"There's 17 various business licenses and forms Vandergast has had fudged for her restaurants based in the city of Trussel," Henrietta began. She had plugged in the flash drive to review the results of her espionage with Lacey. Seated, Henrietta's portly middle taxed the give of her clothing. She shuffled in her seat trying to get comfortable, still not used to the amount of pudge she had gathered working undercover at Gloria Vandergast's company.
Lacey regarded her apprentice's trouble with dry amusement. "That can't be all she's done. I'd hardly think she knows how to make 'fudge' that easily."
Sensing a mild distaste from her employer, Henrietta stopped fidgeting and clicked on the next set of files. "Err, yeah, well, there's three figures at the city planning offices that have their signatures on these forms, which led me to more digging." As an additional nervous reflex, Henrietta had her free hand massage her plump middle. She's was beginning to regret not getting that larger pair of pants before her briefing with Lacey.
"The zoning commissioner and deputy health inspector are in her pocket," Henrietta explained over key documents. "Ms. Vandergast secretly wires the hush money to their private accounts, which coincides with a minor charitable contribution to the parks department from a small holding of hers. Her bribes with the vice president of the local chamber of commerce, however, are not quite monetary."
"Oh," Lacey said. "How so?"
Henrietta was about to reply when Alicia, Lacey's test baker, arrived with the requested tray of apple cinnamon muffins. Alicia had her sandy hair tied back in a pintail. Hers was a stocky figure of average height, a little bit of weight visible around her face and upper arms but she was nowhere close to the fluffy fatness sported by Lacey and Henrietta. The kind-hearted spy clammed up, although her nose was instantly drawn to the scent of the freshly baked muffins.
"Keep going, don't worry about Alicia," Lacey said as she pulled back the wrapper of a muffin, taking a small bite to ensure the flavor was up to par. She motioned for the test baker to take a spare seat. "She's in the loop for our conspiring against Ms Vandergast. I was just famished after my morning show appearance."
"Ok, right," Henrietta perked up, also reaching for a fresh muffin. "Ouch!"
Her reflexes were too slow to avoid Lacey slapping her hand away. "Get on with the results of your undercover work and maybe I'll consider rewarding you with a treat."
"Y-Yes, Ms. Truman." Henrietta hurriedly blew on her hand and continued the briefing. "Margaret Hayward, Chamber of Commerce VP, goes to lunch at one of Gloria's restaurants at least every other day. Ms. Vandergast also has several to-go vittles mailed to her home office. I saw her a few times where I was stationed."
Some photos Henrietta had taken showed a large, busybody looking woman in a plum suit and floral scarf, typically seated at the best table of a steakhouse to a generously supplied dinner.
"Tut tut," Lacey smiled, "It would appear Gloria not-so-metaphorically has her eating out of her hand."
"Yeah," Henrietta replied. "The receipts for her meals would always disappear. Her bribery hides in plain sight, compared to the maneuvering of funds to the others on her take. And then there's the cooking classes."
"Cooking classes?"
"Ms. Vandergast's latest project right before I left," Henrietta brought up the relevant file. "A community enrichment program where Gloria declared she would teach cooking classes, with the efforts to be donated to a local homeless shelter. It would generate a lot of positive spin for the city council and advertise Gloria's other businesses."
Lacey chewed her muffin thoughtfully, wiping the crumbs from her cheek as she considered this intel. She could tell it was torturing her young spy, who licked her lips as her eyes would dart towards the muffin tray. "And do you think Gloria is the type to teach?"
"Not really?" Henrietta shrugged. "She's kind of bossy and full of herself. I don't think she plans to be teaching for long. Based on the last file I was able to access, it looks like cover for another, sizable charitable contribution."
"Which is your way of implying she's buying off a city council member," Lacey stated.
"Yeah, which I didn't really understand given how well she cooks and how well that worked for Margaret Hayward," Henrietta surmised. "I wan't sure at first Ms. Vandergast would stoop to that level, it almost looked like another of her employees were embezzling her. But I got I lucky break tracking the pie orders to Mrs. Hayward. She bakes pies that are better than yours!"
