Chapter Text
Tuesday
Saccharine-sweet cupcakes. Bright pink and blue balloons. The excited squeal of childrens’ voices in the air.
God. Alexa Crowe hates it.
There’s something to be said about parties. She likes them. For the most part. But parties like these?
It’s not too hyperbolic to say she’d rather be dead.
“Smile.” Madison Feliciano says, and nudges her in the ribs. She, to the contrary, seems quite happy to be at the party. “We’re on camera.”
Alexa smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. She holds up her cupcake.
Flash.
“All I’m saying is that gender reveal parties are pointless.” Back at their house, Alexa dumps her bag down on the counter and goes to throw open the back doors. It’s too hot.
“Oh. I know.” Madison slumps down on the couch. After four hours and too many artificial sweeteners even her chipper attitude has begun to dip. She lies back, and puts her arms over her eyes. “They’re overly hetero parties for white people, and they’re awful. I was mostly there for the cupcakes. And for Clara.”
Clara’s someone they both vaguely know, through Reuben. She’s nice.
She’s also having a boy, they now know.
“Did the cupcakes live up to your standards?” Alexa asks. She fills Madison and herself a glass of water each from the fridge, and sets them down on the coffee table.
Madison reaches out blindly for hers, arm still thrown over her eyes. “They were mostly fondant. It’s a crime. Thoughts?”
Alexa redirects the glass so it lands in Madison’s hand, rather than all over the carpet. “Sweet.”
“Is that all?”
She sits back in her chair and sips at her water, as Chowder mews and leaps up onto the kitchen bench. She glares at him, and miraculously, he leaps back off. “I don’t really like cupcakes.”
“You’re a baker. ”
“I’m a bread baker. There’s a difference.”
“Mhmm.”
“There is!”
Madison eyes her sceptically, but doesn’t get the chance to say anything, as Alexa’s phone buzzes from the kitchen counter. She wanders over to answer it. “Hello?”
“I have a case for you.” And judging by the tone of Harry’s voice, he seems pretty excited about it too.
After getting a handful more details - Harry will drop the case file by in the morning - she rings off.
Madison raises an eyebrow at her. “That Harry?”
“Yes.” She narrows her eyes at her partner. “Why?”
“You always get ~a look~ in your eyes when you talk to him.” Madison raises both eyebrows this time. “A spicy look.”
Alexa rolls her eyes. Absolutely not. “Don’t start.” She sits back down, looking across at her expectant partner with more than a degree of annoyance. “What?”
“When was the last time you got some?”
And that one is a surprise. Yes… It may have been… a while. But that’s not the issue. The issue is what she’s implying. “ Madison.”
“What?” Madison grins, sitting up. “You had your… thing… with Kieren-”
“I did not have a thing with Kieren. He’s married-”
“Not according to the law.”
Yes, but- . “Men and women can be just friends.”
“Yeah, but I got vibes.”
Alexa sighs. “Look, Madison. I do not have a thing with Harry, and I didn’t have a thing with Kieren. I respect them both as friends and colleagues. Nothing more.” Thankfully.
Madison shakes her head, curls shaking lightly in the sunlight. “I don’t get you. You get all this attention from gorgeous men, and you don’t take any of it up.”
“Not just men.” Alexa replies, raising her eyebrows back at her.
She stands, taking her empty glass over to the sink, leaving Madison in stunned silence behind her.
“What-” Madison calls, from behind her, as Alexa heads to her room. “ Alexa . Since when ?”
In her room, Alexa just grins.
Madison doesn’t bring it up, later. They just watch tv together in comfortable silence. Chowder jumps up onto Alexa’s lap and purrs heavily while she strokes him.
Madison just ignores that the cat is even there.
No change there then.
The next morning, Harry comes round. He brings a bottle of limoncello - which is unnecessary but not unwarranted - and muffins.
“See, this is why you should let him come here more often.” Madison says, taking the bottle from Harry and popping it in the fridge. “He brings gifts, which you don’t do.”
“I don’t remember you getting me any gifts.” Alexa says.
