A Mouthful of Murder: A Frosted Love Cozy Mystery Book 4 (Frosted Love Mysteries) Read online

  “Would either of your staff members have mentioned it if Mrs. Nesbitt had come in during your absence?”

  “Probably, because she would have asked them to give me her best,” Missy said sadly, remembering the kind soul.

  “So neither you, nor your staff saw Cora Nesbitt today, is that correct?”

  “Right. Why?” Missy wondered what Gilbert Johnson was getting at.

  “Can you explain to me then, how it came to be that one of your cupcakes was on her table, sitting next to a cup of tea, when she died?”

  “No, I can’t explain it, unless someone else gave her one of my cupcakes.” Missy gasped in horror as she had a sudden realization. “Detective, what kind of cupcake was it?” she blurted, tears forming in her eyes.

  “What difference does it make?” Johnson narrowed his eyes, suspicious.

  “If it was a lemon cupcake with cream cheese frosting and a drizzle of raspberry on top, I know who the killer is!” she exclaimed.

  “For the sake of argument, who do you think the killer would be if it was a cupcake like you’ve just described?” he asked, avoiding answering directly.

  “I don’t know his name, but there was a strange man who came into my shop today. Ben, Cheryl and I were testing out the batch of lemon cream cheese cupcakes, and he asked if he could have one. I gave him one and he said he didn’t like it, so I gave it to him for free, and then he finished it when he walked outside.”

  The detective regarded her skeptically. “Changing one’s mind isn’t a crime, Ms. Gladstone, and that doesn’t even begin to explain how the cupcake came to be sitting on Cora’s table.”

  “But it does! The man asked for another cupcake to take to his mother, so I gave him one, and before he left, he asked me if he could use the phone in the shop to ask how to get to Cora’s, because he said he needed work and she was advertising for peach pickers,” Missy explained.

  “So this ‘strange man’ knew Mrs. Nesbitt?”

  “No, he pulled her phone number off of a flyer that she had put up on my bulletin board,” she admitted sadly, now feeling partially to blame.

  “Did the man give you his name?” Johnson resumed his rapid-fire questioning.

  “No.”

  “Do you know if he’s from around here?”

  “He didn’t sound like it. No drawl at all,” Missy shook her head.

  “I’m going to need you to come with me,” the detective stated flatly.

  “Where are we going?” she asked, alarmed.

  “Dellville.”

  Missy sat behind Gilbert Johnson in his unmarked car for the ride to her shop, followed by a patrol car that pulled in behind them. She unlocked the front door and the detective allowed her to enter, but instructed her not to touch anything. A technician dusted her phone for fingerprints, collected the flyer from the bulletin board, and discovered a cupcake wrapper that had been tossed away on the front sidewalk. After the police had finished their investigation, and taken notes on the description of the stranger, Missy locked up and rode back to the station with Detective Johnson.

  “I appreciate your cooperation today, Ms. Gladstone, but I’ll remind you that you’re still a person of interest in this case, so you may not leave town without telling us first,” Johnson directed, a bit more kindly than he had addressed her before.

  “I have to leave town to run my business, Detective,” Missy reminded him.

  “That’s fine, but no further than Dellville without prior permission,” he responded curtly.

  “I understand.”

  Chapter 5

  Not only was Missy dismayed to find herself under scrutiny for the murder of a long-time acquaintance, but she had to endure the speculation without the support and help of the steadfast and dependable Chas Beckett. She knew that if she could just talk to him, they’d be able to piece together what had happened to poor Mrs. Nesbitt. Cora’s insufferable nephew Ian was her only living relative, a ne’er do well who lived off of the remains of an inheritance garnered when his parents were tragically drowned off the coast of Maine in a boating accident. He had apparently taken up residence in his aunt’s sprawling Victorian the moment her body had been removed from the premises. Police had investigated the scene, and from the brief report that Chas had been able to share when he came in under the guise of buying muffins for the guys on patrol, some evidence had been gathered at the scene of the crime that could shed some light on the case. Missy had asked Beckett how Cora had died, but he couldn’t divulge the information because she was still under investigation.

