Never Trust a Skinny Cupcake Baker (Death by Cupcake Book 1) (10 page)

You
can’t be sad when you’re holding a cupcake.

“Okay, I’ll tell her.” I hear Ben say into his phone as I
walk into my living room the next morning. Ben’s still here as we spent another
night cuddling on my sofa. I could totally get used to that. Shake that thought
off, Callie. Shake it off. Out of your league, remember?

“Tell me what?”

Ben turns around at my question and smiles at me, but it
doesn’t reach his eyes.
Now what?
“Have a seat.” He doesn’t give me a
chance to respond to his order. Instead, he grabs my hand and pulls me down
next to him.

“What’s going on?”

Ben takes a deep breath before looking at me and spitting it
out. “The detectives don’t want whoever wrote that card to know they’re onto
them.” I nod because that’s good news. I don’t want anything to happen to Anna.
“We don’t need to go to the station for you to make a statement, but that means
you’re still a suspect in the murder.”

“What?” I was positive that I was in the clear and could go
back to preparing for classes next week now that I’d been threatened by the
murderer. Or at least I assume it’s the murderer. Who else could it be?

Ben grabs my arms and forces me to look at him. “I’m sorry,
honey. We’re going to get your job back; don’t you worry about that. But we
have bigger problems now. You’re in danger,” he growls that last part out.

I wave his concerns away. “Nothing’s going to happen to me.”

He grabs my chin and stares me down. “You are one of the
smartest women I know. What am I saying? You are the smartest woman I know, but
honey, don’t be naïve about this.” His eyes close and he shudders. “I can’t
lose you after I’ve waited a year to have you.”

Oh bugger, those words slam into me, and I can barely keep
my tears from flowing. Maybe I was stupid to keep him at arm’s length? Maybe I
am who he wants? I shake my head. Now is not the time to be thinking about my
romantic prospects. I need to keep my head in the game. “I will not lose my job
for something I didn’t do.” Ben starts to protest, but I hold up a hand to stop
him. “I don’t think the killer will dare do anything to me. She’s set all this
up to make sure I took the blame for the murder. She can’t hurt me or she’ll
risk her entire set-up falling apart.”

“Please promise me that you’ll keep the back door to the
bakery locked.” I nod because we do that anyway – mostly. “And you won’t go
anywhere without me.”

“Um,” I stall for time to come up with a good excuse. I’m
not sure Ben will be thrilled with us attending Dolly’s funeral. “I have
errands to run today.”

“No problem,” Ben smiles. “I’ll take you. Just let me know
the time and I’ll be here.”

“Well…,” I stutter.

“What’s going on, Callie?” I can’t fool him.

“It’s Dolly’s funeral today and Anna and I are going,” I
admit.

“Why are you going to Dolly’s funeral?” His eyes are studying
me, and I imagine this is what suspects feel like when he’s interrogating them.

I shrug. “Just showing our respect.” He continues to stare
me down, and I squirm. “Okay, fine, we’re looking to see which of our suspects
shows up.”

“Your suspects?” Ben’s eyebrows nearly fly off his face.

I stare at my hands as I answer him. “We kind of got a list
of everyone at the gym when you said the cupcake was placed in the locker room.
We eliminated all the men because killers who use poison are usually women and
then we took out anyone who is shorter than five feet seven inches. Now we’re
trying to figure out who is left-handed, so we can eliminate them as well.”

Ben lets go of me and flops back against my sofa. “Should I
ask where you got a list of names?”

I shake my head. He definitely doesn’t want to know that.
“So you’ll let me go to the funeral, then?”

“What time is it? I’m coming with.” I start to speak, but he
puts a finger on my lips. “No arguments. I’m coming with, or I’m locking you
away somewhere.”

♥♥♥

Ben arrives at the bakery at exactly 3 p.m. He looks like a
movie star getting ready to stroll down the red carpet. Or maybe a mobster
heading off to some wedding. Either way, he looks even better than normal,
which doesn’t seem possible as he’s looks pretty scrumptious every day. And I
own a bakery. I know what scrumptious looks like.