Madison just wrinkles her nose at her, but neither of them mean anything by it.
“So. Case?” Alexa holds her hand out to Harry for the folder. “Give.”
“Want to go on holiday?” Harry asks, and passes the folder over. “Meet Karen Clever, head of the Clever Cupcake empire.”
“Well, that’s ridiculous.” Alexa says. She takes the folder, flicks through it. There’s not too much there - crime scene photos, some profiles, it’s quite minimal.
“Oh yeah, I know her.” Madison comes over, leans back against the kitchen worktop. “She made brookies before anyone else, didn’t she?”
“I don’t know about that part.” Harry replies, but points out a picture of a heavily frosted cupcake in the folder. “But she was the head of the Clever Cupcake company - before she died tragically last year.”
“Oh yeah, I remember that.” Madison says, resting her head on Alexa’s shoulder and looking over the case file too. “Big news. Her daughter inherited the company.”
“It was a big case for a small town.” Harry says, “But they just didn’t have the resources to investigate it. They’re stretched thin as they are, and the family didn’t want the whole thing dragged on any longer. All the suspects had alibis, and no-one knew why Karen was killed in the first place, she was apparently the nicest person around.”
“The company did a lot for charity.” Madison replies. Her breath tickles Alexa’s ear, and Alexa doesn’t quite have the heart to shuffle her away. “She seemed pretty cool.”
“How was she killed?” Alexa asks.
“A poisoned cupcake.” Harry says, and the worst thing is, she can tell he’s telling the truth.
“Fitting.” Alexa replies. “What was this about a holiday?”
“The Clever Cupcake company is operated out of one tiny town just north of here.” Harry replies. “Brokenwood. Have you heard of it?”
Brokenwood.
The murder capital of New Zealand.
Yes. She’s heard of it.
Her heart stills, for a moment.
“Yeah. I have. We’ll take the case.”
Harry seems almost surprised by her lack of argument.
Thursday
“So what’s this about this place?” Madison asks, in the car.
Alexa ignores her, and focuses on the road in front of her. Brokenwood is barely an hour or two away from the city, but it seems like another world. The road’s surrounded by massive trees, lush farmland, and long rivers.
It’s heartland New Zealand, if it wasn’t for the two highways that run through it.
“You can’t just ignore me the entire way there.”
“Who says I can’t?”
Madison grins at her. “See, I got you to talk.”
That’s the thing about Madison. She knows exactly how to push her buttons. She always has. Madison’s always been able to get slightly under her skin.
“You might have, but I’m not telling you about Brokenwood.”
“And why not?”
“Just drop it, okay?” Alexa replies, prickly.
Madison looks at her for a moment, almost curiously, then clearly drops it. She says, “Chowder doesn’t like me as much as he likes you.”
“And I wonder why that is?” Alexa replies, but she’s grateful for the distraction.
They talk about nothing at all that matters for the rest of the trip.
“It was definitely overkill to get such a large house.”
“Nothing wrong with a spacious Airbnb.” Madison replies, and leaps onto Alexa’s bed, face first. She buries her head in a pillow and exhales heavily, with a sigh.
“Do you mind doing that in your own room?” Alexa asks, not really annoyed, as she unpacks her work bag. She pulls the clear folder from its depths and starts spreading the case files across the large wooden desk in one corner.
“No, I don't mind.” Madison says, muffled. “’s really comfy.”
“Mhmm. What exactly are we going to do with the third bedroom?”
Madison says something that Alexa doesn’t quite catch, head still buried in the pillow.
“What was that?”
With a heavy sigh, Madison flops onto her back. “I said we might have guests. Contingency. You know.”
“Yeah.” Alexa puts the final photo down on the table and looks across the spread, admiringly. “Tell you what, you get settled in. I’ve got a meeting.”
“A meeting-” Madison starts, but Alexa’s already gone, out of the room and out of the front door. It closes, with a click.
Madison flops back down on the bed again. It really is rather comfy.
Alexa stops in front of the Brokenwood Police Station for a moment and sighs, exhaling heavily. It’s been a few years - more than a few, if she’s honest - but despite the differences, the place still feels like home when she walks in.
