All You Need Is Fudge (5 page)

Jenn tapped her chin. “I think she said that Paige had left and it was clear she wouldn't be back so she cleared it with Amy instead.”

“Did that seem odd to you?”

“No, Amy is the head of the committee. What are you getting at?” I asked him. “Is Paige a suspect?”

“I'm simply trying to piece together what happened to Carin before you found her in the marina.”

“Well, that's all we know, right Jenn? We were very busy with the new ships. Sandy had to craft the molds and test them. I created the chocolate. Jenn ran the fudge shop until closing at nine and then she and Sandy and I were in the apartment making ten chocolate ships until midnight when Sandy went home and I went to bed.”

“Jenn, did you see Paige or Carin after that afternoon?” Rex asked.

“No. I was invited to a party, but I had to beg off when Allie asked me to help with the ships. Do you think Carin went to that party? It was supposed to be a very big deal.”

I frowned, drawing my brows together. “What party are you talking about and why wasn't I invited?”

“The Allisons are on the board at the yacht club. Their son, Brandon, and his friends were hosting the party as a fund-raiser for their mayoral candidate. I was going to go to network and see if they might hire me to help with some of their events. It was going to be very boring,” she reassured me. “I'm sure you weren't invited because the Jessops are supporting the current mayor and everyone knows you are dating Trent.”

I shook my head. “Trent doesn't tell me who I should or shouldn't vote for.”

“It was a fund-raiser, Allie,” Jenn said and crossed her arms. “The only reason I was going was because I was drumming up event work for the McMurphy. I figured I could do it and you would remain in the Jessops' good graces.”

“I see.” I wasn't very politically astute. Frankly, all I cared about was my family, friends, and the success of the McMurphy. I had to trust that Jenn was right on the fact that I shouldn't be involved. Plus it was nice of her to think about drumming up more business for me—even if it was for a candidate that my boyfriend's family didn't support.

“Politics aside,” Rex said to Jenn, “you had an invitation to the Allisons' party but didn't go.”

“No, I didn't go.”

“Do you have anyone who can collaborate that?”

“Well, that's silly.” I cocked my head. “I just told you she was here with me until midnight when we went to bed.”

He turned his gorgeous blue eyes on me. “Did you see Jenn again after you went to bed? Or are you assuming she went to bed?”

“Well, I—”

“It's okay,” Jenn said. “I went to bed at midnight and I didn't get up until Allie woke me at five.”

Rex turned to me. “Five? So an hour before you walked Mal and found the body?”

“Yes,” I said. “I was up at three and made the morning fudge batches. I woke Jenn because the chocolate ships were ready to be unmolded and then foiled.”

Rex slipped and showed a moment of emotion on his face. I swear concern clouded his eyes. “So you are working on three hours of sleep?”

I shrugged. “I planned on napping but finding Carin in the water made that impossible.”

“Adrenaline,” Rex muttered. “Fine. Thank you for answering my questions. Please let me know if you think of anything else.”

“We will,” I said and Jenn and I stood.

“No need to walk me out,” he said and put the notepad and tiny pencil in his breast pocket. “I know the way.” He studied me. “You need to make sure you get more sleep. Lack of sleep sets you up for a lot of health problems.” For a moment I thought he was going to touch my cheek, but then he glanced at Jenn and nodded. “Ms. Christensen.” He walked out of the office and down the stairs.

“Wow,” Jenn said with a sigh. “He is so into you.”

“I'm dating Trent,” I said. For some reason, I stayed rooted to the spot. “I'm dating Trent.”

“For now,” Jenn said with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

“Stop it.” I smacked her arm. “I think I'm falling in love with Trent.”

“Yeah and I'm half in love with Shane. Too bad because Rex is one hot cop.”

“There's no denying that,” I said with a sigh. “So, now that I lied to Rex about not knowing Carin was murdered, who is the person of interest you were going to tell me about?”

Jen swallowed. “I heard it was Paige Jessop.”

“What? Is that why Rex was asking us about Paige and Carin?”

“Yes,” Jen said, her mouth in a firm line. “That's what I wanted to tell you, but I'm kind of glad I didn't tell you before Rex questioned us. There's no way you could have kept your emotions out of that interview if you had known.”

