Debut Cozy Mystery Box Set 2

by Dianne Harman

  He turned off the engine and walked up the steps to the porch. Inside he saw a big Rottweiler dog patiently standing there as if someone had gone into the house and left him there. “Here, big guy,” he said to the dog, carefully holding his hand out so the dog could sniff it. Rudy inspected Carl’s hand and then licked it. In spite of the emotional pain Carl was in, he couldn’t help but smile at the dog. “Okay guy, it's too cold for either one of us to be out here. It’s my house, so come on in and let’s see how you wound up out here on my back porch.” The door knob easily turned in Carl’s hand and he realized the door was unlocked. He yelled, “Hey, is anyone here?”

  When no one answered, he walked down the hall followed by Rudy. A moment later he heard a woman's voice say, “We’re in the office.”

  Carl took one step into the room that had been Nancy’s office and said, “What...” At the same time Kat gave a hand and finger motion to Rudy that had been in the instruction papers that Casey had given her. Just as he had been trained to do in situations like this, Rudy leaped forward and his massive jaws clamped around one of Tiffany’s legs as she cried out in pain, causing the gun she’d been holding to fall to the floor.

  Carl ran over to where Nicole was. “Honey, are you all right? Did she hurt you? What’s going on?”

  “No, I’m fine, Daddy.” She started crying, and he took her in his arms.

  The moment the gun fell from Tiffany’s hand, Kat jumped out of her chair and grabbed it. She pointed it at Tiffany and said, “You may be a crack shot, but so am I. Stay where you are, or I’ll give Rudy the command to really do some damage to that plastic body of yours. Carl, Nicole, I’m calling the police chief. The danger is over. We’re all going to be fine.”

  While they waited for the police chief, Carl said, “Kat, Nicole, why are the two of you here?”

  Nicole spoke first and said, “I asked Kat’s daughter if I could spend the holidays with them at their house, and we were meeting here today to talk about it. Dad, after everything’s that happened, I didn’t want to spend my Christmas break from school here. I know you probably don’t understand, but since I’ve been away at college, I see things differently. I always thought there was something wrong with me for wanting to go out on dates and have fun. I’ve learned that all people my age feel that way. You don’t understand that about me, so maybe it’s better if we don’t see that much of each other.”

  Carl answered by saying, “Since your mother died, and you haven’t answered my phone calls, I’ve done a lot of thinking. I realize I’ve been wrong not to trust you. Your mother and I raised a very intelligent good person, and yet I was afraid of what might happen to you. I’m not afraid any longer. This is not your problem. It’s mine. I’m going to go to a professional and get some help for it. I’m willing to go more than halfway to heal our relationship. Would you willing to at least meet me halfway?”

  Nicole was quiet for several moments and then she said, “Yes. I can’t think of anything I’d rather have than a good relationship with you. I’ve avoided you more and more during the last two years, and I’m sure that’s been part of the problem. We can work on it over the holidays.”

  He kissed her on the top of her head and then said, “What I don’t understand is why Tiffany’s here and what this is all about.”

  “Carl, I can help you with that,” Kat said. She told him what she’d found out about Tiffany and why Tiffany had been willing to commit murder to keep her book, The Country Club Cover-Up, from being published. “Now it’s my turn, Carl. Why did you come home in the middle of the day? I really didn’t expect to see you here at the house.”

  “You normally wouldn’t have, but I wasn’t getting anything done at work. I kept thinking about Nancy, and how I was losing Nicole. My boss finally told me to leave. He used the excuse that I should go home because of the storm, but I think the real reason was because he thought I was pretty worthless at work today. I probably shouldn’t have gone back to work so soon after Nancy’s death, but I wanted something to take my mind off of it.”

  “Well, I’m glad you got here when you did. Without you, Rudy never would have been able to get in the house.” Rudy hadn’t moved and his jaws were still clamped around Tiffany’s leg. “Rudy, come. You’ve got to be tired from holding that pose. Tiffany, let me warn you that the dog will attack at my command, so don’t try anything. Actually I think I hear a siren and with the streets being empty, I imagine the police chief will be here momentarily.”