A young Māori woman, hair plaited tightly against her head, is manning the desk when she gets in. She has a pleasant face. “Kia ora.” She says, “Can I help you?”
“Yes.” Alexa replies, placing her hands up on the desk between them. “I’d like to speak to Mike Shepherd.”
“DSS Shepherd isn’t talking to anyone at the moment-” The woman, who’s name tag reads Aroha, says.
“Please.” Alexa replies. “Tell him it’s Alexa Crowe. He’ll… understand.”
The woman looks mildly annoyed, but she does it. She leans to the right and calls, “Senior? Alexa Crowe for you.”
“I’ll be there in a minute,” comes the resounding yell of one Mike Shepherd.
Mike. It’s been so long.
Aroha turns back to her for a second. “Sorry- he said he didn’t want to-”
“It’s fine. I’m an old…”
Friend. Something like that.
“Alex.” Mike says, from behind the other side of the partition - the same mildly ruffled, no sharp edges Mike Shepherd from so many years ago.
Before she even has a chance to blink, he opens the door between them and they’re hugging, and it’s like no time has passed at all.
Somewhere in the distance, a man asks, “Is she one of the ex-wives?” in a tone of voice that’s probably supposed to be a whisper.
A woman, “Breen, you can’t just ask-”
“We were never married.” Alexa pulls away from Mike to fix the others with a glare. Behind the partition, a tall ginger man, and a neatly-dressed blonde are looking at her, more than a little bit curiously.
Mike turns to them. “Get back to work.” He says, mildly, but it’s enough to send them, and Aroha, back to some semblance of paperwork. He gestures towards the outside door.
“Walk? There’s a lot of nosy people around here.”
There’s a chuckle from somewhere behind the partition, where the younger members of staff are definitely still listening.
“Good idea.”
“I heard about Gary.” Mike says, as they walk down the road together. “I’m sorry. I tried to get to the funeral but there was this… asylum case, and I-”
It’s a bright, beautiful day in Brokenwood, and the mention of her ex-husband doesn’t hurt quite so much in a place like this. “It’s fine.” She replies, and it is.
“You’re looking good, Alexa.” He says, nothing in it, just matter-of-factly.
“Could say the same about you.”
“Nah.” He shrugs. “I’ve curated a very specific image here, and it’s one that only wears a tie on alternating weekdays.”
She laughs. “Very fair. Some of us like to dress up.”
“Mhmm.” He hmms, quietly. “Take it you’re not just in town to catch up?”
“I could be holidaying.” Alexa replies, “You’re assuming.”
“I’m not assuming.” He says, and that’s the Mike Shepherd look she recognises, the one that reaches a little bit under her skin, makes her feel a little uncomfortable and far too exposed, all at once. “I know you. Since when do you go on holiday?”
“Madison booked us an Airbnb and everything.” She protests, “But yeah. You know me too well.”
He nudges her with his elbow, and smiles, gently. “It’s my job. What’s the case your contact definitely didn’t give you?”
“The cupcake queen.”
“Karen Clever.” He heaves a great sigh. “Should have known. It was messy, that one. So many loose ends.”
“I’m hoping I can sew some of them up.”
Brokenwood is a peaceful little town, and would probably be quite nice if it wasn’t for all the memories. Their walk takes them by a coffee cart, just down the road. “Mike!” The man behind the counter exclaims. “Who’s your friend?”
“New in town.” Alexa interjects, smoothly. “Mini break. I’m Alexa Crowe.”
“Frodo.” The man replies. “What can I get you? Wait. I can guess, it’s-”
And he gets it right.
“That’s quite the skill you’ve got there.” Alexa commends, once she’s gotten her coffee.
The man smiles, a little roughly. “Thanks.”
“He’ll be living off that for a week.” Mike says, once they head off down the road again, drinks in hand. “That one’s been through a lot.”
She side-eyes him. “Haven’t we all.”
“You could have visited.” He says, taking a sip of his coffee. “If you’d wanted to.”
