Brian fell heavily, cracking his head on the edge of the countertop in his plunge to the floor. I ran into the laundry room where Eleanor kept a spare leash and ran back. I tied the leash tightly around Brian’s wrists. I then poured several treats onto Brian’s back for Mr. Crumbles to eat.
Essentials all done, I sank to the floor, holding tightly to the leash, and called the police.
The next fifteen minutes were a blur. I kept giving Mr. Crumbles treats.
Damon arrived just as Brian was regaining consciousness.
His expression was taciturn. He shot me a look before hurrying over to a struggling Brian.
“He confessed,” I said. “And he wanted to kill me.”
Uniformed officers arrived at that point and escorted Brian out.
Damon walked over and put his hand on my shoulder. “Jane, are you hurt?”
I shook my head. “I’m shaken, that’s all. Mr. Crumbles saved me.” I gave him some more treats.
“Jane, you really shouldn’t put yourself in danger like this,” Damon said.
“You don’t understand,” I began. “Brian wanted me to have dinner with him and I told him no. In fact, it was a very firm no, but then he turned up, uninvited, at my door with chicken soup.”
“Why did you let him in?” Damon asked me.
“He pushed past me,” I said. “I gave him a hint to go, but he didn’t take it.”
“I’m going to make you a nice cup of tea with plenty of sugar and then if you feel up to it, you can give me your witness statement,” he said. “Stirling will be along in a moment. Jane, how did Brian Birch know you were onto him?” He took my arm and led me to the couch where he indicated I should sit.
I did so and then said, “He didn’t, not at first anyway. He overheard me say I knew who the murderer was as we arrived at the front door earlier. I figured he wanted to come and make sure whether I did actually know.”
“And did you know?” Damon asked me.
I thought about it. I had suspected two others. Who were they? I was too shaken to get my thoughts into any semblance of order. “Not until he let slip that he knew about the Ellende post office—that the gifts were sent from there.”
Damon looked none too pleased. Still, there was no point withholding anything from him because it would all come out in my witness statement.
“Jane, this is not the first time someone has tried to kill you. I really don’t like you getting yourself into such scrapes. You might not be so lucky the next time.”
“The next time!” I said. “There won’t be a next time.” I watched Damon as he rubbed his forehead. I wanted to fling my arms around his neck and hold him close and sob, but of course, I wasn’t about to do so.
He sighed. “I hope you’re right.”
At that point, Detective Stirling arrived so Damon went over to speak with him. They had their heads together for a moment before Damon walked into the kitchen.
He soon returned and set a cup of tea in front of me. I slid my phone across the coffee table to him. “I recorded this once I realized Brian was the murderer,” I said. “His confession will be on it.”
I thought Damon was going to admonish me further but instead he asked, “Can we call your sister to come and sit with you?”
I was horrified. I imagined Rebecca’s face when she heard the news. “No, please don’t! Rebecca will be most upset. Besides, she’s Amish and their phone’s in the barn so they won’t hear it.”
“Yes, I keep forgetting about that,” Damon said, rubbing the back of his neck. “And when are Matilda and Eleanor expected back?”
“Not for a few hours,” I said. “I did text Matilda to come home, but maybe she didn’t see it.”
Damon thumbed through my phone. “I’m calling her right now.” I made to protest, but he held up his hand. “You’ve had a terrible shock and you shouldn’t be alone. I’ll wait with you until they arrive. Besides, I have to take your witness statement.”
“Okay, sure.” I realized I was shaking from the shock. I picked up Mr. Crumbles and put him on my lap. “You’re such a good kitty,” I told him and gave him a big hug.
Chapter 22
It was nearly midday, and I was sitting by the pond near Rebecca’s house with Rebecca, Eleanor, and Matilda. The air was cool and quiet, and not so much as a ripple was to be seen on the surface of the pond. I looked idly at the reflection of Rebecca’s sweet Amish house and the spreading black walnut tree growing just beyond its fence.
A loud bleating disturbed the calm scene.
“It’s the goats,” Eleanor said somewhat unnecessarily. I didn’t think it was Matilda. “I hope they don’t frighten Mr. Crumbles.”