  Kat was right. Minutes later they heard the chief call out, “Kat, where are you?”

  “Down the hall in the office.”

  He strode into the room, his gun in his hand. “Kat, I’ll take over. Oh, I brought someone who was with me when you called.” Blaine walked into the room and rushed over to Kat.

  “Are you all right?” he asked.

  “I’m a little shaky, but it’s over. Rudy saved our lives. Thank you so much. If you hadn’t given him to me, we’d all be dead.”

  The chief listened as they told him what had happened and how Tiffany had admitted that she was the person who had murdered Nancy. A moment later two of the chief’s deputies entered the room. “Take her to jail and book her for murder and attempted murder.” He turned to Carl, Nicole, and Kat. “I’m going to need statements from all of you. We can either do it now or you can come to my office tomorrow, however, given the severity of the storm, I’d prefer to do it now. Is that okay with you?”

  The three of them agreed they’d rather do it now and get it over with. When he was finally finished taking the statements, he told them they could leave. “Oh, Nicole, one thing more,” Kat said. “You told me you’d be driving a little red car. I didn’t see one when I pulled in.”

  “No, I guess the battery went dead from the below freezing temperature. Actually, Lacie drove me here and then left for class. I think I’ll stay here tonight. I don’t want her to come out here and get me with all this snow.”

  “Blaine, I can give you a ride back to your office, since you rode here with the chief,” Kat said.

  “No, I’m going home with you, and I’m driving. You’ve been through enough today. I’ll even make dinner for you. I'm sure I can find something in your well-stocked pantry. Plus, I think Rudy needs to have a special treat. Got any porterhouse or T-bone steaks in your freezer?” he asked, putting her coat on her shoulders. “Let’s go. We’ll be lucky to get home as it is. I hope you’ve got snow tires on your car. We’re going to need them.”

  The drive back to Kat’s house was difficult, and she was glad Blaine was driving. Night had fallen by the time she’d finished giving her statement to the police chief and the streets were slick and dangerous from the accumulated snow and ice. She breathed a sigh of relief when she, Blaine, and Rudy were safely in her garage.

  “The first thing I’m going to do is take a steak out of the freezer, defrost it in the microwave, and give Rudy a well-deserved treat,” Kat said. “If it hadn’t been for him, I wouldn’t be here now. Blaine, I know I’ve said it before, but I can’t thank you enough for giving him to me.”

  "You don't need to thank me anymore, Kat. I'm just glad you'd taken the time to read the command instructions for Rudy that Casey gave you. What exactly did you do that made Rudy attack Tiffany?”

  “The instructions said if you wanted the dog to attack someone and you couldn’t give a verbal command, Casey had trained his dogs to obey non-verbal visual commands. It sounds weird, but in this case the person was supposed to pull on their thumb with their opposite hand and point with their index finger in the direction of the person the dog was to attack. The instructions said a hand signal like that wasn’t a normal movement, so the dog would understand that it was to attack, but the person who was being attacked wouldn’t associate the hand signal with anything abnormal. Like I said, it sounds weird, but it worked.”

  “Kat, I was with the chief discussing an upcoming case when you called him. I have to tell you my heart was in my throat on th
e drive from the station to the Jennings’ home. I was so afraid something bad had happened to you.”

  He walked over to her and put his arms around her, gently stroking her hair. “If you’d let me, I'd like to become part of your world. I don’t know what it is about you, but now that I’ve found you, I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

  She lifted her head up and kissed him. “Blaine, it doesn’t make any sense to me either, but now that you’ve come into my world, I don’t want to think about what my world would be like without you. You definitely are invited in.”

  He looked down at her. “Lady, I accept the invitation. Tell you what. While you make the calls you probably need to make, I’ll scour the cupboards and refrigerator and come up with something good to eat for dinner. After all, being a bachelor all these years has made me pretty resourceful. I’ll take care of the steak and feed the dogs, but I do think Jazz should have a little of the steak before we have to deal with a case of sibling rivalry. Okay with you?”

