Christmas Cupcakes and a Caper Read online

  The door opens and a student rushes out. “Hey!” Anna shouts after him. “Is Greg home?”

  “Yeah,” the student doesn’t bother looking her way as he answers. “Go on in.”

  “Sounds like an invitation to me,” Anna declares and marches on in. She immediately walks to the stairs and starts climbing them. “Let’s see if he’s in his room.”

  Kristie and I stare at each other for a moment before shrugging our shoulders and following her. “I thought you said Logan came by yesterday. Didn’t he yell at her for sticking her nose in this investigation?”

  “Who knows? Sometimes I think he gets a kick out of her crazy.”

  Anna sticks her head around the wall. “Hurry up, slowpokes!”

  Kristie and I trudge after the crazy baker. When we catch her, she’s already knocking on Greg’s bedroom door. “Knock! Knock!” she shouts, in case her pounding on the door isn’t heard. Trust me, it’s heard.

  There’s a muffled ‘come in’ and then we are congregating inside Greg’s bedroom. He looks up from his desk and his eyes widen when he sees us. “What are you doing here?”

  Anna puts her hands on her hips. “We want to know why you lied to us.”

  Oh, great. He’s really going to want to talk to us after Anna antagonizes him. “Ignore her.” I move to stand in front of Anna and block her from his view. She’s having none of it. She pushes me, but when I don’t budge, she jumps on the bed. I consider chasing her, but I know the tiny woman is fast. I decide ignoring her is the best course of action and return my attention to Greg. “Sorry about her.”

  “She’s not really Don’s sister, is she?”

  Oops! I’d pretty much forgotten about our ‘little’ lie, which is the whole problem with lying in the first place. You have to stick to the lie. “Nope, she’s my business partner.”

  He looks confused for a moment before nodding. “Oh, right. You own a bakery as well.”

  The university might be huge, but most students know me since I was accused of killing my fitness instructor last year. My notoriety then increased when Kristie stuck her nose in a rape investigation, and we ended up catching a killer. Well, we didn’t actually catch him, but we totally helped. The police could not have done it without us.

  “What do you want to know now?”

  “Why didn’t you tell us about your big fight with Don? You know, the guy who was murdered.” Anna leans over and sneers at him. Unfortunately for her, she’s barely five feet tall and has green and red streaks in her hair. Intimidating, she is not.

  “What fight?”

  I cross my arms over my chest and stare him down. He knows exactly what fight we’re talking about. Avoiding answering is just making him look more guilty. Oh, shoot. Maybe I should have called Ben before we marched over here. If he killed Don, we have literally walked into a murderer’s den. In my defense, I considered calling him. I didn’t. But I considered it.

  “Fine. Don and I got into a huge fight a few months ago. I didn’t tell the police about it, because they’ll jump to conclusions.” He stares at me. “You know how they are.”

  I can’t disagree with him. If he had told the detectives about fighting with his roommate, they would have hauled him to the station for questioning. Been there. Done that. “Still. You should have said something.”

  He rubs a hand over his face. “Yeah, I know. But I’m embarrassed.”

  “Embarrassed?” Kristie repeats and comes to stand next to me.

  “There was this girl, Jenna. We’ve been together, or were together I should say, since freshman year. We’d been talking about getting married after we graduate this year. I even bought the stupid ring. I was going to propose to her at Christmas time,” he takes a deep breath through his nose before continuing, “and then I came back early to my room since my calculus class was cancelled and there they were, rolling around on his bed.”

  I wait a few beats before speaking, “That sucks. It’s also a pretty good motive for murder.”

  Greg laughs but there’s no humor in it. “Yeah, sure, but I didn’t kill Don. Jenna’s been begging me to take her back since I dumped her. What would killing Don accomplish? I can’t go back in time and make Jenna faithful. Our ship has sailed.”

  “But what if Don was taking advantage of Jenna?” Kristie asks. And I nearly groan at how stupid I’ve been. We should have asked Greg about the rumors concerning Don. If anyone would know what Don was up to, it would be his roommate. Duh. He even mentioned Don was a player. I feel like an idiot.

  Greg snorts. “Don take advantage? The guy didn’t need to take advantage. Girls flocked to him. His family was rich, and he had no problem lavishing girls with presents. Jenna knew exactly what she was getting herself into. Maybe she thought he would give her gifts and I wouldn’t notice. I don’t know. I don’t care. I’m done with her.”

  “Didn’t it bother you to have a roommate who was really popular with the girls?” Anna waggles her eyebrows. I cough to cover up my laugh.

  “Don was graduating after this semester. I only had to put up with him for a few more weeks. We’ve been roommates for a year. Trust me. If I was going to kill him, it would have been much earlier. Besides, the dude wasn’t a bad roommate. He was hardly ever here. He normally took his girls to fancy hotels.”

  “Then there’s no truth to the rumor about Don being a sexual predator?” Kristie can’t let the topic go.

