Sugar and Iced (Cupcake Bakery Mystery) (10 page)

Mel stared at him with her mouth hanging open as she
tried to process his words. She shook her head. She must have heard him wrong.

“What are you saying, Oz?” she asked.

“I’m just wondering, that’s all,” he said.

“Does she have a record? A criminal record?” Mel asked. “Isn’t that against the pageant rules and regs?”

“She was only eleven,” Oz said. “She got caught shoplifting a Snickers.”

“Did she go to court?” Joe asked.

Mel glanced at him and he lowered his hands with a shrug. “Hands are not soundproof earmuffs.”

“No, no court date.” Oz shook his head. “But the cops came to her house and I think they filled out a report. They said they were going to put it in her file.”

“You mean like her ‘permanent record’?” Mel asked. “That’s the oldest scare tactic in the world.”

“Yeah, well, she’s freaked out that if Stan and Manny dig into her background, they’ll see that she got picked up for shoplifting and they’ll be convinced she murdered Mariel Mars,” Oz said.

Tate and Angie returned to the table bearing a tray full of cupcakes. Mel wondered how many she could shove into her mouth at once. She was beginning to think there was not enough buttercream in the world to make her feel better about this day.

“It’s a pretty big leap from shoplifting a Snickers to homicide,” Joe said. “I think Mel is right and the cops who picked her up when she was a kid were just trying to scare her by telling her it was going on her record.”

“She returned the candy bar and apologized,” Oz said.

“Who are we talking about?” Angie asked.

“Lupe,” Mel said.

As Oz explained his concerns to Tate and Angie, Joe leaned close to Mel and said, “So Stan
and
Martinez are on the homicide investigation?”

She noted that he did not call Manny by his first name. “Yes, they are,” she said.

“Well, I wouldn’t worry about it,” Tate said. “From what Angie told me, that Steve Wolfmeier guy seems like he knows what he’s doing.”

Mel felt Joe stiffen beside her. “Wolfmeier?”

She blew out a breath. “He just happened to be at the resort when the body was found and Mom saw him and asked him to represent Lupe should the need arise.”

“I thought your mother liked
me
?” Joe asked.

“She does, she adores you,” Mel assured him. “She doesn’t know that you and Steve have a history.”

“You do?” Oz asked.

The look Joe gave him made Oz halt his line of questioning and shove a Cherry Bomb Cupcake into his mouth.

“It’s no big deal,” Joe said. “We went to law school together.”

“No big deal?” Angie asked. “You hate him! You called him a plea-peddling, ambulance-chasing, justice-joyriding judgment jockey.”

Joe ignored his sister and examined the cupcakes on the tray as if looking for the perfect one.

“Wow, I don’t think I can even wrap my tongue around that many syllables,” Tate said.

“Yup, that’s hatin’ words,” Oz said.

“We’ve had some issues,” Joe said. He chose a Carrot Cupcake with cream cheese frosting. “So, is he going to be around, too?”

“I doubt it,” Mel said. “Unless Lupe gets arrested for the murder of Mariel Mars.”

“She’s not!” Oz protested. “She didn’t!”

“Easy, big guy, no one is accusing your girlfriend of murder,” Tate said.

“She’s
not
my girlfriend,” Oz protested. “We’re just friends.”

“That can change,” Tate said. He and Angie exchanged a look that was so steamy it made everyone else look away.

Angie glanced at the clock on the wall and then yawned. A yawn that looked suspiciously forced to Mel.

“Look at the time. I’d better go,” Angie said.

“Uh, yeah, me, too,” Tate agreed. He crammed the last of his cupcake into his mouth and followed Angie out the back door.

“Something I said?” Oz asked. He scratched his head while he stared at the door.

Mel and Joe shared a grin.

“No, I think it’s safe to say it had nothing to do with you,” Mel said.

Oz turned back around and faced Mel. “Are you still going to be doing a cupcake tower at the pageant tomorrow?”

“Apparently,” she said. “Cici called earlier and confirmed what Ginny said about the pageant going forward.”

“I want to work it,” Oz said.

Mel considered him. She was trying to picture how the hulking goth figure of Oz would fit into the beauty pageant.

“Hair has to be out of the eyes,” Mel said. “I don’t care if you use a sparkly flower hair clip, people will need to see your peepers.”

“Okay,” Oz said. He tossed his hair as if reassuring himself that it would be okay to pull it back.

“And no spiked leather jewelry,” Mel said.

Oz heaved a put-upon sigh.

“What about the nose stud and the lip rings?” Joe asked. His eyes twinkled and Mel knew he was teasing, but he made a good point. “Probably, he should lose those, too.”

“Ah! Why don’t you just make me go naked?” Oz asked.

Mel and Joe burst out laughing and Oz pushed aside his black bangs to glare at them.

“Really funny,” he said. “Hilarious, in fact.”

“Sorry, Oz, I couldn’t resist,” Joe said. He clapped Oz on the shoulder and the teen looked somewhat mollified.

