Sweet Masterpiece - The First Samantha Sweet Mystery

by Connie Shelton

  “Oh, I meant to ask you,” Zoe said. “What on earth were you doing with deathcamas in your truck?”

  “What?” Death something?

  She held up a slack plastic grocery bag. “This was in your truck. I’ll admit that I peeked.”

  The plant that Sam had found at the Anderson place. Cantone’s place. “I was going to ask if you knew what it is. It’s a peculiar shade of green.”

  “It’s poisonous. Highly toxic to livestock and it grows wild around here.”

  “I found it at one of the houses I cleaned this week.” Might as well admit the strange phenomena. “When I finished cleaning I saw residue of green all over the kitchen.”

  Zoe raised an eyebrow. “This is not something that should be in anyone’s kitchen. It can kill you. Not that a person would normally eat it. According to the books, it’s very unpalatable, and it would take multiple doses. But cows and sheep sometimes get into it in grazing pasture. The results aren’t pretty—vomiting, frothing, convulsions.”

  “Whoa.” A chill coursed through Sam. “I better take this to the sheriff.”

  “If you found it inside a house where a man died, yes, I’d do that.”

  Sam picked up the bag gingerly. Driving the two blocks to her house she couldn’t shake the creepy feeling as Zoe’s words came back to her.

  Her dashboard clock told her it was 6:31 when she pulled into her driveway. There was no way she could meet Beau’s mother in her current state, so she rushed inside, washed up and put on her favorite orange-gold top that Zoe claimed brought out the amber in her eyes. Kelly approved, Sam could tell. Ever since their little come-to-Jesus talk the other night, her daughter’s sullenness had gone away.

  They headed north of town, following Beau’s directions, and passed through El Prado watching for the turn. A winding lane took them to the fenced twenty acres he’d described. Sam slowed, looking for the log pillars and carved lintel that comprised the entry. When that appeared on the right, she turned and passed a heavy log gate which he’d left open. On either side of the drive, early twilight revealed wide fields, smelling of new hay, dotted with occasional deciduous trees.

  Ahead, two porch fixtures cast golden light on a log home and the windows glowed warmly. Impressive spruce trees flanked the house. She followed the driveway and parked in front of flowerbeds filled with the last of the summer’s blooms. Beyond the house, a hulking wooden barn and dirt yard faded into the shadows.

  Beau stepped outside, drying his hands on a towel. Two large dogs—a lab and a border collie—stared alertly from the front porch.

  “Hey, you found us,” he greeted. The dogs wagged with enthusiasm and he ordered them to back away.

  “I hope we’re not late. Things got a little crazy today.”

  “Hi, Kelly. Good to see you again.”

  She handed him the bottle of wine they’d brought. “And this is for your mother,” she said, indicating one of the light cardboard pastry boxes Sam used for her business.

  When had she come up with that? Sometimes the girl surprised even Sam.

  “Beau? Who’s out there?” The crinkly voice came out with clarity and an unexpected amount of strength.

  He ushered them inside.

  “Mama, it’s Samantha and her daughter. Remember? I told you about them.”

  They walked into a homey main room with a staircase to the left. Log walls held western art and Indian blankets, there were leather couches with boldly printed pillows, and a rock fireplace which dominated one wall. Navajo rugs covered the floors. The far wall had two sets of French doors, facing toward the dark fields beyond. A dining table, now set with places for four, would overlook those views during daylight. Lamps with old leather shades gave the entire room a golden glow.

  “Sam, this is my mother, Iris Cardwell. Mama, this is Samantha, and Kelly.”

  “Please—call me Sam,” she said, shaking hands with the tiny birdlike woman who had wheeled her chair toward them.

  “Honey, it’s so good to meet you,” Iris exclaimed. “I’ve been hearing Sam this and Sam that, for days and days.”

  “Really?” Sam sneaked a glance toward Beau.

  “Mrs. Cardwell, we brought you a little something,” Kelly said, handing the bakery box to the older woman.