  “Absolutely. Let me go into my office and make some calls, and I’ll be back in about an hour.”

  “Take your time. I'm going to open a bottle of wine and have a glass while I contemplate what gourmet creation I’m going to come up with for dinner. May I bring you one?”

  “You sure can. It sounds heavenly after today. While you’re at it, why don't you start a fire? I have some firewood in the garage, and there’s a box of kindling next to it. You’ll also find a stack of newspapers that I recycle near the wood.” She turned and walked down the hall to her office to make her calls.

  CHAPTER 23

  An hour later Kat walked into the kitchen and said, “Something smells good, but I can’t quite tell what it is. What are you fixing?”

  “I’m going to surprise you. You’ll have to be patient. How did the calls go?"

  “They went well, but before I tell you about them, I want to compliment you on the fire. It's perfect for a stormy cold night.”

  “Thanks. Comes from being a Boy Scout. Who did you call, and what happened?”

  “The first person I called was Barbara. I could tell when I left the club after I talked to her today that she was really concerned. Her husband’s out of work, and money is very tight for them. It was quite apparent she was getting near the end of her rope. She was so relieved it was over, and I think she was also relieved that there’s no reason for the chief or anyone else to tell the club manager about the part Barbara played in the murder.

  “She apologized several times to me. I think it’s kind of like a chain reaction. If Barbara hadn’t seen the manuscript on the floor, and if she hadn’t given it to Tiffany, Nancy would still be alive. I didn’t say that to Barbara, but I'm sure it’s occurred to her.”

  “I’ve always thought she was a very good hostess,” Blaine said. “Yes, she’s kind of a gossip, but she’s warm and friendly, and a country club restaurant needs someone who make the guests feel welcome. Who knows? Maybe she’ll think twice about gossiping after this.”

  “I have no idea. Time will tell. The next person I called was Sally Lonsdale. The police chief told me he’d questioned her when he found out she’d read a copy of my manuscript. I don’t know if she realized she might be a suspect, but I called her anyway. I did not get a warm reception, in fact, it was downright chilly. It was very apparent she is not a fan of my books. Oh well, I know they’re not for everybody. She said she was glad the murderer had been caught, but she hoped that because of the murder my book wouldn’t be published. She told me it was morally wrong to write books like I did, and that at some point, I would be held accountable for my actions. I don’t think she and I will ever sing kumbaya together.”

  “From what I hear, that’s no big loss. I rather doubt you’d have enjoyed the experience, anyway. Good riddance,” Blaine said.

  “The next person I called was your brother. After everything he told me, I thought the murderer must have been Tiffany, but I didn’t have a clue how it could be proved. I’m kind of glad it happened the way it did.”

  “The result was positive, but remember, it also could have been negative.”

  “I know. I’ll just go with what it is. Next I called Lacie. I could tell she was really worried. She has some final exams coming up in the next few days, so I wanted her to be able to direct her full attention towards them. Although she wasn’t very thrilled about the danger I’d been in, she was happy the whole thing was over, and the killer had been caught and was now in jail.”

  “The next person I called was Bev. When I talked to her about editing this morning, she told me how worried she was that if Nancy’s death had been about the book, something could happen to me. It’s nice to know that people care that much. Finally, I called Carl to let him know we’d all made it home safely and to see how he and Nicole were doing. He told me they were doing very well and were planning Nancy’s funeral. He said he hadn’t felt right making the plans for Nancy’s funeral without Nicole’s input. He told me he’d call me when the arrangements were finalized and he’d let me know when the service at the church was going to be held.”

  “That's about the whole cast of characters, isn’t it?” Blaine asked.

  “Yes. Now I can put my full attention on the book I'm writing and the one Bev is editing. I think I made a brilliant choice when I asked her to be my editor.”

  “Why is that?” he asked as he opened the oven door and removed a dish.