“Rex thinks that Paige and Carin had a fight at the yacht club that afternoon? That's what he thought we might have seen? A motive for Paige to kill Carin?”

“Yeah,” Jen said. Her gaze was filled with concern. “I'm sorry that I added the part about Paige tensing up at the sight of Carin, but it was true.”

I rubbed my hands over my face. “It's fine. Tension between two people does not equal motive for murder,” I said flatly. “Come on. We've got work to do before I need to dress for tonight's opening event.” I turned back to my desk. My thoughts turned to Paige and Carin.
What was between them and why would anyone—especially Rex—think Paige was a suspect?

I guess those were good questions for Trent when I saw him later. I loved Paige. If anyone were to accuse her, I'd defend her in a heartbeat. No matter what it took. Hopefully this was all just a misunderstanding.

“You look fantastic,” Trent said when I opened the door to my apartment later that night.

I wore a long-sleeved, black, jersey wrap dress, hose, and black designer shoes. My brown hair was twisted into a French twist and sprayed to within an inch of its life to stay in place. I hated hairspray but this was an important society function and I wasn't about to embarrass Trent or the Jessop family. I wanted to show him that I knew how to dress when I needed to. Thankfully, Jenn had helped me with makeup. I wore black-cat eyeliner and just a few false lashes at the corners of my eyes to make it dramatic. The red lipstick on my lips made me feel very much like a Barbie doll. The entire effect had Trent's pupils dilating.

He scooped me up in his arms and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and clung to his tuxedo clad body. The man was tall, dark, and handsome. His hair was kept short, but styled with elegance and sophistication. His dark eyes sparkled when I took a step back and wiped the lipstick off the edge of his mouth with my thumb.

“I wanted to make you proud,” I said.

“Oh, I'm very proud,” he said low, giving the skin on my arms goose bumps. He ran his hands along my back. “Maybe we should stay here.”

I pushed on his chest. “Can't. I'm responsible for the centerpieces and chocolate favors. I've got to be there to see how well they are received.”

“I'm sure everyone will love them.” He leaned down and kissed me again. It would be so easy to fall into his arms and forget the rest of the world, but it was a luxury I didn't have time for and our relationship was relatively new. I tried not to push it.

“Hey, you look nice,” Jenn said as she came around the corner. She wore a red cap-sleeved body conscious dress that showed off her long legs and a V-neck that showed off her cleavage. She was putting a gold dangle earring in her ear.

I stepped out of Trent's arms. “Is Shane picking you up here?”

“Shane isn't going,” she said casually and picked up her clutch.

“What? Wait. Why not?” I asked.

“He has to work on the Moore case tonight.” She gave us a bright, yet false smile. “I'm hoping you two will let me be a third leg.”

“Oh. Of course,” I said.

“It's my honor and pleasure to take two such beautiful women to the club,” Trent said, sending us both a charming smile. He held out both arms crooked. “Shall we?”

“Wonderful,” I said. We took his arms and left the apartment. I turned and locked the door.

The cat was safely on the stoop outdoors and Mal was with Frances for the night because I didn't know how long I'd be out. Sandy had promised to come in and make the morning fudge. For the first time in a long time I could spend a night out on the town. After the morning's incident I was ready for some fun.

We took the steps down to the third floor center for the elevators. When the elevator opened to take us down to the lobby, Trent ushered us in, closed the door, then punched the button.

“So, Trent, what do you think about Allie being a hero this morning? Jumping into the lake to pull Carin Moore to shore,” Jenn asked.

Trent looked at me with love in his gaze. “I wouldn't have expected anything else from Allie.”

I flushed that he had pride in his voice. “Mal discovered her. I just pulled her out of the water.”

“Terrible thing to find her dead,” Jenn said. “Don't you think, Trent?”

“Yes,” he agreed as the elevator stopped. He opened the door and held it for us to go out.

The once busy lobby was quiet. Most of the tourists left on the last boats of the evening. Those who stayed on the island overnight were at bars or clubs while the old and the very young were tucked in their rooms with televisions to keep them company.

Unlike most of the hotels on the island, the McMurphy lacked a front or back yard where we could put out chairs and a fire pit for stargazing and marshmallow roasting. What the McMurphy lacked in outdoor space it made up for in its location—smack in the middle of Main Street where most of the shops, restaurants, and fudge shops were located.

