by Pat Amsden
Maxine's eyes started to tear up and she hugged her mother. Then she looked up and saw Roger. Her heart hammered as she realized he was going to get away unless she did something. At the same time Grandma Ellie was just recovering from New Year's Eve.
"Give me two minutes," she said. "I have to make a call." She stepped over to a corner that seemed relatively quiet and called Patrick. He didn't pick up. She left a message.
What next? She couldn't even ask the ticket lady which plane he was going on. She could see him using the automatic one now. Maybe it would jam. Maybe it wouldn't give him what he wanted.
She watched him pick up the tickets from where the machine spat them out. He started to walk towards the passenger only area. She pressed the call button for Patrick again not getting any answer.
Walt was looking in her direction and talking to her mother. She waved to them mouthing, "everything's all right."
They waved back, clearly puzzled. She stopped a security guard.
"Please, you have to help me!"
An older man in his mid-forties he smiled at her. "What seems to be the problem? Do you need directions?"
"I need you to stop that man," she said pointing desperately in Roger's direction.
"Oh, I get it!" he said. "A lover's quarrel. Don't worry. These things have a way of working themselves out." He patted her shoulder in a condescending way.
"He's wanted in connection with a murder," she spat out. "You have to stop him before he gets on the plane."
The security guard took a step back, assessing her more carefully. "So why aren't the police here?"
"I don't think they're expecting him to be here," she said frankly. "When I left they were waiting at his house with family members."
"And why are you here," he said regarding her with clear suspicion.
"They wanted me to look at pictures from the crime scene," she said desperately. "Then I left to drive my mother to the airport."
"And you couldn't call the police?"
"I've tried calling Detective Shannon! It just goes to message. And meanwhile Roger's gone into the passenger only area. You have to trust me." Something about what she was saying must have made an impression because he took the phone from her pressing Patrick's number and getting the same message.
"Tell me who this man is," he asked.
"His name is Roger Grant. He's been in town visiting family. Now it looks as if," her eyes filled with tears. "He's getting away."
"You leave this to me to deal with," he said. "You go say goodbyes to your family." He was already walking her over to them, not giving her a say in the matter.
His arm pushed her as she slowed, trying to stop , without causing a scene or losing his cooperation altogether. "I could help you," she said, her voice clipped as they approached her family.
"Not necessary. I hope you've had a good visit," he said walking away from her.
"The nerve of that man," she said, seeing red.
"What's going on?" her mother asked while Grandma Ellie and Walt hung on her every word. The trouble was she didn't want to give them all the details.
"Nothing," she said frustrated. "I thought I saw Roger for a minute. It turned out to be someone who looked like him."
"Was the security guard giving you trouble," her mother said.
"It's nothing I can't handle," she said with a great deal more confidence than she felt. Although managing to keep her phone might have helped she thought. She couldn't even give Patrick another call.
"Remember, you can visit at any time," Walt said. "We'll show you around Calgary and I'll even cook for you."'
"Just as long as you don't expect me to," her mother said.
"I'll be coming out for sure some time this year. And it sounds as if you're a mean cook," she told Walt.
"You've got quite the operation yourself," Walt said.
"Your chocolates are to die for," her mother said and then winced at her choice of words.
"Don't worry," Maxine said. "I know what you mean and I'm glad you like them."
"Gate ten to Toronto," the over-head page said. "Gate ten to Toronto, please have your pre-boarding passes ready. Maxine could only wait, feeling her stomach clench in knots. Even as they spoke he could be flashing his boarding pass at the flight attendant.
"You've done everything you can," her mother said softly. "You have to let it go."
"I know," she said.
And then an announcement came from over-head. "We've had a delay due to weather problems out of Toronto. At this time all planes will be delayed until four o'clock.
There were groans from waiting passengers as all the displays showing plane arrival and departure times suddenly changed to show no departures for the next hour. Maxine felt herself breathe a little easier. But still she worried.
In the distance she heard the wail of sirens coming. People turned in the direction of the sound, conversation ceased momentarily.
"Has something happened?" people began to ask as the sound came closer. "Has there been an accident." Mothers clutched their children closer to them. Whispers started. "There's a terrorist on the plane," as police streamed through the doors.
Maxine stood watching, shocked. This seemed like over-kill but at least Roger wouldn't get away.
And then when all the police had disappeared she saw Roger walking rapidly back towards them. She started towards the nearest flight attendant when Roger looked towards her. A flash of recognition crossed his face as he started to run towards the door.
"Don't let him get away," she yelled.
He swung his carry on wildly as a man stepped in front of him trying to stop him and the man fell back with a cry of pain. Roger started to run faster and she suddenly realized he was going to get away.
She grabbed her purse and threw it at him with all her force. It hit him in the back of his head with a thwack. He slowed momentarily, staggered and then tripped, falling hands first onto the floor.
A cry of pain escaped his mouth as he tried staggering to his feet, face white with pain.