  To pass the lonely time without Chas, Missy extended her hours at work, baking and freezing hundreds of muffins, cupcakes and cookies to keep the cases stocked. She took long strolls with Toffee, and attempted to lose herself in a good novel or two, but found that she couldn’t concentrate for very long. She was alone in the kitchen in Dellville one evening, when she heard a knock at the back door. Wiping her hands on her apron, she opened it to find Echo Willis, the new owner of the ice cream shop across the street. Clara Clements, the former owner, of whom Missy had grown quite fond, had moved to Florida the past week, leaving Echo to run the business on her own.

  “Hi Echo, how nice to see you again,” Missy said with a smile. “Won’t you come in?”

  “Thanks, I’d like that,” she replied. “I know it’s after hours, but I saw lights on over here and thought I’d come make sure that everything was okay.”

  “Well, aren’t you sweet? Everything is fine. I just find myself with way too much time on my hands these days, so I stay later and later preparing for business a week in advance,” Missy shrugged, unaware of how sad she sounded.

  “Well, if you don’t mind having company, I have some spare time on my hands too,” Echo admitted.

  “Actually, it would be great to have someone to talk to, I’m glad you came over. I just pulled a batch of Crème Brulee cupcakes out of the oven if you’d like one,” she offered.

  “Oh, about that,” Echo began, seeming embarrassed. “I’m vegan, and I have been my entire life, so it’d probably make me really sick if I tried one. That’s why I didn’t have a cupcake when I came over here the first time with Clara. I just didn’t want to offend you.”

  “Oh my goodness, why didn’t you say so?” Missy asked. “I have at least one or two vegan choices every day. In fact, when I went to a national cupcake competition in Vegas, my prize cupcake entry was a Vegas Vegan.”

  Echo giggled at the name. “That’s awesome,” she grinned.

  “I love your outfit,” Missy remarked, taking in the brick-red harem pants, ivory halter and wooden bangles that were scented lightly of patchouli.

  “Thanks, it’s very comfortable.”

  The two women chatted and laughed like old friends for a couple of hours while Missy baked to her heart’s content, even whipping up a couple batches of vegan strawberry-banana muffins so that her new friend could take some home for breakfast. She felt the silence closing in on her after Echo left, and once she had cleaned up the kitchen, scoured the floors and polished every available surface, Missy turned out the lights to head for home. A glimmer of light caught her eye as she did one final check of the seating area before she left, and she went to the window to see what it was. In the darkness, the entire town of Dellville seemingly slept, with not even a car passing by on the main street, but there was a vehicle turning into the drive behind the ice cream shop. She faintly saw shadowy figures entering and leaving the little shop, and wondered what on earth could be happening over there after 9:00 at night, when the rest of the town was tucked in tight. She watched for a bit, but couldn’t see well enough to bother making a night of it, so she headed for her little blue car and drove carefully home, where Toffee waited with sloppy doggy kisses.

  Chapter 6

  Missy had just returned from a morning jog with Toffee, sweat beading on her brow in the moist heat of a Louisiana late summer morning, when she heard her doorbell. Putting down the mug of coffee that she had
just poured, she went to see who it was, surprised when she opened the door and saw Ian Barker, Cora Nesbitt’s nephew on her front porch.

  “Hello, Ian,” Missy said coolly, never having been a fan of the hedonistic young man who used his aunt shamelessly whenever he needed money, a place to stay, or a reference for something.

  “Mornin’ Miss Gladstone,” his voice oozed liquid Southern velvety charm. “How are you this fine day?”

  “Hot, sweaty and in need of a shower,” she responded. “What can I do for you?”

  Not accustomed to being brushed off by women of any age, Ian was nonplussed. “Actually, I came by to see if you’ll still be wanting Aunt Cora’s peaches for your business…or pleasure,” his eyes slowly trailed up and down Missy’s curvaceous figure, making her want to dash a glass of cold water in his face.

