by Krista Davis
It was Schuyler. “Hi, Sophie! I was just about to leave. I wanted you to know that I’m Peyton, which is kind of a cool name. My dad says I can change it if I want to. But I think I might keep Hendrickson. That way, my name will reflect both of my families.”
She was taking this way too well. “Peyton Hendrickson. I like it!”
“Mars told me how you unraveled the code that Abby wrote in the recipe book. I wanted to thank you. It’s sort of weird to imagine so many people looking for me, and looking out for Peyton, a kid they didn’t even know. The shrink says I might have some dark days ahead as everything sinks in. But I think I have so much to be grateful for. Maybe Mia kidnapped me and took me from my real family, but she gave me my dad. And obsessive as she was, she took good care of me. And now I get to have two families. Next week, Dad and I are flying to Milwaukee to meet my birth parents.”
“How do you feel about that?” I asked.
“Scared and excited at the same time. They have a room for me! My real mom said every time I had a birthday, and every Christmas, they bought me presents. They’re all in my room waiting for me.”
“That shows how much they love you. They hoped you would come back to them.”
“I don’t want to leave my dad. He doesn’t have anybody else since Mom died. He and I think that maybe I can live with him during the school year and spend time with my birth family during the summer.”
“That sounds like a very reasonable solution.”
“They say I look just like my real mom. She never stopped looking for me. How lucky could I be? I think I want to be in the FBI. Did you know that they have a team of specialists who locate and return missing kids? That’s what I want to do.”
I gave her a big hug and tried very hard not to cry. Peyton was one strong young woman. I had no doubt that she would accomplish her FBI dreams.
That afternoon, I baked a lasagna and took it over to Francie and Eunice. Daisy went along to see her buddy, Duke.
They fussed over the heavenly aroma. I sat down to chat with them.
“We just returned from visiting Charlene and Griselda,” said Francie. “They were sitting outside enjoying the sunshine. I think I’m going to arrange to stay with Charlene for a few hours to give Griselda a break now and then.”
“That’s very kind of you. I’m sure both of them will enjoy that.”
“She was thrilled to hear that Oscar lives with me now,” said Eunice. “She really loves cats. But she’s worried about Fred’s cat called Nika. We went down to the shelter, just in case she was there. But she hadn’t been turned in.”
“That’s because I have Nika.”
Eunice’s eyes opened wide. “No kidding? You have to tell Charlene. She’ll feel so much better. I still can’t believe that lovely young woman was practically dying in my garage and I had no idea.” Eunice shook her head. “It was bad enough knowing that Fred could place Abby’s corpse in my deck storage box and I never heard a sound! Francie is taking me to the audiologist tomorrow. I’m getting new hearing aids. I have missed way too much of what’s going on around me.”
“You haven’t missed everything,” said Francie with a wink. She turned on the TV.
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
At that moment, someone knocked on the door. Francie disappeared. She returned with Sam, Benton, Schuyler—who was really Peyton, Briley, and the cute teenage boy I had seen acting peculiar on the street.
“Hi, Sophie,” said Benton with an engaging smile. “This is my nephew, Troy. I think you know everyone else, Troy.”
I greeted him but couldn’t help wondering what was going on with the two of them. I held my breath. Why were they all here at Francie’s house? It did not escape me that Briley smiled at Troy and beamed. Was this the boy she had a crush on?
“You’re just in time,” said Eunice. “I’m glad you’re here with us to see this, Sophie.”
A shiver ran through me. I was leery of Benton, even though he’d been very polite to me.
Everyone talked at once, making it hard to follow any threads of thought. And then, Francie shushed them.
The announcer was saying, “In a joint effort between the CIA and the FBI, agents have been able to track a hacking organization that targeted United States politicians and employees of the federal government. The hacker sent e-mail to their children. When the children clicked on a link, the hackers were able to go through the children’s accounts to their parents’ accounts, where they accessed passwords. Once they had the passwords, they had complete access to sensitive information and were even able to enter government accounts. I am pleased to announce that the hacker has been apprehended thanks to the diligence of agents and some special assistants.”
Briley and Peyton whooped and high-fived. “That’s us! We’re the special assistants!”
On the TV screen, Wesley stepped up to the microphone. “In recent weeks, there has been a huge outcry, including demands that I resign my position, because of an e-mail that allegedly outed two U.S. agents. That e-mail was phony. It was designed to enable us to locate the hacker. You can see how easily he was able to put it out there. Everyone was convinced that it was legitimate and that I was the source of the e-mail. In fact, I did not write that e-mail. Clearly, I would never mention the names of operatives in my communications. And if you look closely at that e-mail, you will find that those operatives are fictional. There are no U.S. operatives by those names. My e-mail and my computer were hacked. But that e-mail was pure fiction, designed as a trap.”
