Criminally Cocoa Read online

  Incredibly, his face turned even redder; it was closer to purple now. “Todd created the explosion.”

  Now everyone in the room swung in the direction of the male page.

  Todd shook his head. “He’s crazy. Raymond has finally lost his mind. I knew that it would happen eventually. He’s complete nuts, driven crazy by filming too many antacid commercials.”

  “You would turn on me?” Raymond snarled and then looked at the rest of us. “It wasn’t me! It was Todd!” He pointed at the young page. His whole body shook with anger.

  “What is this, accuse-the-next-closest-person day?” Cass asked. She held up her hands as if in surrender. “Because I didn’t do anything. I’m saying that now before anyone points the finger at me. I thought the world of cooking was crazy, but you TV people take the cake.”

  “You paid me to do it,” Todd said to Raymond.

  “I never told you to blow anything up. Someone might have been killed!” the director screeched.

  Maria pointed at Raymond. “See! He confessed!”

  “I just told the kid to make a disturbance to stop the filming. I never told him to blow anything up. I would never be so stupid. No one can follow directions anymore. I asked him to do one small favor, and he completely screwed it up.”

  Todd opened and closed his mouth. “I did what you told me to do.”

  “You did it wrong!” Raymond snapped. “And now you will probably go to prison for endangering lives.”

  Todd gasped, and then he spun on his heel and ran from the set. Jethro wandered away from Juliet’s side at the same time and walked directly into the page’s path. Todd was going too quickly to change his course and fell over the pig with a yelp.

  Jethro gave a high-pitched squeal, and everyone froze.

  Todd started to scramble to regain his feet, but Linc put a foot on his back, pinning him in place.

  Juliet scooped up the pig. “Oh, are you hurt?” she cooed to Jethro. To the rest of us, she yelled, “Ice! I need more ice. I need more ice for Jethro.”

  The pig looked fine from what I could tell, and everyone else was staring at Todd lying spread-eagled on the floor with Linc’s foot in the middle of his back.

  “I want someone to tell me what is going on,” Linc said, looking up from his foot.

  “From what I gather,” Bailey said, “Raymond asked Todd to play pranks on the set so that the show’s production could be shut down, and he paid Todd. Isn’t that right, Todd?”

  Todd lifted his chin just far enough off the concrete floor to nod.

  Bailey nodded too. “Todd took it a little too far by tampering with the knobs on the burner and by scoring the glass bowl in the double boiler, thereby causing the explosion. Raymond didn’t want anything to happen that might hurt another person. However, he wanted whatever it was to be big enough to cancel the show because he wanted out of his contract with the network so he could do other things. At some point, Maria caught on to what was happening and wanted to blackmail Raymond into giving her a show of her own. She didn’t stop the pranks because she wanted my show to be canceled too. Charlotte noticed her odd behavior and the fact that Maria was always around when something odd was going on and jumped to the conclusion that Maria must be the culprit.” Bailey folded her arms and rocked back on her heels. “How’s that for a summary?”

  “That’s just about right,” Todd said from the floor. “Can I get up now? I promise that I won’t run away.”

  Linc removed his foot.

  Todd struggled to his feet. “I don’t want to go to prison.”

  Linc glared at him. “We aren’t calling the police. The network wouldn’t want the bad publicity, but you will pay for the damages from the explosion out of your next paycheck.”

  “That would take my entire check.”

  “Probably more than that. But it seems to me more than fair.” He paused. “And you are also fired.” He pointed at Todd, Maria, and Raymond in turn. “You are all fired.”

  “You can’t fire me!” Maria shouted. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “Yes, she did,” Todd shouted. “She was the one who put the sneezing powder in the pretzel container. I never would have done that.”

  Maria glared at him. “No, that’s right, you would just try to blow the entire set up!”

  “You should have come forward when you knew something was amiss with Todd and Raymond instead of planning a prank of your own,” Linc said to Maria. “You are fired like the other two, and I wouldn’t use me for a reference if I were you.”

  “But I was supposed to get my own show! I was promised my own show,” Maria cried.

  “No one promised you anything,” Linc countered, and he turned to Raymond. “And you have gotten what you wanted. You’re free from your contract, but I believe by breaking it in such a way, your forfeit your pay. I wouldn’t use me or anyone at Gourmet Television as a reference either.”

  “You can’t do that!” Raymond bellowed.

  “I can, and if you have read your contract, you know I’m right, which is why I think that you went to such great lengths to get out of it.”

  Raymond looked in every direction. “What choice did I have? I need to get out of this contract, and the only way to do that was for the show to fail.” He wrinkled his nose. “Bailey was a no-name. No one would be surprised if she cracked under the pressure of TV. It’s broken tougher people before.”

  Bailey put her hands on her hips. “I’m tougher than you think.”

  “She’s not kidding,” Juliet said as she held Jethro close to her chest. “Bailey has chased down killers.”

  “Why didn’t you just ask to get out of your contract?” Bailey asked. “I’m sure there are a bunch of new directors who would like a chance to work for Gourmet Television.”

