Strawberry Caramel Murder: Bitsie's Bakeshop Culinary Cozies, #3

By Abby Byne and Celia Kinsey

Monica, a food blogger who gave Bitsie's Bake Shop a glowing write-up in the local paper, inexplicably goes missing after picking up a box of cupcakes from the bakery.

 

Is Monica simply running away to escape a bad marriage, or is there a much more sinister reason for her sudden disappearance?

At the same time, there's the scissor-wielding creep who's attacking random women in parking lots, and two local hucksters bent on defrauding senior citizens with their bogus "investment" scheme? Are all these crimes related somehow? It's up to Bitsie to find out.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Red Cat Cozies
• Release date: Jun 17, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393735502

Book preview

Chapter One

Who is Monica McCall? Anabel asked Bitsie as she scanned the newspaper clipping Bitsie had just posted on the tiny bulletin board next to the bakery refrigerator.

She’s a local food blogger, but she also occasionally does articles for the Fayetteville newspaper. Didn’t she give us a great write-up? Bitsie replied.

She certainly is enthusiastic about our strawberry caramel cupcakes.

Yes, her review is so effusive it’s almost embarrassing.

Bitsie’s Bakeshop offers the best cupcakes I’ve ever tasted, Anabel read aloud.

Keep going, said Bitsie, it gets even better.

A mouthful of heaven!

Keep going.

Once I’d tasted one of Bitsie’s cupcakes, I knew I was ready to die a happy woman— Anabel continued reading.

I thought that was going a bit far, Bitsie said, and given our bakery’s track record of being involved in murders, slightly unwise. They are good, though, aren’t they? Bitsie spoke with her mouth full of strawberry caramel cupcake. I can see why this flavor quickly became our best-selling item. It was genius of you to think up that combination.

Anabel shrugged off the compliment, embarrassed at having her contribution recognized.

I wish the article had mentioned you, Bitsie continued. I hate taking credit where it isn’t due.

Anabel quickly changed the subject.

Did you hear that creepy guy tried to attack another woman with scissors and cut her hair off in the grocery store parking lot last night?

Bitsie had not heard, but it didn’t surprise her. Last night’s incident made the sixth time in the last two weeks that the scissor-wielding assailant had attacked someone. So far, all his victims had been women, and they’d all managed to fight him off with nothing more than minor injuries. Bitsie hoped he’d be caught soon. Little Creek, Arkansas, was not exactly a hotbed of crime. Bad things did happen from time to time, just like they did everywhere, but random attacks were extremely rare. Bitsie had always felt so safe in the tiny town; she didn’t like to think she, or any other woman, needed to be constantly on her guard.

Did the woman get a good look at the guy this time? Bitsie asked.

So far, none of his victims had gotten a good look at his face. He always attacked from behind, and he always wore a cap and sunglasses, even the two times he’d struck after dark.

No, unfortunately, said Anabel. One of my girl cousins works at that grocery store. I wish they’d hurry up and catch him. It’s making me nervous.

I could use another tray of strawberry caramels out there if you’ve got any ready yet, Hector said, returning from the front of the shop with an empty tray. What’s making you nervous, Anabel?

That hair-cutting creep struck again in the grocery store parking lot.

He didn’t succeed, I hope.

Yes and no, the woman got away with only a couple of small scratches, but there’s a chunk missing out of the back of her hair.

I’m just about to go and sit there in that parking lot until I catch him, said Hector. And when I do—

It is a thought, said Bitsie. I’m worried that sooner or later, he’s going to seriously injure someone.

Who’s going to seriously injure someone? Nick asked, coming in the door.

That weirdo who’s been grabbing women out of parking lots and giving them involuntary haircuts, Bitsie answered.

Oh, where did he strike this time? Nick asked.

The grocery store, said Anabel.

So far, that’s twice at the drugstore, once in the parking lot of Pietro’s Pizza, once near the pond at the park, and—with what happened last night—twice at the grocery store, said Nick. He’s certainly persistent. Why does a person do something like that?

No one answered Nick. Bitsie had a pretty good idea why a man might go around cutting hair off strange women, but she didn’t want to get into that in the middle of her sunny bakery, which smelled of vanilla, chocolate, caramel, and strawberries. Let the weirdos of the world stay out there somewhere, preferably outside of Little Creek altogether. 

Since everyone is here, said Bitsie, I might as well take the opportunity to tell you I’ll be out tomorrow.

Doing something fun, I hope? said Anabel.

