The Sweet Baked Mystery Series - Books 1-6 Read online

Holly’s eyes widened. “You’re joking.”

  But Crystal was shaking her head. “Nope. Not at all. Don’t you remember I had a crush on his younger brother when we were at school?”

  “Nelson?” Again, Holly laughed, waiting for the punchline. “But surely he’s older. Dale may be baby-faced, but he can’t be older than thirty.”

  “He can and is.” Crystal seemed delighted by Holly’s reaction, leaning over to give her a poke in the ribs. “Once you get those divorce papers, you should drop on by. I bet old Dale would be dying to give you a spin.”

  It was an hour later as the show was winding down, that Holly sat bolt upright. “Oh no!”

  “What?” Crystal asked, her voice on high alert. “What is it?”

  “I forgot about Mittens. I haven’t been to feed him yet today.” Holly jumped up from the sofa and pulled on the shoes she’d kicked off a few hours before. “The poor thing will be starving.”

  “Let me come with you,” Crystal said. “I don’t like you going out by yourself this late at night.”

  Holly stared at her, then had to chuckle.

  “What?”

  “For a minute there, you sounded exactly like Dad!” Holly paused, thinking. It would be nicer to walk with somebody in the darkness. Still… “You know you can’t come in there? You’ll be in danger the whole time you’re waiting around outside.”

  Crystal rolled her eyes. “I’m sure, I’ll cope. It’ll be nice just to get out of the house.”

  They walked to the Masters’ house quickly. The night was crisp but not cold, and after the stuffiness of working near the oven all day, it was a relief to let the evening air blow the cobwebs from Holly’s mind.

  “Wait,” Crystal said as they rounded the corner of the drive. “What’s that?”

  She pointed up at the house, and for a moment Holly couldn’t understand why. Then she saw it. The beam of a flashlight shone through the window and then continued around the upstairs room.

  “I think that’s the office,” Holly said, mapping out the interior in her mind. “What would anybody be doing in there at this time of night?”

  “Nothing good,” Crystal answered. “Not if they’re using a flashlight rather than just turning on the house lights. Come on.”

  She marched up to the front door and held out her hand for the keys.

  Holly held onto them, hesitant. “What if it’s a burglar? Shouldn’t we call the police?”

  “If it’s a burglar, then we call them once we’ve caught them red-handed. I’m not standing out here waiting for someone to come and give whoever’s in there time to escape.”

  Holly passed over the keys but when Crystal went to step inside, held her back. “No. Let me. I’m the one that Derek gave the right of entry to. I’ll go in and see what’s what. You wait here.”

  Crystal began to protest, but Holly wouldn’t budge.

  “The police won’t want you in there,” she said at last. “You said the same thing yourself. If I don’t come down in five minutes, call for help. Otherwise, sit tight.”

  As she moved inside, Holly tried the light switch near the door, squinting her eyes against the anticipated brightness. Instead, the switch did nothing. She flicked it up and down once again, but the lights were out.

  “I don’t like this,” Crystal said. “Let me come with you.”

  “Hush,” Holly said, putting her finger to her lips. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

  As Holly mounted the staircase, she hugged the right-hand side, stepping at the very edge where the steps were less likely to creak.

  At the top, Holly paused, waiting for her eyes to adjust as the moon disappeared behind a cloud. When she felt confident enough to move forward again, she heard a definite footstep from inside the office.

  All at once, Holly’s heartbeat sped up so much that time slowed down. As she took the three steps to close the gap to the office, every sense took in a multitude of details. At the door, she paused again, gulping in a breath, her lungs fit to burst. Holly took hold of the handle, slowly turning it until the catch released and she could push it open.

  A flashlight beam shone straight into Holly’s eyes, blinding her. As she raised an arm to block out the light, a figure rushed toward her. She stepped back, then changed her mind and pushed forward instead, yelling.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “For goodness’ sake,” a familiar voice called out. “You nearly gave me a heart attack!”

  The flashlight beam lowered, and after blinking to clear her vision, Holly saw Humphrey Wilkins, their accountant, standing there.

