One Cup Of Flour Two Cups Of Murder (Winnona Peaks Mysteries Book 2) (5 page)

Chapter 10

“I really hate to guys, but could I borrow three cups of sugar?”  Fiona Clyde blurted.  “I was going to make these lemon cookies and I messed up on the ratio of refined sugar to powdered sugar and now I’m really in a bind.  I know it’s asking quite a bit, but I’m desperate. I’ll just stop at nothing to win.”  Fiona Clyde, of Clyde’s Confections, had flour on her nose and brown hair sticking out every which way from under the battered chef’s hat she had just put on to look a little presentable to Vanessa Jefferson. 

Fiona
so
wanted to do well in the bake-off and she just didn’t know whom to turn to in the competition.  Alexander Mackey was an obnoxious twit and nobody else in the competition cracked a smile.  Tempers were heating up in the race for the $5000 prize money and Fiona could tell that everyone else in an apron would be pleased as punch to have Fiona fail in the second round.  Fiona may be smiling through all the challenges, but they didn’t understand.  Nobody wanted the money more than Fiona;  she would stop at nothing to win.

The reality was that her back was up against the wall.  Fiona was trying to put on a good front, but the whole town knew she was in over her head by renting from Cornelia.  She shouldn’t have signed that lease, having Cornelia collect extra money up front from her for making the upgrades to modernize the baking space.  All she wanted to do was run a successful bakery.  She was overwhelmed and something needed to change.

Fiona’s fly-away bleached blonde hair rebelled against the chef’s hat that tried to contain it.  With severe librarian reading glasses and a sharp nose, Fiona was about a head shorter than Vanessa and what she lacked in training, she was determined to make up for in effort.  Her baker was one of Alexander’s students, but Fiona couldn’t afford to pay her much and she really didn’t have much training when it came to pastries.  The intern confessed after she got the job that the only experience she had was as a line cook down at the steakhouse and most of the meals there were prepped in a warehouse with some cans and sauce packages.  The only thing she was really good at was searing steaks to order.

Fiona was determined to make it though.  She wasn’t going to become another second career small business statistic.  If nothing else, she was determined not to fail so that her mother couldn’t say, “I told you so,” at Thanksgiving next year.  Every year she had to listen to the exploits of her older sister and what a perfect little family she had.   Her mother always said not to worry and that nobody could have everything.  Right after Stella would regale the Thanksgiving table with tales of her latest trip to Budapest with her two young children, Fiona wanted to crawl under the table or throw up.  No, what she really wanted to do was throw up in the gravy boat and throw it at her sister.  Her mother said that Fiona was supposed to stick with her teaching job and collect the retirement.  Fiona had one seventh grader too many flip her off just to have the parents yell at her because Johnny couldn’t read and was getting an F.

What did her mother know, anyway?
  She had the same problem with her sister, Beatrice.  Aunt Bee was a lovely old lady and it sounded like the sisters were two peas in a pod growing up.  Fiona’s mom was just a touch timid and she was content raising her daughters and cleaning up after her man.  Aunt Bee did all the same things, but she was a bit more driven.  She went to business school to bag the “Most Likely to Get a Rich” guy and it paid off.  Along the way she learned that she had a head for business and opened her own house cleaning service that went big enough to franchise.  Aunt Bee was part of the inspiration for Fiona going into business.  She was strong and independent.  Fiona was desperate to make it big so she could finally have her own trip to Budapest to talk about at the Thanksgiving dinner table.

Wow, I think I need to rethink this bake-off situation.
  Standing there in front of Vanessa, Fiona saw what looked like Vanessa’s sister and some hunk of a body builder coming over. Fiona paused a second to catch her breath and straighten up before begging, “I’ll pay you back double for the sugar tomorrow.  I promise.  I just need to finish.”

Vanessa went to the back and brought back an unopened five-pound bag of sugar and said, “Here. It’s on me.  I remember my first bake-off.  I put too many eggs in my crepe batter and didn’t have enough later for basting my croissants. It was a disaster.”

Fiona thought she was going to cry and clutched the bag of sugar like her new born baby.

“How’s it going? I didn’t realize you were going to enter this year.  I thought with you opening your store front and everything that you’d be too busy.”

Fiona gushed, “Oh, I
really
wanted to make it like you some day.  I’ve been watching you for three years and used to swear your croissants were from heaven every time I took them to the teachers in my English department at school.”

“Well, that’s very kind.” Vanessa smiled.  “Have you met my sister, Christy?”

