by Krista Davis
“She got a pretty good dig at Parker’s leg when he grabbed her.” Wolf downed his coffee.
“So that’s why Madison lied about seeing Cindy running the night she set the foggers.”
Wolf nodded. “She was trying to throw suspicion on Cindy.”
I poured more coffee into his mug. “Did Parker tell you why he was strangling her?”
Wolf looked up at me. “He thought Madison was you. He meant to strangle you. Parker followed Fawn to your house yesterday morning. He knew it was only a matter of time before you knew the truth. Seems Cindy told him you would be attending the meeting at the library, so he waited for you and tailed you in the dark. You probably saved your life when you hid and let them pass you.”
My friends looked at me in horror. Now I really felt queasy. But the one I felt the worst for was Gavin. He lost the only father he knew, one who had been good to him. And now when he learned the truth, he would know that his biological father was a murderer and a blackmailer.
* * *
After breakfast, we left the dishes in the sink. Except for Wolf, who had to get back to work, we all walked down to the waterfront and tied white cotton scarfs on all the benches. They looked very festive blowing in the wind. We didn’t know if Kelsey was watching the live camera at that moment, but we all lined up and waved in case she could see us.
Kelsey returned that night. Nina, Francie, and I helped her clean out the refrigerator while we caught her up on everything that had happened.
“Madison?” asked Kelsey. “I never even considered her. And now I feel like such a dope for giving Angus a job as our handyman. I bet Parker set that up to get Angus inside our home. You can’t trust anybody!”
Francie handed me another half-eaten casserole dish to empty. “We’ll go through this again when they release Hollis and you can have a proper funeral service.”
“Maybe this time people won’t look at me like I’m a murdering vixen.” Kelsey handed me a casserole. I dumped the contents and read the name on the bottom. Lavinia Brown.
“Maybe this time,” said Nina, “we’ll keep Natasha out of the way.”
Kelsey laughed. “She is a little pushy.”
I stacked clean casserole dishes on the dining room table and walked back to the kitchen through the living room. I stopped dead in the center of the room when I heard voices. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but someone was whispering. Jay’s ghosts!
I hurried into the kitchen. Placing a finger over my mouth, I whispered, “Come into the living room.”
They followed me in silence.
Francie was the first to speak. “Ghosts.”
Kelsey frowned. “I heard them before I left. I thought they were Hollis’s killers lurking outside. Where do you think they’re coming from?”
“Was that a giggle?” I asked. Suddenly I had a sneaking suspicion that I knew where the whispers were originating. “Kelsey, have you got a flashlight?”
She retrieved one from the kitchen and handed it to me. I opened the door to the small side garden and walked to the base of Gavin’s tree house. As quietly as I could, I climbed up the ladder. When my head reached the floor of the house, I aimed the light inside.
Gavin’s friend Chadwick was necking with a pretty girl. They blinked and shielded their eyes when I shone the light on them.
“Do your parents know you’re here?” I asked.
They sheepishly shook their heads and followed me down the ladder.
“Wait right here,” I said. “Nina, would you phone Jay and ask if he can hear the ghosts in his house?”
She dialed his number and talked with him. “He doesn’t hear them now.”
I nodded to the kids. “Climb back up there and talk.”
In seconds we heard the whispering.
Nina laughed. “Jay says the ghosts are back.”
“Tell him to come over here,” I said.
Minutes later, we introduced Jay to his two ghosts. He shook their hands. “You’ve been driving me batty. I must say that it’s a tad disappointing that the ghosts of Revolutionary spies aren’t chatting in my house. On the other hand, I’m relieved to know that I wasn’t imagining things.”
Chadwick and his girlfriend called their parents. We waited for them in Kelsey’s kitchen, where the clean-up continued.
Jay pitched in, helping stack the casserole dishes. “Natasha paid me a visit today.”
Uh-oh.
He bowed his head as if in shame. “She brought trash bags and wanted to clean out my house.”
“I’m sorry, Jay. She can be quite obnoxious. I’m sure she meant to be helpful.”
“After my wife died, I didn’t want to be at home. Everything reminded me of her. I was devastated when I lost her. I even slept in my office some nights.” He was speaking softly, and I could tell that he had loved her very much.
He finally looked up at me. “It’s not like me. It’s so awful that I just stay away. I live with my curtains closed so no one will know. Somehow, Natasha found out. It will be all over town in no time.”
“Maybe you could talk with someone about it? A professional?”
“Could you help me? I want to clean it up, but it’s so overwhelming that I don’t know where to start.”
“Of course. You have a lot of friends. We would be thrilled to help you.”
* * *
The very next day, the entire neighborhood, except for Natasha, gathered at Jay’s house. Bernie brought trucks, Kelsey brought beach music, and I brought trash bags. Gavin showed up on crutches with Chadwick and the cute girlfriend. They took the backyard under expert gardener Francie’s direction.
