Coffee Cake & Murder Read online

  "There's something very strange about all this," Heather commented.

  "Do you think visiting this person will help?" Maricela asked.

  "I'm sure once we talk to her, we can get to the bottom of things," Heather said.

  "I'm glad to hear you say that, boss," Maricela said. "I've been feeling lousy about this since I heard about it."

  "Me too," said Heather. "And I don't think you get to call me "boss" anymore."

  Maricela paled, interpreting this in the worst way possible. "You're firing me over this?"

  "What?" Heather said. "No! You can't call me "boss" because we both run donut shops now."

  "Well," Maricela said, calming down. "That's a better reason. But it is a hard habit to break, boss."

  "Let's go catch our ferry," Heather said. "It should be fun to travel over the water to get to our destination."

  "Just as long as there are no murders on board," Amy muttered.

  "I'm sure there won't be," Heather said. "We're conducting a different sort of investigation."

  "I hope it goes smoothly," Maricela said. "But just so you know, I did bring my rolling pin with me in case we need to use it."

  "I don't think we'll need that. This will all work out fine," Heather said, acting more confident than she felt. Truth be told, she was feeling a little nervous and queasy, and it had nothing to do with getting on the water.

  A Mysterious Welcome to Salem

  Heather, Amy, and Maricela arrived at their hotel and looked at the structure.

  "Did we say we wanted a haunted room?" Amy asked.

  Heather had to admit that the outside of the building did look a little creepy. It had a wooden façade with stern looking lines. It made for an intimidating presence, but she realized that it was probably part of its appeal around Halloween-time. The nearby hotels seemed to either be fancy upscale hotels or quaint inns with homages to the history of the town. It just so happened that the one they picked, seemed to reflect some of the scarier parts of the history. However, they needed a location that would accept their last-minute reservations and this one had accepted.

  "It's not haunted," Heather said. "It has character, and I bet it will be a great place to stay."

  "If anything weird happens here, I'm jumping on the next flight home," Amy said. "I don't mess around with ghosts."

  "Halloween is over," said Heather. "Nothing weird is going to happen."

  However, after she said that, they were joined by someone emerging from the hotel. She had long curly hair with streaks of purple in it and looked at them with hopeful eyes.

  "I knew you'd come," she said.

  "What?" asked Amy.

  "Do we know you?" Heather asked.

  "I'm Cassidy," the woman said with a smile. "And we haven't actually met. But I knew you'd come. I had a vision. And I knew people would be coming at three o'clock."

  "It's three twenty-seven," Amy said.

  "Close enough," said Cassidy. "Is one of you named Madeline?"

  "No," said Heather.

  "Maria?" Cassidy tried again.

  "I'm Maricela."

  "That's it," Cassidy said, clapping her hands excitedly. "There's an M and an A at the beginning of the name. And Maricela isn't a name I hear very often. It's close."

  "Sorry," Heather said. "How do you know us? And why are you waiting for us?"

  "I'm not sure exactly. But I'm a psychic, and I had a vision that people would be coming here at three."

  "Three twenty-seven," Amy added again.

  "Around three," said Cassidy. "And I wanted to see if I was right."

  "You do know that check-in is between three and five, don't you?" Heather asked.

  "Oh," Cassidy said, her face falling. "I guess this isn't that impressive then."

  "You're not asking for money or anything are you?" Maricela asked, with her hands on her hips.

  "No," Cassidy assured them. "I'm just trying to hone my skills. I'm relatively new to the trade. I mean, I've always had the gift, but I've never quite known how to use it. And I thought Salem was the place to go. There's a ton of great psychics here, and they all have to be approved by the town, so you know that there are no conmen out there."

  "So, you were approved by the town?" Amy asked.

  "The person who interviewed me was very kind," Cassidy said. "And they could tell I'm not trying to trick anyone. I'm just not very… I'm still new at this to an extent. But now I've got a whole year until the next big batch of tourists come. And I'll be ready for them."

  "Did you have a vision of this?" Amy asked. "You being prepared for them?"

  "Let me try for another vision," Cassidy said. She took a deep breath and touched the crystal on her necklace. "I think I know why you're here. You're looking for something. For answers. For why something strange and bad just happened."

  Heather had to admit that she was right and told her so.

  "It was a bad break up," Cassidy concluded. "But don't worry. Even though you're feeling confused in your love life now doesn't mean that there's no romance in your future. Soon you will be very happy."

  "And you got off track," Amy said. "She's married. And we're both in committed relationships. We're looking for something else."

  Cassidy frowned because she didn't know what it was. To try and save face she said, "Enjoy room number five."

  Then she walked away briskly, hoping a quick disappearance would seem mysterious. Heather and Maricela were unsure about this experience, but Amy was all smiles.

  "This is going to be fun," Amy said.

  They entered the hotel and were greeted by a sweet concierge who assigned them to room Three, Four and Six.

  "She was close," Amy said. "But no one got room Five."

  "I'm not impressed," Maricela said. "There are only ten rooms here in total. A close guess is meaningless."

