Blueberry Cream Cupcake & Murder (A Dana Sweet Cozy Mystery Book 2) (3 page)

“Hello.” Dana tried to sound as cordial and, well,
Cozy
as possible. That was the name of the café, right? Cozy Cupcakes Café.

Her uncle’s secretary glanced up quickly. A stunned expression slid across her face. “You're Dana. Max’s niece, right?”

“Excuse me?” Dana stood frozen on the spot. She was caught off guard, which almost never happened, by the woman's expression.

“It's sad about his wife,” the secretary continued as she casually stirred her creamy cappuccino. “But it was for the best.”

“For the best?” Dana’s ears burned. “How awful to say.”

“Please, have a seat. I’ve been meaning to speak with you. I’m glad you showed up at my table. I didn’t want to ask for you at the back.” The woman gestured to the empty seat beside her. The table was situated near the grand stone fireplace in the dimly lit café. It created a relaxing ambiance though Dana wasn’t exactly feeling relaxed right now.

“Sure, why not.” Dana drew out the heavy oak wood chair and seated herself down next to Darlene.

Dana observed Darlene’s mannerisms and noted her deep almost masculine-like voice that betrayed her feminine characteristics.

Darlene behaved as if she was a CEO of a multinational corporation than a secretary. Her gestures and commanding deep voice were very rigid and authoritative.

“And, oh, don’t mind me,” Darlene said as she carefully covered her tablet cover and quickly slid it into her Gucci handbag. “I sometimes speak ahead of myself. But I’m no hypocrite.”

“Hypocrite? What would make you think I would think you’re a hypocrite?”

The woman picked up her steaming mug of caramel cappuccino with the Cozy Cupcakes Café logo on it that ironically read: Kind Words Make Sweet Feelings.

Well, there certainly wasn’t any kind words or sweet feelings coming from Darlene.

“My name is Darlene by the way,” she said, as if Dana hadn’t figured it out already, putting her cup back down on the table then wiping her cherry lipstick covered lips with a napkin.

“I worked with your uncle for quite a few years,” Darlene continued. “He’s a good person. He works hard and plays hard. He’s good to those who work for him. Sadly, I can’t say the same about his wife. I don’t think for a second that he killed her. Though I wouldn’t blame him if he did.”

“I don’t know what to say. I haven’t really met her. Well, maybe just once but…”

“Well, you haven’t missed much. Trust me.”

“I see. Why would you think she was bad?” Dana leaned in closer to her, hoping no one would overhear their conversation in the busy café.

The woman paused and rolled her eyes. “Come on. I’m his PA, remember? His personal assistant. I see and know everything.”

“Right. Of course.”

“Well, what else could you say about a woman who married her own cousin’s husband, or widower.”

“Right, I heard that she was cousins with his first wife.”

“Not only were they cousins but she was the bridesmaid at the wedding.” The woman smirked and lifted her dessert spoon to the tall blueberry whipped cream cupcake.

Darlene took a scoop of the delicious blueberry whipped cream that was piled high on top of the dessert and shoved it into her mouth.

“Hmmm, this is
so
good,” Darlene cooed, licking her lips. “And I love what you did with the place, by the way. Stressed is
desserts
spelled backward,” she recanted the Café’s slogan. “Way to go on the logo. I used to work as a copywriter, too, back in the day. I must say, your grandmother  was lucky to have you take over and revamp the place.”

“Thank you,” Dana said. “It was my pleasure, of course. Grandma Rae was full of love and wisdom and I wanted to carry on her legacy.”

Dana didn’t want the conversation to get off track. Nice try though, she thought. “So,” she said, getting the conversation back on track. “You mentioned that Karla and Lucy, I believe was the name of Uncle Max’s first wife, were cousins. And that Karla was the bridesmaid at Lucy’s wedding to my uncle?”

The woman nodded. “That’s right. I guess you were living in New York at the time.”

