Death of a Cookbook Author

by Lee Hollis

  Hayley’s Zucchini Lasagna

  2 zucchini, chopped

  1 yellow onion, chopped

  2 gloves garlic, minced

  2 tablespoons olive oil

  1 32-ounce container of ricotta cheese

  2 16-ounce tubs of fresh baby spinach

  1 egg

  1 teaspoon kosher salt

  1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

  16 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese

  2 25-ounce jars of your favorite marinara

  sauce, or homemade

  1 12-ounce box of no-boil lasagna noodles

  Preheat your oven to 400°F.

  Add one tablespoon of olive oil into a large skillet and heat on medium heat. Add your spinach, and cook until it is soft and wilted. Remove the spinach to a separate bowl to cool.

  In the same skillet, add the rest of the olive oil and cook the zucchini and onion 7 minutes on medium heat, or until soft. Then add your garlic and stir another 30 seconds, or until you can smell the garlic. Remove from the heat and set aside.

  Combine your egg, ricotta, cooked spinach, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl. Stir to combine and set aside.

  Spray a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and layer tomato sauce, noodles, ricotta mixture, zucchini mixture, and mozzarella cheese. Continue layering in that order, ending with mozzarella cheese.

  Place the baking dish on a cookie sheet to catch anything that may drip and cover with aluminum foil. Bake 45 minutes, remove foil, and bake 15 minutes more, or until the cheese is melted and starting to brown.

  Remove from oven and let it sit at least 15 minutes before serving.

  Chapter 25

  Hayley felt her whole body hurtling through the air, rolling round and round before a sharp jagged object stopped her momentum and a piercing jolt of pain shot through her lower back from the sudden impact.

  She wanted to scream, but her mouth was full of salty water and the more she inhaled, desperately trying to breathe in air, the more she choked and gagged. She then dropped to the ground and found herself facedown in a soggy mix of pebbles and sand, and when she tried to sit up, she was coughing up so much water, her body erupting in a fit of spasms, she lost all control.

  Hayley managed to lift her head up ever so slightly and pop her eyes open just in time to see a rushing torrent of water crash to the ground just a few feet from her, the power of the surge knocking her back again and driving her into the hard rock wall behind her.

  She knew enough to keep her mouth closed this time and hold her breath to stop herself from taking in any more water, but as the waves receded once again, leaving her drenched and cold and lying in the wet sand, seaweed entangling her arms and legs, she finally managed to quickly glance around at her surroundings.

  She was in some kind of sea cave.

  Her heart began beating faster as she realized the only way out was through the large opening in front of her, but with the tide rushing in, it would be nearly impossible for her to get out by fighting against the force of the ocean waves rolling in fast and furious, filling the cave every few seconds.

  When the water receded again, Hayley made a mad dash for ward, her head down, praying she might make it out before the next large wave crashed down in front of her and seawater poured into the cave.

  But she was out of luck.

  She barely made it to the edge of the rocks that led outside to fresh air when suddenly another wave crested and broke and the tide gushed in, filling the cave and knocking her back again.

  She held her breath at least twenty seconds this time while splashing around and waiting for the water to mercifully recede.

  She had no idea who it was who had drugged her with chloroform and dragged her here, but his or her intention was chillingly obvious.

  Hayley was put here to drown.

  And she was determined not to spend the last few minutes, last few seconds of her life trapped in a watery grave.

  There was no way she was escaping through the large opening of the sea cave.

  Her only choice was to climb out from the top.

  Hayley looked up at the rock ceiling and spotted a small blowhole where a ray of sunlight was streaming through. It appeared as if it might be wide enough so she could squeeze her body through, but she wasn’t absolutely sure.

  Hayley swiftly crawled up the rock wall, using the jagged edges as footholds, until she could not climb any higher. Another wave crashed and water filled the cave.

  Hayley gripped the sides of the rock wall and closed her eyes as the water rose up almost to her shoulders. She waited for the water to recede, and then continued climbing until she was close enough to the blowhole where she was able to stretch her arm toward the opening. She managed to reach up far enough where her fingers were just underneath the hole, but the sides were too smooth and there was nothing to grab on to in order to hoist herself up and out.

  Desperate and on the verge of panicking, Hayley screamed at the top of her lungs while clinging to the rocks.

  She screamed for what must have been at least five minutes.

  With the thunderous roar of the crashing waves drowning out her voice, Hayley’s efforts appeared hopeless, and she fought back tears as she slowly realized her chances of escaping this deadly ocean trap were fading fast.

  And then, she heard a voice.

  A man’s voice.

  He was calling her name.

  She screamed a few more times, praying whoever was out there would hear her frantic cries for help.

  She waited five more minutes, yelling every few seconds, trying to draw attention to her whereabouts.

  Minutes passed.

  There was no response.

  Had she imagined the voice?

  Was her desperate mind playing tricks on her?

  Another few minutes passed.

  She kept up her screams for help.

  Her voice was hoarse, her vocal cords strained from the constant shouting.

  Suddenly a shadow fell over the hole blocking out the sunlight.

