Easy Bake Coven: Book One of the Vivienne Finch Magical Mysteries (26 page)

“I
wouldn’t put much stock in everything that Eunice says.” Vivienne added. “We’re
talking about a woman who has a nativity scene at Christmas that includes three
wise men and two lawn jockeys. She’s not exactly an open book on diversity.”

“Well,
I wouldn’t be surprised if he has moved on to the men. After all, there are
only so many women in this town.”

“He
never dated me.” Vivienne was quick to reply.

“Me
either.” Kathy added.

“Just
don’t call me and say you’re dating Richard Clarke anytime soon.” Vivienne
warned.

“Please,
like I’d even consider dating that sleaze.”

“Well,
they say women are attracted to men with power and money.” Vivienne reasoned.
“Can you really blame Suzette for having an affair after how her husband has
blatantly carried on like a drunken frat boy over the years?”

“No.”
Kathy agreed. “Brad has cheated on her with so many other women I’m actually
kind of glad she gave him a taste of his own medicine.”

“Well,
she certainly chose a high profile man to do it with.” Vivienne swatted at Tom
Cat who tried to claw the sofa arm with his paws. He dashed off with a defiant
meow. “But why kill Mona?”

“Mona
could have found out and told her to back off.” Kathy guessed. “Or maybe she
threatened to kick her off the historic commission and the Women of Small
Business Association?”

“So
you go out and murder someone? That just seems like a crazy step to take.”

“Isn’t
that always the case with those things?” Kathy asked. “What do they call them?
Crimes of passion, right?”

“Sounds
like one of those tawdry movies on television.” Vivienne put her feet up on the
coffee table and leaned back.

“I’m
sure the trial will be the main event to see when it starts.”

“I’ll
bet Eunice Kilpatrick takes time off from the bank just to have a front seat in
the courtroom.” Vivienne said with a laugh.

“Hell,
I bet she’ll try to get on the jury.” Kathy laughed back. “So now we have
Victoria Clemens as Mayor. Could this week possibly get any worse?”

“She’s
been by Richard’s side ever since this terrible thing happened.” Vivienne
replied. “She certainly seemed confident and capable addressing the crowd
tonight. Maybe we misjudged her?”

“I
wish I could move up the rungs of the ladder as fast as she did.” Kathy mused.
“Lowly commission member one day, mayor the next.”

“Some
people are just lucky like that.” Vivienne let out a yawn. “Did I tell you I
hired Stephanie Bridgeman to help me out at the bakery? She’s been such a
blessing.”

“Did
Clara fire her?”

“No.”
Vivienne smiled as she recalled her little foray into reverse psychology. “I
convinced her it was the best idea.”

Kathy
laughed. “Well, she certainly wasn’t a good waitress but her heart is in the
right place.”

“She’s
very talented.” Vivienne yawned again. “We’re shooting for opening in two
days.”

“It
sounds like you’re pooped.” Kathy finished up the conversation. “You better get
to bed soon.”

“Good
idea.” Vivienne agreed. “Keep me posted if you hear anything else from Eunice.”

“You
know I will. Goodnight.” Kathy hung up.

Vivienne
clapped her hands as Tom Cat appeared from the kitchen. “Are you ready for bed
now?”

He
cocked his head to the side and meowed.

“Let’s
go.” She turned off the table lamp and headed for her bedroom.

“Stephanie,
can you hand me the orange frosting?” Vivienne asked as she decorated an
individual cake shaped like a pumpkin.

Stephanie
handed her the heavy metal bowl laden with homemade vanilla frosting. “That’s
looking great.”

“Thanks.”
Vivienne smoothed some more orange onto the cake and sculpted it along the
ridges, adding some bumps for a little more realism.

Stephanie
busied herself with creating little green fondant leaves and vines to adorn the
cake with. It was going to be on the center pedestal in the front window for
the grand opening. “I think it’s so clever making the raspberry-lemon cake look
like a pumpkin.”

“Let’s
hope the customers think so too.” Vivienne rotated the stand to examine her
work. “I’m ready for some of those vines and leaves now.”

Their
morning routine was working like a well-oiled machine. As the morning hours
disappeared into lunchtime, they had almost filled the second display case with
cupcakes and
whoopie
pies. All that was left for the
afternoon was to bake some apple blossoms, some fruit tarts, and a few pies.

Vivienne
sent Stephanie off for her lunch hour and asked her to swing by the
Monarch Grocery
on her way back to pick
up some more apples. She brewed herself a cup of tea and settled into one of
the bistro chairs as the first of her pumpkin pies baked in the ovens. She
sorted through the mail that had arrived earlier, thumbing through the usual
assortment of flyers from vendors and suppliers asking her to choose them for
her business needs. A complimentary issue of a new fashion magazine that
promised to help her find that ‘fall runway look for less’ briefly caught her
interest before she put it down.

She
pushed it all aside and admired her store. It was finally coming together and
she felt confident enough to open for business nice and quiet tomorrow morning.
No big crowds, no ribbon cutting, no fuss.

The
front door opened and the bell overhead jingled. Joshua knocked on the wooden
frame. “It smells amazing from out here.” He beamed. “Are you busy?”

She
stood up from the table and straightened her apron. “I’m on a lunch break.” She
admired the way the sunlight seemed to frame him like an aura. Dressed in a
pair of khaki pants, a blue polo shirt that matched his eyes, and a pair of
boat shoes worn sockless, his classic good looks never failed to dazzle her.

He
held up a takeout bag from
Shanghai
Sunset
. “So I’m just in time to bring the vegetable
mei
fun?”

Her
eyes brightened. “You brought lunch? That’s so sweet.”

He
walked it over to the table and gave her a kiss. “I figured this was a good
choice.”