Wesley stepped back, and reporters shouted questions.
Eunice clicked mute on the TV remote and turned to me. “One day when Briley came over here to talk to us about Old Town when we were young, she asked me if clicking on a link in an e-mail could have allowed someone to hack into her dad’s e-mail. Of course it could, and it did. I called Sam, and together we reached out to old friends at the CIA. They sent Benton over here, and we set up a trap for the hacker.”
Benton? I looked over at him in shock. “CIA? So you really are a spy?”
Benton laughed aloud. “No, I’m just a cyber geek at the CIA. Just another ordinary government employee. No undercover work for me.”
Really? Should I out him and let him know that I had seen him stashing things around town? I tried to let him know without being too obvious. “I saw you with the soda can.”
Troy glanced at Benton.
Benton grinned. “She’s onto us, Troy. We’re not doing a very good job.”
I wasn’t following them at all.
“What are you talking about?” asked Briley.
I stared at Benton, wondering how he was going to handle this. Would he confess to being undercover after all? Could spies even do that?
“When Troy was younger and found out that I worked for the CIA, he wished I was a spy. So I started leaving little messages around town for him. It’s just all in good fun. You’re the first person who called us out on it, Sophie.”
Sam shook his head. “You two are going to have to improve if Sophie noticed.”
“I left the soda can in the trash,” said Troy proudly. “It contained a message telling Uncle Benton what time to meet me to go to a movie the next day.”
“The chalk on the lamppost was to let you know something was under the pumpkin?” I asked.
Benton flushed. “Boy, you really are observant. I might start leaving notes for you.”
As he spoke, something else clicked with me. “Did you play little games like this with Abby?”
Benton’s eyes met mine. His mouth pulled tight, and he nodded.
“So she left the code on the recipes for you. She assumed that if anything happened, you would look for her at Tilly’s house and see the codes on the recipes.”
“What codes?”
I explained how we figured out Peyton’s name. “What I don’t understand is why Abby didn’t call the police immediately.”
“I wish she had,” said Benton. “S
he might still be alive. But Abby had a history of thinking she found Peyton. She had reported a couple of other girls in the past who weren’t Peyton. It was always a huge, horrible scene and so hard on the girls and their families. She had promised me she wouldn’t put anyone else through that. To be honest, I thought Peyton was probably dead.”
He grinned at Schuyler, “I’m glad you’re alive and well. Abby was devastated when you disappeared. It never left her mind. She called Charlene to take Oscar, and then she went out to dinner with Mars, all the while probably trying to decide what she should do. She didn’t realize that Mia would move so fast, I guess.”
“I’m so sorry that Mia killed her,” said Schuyler softly. “I liked Abby.”
Francie broke the sad silence. “The girls were fabulous in catching the hacker!” said Francie. “It was so much fun.”
“And you’ll never believe this,” said Eunice. “Guess who the hacker was.”
I didn’t know any hackers. Unless . . . “Not Fred!”
“He was right under our noses all along,” said Francie. “We told Charlene, and she said she had a feeling something wasn’t right.”
“That’s what you were doing over here the day I dropped by. I thought you were up to something.”
“We’re gonna miss that. It felt good to be involved in taking down a criminal,” said Eunice.
When I left Francie’s house, I knew what I had to do. I didn’t really want to, because Nika had fit into my household so nicely. She and Mochie got along well. But sometimes you have to do what’s right. I packed up a litter box and some cat food. Apologizing to Mochie the whole time, I lifted Nika out of the bay window and carried her over to Natasha’s guest house.
Charlene cried when I placed Nika in her lap. I handed the litter box and cat food to Griselda, who was obviously a cat lover and couldn’t get over Nika’s beautiful blue eyes.
“Are you sure it’s okay for me to have her?” asked Charlene.
“Absolutely. Fred may have been a terrible man, but he loved you and Nika.”
“Actually, I meant Natasha,” said Charlene. “I thought she doesn’t like animals. She calls them furballs.”
“Bernie lived here with three cats. I imagine Natasha will get over it.”
Griselda winked at me. “The doctor said a pet might be a good idea. They have healing qualities.”
They did indeed. I could hear Nika purring already.
When I left their apartment, I spied Natasha walking across her lawn. I darted out the gate as fast as I could and hoped she hadn’t seen me. They were sisters. They would argue and make up and love each other anyway, I reasoned.
I was halfway home when I heard Natasha scream. I smiled. Now everything was back to normal. My sister, Hannah, and I loved each other dearly but there were times when we drove each other nuts. For Natasha and Charlene, the fun was just beginning.