Jay surprised me by wanting to rid himself of almost everything. I had expected him to hold on to much more.
Naturally, the murders were still a hot topic of discussion.
Nina, Kelsey, and I were working in the living room, which was turning out to be amazingly gorgeous under the clutter.
“So where did you go to hide out?” Nina asked Kelsey.
“To the mountains. I found a little place that rents out cabins. I figured strangers would be noticed around there if someone came looking for me.”
“You really weren’t hiding from Parker?”
“I didn’t know who to run from. That’s why I left. I was afraid to answer the door or even walk over to your place.”
I tossed a stack of magazines into a trash bag. “Parker never propositioned you?”
“I probably have Hollis to thank for that. Once I met him, we were inseparable. Parker was probably smart enough to realize that while I fit his disgusting scheme, I would have ratted him out to Hollis.”
The front door opened. I picked up trash bags to hand to Mars. But it was Trula who walked into the living room. For the first time in my life, I saw her dressed in jeans and a man’s shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
We fell completely silent.
Trula walked over to Kelsey. “I’m so sorry about everything.” Tears streamed down her face, marring her makeup. “I’m so ashamed of Parker. And I’m ashamed of myself for not realizing what was going on with him. I . . . I trusted Parker implicitly. How could I have been such a fool? I’ve been so rude and unkind to you, Kelsey. I thought you were a threat to my marriage. I saw how Parker looked at you. He hasn’t ever looked at me that way. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?”
I held my breath.
Kelsey reached out and hugged Trula. “I think you just did.”
“So, Trula,” I said, trying to change the subject, “did you ever work out Parker’s ancestry?”
She wiped her face. “He comes from a long line of decent people. No spies, no historical figures, no one who owned or lived in a grand Old Town residence. I’ll tell you what, though, they would be unbelievably ashamed of him now. Just like I am. The way he abused those women! And murder, too! I can’t—” The tears began again. “I never imagined him being so brutal.” Her shoulders curved forward. “How could I h
ave lived with someone like that?” She swallowed hard and took a deep breath. “I was nothing but a bank account to him.”
Trula had been through a lot in the last couple of days. I dared to ask her something I was itching to know. “Trula, why did you tell me you bought silver polish at the hardware store?”
She stiffened and her eyes grew large. Letting out a breath, she said, “Because I was ashamed that I had bugs in the house and needed a fogger.”
I smiled at her and gave her a little hug. She was learning that she was just like the rest of us.
I hauled the trash bags out to the foyer just as Natasha and Lavinia Brown arrived. They jostled each other as they tried to be the first to the front stoop.
Lavinia gazed around. “Is Jay moving?”
Natasha gloated when she said, “I’m helping him overcome his hoarding problem.”
That was a major exaggeration. The only impetus she had been was one of embarrassment.
“Hoarding?” Lavinia stepped inside with Natasha right behind her. I trotted out to the curb and handed Bernie the trash bags.
When I returned to the house, Lavinia and Natasha were squabbling about what color to paint the living room.
Natasha shook her head. “You’re just like Sophie, you have no feel for what’s trending. These walls should be minion yellow. All these antiques are passé. We’ll bring in some mid-century modern and pale-lime accents.”
Lavinia stared at her like she had lost her mind. “Colonial blue for the walls. And the stunning antiques stay!”
At that moment, Jay entered the living room.
Lavinia and Natasha descended on him, chattering nonstop. But he had eyes for only one person in the room. A gentle smile appeared on his face as he walked past Natasha and Lavinia.
Trula, her makeup horribly tear-stained, smiled as he approached her and took her hand.
There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that a love match had bloomed in the library.
Recipes
Chocolate Truffle Tart with Strawberries
Crust
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
⅓ cup very cold water
Preheat oven to 350. Place flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a food processor and pulse about four times to combine. While running the food processor, pour cooled melted butter into flour mixture slowly. Pulse several times. Add cold water while running. Pulse until it sticks together in small bits. Remove from food processor and press into ungreased tart pan.
Bake 18–20 minutes until it begins to pull away from the edge and is a light golden color.
Filling
1¼ cups heavy whipping cream
12 ounces 55% to 60% semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
or a 12-ounce package of semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Heat the cream until very hot but do not bring to a boil. Add the chopped chocolate. Stir until chocolate is dissolved. Pour in the vanilla and stir to mix. Pour into prepared tart pan. Set aside until cool. Refrigerate to set.
Topping
1½ pounds small strawberries
1 cup heavy whipping cream
⅓ cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Wash and hull strawberries. Cut in half lengthwise. Place on top of the chocolate in a pleasing pattern. Beat the cream. When it begins to take shape, add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat until fairly stiff.
Pipe decoratively around the top edge of the tart. Place the rest of the whipped cream in a bowl and pass it when you serve the tart.