Not really. I have to get some cavities filled, Bitsie replied. I’m sure you will all do just fine without me here, but there is one thing: I told Monica McCall, the blogger who did that glowing write-up on us, to come by tomorrow morning around ten and pick up a dozen strawberry caramel cupcakes as a thank you.

Isn’t that kind of like a bribe? Nick joked.

"A bribe is something you get before you agree to do something," Bitsie pointed out.

Oh, so more like a payment, Nick persisted, grinning at her.

Nick’s grin was infectious, and Bitsie had to force herself not to smile back. Instead, she picked a rag up off the counter and tossed it at him, but he caught it in his hand before it hit him in the face and kept right on grinning. No one, Bitsie decided, had a right to be that good-looking. She still couldn’t believe she and Nick were seeing each other and had been for over a month now.

Anabel assured Bitsie she’d make sure Monica got her cupcakes as Bitsie collected her coat and shoved a knitted hat over her unruly curls. That was another thing, besides the dentist, she’d been putting off. She was way overdue for a haircut.

Nick followed Bitsie out the door and toward her parking place in the alley behind the bakery.

You didn’t tell me you had a dentist appointment tomorrow, he said reproachfully.

Just because we’re dating, said Bitsie, doesn’t mean I have to tell you everything.

Nick laughed.

You want to have dinner tomorrow evening? he asked.

Sure, shall we cook, or do you want to go out?

I thought I might introduce you to my mother.

Bitsie’s heart sank into her shoes. She and Nick had only been together since Thanksgiving, and it wasn’t even Valentine’s Day yet. Nick’s mother had been out of town for Thanksgiving, and Bitsie had gone down to Texas to visit her daughter Emily for Christmas, so she and Nick had yet to navigate a family occasion as a couple. Bitsie wasn’t at all sure she was ready to meet Nick’s mother.

Uh, said Bitsie, stalling for time. Does she really want to meet me?

Of course, she does. Don’t worry; she’ll love you!

Bitsie was far from sure Nick’s mother would love her. For one thing, there was a ten-year age difference between her and Nick. This had yet to pose a problem for them, personally, but Bitsie was worried meeting Nick’s mother might change all that. Nick’s mother had given birth to him when she was only eighteen, which made her a mere fifty-eight to Bitsie’s fifty.

Have you told your mom about me? Bitsie asked.

Of course.

I mean, what have you told her about me?

I told her how great you are, how you run the bakery, how you like to—

Have you told her how old I am?

There! She’d come right out and said it.

I don’t know, Nick said, looking mildly surprised. Maybe. I’m not sure it’s ever come up.

Don’t you think she might be shocked?

Shocked? Why?

It had clearly never occurred to him his mother might have any misgivings about their relationship.

I think you should prepare yourself for the possibility your mother may—um—find our relationship somewhat hard to understand.

I don’t see why, Nick insisted. He looked mildly insulted Bitsie should even consider his mother might find their relationship odd.

She shouldn’t worry, Bitsie told herself. Maybe, Nick was right. Maybe, his mother wouldn’t care at all that Bitsie was a decade older than Nick. After all, Nick knew his mother much better than she did. Still, she couldn’t help feeling apprehensive. All too often, sad experience had taught her, men were very poor predictors of how their mothers would feel about their sons’ taste in women.

I’d rather we went out to eat, said Bitsie. If she was going to meet Nick’s mother, the least she could do was insist on neutral ground. And maybe we should wait until the day after tomorrow. After spending the morning at the dentist, I might not be up to dinner out.

Sure, Nick said. Day after tomorrow, then. We can go to that new Russian restaurant in Fayetteville we keep saying we want to try.

The next morning Bitsie was late for her dentist appointment. It was a bad habit she had developed. The more she didn’t want to go through with something, the later she was in arriving. It was irrational.  No matter how late she arrived, she would still need those three fillings, and now, in addition to inconveniencing her dentist, she had probably also caused another patient to be delayed for their appointment. Time operated like a set of dominoes. Her lateness could trigger a whole set of unforeseen changes in the days of countless other people.

But, as it turned out, she had been beating herself up over nothing. When she arrived at the dentist’s office twenty minutes late for her scheduled appointment, she found the office manager and two hygienists huddled in an agitated conference behind the reception counter.

I should have called you, said the office manager once Bitsie managed to get her attention. The dentist won’t be seeing patients this morning.

Oh? said Bitsie. I hope Dr. Barton isn’t ill.

No, said one of the hygienists. Nothing like that; she just got a nasty scare this morning, so she decided to go home for the day.

Nasty scare?

Some guy tried to get into her car, out in the parking lot, when she arrived for work this morning.

That’s terrible, said Bitsie. "No wonder she doesn’t feel up