Red Velvet Cupcakes to Die For: A Liana Campbell Cozy Mystery, #1

RED VELVET CUPCAKES TO DIE FOR

Alaine Allister

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Copyright © 2017 A. Allister

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This is a work of fiction.  All characters and events depicted are products of the author’s imagination.  The cover is for illustrative purposes only.  All rights reserved.

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A bustling business.  A peculiar cat.  A dead deliveryman?

When a handsome stranger comes to town, life gets exciting.  Coffee shop owner Liana Campbell can’t remember the last time she had such a massive crush.  Unfortunately, her attempts to get to know Sugarcomb Lake’s newest resident are overshadowed by a mysterious murder.

When folks start speculating that Liana may be the killer, she knows she needs to clear her name - and fast.  Can Liana save her business and find true love?  Or is she doomed to become a crazy cat lady?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 01.............................................................................................................................6

Chapter 02.............................................................................................................................9

Chapter 03...........................................................................................................................14

Chapter 04...........................................................................................................................23

Chapter 05...........................................................................................................................27

Chapter 06...........................................................................................................................30

Chapter 07...........................................................................................................................39

Chapter 08...........................................................................................................................46

Chapter 09...........................................................................................................................51

Chapter 10...........................................................................................................................56

Chapter 11...........................................................................................................................62

Chapter 12...........................................................................................................................66

Chapter 13...........................................................................................................................70

Chapter 14...........................................................................................................................76

Chapter 15...........................................................................................................................84

Chapter 16...........................................................................................................................90

Chapter 17...........................................................................................................................96

Chapter 18........................................................................................................................108

Chapter 19........................................................................................................................116

Chapter 20........................................................................................................................121

Chapter 21........................................................................................................................126

Recipe................................................................................................................................132

Chapter 01

Fire!  Fire!

The frantic words made Liana Campbell gasp in alarm. 

She had been engrossed in her work up until the yelling began. 

Well, no.  That wasn’t exactly true.  Paperwork was boring and difficult to concentrate on.  Liana had actually been dozing in a booth, daydreaming about being at home in her warm bed.  The one downside of her job was having to wake up before dawn.  And lately she had been burning the candle at both ends.

Fire!

The young coffee shop owner jumped to her feet.  She tossed her paperwork aside, scattering invoices and spreadsheets everywhere.  Her messy blonde ponytail bounced wildly as she raced toward the kitchen to find out what was going on.

The kitchen was located at the back of the coffee shop, right behind the counter.  Spurred on by adrenaline, Liana leapt right over the counter, nearly losing a pink and white slip on sneaker in the process.  She was just lucky she didn’t knock her display case of freshly baked blueberry, raspberry and chocolate chip muffins over in her haste.

She charged toward the kitchen door, her heart racing. 

Then she was nearly knocked right off her feet.

Whoa! Joel Hanley hollered as he narrowly avoided barreling right into Liana. 

The young man was twenty-two years old.  He had grown up in Sugarcomb Lake, as had Liana.  He had moved back home after college, much like she had done years earlier. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much work to be had in the sleepy small town.  And Joel’s degree did him little good there, considering he had majored in video game development.

Liana had taken pity on the kid. 

She had more or less been in his position herself not all that long ago.  Thankfully, an opportunity had presented itself at exactly the right time:  the owner of the only coffee shop in town had decided to retire.  On a whim, Liana had scooped the business up and thrown herself into learning the ropes.

Business these days was good.  In fact, business was better than good.  So Liana had decided to pay it forward by hiring Joel.  He needed a job and she needed the help.  Plus his parents were chummy with hers, so she pretty much had to throw him a bone.

Joel had been working alongside Liana for nearly a month.  But somehow every day felt like his first day.  She kept waiting for him to get better at his job, but so far it didn’t seem to be happening.  The kid lacked initiative, organizational skills and plain old common sense.

Liana had tried to ease Joel into his new job.  Frankly, she had been taken aback by how little he seemed to know and how slow he was to learn.  He asked her the same questions day after day, never seeming to remember the answers.  Worse, he made the same mistakes over and over again. 

She was falling behind in her own work due to all the time she had devoted to training him.

She wasn’t sure the instruction was doing any good.

When she had arrived at work that morning, Liana had decided to give Joel some space.  Maybe, she had reasoned, her hovering was making him nervous.  She had asked him to bake a batch of cupcakes.  She had given him step-by-step instructions that, to her, had seemed foolproof. 

But clearly something had gone horribly wrong. 

Smoke billowed out of the kitchen, hanging heavy in the air. 

Joel began to cough.  But he made no effort to grab a fire extinguisher, call the fire department or even just move so that Liana could assess the situation.  Instead he stood there, sputtering, wheezing and completely blocking the doorway. 

The smoke detector began going off.  It made a loud, obnoxious noise that seemed to startle Joel.  He jumped and then covered his ears with his hands.  His brown eyes were wide and an expression of alarm was plastered across his long, thin face. 

Joel!

I can’t hear you!

Impatiently, Liana motioned for him to uncover his ears. 

Reluctantly, he complied.

What’s going on?" she demanded.

There’s a fire! he informed her rather unhelpfully. 

He tugged at his spiky dark hair, clearly freaking out. 

Let me by! Liana ordered.  She was exasperated that he was wasting precious seconds. 

He stood there dumbly, staring at her as though he didn’t understand.

Move! she tried again.  This time her tone of voice bordered on anger.

Being spoken to harshly seemed to snap Joel out of his stupid daze.  Without warning he fled like a spooked cat, charging out of the coffee shop.  He didn’t stop running until he was clear across the street.  It would have been comical had the situation not been one of such urgency.