“Yeah, well I wasn’t going to go back to Auckland until I was dragged there.” Alexa says, “And I didn’t… really want to come back here either. Smells like the past.”
“The heydays of youth.”
“Hey, I didn’t leave you at the altar.”
Mike looks a little sheepish at that. “To be fair, I think me leaving left both of us better off.”
“Probably.” She nudges him in the ribs this time. “We’ll never know, will we?”
“Yeah.” And he stops, and she realises exactly why they’d been walking.
In front of her is a charming little shop, an old 20s house redone and refurbished. A sign peeking out from behind the ivy winding its way across the shop reads ‘Clever Cupcakes’.
Behind the house, there’s a much larger, shapeless building. People come and go from within. It’s clearly the business side of the cupcake empire.
“Impressive.” Alexa says. “Right here in Brokenwood.”
“No-one thought it would catch on, but…” Mike gestures to the hubbub from the factory beyond. “They ship all around the country now.”
“So who’s running the show now that the founder is dead?”
“Tara, her daughter, and Jonathan, Tara’s husband.” Mike leans back against the fence they’re standing near, and takes another sip of coffee. “It’s all very hands-on, or so I’m told. They hold classes and things.”
“Not really your style?” She asks, and leans back against the same fence too.
“I don’t think I’ve baked anything… ever. Could be yours though, if you wanted?” He asks, very unsubtly. “Have a look around, ask a few questions…”
“Yeah, yeah, Sherlock, don’t get ahead of yourself. I bake bread.”
“You bake, though. That’s better than me.”
That night, Madison books them both into a cupcake making course, starting the next morning. She’s enthused.
Alexa… isn’t.
"I don't know if you've heard." Alexa says, "But I'm a bread baker."
"You've only said it four times since we got here," Madison replies, cheekily, with her trademark gleam in her eye. "But yeah, go on. Say it again. Louder, so I can hear you. What's your beef with cupcakes?"
"I don't have a beef with cupcakes."
Madison raises an eyebrow at her. "Yeah?"
"I don't. I really don't." Of all the things Madison doesn't need to know about her, the Cupcake Competition incident of 2007 is one of the biggest. "I just don't like them. Too sweet."
Madison just shakes her head. "You hate the strangest things, you know, right?"
"It's part of my mysterious image." Alexa says, and sweeps her hair back in a way that's only a little bit dramatic. She pretends not to notice Madison's eyes on her neck. "You should try it sometime. An air of mystique."
"I think I'll leave that to you." Madison drains her glass of wine. "I'm off to bed. Early start tomorrow, for the cupcakes."
Alexa narrows her eyes. "How early."
Friday
Madison drags her out of bed at seven the next morning, annoyingly chipper. She's so bright, Madison is, so full of life that it's almost annoying.
Alexa feels a little like she's got a hangover. Maybe it's because of the town. Brokenwood had always been full of mysteries.
"Time to greet the day." Madison says, smiling wide. She somehow has pastries for them both, which is too nice, but they're also probably just from the Woolworths down the road. "Are you excited?"
"Terribly." Alexa says, and rubs at her eyes. "Go on, get out."
"If I come back in here and you're sleeping I will throw something at you."
"Haven't we discussed privacy, Madison? Get out!"
Alexa doesn't go back to sleep, but does get dressed, albeit reluctantly. Needs must, however, and soon she's dressed and joins Madison in the little living room of their AirBnB after a few minutes, to have a couple of danishes and a very large coffee.
"You know normal people get up this early every day." Madison says. "People who work."
"I retired for a reason, and I get up whenever I like. Don't you wish you weren't beholden to the office sometimes?"
"Sometimes I wish I wasn't beholden to you." Madison replies, and bites into a raspberry danish. She chews for a moment. "Was that a proposal, in Medieval English?”
"Who could say." Alexa says, mysteriously, smiling slyly, and leaves it at that.
It's not flirting she's doing, and none of it even matters, but it is a little bit fun to see Madison get flustered for a moment or two. Brokenwood might be reawakening a few things she’s ignored for a while, sue her. She doesn’t get mini breaks very often.