Recipes
Grandma Peggy’s Pumpkin Bundt Cake HPS5106
½ cup butter (1 stick), melted, plus extra for pan
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ cup vegetable oil
2 large room-temperature eggs
1½ cups sugar, plus extra for pan
1½ cups dark brown sugar
3 cups pumpkin puree
1 tablespoon vanilla
Powdered sugar (optional)
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease the Bundt pan well with butter and sprinkle sugar in it as you would flour to prevent sticking.
Melt the ½ cup of butter and set aside to cool. In a bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine ½ cup melted butter and the oil, and mix. Beat in the eggs. Add the sugar and dark brown sugar and beat on slow, then gradually increase the speed. Add the pumpkin and vanilla and beat. Slowly add in the flour mixture, about ⅓ cup at a time. Pour the mixture into the greased Bundt pan.
Bake 55 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Allow to rest on a rack about 15 minutes, then loosen the edges and middle and flip onto a serving plate. Optional: sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving. Serve warm or cold.
Roasted Parmesan Chicken Breasts BAC149
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
1½ tablespoons parsley flakes
½ cup mayonnaise
1 cup panko
½ cup Parmesan cheese
4 chicken breasts
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a 9 × 9 inch baking pan. Mix the garlic powder, paprika, salt, pepper, parsley flakes, and mayonnaise in a bowl. Mix the panko and Parmesan cheese in a separate bowl. Dip the chicken breasts into the mayonnaise mixture and then into the panko mixture, covering the breasts completely. Place the breasts in the baking pan.
Bake 30 to 35 minutes until the chicken registers 165° on a thermometer.
Maple-Glazed Brussels Sprouts with Bacon WFM2912
1 pound Brussels sprouts
4 slices bacon, cut into bite-size pieces
¼ tablespoon olive oil
cup maple syrup
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Clean the Brussels sprouts and remove the outer layer of leaves. Place the sprouts on a lipped baking sheet in a single layer. Add the bacon. Pour the olive oil over them and turn to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and turn again.
Bake 25 minutes. Remove the sheet from the oven and turn the sprouts. Pour the maple syrup over them and toss.
Garlic Mashed Potatoes GPP251
6 cups chicken stock
3 pounds red potatoes
½ cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons garlic powder
½ cup milk
3 ounces cream cheese
1¼ teaspoons salt
Pour the chicken stock into a large pot and bring to a boil. As the stock heats, cut the potatoes into one-inch chunks. Cook the potatoes in the chicken stock until the potatoes can be easily pierced by a fork. Melt the butter. As it melts, gradually whisk in the garlic powder. Remove the potatoes from the broth to a mixing bowl. Mash the potatoes with the butter, milk, cream cheese, and salt until smooth and creamy.
Cornbread with a Corny Twist MGB4143
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 cup self-rising cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
teaspoon salt
1 large room-temperature egg, beaten
½ cup unsalted butter
⅓ cup honey
1 cup frozen corn
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Pour the vinegar into the milk and set aside. In a large bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix well. Whisk the egg lightly into the milk, pour in the honey and mix. Melt the butter in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet and swirl to coat the bottom and the sides. Pour any excess butter over the cornmeal mixture. Pour in the milk mixture and stir until just combined. Add the corn and stir. Pour into the skillet.
Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Bourbon Apple Fritters with Bourbon Caramel Sauce RPC142
2 large sweet apples, such as Fuji
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons bourbon
1 egg
½ cup milk
Corn oil for frying (40 ounce bottle)
Powdered sugar
Peel and core the apples. Cut into slices about ¼ inch thick. In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In a
separate bowl, mix the egg with the milk and bourbon. Whisk the milk mixture into the flour mixture. Pour the corn oil about three inches deep in a pot and heat until a drop of water sizzles in it. Dip the apple strips into the batter and gently lower them into the oil. Do not crowd them. Fry until golden. Remove to a paper towel to absorb any excess oil. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with Bourbon Caramel Sauce. Note: these are best the day they are made.
Bourbon Caramel Sauce BAF7168
½ cup packed dark brown sugar
½ cup butter
½ cup heavy cream
Pinch of pink salt
2 tablespoons bourbon
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
Add the dark brown sugar, butter, cream, and salt to a small pot and bring to a boil while stirring. Continue to cook at a simmer for one minute while stirring. Remove from heat and stir in the bourbon and powdered sugar.
Homemade Pumpkin Spice Lattes CPS3811
2 cups 2% milk
½ cup canned pumpkin
¼ cup packed brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
teaspoon nutmeg
Pinch of cloves
1 teaspoon vanilla
Place milk, pumpkin, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in a large pot and whisk together. Heat until the brown sugar is melted and everything is combined. Stir in the vanilla. Pour into individual mugs and spoon sweetened cream on top. Sprinkle with just a hint of nutmeg.
Sweetened Cream
1 cup heavy cream
⅓ cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Beat the heavy cream until it begins to take shape. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and continue to beat until the cream holds a firm shape.