  “What on earth are you doing?” she demanded, then heard footsteps pounding up the stairs.

  “I’m all right,” Holly called out as Crystal careened up onto the landing. “It’s just Humphrey trying to give us all a coronary.”

  “Give you a coronary? Try being male and over fifty and then see how you feel.”

  “Well, that’s your own fault,” Holly said. The aftermath of her terror left her grumpy. “Why are you sneaking around someone else’s house in the middle of the night?”

  “It’s only just gone nine,” Humphrey said in a reasonable voice. “And I’m not sneaking. I’ve got keys to this place, you know.”

  “You’re using a flashlight,” Crystal said in an accusing tone. “Who does that?”

  “The lights are out,” Humphrey said. “It’s the overhead wires—they sometimes short out on the trees. I only needed to get something quickly from Brian’s office, so I used the emergency flashlight from my car.”

  As he spoke, the light downstairs flickered and then turned on. “And we’re back,” Humphrey said, turning off his light and reaching over to flick the switch next to Holly’s shoulder. The change had her shielding her eyes for a minute, weird shadows cavorting across her vision.

  “Wait a minute,” Humphrey said. “Why are you two here?” He pointed a finger at Crystal. “No offense, but I really don’t think you should be in here, Miss.”

  “I also have a set of keys,” Holly said, dangling them as proof in front of Humphrey’s eyes. “Derek left me in charge of feeding Mittens. Crystal only came in here because I screamed.”

  “At nine o’clock?”

  Holly blushed crimson and looked down at her feet. “I kind of might have forgotten a little bit.”

  Humphrey laughed. “Well”—he tapped the side of his nose—“your secret’s safe with me.”

  “What did you need at nine o’clock?” Crystal said. Holly couldn’t work out if her sister genuinely suspected him of wrongdoing or if she was just miffed at being called ‘Miss.’

  “I’m visiting Brian in the hospital tomorrow,” Humphrey said. “I thought I’d also check in on Derek and see he’s holding up okay. Since I’m going to Christchurch, I thought I’d check and see if Brian had got around to signing the papers for the Supermarket expansion. He promised he’d have them on my desk two days ago but, well…” He shrugged. “Things didn’t quite go as planned.”

  Humphrey’s face was overwritten with sadness. He and Brian Masters were the same age, and although it had never occurred to Holly, it fitted that the two of them would be friends.

  “I’ll pop downstairs and see to Mittens,” Holly said. When her sister didn’t budge from glaring at Humphrey, she prompted, “Are you coming, Crystal?”

  They trotted downstairs, one after the other, Holly’s heart beating far slower than it had on the way up. “That was too much excitement for one evening,” she said. “I hope all the adrenaline doesn’t keep me awake.”

  “Do you believe his story?” Crystal said. “That he’s sneaking around here with a flashlight at night just looking for some signed papers.”

  Holly looked at her sister with surprise. “Of course. Why? Don’t you?”

  Crystal cast a glare at the ceiling as a floorboard upstairs creaked under Humphrey’s weight. “I trust him about as much as I trust Mr. Masters. And I never trusted him an inch.”

  “But w
hat else would he be doing here? It’s obvious he was given the keys to Mr. Master’s office.”

  “So were you, but you’re not poking around in there.”

  “No, I wasn’t. They’re not on my key ring.”

  At the sharp look that Crystal gave her, Holly struggled to maintain her composure. Foot in mouth disease strikes again.

  “How about we just feed Derek’s cat and get out of here?” Crystal suggested. “I hate to think what would have happened if I left you to turn up here by yourself.”

  “I would have been done by now?” Holly joked, emptying the single serve can into Mittens’ bowl.

  The cat looked quite content with the absence of his master. Although it made a fuss and purred while waiting for food to arrive, once the bowl was down Holly and Crystal may as well not have existed.

  Although she couldn’t resist one long stroke along the cat’s back before she left, Holly couldn’t fool herself it was for Mitten’s benefit.