Madison takes a second to just stare at her, then blinks and says, "How much are you going to derail this cupcake making class?"
"I would never do a thing like that, Madison." Alexa replies, in mock shock. "You think so little of me."
"No," Madison replies. "I think I think exactly as much as I should."
The interior of Clever Cupcakes is exactly as old-timey homestyle as the outside, albeit with a modern flair. "It's called cottagecore," Madison whispers to her as they go in. "The decor."
"Of course you have a name for it." Alexa says, back.
"Hey, I didn't make it up. It just is."
The house is small, but reeks of sweetness. It's comfortable, but nice-looking. Behind the counter stands a tall brunette woman, impossibly beautiful, wearing a well-tailored pink apron. She looks like she's walked right off the pages of Home and Garden, and it's almost a little bit dazzling.
"Good morning!" She chirps, coming out from behind the counter, hand outstretched, fingernails neatly manicured. "I'm Tara. You must be..."
"Madison." Madison takes her hand, and shakes it. "I love your nails."
"Aw, thanks hun." Tara replies, "My best friend in town - she runs a studio out of her house and she is just so talented. Who's your friend?"
"Alexa Crowe." Alexa says, and shakes Tara's hand as well. "We're here for the cupcake course."
"Yes, of course!" Tara walks back behind the counter and starts flipping through a large reservation book. "It's so nice to see new people around the town! Brokenwood doesn't get all that much variety these days and I'm sure you two will be very welcome."
"Oh, we're just here for a few days." Madison offers, and steps up towards the counter. "Mini-break."
"Well, regardless of the circumstances, it's so good to have you two here." Tara finds the page. "Oh, there we go. We don't get all that many takers for the couples' cupcake course, but in the lead up to Valentine's Day there are a few more this morning. We'll start in ten minutes or so!"
And with a gracious smile, she directs them across to a plush lounge, full of comfortable-looking ornate chairs, then leaves them to it.
"Couple, huh?" Alexa hisses, as Madison sits down. "Were you planning to tell me about this at any point today?"
"The very first case you took me on you pretended I was your girlfriend so a pervy landlord would give you more information!" Madison hisses back. "I think this is fair enough. That and it was the only course today. I guessed that you probably wouldn't want to hang around the AirBnB until tomorrow afternoon's 'Ladies who Lunch' course."
"Not really." The whole thing doesn’t really sound like Alexa, anyway. "You don't know what you've walked into, though. I commit."
"Do you?" Madison replies, looking curious despite herself. "I'd like to see you try."
"Yeah, yeah." Alexa blows out a breath at her, breaking the tension, and sits back in her seat. "We better get to keep some of these cupcakes after all this faff."
"Oh, I paid the... fee... so we get to keep everything we make!" Madison says, happily. "It was on top of everything else, but I think I can claim it back."
"Think you're pushing the department's refund system." Alexa replies. "That, and that vacuum you got."
"I needed it for a case!" Madison retorts, but their light squabbling is interrupted when the bell over the door jingles and two people walk in.
It's the short blonde detective and the tall ginger man from the police station.
Huh.
"Detectives?" Tara asks, looking up from her phone. "Is there something wrong?"
"Not at all, Tara." The blonde detective says. "Sam and I are here for the course. Genuinely."
"Yeah, genuinely." The ginger one - Sam - says, from behind her. "We booked yesterday."
"I wasn't aware that you two are in a relationship." Tara says, but flips through her book anyway. "Isn't that a breach of workplace rules, Kristen?"
"Our boss is fine with it." The blonde - Kristen - continues, "But we would appreciate it if you kept it on the... down low, for a while. We don't want it to be town gossip."
Tara nods, seriously. "Who knows what Mrs Marlow would make of it if she heard!"
"Exactly." Kristen replies. "It would be chaos."
"Ah yes, I've got you two here." Tara says, and ticks their names off in her book. "Take a seat - we're waiting for a couple more and then we'll get started!"