  “Of course I’ll still want the peaches,” she said sadly. “Just have them delivered as usual,” she moved to shut the door, but he stopped it with the toe of his expensive alligator shoe.

  “I’m sorry, I’m not familiar with Auntie Cora’s process, so it’ll be much easier if you come by and get the peaches yourself,” he leered.

  “I really don’t think that’s a good idea, Ian, considering that the police are investigating me in connection with her death,” Missy bit out, going for shock value.

  “That’s utter nonsense,” he drawled, clearly not impressed. “There’s no way in the world a little tiny thing like you could be involved in that nasty business.”

  “Well, at any rate, I think it’s best that I don’t visit her house any time soon,” she insisted.

  “Alright, darlin’, I’ll get you set up with some deliveries, and I’ll be happy to come collect the payment personally,” he raised his eyebrows suggestively.

  “I mail it,” Missy stated firmly, shutting the door. She heard his obscene chuckle on the other side and shuddered a bit. She had always had a bad feeling about that man, and now he didn’t even have his maiden aunt around to keep him in line. While she felt sorry for his loss, she seriously doubted that he even realized how much his aunt had cared for him.

  Missy shook her head as she saw the new sign going up on the ice cream shop across the street. Dellville was a pretty open-minded and friendly town that seemed to roll with whatever changes the outside world brought in, but she wasn’t quite sure just how well a vegan ice cream shop would fare. Echo had brought over the new menu for the shop, which she was calling ‘Sweet Love,’ showing Missy the wide variety of selections that she had to offer, none of which contained any sort of animal products. There were ‘ice creams’ made from soy, almond milk, rice milk and much more, in flavors that probably few people in Dellville had ever heard of. Personally, Missy was very much looking forward to trying the Red Chile Pepper Carob. Echo swore that a shop just like this had been a tremendous hit in California, and Missy just hoped that she would be as successful here. The grand opening would be going on tomorrow, and since Echo’s shop would be busiest after Missy’s had already closed for the day, she was looking forward to going over and supporting her new friend.

  Missy was going over a shopping list with Ben at the front counter, when she saw the scraggly-looking man who had left a lemon cream cheese cupcake at Cora Nesbitt’s house on the day of her murder. By the time Missy came around the counter and ran out the front door, the man was halfway to the corner. When she shouted to him, he looked over his shoulder and started running. She followed him as closely as she could, not knowing what she would do if she ever caught up to him, and wondering if he was leading her somewhere that would endanger her. He ducked into an alley that was a little too private and a little too dark for Missy’s common sense, and she called Detective Johnson to report the encounter. The police arrived within minutes, but the strange man was already gone, nowhere to be found. Missy gave the officers a description of what he was wearing, and headed back to her shop, feeling alone and sad.

  Sitting alone on the couch yet again, watching Netflix, with Toffee curled up under the coffee table, Missy missed Chas so much that it hurt. He’d called occasionally, even though he technically wasn’t supposed to, but they confined their conversation to small talk, so he wouldn’t be breaking the rules, and it just ended up making her feel even more empty. She wanted to share with him, laugh with him, snuggle into his embrace during a movie, but she had to be content with just hearing his voice on occasion for now, and it was wearing her patience thin.

  Missy was startled when suddenly Toffee raised her head and growled a warning, looking toward the bay window in the dining room. She tapped the button on the remote control to turn the sound of her movie down, and listened as the dog continued to stare and growl into the darkness. Staying clear of the windows, she moved stealthily into the dining room, peering out the bay window by standing beside it so that she couldn’t be seen from the outside. The click of Toffee’s claws on the restored hardwoods rang out like gunshots in the eerie stillness of the house as the alert animal crept slowly toward the window, head lowered. Missy strained hard to see, but couldn’t make anything out in the darkness. Toffee sat directly in front of the bay window, staring and emitting a growl low in her throat. Missy flipped the switch for the floodlights on that side of the house, not knowing what to expect, and not disappointed when she still saw nothing. She went back to the couch, and called Toffee over, stroking her silky coat until she was soothed into returning to her place beneath the coffee table.

