjected. “Oh, lord, I hope she’s okay.”

“Where’s the glass she was drinking from?” Captain Treloar asked.

“She dropped it when she collapsed,” I said, pointing to several large shards of glass nearby.

He excused himself for a second and motioned for a young officer to come and bag up the shards, and I crossed my arms.

“Captain, why do you need to take that? What’s going on?”

He ran a hand through his hair. “I spoke to Dr. Whitehead before he left in the ambulance, and he said Zara’s lips were blue. That’s called cyanosis, and it happens when the cells are deprived of oxygen. That and the other symptoms point towards something a lot more serious than an allergic reaction or even a heart attack.”

“What?”

He shook his head. “I really shouldn’t say right now. I’ve already said too much. We’ll be in touch.”

He turned and strode away, and Chris slipped an arm around my shoulder. “Let’s get home,” he said. “I’m sure Zara will pull through, no matter what it was that happened to her.”

I nodded and gave him a thin smile, hoping it would convince me that he was right. I’d only just become friends with Zara, and the thought of something horrible happening to her made me want to cry. I remembered how vindictive and jealous I’d felt when I’d thought she and Chris were flirting with each other, and I wished I’d never been so petty.

“Chris is right,” Daniel said, squeezing Kaye’s arm. “Let’s all just get home and try to relax. Tomorrow is another day.”

And surely enough, it would be a day to remember.

***

Chris and I had spent the rest of the wedding day anxiously waiting around for news, and when it didn’t come we’d tried to go to bed early and sleep our troubles away. Unfortunately, neither of us could sleep, and we tossed and turned all night. I couldn’t stop thinking about Zara and whether or not she would pull through whatever had happened to her. I also couldn’t stop wondering what the doctor and Captain Treloar had meant when they said it was likely something far worse than a heart attack.

What was worse than a sudden heart attack? I was fairly sure they were one of the number one natural killers of people these days, and I stretched and laid out in my bed, staring at the ceiling as images of Zara’s blue lips and convulsing body played endlessly in my mind.

After a restless night, I got up at six and called Kaye, who was also up.

“I haven’t slept,” she said. “I feel so bad for Zara.”

“Me too,” I said. “Do you think we should open up one or both of the shops today? People are probably a bit shaken up. They might want somewhere to gather and talk.”

“Good idea. Let’s just open the candy store,” she said. “I’ll call Tori and see if she can help out.”

Not long after we opened, the place was full of customers. Everyone was talking about what had happened at the wedding reception, and we were so busy at one stage that Chris had to help out.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I know you had your own stuff to do today.”

He grinned. “It’s fine. Anything I can do to help.”

To think I had ever doubted the man!

I listened carefully to the gossip in the store, trying to find out if anyone had any information on how Zara was doing, but no one seemed to know a thing. The place began to die down at around lunchtime with everyone heading off to Jerry’s café for sandwiches and chips, and I sighed with relief and sat down. Just as I did so, my phone buzzed and I picked it up straight away, hoping for news on Zara.

“Anne Meyer? It’s Captain Treloar from the police,” a crisp male voice said on the other end. “Are you able to come down and talk to us? If you’re with the two men and two women you were with at the reception, I’d like them to come in as well.”

“Is everything all right?” I asked, my heart slowly sinking into my stomach.

“I’m afraid not,” he replied. “Ms. Keilson passed away in the hospital yesterday. We need to speak to whomever was present when the incident at the wedding reception occurred. Can you come?”

“Of course.”

I gathered up my purse and car keys, tears prickling at my eyes. This was the worst possible news. Poor Zara. I told Tori, Kaye and Chris what had happened, and there was a moment of silence before they sighed and nodded.

“I suppose we should close up and get down to the station right away,” Kaye said, her eyes shining with tears. “God…I can’t believe this happened. I’ll call Daniel and tell him they want to talk to him too.”

The sky was grey, which seemed to match the general atmosphere surrounding us as we entered the station twenty-five minutes later. My stomach was roiling, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was very wrong, aside from the fact Zara had died. Five different officers came and escorted the five of us into separate offices, and fear gnawed at my gut as I sat down across from Officer Bobby.

“Can you tell me what’s happening?” I asked.

He nodded. “I know your partner already gave us a brief account of what happened yesterday, but we need an official statement from all of you given the circumstances of Ms. Keilson’s death.”

