Pies & Peril - Culinary Competition Mystery #1

Chapter 5

(Carla)

Carla chose a light gray eyeliner pencil from the overflowing makeup case. She was just going to Amy's house and then coming right back home, but that wasn't a reason to not look presentable. The long night at work had erased the liner she applied before her shift. Like it or not, her crime-solving ex-lover was heading a police investigation that involved her best friend. The very real threat that she could cross his path at any moment made her want to stay in bed continuously, hidden in the fabric softener-scented sheet cocoon. Amy sounded odd when she called, inviting her to come over for a mid-morning snack. Something was wrong. Considering the stress Amy was under after finding a body then receiving an ominous threat herself, the least Carla could do was put on makeup and brave the possibility of bumping into Bruce.

Half an hour later she pulled into the driveway of the tidy gray house. The sweet scent of bananas drifted past her as she approached the side door. One of the kitchen windows was open, and the smell of Amy's baked goods was surely making half the neighborhood hungry. A series of beeps emanated from the other side of the door before she could even knock or ring the doorbell. The door swung open, and the invisible banana-perfumed cloud engulfed her.

"Come in. I just pulled a loaf of bread out of the oven." Amy moved aside then slammed the door shut seconds after Carla crossed the threshold. She punched in the security code again while she waved her other hand to shoo Carla toward the breakfast nook. "Have a seat. I have tons of stuff to tell you."

Amy was the kind of person who liked to talk things out. She discussed exotic ingredients she had discovered at Columbo's with the precision of a research scientist. Fellow customers in line at a coffee shop were asked their opinion on fruit combinations for muffins. Alex said she even wandered around the kitchen talking to herself when she was working on a new recipe. The table was set with plates, a crock of soft butter, gigantic coffee mugs adorned with cheerful sunflowers, and the insulated carafe of fresh coffee. In the middle of the arrangement was a steaming loaf of caramel brown banana bread. Amy was set up and ready to roll on a long conversation.

Carla slid behind the table, taking her favorite spot with her back against the window that faced the road. From her position, she could look out the other window in the nook that protruded from the side of the house. Despite the relentless summer heat, the backyard garden was in full, riotous bloom. It was a much more beautiful view than the one out her own kitchen window, which overlooked a wholesale construction equipment business. One of the not-so-nice features of living in the loft. Instead of a yard, she got a tiny balcony overlooking shipping docks and a parking lot, but at least she didn't have to mow a lawn after working a long, stressful shift at the hospital.

"Can you believe Mandy Jo hired Quantum to makeover her husband's business logo just so she could flirt with Alex?"

Well, hell. Amy wasn't taking the long route around to what was bothering her. Sometimes figuring out what was really going on, hidden under layers of culinary chit chat, required code-breaking skills. Not this time. "How did you find out about that?"

"Alex asked me to pick out a flower arrangement to send to the funeral home from his company, to show support to his former client. That would be Pierce Accounting. Then Alex admitted Mandy Jo had flirted with him when Kevin wasn't around." Amy sliced a thick slab of bread from the loaf and set it on Carla's plate. Always the hostess even when she was pissed off. "Can you believe she stooped that low? What kind of woman would try to cheat on her brand new husband with another married man?"

How could she answer those questions? There certainly wasn't a good or even reasonable explanation for Mandy Jo's behavior. "I don't know. She was crazy, possibly psychotic. You've said her abrasive behavior could be the effects of a messed up childhood. I bet even she couldn't explain why she did some things."