  Chapter 7

  Missy sighed deeply in annoyance. “Well, now I know what Toffee was growling about last night,” she grumbled aloud as she surveyed her car. The air had been let out of all three tires, and her little blue car was, for the moment, immobile. She made a quick call to Ben to let him know that Cheryl would have to help him open this morning, because she was going to be late, then she called a tow-truck to have her car transported to the tire center. Happy that the air had just been released, rather than the tires themselves being destroyed, Missy pulled out of the tire center and headed for work. The entire process had taken a couple of hours, so Cheryl and Ben would still be in the midst of the morning rush when she arrived.

  The cupcake of the day, Bittersweet Chocolate with Espresso filling and Buttery Pecan Crème topping, was quite the hit, and Missy had to pull two more trays out of the back when she arrived, jumping into the fray. Exhausted after the morning rush finally cleared around 1 p.m., she, Ben and Cheryl sat around a table in the seating area to recover for a moment before restocking.

  “Whew, what a morning!” Cheryl exclaimed, stretching her arms over her head.

  “I think it’s getting busier every day,” Ben added.

  “Well, when we get the LaChance store up and running again, that should thin the crowd a little bit at least,” Missy mused.

  They handled the handful of customers who appeared prior to closing time, then Ben and Cheryl headed home and Missy stayed to take an informal inventory, planning to attend Echo’s grand opening of Sweet Love at 4:00. When her inventory was complete, Missy glanced at her watch and saw that it was nearly 4:00, so she decided to go over a bit early and beat the rush, hoping optimistically that there would actually be a rush. She opened the door of Sweet Love and was immediately struck by two things: the first – that it smelled absolutely wonderful in the shop, and secondly, that her friend Echo was flirting madly with a man who had his back to the door. Echo spotted Missy and called out to her.

  “Missy! Come in, come in!” the man turned around and Missy’s heart sunk. “Do you know Ian? He’s from your town, I think. Isn’t that right, Ian?”

  “Yes, we’ve met. Look, I don’t want to interrupt, I can come back later,” Missy said, backing toward the door.

  “You’re not interrupting at all, I was just about to fix Ian a triple cone. What would you like?” Echo asked, dragging Missy to the counter where Ian lounged insolently.

  “Just a scoop of Red Chile Pepper Carob, please. To go,” she added as an afterthought.


  “To go? Really? I was kind of hoping that you could stick around for a bit – we can hang out and talk…”

  Missy shook her head. “I really can’t, I have some things I have to take care of this evening,” she lied, just wanting to be on her way. “I’ll take a rain check though.”

  “Fair enough,” Echo smiled at her new friend and then turned her attention to Ian, handing him a giant waffle cone, filled with three different flavors of frozen goodness.

  “Thank you kindly,” he purred at her. “You think about what I said, darlin,” he winked and turned to go. “Hey, Melissa Gladstone, you need a ride home?” he teased, knowing that she clearly disapproved of him.

  “No, I’m good, thanks Ian,” she replied, as pleasantly as she was able. She pretended to be fascinated by the variety of flavors displayed in the glass freezer case, patently ignoring him as he sauntered from the shop. Echo scooped up her treat and handed it to her in a brightly colored recycled paper bowl with a biodegradable plastic spoon.

  Missy spooned a small bite of the creamy, deep brown frozen dish with tiny red flecks into her mouth and was utterly astonished. “Oh my gosh, Echo! This is amazing!” she raved, spooning in another bite. “It’s rich and sweet, with just a tiny zing of heat, wow!”

  Echo beamed at her new friend’s praise. “See, I told you! I hope everyone else feels the same way.”

  “I’m sure they will,” Missy nodded enthusiastically. “I’ll do a review for you in the local paper, and let everyone know how fantastic this stuff is.”

  “Hey, I have an idea,” the happy ‘ice cream’ maker said. “How about you come over on Sunday afternoon, after both of our stores close, and you can taste-test several different flavors to mention in your review?”

  “Sounds fabulous and fattening,” Missy mumbled through a mouthful of carob. “Count me in!”