At Wick's End (Book 1 in the Candlemaking Mysteries)

by Tim Myers

  Blast it all, I’d added the wrong scent! I was coming down with a cold, so the different aroma had been lost on me as I made the duplicate, and in my rush to finish the candle, I must have grabbed the wrong bottle of essence.

  Young said, “That can mean only one thing. You must know,” he said, this time pulling the gun all the way out of his jacket pocket.

  There are times I just hate being right.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, trying to stall him long enough to come up with some kind of plan to get myself out of a pretty bad situation.

  “Give it up, Harrison. You wouldn’t take the bait on the Dodge, so I decided to delay killing you until I could come up with another accident. No time for that now. It looks like you’re going to have to die in a robbery attempt. A pity really, since we both know how little you actually make here.”

  “But why kill me at all,” I asked, wondering if I could throw the wax at him and get out of the way of the shot in time.

  “I’m afraid that’s been my final option from the beginning. You see, there was something you weren’t meant to know, an additional codicil to Belle’s will just in case you refused to leave. Your great-aunt didn’t know about it either, for that matter. I added a little proviso that turned the estate over to its executor if you decided to quit or if something happened to you before the one-year anniversary of Belle’s death. You didn’t stand a chance.”

  “So when you found out you couldn’t run me off, you decided to tamper with my brakes.”

  Again Young looked surprised by the conclusion. “I must say, Harrison, I believe I underestimated you. I worked in a garage when I was an undergraduate, so it was easy enough to do. I purposely neglected to mention Belle’s truck to you, but evidently someone couldn’t keep their mouth shut. I had the perfect setup, but you somehow found me out.”

  “I was on the roof when you were sabotaging my truck,” I said. “I saw you run away, but it was too dark and too far away for me to see who you were. I just don’t get why you’d stoop to murder. You did all this so you could convert River’s Edge into a lawyer’s complex like Cragg was going to do?”

  Young laughed. “Hardly. I have more ambitious plans. What wonderful condominiums these will make. I’ll be able to pay off my gambling debts and have a steady income to indulge my hobby.” Then I remembered Pearly saying that he’d seen Young on his way to the racetrack in West Virginia.

  I said, “Listen, I know I don’t have a chance, you’re holding all the cards. Just tell me one thing before you do anything rash. “I needed to appeal to his ego if I had the lighten chance of getting out of this alive.

  “A last request.” be said. “How dramatic.”

  “Why did you choose River’s Edge to hide the diamonds you stole?”

  “Thanks for reminding me,” he said “Where’s the one Belle found?”

  “I’ll answer you if you answer me.” I said. What did I have to lose? At least I wouldn’t die of curiosity.

  “I used to lease Markum’s office, I don’t know if you’re aware of that or not. There’s a floor safe up there he doesn’t know about so I figured it would be a perfect place to hide something important. The only problem was that I dropped the bag of diamonds in the hallway in my haste. Belle saw me as I was leaving the building the night of the robbery, but I made up an excuse about coming to the complex to see her. She would have bought it too, if I hadn’t lost one of the diamonds. She decided to confront me the next evening, and I knew I had to do something. In a very real way, it was self-defense. One quick shove was all it took. Then it was simply a matter of staging the accident downstairs. I would have been home free if I could have only found that blasted diamond. I thought I covered my tracks by killing the jeweler, but Belle suddenly became another loose end.”

  “So why did you kill him?”

  “I handled Bleeker’s business affairs along with that cluck Ann Marie, so I knew the way his security system operated. I needed something to pay off my creditors, though it wasn’t enough to satisfy them completely. They gave me quite a bit less than top dollar for the diamonds, but I wasn’t in any position to complain. It was surprisingly easy to dispatch the jeweler, he was extraordinarily careless. Kudos to you, Harrison, you figured this out with the sparsest of clues.”

  “It’s the only way it all made sense. Belle must have found the errant jewel and somehow tied it to you.” Another thought occurred to me. “You didn’t have anything to do with my deposit being robbed, did you? You did.” I said as I saw him smile.

  “I needed you to give up your claim to the property. Harrison, if I was going to be able to take over River’s Edge. I followed you to the library and couldn’t believe my good luck when you left the deposit on the front seat of the cab. It was a perfect opportunity to drive you away. But I underestimated you, didn’t I? Ann Marie told me about your special client who was going to save the day, so I had to discourage her from patronizing your shop. I thought the telephone call would be enough of a threat to keep her away, but she was more determined than I thought she’d be. After that, I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to scare you away from At Wick’s End, so it was time to take more drastic measures.”

  “So you decided to mess with my brakes.”

  Young smiled. “I purposely didn’t tell you about Belle’s truck, so you’d have to drive the Dodge. I knew you’d drive it again sooner or later. The condition it’s in, I doubted anyone would look twice at an accident.”

  “Your accidents are getting to be a habit for you, aren’t they?”

  Young shook his head. “Belle didn’t have to die. If she’d only minded her own business, I never would have had to take action. She was going to turn me in. Hiding that diamond in the candle was a stroke of brilliance, I have to credit her for that. She shouldn’t have confronted me first though. Can you imagine, she wanted me to have the opportunity to turn myself in before she did. That was her last mistake.”

