Black Bottom Murder: A Frosted Love Cozy Mystery Book 6 (Frosted Love Mysteries) (5 page)

Missy
dressed with care as she readied herself for a dinner date with Chas that would
be their first since she had been released from the hospital. The charming
detective had come by her shop in LaChance every day to check on her and sometimes
share a Cupcake of the Day, but this was an actual date, and she was very much
looking forward to it. She had bought a new dress for the occasion, and
couldn’t wait to put it on. The dress was far more daring than her typical
choices - it was a lovely shade of red, with a sweetheart neckline and a softly
flared skirt. It made her feel young and beautiful and she hoped that Chas
liked it as much as she did.

She
artfully arranged her hair in a curly blonde bun which hid the patch of fluff
that was still growing in after having been shaved for stitches, and wore
dangly ruby tear-drop earrings that matched the dress perfectly. Eager for a
bit of ‘girl time,’ earlier in the day, Missy had her nails done and bought a
new shade of lipstick that she was a bit scared to try, never having worn a
shade of red. She smoothed it on, rubbed her lips together, and then blotted
them on a tissue, surveying the results, surprised to find that she liked the
daring shade. Spritzing a delicate and expensive perfume lightly on her wrists
and neck, she felt a bit like Cinderella preparing for the ball, and giggled at
the thought.

Chas
arrived promptly at 6:45 and his reaction more than validated all of the
preparation that Missy had done. At the sight of her, his mouth dropped open in
awe and surprise.

“Wow…you
look absolutely beautiful,” he said softly, a slow smile spreading across his
features. “I’m almost afraid to touch you.”

“Well,
don’t be afraid of that!” Missy teased, reaching up to wrap her arms around his
neck for a kiss. The handsome Detective Beckett tugged at his tie as though to
loosen it and vaguely muttered something about a dinner reservation, leading
her out of the house after her kiss blew his mind entirely.

They
arrived at Via Tuscana at precisely 7:00 and were seated in an intimately lit
booth with tufted red velvet upholstery. Chas had pre-ordered their wine and
appetizers, which were brought immediately.

“The
décor suits you,” Chas observed, taking in the red of her dress, the sparkle of
the rubies on her ears, the color of the wine and the candlelight glow warming
her features.

“I’m
sorry that I missed it the first time around,” she admitted, contrite at having
totally forgotten their date the last time he had planned to take her here.
“I’m sorry for a lot of things.”

“I
have to admit, I was beginning to wonder whether trying to actually participate
in a relationship had been a bad call on my part,” he confessed. “But when I
saw you lying helpless in that hospital bed, I knew that I couldn’t have stayed
away from you if I tried.” He reached across the table to take her hand. “So, I
suggest that since we both seem to be pretty committed to the idea of seeing
how this whole relationship thing works out, perhaps we should try to figure
out how to work with our crazy schedules instead of letting them come between
us.”

Missy
nodded, her eyes filled with happy tears. “Yes, I’d like that,” replied, a warm
thrill going through her as he brushed kisses across the back of her hand.

The
waiter came with their appetizers just then, and talk turned to food for the
moment, taking them into the main course and beyond. The couple sat back, full
and satisfied, staring across the table at one another with soft, silly smiles.

“What’s
your family like?” Missy asked, out of the blue, realizing that she knew very
little about Chas Beckett’s background.

His
face grew serious and he took a long sip of wine before responding. “What an
odd question…why do you ask?”

“I
just realized that, I know who you are now, but I know nothing about where you
come from, what your parents are like, who you were as a kid – I’m interested,
that’s all. Is that so bad?” she teased, not quite catching his mood.

“It’s
not something that I like to talk about, actually,” he replied.

Missy’s
mouth dropped open in surprise. “Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t realize…” she blushed,
reaching for her wine and feeling like a clumsy oaf.

“It’s
okay, that’s just an area of my life that I like to keep to myself,” he
explained, hoping she’d let it go at that.