Maxine reached him just in time to grab him causing him to fall down again. Walt caught up with her, slightly out of breath from running.
He grabbed the strap from Roger's carry-on and used it to tie him up. The crowd at the airport broke into a spontaneous round of applause as police arrived to take Roger away in handcuffs.
It seemed almost anti-climactic to say goodbye to her mother and Walt after all the excitement.
"No one's ever going to believe this happened in sleepy old Victoria," her mother said laughing as she hugged her one more time.
Grandma Ellie seemed more like her old self than she had for days now. She hugged her daughter close and then said. "It's people who make a place boring or not boring. That's just not us!"
Later as Patrick took her statement he asked, "What was in that purse? Witnesses keep saying he went down as if he'd been hit by a rock.
She felt her face flush and vowed to stop packing her purse so full. It was small but somehow she managed to jam everything she could think of in it.
For now she just smiled. "That's not important is it? After all it did the job."
It was going to take Julianna and Rohan, along with their families longer to get over the shock of realizing it was Roger.
Julianna just shook her head. "But why? I mean I believe it because I kept getting flashes where I'd see the dead man-Kevin's nephew, giving me something to drink at Butcharts, but why?
No one could really tell her why. They knew Roger had wanted the company to go public. He'd been counting on getting a large pile of cash for his share of the business when it sold. That would allow him to continue the life-style he enjoyed now and let him buy the coffee shop he worked in.
When the IPO stopped and it seemed to be because of Julianna's and Rohan's impending marriage he'd decided to take steps to stop it. And since he'd gone to school with Kevin when in Victoria, he'd known who to call.
But Kevin had his ow
n dark secrets. With serious gambling debts he'd looked on this as a chance to cash in. He hadn't expected Julianna to be killed or come close to being killed. He'd hired his nephew to scare her. He hadn't realized the drink mix Roger slipped him that day contained deadly cyanide.
When Julianna survived he started blackmailing Roger. Roger had been running out of money to pay Kevin and when he saw the nephew at the party they'd quarreled. And in a fight Roger had killed Kevin's nephew.
Chapter Ten
Julianna looked radiant in a long white wedding gown trimmed in lace and rhinestones. It fit her like a glove going down in a smooth line with a five foot lace train flowing out behind her. There was a small crown on her head that sparkled and glistened under the lights with a sheer bridal veil barely covering a simple, yet elegant bridal updo.
There were tears in her eye as her father took her arm escorting her up the aisle to sound of the wedding march, where Rohan waited, resplendent in a traditional black and white tux. In front of them, Angelina walked, skipped and danced in joy, throwing flowers and beaming with happiness.
There was not a dry eye to be seen as Julianna and Rohan promised to love each other for ever and eternity.
And when the minister said "you may kiss the bride," Rohan did. Long and hard so that titters broke out and more than one person found themselves wishing for their own happily ever after.
Six months had passed since that fateful day in January when Maxine helped stop Roger from escaping. It had been a hard time for Julianna and all her family. But while there would always be a hole in Julianna's heart when she thought of Roger and sadness for her entire family, her father had been right.
"You didn't cause this Julia. Neither did Rohan. Punishing yourselves won't help anyone." He bowed his head, his eyes closing, while a small shudder went through him. "I'd give anything to undo the past, to change the last year. But Roger made his own choices, his own decisions."
"Giving up your own happiness won't change what Roger did. He's going to have to pay the price for that."
"But," she'd cried.
He shook his head. "Marry Rohan. Make a life for yourselves. We'll help Roger as best we can. But this is his burden to bear, not yours."
She'd still visited Roger in jail. Her heart had broken as she sat, separated from him by safety glass. He looked a thousand years older, weary and worn. She'd tried to mask her feelings by smiling brightly at him while a guard watched over them.
"Hi Roger. How are you feeling?"
He'd given her a crooked smile. "Never better," he'd said. "Can't you tell?" There'd been a bitter edge to his voice.
"I, Dad says he's got you the best legal counsel there is." She blinked back tears wanting to apologize to him, but for what?
"Yes, yes. I'll have all my rights and then be thrown in jail to rot," he said.
"How could you? You tried to kill-"
"I never meant to harm you..." He paused, shaking his head. "I thought the drink would make you sick, would stop the wedding. And then- " he smiled a mad smile.
"Next you'll be telling me cyanide is a health drink," she said bitterly.
"I didn't know," he cried.
"You may not have meant to kill me but you certainly meant to hurt me," she snapped. "And then you killed, you killed a man you didn't even know," she said, her voice dropping to a whisper. "How could you?"
"It was an accident. None of this was meant to happen!"
But the past could not be undone. She'd finally realized her father was right. This was Roger's burden. There was nothing she could do to change it. It was time to look toward the future.
She'd asked Maxine to take over the catering.
"There's no one else I'd really trust right now," she'd said, her eye pleading.