  Iris took the box with both hands and studied the purple and white label. “Well . . . my, my. Is it okay to open it now?” She lifted the flap and stared inside. “Oh! A flower garden!”

  Bless her, Kelly had taken the extra cupcakes that they’d decorated for the birthday party and placed four of them into the box as a gift. It was a thoughtful gesture that obviously made Iris’s day.

  “I hope you like sweets,” Kelly said. She took Iris’s hand and gave a light squeeze.

  “I love ‘em. Now sit over here, honey, and let’s chat.”

  Beau relieved her of the box and asked if Sam would like to lend a hand in the kitchen. They left the other two talking like old friends.

  “How about that?” Sam said as the kitchen door closed behind them.

  “Mama thinks she’s about twenty, herself. It’s no wonder she gets along so well with kids Kelly’s age.”

  Sam helped him put the finishing touches on a salad and he took four good-sized steaks out to a grill on a back deck.

  “While we have a few minutes, would you like the nickel tour of the house?”

  They walked through the greatroom, where he pointed out some Western antiques—a saddle, an old sewing machine—that he said had come from the days when the family homesteaded land in Oklahoma. Beyond the living area a short hallway led to two bedrooms and a bathroom. Iris obviously occupied one of the rooms, where it looked like the doors had been modified to accommodate her chair.

  “Let me turn the steaks and we’ll finish the tour,” he said.

  When he returned they walked up the stairs. The master bedroom was spacious, with a king-sized bed that faced double doors leading out to a little balcony. Masculine, heavy furniture fit both Beau and his ranch lifestyle. A modern bathroom contained a huge tiled shower and wide vanity. Male toiletry items were scattered about, not in excess.

  “The whole place is just so you,” Sam told him. “If I’d pictured the perfect environment to fit your personality, this would be it.”

  “Predictable, then?”

  She laughed. “No, I don’t see that.” Their first dinner, the picnic at the gorge, certainly wasn’t predictable. His bringing her, and Kelly, here to meet his mother this early in the relationship—that wasn’t predictable either. She had a feeling there were a whole lot more surprises she could learn about Beau Cardwell. Including use of the occasional swear words.

  “Damn! The steaks!” He dashed down the stairs and she heard the kitchen door swing back and forth on its hinges.

  She followed, noting that Kelly and Iris now had their heads together over a photo album. In the kitchen, she tossed the salad and noticed that he’d put ears of fresh corn into a steamer, so she pulled them out and located a serving bowl.

  “We’re safe!” Beau announced, carrying in a platter of slightly charred steaks. “Luckily, Mama likes hers pretty well done. The others are mostly medium.” He looked a little chagrined. “I keep forgetting where the hot spots are on that grill.”

  Iris kept them entertained with stories of Beau as a young boy, revealing that he’d fallen off his first horse at the age of two but luckily his father was standing by and caught him. Life was good until their ranch on the eastern plains of New Mexico was hit hard by an eight-year stretch of drought that forced the family to move to Albuquerque where Beau’s father took a job he hated with the city water department. He died from a heart attack four years later.

  Iris’s face took on a wistful look as she spoke of her late husband. Beau seemed stoic. It was clear that family support fell to him at a pretty young age, barely out of high school.

  Later, with glasses of wine on the back deck, staring into an onyx sky filled with pinpoints of diamond st
ars, Sam asked him about it. The dogs—he’d given their names as Ranger and Nellie—lay contentedly on their sides nearby.

  “I can’t be sad. I learned so many great things from my dad. Everything I know about owning and keeping this land, I learned from him. Most of what I know about how to treat a woman—even though my ex-wife has her own opinions on that. I learned what I wanted in a relationship by watching my parents. It’s just that Dierdre wanted different things, like city life, society contacts, a corporate career. Nothing meshed with my style and she just couldn’t citify me.”

  “Was it very long ago? The marriage.”

