Recipe for Trouble

by Jackie Griffey

  Mattie smiled, pleased Katie liked the kitchen. "The cabinets do look good now that they're finished. I'm satisfied with their work. None of them complained, but I thought I heard a couple of low growls," she chuckled.

  "And everything's all done now," Mattie continued. "The floor must have to set or something is why we can't walk on it yet. They said to call them if there was any kind of problem."

  "There won't be, I'm sure. It's good you were here to oversee it."

  "Yes, but I'm as glad as they are to have it done. The insurance man, Mr. Pickens, called today. I told him they had done a good job and would be turning in their papers or bills or whatever is necessary tomorrow or at least some time this week. I'm going to mail them a small bonus for finishing early and make them feel guilty for fussing about me behind my back." Mattie laughed, a twinkle in her eyes as she remembered their unspoken resentment of her close inspection of everything they did.

  Katie grinned, turning away from the new kitchen. "What was it you put in the den? I didn't know I was hungry until I got a whiff of that. Is it roast?"

  "Yes, a good roast and some potatoes in the crockpot. I also put the coffee machine, cinnamon rolls, and the toaster in here. There's bread, marmalade, and a few things we need to eat with. Just enough things to hold us until we can walk around the kitchen."

  "Fine. Sure beats having to go out again. We'll be glad to have coffee and rolls in the morning, I know."

  "God bless crockpots. They make dinner easy, especially at a time like this. Come... fill your plate."

  "Eugene called me at the bookstore today. He's got to work again this weekend."

  "He must be the most dependable employee there, the way he puts in extra time." Her voice had a slight edge to it.

  "I'm sure he is, he's so conscientious." Any sarcasm about Eugene was wasted on Katie.

  "I talked to Minnie and Mayme this afternoon. Their flower shop is doing well and they said to tell you hello. I told them we plan to take my things up to the cabin the last weekend of this month. That will give me three weeks to see to all the necessary household payments that will be due and get my things ready to go. I also called the real estate agent while I was at it, and told her to make sure to have all the utilities turned on for me."

  Katie had stopped eating. When Mattie finished, she said with a worried look, "Eugene is always so busy at the end of the month. He may not be able to go."

  Mattie shrugged, "I've been getting along very well for sixty-odd years without Eugene Austin." The flat statement expressed her feelings about Eugene's help. "We'll do just fine."

  "I guess so."

  Katie didn't argue with her, changing the subject. "The roast turned out good, I'm having seconds."

  Mattie studied her plate of good food, playing with it with her fork. The meat was so tender it fell apart and she glanced at Katie's seconds which included equally tender carrots and onions.

  "With crockpots and microwaves, it's a wonder people don't just plug them in and forget about recipes and cookbooks." She looked up at Katie, "Scary, isn't it?"

  "I wouldn't worry about it. Women will always be interested in recipes and cooking. I've had so many people tell me how much they like your books, especially the first one with all the equipment information. And the extra bonus that explains about cuts of meat, and has so many other helpful things in it."

  "It's interesting what people say about the books they buy. I know how much you enjoy your job at the bookstore." Mattie hid a smile behind her napkin, "Would you tell me if someone came in and said they just absolutely hated my book?"

  Katie's smile lines deepened as she countered with, "Would you believe it if I did?"

  "Touche! I guess not. So you're right, there's no sense in our worrying about it. It took so long to find a publisher who was interested in my first book, I got used to hanging on until I made it regardless of any misgivings."

  "We could get you a crockpot to take to the cabin with you if you want it. There's a sale at Haskel's."

  "No, there are places to get supplies up there. I won't starve."

  "I guess I'm just a worrier. Eugene has told me he will take me up to see you and get any supplies you want."

  "Eugene Austin, I can do without."

  "Mattie, that's as unkind as it is unreasonable. He's always been perfectly nice to you. I don't know why you've taken such a dislike to him." Her expression was puzzled and a little hurt.