  "Let's deposit our things and freshen up," Heather said. "And then we can look for the sandwich shop that had the event with our donuts."

  They agreed and headed to their rooms. It was much more cheerful inside than it was outside. There were floral patterns on the wall and a fuzzy carpet beneath her feet.

  Heather washed her face and considered what she wanted to say to the unhappy reviewer. There was a knock at her door, and she was joined by her bestie.

  "This is going to be a great trip," Amy said. "There are a lot of events around Halloween-time, but there are year-round events too. There's a trolley and a Witch Museum and nautical tours. We can visit the Salem Commons, and there's lots of good food to eat too."

  "There's one food place we need to go to first," Heather said. "This isn't a vacation. We need to visit the sandwich shop and see what could have gone wrong with our donuts."

  "There's no reason that this terrible review has to spoil the whole trip though, does it?" Amy asked. "There's so much to see and do."

  "I guess we should take advantage of being in town," Heather said. "But business before pleasure."

  Amy agreed. Maricela knocked on their door and told them that the faucet in her bathroom wouldn't stop dripping so she was going to report it to the desk to see if they could fix it.

  "After she talks to them, we'll head over," Heather said.

  "And then we'll face the music?" Amy asked.

  "We'll try and turn the review into a happy tune," Heather said.

  "I think we'll have our work cut out for us," said Amy. "Because right now, this reviewer is not whistling any praises."

  Salem Sips and Sandwiches

  "Here it is," Heather said.

  She had been telling her two friends that it was important that they deal with the negative review right away, but as she stood outside the sandwich shop, she hesitated. The woman that they were going to face must hate them a good deal. How would she react to seeing them in person?

  As Heather was dealing with her own nerves, she saw that Maricela was biting her lip.

  "You don't have to go in with us," Heather told her. "Three people might be
overwhelming anyway."

  "Thanks," Maricela said. "But I do have to go in. Like I said before, this could be my fault. I have to face it."

  "And there's safety in numbers," Amy said.

  Heather nodded, and the three of them entered Salem Sips and Sandwiches. Some tables were set out for customers to sit at, but the food should be ordered at the large counter in the center of the shop. The chalkboard on the wall described the names of their special sandwiches and their many types of tea.

  She had been preparing herself for a confrontation, but there was no one there when she entered.

  "Well, this is anticlimactic," Amy said.

  They waited a few moments and were just debating whether they should leave or not when a woman walked behind the counter. She had ruddy skin, a nametag that said Shirley and eyebrows that made her always look displeased.

  "Sorry for that delay," she said. "Once October is over, it's a lot less busy, and it's after the lunch rush. You want sandwiches or tea."

  "Actually, we wanted to talk to you about your Halloween event," Heather began.

  "We did sell out for it," Shirley said. "It was a big event for us. Are you interested in getting your fortunes read? We might still be able to do something."

  "Could you tell us a little more about the event?" Heather asked.

  "Sure. And then maybe we could do a smaller version of it for your group. You're not the only ones to ask about it. It turned out to be a great idea. If I'm still here next year, then I might have several of the same events during the week."

  "Why wouldn't you be here?" Amy asked.

  "Well, you never know," Shirley said with wicked smile. "If I come into money, I might relocate."

  "Are you going to come into money?" asked Amy.

  "If I get enough people interested in these tea readings, I might," Shirley said. "On Halloween afternoon, we had some fortune tellers come in and read tea leaves for our guests as they enjoyed our special teas. We also had our famous finger sandwiches that we called Sand-Witches for the day. And we catered some desserts, but that didn't turn out so well. For you, we could organize something where you enjoy our teas and sandwiches, and a psychic can tell your fortune."

  "What was wrong with the desserts?" asked Heather.

  "Don't even worry about them," Shirley said. "I wouldn't order them again for you. Actually, I hope no one ever orders from them again. I ordered these pumpkin flavored donuts, and they tasted like metal. They were the worst things I ever ate."

  "Like metal?" asked Amy.

  "And the guests all hated them too?" Maricela asked.

  "Only a few early customers and the physics tried them, and they were too polite to complain, but I from what I tasted they were awful. I ate two to give it the benefit of the doubt, but the second was even worse. I threw out most of the batch before the rest of the guests arrived. I didn't want to scare them off," said Shirley. "And let me tell you, I didn't feel well later that night either. But as I said, you don't have to worry about it. If you want dessert, I can make sure you'll have some sweet with your meal. The local shops are less busy now, and I could order from them."

  "I'm afraid we can't stop worrying about them," Heather said. "You see, we're from the donut shop that created the order. We couldn't understand how something could have gone so wrong with our donuts that most people love. So, we wanted to look into the matter and also see if there was anything we could do to make it up to you."

  "You're from Donut Delights?" Shirley asked.

  "I'm the owner," Heather said. "And I want you to know that I take what happened here very seriously and I want to remedy the situation."

  "I can't believe you'd have the nerve to show your faces here," Shirley spit at them. "I can't believe you'd have the nerve to be seen anywhere with the monstrosities that you create. How do you walk around without people throwing them at you?"

