A Cherry Sinister Murder: A Culinary Cozy Mystery (Slice of Paradise Cozy Mysteries Book 1) Read online

  *****

  “Grandma Bessie!”

  Faith spotted her tall, slim grandmother at the arrivals lounge, deeply involved in some knitting that looked like it was going badly wrong. “Oh, Faith!” she said, looking up with a smile. She stood up and tried to untangle herself from the wool and the needles, but if anything she only tied herself in a more complicated knot.

  Faith pushed her luggage trolley over and suppressed a laugh. Grandma Bessie could be quite sensitive at times. “Grandma, you’ve started knitting!”

  Bessie leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “The first and the last time, I’m telling you, Faith. I knew I wouldn’t like it. I can’t stand all these silly fiddly things, but Viola was like a slick saleswoman making me think it wouldn’t be so bad.”

  Faith laughed in a good natured way, leaving her trolley to help Grandma Bessie unpick her knitting mess. “And now you’re all in a muddle.”

  “Once I get my hands out I’m tossing this all in the trash.”

  “Grandma, I’m not sure you’re supposed to put your hands in it anyway,” Faith said, giggling.

  Bessie huffed in mock indignation. “I do know that. But I got in a knot, and I was trying to untie it and then I dropped it. It all went downhill from there.”

  “Oh, dear.” Faith eventually extracted the knitting and the needles from her grandma’s hands. “There we are. Who needs woolens in Florida anyways?”

  “That’s what I told Viola in the first place!” Grandma Bessie said. “And it’s an awful lot of trouble for something you’ll wear one month a year. Might as well buy it from the store.”

  Faith put her arm around her grandmother. “You’re making a lot of sense.”

  Grandma Bessie gave her another kiss on the cheek, then wiggled out of the hug and pointed at Faith’s trolley. “Is that all clothes?” she asked disapprovingly.

  Faith grinned. “You don’t know me very well, do you, Grandma? That’s about 10% clothes and 90% baking supplies.”

  Grandma Bessie looked at Faith with a wide smile. She actually seemed to be impressed. “That’s my girl. Why don’t we drop them at your new apartment and then head straight to the café?”

  Faith’s mouth actually dropped open. “An apartment? All of my own? I thought I’d be staying in your house we visited last time.”

  “Well, you could stay there,” Grandma Bessie said, swinging Faith’s knapsack over her shoulder and beckoning for Faith to follow along with the trolley toward the exit. “But I don’t expect the new family that live there would be too thrilled.”

  It was quite a struggle for Faith to push the trolley. Her cases were really packed to the brim with cooking utensils and baking recipe books. “So where do you live now?” she asked.

  “Oh, I’ve gone into some shared accommodation,” Grandma Bessie said quickly, sounding a little embarrassed. “I had a little bump and the nurses overreacted, but then I thought—”

  “What do you mean a little bump?” Faith said, concerned. “You mean you fell? Why didn’t you tell mom?”

  Grandma Bessie flapped her hand dismissively. “I’m not an old lady who needs extra special looking after. I’m not made of porcelain, you know. Anyway, I took care of things and decided to live in a place where they have alarms. I have my own apartment and garden that suits me just fine, and if I trip over something I just have to press this button on a string around my neck and a nice lady will come running. It’s all a bit overkill if you ask me, and a bit expensive, but Laura thought it was a good idea. And she’s a very sensible girl. She helps me in the café. You’ll meet her soon.”

  Though Faith of course was very excited about going to the café and giving it a new lease of life, she was very concerned about her grandma, especially because she knew she wasn’t the best with finances.

  “I don’t want to be rude, Grandma,” Faith said, very tentatively. “But… are you sure you’ve got enough money for it?”

  “I’m fine, just fine, thank you. At least for the next year.”

  “The next year?” Faith asked, shocked. “Grandma, that’s not long at all. What are you going to do after that?”

  Bessie strode out of the airport and indicated a taxi. “That’s our cab waiting.”

  The hot Florida air wrapped around Faith like a big hug.

  “Now don’t fuss, Faith,” Grandma Bessie continued. “I’ll think of something. Who knows? I might have kicked the bucket by then.”