  Mattie didn't know either. It was as unexplainable as her instinct about business decisions before she retired. But she hadn't meant to hurt Katie's feelings.

  "I don't know why, myself," was her honest answer as she gave Katie a small smile. She shrugged, "I guess it's all the things he's not."

  "The things he's not?" Katie tilted her head, wondering about that.

  "Exactly," Mattie nodded for emphasis. "He's NOT bad company; he's NOT a flashy or sloppy dresser; he's NOT bad looking; he's NOT bad off financially; and even the company he works for, advertises it's NOT bad for the environment."

  "All right, all right," Katie laughed out loud. "I do see your point. But everyone can't be an Einstein or a movie star. He's a nice friendly person and I enjoy being with him. And he's very considerate too. I didn't ask him to take me to see you when you go to the cabin. He volunteered, because he knows it will give me peace of mind to know you're all right."

  Mattie took a minute to think that over. "I suppose I'll have to give him one good point, since he's so good to you." Then she spoiled it with, "But I've got my eye on him."

  "Really, Mattie. I'm glad to have an escort to take me out once in a while. You'll come to like him one of these days, and wonder why in the world you were so down on him in the first place."

  "Well, maybe," Mattie conceded. "But I wouldn't trust just anybody with my baby sister's welfare."

  "You could have stopped after you don't trust anybody, Mattie. I don't question everybody's motives on sight the way you do."

  "Maybe I spent too long checking credit records," Mattie smiled. "But you should be a little less trusting. If you didn't trust everybody, maybe I wouldn't be so quick to DISTRUST everybody. Someone has to keep a guard up, don't they?"

  "Maybe we should both give a little then. Anyway, we'll take you up to the cabin and see that you're comfortably settled and handle any problems there may be with the cabin when we come to them."

  "Now you're being practical. I'm looking forward to going and getting started on my book."

  * * *

  Senior Deputy Rhodes stuck his head in the office door. "You ready to go, Cas?"

  "Be right there."

  Cas stopped at the reception desk. "Gladys, I'll be with Rhodes if you need me, but field all the calls you can."

  "Okay, boss. I won't call for anything short of an out and out calamity."

  Rhodes was already in the car when Cas caught up with him.

  "We're all gassed up and ready. What made you want to go out and look around the lake?"

  As he spoke, Rhodes backed up to pull around a truck between them and the parking lot exit.

  "The Anderson sisters have a cousin who's going to be living out there, for a while. Anyway, I haven't been out there lately so I thought I'd go out and look the area over."

  "Miss Minnie and Miss Mayme's cousin." Rhodes searched his memory only vaguely remembering something about the cousin. "Would that be the one who wrote that cookbook my wife and every other female in the county had such a fit over?"

  "That's the one. Her name is Mattie Carrington, and she's going to write another cookbook. That's why she's coming here."

  "I guess that means I'll have to buy this one too."

  "Maybe not. The second one she wrote must have appealed more to the city crowd. Connie didn't buy it, just the first one went over so big."

  "I guess there's hope then," Rhodes grinned. "When's she coming and where will she be staying?"

  "I don't know yet when she's coming, but it will be soon. They haven't tol
d me where the place is either, only that she's renting a cabin out there by the lake where it's quiet and she can work on her book. She's getting up in years and will be staying by herself, so I thought we should have a look around and see if that neck of the woods has grown anything that looks dangerous."

  "Have you seen the new truck stop?"

  "No. But I've heard it's something snazzy. The paper said it cost three million bucks to put it in. For money like that, it sure should be snazzy."

  "Yeah, but there on the freeway, they'll make their money back pretty quick." Rhodes stopped to picture the money rolling in. "Ever think we're in the wrong business?"

  Cas recalled the wear and tear on their equipment and some more of the county's most recent problems, "About twice a week."

  When they got into the Lake area Rhodes drove around the better roads going slow enough to take a good look around. They crisscrossed the biggest part of the area that was near enough to boast a view of the lake.