  “She left me more than fifteen years ago.” He shrugged in his leather jacket. “It quit hurting about fifteen minutes after her car rounded the bend. Sorry, I don’t mean to be flippant about it. It’s just that during the whole five years of our marriage there was rarely a time that wasn’t stressful. When we first met I took the stress as attraction. I learned pretty quickly that it wasn’t so.”

  “I never married,” Sam told him. She gave the quick rundown of her growing up years in Texas and the subsequent adventure in Alaska. “Call it selfish, but as long as I was raising Kelly I didn’t want to share her with anyone. We had a lot of fun, just the two of us. I met men. I enjoyed some of them. I stayed as discreet as possible, never let anyone move in. But never wanted the white dress and the ring and the cake—ha! Me, who can bake a wedding cake for anyone.”

  “Was it a struggle?”

  “Huh, you can’t imagine. Well, maybe you can. I’d have to say that a sense of humor and some hard-learned street smarts have gotten me through. My dad once advised me to save as much of the money from that pipeline job as I could, and I did. I’ve still got a little of it, stashed away. Luckily, cause I’ve had to bail Kelly out of more things than I’d like to admit.”

  He glanced toward the closed glass door. A slight reaction. Kelly stepped out.

  “Beau, Iris says she’s getting tired. Is it okay if I help her get ready for bed?”

  “Sure, hon, that would be nice. She can handle most of it herself, changing clothes and brushing her teeth. Just stay nearby in case she gets shaky on her feet.”

  Once the door closed again, Sam found herself telling him about her dream for Sweet’s Sweets and how she was always just a little short on money for it. She could spend every penny of her savings and do a half-assed setup for the business, or she could save a little more and really do it right—find a prime location, get good equipment, hire some help.

  “I’d go that way, if I were you,” he said. “One of the things Mama didn’t tell you about my dad was that he tried to keep the ranch going, longer than he should have. Spent every penny of savings, hoped each year would get better. By the time we moved to Albuquerque, it was with our last tank of gas and enough cash for four nights in the cheapest motel on east Central. We lived on peanut butter sandwiches until his first paycheck came through. And it didn’t get better for a long time after that. The lesson I learned was to always keep a little buffer.”

  “Sounds like you and my dad would get along,” she said, taking his hand.

  Chapter 21

  One glass of wine, the chill night air, and the long day began to catch up with Sam. When Beau caught her yawning he suggested that they go back inside. She peeked into Iris’s bedroom where Kelly was sitting in a chair beside the bed, looking through a book.

  “We should get going,” Sam said. “Iris, good night. Thanks for having us in your home.”

  While Kelly looked for her purse, Sam walked out to the front porch with Beau. “It’s a beautiful night,” she said, enjoying the warmth of his arm around her shoulders.

  “Weather’s about to change. About to get some frost.” He gave her a light kiss on the top of her head. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  A discreet cough behind them and Kelly walked outside. Sam started the truck and negotiated the turn-around.

  “I really liked Beau and his mother,” Kelly said as they drove out through the gate. “Her stories about him as a little boy are a hoot.”

  “Well, she sure took to you like a ladybug to a daisy.”

  “Mom, where do you come up with those sayings?” She laughed as she said it.

  “Grampa, I suppose. He used to say stuff like that all the time. I guess spending time with Beau and Iris brought back a lot of Texas childhood memories. You remember Grampa’s farm, all those miles of cotton fields? I think of high school football games and fried chicken Sunday dinners . . .. I get around ranchers and it all comes back.”

  “I like him, Mom. I think he’s good for you.”

  “Thanks, Kell.”

  So, what did this mean? Despite all her reservations about involvement, with her daughter’s approval, Sam wondered if she was on the right track this time. She’d not had the best success at choosing men, leaning toward the ones that were good looking but too shallow to be dependable. Recognizing that, somehow, before she let them become permanent. Spending her whole life without a partner as a result.

  Sam fell asleep with that train of thought and ended up having a nightmare about how her life turned out because she’d married Billy Roy Farmer and stayed in Cottonville, Texas. When she woke up to a brilliant blue New Mexico sky, with a frosty chill in the air, she felt a rush of elation. Life usually did turn out the way it was supposed to.

