Sugar and Iced (Cupcake Bakery Mystery) (16 page)

“This way,” she said to Joe. They worked their way through the crowd until they reached a small cluster of people in the back.

Oz was standing in front of Lupe, going nose to nose with Manny. Paulie and Al flanked her while Uncle Stan stood next to Manny, looking very unhappy. Lupe for her part looked amazing in a black bodysuit with glittery purple flames shooting up the sides.

“The evidence from the lab just came in,” Uncle Stan said. “We have to take her in.”

“Not right now,” Oz fumed.

Mel didn’t hesitate. She strode forward. “What’s going on here?”

“This doesn’t concern you, Mel,” Manny said. It was the wrong thing to say.

“Sorry, you’re talking to my people, it very much concerns me,” she said.

“Mel, we have a fingerprint match for Lupe,” Stan said.

“On what?” Mel asked.

“The sash,” Manny said. He was clearly unhappy about it.

“How can you get a fingerprint off of fabric?” Oz asked. “Is that even possible?”

“It’s a new technology called VMD, vacuum metal deposition, where they heat up gold to evaporate it and spread a fine film over the fabric. Then they heat up zinc, which attaches to the gold where there are no fingerprint residues. The end result is like a negative of a photograph, only it’s a fingerprint,” Uncle Stan explained. “It revealed Lupe’s fingerprints on the sash used to strangle Mariel. We have no choice, we have to take her in.”

“Was it Mariel’s sash?” Lupe asked. “Because she told me to put it on.”

“What?” Manny asked.

“It was the day of the interviews,” Lupe said. Her voice was low and it was hard to hear her over the applause of the crowd for the baton twirler. “Mariel told me to put on the sash and the tiara, so I did, then she taunted me saying that it would never be mine, because I didn’t have what it takes.”

Uncle Stan frowned. Manny looked annoyed.

“Do you know if anyone witnessed this?” Manny asked. “Did anyone see you touch that sash?”

“No, I was—well, she got to me and I was crying,” Lupe said.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Oz asked. “I would have—”

“I don’t think you want to go there, Oz,” Joe said.

He moved in behind Mel and she took comfort in his presence at her back.

Manny squinted at him. “DeLaura.”

“Martinez.”

“I heard you had a big case to prep for,” Manny said. “Should you really be here?”

“They’re all big,” Joe said. “Don’t worry. I’ll do what needs to be done.”

Uncle Stan glanced between the two of them and then looked at Mel. She shrugged.

“Without a witness, we’ll have to take you in for more questioning,” Uncle Stan said.

“I’m a witness,” a voice said from behind Paulie and Al.

Everyone turned. Destiny Richards stood there in a pale diaphanous gown that made her look like she had stepped right out of a book of fairy tales.

“I was there when Mariel had her try on the sash and the tiara,” Destiny said. “Lupe is telling the truth. Mariel was very cruel to her. And if it’s fingerprints you’re looking for, you should check mine. I touched both the sash and the tiara when I helped her take them off.”

Stan and Manny exchanged a glance. Mel didn’t think she was imagining that they looked relieved.

“I’m sorry I didn’t say anything at the time. I should have,” Destiny said.

Lupe’s eyes went wide in surprise. “No, I . . . it’s all right. Thank you.”

“Destiny! What are you doing back here?” Brittany Richards came across the backstage area like a steamroller. “Move it. You’ll miss your cue. Go. Go. Go!”

Destiny darted away.

“So, you got your witness, are we good here now?” Oz asked.

Manny and Uncle Stan exchanged an uneasy look. Mel knew that they still felt the need to take Lupe in but they couldn’t, not now, and not just because Lupe was about to perform. She remembered joining Angie by Mariel’s body. In fact, the dead woman’s image was emblazoned on her brain. And what they were saying was wrong.

“You can’t take her in,” Mel said.

“Mel—” Manny sounded exasperated.

“No, hear me out, you can’t take her in, because I am quite sure that the sash wrapped around Mariel’s neck wasn’t her Miss Sweet Tiara sash.”

“You can check with Angie, but I am sure, very sure,
that the sash used to strangle Mariel wasn’t the sash that the winner wears,” Mel said. “We saw that one and it was different. I remember it was a much deeper pink than the one used to strangle Mariel.”

“Have you touched any other sashes?” Uncle Stan asked Lupe.

“Yes, we all have,” she said. “They’ve had us wearing them for photo shoots and stuff. I’m sure they have all of our fingerprints on them.”

Uncle Stan and Manny exchanged a look. Manny turned to Lupe. “Go ahead and perform but don’t leave the premises without telling one of us.” He turned to leave but then turned back. “And good luck.”

Uncle Stan gave Lupe a thumbs-up. “Is Angie still by the cupcake tower?” he asked Mel.

“Yes, she should be,” Mel said.