  “Grandma!”

  “Anyway, I’m not thinking about that. Any money coming my way is going on a hip operation. Can you believe it, the doctor said he’s got to put a piece of metal in my hip! I’m going to be like a robot. Or one of those futuristic people you see in the movies, with a chip or suchlike. I think it’s rather exciting. You needn’t worry yourself, Faith, not about me. I’m a tough old girl.”

  “All right,” Faith said soothingly, though she was worrying. Very much. She was already working out how she could make enough money in the café to get her grandma’s operation paid for, plus her accommodation. And making plans to message her mother to wire some money down. Grandma Bessie would be annoyed, but that wasn’t the most important thing.

  “What was that I heard?” Bessie said.

  Faith started, almost believing that her grandma had heard her thoughts. “What did you hear?”

  “A little meow, was that?”

  “Oh, yes,” Faith said, breaking into a huge smile. “My kittens! Mom got them for me. Cirrus and Nimbus. They’re like tiny little fluff balls.”

  “How sweet! You’ll introduce me to them when we get to your apartment.”

  They arrived at the cab and after greeting the driver, Faith began to load some of her bags into the backseat. She had so many they wouldn’t all fit in the trunk. “About this apartment, Grandma. How am I going to pay for it?”

  Grandma Bessie smiled. “It’s cheap as chips. Laura, you know the gal I told you about, it’s her father’s apartment building. Just a few nice places with a big shared yard out back, not a big high-rise complex. Laura rents from him at a super discounted rate, and her father has agreed to do the same for you. You’ll payroll yourself for that and grocery money. We’ll dig into the accounts at the café and get you sorted.”

  “Wow,” Faith said, feeling a little overwhelmed. “That was so nice of him to do. But you’re talking about payroll and accounts, and I feel totally lost.” She bit her lip, wondering just how much more this endeavor was going to be than getting to bake pecan pies and whip up cupcake frosting all day long. “I’ve got a lot to learn, huh, Grandma?”

  Grandma Bessie nodded.

  “You bet, kiddo. Steep learning curve up ahead.”

  *****

  Chapter 3

  “Oh, my gosh,” Faith said, stepping into Paradise Point and twirling her new Vendor’s Pass around and around in her fingers, barely able to believe this was really her life. “It’s totally different to how I remember it.”

  Grandma Bessie nodded, stuffing her own pass back in the pocket of her beige slacks. “They’ve done a whole revamp,” she said, not entirely approvingly. “Brought all these new vendors in. Changed everything.”

  As they walked on Grandma Bessie moaned on about how different things were and Faith tuned her out, marveling at how beautiful Paradise Point had become. The last time she and her mother had visited it had been a sad, rundown place that led onto one of the most uninspiring beaches on the Florida coast. Straggling palm trees and dry, scorched grass had made up most of the place, with Grandma Bessie serving the occasional fisherman, the elderly locals who had been going there since forever and that was about it.

  But now Paradise Point truly lived up to its name. A charmingly old fashioned, hand painted wooden sign pointed in about a hundred directions. To the beach was one way. To the play area was another. To the fountains. To the swimming pool. To the tropical gardens. And a laminated board marked FOOD AND DRINK listed all the vendors in the place with a little
map to show where they were all located.

  “Oh, look, you’re there, Grandma!” Faith said, pointing to where it said Bessie’s Café.

  “Yes,” Bessie said. “Nestled among the world and his wife. See how many competitors I have now? No wonder… well…” She sighed. “Maybe you can make things better. Come on, let’s go.”

  Grandma Bessie took off at a brisk pace along one of the little pathways that led off from the directional sign, but Faith lingered a little as she walked, looking up at the bougainvillea archway that exploded in blossoms of crimson and fuchsia and bright orange above her head. Their petals had drifted down onto the path and she smiled at the multicolored carpet.

  “Come on, come on, no time to waste,” Grandma Bessie said, turning around and beckoning Faith toward her.