  “Hurry up,” Crystal said as they stepped out onto the drive. “He’s coming downstairs. The last thing I want tonight is to be stuck in a boring conversation with our accountant.”

  Agreeing with the end result, if not the sentiment, Holly matched her stride to her sister’s until they were around the bend and safely out of sight.

  “Why don’t you like Humphrey?” Holly asked, trying to fathom out Crystal’s response again. “Dad always seemed pretty fond of him.”

  “For a while,” Crystal said, then went tight-lipped. No matter how Holly pestered her on the walk home, she wouldn’t be drawn.

  “At least it’s only a half day tomorrow,” Holly said as she bade her sister good night. “I’m looking forward to doing absolutely nothing in the afternoon!”

  Crystal shook her head.

  “What? Tell me!”

  “You’ll find out. There’s a hard road ahead for you, but it’ll spoil the surprise if I tell you all about it. Just be sure to get everything ready by ten. There won’t be a minute to spare after that!”

  With her sister’s warning taking up chief residence inside her head, Holly spent the next day preparing the shop in tense anticipation. A few minutes after the church bells struck ten, Holly found out exactly what she’d meant.

  Churchgoers flooded into the bakery, stomachs demanding a treat to swallow along with the words of wisdom from the recent sermon. Even two staff serving would have been run off their feet. By the time the last churchgoer was served, Holly felt as though she’d been wrung out and thrown on a line to dry.

  When Meggie poked her head in through the door, she insisted that Holly sit while she fetched the coffee. “If you don’t sit soon, lovey, you’ll fall down. And then where will we be?”

  “Don’t you have the same flood of customers coming in?”

  Meggie popped back to the table and laid a brimming coffee cup in front of Holly, along with a misshapen cupcake that had been tossed to one side.

  “Oh, I get the ladies through, all right,” Meggie said. “But they turn up early, wanting to get their hair set before they go to church. Bring back hats, that’s what I say.”

  “Didn’t you want one for yourself?” Holly asked as Meggie sat down with just the coffee.

  “That was all there was left. They’ve eaten you out of stock.”

  “Oh, goodness.” Holly broke off half the cake and pushed it across the table. “Sorry about the fingers.”

  “For a bite of this,” Meggie rolled her eyes up to heaven. “I’ll put up with a fair sight more.”

  Holly crossed her arms on the table and laid her head down. “I feel like I could go to sleep for a week!”

  “Knock yourself out. I’ve turned the sign to closed.”

  Holly groaned. “There shouldn’t be this much temptation on a Sunday, it’s not right.”

  When her coffee began to kick in, Holly sat upright in her chair again, hiding a yawn behind her hand. “Did you hear anything about how Alice fared with the police?”

  “As far as I can gather, they just wanted to go over her statement again,” Meggie said. “Checking that she hadn’t remembered something further after the commotion died down.”

  “Had she?”

  Meggie shrugged. “If she had, Alice didn’t mention it to me. But then again, she and I aren’t really close.”

  “How can she not be close to you?” Holly asked. “You’re adorable.”

  “Oh, stop it.” Meggie smiled and flapped her hand at Holly. “Or go on, I don’t care.”

  “I just realized that I never shouted you out for dinner,” Holly said. “Do you want to go out somewhere tonight.”

  Meggie’s face darkened, and she looked out the window. “Not tonight, lovey. I’ve got myself some other plans.”

  Her tone of voice was so different and so much glummer than usual that Holly took the warning and didn’t pry.

  This time, Holly remembered her feline responsibilities and stopped by Derek’s house on her way home. She was so early that Mittens didn’t seem as enthusiastic about new food in his bowl as usual. Instead, Holly got the chance to play with him, teasing the keys into moving along the floor while Mittens jumped after them, entranced.

  When the cat grew bored of the game and wandered off, tail in air, to find a patch of sunlight to lay in, Holly moved outside.

  The walk to the Masters’ house had renewed the ache in her feet from the morning’s rush, so Holly kicked off her shoes and sat out on the lawn, digging into the springy garden with her toes.