  Greg raises his eyebrows. “Don a sexual predator? Where’d you hear such a rumor?” No one’s answering his question. “I think I’d know if my roommate were a predator. Full of himself? Yep. Bully? Totally. Womanizer? You know it. But a predator? Um, no.”

  He turns his back to us and returns to his homework. “Now, if there’s nothing else, you can see yourselves out.”

  Our departure from the frat house and walk back to the bakery is much slower than our walk there. “Do you think it’s true?” Kristie asks. “Don was a womanizer but not an abuser?”

  “No idea. Greg made some convincing arguments, but being Don’s roommate doesn’t mean he knew everything there was to know about Don.”

  “What are we going to do now? We don’t have any leads left.” Anna pouts.

  I should feel relieved. Between Christmas, the end of the semester, and Ben acting strange, I don’t have time to deal with a murder investigation. But I’m not feeling relieved. I’m feeling frustrated. How can someone kill a drunk student and dump him on our doorstep without anyone seeing him? Who killed Donald Griffin?

  Chapter 12

  That’s it. I’m calling Santa.

  I rush into the restroom down the hall from my classroom. Today is the last lecture of the semester and I am more than ready for the semester to be finished. I’ve been helping Anna bake for the past week and I’m exhausted. Christmas can’t come quick enough for me.

  I’m in a stall fighting with my pantyhose when the door slams open and I hear giggles. I pause in surprise. Although most classes are finished, exams are around the corner. The majority of students are walking around looking like they haven’t slept since the semester began. The Christmas spirit won’t arrive on campus until exam week is finished.

  “I can’t believe everyone bought it!”

  “Especially Professor Muller. She thinks she’s so smart. She has no clue what happened.” My eyes widen at the mention of my name. What are they talking about?

  “Putting the body in front of her bakery was beyond genius.”

  I nearly gasp when I hear the word body. I slam my hand over my mouth to avoid any sound from escaping. Are they seriously talking about Don’s body? My heart speeds up until I’m sure they can hear it thumping away. Oh no! What if they notice me in here? Being sure to hold my breath, I toe off my shoes and grab them before climbing onto the toilet. Once I’m sure I’m secure and not about to fall into the toilet bowl, I pull my phone out and hit record.

  “Totally worth the effort of dragging his fat butt all the way from the frat house.”
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br />   They have to be talking about Don. Are they the murderers? I lean to the side and peer out of the gap in between the stall and the stall door. I can just glimpse Tanya and Allison standing in front of the mirror fluffing their hair. I bite the hand covering my mouth to stop myself from gasping. They can’t possibly be the murderers, can they? We would have realized it was them. Wouldn’t we have?

  “And no one stopped us. Is everyone stupid in this town? Everyone believed he was only drunk. He wasn’t. He was dead as a doornail. Dead. Dead. Dead.” They erupt into fits of giggles, and I have to take deep breaths to calm my stomach, which is now threatening to eject its contents. They didn’t just kill Don. No, they also think his murder is funny.

  I contemplate rushing out of the stall and confronting them, but I know better. I wait a minute as they finish with their hair. “We better get going. Fatty McFatterson will give us a hard time for being late.”

  After they leave, I count to sixty to make sure they don’t return before I stop the recording and call Ben. I tell him to find the detectives on Don’s case and get to my class pronto. Luckily, he doesn’t question me. Once we disconnect, I stare at the mirror as I take deep breaths. I can do this. I can go into my class and start a lecture knowing there are two murderers in the room. I straighten my spine as I continue my pep talk. I will not think about them and their dastardly deeds.

  I’m fifteen minutes into my lecture and making an absolute muddle of it when the door bursts open, and Ben runs through. He rushes to me and pulls me into his arms. “Are you okay?” he whispers to my hair. I nod and watch as Detectives Flanigan and O’Hare saunter into the room.

  Detective Flanigan walks to me and I hand him my phone. “Listen to the recording,” I tell him. “And you might want to make sure no one leaves the lecture hall.”

  Flanigan and O’Hare leave the room to listen to the recording in private. As soon as the door closes behind them, Ben takes up post at the door with his arms crossed over his chest and his legs planted shoulder-width apart. No one will be leaving the lecture hall with him guarding the door.

  I wring my hands unsure of what to do. I can’t exactly begin lecturing again, but I can’t let my students leave either.

  “What’s going on?” a student shouts.

  I don’t know how to answer. My gaze finds Ben, but he shakes his head. Guess I won’t be telling them about the investigation then. Before I can think of how to reply to the student, Detective Flanigan opens the door and motions to me.

  “You know who these students are?” he asks once the door to the classroom is closed behind me.

  “Yes, Tanya Schroeder and Allison Clark,” I explain to him the discussions we’ve had with the women regarding Don’s murder. My face heats as I admit we had no clue they were involved. We didn’t even consider them suspects; despite the clues I can now see practically slapping me in the face.

  “And they’re in your class right now?” When I nod, Detective Flanigan grasps my elbow and walks with me into the classroom. “I need you to dismiss the class except for the two women,” he whispers and then gently pushes me towards the front of the class.

