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ingredients. The brownies would be dense and fudgy, filled with dried fruit and nuts, just like her favorite candy bar. She deposited jars of raisins, dried blueberries, dried cranberries and pecans on the island counter then opened the refrigerator to retrieve eggs and butter. A basket of plump, ruby red raspberries sat innocently on the middle shelf. Normally she would grab a handful of the sweet, natural candy to munch on while she prepared the brownie batter. Now the beautiful berries seemed sinister after the trauma of seeing their fruity cousins smeared on Mandy Jo's face. Amy's stomach gurgled. There was no way she could eat them now. She plopped the basket of fruit in the trash and tried to concentrate on making the perfect brownies that the judges at Cooking from Scratch magazine would love.
     

CHAPTER THREE
     
    A gust of cold air rushed past Amy when she opened the door to Maxson's Bakery. The heat and humidity had been relentless for the past week. It was like Mother Nature tried her best to broil the residents of Kellerton every year during Summer Festival. It didn't matter if it was unseasonably cold for the entire summer, a record breaking blast of heat, along with thousands of visitors, would roll into the southeastern Michigan town for the festival. She was so glad she could crank the air conditioning in the house down to arctic levels to make the delicate buttercream icing for her cakes. Obviously Elliot Maxson was worried about the fate of the icing on his cases full of cupcakes, cookies, and doughnuts. It felt more like she was walking into the cold beer cave at the party store than a bakery. He must be paying a fortune to keep the place that cold with all of the ovens and doughnut fryers toiling away in the back room.
    Mr. Maxson was standing behind the register accepting cash from a scowling elderly woman who looked like she could use more sweetness in her life. A strained smile was pasted on his face. Maybe the woman had been unhappy about something and Elliot was trying to smile his way through the confrontation. The Summer Festival was over, and the town was back to being quiet and rather sleepy. Three women dressed in mint green smocks stood behind the sparkling glass counters, smiling and looking expectantly at Amy, as if their jobs depended on her ordering a bran muffin. The bakery was so small there wasn't even space for tables or chairs. Despite shelling out big bucks to the power company for the excessive air conditioning, Amy wondered how well Elliot's bakery did during non-festival times, when the bakery's name wasn't plastered on banners all over town advertising the baking contests. There were two coffee shops, a tea room, and a cupcake store all within three blocks of Maxson's Bakery. Those places had plenty of indoor seating for customers and offered fancy, gourmet treats that made Elliot's baked goods look like ugly stepsisters. It couldn't be easy to stay afloat with competition like that.
    " Amy, what a pleasant surprise to see you this morning." Elliot handed a waxed paper bag to the grumpy looking woman and motioned for Amy to come closer. "Saturday night was absolutely horrific. What a disgusting blemish on our peaceful, close-knit community."
    The image of a giant, puss-filled zit sitting on the roof of the Kellerton Town Hall pushed its way into Amy 's mind. Her stomach grumbled. She had been thinking about buying a shortbread cookie before Elliot tossed out the nausea-inducing analogy. "Yes, it is such a tragedy. I've known Mandy Jo for years. I still can't believe she's gone. I was wondering if we could talk a bit about honoring her in some way."
    " Certainly." Elliot nodded. His dark, onyx-colored, very likely dyed hair gleamed in the bright spot lights trained on the bakery cases. It looked like it was made out of plastic. He had always reminded her of a movie star from the 1950's, perpetually tan with thick, slicked back hair despite being in his mid-50's. In fact, everything