“What were the circumstances?” I asked. “No one’s telling us anything.”

“We’ve been trying to keep things as quiet as possible for now,” he replied. “Because this isn’t just an accidental or natural death.”

“Zara…she wasn’t….what are you saying?” I asked, my mind whirling.

“She was murdered, Ms. Meyer,” he said.

My hand flew to my mouth.
Murdered?
There had to be some mistake. Zara hadn’t been well-liked by a lot of people in town, but surely no one had disliked her enough to murder her. Then again, after what had happened to Mr. Frobisher last year, anything was possible.

“She was poisoned with cyanide,” he continued, watching my face carefully for my reaction.

“Oh my God…this is just awful,” I replied. ‘Who would do such a thing?”

“That’s what we need to figure out. Don’t worry, you aren’t under suspicion. We’ve had the cupcakes tested along with the other food and drinks, and they were all fine. We also tested the shards of glass from her champagne flute, and traces of cyanide were found on that. So clearly someone went out of their way to poison her drink and hers alone.”

He cleared his throat and then continued. “Anyway, what we need from you is a statement of what you remember happening, and any other information you may have would also be very helpful.”

I nodded and haltingly described what had happened at the reception, and it was difficult to stop myself from crying as I replayed it all. I still couldn’t believe Zara was dead. She’d been right there happily chatting with us just twenty-four hours ago, and now she was just gone? It seemed too surreal to be true.

Officer Bobby nodded and made notes on his computer as I spoke, and when I was finished he glanced at his screen for a minute before turning back to me. “Anne, is there anything else you can think of that might help? For example, do you know of anyone who might have had reason to hurt Ms. Keilson?”

I hesitated. “I…I’m not sure. I know of a couple of people who she was having trouble with, but I don’t want to accuse them of something they might not have done.”

“But they might well have done it,” he replied. “Don’t worry, whatever you tell us is confidential.”

“All right,” I said. “Zara was having a lot of trouble with her daughter Mia. They had a huge fight the other day on the street, and Zara threatened to spend all of Mia’s inheritance on herself rather than helping Mia out financially anymore.”

“Okay,” he said, jotting that down. “Is that it?”

I shook my head. “No. Zara was also recently having problems with an ex-employee of hers, Amy McNamara. The other day, I was out shopping and I actually heard Amy threaten Zara. She said something about ‘getting her back for what she’d done’. My friend Kaye heard the whole thing too.”

Officer Bobby nodded slowly. “I see. Anything else?”

“No.”

“Well, this has all been very helpful,” he said. “Thanks for coming in, Anne.”

I stood up and then turned back. “Bobby…you don’t think Mia or Amy could have really done this, do you? I mean…I know it looks bad, but they’re both so young; not much older than Rosie was when she…well, you know what she did. Surely we couldn’t have more than one psychotic young lady on the loose in such a small town.”

He shrugged. “It’s early days, Anne. We have no idea who the killer is as of yet. But let me tell you, people will always surprise you. Remember how shocked we all were over Rosie?”

“Yes, I suppose you’re right.”

“Also,” he added. “Forgive me if this comes across as sexist, because I really don’t mean it to, but most of the time, poisoning suggests a female killer. Women tend to like to remove themselves from the scene that way, rather than being right there and shooting or stabbing a person.”

“I see. So it’s likely that Amy or Mia did do it then?”

“I can’t say for sure, other than that we do suspect a woman committed this crime,” he said. “Like I said, it’s early days in the investigation. Now, please don’t mention anything we’ve spoken of today to anyone else. The last thing we need is some sort of witch-hunt.”

I gave him a tight smile and left to find Kaye, Tori, Chris and Daniel already outside and waiting for me.

“Good God,” Daniel said. “I can’t believe the woman was murdered! As if this town didn’t go through enough last year with the Frobisher murder.”

“Did you tell them about Amy and Mia?” Kaye asked, looking at me.

“I mentioned it, yes. I feel bad, but it could help with the investigation.”

“I told them too,” she replied before narrowing her eyes and looking back at the police station. “Then again, I don’t know how much good it will do. Remember how they bumbled up the last case and arrested the wrong man?”

BOOK: Cupcakes and Killing: A Cozy Mystery (Sweet Shoppe Mysteries - Book 2)
2.12Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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