  I’d heard all I needed to hear. “And you’ve made yours,” I said as I threw the hot wax at him, hoping to burn his face with it for killing my great-aunt.

  He threw his hands up automatically to defend himself and caught the sizzling wax square on. There was no way he could hold a gun with the burns, so I picked the weapon up and trained it on him as I dialed Sheriff Coburn’s number.

  The next morning, after very little sleep, and troubled at that, we held an impromptu meeting at The Crocked Pot with most of the tenants at River’s Edge, including Markum.

  “What I want to know is how he slipped back into my office without my keys,” Markum said.

  Pearly said, “I hate to admit this, but I’ve come to the conclusion he made copies of mine. I keep a master set, it’s required by the fire marshal. Young must have absconded with my set, duplicated them, then returned them without me being aware of it. He hovered around here quite a bit, you know.”

  Heather said, “Harrison, you should never have tackled him on your own. You could have been killed.”

  I smiled at her, then at Eve. “I had the perfect defensive weapon with me. That wax is hot!”

  Eve said, “I told you all along, you have to be careful with it.” She glanced at the clock. “I’m so happy it’s all turned out for the best, but it’s almost time to open our shop.”

  I got up to follow, and Eve added, “Why don’t you come in later? You had an active night. Go up to your apartment and get some rest.”

  “Maybe I’ll do that,” I said.

  Markum said, “Well, I’ve got to head out too. I need to move my desk.” He looked at Pearly and asked, “Do you have time to give me a hand?”

  “Absolutely,” Pearly said.

  That left Millie, Cragg, Heather and me. Cragg glanced at his watch and said, “I’ve got to get over to the courthouse. I’m defending Lucas Young.”

  I said, “No offense, but I hope you lose.”

  He shrugged. “The accused is entitled to the best defense possible
.”

  “You mean that their money can buy,” Millie added, loud enough for Cragg to hear on his way out.

  “Now what can I do for you two,” she asked. “More coffee? How about some pumpkin doughnuts? I just made a new batch.”

  “If I drink any more coffee, I’ll never be able to take a nap.”

  Heather said, “Who are you kidding? If At Wick’s End is open, you’re going to be there. That’s where you belong, Harrison.”

  “It is, isn’t it?”

  As I walked to the candle shop, I found myself wishing I’d had the chance to thank Belle for my new life. She’d given me a great trust, leaving River’s Edge, and At Wick’s End in particular, to me.

  I made a solemn promise to her that I’d do my best to live up to that trust.

  I walked back in and Eve was looking frantic. “Thank goodness I found you.”

  “You couldn’t have been looking that hard, I was still at The Crocked Pot.”

  Eve said, “You don’t understand. Mrs. Jorgenson just called. She wants her first lesson on pouring candles this morning, and no one else will do.”

  After facing down a killer the night before, I was pretty sure I could handle Mrs. Jorgenson.

  After all, pouring candles was my new specialty.

  Belle’s Snickerdoodle Cookies

  This is a longtime favorite of my family. These cookies are a treat out of the oven, but they’re just as tasty right out of the freezer, too.

  Ingredients

  Dough

  2 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour

  2 teaspoons cream of tartar

  1 teaspoon baking soda

  A dash of salt

  1 cup butter or margarine, creamed

  1 1/2 cups sugar

  2 eggs

  Coating

  3 tablespoons sugar

  3 teaspoons cinnamon

  Combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Sift this mixture thoroughly, then set it aside. Cream the butter (or margarine) until fluffy, then gradually add the sugar and eggs. Stir in the dry ingredients, then chill the dough until it’s cool to the touch. This makes it easier to work with. Make balls a little bigger than a quarter, then roll them in the combined cinnamon/sugar mix. Place them two inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. The cookies take 8-10 minutes to bake and will be lightly browned on top.

  This recipe makes about 4 dozen cookies.

  Millie’s Pumpkin Doughnuts

  For a delightful treat on an autumn day, my family and I make these doughnuts when the leaves start to turn.

  Ingredients

  3 cups sifted all-purpose flour

  1 tablespoon baking powder

  1 teaspoon baking soda

  1/2 teaspoon salt

  1 teaspoon cinnamon

  1 teaspoon ground ginger

  1/4 cup butter or margarine, soft

  3/4 cup sugar

  2 eggs

  1 can solid pack pumpkin

  2/3 cup buttermilk

  Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger; then sift and set aside. Cream butter until fluffy, then gradually add the sugar and beat until fluffy again. Beat in 1/4 cup of the dry ingredients, then add pumpkin and buttermilk and mix thoroughly. Add the remaining dry ingredients and stir just until blended. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours. Roll dough out on floured surface to a quarter inch thickness, then cut out doughnuts and holes with a 3 1/2-inch doughnut cutter. While the doughnut cut-outs are resting, heat 4 inches of oil in a heavy large saucepan to 365 degrees Fahrenheit. Add doughnuts and holes and cook until golden brown, turning once. Drain on paper towels, then dust with powdered sugar and enjoy.