  “Hayley! Hayley!”

  It was Bruce.

  “Down here!” she cried.

  Bruce stuck his face as far down the blowhole as he could and spotted Hayley waving frantically at him as the water below her rushed into the cave, rising up, this time to her neck.

  In a few more minutes, she would be completely underwater.

  Bruce shoved his arm down into the hole to grab Hayley.

  She reached out, her fingers touching his, but she just wasn’t close enough to get a good grip.

  They both groaned as they kept trying, stretching mightily, but it was useless.

  Bruce finally with drew his arm and disappeared.

  Hayley called to him a few more times, but he didn’t answer.

  She couldn’t stop herself from crying anymore because her situation was now dire and her chances of getting out of this alive didn’t look good.

  Suddenly Bruce returned, shouting, “Hold on!”

  He stuffed a long narrow tree branch down through the opening of the hole. It was thin enough to make it through but sturdy enough so that it just might hold Hayley’s weight.

  “Grab on to it, Hayley!” Bruce yelled from topside.

  She extended her arm, slapping at leaves, which broke off and fluttered to the raging water below that was starting to fill up the cave again.

  After a few tries, she finally got her hands around it and was able to hold on to the end.

  “You got it?”

  “Yes, Bruce! Hurry!”

  With all his strength, Bruce tried raising the branch back up through the hole, but Hayley could tell he was struggling as she hung there, looking down at the water now swallowing her feet, legs, torso, neck, and face. She held her breath, her cheeks bursting, as she tightly hugged the branch, totally immersed in seawater.

  The power of the rising tide slowly and miraculously lifted her up, and as the water drained out again, she felt the smooth sides of the blowhole wall scra
ping her body.

  Hayley closed her eyes, praying she would not get stuck halfway through. But then she felt a pair of hands latch on to her wet clothes, and she was pulled the rest of the way up and through the top of the hole. She mercifully felt the warmth of the blazing midday sun cascading over her face.

  Hayley opened her eyes, and found herself collapsing into Bruce’s muscled arms.

  She was coughing and shivering from the cold water, still in a state of shock.

  Bruce hugged her tightly, holding her close to him, rubbing her with his hands to warm her up.

  After a few minutes, he gently lowered her until she was lying on the ground and he was hovering over her, worriedly checking to make sure she was all right.

  Bruce Linney had just saved her life.

  He gently slid a hand underneath her head and raised it just high enough so their eyes met. “I thought I was going to lose you.”

  She tried to speak, but coughed up water instead.

  Bruce tenderly sat her up, and patted her back until she got it all out.

  Hayley wiped her mouth and they stared at each other for a few moments.

  And then she reached up, grabbed him by the neck, pulled his head down and kissed him.

  On the lips.

  He was startled at first, hardly expecting such a bold move.

  But then he smiled and kissed her back.

  What was happening?

  What were they doing?

  Hayley ultimately broke the spell by trying to stand up.

  But she was still wobbly, her body half-frozen from the relentlessly cold seawater.

  Bruce helped Hayley to her feet, and she used his body as a crutch to limp slowly back to the main house.

  They made the short journey in silence.

  Not speaking about the momentous kiss they had just shared.

  As if it had never happened.

  Chapter 26

  Hayley’s lumpy old bed had never felt so good. She snuggled deep inside the covers to get warm. She could feel Leroy’s curled-up furry little body sleeping soundly next to her.

  When she had arrived home late yesterday after speaking with police about her ordeal and enduring the skeptical looks from Penelope, Gerard, Carol, and Tristan, all of whom had trouble believing someone would go to the trouble of smothering her with chloroform and dragging her unconscious body to a remote sea cave to leave her there to drown.

  But that was Hayley’s story and she was sticking to it.

  She didn’t care what any of them thought.

  Penelope’s annual day after Fourth of July barbecue had been winding down anyway, so Hayley wasted no time in packing up her things and bolting from the property for good.

  She had no intention of ever going back there.

  But she was still determined as ever, as was Bruce, to keep digging, keep investigating until they came up with some answers as to what really happened to Conrad and who it was who locked Lena Hendricks in that pantry to die in a well-timed fire.

  But all of that could wait.

  Hayley, whose nasty cold had returned with a vengeance after Bruce so heroically pulled her up through that blowhole, just wanted to stay in bed all day and recover.

  But she knew that was a fantasy.

  After almost a week out of the office, she was scheduled to report back to work today. Sal was acting nonchalant about her long absence, but she could tell by the sound of his voice on the phone that they had been lost without her.

  He was nice enough to offer her half the day off given the distressing circumstances she had endured the day before, and so she was allowed to sleep in late. She was not expected to report to the office until noon.

  Hayley intended to take full advantage of her morning off by staying in bed until the last possible second. She closed her eyes and was about to drift off to sleep again when the meowing started.

  Leroy shifted his body, sighing deeply, annoyed by the disturbance.

  Hayley rolled on her other side, clutching the pillow, praying her cat Blueberry would just give up and go away.

  But the meowing continued.

  She knew his bowl downstairs was empty.