Chapter 02

Liana braced herself for the worst before dashing into the kitchen.  Given Joel’s panic, she was expecting to find the entire back of the building engulfed in flames.  But when she barged through the door, all that greeted her was the stench of burnt cupcakes hanging heavy in the air.

Holding her breath, Liana opened up the oven. 

Thick black smoke poured out, making her eyes sting and tear up.  But there were no flames to be found.  Liana fought off the urge to cough, knowing that if she got started it would be difficult to stop.  Grabbing a nearby potholder, she pulled the charred cupcake tin out of the oven. 

Black, coal-like pucks of rock hard, burnt batter greeted her.

With a sigh, Liana set the mess aside.  Once it cooled she intended to throw the entire thing - cupcake tin and all - into the garbage.  She shut off the oven Joel had abandoned and quieted the blaring smoke detector.  Then she opened the window above the kitchen sink. 

Almost immediately, Liana began to shiver.  Minnesota wasn’t exactly known for its warm, balmy winters.  The crisp morning air was more than a little chilly, but it was still better than breathing in smoke fumes.

Liana quickly put on her pink parka, grateful for its warmth.  She grabbed Joel’s jacket too - it was one of those black quilted ones that half the men in Sugarcomb Lake seemed to own.  She tucked it under her arm before heading outside to check on her cowardly employee.

The gangly young man had apparently worked up the courage to cross the street.  Now he was pacing back and forth in front of the coffee shop, his brow furrowed and his arms clasped behind his back.  He looked cold, miserable and more than a little lost.

His footsteps were scattered all through the freshly fallen snow.  It seemed he had been pacing for several minutes.  Had it really been that long since he had raced outside?  No wonder he looked so frozen. 

Liana cleared her throat to announce her presence.  I brought your jacket.

Joel accepted it gratefully.  After putting it on, he rubbed his hands together to warm them up.

Liana regarded him with concern.  Are you okay? she asked, feeling a pang of sympathy.

He nodded, his teeth chattering.  Should we call the fire department?

It seemed the idea had only just occurred to him.  Clearly he was one of those people who didn’t handle stressful situations well.  Liana suspected he was someone who would run around in circles screaming incoherently during a crisis.

There’s no need to call the fire department. she replied matter-of-factly.

Huh? Joel looked confused.

There is no fire, Liana told him, being careful to keep her tone neutral and non-accusatory.  There’s a lot of smoke, but that’s it.  Did you actually see any flames? she asked, giving him the benefit of the doubt.

I, uh...no, he admitted, sounding embarrassed.  I may have overreacted.

Okay, Liana nodded.  She was trying to be patient, though she really wanted to tear at her hair and scold some sense into him.  She took a deep breath.  Then she carefully inquired, Joel, what happened to the cupcakes?

They burned.

"Yes, I saw that.  But why did they burn?  Did you take them out of the oven when you were supposed to?  I did tell you to take them out after exactly twenty-two minutes, didn’t I?"  Liana knew very well that she had.  And she was also quite certain Joel hadn’t followed her directions.

Liana wanted to tell Joel that baking wasn’t rocket science, but she bit her tongue.  She was irritated, but she didn’t want to be a jerk.  Besides, reminding Joel that a college educated, grown man should be able to bake cupcakes without causing a near-crisis seemed unnecessary. 

Joel mumbled something incomprehensible, his eyes downcast. 

Were my instructions unclear? Liana asked, struggling to understand what had gone wrong.  She was new to running the coffee shop and having an employee was certainly foreign to her.  Part of her worried that she was the one doing something wrong.

No.  Joel still wouldn’t make eye contact.

Liana pursed her lips.  "You were watching the cupcakes, weren’t you?"

Yes.  Well, sort of.  I - I only looked away for a minute, he told her, stuttering ever so slightly.  I don’t know what happened.  He was a grown man, but right now he was acting more like a little kid caught with one hand in the cookie jar.

Were you playing games on your phone again? Liana asked, already knowing the answer.

Looking guilty as sin, Joel nodded. 

Joel!  You can’t do that.  We’ve already discussed this...multiple times, in fact.

I know, but I -

Liana held up a hand to silence her less-than-model employee before he said something stupid and ticked her off even more.  I don’t want to hear it, Joel.  Be passionate about video games on your own time, okay?  When you’re here, I need...well I need you to be present.

Sorry, he mumbled.  I guess I got distracted.  Liana wasn’t sure but she thought she saw a flicker of anger in his eyes before he looked away.  And she wasn’t entirely convinced that his apology was sincere. 

Liana sighed deeply and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.  She didn’t think she had the patience to babysit Joel for the rest of the day.  He was on her last nerve.  Truthfully, work would go a lot smoother without him there, even if it left her without help.

Joel wasn’t exactly helpful anyway.

Why don’t you take the rest of the day off? she suggested, trying to keep her tone neutral. 

Sometimes acting like a professional was hard work. 

Sometimes she wanted nothing more than to scream and shout and throw a massive fit.

Without another word, Joel turned and stomped away. 

Liana couldn’t help but notice that he had his phone out even as he made his way down the street.  That man was addicted to gaming!  It was becoming quite the problem, especially since he had let it interfere with his work on multiple occasions.

Liana slowly trudged back inside.  She was glad to find that the smoke was clearing, but her heart felt heavy.  She sat down at an empty booth, grateful that she still had an hour until opening time.  She needed time to think. 

The prospect of letting an employee go was daunting.  Liana had never fired anyone before and she dreaded the thought of it.  But if the alternative was Joel burning her business to the ground, then it was a no-brainer.

Liana picked up her discarded paperwork and looked at with