“Rex came around asking questions about yesterday at the yacht club,” Jenn went on as we walked across the empty lobby.

“Have fun tonight,” Megan, my part-time reception desk intern called from Frances's perch behind the registration desk.

“You have my number in case anything goes wrong?” I asked.

“It's all taken care of,” she said. “Frances said to call her first. But don't worry. Nothing bad will happen. Go have fun.”

Megan was a responsible seventeen-year-old with a neat brown ponytail, a white blouse with frills on the front, and a pink name tag pinned to her left lapel.

It had taken nearly half the summer for me to hire her, but Frances had finally agreed that we needed help at the desk. When Megan's mom came in with her and asked about the posting, Frances interviewed the teen on the spot. She worked four hours a night five nights a week, just enough to give Frances a break.

We stepped into the cool night where a horse-drawn taxi was waiting for us.

I looked at Trent. “We don't live that far from the yacht club.”

“I thought it would be a nice treat to ride.” He helped Jenn up into the buggy and then me.

It was magical to listen to the horse's hooves on the road as we clipped along Main Street. The thick crowds were gone. A few people strolled hand in hand. Others rode bikes with lights on. Finally, a few horse-drawn taxies carried parties of people from hotels to parties and bars.

“How is Paige doing?” I asked Trent.

“Good,” he said and gave me a surprised look. “Why?”

“As Jenn said, Rex came by today with questions about Paige and Carin. I was worried that Paige might need comforting.”

Trent threw back his head and laughed. It was charming and unaffected. “Oh, good God, no.” He looked at me, his eyes sparkling. “Paige is fine. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure she isn't too broken up about the death. She and Carin have been rivals since elementary school.”

“That's a long time,” Jenn said.

“It was mostly Carin's doing. That woman was always trying to best Paige. Paige shrugged it off for years. Trust me. My sister thinks enough of herself not to worry about who is intimidated by her. Besides, they had made up recently.”

“So that's what was going on? Carin was intimidated by Paige?” I asked.

“If I were to say anything, I think Carin wanted to be Paige. You see, Carin wasn't quite as pretty as my sister so she wasn't as popular with the boys. There was also the healthy grade point competition. Paige hardly ever studied and always beat Carin out on grades. Carin used to crumple up her papers and throw them at Paige.”

“Oh, no. Poor Paige,” I said.

“Actually, Paige thought it was funny. It did get old though. When they hit high school both ran for homecoming queen. Typically, whoever makes homecoming queen makes the lilac queen the next spring. Carin campaigned hard. At one point, Paige went to her and told her she could have it. Paige pulled her name out of the running because she was worried it was too contentious.”

“So Carin won?”

“Yes, Carin won and then began a mean campaign toward my sister. She had two friends, Eleanor Wadsworth and Suzy Olden, who followed her around like she was their queen bee.”

“They were mean girls?” I asked. There had been a group of those in my high school, but they had pretty much left me alone. I was never on the radar of the popular girls. The sad part was I wasn't ever invited to any parties, but on the good side, I wasn't bullied.

“Yes,” Trent said, his jaw ticking at the memory. “I put Paige's name in for lilac queen and made sure everyone knew that my sister had a better grade point average and service record than Carin. Paige won by a huge margin. Everyone made a big deal about it because no homecoming queen had ever been beaten out of lilac queen the next spring.”

“No one but Carin,” Jenn said as the carriage pulled up in front of the yacht club.

“Nobody but Carin,” Trent said with some satisfaction at the memory. He climbed out of the carriage and helped Jenn out first. “I must admit it was a satisfying success on my part.”

“You are a wonderful brother,” I said as I slipped my hand in his and he helped me down from the carriage. We headed toward the yacht club.

Jenn followed behind us. “I can see how that might have set up Carin to feel as if Paige were her enemy.”

Trent shrugged. “The girl got what she deserved.”

“Except in death,” I said. “No one deserves to die so young and at the hands of a murderer.”

Trent stopped in his tracks. “Wait. What? I thought she had gotten drunk and fallen from her parents' yacht and drowned.”

“There is evidence that she was dead when she hit the water,” Jenn said. “It's why Shane is working tonight. Carin's body was taken to St. Ignace for an autopsy.”

