Deadly Pumpkin Slice (A Sinful Sweets Cozy Mystery) (3 page)

She’d thought she might have been heading down the family road with Aaron, but he’d surprised her with his temper. That had been the deciding factor in leaving him—she couldn’t trust him and she knew that was a deal breaker.

“Sydney, what are you doing here?” Mia asked, sliding off the back of the wagon, baby Aiden in her arms.

“Good to see you too, Mia,” Sydney said sarcastically, Ariel still in her arms, stroking her hair, thrilled with the unexpected visit from her favorite aunt.

“Sorry. What’s up?” Mia asked, friendlier. Jake had already left Sydney alone to help the other kids and mothers unload.

“I wanted to ask you about Aaron. Have you heard from him lately?”

“No, why?” she said, a look of confusion on her face. “I’ve gotta run and pick up Addison from kindergarten, do you want to come? I don’t think Ariel will let you go anyway.”

“Sure. But I have Maple and my bike.”

“We can make room,” Mia said, her initial coldness gone and a smile creeping onto her face watching her daughter so in love with Sydney.

Kids were talking Jake’s ear off about what they’d seen, so Sydney waved from afar and went inside to retrieve Maple who was itching to get outside and get in the middle of all the kids.

“Sorry, not today, Maple. We have to go. But you’ll see Addison, Ariel and Aiden. Let’s go,” Sydney coaxed, walking out the front door toward her bike.

With everything loaded and iPads hooked up for the kids, Mia was more willing to listen to what Sydney had to say.

“Detective Massey came to Sinful Sweets today and was asking me about my current relationship with Aaron.”

“Why? What’s going on?”

“He was killed in Twin Peaks. His body was found this morning.”

“Woah. That’s awful. But what put you on the radar?”

“My pumpkin pies were found in his hotel room where his body was discovered. And they were poisoned.”

“When was the last time you saw him?” Mia asked, suspicion in her voice.

“Mia. Really? You think I did this? I haven’t seen or talked to him for six years!”

“Sorry. I just know he deserved it. I know you couldn’t have killed him,” Mia said with conviction.

Sydney looked back in the car to see if Ariel was listening to their conversation. It was clear that she was lost in whatever cartoon she was watching. Maple was lying on the floor between the two car seats in the minivan, anxiously watching Ariel, hoping they’d soon get to play.

“You know Detective Massey is my neighbor?”

“Yeah. What’s your relationship with him?”

“He’s great. We have him over for dinner sometimes. I think he likes spending time with the kids. I’m always surprised he’s still single!” Mia joked, sneaking a glance at Sydney.

Sydney hadn’t even noticed how good looking he was that morning. She was too busy closing up for the day, and then was too worried about being accused of murder to take in anything else from the conversation. But thinking back, she couldn’t deny that he was easy on the eyes.

They pulled up to Twin Peaks Elementary School and Mia asked Sydney, “Do you want to go in and get Addison? She’ll be beside herself with excitement to see you. Just go to the office and tell them you’re there, you’re on my list of people who can pick her up.”

“Sure. Maple, be good,” Sydney said before she got out of the car.

“Like she could do anything bad!” Mia called through her open window.

Sydney walked into the office, let them know who she was there for and waited in the hallway for Addison to be released from her classroom. She thought all of the precautions were overboard with how safe and close knit the whole community was.

“Auntie Sydney!” called a voice before Sydney could see where it was coming from.

Addison ran down the hall toward her, arms outstretched, oversized backpack bouncing up and down with each step.

“Addison!” Sydney responded as the girl leaped into her arms.

“Mama’s gone?” she asked.

“Nope, your Mama’s in the car. And Maple too. Let’s go see them!” Sydney said with enough enthusiasm for Addison to nearly jump down and run out of the building before realizing she had to hold Sydney’s hand across the parking lot.

“You’re coming home with us?” Addison asked, a hopeful look in her eyes.

“I don’t think so. Maybe you can drop me at home and I’ll come over another day.”

“I think it should be today,” Addison said, ending the discussion. Sydney knew she couldn’t deny her of anything.

***

Sydney and Maple spent the afternoon playing with the kids. She didn’t know why she’d tried to avoid it. Mia got a break, and Sydney got reenergized. She was out back with both the girls while Aiden and Mia got a much needed nap. They cycled through numerous games of hide-and-seek and endless bouts of swinging, Sydney pushing both girls at the same time. Maple loved every minute.

“Auntie Sydney, guess what I was for Halloween,” Addison said, Sydney at her back.

“A spider?” Sydney guessed.

“No, try again.” This game wasn’t going to end quickly.

“A pumpkin?”

“No, that was Ariel.”

“A fairy?”

“No, a dog! I was dressed like Maple!”

Sydney melted all over again.