  “I did.” He shook with anger. “But Linc and the network wanted to keep me locked in out of spite. They don’t want me to leave the network and follow my passion. They are stifling me.”

  Linc folded his arms. “We’re not stifling you anymore—I want you out of here in the next hour. If you don’t leave on your own, I will have security escort you out. You have wasted the network’s time and money. You’ll never work in food television again.”

  “Good! Because that’s not what I want to do! I’m better than your piddly little cooking shows. I have bigger dreams than watching someone bake all day long.”

  A security guard walked onto the set.

  “Did you call him here?” Raymond asked Linc accusingly.

  “Of course I did. I texted him to come up. I can’t have you or your accomplices tampering with any more of my set.” Linc turned to the guard. “Will you be so kind to usher Raymond and his accomplices out.”

  The guard reached for Todd’s arm.

  Todd jumped away from him. “I was just doing what I was told. I have to follow his orders. He’s the director. What choice did I have?”

  “And I’m the producer.” Linc rose to his full height, which was still five inches or more shorter than Todd. “That means I outrank him and what I say goes. You should have come to me, but whatever money he bribed you with was just too enticing, wasn’t it? You’re all fired. I want you out of this building.” He nodded at the guard.

  I watched as the guard grabbed Todd by the arm and started to pull him toward the door. With his other hand he grabbed Raymond’s arm. “Don’t touch me. You have no right to touch me. I will go on my accord. I don’t want to be here anyway.” He laughed. “See? In the end I got my way and got out of my contract, so I’m really coming out the winner in all of this.”

  Todd stared at me as he walked by, but I couldn’t meet his eyes. How could I have been so naïve and trusting of him? He was behind this all along. He had never wanted to help me. He had wanted to keep it all a secret.

  “I’ll show myself out,” Maria said. �
��I don’t need a guard to guide me to the door.”

  Linc nodded, and the guard led Todd and Raymond from the room.

  Maria walked over to me and stopped. She studied me. “I was passed over so that Bailey could have this show, and it was hard for me. Television is a tough business. The network was looking for a new face to take it in a new direction, and Bailey is a beautiful and well-spoken young woman. She was a perfect fit. I could see that as well as anyone. I was jealous. I wanted my chance and felt that she stole it from me.” She forced a laugh. “I guess everything backfired terribly since I have lost my job and have no chance of having my own show on Gourmet Television now.” She looked like she was about to cry. “I’m sorry.”

  “You should apologize to Bailey, not to me.”

  “I plan to do that.” She studied me. “Bailey is lucky, you know?”

  “Because she got this show?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “She’s lucky to have a friend like you, who will fight so hard to protect her and look out for her.”

  I watched Bailey across the room. She was holding Jethro and speaking with Linc as if talking to the television producer while holding a pig was the most natural thing in the world to do. Jethro was still in the room, but I had no idea where Juliet had gone to. Both she and Cass were gone, probably hatching plans to make Jethro a star. I didn’t think a few pranks would stop Juliet in her quest for pig fame.

  Bailey smiled at me from across the room.

  I turned back to Maria. “I’m lucky to have a friend like her. I was just repaying for a kindness she did for me some time back.”

  “I don’t think she expected anything in return for that kindness she did.” Maria glanced at Bailey. “She did it for you because she was your friend.”

  I nodded. “She is that.”

  Epilogue

  There was just one week left of filming and then Bailey and I were flying back home to Ohio. I was looking forward to returning to my familiar life in Harvest. At least I was for the most part. I knew the time was coming for me to decide whether or not to join the Amish church or become an Englischer. I was over twenty and far too old to be straddling the fence for so long. I knew the bishop in Cousin Clara’s district was eager for me to make up my mind. It would be the hardest choice I would ever have to make, but I couldn’t avoid it forever.

  Bailey and I would be flying home alone. Juliet and Jethro had already gone home weeks ago. Bailey and I were in Cass’s tiny apartment kitchen making a pizza. Bailey was teaching me how to make a proper New York-style pizza.

  “Guys! It’s on!” Cass called from her living room.

  I dropped the mushroom I was holding on the cutting board and ran with Bailey into the living room just in time to see Bailey’s short Easter demo of making birds’ nests come up on the screen.

  “Easter candies don’t have to be hard,” the Bailey on the television said. “One of my favorite things to make this season is birds’ nests. I used to make them with my grandfather when I would visit him in Amish country over Easter. It’s a great project to introduce children to the craft of candy making.”

  I stared at myself on the screen and was impressed that I seemed calm as I stood with Jethro and handed Bailey the ingredients she needed. Jethro, too, behaved perfectly. This take that made live television was much different from the one when Bailey was accosted with sneezing powder.

  Bailey held up a plate of the candy birds’ nests. “And it’s as easy as that. I hope you will tune into Bailey’s Amish Sweets later this year. See you in the summer!”

  The screen faded into a commercial.

  Cass picked up the remote and turned off the television. “That was perfect, Bai. You nailed it just like I knew you would.”