  Yesterday’s summery outfit wasn’t going to cut it, she realized when she looked out to see thick frost on the neighbor’s metal roof. Beau had been right about the change in the weather. She left the light blouse and pants draped over a chair and opted for socks and boots with her heavy jeans and sweatshirt.

  Coffee really hit the spot. Sam stared out toward the driveway for a few minutes, thinking again of her resolve to get Sweet’s Sweets underway. The larger orders were bringing in some good money, but now she was running into the problems of working in a tiny kitchen and making cake deliveries with her pickup truck. The backseat was one of those little half-sized things, difficult to get anything in and out of, and transporting food in the open bed was out of the question. And she couldn’t keep borrowing Zoe’s car, especially if things turned as she hoped and she began making several deliveries a day.

  On the other hand, she needed a beefy vehicle for her landscape work. At the very least, something with a trailer hitch. A mid-sized SUV or van could probably handle both needs.

  Someone once told her that wishing for a thing wouldn’t make it so. And yet she was a firm believer in visualizing the future. The clearer picture she could form, the more likely she was to manifest the reality. It was a technique she used in cake design all the time. Now she figured she better apply it to her business plan. The company vehicle would be a good first step. She sipped her coffee and flipped through the newspaper.

  After an hour she’d come to the conclusion that her truck and all the cash in her checking account would just about make an even trade on the van she needed. She placed a couple of calls on vans that were listed for sale but both were already gone. Undeterred, she kept the image in her head while toasting two slices of bread and topping off her coffee.

  Kelly emerged from her room and Sam noticed that she was shivering in her light cottons from southern California.

  “I don’t think I own anything warm enough for September in Taos,” she said.

  “You’re welcome to look through my closet but I don’t think anything’s going to be a great fit on you.” Kelly was about the size of a pencil.

  She dashed into Sam’s room anyway and came out with a pair of sweats that, while still large on her, were ones Sam had shoved to the end of the closet rail because they hadn’t fit in years. The sweatshirt overpowered Kelly’s slim frame but she seemed glad of the extra space in it.

  “I’ll have to do some shopping,” she said.

  Sam saw her bank balance take a dive.

  “I’ve got some money, Mom. I collected my final paycheck. And there are credit cards.”

 
Sam didn’t want to get into the conversation about how she’d gotten into trouble with those cards already. The stare she sent tried to convey get a job first, without damaging their recent rapport

  What she said was, “I’m looking at a vehicle for my business, so I’m not going to have any spare cash to help you out, Kell.”

  “I know, Mom. I don’t expect that.” She poured herself some coffee and joined Sam at the table. “Actually, I think I have a job prospect.”

  She saw the surprise on Sam’s face.

  “I talked a lot with Iris last night, and I even mentioned the idea to Beau.”

  Another surprise.

  “You went in the bathroom right after dinner. That’s when I ran the idea past him.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Iris is getting pretty frail. She told me that Beau worries about her, that he runs home a few times during the day to check on her, and it’s causing trouble for him at work. When anyone mentions nursing homes they both get emotional and can’t talk about it.” Kelly sipped at her coffee. “So, I suggested that I might become Iris’s caregiver. Well, she called it a babysitter. It would just be during the day, because he’s there with her at night.”

  “What did he think of the idea? Can he afford to pay someone?”

  “Well, that’s the thing. Yes. I guess he’s been thinking of it for awhile but he wasn’t sure about having a stranger in the house. He even interviewed a couple of women a few weeks ago but Iris didn’t like either of them.”

  A rush of conflicting emotions ran through Sam. Kelly working for the man she was about to be romantically involved with. Would Kelly be dependable? Would they be happy with her work? Would she be happy doing that sort of thing—she’d done nothing but office work for years.

  “Iris loved the idea. She wants Beau to hire me right away. He said he’d think about it, and I said I would need to run it past you.”

  Sam wasn’t sure what to think but covered her utter surprise by carrying her empty plate to the sink and refilling her mug.