“You can come with me to the pageant,” Mel said. “Angie can stay here and listen to Tate’s plans for franchising the business.”

Mel tried to keep the disdain out of her voice, but judging by the raised-eyebrow looks she got from both Joe and Oz, her delivery needed some work.

“Cool,” Oz said. “I’m going to bounce, then.”

He and Joe banged knuckles. He was about to do the same with Mel, but she pushed his hand away and gave him a solid hug instead. She figured he needed one.

“Don’t worry about Lupe,” she said. She kept her hands on his shoulders and stepped back to glance through his fringe and meet his gaze. “She’s one of ours and we’ll make sure she’s protected.”

“Thanks, Mel,” Oz said.

She felt the tension in his shoulders release and she knew she’d been right to hug him. She handed him another cupcake and shooed him out the door.

As the door shut behind him, Joe turned to Mel and asked, “Why did you lie to him?”

“I didn’t lie,” Mel protested.

“Oh, please,” Joe said. “I’ve watched you tell your mother that you’ve taken your vitamins, when I know for a fact you don’t even own any, and you always get that little crinkle at the top of your nose. It’s a tell.”

Mel rubbed the skin at the top of her nose between her eyes. She had a tell? She’d had no idea.

“That’s not lying, that’s fibbing to give her reassurance, so at best I was fibbing to Oz,” she said.

“Fine, so why were you fibbing?” he asked.

“I wasn’t,” she said. “Not completely. I do think of Lupe as one of ours and we will protect her.”

Mel rose from her seat and started putting away the cupcakes and fondant, while Joe began shutting down the bakery. She was dead-dog tired and even though she wasn’t a morning person, she’d just have to get up early to finish the butterflies.

“What if she did it?” Joe asked.

“She didn’t do it,” Mel said.

“How do you know?” he asked. He was clearing up the mess left behind by the others, and Mel remembered that back when they were engaged it had always been like this. Joe’s off-the-chart sweet tooth usually found him in the bakery at the end of the day helping her close. She realized she liked having him here and had really missed this.

“What?” he asked.

“Huh?”

“You’re staring at me,” he said. He put the dishes in the sink. “What are you thinking?”

Mel felt her face get warm. She really didn’t want to tell him that she’d been missing them. It would give him an opening to zing her about calling off their engagement. Then again, she had never lied to him and she didn’t want to start now, even to save face.

“I miss us,” she said.

Joe hit her with his bone-wilter of a grin. It was charming and seductive and she felt its impact all the way down to her toes.

“Then marry me,” he said.

She shook her head.

“I’m just going to keep asking,” he said.

“I know,” she said. “I’m sorry I can’t give you the answer you want.”

“It’s okay,” he said. His warm brown eyes looked hurt but then he shook his head and said, “It has to be the answer you want to give. I know you’re working through some stuff. I’ll wait.”

Mel felt her throat get tight. She could not love Joe DeLaura any more than she did at this moment. She wondered if she should just say yes, but then, the what-ifs swamped her and she couldn’t bear it. She knew it was stupid to think that keeping their relationship less than it could be would make losing him any easier, but the thought of throwing herself into marriage, a lifetime commitment, made her positively queasy.

“Come on,” he said. “I’ll walk you up.”

He took her hand in his and led her out the back door, which she paused to lock, and up to her apartment. He waited while she opened the door. Captain Jack, the cat they had co-parented since Mel found him abandoned in a Dumpster, leapt at Joe as if he were his long-lost love.

“Somebody has missed his kitty daddy,” Mel said.

Joe scooped up Captain Jack and held him so they were face-to-face, then they both leaned forward and butted heads. Mel looked at her two boys and felt her insides get squishy all over again.

“Do you want to come in?” she offered.

Joe snuggled with Captain Jack for a moment before he handed him over. “It’s late. I’d better not.”

“Oh, okay,” she said.

Joe kissed her on the forehead. “Sleep well.”

“You, too,” she said. Mel watched him walk down the stairs. He waved at the bottom and she returned it, feeling a bit forlorn.

As Joe turned the corner around the building, she wondered if he was going to be able to wait as long as it took for her to get her head together. She couldn’t really blame him if he didn’t.

“I’m messed up, aren’t I?” she asked Captain Jack as she went into her apartment and locked the door.

He gave a long and pitiful meow and then pressed his head under her chin as if he understood. It made her feel slightly better. Maybe her brother was right. Maybe it wasn’t just her soul-deep grief over her father’s death that made her think she couldn’t handle losing Joe after a lifetime together.

Maybe it was all of the freaking dead bodies that kept cropping up in her life. Honestly, how often was a girl supposed to stare death in the face, literally, before she started thinking that everyone she loved could die at any moment? It just wasn’t normal.

The cupcake tower was located in a different part of
the lobby and there was no cloth draping the table. Mel wondered if the hotel staff were afraid another body might get stuffed under it and were avoiding the possibility by leaving it bare. She couldn’t blame them.