  Tips for Making Beeswax Rolled candles

  Rolled candles are a great way to begin candlemaking. They are easy to make, producing a satisfying product with minimum effort. And the candles burn great too. This is an especially easy way to get started with kids.

  Once you’ve mastered the technique of rolling a tight candle with the wax sheets, it’s fun to play and experiment with cookie cutters. We make all kinds of shapes, from card-suit candles to red hearts on Valentine’s Day to green Christmas tree candles in December. It’s especially nice to alternate two complementary colors as you build up your cookie cutter candles. For July 4th, try stacking individual candle cut-outs with red, cream and blue waxes for a patriotic centerpiece candle.

  To make a layered candle with cookie cutters, treat the wax sheet as if it were dough and cut individual thicknesses out of the colored wax you prefer. Open cutters work best here, as the wax sometimes gets stuck in the closed cutters. Build a candle with four or six layers, remembering to put the wick in the middle. Don’t be afraid to press the edges of the candle together. This gives the candle a softer, more rounded look and also serves to bind the pieces together. A blow-dryer gently run over the edges can help soften the wax, just enough to further press the candle together.

  Another technique we enjoy with wax sheets is rolling two diagonally trimmed pieces, alternating colors together, giving the candle a nice layered look.

  To finish off your rolled projects, you can dip the bottoms in a pan of melted wax, sealing the candle and giving it a more stable base, but it’s not really necessary.

  The most important thing to remember when making candles is to have fun!

  Here’s a glimpse of SNUFFED OUT, second in the Candlemaking mysteries by Tim Myers

  SNUFFED OUT

  by Tim Myers

  Chapter 1

  I was hunting for the short circuit that knocked out the power to River’s Edge when I stumbled across Aaron Gaston’s body. I hadn’t known the potter all that well, exchanging a few greetings and a shared cup of coffee or two since I’d taken over the complex of small businesses from my Great-Aunt Belle. My candleshop, At Wick’s End, was on the other side of the converted warehouse/factory from The Pot Shot, Aaron’s name for his pottery studio. Still, I had no trouble identifying him in the weak beam of my flashlight as he lay sprawled on the floor in the middle of his studio. As the new owner of the building, I should have been more involved in my tenants’ lives and businesses, but running the candleshop was nearly more than I could handle. I’d let Pearly Gray, my well-educated and erudite handyman, serve as my liaison to most of the folks who worked at River’s Edge.

  Now it appeared that I’d lost my last chance to get to know Aaron.

  With a shaky hand, I reached for the telephone and called Sheriff Morton. He was the final authority for the law in Micah’s Ridge, at least as far as I was concerned.

  “Morton here,” he answered after the desk sergeant rang me through.

  “I’ve got a problem,” I said after identifying myself.

  “Write a letter to Ask Ernestine,” he said, “I’ve got my hands full right now.”

  I wasn’t in the mood for his brusque manner. “Sheriff, one of my tenants is dead. I’m standing here in the dark with his body, and my flashlight’s starting to flicker out.”

  That got his attention. “Sorry, Harrison, I’ve got three deputies out sick at the same time. There’s a really nasty bug ripping through my department. Are you sure he’s dead?”

  I reluctantly trained the dimming beam over the body again. While dusk was just approaching outside, the shop was in near total darkness. There was still light enough from my flashlight to see the pallor of his face, though. Aaron was surrounded by a pool of darkness that I initially mistook for blood, but after a closer look, I could see that it was nothing more than spilled water. My imagination was definitely running on overtime.

  “There’s not much doubt about that,” I said.

  “Don’t touch anything,” Morton said, then added with a hint of chagrin in his voice, “You’re using his phone, aren’t you?”

  “Yes, I grabbed his telephone. I had to call you, didn’t I?”

  After a sigh, Morton said, “Let me amend that, then. Don’t touch anything else. And H
arrison?”

  “Yes?”

  “I know it’s not all that pleasant, but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t leave the body until I got there.”

  After hanging up the phone, I stayed with Aaron about two seconds before I decided that staying with the body could mean a lot of different things. If I waited for Morton outside by the shop’s front door, blocking the way of anyone else trying to get in, that should satisfy him.

  It was going to have to, since my light was just about gone, and there was no way I was going to stand around in the dark with a dead body.

  I used the master key Pearly had given me when we’d started checking on our tenants and locked the door behind me. I hadn’t wanted to keep up with all those keys in the first place; there were over a dozen places of business at River’s Edge, so I’d let Pearly watch after them for me. It was all I could do to keep up with the keys to my apartment upstairs, both trucks, and of course, the ones for At Wick’s End. Sometimes, particularly moments like the one I was experiencing, I’d wished my Great-Aunt Belle had left me a minor league baseball team, a yogurt stand, even a bowling alley; anything but a candleshop and the building it was housed in. She’d died in At Wick’s End, and some folks thought it creepy that I’d taken over given the circumstances, but they hadn’t read the letter my great-aunt had left me. At Wick’s End was her baby, and she’d wanted more than anything else in the world for me to watch over it for her. No one had been more surprised than I had been when I took to candlemaking from the very start, not even Eve Pleasants, the woman who had helped Belle and now worked for me.