She ushers the two detectives over to the lounge area, and they both sit, sharing a loveseat in a way that is far too self-conscious for anyone actually in a committed relationship for a decent stretch of time. Madison smiles gingerly at them, looking confused.
Alexa narrows her eyes at the pair. There's no way.
There's no way they're actually doing what they're doing.
Seriously.
What are the odds?
"Alexa Crowe." She says, instead, and holds out a hand. "I spotted you two at the station yesterday, didn't I?"
"Yes." Kristen says, and shakes her hand. "I'm Kristen Sims. He's Sam Breen. Sorry that you probably heard him speculating about your relationship with Mike yesterday."
"Mike Shephard is a mystery and an enigma and one day I will unlock his backstory." Sam declares. "I probably should just do it a little quieter."
"Might be wise." Alexa agrees. "I'd ask what you're doing here, but I suspect we're in the same place for the same reasons."
"And that's where I come in." Madison interjects. "Madison Feliciano. I'm the one who didn't hear anything about this police station visit yesterday at all, babe-" She nudges Alexa in the ribs, "-and I’m also her girlfriend."
“Your dress is incredible.” Kristen says.
Madison’s dress is bright batik fabric, with red, yellow and dark blue intricate patterns woven across it, and cutouts across the neck and shoulders. It is an incredible dress, and she does look very good in it. She really does pull off the brightest, most creative fashion choices sometimes.
It’s an ability that Alexa envies and admires.
“Thanks!” Madison says. “I’d like to say I made it myself but this one was a little too complex for me. It was a…”
Alexa tunes them out and turns to the ginger man who’s looking a bit lost at all the discussion around clothing and fashion. She gets it, really. Fashion for Alexa is form over function - but she does really like long flowing coats.
“Come here often?” Alexa asks, in a way that only seems to knock him off his guard a little bit.
He grins at her, a bit sheepishly. “I’ve been once and it was only when…” It’s then that he seems to realise that he’s about to tell her the details of a case that she should only peripherally know about. “A little while ago. It’s not really my thing.”
“You do a lot of baking?”
“Absolutely none. My- uh- someone told me that I really shouldn’t ever try baking again when I set off the fire alarm last time. You?”
“I bake bread.” And good bread, too. Better bread than the cupcakes, she’d bet. But she’s not going to bring it up.
He nods. “Is it good bread?”
“The best.”
“Look…” He says, shifting in his seat for a moment. “I’ve got to ask. It’s eating at me, and I’m so sorry, cause you seem cool. How do you know Mike?”
He looks more than a little bit sheepish now, his interest is almost coming out of his pores.
“Tell you what, Sam.” Alexa says, and lowers her voice even more. “Answer one question I ask you and then I’ll tell you how I know Mike?”
“What’s the question?” Sam asks, leaning forward conspiratorially.
“Why are you two pretending to be a couple?” Alexa asks. “It’s really obvious, and I’m not just saying that because I’m good at reading people. I have eyes. There’s nothing between you, never has been, right?”
He jolts back for a second, apparently genuinely shocked. “We’re not-” He hisses, but then doesn’t even seem to get that far. “It’s not.” His ruse fails. “Look. I’m only telling you this because Mike mentioned that if we saw you around that you could be trusted-”
“Oh, that’s nice of him.” After so many years away! Mike Shepherd, Alexa thought, what a man.
“Yeah.” Sam sighs. “Look, we’re not a couple, and we’re not doing anything that’s against the law. Clever Cupcakes are weird about bringing people in - and after the… death… we figured it might be time that we actually saw what happens at one of these classes.”
It seems a little dubious for two active on-duty detectives to be constructing a complicated ruse to get into a cupcake-making factory, but honestly, Alexa has probably done worse. “So you’re working, essentially.” Alexa replies, raising her eyebrows at him. “Sneaking around, like movie detectives.”
“It’s perfectly within the law.” He says, awkwardly. After a moment, he seems to remember their deal. “How do you know Mike?”
“Well…” Alexa begins, but then the bell over the door rings again and two men come in, both well-dressed and looking very much in love.
