“She’d have gotten out by herself. Do they show me attacking Kelsey with my backpack?”
His smile became diabolical. “There might have been some cheering in the office when we saw you do that. No one’s going to charge you with anything. You were trying to save your own life and Jocelyn’s, too. Plus, you helped apprehend a murderer. I know, ‘innocent until proven guilty.’ An alleged murderer.”
“What’s going to happen to Landsdowner?”
“We let him go for now. We’ll review his images, including some he took through the windows of Jocelyn’s home, and he might find himself in jail. He definitely will if he disobeys orders to stay away from her and from gymnastic events.”
Knowing that there would be marshmallows, perfectly roasted or maybe merely waved through flames, we skipped dessert. I also decided not to take the ice cream along on this trip, since Brent and I were planning to tour the trails around the falls before going to my folks’ campsite. I would invite my parents over for dinner the next night, and if they had room in their freezer, they could take the two pints of ice cream home with them afterward. If not, the three of us could start on them here. Or I could buy them some more another time. I was glad that Mama Freeze hadn’t turned out to be a killer. Or Felicia, either. I didn’t want either of their shops to close.
Brent had brought his own vehicle, a sports car with a reputation for being even faster than mine. His was black and could have passed for an unmarked cruiser.
He drove through my neighborhood and then made a turn toward County Road G, the scenic route that passed the river valley that hadn’t always lived up to its calm appearance, the road that still sometimes gave me nightmares.
“Do you mind?” he asked.
“No.” I wouldn’t be alone. “I’ll be okay.”
He parked at the top of the dirt track that led down into the valley. “Do you want to get out?” he asked.
“I guess I should.”
“Want company?”
“Yes, please.”
I opened the door and climbed out of the low seat. Hugging myself, I leaned back against Brent’s car and gazed down into the valley. The sun wouldn’t set for over an hour and was high enough to glint off the river. In that valley, the water was flat again after the tumult of the falls several miles away. The sky, the river, the fields, and the woods all looked completely peaceful.
His feet crunching on the gravel shoulder of the road, Brent walked around the car to stand beside me. We stayed a few minutes longer, not speaking, until I turned toward him. He was wearing sunglasses. I could barely see his eyes. “Thank you,” I said.
We got back into the car and didn’t talk until we were almost at the entrance to the campground. “Let’s start at your car,” he said, “where you first saw Landsdowner following Jocelyn.”
He parked beside the uninhabited trailer and we got out. I made certain that my spare fob unlocked and relocked my car, and then I pointed across the narrow road. “I saw them between those birch trees over there, near this end of Skinned Knee Trail.” Brent took photos and wrote in his notebook.
I led him up Skinned Knee and showed him where I had again spotted Landsdowner. “He was up there, ahead of me. I went back down to the trail that Misty, Samantha, and I named Popcorn.”
Brent took more photos, wrote in his notebook, and asked, “Show me?”
I took him up Popcorn to where I’d ducked between hemlocks to make calls. “Kelsey said she’d been following me, but she must not have seen me duck back down to Popcorn. She must have continued up Skinned Knee while I was here leaving a message for Misty and talking to Samantha.”
“Even though you didn’t go farther up Skinned Knee last night, do you mind if we go back and have a look at that trail, since Landsdowner and Kelsey were on it? We can circle back this way, can’t we?”
“Sure.”
We returned to Skinned Knee and hiked up it until it ended at Noisy Cawing Crow. Stalker’s Rock was in front of us, with no stalker sitting on it. We could see some of Jocelyn’s stepping-stones in the swiftly flowing river, and I pointed out the approximate place where I’d seen Kelsey push her hood back while she was calling to Landsdowner and trying to get him to come back to shore.
Brent and I started down Noisy Cawing Crow and then stopped for more photos where Jocelyn and I had tackled Kelsey and where we’d heard Kelsey’s shouted reasons for wanting to eliminate her rival, Taylor.
We hiked down Noisy Cawing Crow Trail to the top of the falls. The water roared, so I merely pointed at the flat rock. All traces of the donut I’d left on it were gone except for a line of ants harvesting the last drops of grape jelly.
Where the Fallingbrook River slipped over a rock lip and plunged into the gorge below, I mimed flipping over the railing and pointed down at the slimy ledge and the narrow pathway leading into Shower Curtain Grotto.
Brent stood for a long time, just gazing down at that ledge, at the rocks and turbulent water below it, and at the almost invisible narrow gap behind the curtain of water, and then he transferred his gaze to me. He’d removed his sunglasses when we left his car, but his eyes were unreadable, and I had to look away until he went back to detective mode, taking pictures and writing in his notebook. Finally, he pocketed his phone and notebook, touched my shoulder, and gestured toward Popcorn Trail.
I led the way. Helping each other over rocks and around stumps, we barely talked. We got into our own cars. Close to my parents’ site, vehicles were lined up along the side of the dirt road. I parked behind Scott’s SUV, and Brent pulled in behind me.