  "Most people love my donuts," Heather said.

  "Two of our customers moved across country to be closer to the new location," Amy said.

  "And we've never had a complaint like this," explained Heather. "Which is why we wanted to look into it. Is it possible that the donuts were exposed to something here?"

  "How dare you accuse me of ruining what you already ruined," Shirley said. "No. The donuts arrived the morning of and were boxed up until I set them out right before the fortune tellers arrived. They were terrible because you're awful bakers. And I'm offended that you've come all the way here to harass me about my review."

  "We're not harassing you," Heather said. "If we really did upset your event, then we want to make it up to you. We brought some Coffee Cake Donuts for you now, and wanted to see if there was something else we could do."

  Maricela handed Shirley the box of donuts who continued to give them all dirty looks.

  "Get out of my shop," Shirley said.

  "Let me give you my contact information in case you want to discuss this," Heather said.

  Shirley responded by beginning to hurl the Coffee Cake Donuts at them. They ran from the shop as Shirley screamed at them.

  "And stay out!"

  "Well," Maricela said. "That could have gone better."

  "A lot better," Heather agreed, picking crumbs from out of her hair.

  "What a waste of good donuts," Amy sighed.

  The Psychic's Predictions

  Heather emerged from her shower, feeling cleaner but still downcast. The only way her meeting with Shirley could have gone worse was if the woman had other items to propel at them beside her "peace offering" donuts.

  She wasn't sure if staying in Salem longer would be any more fruitful than it was that day. She called Ryan and told him about her disappointing meeting. He told her about his first official case at work. A bicycle had been stolen, and because there was no other crime in town, he and his partner were investigating.

  Ryan teased his wife and said that she had taken all the crime away with her. This made Heather laugh. She had to admit that she did seem to have a certain knack for being in the vicinity of cases that needed her help to be solved. She briefly considered whether this was sort of sixth sense like the hapless Cassidy was talking about, but then dismissed the idea. She liked to think that she was just where she needed to be when she needed to be there. Then, she explained to Ryan that she wasn't sure how long she should be in Salem.

  "I'm sure you'll figure it out. You have a way with people," Ryan said. "Why don't you relax and do some sightseeing tomorrow? Maybe after she's had some time to think about what you said, she'll reconsider."

  "Maybe," Heather said. "But I'm not going to provide her with any more ammo."

  After she spoke with Lilly and promised to bring her home a souvenir, she was feeling a bit better about her situation. Amy visited her, and the two friends enjoyed coming up with potential plans for the next day. They were just discussing how they should run their breakfast plans by Maricela to make sure she would be ready to join them in the morning when they heard a knock at the door.

  "We were just talking about you," Heather said, opening the door.

  "Hi," Maricela said. "I just needed to tell you guys something. It's a little bizarre."

  "What is it?" Heather asked.

  "Remember how I said I was going to tell the desk about the dripping sink in my room to see if they could fix it? Well, they couldn't. So they just gave me a new room."

  "Which room?" Amy asked.

  "Room number five," Maricela said.

  "Just like the psychic said," Amy said. "This is getting exciting."

  "But there were only seven options that they could have moved me to," Maricela said.

  "Nope," Amy said. "It's exciting."

  The next morning after breakfast, they took a walk around central Salem, admiring the classic architecture and deciding what they should see first. However, after they picked up some coffee to go and before they made up their minds about their touristy destination, they ran into Cassidy again.

  "Did you know we
'd be here?" Amy asked. "Did you have a vision?"

  "Actually, I was headed to get some coffee myself," said Cassidy. "Unless that was an accidental vision. And part of me did know that you'd be here."

  "How did you know about room five?" Maricela asked.

  "You were placed in room five?" Cassidy asked excitedly.

  "Well, not at first," said Maricela. "But they moved me there."

  "That's so exciting," Cassidy said. "I was right."

  "Did you hear anything about the potential for what room we would be in while you were inside the hotel?" Heather asked.

  "Well," Cassidy admitted, losing some of her enthusiasm. "I did hear the concierge say that rooms seven through ten were for a wedding party."

  "So, you knew that there were only six rooms available and we were going to take three?" asked Maricela.

  "That made the guess a fifty-fifty shot," said Heather.

  "And she got it wrong the first time," Maricela said.

  "But they moved you there," said Cassidy. "What are the odds of that?"

  "Good point," said Amy. "Tell us another fortune thing."

  "Okay," Cassidy said. "I seem to do better with this when I'm not paying attention to what I'm saying."

  Maricela groaned.

  "I see forgiveness in your future," said Cassidy. "And everything will work out all right in the end."

  "Thanks," said Amy. "I like this fortune."

  "And I like sightseeing," said Maricela. "I don't want to have anything more to do with this fortune telling stuff."

  She dragged them away. Amy waved enthusiastically, and Heather said a polite goodbye.

  "You don't really believe this, do you?" Maricela asked.

  "I wouldn't put my life in danger based on silly predictions," said Amy. "But it's fun. And what she said did come true last night."

  "But we just heard how the odds were stacked," Maricela said.