Dana noticed Darlene take out a vile out of her purse with a needle. She was taking her medication. Dana was concerned.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes, I’m just taking my blood thinner. Must be nice to be in perfect health.” Her voice was laced with sarcasm.

Darlene discretely lifted her blouse slightly exposing her midriff and took out an alcohol swab and swabbed quickly. She then took the tiny syringe and injected herself, quickly releasing the medicine from the tube. She reached into her purse and took out a small container to put the syringe in and closed it and readjusted her clothes as if nothing out of the ordinary. Then she picked up her drink and took a sip.

Dana was stunned at first then she got back on topic. “Oh, and to answer your question. You’re right, I wasn’t able to come for the wedding. I’d just started my new job and wasn’t able to get the time off.”

“Well, you didn’t miss anything there either. And you know something?”

“What is it?”

Darlene looked around then leaned in closer to Dana as if someone could be listening in. “Just between us, I think wifey number two might have had something to do with the death of wifey number one?”

“What? Why would you say a thing like that?”

“I told you. I’m the PA,” Darlene arched her brow with confidence and a smug grin on her face. “The personal assistant. I know
everything
. I do
all
the personal shopping. I see
all
the credit card statements. You name it. She racked up a lot of debts at the casino whenever she visited.”

“She did? And what else?” Dana felt the urge to go back to the office at the back of the kitchen and grab her laptop out of her draw and start tapping away this information. But that wouldn’t look right in front of all the café’s patrons in the middle of the café. For now, she’d mentally collect the information to her brain.

“Karla, wife number two, was supposed to be the one to marry your uncle Max originally.”

Dana’s jaw fell open. “What? Well, what happened? Are you sure?”

“Yes, that’s right. Karla was supposed to be wife number one but her cousin, Lucy, snatched her away from them. They were both Vegas girls when they’d met Max. Anyway, funny thing happened and Lucy died mysteriously, then Karla married Max before Lucy’s body was cold in the grave.”

Dana drew in a deep breath, sighing deeply. “How terrible.” She swallowed hard trying to process all of this relationship drama.

She needed to talk to Detective Troy Anders about this new bit of information. She wondered if Troy was even working on the case. Even so, she had a lot to think about now.

Imagine that? Karla was supposed to be married to Max but Lucy stole him and married him. Karla agreed to be the bridesmaid and Lucy died soon after the marriage, then Karla married Max. Then she, too died mysteriously.

Could it be? Was someone in Lucy’s circle getting revenge on Karla.
Oy, yoy yoy
. This case was looking more complex than she could ever dream up on her riddles blog.

Now the question was, who was trying to frame poor Uncle Max for Karla’s murder?

“So, how did it go? What did she say?” Katie asked Lucy eagerly in the office at the back of the Café. The small office was located through a door at the back of the large kitchen. The door was closed. So it was just the two of them in there going over inventory.

The sweet scent of cinnamon and vanilla in the Blueberry Cream Cupcakes batch in the oven wafted to Dana’s nostrils. Her stomach rumbled and she realized that she was due for lunch soon. Of course, she’d snap a hot cupcake topped high with fresh whipped cream after she had her tuna salad sandwich from the deli next door.

“Well,” Dana said, whipping out her MacBook and placed it on the table that already had scores of loose files and papers on it. Boxes of supplies filled the room. “It looks as if the cops might be barking up the wrong tree by arresting Uncle Max.”

“Great. But what did she say?”

Dana gave Katie the run down of the conversation.

Katie’s jaw fell open for a good full minute. And who could blame her? That was the same way Dana had felt when Darlene gave the tid bit of information.

“You mean to tell me that Karla was supposed to be married to Max first? She dated him before his first wife, Lucy?”

“That’s right, cuz.” Dana tapped in the information into Mac, her aluminum friend as she spoke with Katie.

“I’m just taking this information down just in case.”