  Faith did quicken her pace a little, but kept wanting to stop to drink everything in: the skinny trees her height with enormous green leaves – Banana Trees, the hand-painted sign read, gorgeously frilly and delicate-looking passion flowers in shades of purple and lilac and pale blue, and strange looking flowers that hung downward off of a vine, jutting out in each direction in magenta and pale green beak-like blossoms. Sexy Pink Heliconia, the sign in front of those read, and Faith giggled in spite of herself at the strange name.

  After a murderous look over her grandma’s shoulder, Faith jogged to catch up with her.

  “Look, it’s just there,” Bessie said, pointing to – if Faith was honest with herself – a little rundown shack that looked right out of a rural backwater county. That could have been charming, as many little wooden houses are when they’re painted up nicely and plants bloom outside, but this one was decidedly not. The sign up top reading Bessie’s Café was sandwiched between stained guttering that was falling down, and the top of the window frame, which seemed to be rotting away.

  Faith struggled to say something complimentary, and racked her brains for a way not to insult her grandma. She was about to say how it was full of potential, because her mind was already racing with plans of how she could beautify it, but Bessie breathed out a long sigh and stopped on the path.

  “It looks awful, doesn’t it?” Bessie said. “I don’t notice since I come here everyday. But now I’m looking at it with your eyes, I guess. Faith, don’t you repeat this to anybody, especially your mother, but I think she was right. Maybe I should have sold up and moved on a long time ago. The land’s worth twenty times over what I paid for it back in the seventies. I could sell it now and go and live it up, couldn’t I?” She laughed. “But I just can’t sell. It’s too… it’s just…”

  “Grandma, maybe you should sell,” Faith said, her heart heavy. As much as she had dreamed of running her own place and the whole experience was becoming more and more glorious at every moment, she didn’t want to do that at her grandma’s expense. “You could pay for your operation then, and pay for your supported apartment.”

  Faith’s words seemed to hit a nerve. “No, no, and no. This is my café and I’m keeping it. And you’re running it. And that’s that.”

  Faith knew better than to argue with that tone of voice. She pulled up the band on her ponytail, which was always coming loose, and flashed her grandmother a smile. “All right. Let’s go in.”

  After they’d climbed the stone steps overgrowing with moss, Faith found that inside was marginally better than the outside. Though it was by no means modern or charming, the shutters had been opened to let the light in and everything looked clean. But the wood was dark throughout – the ceiling, the tables, the floor, the counter – and made the place look heavy and a bit dingy. Two cakes on the counter were covered with lace-style cheap looking plastic covers, so Faith couldn’t see them, and the only uncovered cake looked a bit sad and pathetic. Certainly not appetizing.

  But the young woman behind the counter was beaming from ear to ear as she scrubbed the counter. She was so slim and small, with a heart shaped face and a pointy chin, and her wispy blonde hair pulled back in a tiny little bun, that she put Faith in mind of a little pixie or fairy. “Hi, Miss Bessie,” she called out in a sweet voice and lilting Floridian accent. “And you must be Faith, right?”

  Her joy was infectious and Faith found herself smiling all over her face. “That’s right. You’re Laura, right?”

  “Right! Laura Edwards.” Laura ran around the side of the counter and gave Faith a friendly hug. “Miss Bessie’s probably told you how hopeless I am at this whole baking thing, right?” She rolled her eyes and her bottom lip jutted out to one side with embarrassment.

  “Oh, no,” Faith said. “I’ve only heard good things.”

  Grandma Bessie nodded. “You might not be the world’s best baker, Laura, but you clean this place up a bit and handle the money well. And Faith’s got the baking gene, though it seemed to skip her mother.”

  “How about this?” Faith said, grinning at Laura who seemed like an instant friend. “I’ll teach you how to bake, and you teach me everything else.”

  Laura stuck out her hand and shook Faith’s firmly. “You’re on, girl.” Then her eyes opened wide. “Ooh! I almost forgot. Miss Bessie, Ellis called a meeting for tonight after closing. But he said he wanted to talk to you right away, something about another offer on the land, or something like that? He said he’ll be in his office.”