  And he was hungry.

  And he would not budge from the doorway of the bedroom where he sat meowing at the top of his lungs until Hayley got her butt out of that bed, walked downstairs, and fed him his breakfast.

  Hayley threw off the covers, burying Leroy in an avalanche of wool blankets and wrinkled white sheets, tossed on some sweats and a T-shirt, and made her way to the kitchen, sniffling and coughing the whole way as Blueberry chased behind her.

  She pulled a box of dry food from the cupboard and poured it into a bowl decorated with tiny paw prints. Blueberry stopped eyeing her with scorn for taking so long and focused on devouring his Friskies Tender & Crunchy Combo.

  Hearing the commotion downstairs in the kitchen, Leroy excitedly jumped from his mattress throne and scampered down to receive his own breakfast. Hayley had already anticipated his move, so his food was already poured and ready for him. He eagerly began chomping it down so fast that bits and pieces flew out from his bowl and onto the floor.

  Hayley was filling the coffeemaker when she glanced out the kitchen window and noticed a police cruiser parked on the street next to her driveway. She could see someone inside the car watching the house.

  It was Sergio.

  She knew exactly what he was doing.

  Sergio was worried about her safety given the events of the day before, so he was keeping watch over the house to make sure nobody showed up and tried to attack her again.

  She had never had police protection before.

  Hayley whipped up some scrambled eggs and bacon, buttered some toast, poured hot coffee into a Styrofoam cup, sealing it with a lid, and placed it all in a brown paper bag and walked outside to the cruiser.

  Sergio was half-asleep when she knocked on the passenger side window.

  He jumped in his seat, startled, and then smiled when he saw her, and unlocked the door. She hopped in the squad car’s passenger seat and handed him the bag.

  “I thought you might want some breakfast.”

  “You’re too good to me.”

  “I could say the same about you. Have you been out here all night?”

  “Randy insisted.”

  Hayley knew that was only partially true. Sergio loved her like his own sister, and would do anything to make sure she stayed safe.

  “Well, I appreciate your concern and I’m touched that you would stake out my house all night, but I suspect that whoever was behind pushing me off the boat and knocking me out and dragging me to that cave is done trying to get rid of me now that I’m no longer snooping around on the estate. I’m a lot less of a threat now that I’ve been exiled and away from all the action.”

  “Better safe than sorry,” Sergio said as he pulled the plastic container of eggs, bacon, and toast out of the bag and started stabbing at his yellow scrambled eggs with a silver fork Hayley had provided. “I’ll drive back to the station once you’re safely at the office. I have a nine o’clock appointment with Penelope Janice.”

  “What are you meeting with her about?”

  “We examined Lena Hendricks’s cell phone and discovered a text from Penelope asking Lena to refill the cat food dispenser in the pantry. The text came in about five minutes before Lena went to the pantry, where the dispenser exploded, causing the fire.”

  Hayley gasped.

  She couldn’t believe it.

  “But Penelope said it was Clara’s job to refill the cat food dispenser.”

  “Right, but Conrad had fired Clara so she wasn’t there to do it . . .”

  “So Penelope asked Lena . . .” Hayley said, her voice trailing off.

  Hayley’s mind raced as she shifted in the passenger seat toward Sergio, who was crunching on a piece of bacon. “Why didn’t Penelope mention that to you before when you questioned her?” she asked.

  Sergio swallowed his
bacon and patted the sides of his mouth with a white napkin. “There’s no plausible reason except that maybe she was setting her up to be killed and didn’t want the police knowing about it.”

  “But she must have known the text would be on Lena’s phone. Penelope is a smart woman. I’m sure she would have thought of that.”

  “Maybe, maybe not. Either way it’s a pretty incremental piece of evidence.”

  “Incriminating.”

  “Yes. That’s what I said. Incremental.”

  “No, the correct word is incriminating.”

  “Yes,” Sergio sighed, annoyed. “Incremental.”

  Hayley decided to let it go.

  “So you believe Penelope was furious over her husband’s affair with Lena, rigged the cat food dispenser with chemicals and a timer, and then lured Lena to the pantry with a text while she was lying in wait to lock her inside so she couldn’t escape when the dispenser exploded?”

  “It’s a working theory. But it makes sense.”

  Hayley looked at the digital clock on the car’s dashboard.

  It was 7:45 A.M.

  “I’m not due in the office until noon today,” Hayley said. “So I was going to stay home until then. You can’t very well watch my house and have your meeting with Penelope at the station at the same time so there’s only one thing to do . . .”

  “Hayley . . .”

  “I’ll come to the station with you and hang out there until it’s time to go to work,” Hayley said. “I know your primary concern is that I remain safe and under the watchful care of a competent law enforcement officer.

  Sergio shook his head.

  He knew exactly what she was doing.

  She wanted to be around so she could hear what Penelope had to say about the evidence Sergio was about to present to her.

  “I’ll just take a quick shower and be back down in twenty minutes,” Hayley said, jumping out of the car before he could protest. “Enjoy your breakfast!”

  * * *