  The coolness of the grass against her bare feet felt wonderful. Switching over and laying on her stomach, Holly picked up a few daisies, daring to sprout on the otherwise immaculate lawn, and started to intertwine them into a crown.

  With the precise monotony of the task, Holly’s mind wandered. It traveled back to the surprise that she’d experienced on her first day, seeing the crowds of people flocking in through the door.

  With the numbers that the bakery was pulling in with turnover, their overheads must be entirely out of whack for them to be in as much trouble as they were. Although Holly couldn’t remember the exact numbers, she also couldn’t recall them striking her as odd.

  The daisy chain done, Holly lifted it onto her head, placing it with care. As she stood, she saw that there were grass stains on her pale dress. No wonder her dad always used to bring a rug for them to lie on when they had picnics. Hopefully, they’d come out with a good soak. Then Holly shrugged. No matter either way.

  “Totally worth it,” she said as her feet treasured the walk back across the lawn to the path where she’d left her shoes.

  “Howdy, stranger. What are you doing here?”

  Holly was startled out of her peaceful reverie. Dale was waving at her from beside his car. She’d been so lost in thought that she hadn’t even twigged to the crunch of gravel as he drove up.

  “Hey, there.” Holly leaped over the flowerbed marking the divide between drive and lawn. “I’m the chief cat feeder around these parts, don’t you know.”

  “Derek asked you?” The surprise in his voice was so evident that Holly laughed.

  “What? Am I not good enough?”

  “I thought your family hated cats.”

  “My dad was allergic.” Holly shrugged. “But then again, he was allergic to almost everything. I don’t know Crystal’s precise opinion, but it does seem to skew negative, I’ll agree. Me, though? I love ‘em.”

  “That grand,” he said. “Because my mother told me never to trust a person who doesn’t love cats.”

  “Does that mean she’d consider Crystal untrustworthy?”

  Dale cocked his head to one side, and the smile faded into something grimmer. “There was a lot of stuff happened when we were at school that would back my mother up in that regard.”

  Holly swallowed, wanting to defend her sister, but not knowing precisely what the charges were.

  “She was a bit wild,” Holly eventually said, hedging her bets.

  “I thin
k that as soon as she began drinking, wild became an understatement for what Crystal was. It may have been hard to see from Christchurch University, but it was obvious to everyone here at home.”

  A flush spread across Holly’s chest and her eyes stung from a sudden prick of tears. “I wasn’t my sister’s keeper,” she muttered. “That wasn’t my job.”

  The look on Dale’s face turned in an instant from stern to shocked. “Oh, my goodness, I didn’t mean that the way it came out.” He held his hands up to either side. “Honest. I’m sorry, I’ve been having a bad day.”

  “You’ve been having a bad day?” Holly sniffed. “You should try serving sixty churchgoers with fifty cupcakes and then tell me about your bad day.”

  For a moment, Dale stared at her with wide, disbelieving eyes, then he burst into giggles. While Holly watched with a frown on her face, he cracked up, even more, holding his stomach as though to keep the laughter in.

  “Serving ch-churchgoers cupcakes?” he finally managed to stammer out. “That’s your idea of a bad day?” Dale wiped tears out of his eyes as he regained some control. “Oh, dear, I needed that!”

  “Glad I could help.”

  “Every time you’re around, you seem to help,” Dale said with a broad smile. “How do you fancy a drive out into the country?”

  Holly tilted her head to one side and cocked an eyebrow. “Are you saying, this isn’t the country?”

  Dale smiled again but didn’t laugh this time. Maybe his store needed to be replenished.

  “Even further into the country, then. How about it? I need to check on a drover that your sister swears made her hours late.”

  “I’ll go on one condition,” Holly said. “I get to pet a lamb.”

  “Hey, that’s a big ask,” Dale said. “And I can’t make any promises. They’re his sheep, not mine.”

  “Fine. I’ll take the chance. Just let me lock up here.” Holly walked over to the front door and found it locked tight already. She frowned, but given the level of exhaustion overtaking her on arrival, it was no shock that she couldn’t remember doing something that small.