The two detectives left. Oz looked at Lupe and asked, “You okay?”

“Fine,” she said. It was an obvious lie but Mel admired her for trying to pull it off.

“All right, the rest of you clear out!” Oz ordered. “My girl needs to focus.”

Lupe’s head whipped in his direction at the “my girl,” but being intent on shooing the rest of them toward the stairs, Oz didn’t notice.

“Got it,” Joe said. He and Oz bumped knuckles and Joe took Mel’s hand and led her through the dark toward the hall.

Mel could hear Destiny singing in the background and she noted that the girl had a very pretty voice. Nothing that would get her an
American Idol
win, but still, it was more pleasant than the booming march of the baton twirler.

“Let’s not crawl over the crowd to get back to our seats,” Mel whispered.

“Agreed,” Joe said. “I don’t want to give someone an inadvertent lap dance.”

Mel smiled as they moved to stand at the side of the auditorium. Joe still had her hand in his and she found that it felt right. They felt right.

Joe released her fingers and Mel felt bereft. But then, what had she expected? She had been playing with Joe like he was a yo-yo for months. Pulling him close and pushing him away. It wasn’t fair to him. She knew what he wanted—marriage, kids, the whole ’til-death-do-us-part package. If she couldn’t woman up and agree to it then she had to let him go.

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. He looked at her with a smile that was full of affection. Had she not worn him out yet? How could that be? If the situation were reversed, she’d have cut him loose weeks ago.

Rising up on her tiptoes, Mel went to kiss his cheek as a thank-you for being the incredibly patient, kind, and loving man that he was. As if anticipating her move, Joe moved and her lips landed on his. She felt him smile beneath her lips as he deepened the kiss.

When they parted, Mel was breathing hard and she was pretty sure she saw stars shooting in her peripheral vision.

Joe leaned close. “What was that for?”

“It was supposed to be a ‘thank you for being so great’ kiss,” Mel whispered. “But it rapidly turned into a ‘what are you doing later’ kiss.”

Joe chuckled and the sound seemed to echo low and deep inside of her. Mel glanced up to see if anyone in the auditorium had noticed them, but she figured she would have heard her mother cry “dear Joe” if she had.

As Cici took the stage to introduce the next talent, Joe leaned down and whispered, “Marry me.”

No
almost flew out of Mel’s mouth just out of habit. Instead, she put her hand in his and squeezed his fingers in hers. She could feel Joe studying the side of her face, but just then Cici read Lupe’s name and they both turned to the stage.

There was a rumble of noise from behind the curtain and Mel thought she heard Paulie, or maybe it was Al, yelp. She felt Joe stiffen beside her. They could hear movement, the scrape and scuffle of what sounded like heavy equipment, and then there was silence.

Mel felt her innards get taut with nerves. She let go of Joe’s hand as her palm began to sweat and put her arm around his waist, holding on to him for support. He put his arm over her shoulder and pulled her close. She could tell he was nervous, too.

The grinding noise from behind the curtain started again, and Mel could see the crowd getting restless, and then it stopped. The audience was murmuring and shifting in their seats. Still, the curtain didn’t move.

Softly, a guitar began to play. Mel recognized it immediately as the beginning of Oasis’s “Love Like a Bomb.” The stage curtain was yanked open. Two enormous glittery ramps were revealed and Lupe, in full skateboard gear and with her black hair flying beneath a purple sparkly helmet, shot down one of the ramps as the music swelled and blasted through the auditorium.

The speed with which she moved took Mel’s breath away. Lupe hit the top of the opposite ramp and flipped her board under her feet before sailing back down and across the stage to the other ramp. The height she hit made Mel gasp and grasp Joe tight. They both stood frozen as Lupe executed a spin in the air before dropping back down.

Lupe dazzled the audience, weaving a spell over them as she worked the two curved ramps back and forth in a dizzying choreography of flips, spins, and twists, always keeping her board under her feet and moving at a breakneck speed.

She finished with the music, grinding the middle of the board across a rail that had been set across the front of the stage. She ended the routine by flipping the board with her feet, up into her arms.

The crowd went crazy. Mel could see Joyce standing on her chair and giving a piercing two-fingered whistle. She and Joe broke away from each other to applaud and cheer with all of the rest. Lupe beamed as she bowed. She went to leave the stage but the crowd was still cheering and chanting her name. Paulie caught her and turned her around and gave her a shove back out to the stage.

Lupe unstrapped her helmet and lifted it off her head. She then gave a deep curtsy that charmed the crowd all over again. Mel watched as she hurried off the stage.

From her view at the side, Mel could see where Lupe was headed. She dropped her helmet and her skateboard and ran full on straight into Oz’s waiting arms. He lifted her up and spun her around and then he kissed her.