  "They didn't give you any idea where this cabin is that Ms. Carrington has rented?"

  "No, but my guess is you're right about it being in sight of the lake. The agent must have made it sound pretty good for her to choose it over the others they had to offer," Cas reasoned. "Pull in here and stop a few minutes."

  Cas and Rhodes got out and stretched their legs, enjoying the scenery around the lake.

  "Haven't been out here much lately. Judge Spruce still owns his cottage out here. Lodge, I guess he calls it. It's expensive enough to rate the title." Cas looked at the rooftop of a cabin he could see on the other side of the road.

  "Aside from patrolling out here once in a while and the church picnics we have every year, I don't get out here much either. It seems to be safe enough. I think she'll be all right out here, if that's what you're worrying about."

  "Yeah, I think so too. It's more her age than anything else that's made me want to look around and check things out. She's a little absent minded too, according to her sister. Doesn't stop to eat if she's busy, things like that."

  An amused smile lit Cas's face, "Of course, I'd never be dumb enough to let her know that crossed my mind or that her age is one of the reasons I'm looking around out here. She's a pretty independent character from what Miss Mayme and Miss Minnie say about her. Let's go to the new truck stop and see if their coffee's good before we go back."

  "In a place that big and snazzy, they are bound to have something to kill the taste if it's not," Rhodes reassured his boss.

  As he got in behind the wheel he added. "And if it's the 500 mile coffee I've heard about the other truck stops serving, maybe Ms. Carrington can use it to help her stay up late and type on that book of hers."

  "Could be. I asked once about that 500 mile title. The truck driver I mentioned it to told me after a couple of cups of it you could drive five hundred miles and not even blink!"

  Despite his looking around the lake area, the uneasy feeling Cas had stayed with him. He didn't dwell on it. He was glad a few days later to see the brown envelope with the return address of Universal Fire and Casualty on it. He laid it aside, stacking the other things in order of priority before opening it.

  When he got to it he slit the envelope carefully, knowing by the bulk the statements Al Pickens had promised him were in it. He slid out the contents.

  "There's a statement from Mattie and one from Katie as well. They're not too long, either. He must have had experience getting the facts he wants, that's good."

  Taking a legal pad and ballpoint pen from a side drawer, he settled back in his chair to read Mattie's statement first.

  He jotted down a few notes as he read, and glanced over them after he finished it.

  He recognized it as a good statement, wondering as he read through it how many statements Pickens had to take in a job like his.

  After the identification, date, et cetera, the statement got directly into the pertinent facts. Mattie's answers were as concise as the questions. Cas noted they already knew everything of importance about the physical aspects of the explosion and consequent damage. Mattie and Katie were gone when the explosion occurred. They heard it before they had gone far from the house and turned back to see what had happened. Their neighbor across the street had heard the explosion, seen the smoke, and called the fire department. According to the questions asked, they hadn't had any previous trouble with the stove and had not had a fire claim within the last five years. No one was hurt and fire damage was confined to the kitchen and hallway.

  Cas sighed, there was nothing new in it except that he hadn't thought to ask the Anderson sisters if they had had any previous trouble with the stove when he heard about it but the insurance agent had asked. They hadn't had any trouble with it.

  The phone interrupted him and he put Katie's statement aside to read later. He made it a practice to answer his phone when he was in so Gladys could do her work, unless he had something that needed all his attention.

  Later in the afternoon he reached again for the envelope from Al Pickens and got out Katie's statement.

  As he expected, her statement agreed with Mattie's but took a little longer. As he read, his admiration for whoever had taken the statement grew. The few times Katie started off on a tangent, the female questioner who had helped Al Pickens out by taking the statement, skillfully and tactfully brought her back on track. He smiled to himself, comparing this statement to Mattie's terse answers to what was asked.

  He straightened the pages and replaced the statement in the envelope. He still felt vaguely uneasy without any concrete reasons for the feeling. There weren't any surprises here. The only difference he saw in Katie's statement was she mentioned Eugene stopped by to pick up a book she'd gotten for him at the bookstore where she worked.