Fiona cradled the bag of sugar in the crook of her elbow and held out her right hand.  “Hi, I’m Fiona Clyde of Clyde’s Confections.”

“Nice to meet you, Fiona.  I’m Christy.  This here is―.”

“Gregory Binks. I own Drinks At Binks. Here, have a free coffee on me some time.” Gregory Binks handed Fiona a coupon card and shook her hand.  Frantic as she was, Fiona almost melted like butter on a sauté pan when he grabbed her hand.

“Well, I think I will!” Fiona said, kicking herself for sounding too eager. “Of course, it would be after the bake-off when I win the $5,000.” Fiona snagged a cookie and took a taste.  “Wow!  These are great.  I wasn’t sure you were going to do very well without Lily here to help, but these are amazing!  I really have my work cut out for me.  After the bake-off, do you mind trading secrets with me some time?  I mean I don’t think I stand a chance against Anna.” 

“Oh, it’s just a contest.  I’m sure you’ll do great.”

“Oh, no, you don’t understand.  This contest would just change my life! I mean your cookies are pretty good, but if I win, then I can buy a bigger oven and then the sky is the limit for Clyde’s Confections.”  Fiona gushed.  “Someday I’ll be as big as Mrs. Fields and then you can come sample my croissants and you can do something about that mole on your cheek and we can be the best of friends!”

“I declare, Vanessa.”  Christy laughed.  “I think we’ve found another pastry chef with no filter.  Gregory, go ahead ask her opinion on your navy blue polo you wear every day.”

“Hey! What’s wrong with my navy blue polo?” Gregory teased.

“Oh, I don’t think anything is wrong with it.  It really makes the color of your eyes sparkle,” Fiona replied suddenly, feeling the bag of flour slip and remembering why she was there. “Oh!  I’ve got to get back to my lemon cookies.  It was nice meeting you all!  I’ll make sure to come by for coffee!  I’m really sorry about Lily.  I’m sure she’ll show up soon.  You still have the best croissants in the valley.  Bye!”

Fiona didn’t see Vanessa unconsciously touch the mole on her cheek, turn back toward the kitchen, and start to bang pots. 

Fiona barely made it to her station in time to stop her baker from dumping in the flour too soon.  “No!  I have to add some sugar and you need to zest those lemons I bought.  What do you mean you can’t find the lemons?”  Fiona wasn’t going to give up, but she did run to the bathroom so they wouldn’t see her cry for a few minutes.

Chapter 11

Travis Dillard couldn’t take credit for it all, but he was grateful.  Another hulking human would have looked like a tourist in Winnona Peaks with alligator skin cowboy boots and a form-fitted straw cowboy hat.  Travis recently got back into ranching and cooking BBQ so he had paid his dues to wear the jeans and sport the black t-shirt with his logo on it and a big belt buckle. These weren’t his work clothes.  As Hank, his right hand man on the grill, said these were his “steppin’ out duds.”  His mother told him to always dress the part when he went to go negotiate a big deal, but all her coaching in the world couldn’t get him into a suit and tie.  The only thing that didn’t quite match was his judging badge from the fairgrounds on his lanyard.  It did give him an air of authority. 

He had a booth for the Best BBQ Ribs Contest showing on the fairgrounds and remembered his cousin Fiona was in the bake-off.  He thought he would take a look when he saw Gregory Binks off to the side running a coffee stand.  It had been ages so he thought he would stop by and catch up.

“If it’s not Blinkin’ Binks.”  Travis smiled as he got to the front of the line.

“Dillard! What brings you to the land of the mortals?” 

Travis grinned and blushed.  At six-foot-seven he was grateful for his Viking ancestors. He’d played on the same championship team as Gregory Binks, but unlike Binks who had to compete with 4.6 speed as a wide receiver, all Travis had to do was get bigger and hit harder as an offensive guard.  He’d done both and when they started growing ponytails in the NFL, he followed suit, even sporting a Nordic tattoo wrapped around his bicep.  The platinum blonde mustache spilling down beyond his chin on both sides of his mouth completed the picture.  On a lark, he’d be an extra in a pirate movie in the off-season and the look stuck.

“Oh, I’m just in town showing off my BBQ Ribs and thinking about buying some property.”

“Wow, what can I get you? You thinking about another ranch?”  Gregory questioned.

“Just a coffee, black. Oh, no.  My mother is telling me that I have to pick out something in real estate.  I’m thinking about either the Westbrook or Green Estate.”