“It would be the other way around,” Matilda said in a snarky tone. “Those goats would be frightened of Mr. Crumbles. Everyone is frightened of Mr. Crumbles.”
Eleanor rolled her eyes. “You always exaggerate, Matilda. We are not scared of Mr. Crumbles, are we?”
Mr. Crumbles was lying on his back near her feet. She stroked his sleek fur and he playfully grabbed her hand with his paws.
“Thankfully Brian Birch is afraid of Mr. Crumbles,” I said with a laugh, followed by a shudder.
Rebecca spoke up. “Jane, this is the third time someone has tried to murder you. Please promise me you won’t investigate any more murders.”
“I’m afraid I can’t promise that,” I said honestly, “but I hope there won’t be any more murders. Anyway, let’s not think of murder. This is such a lovely day to sit by the pond.” I was glad Rebecca could join us. The Amish only meet for church gatherings every other week. They also don’t work on Sundays, but having a picnic is not work.
“I’m sorry about the goats,” Matilda said to Rebecca. “Jane said we can move them to her land when her money comes through.”
“That’s probably still not far enough away for Rebecca,” I said with a laugh. I pointed to the field to the far left of us. “We can put them in that field there.”
Behind the field I could see my new house. It wasn’t my house yet, although it was going to be.
My attorney had contacted me to let me know I would definitely be getting the money. He named the minimum sum and said there would likely be more to come. Now we just had to wait to see whether my ex-husband would agree out of court, or whether he wanted to take it to court. My lawyer suspected Ted would try his best to get him to lower the sum, but he was confident it would not go to court. He said that wouldn’t be in Ted’s best interests.
“I’m worried you’ll have to wait for my money to come through. Maybe you should sell the property to someone else,” I said to Rebecca.
She reached out and patted my hand briefly. “Family is more important than money,” she said. “It will be wonderful to have you living so close. All of you.” Her eyes moved from Matilda to Eleanor, and then settled somewhat doubtfully on Mr. Crumbles.
“I’m so excited. I never believed I’d have my own home.” I shook my head. “I just can’t believe it,” I said again.
“And I bet you can’t believe your luck to have us as roommates,” Matilda said.
“Err, no,” I said with a grin. “And dear Mr. Crumbles. If it wasn’t for him…” My voice trailed away.
Matilda looked behind me and then looked away quickly. I turned around and saw Damon striding over the fields.
My mouth went dry. I tried to ignore my quickening heartbeat. Damon looked good. He always looked good, but it still startled me, his broad shoulders and bright blue eyes.
“I called Eleanor earlier to tell her that her cat’s leash is back from evidence,” Damon said by way of greeting. “She said she needed it urgently and asked me to bring it here.”
I looked at Eleanor, who suddenly found a blade of grass very interesting.
“That’s so good of you, Detective,” Matilda said cheerily. “I insist you share our picnic with us.”
Damon shuffled from one foot to the other. His jaw dropped a fraction, and his face redde
ned. “I just left… the oven on… in the microwave.”
“Say again?” Matilda said sweetly. Even if he wanted to get away from our little picnic, there was no way she’d let him.
“Yes, please stay,” I said, embarrassed, considering myself awfully brave to speak at all. I hoped there weren’t crumbs on my face.
Damon finally locked eyes on me, and my heart completely skipped a beat. I told myself I needed to sit down before I collapsed, before remembering I was already sitting down.
Damon sat on the rug beside me. His knee brushed mine as he sat down. I did my best to ignore the jolt of electricity running through me.
“Jane is buying that house from Rebecca,” Eleanor said, pointing across the pond.
Damon looked surprised. “You are?”
“It’s a long story,” I said. “I received an inheritance when I was first married to Ted, and all the money was paid down on our house. That means I get all of that money back, maybe even more, and I’m going to buy the house next to Rebecca’s.”
“Ephraim and I own that house over there,” Rebecca told him, “along with five acres. The tenants have just given notice, so Ephraim and I are selling it to Rebecca.”