  "That certainly wouldn't have seemed important to Mattie," he smiled to himself.

  After a few minutes thought, he took the statement out again and went back to where Katie said Eugene stopped by on the morning of the fire. He traced down the page with his finger and started reading again there.

  "Eugene?" The adjuster asked when Katie mentioned him.

  "Yes, Eugene Austin. He's a friend I've been seeing. I got a book for him from the book store where I work."

  "And he came to pick it up, you say?"

  "Yes, that's right."

  "What time was that?"

  Katie didn't answer and the adjuster prodded, "Before breakfast or was it after? Or were you looking at the news, anything that can give you an approximate idea of the time."

  "Let's see. I'd had coffee and a sweet roll but Mattie hadn't come down yet. I remember telling him, Eugene, I mean, she would be down in a little while and I was going to the store to get some things we needed because there was only one sweet roll left. I guess, maybe, it was about nine o'clock."

  "Nine AM."

  "Yes, it must have been about then, because Eugene was going to do an estimate for the place where he works. That must have been about right. Nine o'clock."

  Cas glanced through the rest of the statement.

  There was nothing else any different from Mattie's statement. Mattie wouldn't have thought Eugene's coming by was important enough to mention.

  He put the envelope of statements in a lower drawer, unwilling to part with it just yet.

  "Connie accuses me of having pack rat tendencies, but it won't hurt to hang onto these for a while." He made excuses for himself and his suspicions. "The file is not officially closed yet."

  Cas looked up at the clock as his senior deputy's voice floated in to him. He got up to see who had come in that rated such an enthusiastic greeting.

  "Connie!" Cas exclaimed in happy surprise. "Just a minute," he frowned. "This is only a visit isn't it, or am I in trouble?" He winked at Rhodes.

  "I don't know yet," Connie narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "What have you been up to?"

  Rhodes suggested gleefully, "Just start confessing everything from the last time you purged your soul and she'll let you know when you
get to whatever it is."

  "Rhodes," Cas scowled at him. "I can get into enough trouble by myself, I don't need any help." He was addressing his friend's back, Rhodes was headed for the break-room.

  Connie sat in the chair beside his desk and leaned on her elbows. "I've been over to the library to return my books," she sighed unhappily.

  "And Hannah wasn't there to ask nosy questions?"

  "Hannah was there."

  "But too busy to talk?"

  A gloomy slump in her chair was the only answer.

  "Wouldn't answer nosy questions?" Cas paused briefly but still wasn't getting any answers. Connie's face was still gloomy as a starless night.

  "Jo Beth threw you out for talking? All of the above?"

  Cas fished in vain for information, Connie seemed uncharacteristically reticent for some reason.

  Connie's blue mood lifted as he thought up silly questions, but her small smile was still sad.

  "That's a little better. Now, what's the matter? Tell me."

  "I don't know what's the matter, that's what's bothering me. But there is something, there must be."

  "Well, we've got that far. Something's the matter, but with what? You've lost me."

  "Hannah. She's all right, outwardly she's fine, friendly as ever. But every time I brought up something about Tim, it was as though some kind of gate closed between us."

  "Oh, that's it. You've got a glitch in your matchmaker. I'll bet that's painful! But maybe it's a good thing. You just keep in mind what I told you. You let them work things out between themselves and get acquainted at their own pace. You can't make their decisions for them, and outside interference usually does more harm than good."

  "Oh, I know you're probably right." Connie sighed. "I was just fishing to see if she was as interested as he seemed to be. But you needn't worry, I don't know any more than I did."

  She glanced at the door which Gladys had thoughtfully closed. "I told her I did some typing for Tim this week. She didn't light up with joy at the mention of his name, which was what I was hoping for, nor did she frown or put him down, either."

  She shook her head, her expression glum as she described Hannah's lack of interest. "It was as if No Comment was stamped across her forehead."