  Anger flashed across Grandma Bessie’s face. “That darned Ellis. Acting like he’s the friendliest man that ever walked the planet, then coming around and bugging me non-stop about people wanting me to give up my piece of Paradise. No way. I’m going over there to give him a piece of my mind.” She stormed to the exit, then turned at the doorway. “Laura, show Faith the ropes, won’t you?” Then she was gone.

  Laura laughed when Grandma Bessie stepped out, but not unkindly. “Your grandmother is such a character.”

  Faith grinned. “I know. My mom always said too much of a character, and that’s why she moved us to Minnesota. But I think she’s great. She’s always given me awesome baking presents for birthdays and Christmas and stuff.”

  “That figures.” Laura went back behind the counter and started cleaning again. Faith got the distinct impression from her short clean nails and immaculate uniform and vigorous scrubbing that she was one of those people who loved to clean and always had a spotless house. Perhaps Faith could learn that from her, too. “She’s a whizz at baking. Look.” Laura lifted up the two plastic covers to reveal gorgeous looking cakes. “That one’s champagne and strawberries,” she said, nodding at a huge pink affair covered in frosting peaks. “And that’s chocolate and raspberry,” nodding at the other and smiling broadly. “My personal favorite right now. Though with Miss Bessie around, my favorite changes every week.” Then she put the covers back on and screwed up her face as she cast her eyes over the sad looking uncovered cake. “That’s my effort. Pretty pathetic, huh?”

  “Can I try a little piece?” Faith said.

  Laura brightened. “Sure. You’ll probably be the first and last.” As she cut one, she cast her eyes around the café. “You know, I have to be honest with you. Your grandma makes these stunning cakes but no one really buys slices often. Maybe two slices in each will go today. My dad always gives me a few dollars to pick up a few slices. He’s getting so big but he just can’t resist her baking. He was so disappointed to find out she was quitting.”

  “Oh, yes! Your dad’s renting me the apartment, right?”

  “Down the hall from mine,” Laura said with a nod.

  “Grandma Bessie already had the keys so I didn’t meet him,” said Faith, then laughed. “I had to do some serious kitten-proofing before coming over here.”

  “Eeek!” Laura said, her face bright with joy. “You have a kitten?”

  “Two. Very fluffy gray ones. My mom just got them from me. They’re so sweet.”

  Laura smiled and handed Faith a piece of cake on a tired looking saucer with a chip in the ceramic. “I was hoping you wouldn’t be some mean girl I’d have to spend day and night around. But you’re
awesome and you’ve got kittens. This is turning out to be a pretty good day.”

  Faith flashed her a smile. “I try not to be too evil.” Then she took a bite of the cake. It really did taste nice, a lemon drizzle cake that was moist and sweet and tangy all at once. “This is really good, Laura!”

  Laura’s eyes lit up. “Really?” Then they narrowed in mock suspicion. “Or are you just humoring me?”

  “No, honestly, it tastes awesome. All you need is a little work on presentation, so it looks as good as it tastes. The world needs this cake.”

  Laura burst out laughing. “I think you and me are gonna get along just fine, girl.” She was already back to cleaning, pouring out a cup of vinegar and dipping a sponge in it. “You know, everyone around here is pretty nice. Well, nearly everyone. When your Grandma comes back I could take you around to meet them all.”

  Faith grinned. “That would be awesome.”

  “For now, there’s not much else to do but sit around, unless you want to help me clean. To be honest, I doubt a single customer would come in, but your Grandma would go bananas if I wasn’t here, ready to serve.”

  Faith took a sponge from the side and set about wiping down the sink, that was tucked away in the little kitchen area. “It’s already spotless in here,” she said, laughing. “I don’t know what to clean.”

  “Oh,” Laura said, looking a little embarrassed. “Well, cleaning things until they shine and then cleaning some more is one of my personal eccentricities. When I feel happy, I clean. When I feel anxious, I clean. Annoyed? I clean.”

  Faith laughed. “I wish I had the same eccentricity, that’s for sure. Mine is baking, I guess. Bake when I’m happy, bake when I’m sad. When I feel like the world’s falling apart, the first thing I reach for is a mixing bowl.”