She
opened the bag and pulled out the little white containers, some plastic forks,
napkins, and some packets of soy sauce. “It’s perfect. I was in the mood for
Chinese again.”

“You
ever had cellophane noodles before?” He asked as he sat down to join her.

She
nodded. “There’s this great little buffet out near the outlets.”

Joshua
opened his box of noodles. “Never been there, but I’d like to check it out
sometime.”

“You
have to be careful at the outlets. Most of the time, you’re paying close to
retail anyway. But sometimes, you get lucky and find a good deal.” Vivienne
opened a packet of soy sauce and drizzled it over her food.

“So
I figured this might be a good time for you to ask some questions.” He wrapped
some noodles around his fork and slurped them into his mouth.

“I’m
glad you said that.” She twirled her fork and took a small bite.

“I’m
off today, so I’ve got lots of time.” He smiled.

“What
led the sheriff to arrest Suzette Powell?”

“Oh?
I thought you were going to ask questions about my condition.”

“It’s
probably not the best idea here in the bakery where just anyone could walk in.”
Vivienne patted her lips with her napkin.

“I’m
not really at liberty to talk about the investigation.” He reminded her.

“You
know I won’t tell anyone.” She pressed. “After all I’ve been through, you can
at least give me one or two answers.”

He
set the fork down and folded his arms across his chest. “I suppose I do owe you
that much. Fire away.”

She
thought for a moment. “What evidence did you have to arrest her? Richard Clarke
didn’t confess about his affair until last night.”

“There
was a fingernail fragment imbedded near Mona’s wrist.” Joshua kept his voice low.
“When all of the commission members were brought in for questioning, Suzette
Powell had a broken fingernail on one of her fingers.”

Vivienne
leaned forward in her chair. “What about fingerprints?”

“None
were found on the weapon or anywhere else.” Joshua shook his head. “It’s the
damndest thing.”

“So
how did you link the fingernail to Suzette?” Vivienne continued.

“She
agreed to DNA testing and the results came back positive as a match.” Joshua
shook his head. “I really didn’t expect that because she was so cooperative
during the questioning.”

“I
suppose the affair with Richard only made the connection more powerful.”
Vivienne thought aloud. “You’re going to think I’m nuts, but I still have a
hard time believing she’d resort to murder.”

Joshua
took another bite of his lunch and nodded in agreement. “There’s not much we
can do about it now. It’s in the hands of the lawyers from this point.”

“I
suppose so.” Vivienne sounded defeated. “Maybe I’m just paranoid because of
everything that’s happened to me over the past week.”

“You’re
not paranoid.” Joshua reached over and took her hand in his. “You’re nothing
short of amazing.”

She
felt her cheeks blush. “Oh, stop.”

He
brought her hand up this his lips and kissed it. “You’re probably going to be
busy well into the night.”

She
nodded back. “I’m taking the plunge and opening tomorrow morning. Unless, God
help me, someone else ends up dead in my dumpster tomorrow morning.”

“That’s
not going to happen.” He reassured her.

“I’m
going to hold you that promise.”

He
released her hand. “I’d like to be your first customer.”

“I
don’t think there will be a line at the door. If you’re here at eight you’ve
got an excellent chance.”

The
bell jingled as Stephanie returned with a paper bag from the Monarch Grocery in
her arms. “Oh, you have company.”

“Stephanie,
you remember Deputy
Arkins
.” Vivienne spoke up.

Stephanie
set the bag down on the counter. “I almost didn’t recognize you out of uniform.
Nice to see you again.”

“And
you as well.” Joshua replied.

“We
were just having lunch and catching up.” Vivienne batted her eyes at Joshua.

“I
was telling Vivienne how great this place smells from the outside.”

Stephanie
unloaded the apples from the bag and grabbed a peeler from the utility drawer.
“She’s going to have the whole town beating down the door to buy things every
day.”

“You
both are too much.” Vivienne protested as she closed up her Chinese container.
“I’ll save this for dinner later.”

Joshua
handed her a fortune cookie. “Don’t forget this.”

She
accepted the treat and cracked it open. “Fortune favors the bold.” She read
aloud.

Joshua
mouthed the words ‘in bed’ to her with a grin.

She
laughed. “Now it’s your turn.”

He
cracked the fragile yellow shell open with his hands and pulled the slip of
paper out. “A penny saved is a penny earned.”

Vivienne
mouthed the words ‘in bed’ at him and winked. “Good advice.”

He
winked back and started to gather up the contents into the bag. “The cookies
never lie.”

“I
better finish those
whoopie
pies.” Stephanie went to
work giving them some privacy.

Vivienne
kissed him and took a moment to tuck in a small tuft of his chest hair that
poked out of his neckline. “You almost make me want to play hooky with my own
store.”

“I
understand.” He gestured to the space around them. “You have this to keep you
occupied today. I’ll try to think of something nice to do on the weekend.”

“It’s
a date.”

After
Joshua left, Vivienne returned to the work area behind the counter where
Stephanie was busily piping cream cheese filling onto pumpkin flavored
whoopie
pies. “How are things going over here?”

“I
just had the most unpleasant encounter with Mary Ellen Bryce.” Stephanie said
as she took the tops of the
whoopie
pies and
sandwiched them to the lower frosted halves.

“I
didn’t know you two were friends.” Vivienne grabbed the orange frosting to
start another pumpkin cake.

“We
aren’t.” Stephanie continued. “But she used to come into Clara’s all the time
and sit in my section. After a while, I didn’t even have to ask what she was
going to order. Every time it was the same old thing. A bacon, lettuce and
tomato sandwich on toasted wheat with no mayonnaise cut into quarters and she
wanted it served with the bread and butter chips instead of the dill spear.”