Eventually, Mia came out back and took over pushing Addison.

“Sydney, I never told you this, but Aaron came here about four months ago,” Mia said suddenly.

“What?” Sydney asked in shock, turning to look at her sister. “Why?”

“He was still in love with you. He wanted to get you back. That’s why he’d always only called me, not you. He knew he’d screwed up, and he wanted my help to get you back without stalking you.”

“What did you tell him?”

“That he didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell me? I didn’t want him knowing where I lived. I’d never meant to stay in Twin Peaks as long as I have. It’s always felt too close to him.”

“When he left, I really didn’t think he’d come back. I’d made it clear he wasn’t welcome and he had nothing here. But I figured you should know this now, with everything that’s happening.”

“Thanks,” Sydney said lamely. “How long did he stay?”

“Three nights.”

“Long enough for people to notice him. Did he make any enemies here? We’ve got to start thinking about who could have done this instead of why,” Sydney suggested.

“He probably met plenty of people. He told me he was going to go to Sinful Sweets.”

“What? I never saw him! How could he have gone there?”

“When he left, he told me he’d visited, but that you weren’t there. I think it was the weekend you took Maple hiking.”

“Lucky for me. But that means he knew where I worked. He saw Grace. I should have showed her a picture of him! She wouldn’t have even known it was him. I’ve gotta go talk to her before Detective Massey gets to her. Addison, Ariel, I’ve gotta go,” Sydney told the girls who were still enjoying flying high.

“No, Auntie Sydney!” they both shouted in near unison. “Can Maple stay?” Addison added.

Sydney laughed. “Sorry, she’s coming with me. Maple, let’s go.”

The dog whined, but loyally followed Sydney. Addison and Ariel slowed their swinging so they could blow kisses as Sydney left.

Instead of going home, Sydney rode her bike to Grace’s, Maple jogging beside her without a leash. She thought about all of the potential people Aaron could have met in Twin Peaks when he’d come. She needed to make a list of suspects. Her name wouldn’t be on her own list, only that of Detective Massey.

***

“Sydney, come in!” Grace exclaimed, surprised to see her best friend.

“Grace, we can’t wait for the police to take care of this. We have to clear my name because they could take too long to do it,” Sydney sputtered, storming inside, Maple on her heels.

“I was thinking the same thing. So I started making a list of people to look into.”

“Who did you come up with?”

“Well, there’s Mia,” Grace said cautiously.

“It’s not her. I saw her this afternoon. She told me that Aaron came here looking for me! He even visited Sinful Sweets!”

“How did we miss him?” Grace asked, shocked.

“I wasn’t there. It was a few months ago on a weekend when I took Maple hiking. I never showed you a picture of him so you wouldn’t have known. But he went to Mia’s looking for her help in getting me back. Apparently he’s still in love with me.”

“OK, but there must have been someone else we can add to the list. What about any other ex-girlfriends? What’s his job? Could he have pissed someone off there enough to kill him?”

“He’s a librarian. I know, it doesn’t fit his personality,” Sydney said when Grace gave her a skeptical look.
“What about Allison? Would she have known him when he came? She’s a librarian.”

“Maybe. She’s always frustrated with the funding issues. Aaron’s library has all the money in the world because a donor setup a trust fund years ago.”

“We’ll add her to the list.”

“That feels like a stretch for murder.”

“Maybe she wanted his job and this was how she could get it,” Grace offered. “OK. We have someone to look into. Who else can we add? What else do you know about his life these days?”

“Nothing. That’s the problem. Oh wait! What about Levi?”

“Leah’s husband? What does he have to do with Aaron?”

“They grew up together, I remember. But they had a big falling out before I met Aaron. I can’t remember the details, but one time we’d visited Mia when Leah and Levi were there and they had a big blowout fight right there in front of everyone. And he was acting all strange this morning—like he was totally distracted and thinking about something else.”

“OK. We’ll add him too. We have a good start, something to try to figure out tomorrow at work. You focus on Levi and I’ll dig into Allison to see if they know anything.”

“Oh Grace, you’re a life saver!” Sydney said, wrapping her arms around her best friend before taking Maple home and falling into bed.

Sydney was woken by Maple’s wet nose digging into her ear.

“It’s not time yet, is it?” Sydney asked groggily. It was unlike her to oversleep.

She rolled over, picked up her cell phone and checked the time. She still had an hour and a half before her alarm.

“What is it, Maple?” Sydney asked, getting out of bed to Maple’s whines. “You have to go out?”

She followed Maple to the back door and let her out. She flipped on the outside light and waited, eyes barely able to focus, until she came back.

“Maybe it was those treats from Jake,” Sydney said when Maple came back in and headed back to bed.

Sydney had trouble falling back into a restful sleep, but instead had vivid dreams that left her in a cold sweat.