“Good idea.” Katie looked as if she was still in shock. “So that means you have to get a move on to Lucy’s circle of friends or acquaintances who could have done this as some sort of weird form of revenge.”

“Exactly. But first things first. I’m going to speak to Uncle Max on Monday morning at the bail hearing. I think we can pull together enough funds to post his bail.”

“Good. And what about poor Aunt Mary? She’s so fragile. She’ll never last in the nursing home.”

“Well, as we speak, your parents are arranging to have her at the home.”

“At the home? Where? In my old room?”

“I guess.” Dana felt bad now for even mentioning it. She’d figured that Aunt Nia and Uncle Merv told Katie. But Katie had been busy working at the café when Dana spoke to her Uncle and Auntie about the situation. It was all about family pulling together in a crisis to help out where they could?

“Mom and Pops won’t last with Auntie Mary. As much as I love her.”

“But she’s an invalid. She can’t do anything for herself and you know the staff shortage at the nursing home.”

“I know,” Katie sighed. “That’s probably why they never called to tell me yet. Anyway, I’m glad we can help for now.”

“Of course. I think Aunt Mary has some funds tied to the house that she’d use to help with the bail money between that and what we can all pull together. Then, once Uncle Max is free on bail, he can move back to the house and bring his mother with him.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“It better work. I need to ask Uncle Max a few questions about his first wife and her connections. And also anything he could tell me about Karla. Gosh, what a mess.”

“Tell me about it. The whole thing gives me a headache.”

“Well, I’m going to speak to that detective to…”

“Hey, wait a minute.” A wide grin touched Katie’s lips. “You’re going to try to hook up with that super cute detective you met last month, aren’t you? You have a crush on him!”

“I do not. Really. He’s a very nice man and besides, he practically saved my life. I almost fell in the gutter at the side of the old Victorian. Which reminds me. I need to have someone come in to fill that and look into more fixes at the house.” Dana sighed heavily.

“Oh, which reminds me. She said switching the screen of her Mac to her appointment calendar. Echo, the electrician is supposed to be at the house this week. He’s going to call me to let me know which day he can come. He’s going to check the fuse panel. We seriously need an upgrade to the breakers.”

“Tell me about it. It’s not safe, even in the old home.”

“Yeah. One step at a time though,” Dana continued.” Right now, we need to get caught up on the debts at the café and all the other bills. This is practically a new business for me, even though I took it over when it was in the red. It might take a while to turn a profit and at least not have any losses so we could get other stuff done.”

“I know. I’m just so glad we could work together to keep Ma Rae’s Café open. She was a real sweetheart, wasn’t she?”

Longing touched Dana’s heart. “She sure was. I’m glad you stayed on even while I was in New York. What would we have done? Good thing you know the biz.”

Katie smiled. “Well, some days I do. Other days I feel as if I’m a chicken with her head off running around like mad trying to figure things out and keep things afloat. But hey, we have a great team, right?”

“Right.”

“You know what I was thinking?”

“What?”

“That Echo’s been around a lot.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, he’s worked on quite a few projects with Uncle Max at the house. I wonder if he could give us any insight into the relationship. I mean, he’s really chatty, isn’t he?”

“Tell me about it?”

Just then the door knocked hard and startled the girls.

“Who is it?” Dana called out.

“It’s Inga!” The firm voice sounded of the Café’s chef.

Dana sprung up out of the chair to answer the door. “Hey, Inga. What can I do for you?”

Inga’s expression was, as always, stiff and stony. She rarely, if ever, smiled. She was an excellent baker, originally from Russia, and Grandma Rae had hired her from the start of the café’s original opening. But she wasn’t the most friendly. Still, Dana didn’t mind.

Inga came in with her apron still on and closed the door behind her. “I notice that you were talking to Max’s secretary.”

“How did you…? Yes, I was. Anything wrong?”

“I’ve seen her here many times before. Long before you and Kate started working here.”

“That’s Katie,” Katie said with a smile.

Inga ignored her.