The curtain on the stage closed and Mel felt as if her heart was full to bursting. Their girl had done it. There was no way anyone could beat a performance like that, not even if they were a lion tamer who taught the big cats to bake cupcakes.

She glanced around the room and saw Angie and Tate standing just a few paces down the wall from her and Joe. Angie’s brown gaze met hers and Angie wiggled her eyebrows up and down, letting Mel know she’d seen the teen’s embrace as well. Mel grinned. She couldn’t help but be happy for Lupe and Oz.

Cici took the stage and announced that there would be a brief intermission.

“I bet no one wants to go onstage after that,” Joe said.

“I can’t blame them,” Mel said. She glanced across the room. “Do me a favor?”

“Name it,” he said.

“Could you corral my mother?” She pointed to where Joyce was still standing on her chair along with Lupe’s mother and sisters. “She’ll listen to you. If there’s going to be an intermission, I should really help at the cupcake tower.”

“On it,” Joe said and he pushed off the wall and waded into the crowd.

Mel turned and hurried out to the lobby, where Tate and Angie had already resumed their positions.

“Let’s work the room and keep the mob to a minimum,” Angie said as she handed Mel a fully loaded tray.

“Good plan,” Mel said and she hoisted the tray up onto her shoulder and set out to work the far end of the room.

“That was
not
a talent,” a voice hissed to her left. She recognized the high-pitched whine as belonging to Brittany Richards.

Mel decided to eavesdrop while she handed out cupcakes with a smile.

The Richardses were seated in plush chairs at the far end of the lobby. Mel worked the people around them while she listened.

“Did you hear me, Brandon? I want her disqualified,” Brittany said. “There is no way
that
performance should be considered a talent. What will they do next? Let someone perform jump shots with a basketball?”

“Calm down, Brittany,” Brandon said in a weary voice.

“Don’t patronize me,” Brittany snapped. “You’re not the one who has invested all of their time and energy in Destiny winning. I am.”

“Not invested?” Brandon snapped. “Do you have any idea how much our darling daughter’s pageants have cost me? Between the professional pictures, the voice lessons, the coaches, the tailor-made gowns, the entrance fees, the travel fees, the hair and makeup artists, not to mention the deals brokered with certain people of influence, I can assure you, my dear, I am very much invested in her winning.”

His voice was a low growl and Mel felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. His annoyance had morphed into rage in mere seconds. Of course, she imagined Brittany could do that to anyone. Still, she thought maybe a cupcake would help.

“Excuse me,” she said as she approached with her tray out. “Can I interest you in a cupcake?”

Brittany gave Mel a hostile look, but eagerly helped herself to two cupcakes. Brandon waved at her dismissively, not bothering to say a word.

“Really, Brittany, two-fisting?” he asked. “Don’t look at me when your thighs look like watermelons.”

Mel cringed at the hostility in his voice. She sidled to the group to the right of the squabbling couple where she could still observe them.

Brittany’s face crumpled and her lower lip began to tremble. She gave a tiny sniffle and Mel found herself scanning the area for a tissue for the poor thing.

“Don’t you dare,” Brandon hissed. “Don’t try to manipulate me with your tears. It won’t work.”

Abruptly, Brittany’s face became a cold, hard mask.

“Fine,” she said and she took a huge bite of one of the cupcakes. Frosting smeared her upper lip and she licked it off, staring at her husband through her blond bangs as she did so.

Brandon swallowed as he watched her, and it was obvious that if tears weren’t going to work, Brittany had other weapons in her arsenal.

“You make me sick,” he said.

“But you still want me and you’ll do anything for me, won’t you?” she purred. “Anything.”

Brandon hung his head in defeat.

Mel forced her gaze away. She couldn’t help but feel there was something obscene about the interaction between the husband and wife. The power that Brittany had over her husband made Mel distinctly uncomfortable and she almost felt sorry for Brandon Richards.

What caused her even more concern, however, was his comment about deals brokered with people of influence. What people? What deals? Was Brandon Richards buying off judges or contestants?

“Mel, over here!” Steve Wolfmeier called to her from a nearby group. “Did you see Lupe? Wasn’t my client amazing?”

“Have you been retained in an official capacity?” Mel asked.

“Who do you think sprang her from questioning yesterday?” he asked.

“That was you?”

“Well, no,” he said. “They released her, but I was on the phone with your uncle when it happened, so I like to take the credit.”

“Ah.” Mel nodded.

“So, have you seen her?” he asked. “I wanted to congratulate her. If she doesn’t win for that performance then I am declaring this pageant rigged.”

“Agreed,” Mel said. “But no, I haven’t seen her since she finished and ran straight into—”

“Oz’s arms?” Steve asked. “Yeah, I saw that—among other things.”

Mel met his gaze and felt her face grow warm. Had he seen her and Joe? She was at once mortified and relieved.

“So does number two know that you’re still in love with number one?” he asked.