Trent muttered something dark and dangerous under his breath.

“Rex was over this afternoon asking questions about Carin and Paige,” I said. “It sounded like he was looking into Paige as a possible suspect.”

“That's ridiculous.” He stopped at the bottom of the steps to the yacht club.

“That's what I said,” I agreed and took a deep breath of the cool night air.

“Do you have any idea if anyone else might have wanted Carin dead?” Jenn asked.

“There are a few people,” Trent said.

A party of well-dressed yacht club members pulled up at the gate of the picket fence that surrounded the yacht club.

“Come on, ladies. Let's go in.” Once again, Trent held out both his elbows. “Don't worry about Rex Manning's ridiculous imaginings. Concentrate on having fun tonight and networking. There are some big movers and shakers here tonight. It won't hurt for them to get to know you.”

I bit my bottom lip to still the worry that welled up in my heart.

The door was opened by a man in a butler's suit. “Welcome, ladies and gentleman,” he said stiffly without looking at us. May I have your names and I will announce you.”

“Seriously?” I whispered to Trent.

“Trent Jessop, my date Allie McMurphy, and her friend Jenn Christensen,” he said smoothly.

“Thank you, sir.” The butler turned and called loudly, “Introducing Mr. Trent Jessop, his date Miss Allie McMurphy, and her friend Jenn Christensen,” as we stepped into the club foray.

“Trent, welcome.” At the front door, Mr. Richard Blake, yacht club president, stood in a reception line with his wife. He shook Trent's hand. “Two lovely ladies on your arms. I always did think of you as a lucky man.”

“I am indeed,” Trent said smoothly and proceeded to introduce us to everyone in the reception line. The last were two women I knew from working with the committee and their husbands. They remembered Jenn before me, but that was okay. She was charming in the situation.

We made our way to the dining area and the seats with our names on them. Paige sat at our table and stood when she saw us. I gave her a quick hug and she kissed my cheek.

“Are you okay?” I asked and squeezed her hands.

“Yes, of course,” she said with a lightness to her voice. She was gorgeous . . . everything I thought of when I thought of high society. She was blond, thin boned with high cheekbones. Her complexion was porcelain. She had long lashes and cornflower blue eyes. Her high-end designer dress most likely cost more than the McMurphy's monthly budget. Not a hair was out of place, her makeup perfect. Her nails were professionally done.

It made me want to hide my polish-free hands.

In addition, she was warm and welcoming. She didn't even notice my hands and soon was hugging Jenn and getting us to sit down. Trent waved the server down and had champagne brought to all of us. Paige's date's chair was empty.

“Where's your Reggie?” I asked carefully.

“He couldn't be here tonight. His family is close to the Moores. His best friend is Carin's brother,” Paige said and sipped her champagne. “I told him it was okay. I completely understand. It's good he stayed with Ash Moore. It's tough to lose your sibling.” She paused. “Allie, how are you holding up after finding Carin?”

“I'm okay,” I said and smiled at the waiter who poured me a white wine. “It feels strange to think it happened just this morning.”

“I know,” Paige said. “It seems odd to be at a party knowing she died last night.”

“Trent was telling us how Carin seemed to feel as if she was constantly in competition with you,” Jenn said. “How do you feel about that?”

“You know, I never really let it get to me. It was crazy. I've heard of brothers and sisters acting out in that way, but Carin and I were merely classmates.”

“She must have started out admiring you and that grew into something more,” I said. “It's the only reason I can think of for her actions.”

“That's a reasonable idea,” Paige said. “But things got out of hand after high school. I got accepted into Loyola in Chicago and so Carin had to go to Loyola. It was rumored that she didn't get in until her wealthy father pulled some strings. Loyola got a new tennis court and Carin got in.”

“Don't tell me she studied the same thing you studied,” I said.

“Oh, no. She studied English lit while I majored in business administration,” Paige said.

“Well”—I sat back, relieved—“I guess the strange rivalry stopped then.”

“No, it didn't,” Paige said. “Carin found out which sorority I pledged and pledged the same. What's worse is her lackey . . . uh, best friend . . . Eleanor Wadsworth also pledged and those two had half the girls in the house against me. I would have dropped the next year but Trent told me to stick with it.”