Anna comes out the kitchen, takes one look at Ben and starts
fanning herself. “Whoa.”

I don’t respond. I’m tongue tied. That beautiful mountain of
man saunters over to me wearing a black suit with a shiny black tie and what I
know will be a form fitting button down shirt and I nearly drool. He gives me
that megawatt smile with his dimple showing, and I think I hear customers sigh.
“Hi, sweetheart,” he whispers and lightly kisses me.

“Did you know that the modern necktie has its origins in the
Thirty Years’ War when Croatians wore knotted neckerchiefs and aroused the
interest of Louis XIV? He started wearing a lace cravat when he was a small
child and set the trend for the French nobility.” I blush as the embarrassing
words sprout forth from my mouth with no intention on my part.

Ben smiles and kisses my cheek. “I did not know that but now
I do. Are you ready to get going?”

I nod and turn to Kristie to make sure she’s got things
covered. With the semester starting next week, most of the part-time workers in
the bakery are back in town. Kristie is a grad student and is happy to get some
extra hours in before school starts. “Go, boss, I got things covered here,” she
says with a wink and a nod towards Ben.

Ben grabs my hand and pulls me out of the bakery with Anna
on our heels. The funeral home where Dolly’s service is at is across town. It
shouldn’t take us more than twenty minutes to get there at this time of day,
and the service doesn’t start until four. Anna and I planned to get there early
so we can watch people as they arrive. Anna wants to see if anyone acts
suspicious, but I’m not really sure what suspicious activity would look like at
a funeral.

“Listen up,” Ben says as he parks the car at the funeral
home and turns off the engine. “I know you think you’re Nancy Drew or
something, but this is a funeral. Even though you didn’t like Dolly very much,
you need to be respectful and not be asking people questions.”

Anna snorts in the back seat, but I just turn and glare at
Ben. “Do you seriously think we wouldn’t be respectful at a funeral?” I don’t
wait for his answer. I unlock my seat belt and grab the door handle, but I
don’t manage to exit the car. Ben grabs me around the waist and pulls me
towards him.

“I’m sorry, honey. I shouldn’t have said that. Least of all
to you.” He leans forward and places his forehead against mine. I hear the back
door open and close and know Anna has
left the building
. “I’m just
worried about your safety is all. It’s making me crazy that you were
threatened.”

I open my mouth to explain that it was Anna who was
threatened, but I don’t get a chance to get a word out. Ben captures my lips in
a searing kiss and I’m a goner. When he finally releases me, he apologizes.
“I’m sorry about your lipstick.”

I laugh because I don’t give a hoot about my lipstick at the
moment. I look at Ben’s mouth and see he’s wearing more lipstick than I am at
the moment. I grab a tissue from my purse and wipe his mouth. “It’s your
lipstick I’m worried about,” I joke.

We exit the car and walk to the entrance to the funeral home
where Anna is waiting for us. “There’s no one here yet,” she whispers as we
catch up to her.

I shrug. “Let’s go take a seat at the back, and we’ll watch
everyone as they arrive.” Anna nods in excitement, and I roll my eyes at her.
She thinks this so-called investigation we’re doing is just a big adventure. I
told her about the card and the threat to her this morning when she arrived,
and she nearly jumped for joy. She said this just proves that I’m innocent, and
the University can’t deny giving me my job back now. When I told her the
detectives were still considering me a suspect so the killer doesn’t know I
told them about the threat, she nearly stomped down to the station to give them
a piece of her mind. Good thing she was elbow deep in bread dough at the time.

We walk to the room designated for Dolly’s service and take
seats in the back. I’m relieved that Ben stands at the wall behind us as Anna
immediately pulls out her page of pictures of our suspects. When she starts
digging around in her bag for a pen, I just hand her one. There’s no sense
trying to discourage her.

For the next thirty minutes, we watch everyone arrive and
take a seat. So far, no one on our suspect list has arrived.
Bugger
.
Maybe this was a stupid idea. The doors close, and the director walks in
holding the arm of a woman who is obviously grieving. Tears stream down her
face as she sniffles. But the tears do nothing to deter from her natural
beauty. Although she’s obviously older, she’s aged with grace. Her white locks
shine with health, and her legs go on for absolutely ever. She must be at least
five feet eight considering she towers over the director. 

