by Kate Bell
“Let him go!” Connie said.
We all looked up, and she stood in the hallway with a rifle in her hands, with it pointed at Alec.
“You don’t want to do that, Connie,” Alec said. “Put the gun down.”
“No. We aren’t going to jail. I’m going to take my father home with me,” she said through trembling lips.
“Connie, put the gun down,” Alec said calmly.
“Don’t listen to him, Connie,” Terrence said. “We’ll take your father home with us, just like you said. No one will know.”
“Connie, you don’t want to do anything rash. Put the gun down,” Alec said. He was still lying on top of Terrence. Terrence started to thrash about and tried to throw him off.
My mind tried to come up with something I could do to help Alec, but Connie had a clear view of me. If I made a move, she would see it and possibly shoot me or Alec, or both of us.
“You put down!” Mr. Spellman croaked out as loudly as he could muster.
Everyone turned toward him and he had that long bony finger pointing at his daughter. “Murderer!”
His indictment brought Connie to tears, and she lowered the rifle. Alec sprang to his feet and took hold of the gun. “Go sit on the sofa,” he told her.
Connie covered her face with one hand and made her way to the sofa. “I’m so sorry, Daddy,” she sobbed. “I did it for you. Todd was hurting you, keeping you drugged up.”
“No,” Mr. Spellman said firmly.
Alec called for backup and I took a seat in a side chair. I was exhausted.
“I don’t know how you could kill your brother,” I said in disgust.
“You don’t understand!” she nearly shouted. “He was evil! He was spending all of my father’s money and keeping him drugged so he couldn’t say anything to stop him.”
“Your father loved him. He was his son and your brother,” I pointed out. I should have left well enough alone, but I was still angry about being shot at. Twice. “Then you tried to kill Alec and I.”
“You wouldn’t leave well enough alone! Those stupid cookies! Why couldn’t you leave it alone?” she asked.
“My cookies aren’t stupid,” I said, bewildered. No one had ever called my cookies stupid.
“Connie, shut up!” Terrence said from the floor. “Just shut up!”
I could hear sirens in the distance and I leaned back and breathed a sigh of relief.
Chapter Twenty-four
I sat on the sofa, wrapped in a blanket, watching old black and white episodes of I Love Lucy. It took my mind off things while I waited for Alec. Lucy dozed fitfully on the loveseat, having given up her plan to stay up with me as long as it took for Alec to get things settled down at the police station. It didn’t matter. I was relieved the killers had been caught and no one else had been harmed.
There was a light knock on the front door and I jumped up to get it. Alec stood on the stoop, hat covering his ears. It was a cold, but clear night with millions of stars in the sky.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey,” I said. “Come in and warm up.”
He followed me back to the living room where Lucy was stirring awake and the Lucy on the television was stomping on grapes. Canned laughter filled the room.
“I love I Love Lucy,” Alec said, and sat on the sofa.
“Me too,” I said and sat next to him. “So did they tell all?”
“They did. After a little persuasion. They believed Todd was stealing all of his father’s money and keeping him drugged. We don’t know how true it is about the money, but the drugged part seems to be true, because when we saw him at their home and he was doing better, it was due to a change in his meds, just like they told us.”
“Why was he so out of it when we saw him today?” I asked.
“Connie said they had caught him making that phone call to you. They hadn’t heard everything and didn’t know who he had called, but they figured he had said enough to make someone suspicious. They gave him sedatives and were trying to get out of the house before anyone got there. Connie said she panicked when she took shots at us at the Turkey Trot. She thought we saw more than we did. Terrence is an ace marksman and he was the one that shot and killed Todd.”
“And who shot at us on the running trail? Connie?” I asked.
He nodded. “Indeed. It seems you irritated her with all your baked goods and stopping by and she was paranoid that you knew more than you did. So she decided to take care of us before they left the state. Fortunately for us, she’s a terrible shot.”
I shook my head at him. “How can someone be irritated with my baked goods?”
Lucy giggled, having just woke up.
“You hush over there,” I said.
Alec chuckled and lay his head back against the sofa. “Let’s just be thankful she’s such a bad shot.”
“Well, I guess we can be thankful for that,” I said. “I wonder where Mr. Spellman got my phone number. And what will happen to him now?”
“We made some phone calls, and he has a much younger sister in Idaho. She’s going to come and pick him up. The drugs they had given him were wearing off, and he said he had an old phone book. Your number was listed and your name was the only name he could remember, so he called you.”
“Huh. Phone book. I forgot those things existed. I Google everyone and everything these days.”
“The joys of technology,” he said. “I’ve also made a decision.”