Italian Spritz
Ice cubes
3 parts sparkling wine (Prosecco or Cava)
2 parts Aperol (an orange aperitif)
1 part soda water
1 orange slice for garnish
Fill glass with ice cubes. Add sparkling wine, Aperol, and soda water. Garnish with an orange slice.
Piña Colada
1 cup pineapple-flavored white rum
1½ cups pineapple juice
¾ cup cream of coconut
¼ cup fresh lime juice
1 cup of ice
Pineapple and maraschino cherries for garnish
Place liquids and ice in blender. Blend until smooth. Pour into tall hurricane glasses. Garnish with a wedge of pineapple and one maraschino cherry.
Tomato Bacon Tart with Cracker Crust
Author’s note: This crust is wonderfully light and delicious. However, it is very delicate and prone to crumbling. I’m very fond of it, but you may wish to substitute a sturdier crust.
2–3 tomatoes
½ teaspoon salt
4 ounces buttery crackers (if using Ritz, about 36
crackers)
7 tablespoons butter, melted
1 plus 3 slices cooked bacon
6 ounces shredded mozzarella
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon thyme
1 tablespoon olive oil
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Spread out paper towels. Slice the tomatoes about ¼-inch thick with a very sharp knife. Lay the slices on the paper towels. Set aside the ends of the tomatoes to use in a salad. Sprinkle with ½ teaspoon of salt.
Crush the crackers and mix with melted butter and one slice of bacon, very finely chopped. (You can do this in a food processor. Pulse the crackers with the one slice of bacon. While running, add the melted butter. Scrape the sides and run again.) Press into a tart form. Bake 5 to 7 minutes or until light brown.
Raise the temperature of the oven to 400 degrees.
Chop the remaining three slices of bacon. When slightly cooled, sprinkle half the bacon on the bottom of the tart. Sprinkle the mozzarella on the tart and spread to the edges. Sprinkle with the garlic and ¼ teaspoon of thyme. Place the tomatoes in an attractive pattern on top and sprinkle with the remaining bacon. Drizzle with olive oil.
Bake for 14 to 15 minutes.
Coca-Cola Cake
Note: If you would like to toast the ½ cup of pecans for the frosting, do so before baking the cake. If you don’t have buttermilk, add ½ teaspoon of white vinegar to ½ cup milk and let stand a few minutes.
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1 cup butter
1 cup Coca-Cola
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
½ cup buttermilk
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1½ cups miniature marshmallows
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease and flour a 9 x 13-inch baking pan.
Combine sugar and flour in a large bowl. Whisk well and set aside.
Mix together butter, 1 cup Coca-Cola, and cocoa in a pot. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Pour over sugar and flour mixture and stir, blending well.
In a separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk, eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Add to Coca-Cola mixture. Add marshmallows and stir well. (Note: The marshmallows will not melt.)
Pour into prepared pan and bake 35 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Frosting
Note: Frosting and cake should be warm when applying the frosting.
½ cup butter
1–3 tablespoons cocoa powder
6 tablespoons Coca-Cola
1 pound (1 box) confectioner’s sugar
½ cup chopped pecans, toasted (optional)
About 10 minutes before the cake will be done, place ½ cup butter, 3 tablespoons cocoa, and 6 tablespoons Coca-Cola in a pot. Pour over the powdered sugar and mix well. Add vanilla and mix. Spread over cake while both cake and frosting are still warm. Sprinkle with chopped pecans.
Apple Coleslaw
⅓ of an average green cabbage
⅓ of an average red cabbage
2 crisp red apples (like Galas)
2 carrots
½ yellow onion
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons yellow mustard
½ teaspoon pink sea salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon celery seeds
½ teaspoon smoked paprika (or plain paprika)
2 teaspoons olive oil (one with a mild taste or other
vegetable oil)
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 heaping soup spoons of mayonnaise (about ½ cup)
Peel the outer leaves off the cabbages, wash the cabbages, and cut off ⅓ of each cabbage. Cut out the big core. Shred the cabbage. (Note: Shredding is definitely easier with a food processor but can also be done by hand.) Leave the peel on the apples, cut in quarters, and cut out the core. Shred. Peel and shred the carrots and the onion. Mix cabbage, apples, carrots, and onion well in a big bowl.
In a small bowl, whisk together the sugars, mustard, sea salt, pepper, celery seeds, paprika, olive oil, and vinegar. Add the mayonnaise and whisk well. Pour over the cabbage and turn several times to spread evenly throughout.
Bourbon Garlic Flank Steak
¼ cup bourbon
¼ cup canola oil (or other high-heat friendly oil)
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 flank steak
In a small bowl, mix together the bourbon, canola oil, apple cider vinegar, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper. Whisk briskly to blend. Stir in the minced garlic. Place the flank steak in as small a container (plastic bags also do the trick) as it will fit into flat. Pour the bourbon mixture over it. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight, turning once. (You can broil it sooner, but the flavors won’t be as strong.)