Maxine had agreed working with other caterer's she'd worked with in the past to come up with a simple but elegant wedding. They'd kept Butchart's garden as the venue. Maxine had wondered about it but Julianna had decided to stay with Butchart's.
"I've dreamed of having my wedding at Butchart's Gardens since I was a small child. He's not taking that away from me."
Now as they stood together in front of the beautiful cake Maxine had made she felt her eyes tear up. They'd decided to go with heavenly chocolate cake in place of the devil's food they'd originally chosen. And Julianna had decided bling was not so important to her anymore.
Rohan stood beside Julianna, his hand on hers as they sliced their wedding cake together. They fed each other a piece of the cake toasting to a life together while Maxine and Heath cut pieces of wedding cake to serve the guests and whisked the very top layer away to be saved as a bridal keepsake.
"I promise to love and protect Julianna with my life," Rohan said looking serious as he stood beside her.
"And I promise to do everything I can to make our lives long and healthy," Julia said.
Then the dancing broke out with a special bridesmaid number they'd been rehearsing for months. Not long after the bride and groom slipped away to emerge dressed in street clothes. They threw the bouquet to the assembled guests and Angelina almost caught it, but as it fell through her hands Rohan's sister scooped it up.
"You can hold it for me," she said gently to Angelina and Angelina smiled.
"That's OK. I'm too young to get married anyway," Angelina said. Then she started throwing rice at the car as Rohan and Julianna drove away.
More Chocolate Secrets
Tempering
If you want your chocolates to look really professional you need to temper them. That's what gives fancy chocolates the gloss and 'snap. To do that you'll need to heat it to approximately 85 degrees either in a double boiler on top of the stove or in the microwave. Or a chocolate melting pot if you have one. Mine will get to 85 degrees F if I have it on high.
There are also automatically controlled tempering machines but they're super expensive and you don't have as much control over the finished product.
Flavoring Chocolates
You can add peppermint or orange oils to straight chocolate and pour them in molds for flavored chocolates. But don't use any flavorings that don't have an oil base or it will destroy the chocolate. (Water and Chocolate don't mix!)
For a filling either for truffles or for a cake add heavy cream (whipping) to chocolate and mix it together. For chocolates it should be a pudding thickness and texture. For a cake filling or glaze you'd want to thin it out more.
You can cover nuts to make your own nut clusters or if you're feeling ambitious use the recipe below to make caramels. I like them covered in dark chocolate but that's a matter of personal choice. Adding a sprinkle of sea salt to the top of the finished chocolate can also add a nice touch as can adding vanilla to the caramel mixture.
Caramels
4 dozen or more depending on how thick and size of pan etc. I use a six by eight and a smaller one. Candy thermometer needed or ability to tell when caramel has reached soft-ball stage.
INGREDIENTS
2 cups white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1 cup evaporated milk
1 pint heavy whipped cream
1 cup butter
DIRECTIONS
Use Pam or grease to coat pans
In a medium sized pan add everything together and heat stirring often until candy thermometer reaches 250 degrees F (120 C) or forms soft balls when a small amount is dropped from a spoon into cold water. Remove from heat and put in pans. Note the difference of a few minutes can be the difference of lovely soft, chewy toffee and hard toffee.
Score with a knife when they've cooled slightly but not completely. It will make cutting them easier when they're done.
After you've cut them into scares of whatever size and thickness you want you can cover them in chocolate. Or leave plain. They'll be a hit either way.
If you want a nice caramel sauce you might want to take some of the caramel mixture out before it hits soft ball stage. It makes a yu
mmy one to use on ice-cream, apple pie or all kinds of goodies.
If you enjoyed this book and would like to write a review please go to amazon.com
For more information about the author go to www.patamsden.com.
Chocolate Worth Dying For
Book One in the cozy mystery series: Death By Chocolate
Available through Amazon – Ebook format only at this time
Amazon.com
5.0 out of 5 stars A Real Page Turner August 12, 2013
By ladyhawk
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
"Chocolate Worth Dying For (Death By Chocolate)" is a great book that grabbed my attention from the very beginning and kept my interest to the end. It's a worthwhile read I recommend! Chocolate Martini anyone?
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars So Much to Like about This One August 19, 2013
By N Brandon
Format:Kindle Edition
The title and cover alone were enough to make me want to dig right in, but the story is a good read too. It's a satisfying mystery, but not too heavy with gruesome details. I could relate to the characters in this one. And who doesn't enjoy reading about chocolate?
Excerpt
That didn`t mean she didn`t notice city counselor, Keith, with his seeing eye dog, Murray, or Nikki Benshaw, columnist for the local gossip paper. Jewellery designer Sanje Gupte was posing for a picture, when photographer Will Reimer, got the shot of a life-time.
At that precise moment, developer, Ron Vandemeer, crashed through the upper balcony of an Olde Towne storefront onto the cobble stoned street in front of her, clutching his throat with one hand while foaming at the mouth. The other hand had a half-eaten chocolate. One of hers!