“And?” Dana asked anxiously.

“I think you should be very careful.”

“Careful?”

“Yes, careful. She’s a devious one,” Inga said, stony face. Her thick Russian accent so prominent.

“Oh, um…Okay. Why do you say that?”

“Next time you see her, you can ask her what she used to do for a living.”

“What she used to do for a living?” Dana was baffled. “She already told me. She used to be a copywriter before becoming an executive secretary.”

Inga’s lips curled with a smirk. “Oh, really now?” she said, rolling her R.

“Inga, what’s going on?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if she had anything to do with it.”

“Anything to do with what?”

“Max’s wife’s murder.” Inga paused thoughtfully at first. “I know it’s probably none of my business but I couldn’t help but see you speaking with her after I went out for a cigarette break and saw her car parked in the parking lot.”

“But Inga. You could be wrong about her. She seems really…”
actually, a bit off, come to think of it.
“sweet.”

“Just be very careful. Trust me on this one?”

Inga rarely spoke about personal things though she was certainly one for her opinions. She out right accused the food critic at the Berry Cove Gazette of being a scum when he turned up dead after being found with one of the café’s Strawberry Cream Cupcakes of the day. She even said that he’d deserved to be murdered to which Dana disagreed, even though Dana was the target of his harsh review.

“Why should we just take your word for it?” Katie interjected.

Inga stiffened her upper lip and squared her shoulder. “Because she’s my step-daughter.”

“Step-daughter?” Dana and Katie said in unison. They were beyond stunned.

“But…” Dana said.

“Don’t but. Just trust me.”

“Inga, I didn’t even know you were even…married.”

“I was,” Inga sighed. “Once. But thanks to Darlene and her mischievous sister, Tara, that marriage didn’t last long.”

“Oh dear. How awful. So you were married to their father?”

“That’s right. Anyway, the new batch of cupcakes should be ready now.” Inga glanced up at the clock on the wall. “I’ll be going now.”

“Thanks, Inga.”

Dana was aghast. Well, that threw a curve in her analysis now.

“Well, I’m going to go back out to the front,” Katie said and excused herself.

“Yes, I’m just going to finish up a few things in here, too.”

Once Katie left the office, Dana got on the phone and called Uncle Merv and told him about the conversation she had with Darlene.

“Uncle Merv, do you know why a person would be taking Heparin injections? I mean this is a woman that looks healthy otherwise,” Dana said into the phone.

“Oh, Dana, why would you want to know about that?”

“Well, you know I can’t help but noticing everything. It could very well mean nothing at all. I just assumed a person would have a blood thinner if they were bedbound and couldn’t move.”

“Not true, darling. There are some people who happen to have clotting disorders. That could be a reason.”

“Oh, no. That’s awful.”

“Why did you ask, pumpkin?”

“Oh, nothing. I just…well, I’m taking some notes on my computer about Uncle Max’s case to put together, that’s all. I’m going to look into that, too.”

“Notes?”

“Yes, just a few notes. Sort of like the stuff I do for my mystery riddles blog. I’ve already got some ideas of who the real killer could be.”

“You do? Well, that’s good news, sweetie. Your Aunt Mary would love to hear that. I can’t wait to tell her. Good ole’ Dana the riddles solver and amateur sleuth is on the case.” He gave a hearty chuckle. “That’s my girl.”

“Oh, uncle. It’s not quite like that.”

“Well, see what you can find, honey. But just be careful, okay?”

“I will, Uncle. Thanks.”

“Are you coming over for dinner tonight?”

“Oh, no. I’m going to be doing a few things around the house while I wait for Echo to show up. He said he could fix the electrical panel.”

“Oh, right. Well, be careful.”

“Thanks, Uncle. Take care.”  

After she hung up the phone, Dana let out a puff of air and slumped back into her seat, thinking. Maybe she did too much overthinking.

Could Uncle Max’s secretary, Darlene, have had anything to do with the murder?