Much unlike the other two couples currently in the foyer of the cupcakery.
“Shaun! Gareth!” Tara cooes, and emerges from behind the counter again to kiss both of the men on the cheek. They’re both stocky, though one’s brunette and Māori, and the other is blonde. “It is soooo good to see you!”
“It’s so good to be back, hun!” The blonde - presumably Gareth - says. “Shaun and I couldn’t wait to come back when we heard about the Valentine’s Day course!”
“Of course, of course.” Tara says, “And I’m so pleased you did. How are you, Shaun?”
“Couldn’t be better.” Shaun replies, but he’s looking over at… Breen, for some reason.
Huh. Alexa knows relationship drama where she sees it, but that’s for another time.
Breen bristles a little beside Alexa, and looks away, immersing himself in Madison and Kristen’s conversation. By the sounds of it, they’re talking about small towns now.
“That’s all of us!” Tara cries, across their different conversational groups. “If you’d follow me?”
Dutifully, Alexa and Madison, Kristen and Sam, and Shaun and Gareth, do.
What could the cupcakery have in store for them?
The factory is vast but doesn’t contain much of any interest. Anything that looks like it could be useful in the case is locked behind big doors with signs on them that read ‘Restricted Access Only’, which doesn’t help matters.
All the couples ooh and ahh at appropriate points as Tara leads them around. In front of them, Kristen and Sam are obviously a little uncomfortable, but Shaun and Gareth are clearly enjoying themselves.
Madison nudges her, just as they’re walking past a giant vat of sprinkles. “Did it say in the case files what Karen was poisoned with? Aside from the cupcake.”
“Oleander.”
Madison wrinkles her nose. “That’s… rare.”
“Incredibly so.” She’s done her research. Very few people have ever died from the oleander plant, and it seems like a gruesome death. She explains the side effects to Madison. “Someone clearly had a vendetta out for Karen.”
“Don’t think there’d be that many of those trees around here though.” Madison says. “That might narrow things down.”
“It might. Oleander’s really bitter though.” Alexa says, ducking under a stack of pipes. “It would take a lot of disguising to make it palatable.”
“If you were going to make a poisonous cupcake, this’d be the best place.”
To complete the tour, Tara leads them into a test kitchen, decked out in shades of pastel. Alexa suppresses a wince at the sight. It’s… so much, and not in the right ways.
“I do hope you enjoyed your trip around the factory.” Tara says, beaming. “Take a bench with your partner. If you need help I will be around. As much as I want you to spend time with your loved one, you’re welcome to get to know each other too! Feel free to chat and mingle as you design.”
Three of the metal tables are stacked with undecorated cupcakes, and a variety of piping bags filled with icing, and decorations. There’s a high tech tablet attached to each station too that shows a series of instructions.
Outside one window, there is, indeed, an oleander tree.
“Well, look who’s looking over us.” Alexa murmurs, guiding Madison towards the table closest to the window. “Funny, that.”
“So they didn’t even have to hunt it out.” Madison breathes. “Clever.”
“The company or the plan?” Alexa replies, and picks up an icing bag to start her designing without even reading the instructions. “Tell you what. You make nice with our fellow cupcakers, especially the ones who aren’t cops, and I’ll schmooze up to Tara by pretending to be hapless at cupcaking. Work for you?”
“You’d better leave some of that icing for me.” Madison eyes the piping bag with some wariness. “If I come back and there’s no sprinkles left, I’ll be very upset.”
“Oooh.” Alexa raises her eyebrows at her. “Will you now?”
“I will.” Madison says, and, leaning close, whispers, “ Babe.” She pecks her on the cheek and wanders off towards the other cupcakers, looking really rather smug.
Huh. Alexa takes a minute, not really sure why. She can still smell the warmth of Madison’s perfume in her nose. Weird.
Her cupcakes are a mess when Tara comes by to take a look at them. Silver cachous everywhere, uneven icing - they’re not Instagrammable at all. Of course, that’s sort of the point.
