Easy Bake Coven: Book One of the Vivienne Finch Magical Mysteries (9 page)

Vivienne
had to admit, the drawings certainly did make Cayuga Cove look like one of the
picturesque seaside towns that dotted the New England coastline. The colors and
styles were uniform and pleasing to the eye, as were the decorative wooden
signs for each of the businesses. The artist had even produced four images of
the street decorated for each of the seasons and several oh’s and
ah’s
came from the assembled audience.

Just
as she had done in the bakery with Vivienne, Mona went on to explain how the
cosmetic changes would entice tour bus companies to make the town a stop on
their lucrative wine trail runs and how the increase in business would bring
much needed tax money into the local economy. “By investing in the future, you
are helping not only to create a beautiful town to call home,” she paused for
dramatic effect, “You are going to create a stable tax base that will help keep
costs to taxpayers at a manageable level.”

Her
remarks were met with a smattering of applause. “It’s a win-win deal for
everyone.”

There
were quite a few disgruntled moans afterwards and a low murmur began to stir.

“I
move we open the floor for discussion.” Mary Ellen Bryce spoke up sensing the
energy of the assembled crowd. As assistant principal it was second nature to
use her voice to command attention. Vivienne half expected her to flip the
lights on and off as was the norm at so many school assemblies.

“I
second the motion.” Suzette Powell spoke into the microphone a little too
closely which caused some feedback. She cupped her hands around it which only
made more noise.

Victoria
pulled Suzette’s hands away and the feedback disappeared, much to the relief of
the room.

“Discussion
is approved.” Mona tapped the gavel. “There is a microphone set up on the far
right of the room, please line up and speak clearly.”

Several
patrons jumped to their feet and created a line along the right wall. “Excuse
me ladies.” Kathy grabbed her purse and hustled over to the end of the line.

First
to speak was Raymond Meeker. He cleared his throat and tapped the microphone
with his right hand. “Testing?”

“The
microphone is working.” Mary Ellen replied, her voice taking a more harsh tone
than before. She squinted at the long line of questioners. “Given the length of
the line, I suggest we limit each person to one question.”

“I
agree.” Mona gave her approval. “Please proceed.”

“My
name is Raymond Meeker of
Meeker Jewelers
.”
He spoke just a little too slow, as if placing an order at a fast food
drive-thru speaker. “My concern is the funding for this project.”

“What
is your exact concern?” Mona asked.

“The
state is flat broke right now.” Raymond wrapped his thumbs around the red
suspenders he wore over his starched white dress shirt. “Are we supposed to
foot the entire bill for this on our own?”

Mona
put on her best smile. “Think of it as a short term personal loan to the town.”
She took a sip of her ice water and swallowed hard. “You see, once we get all
these improvements made, your investment is going to pay off double, maybe
triple when all those tour busses pull into town and mob the local stores. If
the state-funding is approved down the road, each business will be reimbursed
equally.”

“Do
you want to put that in writing?” Raymond asked her.

“I’m
not a psychic, Mister Meeker.” Mona shook her head. “I can’t guarantee an exact
return any more than I could predict the next lotto numbers.”

“Then
why not wait on this until the state can provide funding?” He asked.

“He
might have a good point.” Cassandra Pembroke spoke up much to the surprise of
everyone. “If not full funding, perhaps we can work out a deal for matching
funding?”

“That
could take years.” Victoria Clemens interrupted with a wave of her bejeweled
right hand. “As someone who knows the wine trail inside and out, I can tell you
the longer we wait, the less chance we will ever get put on the map.”

“As
someone who knows banking from the inside out, I think we need to put more
effort into funding this project through grants and government loans.”
Cassandra snapped back.

“Your
ex husband knows banking inside and out.” Victoria cast an icy glare at
Cassandra. “I hardly think that qualifies you as a financial manager of this
project.”

“Any
more than being married to a winery owner qualifies you as a vintner.”
Cassandra rebuffed the challenge.

“I
told you putting her on the board would create problems.” Victoria tried to
whisper to Mona, but the microphone picked it up and amplified regardless.

Mona
put her hands up in protest. “Ladies, please. This is a hot bed issue to say
the least, but we are not here to make personal attacks on who is qualified to
do what.” She gave a stern look to each end of the table. “Next question
please?”

“I’m
Tony
DiSanto
, from
The Leaning Tower of Pizza
.” He was dressed in a pair of
flour-stained black workpants and a simple white button up shirt that had faded
red tomato sauce stains on the sleeves. “So just how much is this going to cost
each business owner? Is everyone going to be charged the same amount for the
refurbishment?”

Mary
Ellen pulled out an electronic tablet device and tapped the screen with her
slender fingers. “If we go with the plan presented as of tonight, divided by
the number of shops on Main Street, each business would spend approximately
three-thousand and fifty dollars and some change.”

An
elegantly dressed woman with a bun of salt and pepper hair atop her head
approached the microphone next. “I’m Evelyn Hart from
Lakeside Gift Emporium
.” She spoke softly. “That’s quite an
investment from each business. I can’t speak for everyone here, but I’m not
afraid to tell this board it hasn’t exactly been a banner year for my store.”
She raised a piece of paper up and adjusted the gold wire frame glasses on her
nose. “My profits are actually down forty percent from last year.”

“We’re
not asking you to refurbish the inside of your shops.” Victoria Clemens fielded
the question. “We are only talking about a small cosmetic change to the
exterior of each business and a uniform sign to tie it all together.”

“That’s
easy for you to say.” An anonymous male voice shouted back from the audience.
“You don’t have a business on Main Street.”

