Doughnuts & Deadly Schemes - Culinary Competition Mystery #3

Chapter 22

(Amy)

Amy stared at the half-empty coffee pot. There were plenty more clean pots in the dining room. Would Sophie care if she poured sugar and cream into that one and drank the coffee from it as if it was a giant mug? When her alarm began beeping at 3:45 a.m., it had felt as if she was wading through pudding on her way to the shower. She was really going to need a nap, or more likely several naps and an early bedtime, to make sure she didn't look like a member of the walking dead at the wedding. Hopefully, Carla was thinking the same way and not running herself ragged. As far as Amy knew, all of the wedding plans were set. There shouldn't be much left for Carla to lose sleep over, but what bride ever slept well in the last days before her wedding? Now Amy had to take the wedding preparation reins and help with the bakery tasks. First up, helping Sophie come up with a stylish way to present dozens of doughnuts as a pseudo-wedding cake.

As soon as they arrived at the café, she and Sophie hauled boxes of cake stands and platters out of the storage room where they'd had the secret meeting with Shepler. The cluttered room was dimly lit and spooky. Between a few cobwebs in the unreachable corners and a platoon of shadows cast from boxes and equipment, it definitely wasn't the sort of place either of them wanted to hang out. The space was an invitation to imagine ghosts and chainsaw-wielding serial killers lurking in the shadows.

"What do you think of this?" Sophie asked as she took a step back from the rolling stainless steel worktable to examine the stack of cake stands. She had arranged crystal stands, similar to the one Amy had given Mariah so that they formed a graduated tower. The bottom stand was close to two feet in diameter. Amy imagined it holding a towering layer cake covered in curls of shaved coconut, maybe at a baby shower or retirement party. All of the stands had different patterns, some with sharp cut facets on the base, others with molded details like swags and flowers around the edge of the plate, but they were elegantly mismatched. Right in line with Carla's vision for the wedding.

"Looks good. That'll dress up the doughnuts." Amy unlatched the lid on a plastic bin full of silver platters. She pulled out a square one etched with images of full-bloom roses. "The rest of the baked goods and appetizers can go on trays, maybe with some boxes under the tablecloth to vary the height. I think a mix of glass and silver would be—"

The room went black.

"What the hell?" Sophie's voice came out of the darkness behind Amy. "There isn't a storm. Why would the electricity go out?"

"Maybe somebody hit a utility pole?"

"Yeah. Right. That could be it."

Judging from Sophie's tone of voice, she didn't believe the accident theory either. Amy pulled her key chain out of her jeans pocket. She pushed the button on the small penlight attached to it. The miniature flashlight had about the same brightness as a candle, but at least she and Sophie could somewhat see in the dungeon-like blackness to make their way through the maze of boxes congregated on the floor around them. "Let's go into the dining room to see if the lights are out in the whole area."

"Lead the way."

Amy trained the weak beam of light on the floor, occasionally flipping it up to see what was ahead as they navigated around the floor mixer and pushed through the doors into the dining room. A thin ray of moonlight traced over some of the tables and chairs. That was it for light. No circle of illumination from the street lamp in front of the café. They stood side by side at the front window. The usually blinking stoplight on the corner was invisible against the black sky. For as far as they could see up Main Street, everything was dark.