  “I’m just glad it’s almost over. I’m ready to go home.”

  “And see Hot Cop?” Cass asked.

  Bailey rolled her eyes.

  Cass cocked her head and looked at me. “You know, Charlotte, you were a natural on camera. You might have a future in show business. If you ever think about going that route, I could help you just like I have helped Bailey and Jethro. Look how far they’ve come. Jethro might even be the product mascot for a pet clothing line. Nothing is set in stone there. We are in negotiations.” She studied me more closely. “I see a lot of potential for you, Charlotte. We could work the Amish angle. There’s something there that resonates with people.”

  “Cass, no,” Bailey said, shaking her head. “Leave Charlotte out of your agenting schemes.”

  “What schemes?” Cass asked innocently.

  Bailey and I groaned.

  Bailey’s Easy Easter Birds’ Nests

  Ingredients

  1/4 cup caramel sauce

  Container of pretzel sticks

  Parchment paper

  One bag candy-coated milk chocolate eggs

  Directions

  Warm caramel in a saucepan over medium heat until it’s melted and easy to stir.

  Put pretzels into a large bowl. Pour caramel over the pretzel sticks; stir to coat the pretzels with the caramel.

  Scoop pretzel mixture from bowl with a large spoon onto parchment paper and form into small bowls. To make this easier, you can hollow the center out to create the nest with the back of the spoon.

  Arrange three chocolate eggs in each nest.

  Let cool and enjoy!

  Toxic Toffee

  Don’t miss the next mystery in the Amish Candy Shop series!

  A sweet tooth for murder . . .

  Bailey King’s in New York wrapping up a six-week shoot on her first cable TV show, Bailey’s Amish Sweets, when she gets a call from her Ohio town’s resident busybody. With Easter around the corner, Bailey’s been recruited to create a giant toffee bunny for the weeklong springtime festival that will also feature live white rabbits. But back home in Harvest, death becomes the main attraction when Stephen Raber keels over from an apparent heart attack—with Bailey and Raber’s pet bunny as witnesses.

  Except it wasn’t Raber’s heart that suddenly gave out—a lethal dose of lily of the valley was mixed into a tasty piece of toffee. Who’d want to poison a jovial rabbit farmer who reminded Bailey of an Amish Santa Claus? To solve the murder, she and her sheriff deputy boyfriend Aiden must uncover a twenty-year-old secret. She’ll need to pull a rabbit out of a hat to keep a healthy distance from toxic people, including one venomous killer . . .

  Chapter One

  Charlotte Weaver stood in the middle of Times Square with her mouth hanging open and the ties of her black bonnet flapping on the hot air pushing its way through the sewer grate where the subway ran below.

  “Charlotte!” I took hold of her arm. “Close your mouth. Your Amish is showing.”

  She snapped her mouth shut.

  The truth was that Charlotte’s “Amish was showing” the entire time we’d been in NYC. In Holmes County, Ohio, no one would blink an eye at the pretty redheaded young woman in the plain dress, sensible black tennis shoes, and black bonnet, but in New York, she stuck out like a gorilla on the subway. We had been in the city for the last six weeks shooting six episodes for my candy-making television show, Bailey’s Amish Sweets, which would appear on Gourmet Television in the summer season.

  Charlotte was in Manhattan as my kitchen assistant and would also appear on the show, giving it that extra “Amish oomph” as my producer Linc Baggins liked to say. Yes, Baggins like the hobbit. It was best not to mention that when he was around. Charlotte was able to appear on the show with me because she wasn’t yet baptized in the Amish church and could do more English things while on her Rumspringa. Her church elders weren’t thrilled with the idea, but Charlotte’s heart had been set on going with me to New York and being on the show. I couldn’t bring myself to disappoint her.

  “I–I’ve never seen anything like this!” Charlotte said in awe.

>   I glanced around and tried to take everything in through Charlotte’s eyes. The thousands of people of every race, ethnicity, and national origin milling around, the bright lights and signs glittering on the towering buildings, the smell of bodies, car exhaust, and food trucks mingling together. It was sensory overload for anyone; for a girl who had lived most of her life in a very conservative Amish community, it must have been like the dark side of Mars.

  I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. “Since you’ve been working so hard on the show, and since we haven’t been able to get out much with the shooting schedule, I’m glad I can finally show you some of the city.”

  “Is all the city this loud and bright and…” She trailed off, searching for the right word.

  “Maybe not this loud and bright,” I said with a smile. “We are in the thick of it now, but every city has life to it, but that’s not any different from Holmes County.”

  She looked at me with wonder in her large blue eyes. “How can you say that? This place is nothing like back home.”

  “Holmes County has as much life and color as New York does. It just shows up in a different way.”

  My best friend Cass Calbera ran up the sidewalk, maneuvering expertly through the crowd like someone who had lived in New York her entire life, which she had. “There you are! I’ve been circling the square for the last ten minutes looking for you two.” She glanced at Charlotte. “I thought it would be easy to spot Charlotte, but I got fooled by a nun in full habit walking down the street. I swore it was Charlotte.”