“Holy shi…” I hear Ben swearing and turn around. He’s
staring at the beauty who just walked in.

“What?” I whisper-shout to him, but he just shakes his head
at me and mouths
later
. I turn back to the woman blubbering and carrying
on. I don’t recognize her and from Anna’s furious shuffling of gym profiles, it
doesn’t appear to be any of our suspects. I twist my neck to ask Ben what’s
going on. He shakes his head without even looking at me. His eyes are locked on
the woman now sitting in the front row.

I
don’t drown my sorrows. I suffocate them with cupcakes.

I barely make it through the service without jumping on Ben
and demanding he tell me who the crying woman is and why her appearance
surprised him – right now! Every time I look behind me, he’s staring at her
with confusion written all over his face. I half-listen to the service, but it
doesn’t sound like the director has any idea who Dolly was. Judging by the lack
of attendees, I wasn’t the only person who didn’t like her. I shake my head. I
should know better than to think nasty thoughts of someone who has passed.

As soon as the service ends, such as it is, I spring out of
my chair with Anna close on my heels. “What’s going on?” I demand of Ben, but
he shakes his head at me.

“Not here,” he says and grabs my hand. He pulls me out of
the room and down the hall. I have to practically run to keep up with him. I’m
pretty sure Anna is running behind me.

“Slow down.” Ben doesn’t listen. He continues to drag me to
his car. The door’s open and he’s helping me in before he speaks.

“We’ll talk about it when we’re home.” He shuts the car door
before I get a chance to respond. Anna’s already bouncing up and down in the
back seat.

“What’s going on?” I can only shake my head at her question,
because I have absolutely no idea.

I wait until Ben pulls out of the parking lot of the funeral
home before I speak. “Ben, you’re freaking me out. Tell us what’s the matter.”

“I’ll tell you about it at home. I don’t want to get into an
argument while I’m driving.” I raise an eyebrow and turn my head to look at
Anna who is also looking mighty confused.

Luckily, we are going in the opposite direction of traffic
and make it back to the bakery in half an hour. Any longer and the pixie in the
back seat would explode. Ben pulls around to park in the alley, and we all jump
out. “You guys go on up. I just want to make sure Kristie locked up.”

Ben growls and grabs the keys from me. “Stay behind me.” I
shrug because I know he’s just worried about me and to be perfectly honest with
myself – something I prefer not to do – I quite like someone being concerned
about my safety.

Anna and I stand by the back door while Ben makes sure the
bakery is safe. “All clear,” he says when he comes back into the kitchen. I
walk to the cash register to make sure the till has been properly cashed out
for the day while Anna ensures that the unpurchased baked goods are properly
marked and stored. Ben stands at the corner of the bakery with his arms crossed
over his chest like he’s a bodyguard now or something.

When Anna and I are convinced that Kristie performed all the
closing tasks properly, I turn to Ben and demand. “Now you need to tell us
what’s going on.”

Ben glances at the front of the store, which is made
entirely of glass, and shakes his head. “Let’s go to your apartment.” And thus,
we follow the same routine. First, Ben goes to scout out the apartment while
Anna and I stand at the entrance to the apartment staring at each other.

“Okay,” Ben says as he returns to my living room. “Come on
in.”

I immediately move to the kitchen and grab a bottle of wine
from the refrigerator. Anna’s already getting the glasses from the cupboard. I
pour us two glasses while Ben grabs a beer. We take a seat at my kitchen table
and wait for Ben to finally give us a clue about what’s going on in his head.

“Well,” he breathes out. “The woman who was crying and
carrying on is Beth Abrahams, Dr. Abrahams’ wife.”

“His wife?” I shake my head. That’s not the important
question. “How do you know who she is?”

Ben ducks his head and answers. “After you told me about
going to see Dr. Abrahams and he admitted to paying Dolly for her services,” he
clears his throat, “I looked into the good doctor.”