“I
understand,” she nodded, not understanding at all, but not wishing to pry. A
part of her was hurt that he didn’t trust her enough to open up about his
personal life, but she supposed that she could earn his trust eventually.

“What
about you? What’s your family story?” he asked, glad to have the spotlight
shifted in her direction.

“It’s
rather grim, actually. My parents were killed in an accident when I was 17.
That’s how I inherited the LaChance shop. I went to college while working full
time and got my degree while still managing to stay in business. My baby sister
died young, and I had no other family, so I’ve been on my own for quite some
time. Fortunately I have dear friends and neighbors in this town, and Toffee
has been quite a lifesaver too,” Missy admitted. “I seem to do well on my own.
It’s not that I don’t like having other people around, it’s more that I’m
content with my own company since I’ve been alone so much.”

Chas
looked at her intently, admiring her even more in that moment. It all made so
much sense now – her independence, her refusal to give up when things got
difficult, her creative way of looking at a problem and solving it – she’d had
to do that for a couple of decades now, and had evolved into a strong,
passionate woman because of it. He felt incredibly lucky that a woman like
Melissa Gladstone would even give him the time of day, and he intended to spend
much more time making her feel special and appreciated.

“I’m
content with your company too,” he grinned, running two fingers lightly up and
down over the inside of her wrist. “I totally understand what you mean though,”
he said, his mood becoming much more somber. “I’ll tell you sometime about my
family and why I’ve made some of the choices that I have in my life, but
suffice to say for the moment that, despite my challenges being different from
yours, they’re challenges nonetheless.”

“I
can deal with a man of mystery for a while,” Missy smiled brightly, trying not
to shiver beneath his touch.

They
left the restaurant soon after, and Chas lingered, kissing her on the porch,
for so long that she thought he might ask her if he could come in, but
eventually, with a great deal of willpower, he drew back and said goodnight,
leaving Missy waving dreamily from her doorway.

Missy
had let Ben and Chris know that she would be at the LaChance store all day,
baking a huge batch of assorted cupcakes for the parent-teacher meetings that
night at the area elementary schools. Rather than trying out new flavors, she
chose to prepare old favorites that kids and adults alike would appreciate. She
had just delivered the last fragrant, delicious batch when her phone rang.
Seeing Ben’s number on the screen, she picked up.

“Hi
Ben, how was business today?” she asked cheerfully.

“Ms.
G., I’m so sorry, but something bad happened. Can you come to the Dellville
store right away?”

“Of
course, Ben. What is it? Is everyone okay? Is someone hurt?” Missy worried.

“No,
we’re fine, but we really need you to come down here as quickly as you can,” he
reiterated, his voice sounding a bit thin.

“No
problem, I’m on my way,” she replied, hitting the hang-up button. She was more
than concerned, Ben never called for her to come in unless something had gone
drastically wrong, and even then, he usually tried to handle sticky situations
himself. Him dialing her number meant that somehow, he was in over his head,
and that had her scared to death. She tried not to speed on the way to
Dellville, but managed to make excellent time anyway, weaving through thinning
after dinner traffic like a pro. When she rounded the corner of the street on
which Crème de la Cupcake stood, she was dismayed to see two patrol cars out
front, with blue and red lights color-washing the plate-glass front windows.
What now??

Missy
rushed into the shop, seeing Ben and Chris behind the counter, talking with
Detective Richard Keller.

“Ms.
Gladstone,” Keller greeted her. “Let me bring you up to speed on what’s been
happening here. We were called a little more than an hour ago by your manager,
Benjamin Radigan, to investigate a theft.”

“A
theft?” Missy was astonished. “But we were still open an hour ago, how could
there have been a theft?”