“Oh?” I asked.
“Yes. I’m officially retiring from the police department. I’ve put in thirty years and I’ve decided it’s enough.”
“Wow,” Lucy said. “That’s something.”
“Really? What will you do?” I asked.
“Maybe I’ll start a blog,” he said thoughtfully. “Or maybe I’ll become a private eye. I can set my own hours and decide which cases I want to handle. I can even wear a fedora just like Ricky Ricardo.”
I giggled. “That could be fun. Then I don’t have to bake cookies for Sam Bailey to keep him from being mean to you and he can’t keep me from going on investigations with you.”
“Oh. Well, I hadn’t thought of that,” he said.
“Yes! I can be your partner! That’s a wonderful idea!” I said, getting excited.
“Me too!” Lucy said. “It will be so much fun!”
“Oh, no,” Alec said. “Wait, you both have jobs. Remember? You work in a flower shop, Lucy, and you have a blog, Allie. You won’t have time to help me.”
“Nope, Dick Bowen is selling the flower shop,” Lucy said. “I’ll be footloose and fancy free.
“And I’ve already decided to end the blog. I’ll have time on my hands as well,” I said.
Alec groaned. “Suddenly the blog idea sounds better than the private eye idea.”
“I have leftover blueberry pie in the kitchen. Let’s celebrate,” I said.
I was glad Alec was going to retire. He didn’t seem to like working for Sam Bailey and it would give him more free time to spend with me. And that was an excellent idea.
THE END
Author’s Notes
Alec and Allie are getting to know one another better in this episode. I think they have real chemistry and are the cutest couple! I also love that Thad and Sarah are a couple. They feel good together and as soon as Allie learns to let go of her first born, I think she’ll agree. Being a mom is hard!
Thanksgiving reminds me of family and lots of great food. When I was writing this book and thinking about family, I was missing my mother terribly. It was early fall and I remembered her soft persimmon cookies and I knew I had to include them in the book. If you can get a hold of some persimmons, try the recipes and let me know what you think.
Don’t forget to check out the recipes at the end of this book. And, if you’d like to receive updates on the next Kate Bell or Kathleen Suzette book, follow me!
https://www.facebook.com/Kathleen-Suzette-Kate-Bell-authors-759206390932120/
Sweet Potato Pi
e
1 lb sweet potatoes, peeled, steamed and mashed
2 large eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
½ cup half and half
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground cloves
½ cup white sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup salted butter, softened
1 9 inch pie crust
Preheat oven to 350.
In a large bowl, mash cooled sweet potatoes. Stir in spices and sugars to completely combine.
In a small bowl, beat eggs and whisk in half and half and vanilla extract. Set aside.
Whisk softened butter into sweet potatoes. Slowly whisk in half and half mixture until completely combined.
Pour sweet potato mixture into piecrust. Bake 45-50 minutes.
Pear Cranberry Tart
1 9” piecrust
2 ½ pounds firm Bosc pears, pealed and sliced ¼”
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 / 4 tsp ground nutmeg
6 tablespoons salted butter
1 / 4 cup all purpose flour
1 / 2 cup white sugar, divided
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp chopped candied ginger
1 cup fresh cranberries, rinsed and dried
1/4 cup orange Marmalade
1 tbsp orange juice
Preheat oven to 375.
Toss the pears and 2 tbsp lemon juice to coat pear slices. Sprinkle with nutmeg and set aside.
Place 1 / 4 cup white sugar and 1 / 4 cup flour in a bowl and toss with cranberries. Set aside.
Melt butter and mix with remaining sugars. Mix in vanilla and candied ginger. Mix with cranberries.
Fan layers of pears into piecrust that has been put into a tart or pie pan. Spread cranberry mixture over pears. Fold up edges of pie crust over filling, if using a shallow tart pan.
Bake 30-40 minutes, checking for doneness after 30 minutes.
Combine orange marmalade and orange juice and melt over low heat. Spread over cooled tart.
Persimmon Cookies
1 cup persimmon pulp
1 tsp baking soda
dash salt
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 large egg, beaten
½ cup butter softened
1 cup sugar
Preheat oven to 325 degrees
Mix dry ingredients. Add raisins and nuts to flour mixture, set aside. In a larger bowl, cream sugar and butter. Add persimmon pulp, vanilla, and beaten egg. Slowly combine flour mixture.
Drop by teaspoons onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes.
Pecan Pie
3 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 1/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans
9” piecrust
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Whisk eggs, sugars and syrup together. Whisk in softened butter, flour and vanilla until well mixed. Fold in pecans and pour into piecrust.