“But why?”

Ben stares me straight in the eyes and doesn’t flinch.
“Because suspects lie.”

I snort. “Of course, suspects lie. I won’t argue with you
about that, but why would a well-respected doctor lie about paying someone for
sex? It would ruin his career if it came out. Especially since he’s a
gynecologist. I don’t think there are many women who would want a gyno who uses
prostitutes.”

Anna nods in agreement, but Ben shakes his head. “Better to
have to move your practice than be convicted of murder.”

I lean back as I think about this. Ben does have a point.
After all, there are people who murder to protect their careers all the time.
“I think he was telling the truth. He didn’t stutter or falter. He just came
out with the truth right away. In fact,” I stop when I realize what else the
doctor had to say.

“In fact, what?” Ben’s leaning forward with his eyes
piercing mine.

“I didn’t think to mention this before, but when I was at
Dr. Abrahams’ office, he said something about his wife. He thought she sent me
there or something,” I admit.

Anna claps her hands. “Oh, maybe the doctor’s wife killed
Dolly because she was mad at her hubby for cheating on her.”

Ben shakes his head. “I don’t think so.”

I raise an eyebrow. “What aren’t you telling us?”

“Turns out the
good
doctor was a player. Apparently,
this isn’t his first time cheating on his wife. And he’s had several sexual
harassment complaints filed against him from nurses.”

“Really? Why is he still a licensed, practicing medical
doctor, then? Shouldn’t he be suspended or something for that behavior?”

Ben shakes his head. “Every time a nurse complains, she gets
transferred and the complaint is dropped.”

“What a sleazebag!” Anna shouts. “I changed my mind. The
doctor killed Dolly!”

I shake my head at her. “The murderer is a woman, remember?”

Ben leans forward and grabs my hand before speaking. “Are
you sure?”

“Well, no, but it seems most probable. Even if we discount
the fact that women are seven times more likely to use poison than men, there
are still a couple of things that point to a woman being the culprit.” I count
the facts off with my fingers. “One, the cupcake was placed in the women’s
locker. And two, the handwriting analysis seems to suggest a woman wrote the
note.”

“Let’s cut this argument short. Don’t you have a list of
everyone who was at the gym at the time the cupcake could have been placed?”

I immediately jump up from my chair and walk to my laptop in
the living room. I lift it up and grab the list from underneath. I walk back to
Ben and hand him the list.

“You crossed out all the men’s names.” He mutters as he goes
over the list.

“Well, yeah, we were going on the assumption that the
murderer is a woman.” I’m getting a bit annoyed with him now. I don’t like it
when anyone questions my assumptions.

“He’s not on the list.” Ben admits and hands me back the
list. “It still doesn’t mean he’s innocent. Considering how much that man gets
around, he could have had another
lover
place the cupcake for him.”

I shrug. “I guess. I’m just not buying the doctor is the
murderer. Why kill Dolly?”

“Dolly could have ruined his career if she told everyone he
was going to a prostitute.”

I shake my head. “But if he’s had sexual harassment suits
filed against him and he’s managed to beat those charges then he probably thinks
he’s untouchable. He was very condescending when I spoke to him. I wouldn’t be
surprised if he thinks he can do whatever he wants without consequence.”

“So, then he could be the murderer?” Anna surmises.

“I don’t think so. A condescending man like that would find
murder beneath him.”

Ben nods. “I’m still going to check on his alibi.”

“If you don’t think the doctor did it, what about the wife?”
Anna asks. “Why was she at the funeral? How did she know Dolly?”

I grab the list of names from those who were at the gym when
the cupcake was planted. Maybe Anna’s right. Maybe the wife did it. But her
name isn’t on the list. “She isn’t on here either.”

I try not to sound upset, but I must have failed because Ben
gets up from his chair and stalks over to me. He lifts me and grabs me in a
bear hug. “Everything’s going to be all right. We’ll figure it out. If it comes
to that, I’ll force the detectives to clear you so you can start the semester
next week.”

I nod, but I don’t believe him. If it was that easy to clear
my name, why haven’t the detectives already done so?