The
detective sighed, annoyed at having been interrupted. “That’s what we’re trying
to determine here, Ms. Gladstone. Apparently, Mr. Radigan had gone into the
back to make preparations for the products that needed to be generated for
tomorrow, leaving his assistant, Chris, to count the money and close out the
register receipts for the day. The assistant claims that he ran to the back for
just a moment, leaving the money from the register below the counter, so that
he could grab a deposit bag, and when he came back, the money was gone.”

“But,
Chris, didn’t you make sure that the front door was locked before you ran to
the back?” Missy asked the glum-faced youth.

“I
thought I did, but I may have forgotten,” he shrugged, embarrassed. Ben stood
behind him, glaring at his grad school buddy, arms crossed.

“So
there you have it,” Keller said, peeved at being interrupted yet again.

“What
are the chances of recovering that money?” Missy asked the detective.

“In
cases like this, usually slim and none. There was no break in, little time to
leave trace evidence. We’ve dusted any surface that the thief might have
touched, to try to get some fingerprints, but there’ve been so many people in
and out of here today, that even sweeping for trace evidence would be nothing
but a waste of time.” Keller leaned closer to Missy, saying in a voice low
enough that she could hear it but the guys could not, “I’d be very careful. Most
of the time in situations like this one, the culprit ends up being one of the
help.”

Missy
was shocked, and wanted to dismiss the detective’s idea outright. She knew that
Ben would never do such a thing, but she really didn’t know Chris at all. She
had hired him simply because Ben had vouched for his character, but now she
wondered if perhaps he’d had Ben fooled. “Thank you Detective,” she murmured,
wondering what to do. She’d talk with Chas about it later, and would call Ben
for his opinion after they had all left the shop and he could talk freely.
Rather than having any discussion at the moment, she merely told Chris and Ben
that they were free to go and that they’d talk more about what had happened
later. She stood at the counter watching them go, surprised to see Chris
meeting up with a young lady who looked like she had been waiting for him.
Missy thought that it was cute and was glad to see yet another example of young
love until the girl turned around, staring inside the shop. Missy would know
that insolent glare anywhere – apparently Chris was dating Echo’s obnoxious
sister, Safflower.

Because
of the previous day’s robbery, Missy let Cheryl and Grayson handle the majority
of the baking at the LaChance store, spending most of her time puttering around
at the Dellville shop. She subtly observed how Ben and Chris worked with each
other, and tried to figure out how she could unravel what had actually happened
during the theft. Chris was behind the counter when Missy saw Safflower
crossing the street, headed for the shop. The haughty brunette came in,
lounging on the front counter, smudging the glass and flirting with Chris.
Missy deliberately moved to the seating area, where she could both see and hear
the couple, under the pretext of wiping down the tables and pushing in the
chairs. She filled the napkin dispenser, as well as the cinnamon and sugar
shakers, wondering when Chris intended to stop flirting and attend to the tasks
that she was currently doing. After a particularly loud burst of giggles, she decided
to be more direct in her approach.

“What
are you planning to purchase today, young lady?” she asked Safflower, drawing a
contemptuous look.

“Why
would I bother buying anything here, when I can get whatever I want for free?”
she challenged, turning her back on Missy and batting her eyes at Chris.

When
Missy turned her gaze to her employee, he rushed to explain. “I give her
cupcakes Ms. G., but I pay for them with my own money,” he assured her.

Missy
brought her icy stare back to Safflower. “Well, if you’d like to continue
making a paycheck that will allow you to buy all the cupcakes you’d like, this
young lady needs to leave so that you can actually do your job rather than
leaning on my counter flirting while you’re on the clock.”

“Yes
ma’am,” Chris said meekly, leaning over to whisper something in the rude young
woman’s ear.

“Whatever,”
she sniffed. Turning to look at Missy, she glared and said, “I’ll leave
whenever I feel like it, Missy. Fortunately for you, I no longer want to be in
this dump.”

“That’s
Ms. Gladstone to you, young lady, and you’d be well advised to get a move on
and not come back,” Missy raised a disapproving eyebrow.