“Well, the Pittsburgh Steelers were certainly good to you when you helped them into the playoffs!” Binks handed him his coffee.

“Oh, I’m just grateful.  Not everyone can have his mother as his or her business manager, but it works. She made sure to tuck away the cash from those years and now she tells me what I need to do to keep it.  Apparently, that means buying a big piece of Winnona Peaks.

“I didn’t know the Westbrook Estate was for sale?”

“Not really something they like to advertise.  You’d be surprised at how many of these huge houses are on the brink of bankruptcy.  I guess the old lady that lives there with her grandson are the last of their kind left in Winnona Peaks.  Everybody else flew the coop and they don’t want to pay probate taxes on that castle when she dies.”

“Well, where will she live?”

“Oh, that’s just it.  It’s an investment for me.  She can live there until she dies.  I might visit here and there, but I’m happier on my ranch.  Life has just been great to me.  I learned how to hit really hard on the gridiron and it panned out.  My manager gives me an allowance and begs for grandchildren.  Once in a while, I have to go on one of these errands and meet with people who want to sell to an NFL football player.” Travis shrugged.

“Well, it’s great to hear you’re doing so well.”  Gregory stepped off the serving line to keep catching up with his old teammate.

“I see you’re selling coffee now.  That’s great.  I hear you’re some kind of war hero or something.”

“Just did my duty for my country.”

“Well, let me be the first to say thanks.” Travis raised his coffee cup.  “Some days I think we have it all backwards when it comes to who gets all the glory.  Say, didn’t I see you talking to my cousin over there?”

“You’re cousin?”

“Yea, Fiona Clyde is my cousin.  She’s been trying to make a go of a bakery or something as far as I know.”

“Oh, yes.  Fiona.  She’s doing her best to make a showing.  The competition is pretty stiff out there.  Kind of like me running in the college tryouts after high school.  Hope she does okay,” Gregory said.

Travis squinted up at the sky and took a sip of his coffee.  “I wish she would let me help her out.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I’m sitting on this pile of cash and have to figure out how to invest it and I wanted to help Fiona.”

“That’s incredible!  Everybody dreams of an angel investor in the family.”

“Not everyone.  Fiona has a soft spot in my heart.  One family trait we all share is that we’re proud, stubborn, and occasionally stupid.  Not always in that order.  She’s got it in her head that if she accepts a nickel of my money then her mother would be mortified and Fiona’s success would be a wash.”

“What?”

“Oh, it’s too long of a story, but Fiona always has a place in my heart.  Everyone may love the T.V. and the football games, but the reality is that half of us are thugs.  Some of it makes it into the news.  They start ramping us up in college to “do whatever it takes” and party like there’s no tomorrow.  As long as you are 300-pound weapon on Sunday afternoon to grind up the defensive line, nobody cares.  Fiona was the one to come visit me in jail in the off season.”

“Jail?”  Gregory raised his eyebrows.

“Don’t tell me you’re a cop or something.” Travis grinned.  “Yea, jail.  It was supposed to be a good old-fashioned bar fight, but when you’re Travis Dillard of the Pittsburgh Steelers, a 300-pound weapon off the gridiron, you make a whopping target for a lawsuit.  I lost and my mother didn’t speak to me for weeks.  I don’t know what possessed her, but Fiona would come to visit me, religiously.  She started by bringing cookies until she realized I wasn’t allowed anything from the outside world.  I mean, I really know how to operate on the dark side when the only thing they care about it how much red meat you’re eating and how hard you can hit.  I’d do anything for her.”

“I know what you mean about the dark side.  I had to fight it for so long as a cop.  Well, I hope she can make it all work.  Rumor has it that her intern is a mess.  Vanessa over there had to borrow her sister when her intern didn’t show up and she’s phenomenal.”

“Is that Lily?”

“Yea. How’d you know?” Gregory asked.

“The fairgrounds are a pretty small place when you have the judges for all the exhibits meeting in the morning.  I’m judging another class of BBQ ribs and baby back ribs, and the bake-off judges were in the briefing this morning.  Lily and I met a couple weeks back when I stepped into Vanessa’s bakery for a bite.  I was meeting with the local realtor about the Westbrook Estate. She was a sweet kid.”

“Well, we’re hoping she
still
is
a sweet kid.”

“That’s what I meant.  This coffee is great, Binks.” Travis held up the cup and took his cue to break off the reunion.  He needed to get to Fiona and see how she was doing.