The white cupcakes covered in shimmering butterflies were a huge hit and even though she’d had to get up well before the sun, the effort was worth it.

“Now that’s perfect,” Cici Hastings said as she approached the table. “That will drive away thoughts of murder.”

“You think?” Mel asked.

“Definitely,” Ginny said as she joined them. “Hey there, handsome.”

Mel looked over her shoulder at Oz, who was arranging the last of the cupcakes. He was looking pretty spiffy with his hair slicked back and his piercings toned down. He’d even removed the big silver skull rings he usually wore on his middle fingers.

Oz looked at Ginny in horror and Mel could tell he desperately wanted to shake loose his slicked-back hair and hide under his black fringe. She gave him a small shake of her head and he sighed.

Mel glanced around the lobby. Despite what Cici and Ginny said, there was a somber air that seemed to pervade the place and no amount of cute-shaped fondant was going to get rid of it.

“It is unfortunate about Mariel, but I’m sure the police will figure out who did it. If you think about it, this is actually a marvelous test for our contestants to see how they handle pressure.” Cici patted her curls into place and tugged on the lapels of her bright pink jacket.

Mel stared at her. She thought Cici might be joking, but no. The woman was as serious as a heart attack.

“I guess you could look at it that way,” Mel said. “You know, if you were completely coldhearted and compartmentalized about it.”

“Exactly,” Cici said. “Some of the things Miss Sweet Tiara will have to do, like visiting the poor, the sick, the elderly, well, it can be pretty brutal and she will have to smile through it all.”

Mel nodded. Cici’s heartlessness made a little more sense now.

“I used to cry,” Ginny said.

Cici and Mel both turned to look at her. Cici looked disapproving.

“Oh, not in front of them,” Ginny said. “But sometimes it was just hard, you know? I remember I was visiting a day-care center on the west side and I was reading to the children. The place was small and dirty, the playground was rusty and had razor wire running along the top of the chain-link fence. I felt like I was visiting a prison, but there I was in my poufy pink dress and tiara. When it was time to go, a little girl, no more than two, with the biggest blue eyes I’ve ever seen, hugged me and wouldn’t let go.”

Mel saw the faraway look in Ginny’s eyes and knew she was reliving the memory.

“She kept crying and saying, ‘You no leave me,’” Ginny said. “It was so sad. Finally, the day-care worker had to pry her off of me. I sat in the car and cried for an hour.”

Cici reached out and patted Ginny’s arm, which seemed to snap her out of her trance.

“Just think, for a brief shining moment, you gave that little girl a glimpse into a world bigger than the one she lived in,” Cici said.

Mel would have pointed out that Ginny also left the girl in the midst of horrific poverty, teaching her at a very young age that some people just lived better lives than others, but she didn’t want to be mean.

“Now, we’re finishing up the bathing suit competition today,” Cici said. “Also, the contestants will be submitting their recipes to you—”

“We most certainly will not!”

Mel turned to see Brittany Richards approaching with Destiny in tow. Brittany was once again wearing a see-through cover-up—a fashion oxymoron—over a string bikini. Today, the cover-up was white while the bikini beneath was neon green, which matched her stiletto sandals. Destiny trailed behind her, looking miserable, in a pink robe that covered her from knee to neck. Both of them wore an excessive amount of makeup and had the really big hair thing going.

“Excuse me?” Cici raised her finely plucked eyebrows.

“This person,” Brittany said as she pointed a boney finger at Mel, “is supporting that Loopy girl.”

“Lupe,” Oz growled. “Her name in Guadalupe Guzman.”

Brittany glared at him. “I’m sorry, did it look like I was talking to you?” Oz opened his mouth to answer but Brittany cut him off. “Because I was not.”

“Rude!” Ginny snapped.

Brittany glared at her. “Drunk!”

Ginny gasped and looked like she was going to take a swing at Brittany. Mel snatched a cupcake off of the table and shoved it under Ginny’s nose.

“See how the wings sparkle?” she asked.

“Oh, shiny,” Ginny said.

If there was one thing Mel liked about her mother’s best friend, it was her ability to be distracted like a toddler by anything that sparkled.

“Why don’t you go find Mom?” Mel suggested and she gave Ginny a gentle push in the opposite direction.

As Ginny toodled off, Brittany made a derisive snort. “If that one wasn’t as rich as a small oil-loaded nation, she’d be utterly worthless.”

Mel clenched her teeth. Ginny might be a little drunk and a little crazy but she was also the person who had kept Joyce from collapsing completely into her grief when her husband, Mel’s father, had died. For that, Mel would forever be indebted to Ginny, and she certainly wasn’t going to stand here and listen to some rotten cow belittle her.

“At least she knows what it’s like to wear a tiara,” Mel said. The acid in her voice could have left burn marks. “You don’t, do you?”

Oz let out a low whistle like a grenade being deployed, and then he made a blowing-up noise. If looks could do that, Mel was sure Brittany’s glare would have left her picking shrapnel out of her eyebrows.