“Wunderbar!” Damon said with a smile.
“Detective! You’re learning some Amish words,” Rebecca said, offering him a plate of pumpkin whoopie pies.
Damon took one and looked at his shoes. “I thought I should, now that I’m living in Amish country.” He shot me a sideways look. “When do you close?”
“I’m afraid it hasn’t got as far as that yet,” I told him. “My attorney has to get the money out of Ted yet, but it’s conclusive. I am getting that money.”
“And then the goats will be living over there,” Rebecca said, pointing to the field over to the left. The gleeful tone in her voice was hard to miss.
“So if I drop by, does that mean I have to fight my way through goats?” Damon said.
My heart did leaps at the thought of Damon visiting me. I wondered what he would think of my cushions. Ted always hated my taste in interior decoration. He said it was old fashioned.
“So you intend to visit Jane?” Matilda said slyly.
“I’m sure I’ll be taking more witness statements from Jane in the future.”
I stole a look at Damon, but he was smiling. He added solemnly, “Jane, I really don’t like you investigating murders. You know that. You’ve been lucky three times and I don’t think you should push your luck.”
“Help yourself to some Amish sour cream spice cupcakes,” Matilda said. “Those were what started it all.” She stretched out her hand for the plate that was out of reach. Damon stood up, and Eleanor handed it to him.
“Luck had nothing to do with it,” Rebecca said. “It was all in God’s hands.”
Eleanor nodded. “And Mr. Crumbles is a hero!” She picked up the packet of treats.
We all called out, “No!” but too late. Mr. Crumbles ran around in circles, his leash wrapping around Damon’s legs.
Thankfully, Damon managed to keep his balance and stood still until Eleanor removed the leash. She picked up Mr. Crumbles and held him to her.
“Really Jane, you have that cat well trained,” Matilda said with a big wink. “He tied up your man up for you.”
Heat ran from the tips of my toes to my ears. I looked away and made a show of unwrapping some cupcakes.
Soon Mr. Crumbles was contentedly eating treats and looking longingly at the ducks on the pond. The rest of us were chatting happily, the sound of our conversation punctuated by bleats from the unruly goats.
I couldn’t have been happier. Less than a year ago, my life had been filled with doom and gloom. I had thought there was no hope for the future.
I picked up another cupcake and studied it for a moment. Now, my future looked sweet.
Amish Recipe
Amish Sour Cream Spice Cake
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
METHOD
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Grease a greased 9 x 13 inch baking pan.
In a large mixing bowl, cream sugar and butter (or margarine) together until fluffy.
Sift flour, baking soda, salt, and spices together and then add alternately with sour cream.
Stir in vanilla.
Fold in eggs.
Pour batter into baking pan.
Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes.
Amish Recipe
Amish Butter Pound Cake with Hot Caramel Sauce
INGREDIENTS
1 1/4 cups butter softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups cake flour
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
METHOD
Do not preheat oven.
Cream butter and sugar, vanilla and almond extract on medium speed until until fluffy.
Beat in yolks.
Add whole eggs and scrape sides of bowl.
Sift dry ingredients.
Fold in dry ingredients alternately with cream cheese.
Pour into greased bundt or round pan.
Place in cold oven. Set to 325 degrees.
Bake for 55 minutes until golden brown color.
Cool pan and then turn onto cooling rack.
HOT CARAMEL SAUCE
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup water
3 /4 cup heavy cream
pinch of salt (if not using salted butter)
1 teaspoon vanilla
METHOD
Place water and brown sugar in a saucepan. Cook on low to medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Do not stir.
Check to see if sugar is dissolved and syrup is clear. If so, bring to a boil. Cover saucepan and boil for 2 minutes until syrup turns a light golden brown. Do not stir.
When syrup turns a warm honey color, remove from heat and add heavy cream.
Add the butter and gently stir until smooth. Stir in the vanilla and salt.
(It will foam until it cools further.)
Pour over the cake.
(Sauce will thicken when it cools.)
Enjoy!
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Confection is Good for the Soul: An Amish Cupcake Cozy Mystery Page 15