  “She’s already read the manuscript I sent her and has a full page of things she thinks I need to do to make the book better, but here’s the interesting part. When I finished telling her what had happened at the Jennings’ home, she said, ‘That would make a perfect ending for your book.’ She’s right. Isn’t there something about life imitating art? I seem to remember Oscar Wilde writing about it. I suppose my book could loosely be considered art and Tiffany’s actions are now going to be the ending of my book, so life and art are pretty much one and the same. What do you think?”

  “I think that’s really obscure, and no one will get the connection. If you want my advice, I’d say to leave it off the back cover,” he said, putting a plate in front of her. “Voila! Dinner is served.”

  “Blaine, this looks delicious, and it looks like some serious comfort food.”

  “So it is. It's my version of beef stroganoff, and whenever I've had a bad day at the office, it's my go-to food. Fortunately, you had all the ingredients between the freezer, refrigerator, and pantry. Enjoy!”

  A few minutes later she said, “It not only looks delicious, it is. I was really hungry, because I never had lunch. I didn’t plan on eating at the club, since all I wanted to do was talk to Barbara, but I thought I could grab a bite on the way to my meeting with Nicole. However, I was running late, and one thing led to another, and you know the rest. Thank you so much for doing this. When we’re finished eating, I’ll do the dishes, and you can take my car home. I really don’t want to drive you home and then drive back here.’

  Blaine grinned and said, ‘You think I want to go out in this? No way. I’m spending the night. I can sleep in Lacie’s room, or maybe...”

  She looked over at him and said, “Think it’s a little too soon for or maybe…”

  Recipes!

  EXTRA FUDGY BROWNIES

  Ingredients:

  5 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into 5 pieces

  4 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped (I use a big knife to chop them. Make sure the cutting board is dry, or you’re going to have a big mess on your hands and starting a recipe off with an immediate mess is not fun!)

  2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped (Same as above.)

  3/4 cup sugar

  1/4 tsp. salt

  2 large eggs (I use jumbo, but large works well.)

  1/3 cup all-purpose flour

  1/3 cup walnuts (optional - I don’t use them because my grandchildren don’t like nuts!)

  1/2 cup semisweet chocolate bits

  Directions:

  Preheat o
ven to 325 degrees. Lightly butter the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13 inch Pyrex glass dish. (Truth be told I bring butter to room temperature and use my fingers, just make sure they're clean.)

  Use a double boiler pan and bring the water to a boil in the lower pan. (If you don't have a double boiler you can substitute by putting a glass or metal bowl over a pot of gently simmering water. Slowly heat the butter and the chocolate in the top pan until melted, stirring occasionally. Remove the bowl and whisk in the sugar and salt. When it’s cool enough so that the mixture won’t cook the eggs, add them, one at a time, stirring to incorporate after each one. Add the flour and mix it in. Gently stir the chocolate bits into the mixture and if desired, the walnuts.

  Pour mixture into prepared dish and bake 30 - 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Ovens vary so times will too. There are two schools of thought on when a brownie is done. I’m of the just cooked through school, but a lot of people prefer to have them a little drier than I do. Your choice. Cool on a cooking rack and then cut into squares. Enjoy!

  BLAINE’S BEEF STROGANOFF

  Ingredients:

  l lb. sirloin steak

  3 tbsp. all-purpose flour

  2 tbsp. vegetable oil

  1 large onion, finely chopped

  8 oz. mushrooms (cut the stem ends off and quarter them)

  2 tbsp. chili sauce

  1 tsp. salt

  1/4 tsp pepper

  1 cup sour cream

  1 16 oz. pkg. wide butter noodles

  2 tbsp. chopped chives for garnish

  Directions:

  Put the steak on a cutting board and cut it into approximately 1 inch square pieces. Put the flour in a paper or plastic bag and add one-fourth of the beef pieces. Shake the bag so the pieces become coated. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large deep pan over medium heat. When it’s hot remove the pieces from the bag and brown them in the oil, about 2 minutes on each side. When both sides have been browned, remove them and set aside. Repeat with 1/4 of the pieces at a time. When the last batch has been removed from the oil, add the chopped onion and sauté until soft. Return the meat to the pan and add the chili sauce, salt, and pepper. Cover and simmer for approximately one hour or until the meat is tender.