Bake 55-60 minutes, until knife inserted comes out clean. Protect edges of crust if it becomes too brown. Cool.
Candied Sweet Potatoes
2 lbs sweet potatoes, baked and peeled
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, cold
2 tbsp candied ginger, chopped
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Cut baked and peeled sweet potatoes into large chunks and place in glass baking pan. Using a sharp knife, cut slivers of cold butter and sprinkle slivers evenly across sweet potatoes. Sprinkle brown sugar evenly across sweet potatoes. Sprinkle ginger and cinnamon evenly across sweet potatoes.
Bake 30 minutes.
Candy Cane
Killer
A Freshly Baked Cozy Mystery
by
Kate Bell
Kathleen Suzette
Copyright © 2016 by Kate Bell. All rights reserved. This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination, or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author or publisher.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Author’s Notes
Joe Froggers
Apple Cinnamon Rolls
Buttermilk Biscuits
Chapter One
I sighed when we turned onto Montrose Street. I was home. My Mama and Daddy had bought the house I grew up in during the first year of their marriage, nearly fifty years ago. Daddy had passed away almost twenty years earlier, but Mama would stay put in that house for the rest of her life, I was sure. The house had all the charm you would expect in an old Southern home. A white picket fence surrounded the property and the cottage style house boasted gingerbread trim and a wide wraparound porch. Magnolia trees shaded the front yard and rose bushes lined the white picket fence. There was a large backyard with peach, apple, plum, and pear trees. The porch was my favorite part of the house. It was wide and accommodating and Daddy had installed wide paddled ceiling fans so the summers would be more bearable during the evenings. Tears sprang to my eyes as we pulled into the driveway.
“We’re home, kids,” I said, and wiped my eyes with a tissue.
“What a beautiful house,” Alec remarked.
“Isn’t it?” I said and opened the door to the minivan we had rented at the airport in Mobile. Mama hated to drive far, even though she was only in her early seventies and I had decided it would just make things easier all the way around if we rented the van. That way we would also have it to run around town if we wanted to.
The front door of the house swung open and Mama came out and stood on the porch and waved. I broke into a run and threw myself into her arms and started crying all over again. How was it I had managed to move so far away and stay all these years? Moments like this made me so homesick I thought I would curl into a ball and never stop crying.
“What are you crying about?” Mama murmured into my hair.
“I miss you so much. You need to move to Maine so you’ll be closer,” I said. It was pointless to say it. Mama was an Alabama girl and an Alabama girl she would stay. I wondered how hard it would be to get Alec to move to Alabama.
“Grandma!” Jennifer said and elbowed me out of the way so she could hug Mama.
I took a step back and turned toward Alec and smiled. He had the back of the minivan open and was getting the luggage out. I went to him as Thad hugged Mama and introduced his new girlfriend, Sarah.
“Hey, I have someone for you to meet,” I said.
&n
bsp; He gave me a smile and took my hand as we headed back for the front porch. Mama had my brother Jake put up clear Christmas lights around the edge of the roof and around the porch railing. It was after seven in the evening and dark out, but the house was lit up so that it was a beautiful sight. A larger than life wreath hung on the front door. The wreath was decorated with red glass ball ornaments and red felt Santa’s.
“Mama, this is Alec,” I said.
“Well, pleased to meet you young man,” she said and pushed past his outstretched hand.
“Oh,” he said in surprise as she hugged him tight. “Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Hamilton.”
“Now, don’t you call me Mrs. Hamilton. That’s far too formal. Allie has told me all about you and I feel like I know you already. You can call me Mama,” she said, taking a step back to look him over. Then she turned to me. “He is a looker, Allie. I must say you do know how to pick ‘em.”
“Yes, I do!” I agreed and laughed.
Alec went pink under the Christmas lights and glanced at me. “Well, I think I’ll get the luggage out,” he said, and wandered off.
I looked at Mama and we giggled as he retreated back to the van. Poor Alec. We Southern women were going to get the best of him.
“Let’s get inside. It’s getting late and I’ve made a light supper for y’all,” she said and led the way into the house, still giggling at Alec’s embarrassment.
“I’ll help Alec with the luggage,” Thad said and headed to the van.
Inside, the house was warm and cozy and smelled of roasted ham and sweet potatoes. Mama may have said she had made a light supper, but what that really meant was a small feast. She was incapable of making small amounts of food if she was going to be feeding more than herself.
“Oh, that tree smells wonderful!” Sarah said and went over to a large blue spruce standing in the corner. She reached out a hand to touch one of its branches and exclaimed, “It’s real!”