I’d gotten my curls from both of my parents and my height, or lack of it, from my mother. Tall, white-haired, and so thin that his jeans bagged at the knees, my father was poking a log into a huge campfire. His light blue eyes brightened. He dropped the log, ran around to our side of the fire, and hugged me. Because of Alec, my father knew Brent. He shook Brent’s hand. I explained that Brent and I had been going over something at the falls that was related to one of Brent’s cases.
My mother followed Scott and Misty out of the RV. They were each carrying several bags of marshmallows.
Squealing, my mother ran to us. She looked adorable in an ankle-length tiered skirt and frilly top in a matching floral print. Her silver curls, partially tamed by a stretchy headband, would be long enough to excite Felicia and Felicia’s wildly snapping scissors when my mother finally let Felicia cut her hair. My mother gave Brent and me hugs that were, considering her size, startlingly ferocious. She was so short that I would have felt tall if I hadn’t been next to Brent.
Tom and Cindy, both in cargo pants and jackets, had brought lawn chairs. Samantha had tinted her hair brilliant scarlet during the almost twenty-four hours since I’d last seen her. She was teasing Tom and Cindy about being too civilized to sit on the ground. Cindy jumped up and gave me a big hug. Tom shook Brent’s hand.
Seemingly unable to stop smiling, Hooligan handed out some of my parents’ many toasting forks.
It turned out that Brent was the only one of us who could perfectly tan a marshmallow without leaving it stone cold or covering it with bitter black ash. I sat beside him and helped him devour them.
When everyone had eaten more than enough marshmallows, my mother brought out her banjo and my father tuned his guitar. The chattering around the fire subsided.
“You probably wonder what took us so long to get back to Fallingbrook,” my mother said. “We had adventures! There was this perfectly beautiful longhaired ragdoll kitten who decided to live with us in our RV. The trouble was, we didn’t notice her right away.”
My father took up the story. “That was in Georgia. We turned around and drove for several hours, back to the campground where we’d been the night before. We asked everyone if they’d lost a kitten, but no one had. We went to the vet in the town closest to that campground, and the tiny little thing was already microchipped!”
My mother was eager to continue the story. “She was from Iowa,
so we went back to the campground and asked around. The people at the campground office knew that an RV from Iowa had left the campground earlier on the day we left. The campground people told us where the Iowa people had said they were heading next. We followed them, but when we got there the next day, they’d already left. Same thing with the next campground and the next. Strangely, they always told the campground management where they were going and they gave the first campground a phone number, but they never answered their phone or returned our calls.”
My father told us, “We weren’t about to drive to Iowa and dump the kitten off at the vet who originally microchipped her. We were sure we were just about to catch up with her owners, so we kept following them.”
My mother again took over the storytelling. “We went to parts of the country we’d never seen before. It was wonderful! It was also quite a chase, zigzagging all over the South and the Midwest. Twenty-five days and umpteen states later, we reunited the kitten with her owners. They were ecstatic.”
I asked, “Why didn’t they return your calls?”
Shaking his head, my father answered, “They were very apologetic about that. They forgot to take their phone on their trip.” I smiled. My parents weren’t much better. They remembered their phone, but kept it turned off except when they wanted to make calls, which they hardly ever did.
My parents launched into the first of many songs in their repertoire, and we all sang along whenever we knew the words. Sitting beside Brent, I enjoyed listening to his rich bass voice. As an added plus, he stayed in tune.
The enormous fire died down and the evening became chillier. Samantha and Hooligan, neither of them wearing a sweater or jacket, snuggled together. Scott and Misty leaned against each other’s shoulders.
Misty was watching me as if reminding me of what she’d said several days before. Try not to hurt Brent.
I remembered the way he’d gazed down at the water frothing beneath the algae-covered ledge, where one slip of my feet could have sent me to my death, and the way he’d gazed at me after pondering that dangerous cliff. His eyes hadn’t been, as I’d told myself then, entirely unreadable. I’d merely refused to admit to myself that I’d seen pain in them along with a strength of affection that I’d been pretending didn’t exist.
I thought about the times Brent had given me quick hugs or knuckle-rubs, of the way we laughed together. Of the way Dep always seemed to want him to come over and then, when he did, to stay close to her. And to me.
Dep was a very intelligent and perceptive cat.
Shivering, I scooted over until Brent’s and my arms touched.
He lifted that arm, put it around my shoulders, and pulled me close.
A branch broke in the fire. Beyond the sparks shooting skyward, Tom winked at me. Cindy gave me a gentle smile. I imagined her saying, We’ll all be okay. Life will go on.
My heart hammered and my breathing went all wonky. I couldn’t sing.
Brent stopped singing, also.
As if making up for the silence from Brent and me, my parents sang and played even more loudly than before.
Recipes
Lorne’s Quick Winter Dessert
Try this first if you’re not sure about the combined flavors of maple and cheddar.