Victoria
peered into the crowd to try to find the source of the challenge but failed.
She brushed her long brown hair back with her hands. “As a matter of fact,
Harvest Glen Winery
is going to open a
small tasting room and gift shop on Main Street next spring. So I do have a
stake in this, thank you.”

Several
more members continued to barrage the board with questions about footing the
bill and how much everything was going to cost. Mona and her officers did their
best to provide answers but the crowd wasn’t too convinced by their efforts.

 
At one point, the discussion turned to the
issue of tenant parking on the street and the board was raked over the coals by
several apartment dwellers who resented the proposed plan to make them park in
lots two streets over to provide ease of customer access.

“One
last question and we must close discussion and move on.” Mona’s voice was strained
from her impassioned pleas and saleswoman techniques.

Kathy
stood before the microphone. “Kathy
Hemmings
, owner
of
Trade Winds Clothier
.”

“Hello
Miss
Hemmings
.” Mona’s voice was cold. “It’s so nice
to have such an active participant in the audience.” She gestured to the
audience. “I hear we have you to thank for such a vigorous turnout tonight.”

“Hello,”
Kathy replied back in an equally cold manner, “and you’re most welcome.”

“What
is your concern?” Mona locked eyes with her.

“Is
it true that you’re using this issue as a springboard to launch your campaign
to run for mayor after your husband’s term ends?”

There
was a collective gasp in the room. Mona cocked her head to the side. “Whatever
gave you that idea?”

Kathy
reached into her purse and pulled out some papers. “I have copies of an
interview you did with an online magazine,
A
Byte of Upstate
, about running for office in a small town.”

“I
was referring to my husband running for office.” Mona was quick on her defense.
“The magazine misquoted me and I tried to get them to print a follow up to
clarify that.”

Kathy
quoted from the paper in her hand. “I feel that as a woman running for office,
you need to do something beyond mere campaign promises to convince voters you
are serious about the job. The truth is that the voting public often gets
things wrong and it’s the job of elected officials to make them think they’re
right.”

Mona
rolled her eyes. “I never said that.”

“It’s
right here in print.” Kathy shook the paper.

“It’s
nothing more than slander by a zealous media outlet to get attention.” She
gripped the edge of the podium so tight the color drained from her hands. “I’ve
hired a lawyer to pursue legal action if needed.”

“Convenient.”
Kathy nodded and turned to face the crowd. “I’ve posted a link to the magazine
article on
Social Butterfly
for those
of you who want to read it for yourselves.”

A
general murmur broke out as Kathy stood at the microphone. She began passing
out her printed copies of the article to eager hands nearby.

“As
there are no more relevant concerns about this project, I move for a vote to go
forward with phase one of the proposal.” Mona raised her voice.

“What’s
phase one again?” Suzette asked the board.

“The
historic commission has the power to re-zone parking to prevent obstructed
views of historic buildings.” Mary Ellen reminded everyone. “Main Street will
be re-zoned with one hour parking in front of all businesses.”

There
were several angry shouts from the apartment tenants in the audience.

“All
in favor of phase one?” Mona asked.

“Aye.”
Victoria was first to answer.

“Aye.”
Mary Ellen added her approval.

Suzette
looked nervously around the room. She wrung her hands together for a moment.
“Aye,” she stammered meekly.

“Opposed.”
Cassandra spoke with extra emphasis, which brought a cheer and a few whistles
from the apartment tenants.

“I
vote yes.” Mona slammed her gavel down. “Motion passes and will be given to
town officials tomorrow morning.” She motioned to the police officers at the
back of the room who moved forward and stood at each side of the long table.
“Our next session will convene two weeks from tonight. This meeting is
adjourned.” She tapped her gavel again and sat down as the crowd reacted to the
event.

The
officers kept watch on the crowd as they began to argue with each other about
who was right and who was wrong. “This isn’t good at all.” Joshua spoke up from
behind Vivienne. He extended his arm to escort her from the meeting.

“I’ve
never seen anything like it.” Vivienne gave him her arm and said a polite
goodbye to Clara.

They
left the library and stepped out into the air which had grown quite a bit
colder since the sun set. “I wish Kathy hadn’t done that.”

“I’m
actually kind of glad she did.” Joshua smiled.

“I
guess I was raised to believe there is a time and place to bring things up.”
Vivienne watched as her breath condensed and floated upwards toward the stars
above.

“If
Mona Clarke wants to get into politics, she better get used to it.” Joshua
walked beside her on the sidewalk along Main Street. “It’s a dirty game.”

“That’s
why I never want to be a part of it.” Vivienne replied. “Give me cakes and
cookies and recipes any day.”

“Speaking
of the bakery,” Joshua thought aloud, “I should have some officers on standby
at the grand opening.”

“Who’d
want to hurt me?” Vivienne asked.

“Mona
Clarke.” Joshua replied. “Given the mood tonight I think it might be a wise
idea.”

Vivienne
balled her hands into fists and shook them in the air. “This is just what I
needed for publicity and I have my good friend to thank for that.”

They
arrived in front of the
Sweet Dreams
Bakery
. Joshua gestured at the display window that was filled with
decorated cakes and cookies. “Once everyone sees this they’ll forget all about
tonight.”

She
reached around his waist with her arms. “You think so?”

“I
never lie.” He looked into her eyes.

“That’s
good to know.” She replied as he pulled her closer and then kissed her fully on
the lips.

“I
hope that wasn’t too forward.” He whispered in her ear.

“Not
in the slightest.” She reached up and ran her fingers through his thick head of
hair.