“Why didn’t you ask for help?” Tara asks. She looks less than impressed by the state of Alexa’s workbench, the trill in her voice replaced by something a little harder, more assessing. “And you should be clearing up as you go.”
Up close, Alexa’s eye catches on the faint grey coming in at Tara’s hairline, the strange edges to her forehead, and her overzealous application of foundation. A small silver cross hangs at the dip of her throat. It’s clear that she’s spent a lot of time to look as young as she does. “Sorry.” She says, though she doesn’t really mean it. “It’s my first time.”
Tara looks unimpressed. “Really.”
“Yes.” Alexa insists. “I bake bread. This is new to me. But I’m a quick study. Honest.”
“Right.” The other woman doesn’t look like she agrees. “Well, to start with, here’s a better way to hold that piping bag…”
Alexa mostly tunes her out as she starts her explanation, and looks around the room to find Madison. To her surprise, Madison, Shaun and Gareth are happily chatting around one of the stations. She smirks, despite herself. Madison’s invaluable, much as she’d never say it to her face. Alexa, despite everything, is not wildly about compliments.
She picks up her piping bag and mimics Tara’s movements. “So, how’d you become the owner of this impressive empire?”
“Death in the family.” Tara says, shortly, and leaves it at that. “If you just pipe that spot there-”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, well it wasn’t a great time for anyone here.” Tara says, “So now, I run the place. It’s great. It’s great.”
Alexa’s not so convinced. “Is it?”
Tara puts her piping bag down. Her hands are shaking. “It’s fine.”
“I hear the more you say something the more it turns out to be true.” Alexa says, and puts her own piping bag down. She can’t believe she’s going to say it, but… “Want to talk about it? I’ll stop massacring these cupcakes.”
“I don’t even know you.”
Alexa pastes on what she’s learned, after many years of practice, is a reassuring smile. “Yeah, but I’m good at listening, and you look like you need someone on your side.”
Tara falters, her gaze dipping. “...Yeah. I really do. I’ll… take you up on your offer. Tomorrow. Um. Call me. My number’s on my card. Thanks.”
“It’s fine. Though you might have your work cut out with those two.” Alexa gestures over at Kristen and Sam, who are already arguing amongst themselves.
Tara rolls her eyes. “Christ. They’re a terrible love match. I have no idea how this happened.” She dashes away, abandoning Alexa with two dripping piping bags and am.
“Yeah.” Alexa says, staring after her. “Neither do I.”
The little coffee shop on Brokenwood’s main street is rural, but nice enough. At the end of the cupcake fiasco, they’d been allowed to take their efforts home. Madison’s two, unsurprisingly, look great.
Alexa’s are less impressive. They sit, melting, in a takeaway container.
The coffee shop is as good a place as any to discuss their findings.
“Shaun and Gareth were both great. ” Madison choruses. “Super nice. I had a good chat. Gareth called Tara’s husband, Jonathan, a “homophobic dickhead”, but both of them seem to think that Tara’s alright.”
“She’s trying very hard for a certain image, that’s for sure.” Alexa says. Her coffee’s not that good, but she goes for another sip all the same. “About time we take a look at the suspect list, don’t you think?”
When they get back to the Airbnb, Madison spreads the files out across the kitchen table.
“Tara.” Alexa thumbs through them, just about not getting distracted by the sunlight coming through the window and playing off the bare skin on Madison’s back. “Jonathan. Uh-” She pulls the files closer to her, raising an eyebrow. “There’s another cupcake empire in this tiny town?”
She’s going to be having nightmares about buttercream by the time the week is out.
The rest of their suspects include Lillia Kearns, owner of the since-closed Riverside Cupcakes, Andre Martins, a former chef of Karen’s and June Bowen, a local -so called- food critic. As Alexa flips through the suspect testimonies, she notes all the alibis, which frankly, are pretty flimsy.
“What were they doing when they looked over this case?” She murmurs. “Sloppy work. Don’t tell Mike I said that.”
“Is Mike the guy the two detectives were talking about earlier?” Madison asks, not even bothering to look up from her computer. “Hey. Want to do another cupcake course?”
“No.”