Henrietta didn't notice the wince from Alicia at the implication that any rival of Lacey's could bake better than she could. Being Lacey's test baker, she was used to Lacey's shifting mood and disguised malice as she strove for perfection in her new recipes. The expat British baker showed no outward sign of disdain as she tucked into her second muffin. "And that's all of the digging up you found on Gloria's naughty bribery?"
Henrietta nodded. "So, what are we going to do with this info? Expose her, maybe?"
"Don't worry your head with the scheming, dearie, I've got a few ideas in store for Ms. Vandergast. Excellent muffins, Alicia," Lacey was dividing the remainder on the tray. "You're dismissed. I'll be seeing you shortly when we do the rounds at the other locations."
Alicia nodded politely, glad to be able to step away has she could sense the ice in Lacey's tone.
"As for you, Henrietta, good to see my faith in your capabilities this last sixth months weren't put to waste," Lacey offered her spy a plate with sardonic sweetness. "You've earned yourself five muffins."
"Oh, thank you!" Henrietta excitedly bit into her first muffin, practically swooning from the flavor. "Oh, I've missed your baking Ms. Truman!"
"Although you weren't hurting for vittles," Lacey poked the auburn haired girl's plump midsection.
Henrietta swallowed her mouthful. "Yeah, it was kind of hard to stop eating what with her employee's eat free policy." She didn't feel any less sexy than she did with the extra pounds, current wardrobe issues aside. The weight having come gradually during her undercover employment, she hadn't had clothing issues until recently. Henrietta's vest and undershirt didn't cover the fullness of her belly when she sat down thanks to its size and an extra sup size on her chest. Her pants, a size too small, dug into the lower of part of her stomach with increased tightness.
"And how about Gloria's pies, how could you walk away from that?"
"Hmm, I tried most of them. Her blueberry is just divine and she has the best meringue on her lemon--*cough*" Henrietta almost choked on her muffin when she realized her mistake, catching sight of her employer's face. Lacey's smile was not one of kindness. "N-N-N-noo, I mean, her pies were bad! As in, worse than yours, definitely!"
"Don't lie to me, Henrietta, you liked her baking more, didn't you?"
"No, Lacey! I mean, Ms Truman. Your baking is the best, hands down!"
"Really," Lacey leaned in. "Because I said your reward was five muffins, and a true fan of my cooking certainly wouldn't let them get cold now would they?"
Catching wise to what trouble she was in, Henrietta gulped down the rest of her first muffin. She smiled sheepishly, then proceeded to pig out on the next muffin. She soon hit a snag, however, in that while her appetite had grown during her time undercover, resulting in the 30-some pounds on her frame, Henrietta didn't tend to eat this many baked goods in one sitting. And Lacey's recipe for apple cinnamon muffins were rich, spiced calorie bombs.
Henrietta really felt pained when she polished off the fourth muffin, the sudden influx of dough in her rapid eating causing her belly to swell slightly, further pinched by her ill-sized pants. She couldn't stomach the idea of eating another muffin yet her boss looked at her expectantly.
"You can't be topped off on muffins yet, Henrietta," Lacey gave her young spy a squeeze, "there's still room in this muffin top. Keep eating."
Henrietta took a regrettable bite. "It...hurts..." she cried with her mouth full. The button of her trousers bit angrily into her engorged belly.
"How about you stuff it," Lacey said, slipping into a hint of her original street louse accent as she jammed the last muffin into Henrietta's mouth.
"MMmmph! Mmmf!" Forced to eat before she could scream, the last few bites proved to be the breaking point for the stubborn button on her trousers. The button bounced and rolled under Lacey's desk, as the bakery boss eyed her Infernal Affairs apprentice panting heavily now that her belly was unrestrained from the costly effort of gorging on muffins.
"Very good, Henrietta," Lacey said, returned to her usual composure and accent. "Good to have you back. Just remember where you loyalties lie when it comes to praising the competition. We wouldn't want you losing your figure on your next assignment, would we? Or I'll have you personally dispose of Alicia's failed test batches."
Henrietta could only nod weakly in compliance.
Lacey smiled as she dainty bit into one of her muffins, leaving Henrietta to consider her sins. Now, she had business to take care of and the career of one Gloria Vandergast to destroy.
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author