  I tell everyone they can leave, but no one makes a move. No one stands up. No one gathers their things. Nothing. Detective O’Hare steps forward. “Get your stuff and get out,” he orders.

  At O’Hare’s gruff order, the students start to stampede out the room. No one bothers to put their things away. They grab their books and notebooks and rush out of the room with their arms full. No one looks back.

  Detective O’Hare stands at the door. As soon as Tanya and Allison start towards him, he crosses his arms and moves in front of them to stop their progress. “You two over there.” He nods towards where Detective Flanigan is standing. Allison’s face pales and she starts to shake. Tanya, on the other hand, balls her hands into fists as her face turns red. Uh oh.

  The detectives wait until the door closes behind the last student before speaking. Once the room is empty, Detective Flanigan starts, “Now, Ms. Schroeder and M—” He’s interrupted when the door bangs open and Anna and Kristie rush in.

  My mouth drops open at their arrival. “How in the world did you two know what’s going on?”

  Anna merely smiles in response while Kristie tilts her head at Anna. Like I didn’t already know the baker was to blame.

  “Like I was saying before I was interrupted.” Detective Flanigan glares at Anna and Kristie. Kristie has enough sense to look embarrassed. Anna, on the other hand, is bouncing in excitement. “You’ll need to come with us to the station.”

  Anna stomps her foot. “No way. No how. I want to hear why they killed Don. And why they dumped the body in front of the bakery.”

  Tanya laughs. “Where else would we put a body except in front of Professor Fatty’s bakery?”

  Detective Flanigan walks forward and twirls her around before cuffing her hands behind her back. “You need to stop talking until I read you your rights.”

  “I want a deal,” Allison says as Detective O’Hare walks toward her. “I’ll talk, but I want a deal.”

  “You traitor,” Tanya screams and starts to fight Detective Flanigan who has no problem restraining her.

  “I didn’t want to get involved in the first place. You and your stupid vendetta.”

  Detective O’Hare leans over her. “You need to hush.” Allison takes one look at his face and clamps her mouth shut.

  The detectives give Ben a chin lift and then leave with the two women.

  As soon as the door closes behind them, Ben walks to me and kisses my forehead. “Go back to the bakery. I’ll let you know what happens.” I nod. “And don’t think we aren’t going to talk about you getting involved in another murder investigation.” With those words, he takes his leave. I gulp. Considering how little time we’ve spent together recently, I thought he hadn’t noticed what Anna, Kristie and I’ve been up to. Stupid Detective boyfriend who notices everything.

  Chapter 13

  Dear Santa, I was really good at being really naughty. Does that count?

  Since it’s evening and the bakery’s closed, Kristie, Anna, and I congregate in my apartment above the bakery. Within half an hour, Logan and Tyler arrive. As soon as the door opens to Logan, Anna attacks him. “What do you know? Tell us.”

  “I don’t know anything yet, pixie girl. We’ll have to wait on Ben to arrive.” Anna huffs and sticks her lip out in response. Logan chuckles before leaning down to bite her bottom lip. I look away to see Tyler strolling over to Kristie.

  “You okay, baby?” he asks as he pulls her into his arms. “What did Lucy and Ethel do now?”

  “Hey! You’re not being fair.” I don’t care if he was whispering into her ear, I heard him, and I’m responding. “I didn’t do anything. Kristie was all in before I was.”

  “We thought the victim had abused women.” Kristie doesn’t need to say anymore. Tyler knows she will never let an accusation of sexual aggression go without investigating.

  “Oh!” Anna claps. “Let’s have a party.” Before anyone can stop her, she pushes away from Logan and takes off for the bakery. He starts to follow her, but I stop him with a hand on his elbow. I’m hungry and if he goes down there, we won’t be getting food anytime soon. He smirks but nods and takes a seat.

  Anna and I quickly make some sandwiches and return to my apartment laden down with sandwiches and cupcakes. Because we can’t have a meal without cupcakes. It doesn’t matter that Anna bakes cupcakes every single day, she will never tire of them.

  An hour later, we’ve eaten and are still waiting for Ben. I bite my nails wondering if I should call him.

  “Don’t worry, babe. He’ll call when he can.”

  Will he? Ben isn’t like Logan. He likes to keep his police life separate from his private life. Before I can let my thoughts go down the rabbit hole once again, the door to the apartment opens and Ben walks in. He smirks when he sees the gathering of people in the living room. He walks to the armchair whe
re I’m sitting and picks me up before sitting on the chair and placing me in his lap. He kisses my hair and wraps me in his arms.

  “Tell us everything,” Anna shouts.

  Ben startles as if she woke him. I look down on his face and notice the dark lines under his eyes. The poor man is exhausted.

  “Why did they kill Donald?” Kristie asks. “Was he really a sexual predator?”

  “No,” Ben answers the last question first. “They made up the stuff about him taking advantage of girls. As soon as Tanya realized who you were at the memorial, she thought she’d throw you off her scent by making up a lie she knew you couldn’t resist.”

  Kristie growls. “Then why did they kill Donald?”