Place cubes of Wisconsin cheddar in small dessert bowls. Drizzle maple syrup over the cheese. Eat with a spoon. After you taste that, you’ll probably want to make Maple Cheddar-Filled Donuts, even though the flavor of the cheese in the donuts is much more subtle.
Maple Cheddar-Filled Donuts
1 cup less 3 tablespoons warm water
¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons active dry yeast (yes, this is a lot!)
¾ cup maple syrup
3½ cups all-purpose or bread flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg or 2 egg whites, room temperature
Wisconsin cheddar, sharpness according to taste (medium is yummy and buttery)
If frying your donuts: vegetable oil with a smoke point of 400° or higher (or follow your deep fryer’s instruction manual)
Maple butter or maple glaze (recipe is on p. 280)
Coarse salt, maple sugar, maple flakes, or crisp crumbles of bacon for topping (optional)
In your mixer bowl fitted with a dough hook, combine the warm water, butter, yeast, and maple syrup. Let stand for 15 minutes.
Add 2 cups of the flour, the salt, and the egg to the yeast mixture. Stir with the dough hook. Add the remaining flour ½ cup at a time and knead with the dough hook. If the dough is too sticky, add ¼ cup of flour and knead with the dough hook. If the dough is still too sticky, carefully add more flour 1 teaspoon at a time. Continue kneading with the dough hook until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl, is satiny, doesn’t stick to your fingers, and doesn’t keep its shape when pinched. It should still feel slightly sticky. Too much flour will make the donuts tough.
Divide in half and refrigerate one half.
For each half, roll the dough to about ¼ inch thick between two sheets of parchment paper.
Remove the top sheet of parchment paper and cut rounds from the dough with a round cookie cutter.
Press a small chunk of Wisconsin cheddar, about 1 inch by 1 inch by ¼ inch, or the equivalent amount if the cheese is too crumbly to cut, for rounds that are 2 inches in diameter, smaller if you used a smaller cookie cutter, into the center of half of the rounds.
Working with one donut at a time and using your fingers, rub water around the edge surrounding the cheese, place a plain round on top, and pinch the edges together.
Allow to rest for 10 minutes.
Fry the filled donuts at 375º, turning when golden, about 30 seconds per side. Lift from the oil and allow to drain.
OR bake on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet in a 375º oven for about 10 minutes until the tops are golden.
When cool, glaze the tops with purchased maple butter or make your own maple glaze (see p. 280). If you like, sprinkle coarse salt, maple sugar, maple flakes, or crisp crumbles of bacon on top.
Maple Glaze
½ cup maple syrup
Confectioners’ sugar
Stir confectioners’ sugar by teaspoonfuls into maple syrup until glaze reaches desired consistency for spreading.
Jelly-Filled Donuts
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water
¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons active dry yeast (yes, this is a lot!)
1 cup sugar
3½ cups all-purpose or bread flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg or 2 egg whites, room temperature
If frying your donuts: vegetable oil with a smoke point of 400° or higher (or follow your deep fryer’s instruction manual)
Jelly in flavors of your choice
Confectioners’ sugar (optional)
In your mixer bowl fitted with a dough hook, combine the warm water, butter, yeast, and sugar. Let stand for 15 minutes.
Add 2 cups of the flour, the salt, and the egg to the yeast mixture. Stir with the dough hook. Add the remaining flour ½ cup at a time and knead with the dough hook. If the dough is too sticky, add ¼ cup of flour and knead with the dough hook. If the dough is still too sticky, carefully add more flour 1 teaspoon at a time. Continue kneading with the dough hook until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl, is satiny, doesn’t stick to your fingers, and doesn’t keep its shape when pinched. It should still feel slightly sticky. Too much flour will make the donuts tough.
Divide in half and refrigerate one half.
For each half, roll the dough to about ½ inch thick between two sheets of parchment paper.
Remove the top sheet of parchment paper and cut rounds from the dough with a round cookie cutter.
Allow to rest for 10 minutes.
Fry the donuts at 375º, turning when golden, about 30 seconds per side. Lift from the oil and allow to drain.
OR bake on cookie sheet lined with par
chment paper or a silicone baking sheet in a 400º oven for about 10 minutes until the tops are golden.
When cool, use a paring knife or skewer to make a small hole in one side of each donut and create a small cavity inside. Then use a piping bag fitted with a small tip, a turkey baster, or a pastry syringe to fill the cavity with the jelly of your choice. Note: Jams or thick spreads will clog the nozzle. If desired, sift confectioners’ sugar over the tops.
Party Fun—Fill Your Own Donuts
Feeling brave? Let party guests fill their own donuts! Fry the donuts ahead of time and remove the hot oil from the vicinity. (This is crucial for children’s parties.) Set out a variety of jellies. Let each guest inject whichever flavor (or combination) they like into their donut or donuts.
Jealousy Filled Donuts Page 25