A Catered Costume Party

by Isis Crawford

  “Luck,” Manny said. “Pure luck. I was fishing, and I saw her coming out of the river. Naturally, I ran over to help.”

  “Naturally,” Libby said.

  “When she told me what happened, it seemed like fate.”

  “So you knew who Darius Witherspoon was?” Bernie asked.

  Manny nodded.

  Bernie stalled for time. “But he didn’t know who you were?”

  “No.”

  “And you were thinking of killing him before then?” Libby asked.

  Manny nodded again. “The idea had crossed my mind, but I couldn’t figure out how to do it and not get caught, and then Penelope came along and solved my problem for me.”

  “She did it all by herself?” Libby clarified.

  “No. I let her into Darius Witherspoon’s apartment before he came in. She was waiting for him underneath his bed.”

  “I’m surprised he didn’t have a heart attack when he saw her,” Libby commented.

  “From what Penelope said, I think he was in the middle of one when she put the noose around his neck and threw him out the window,” Manny told them. “Then she climbed out of the window and went into the basement through the window I left open for her. No one saw anything. I guess you don’t see what you’re not expecting to.”

  “But why hang him?” Bernie asked.

  Manny licked his lower lip. “Because that’s how my father died,” Manny said.

  “I thought his death was an accident,” Bernie told him. She watched two more crows land on Mathilda’s roof.

  Manny shook his head. “That’s what Witherspoon told the policía, but it wasn’t true. Witherspoon was teaching my papa a lesson. He accused him of stealing a gold nugget, and this was his way of making sure no one else on the crew did it.”

  “And did he steal the nugget?” Libby asked.

  Manny shook his head. “His partner . . .”

  “Ezra Poland?” Libby asked.

  Manny nodded. “He had taken it to show someone. Poland took Papa down right away, but it was too late. My father was already dead.”

  “And Penelope? Why did you hang her?” Libby asked.

  “Because she tried to cheat me. We were going to split the danegeld fifty-fifty. And, anyway, Witherspoon said he was doing it for her. At least, that’s what my cousin said he said.”

  “Maybe your cousin lied,” Libby pointed out.

  “He would not do such a thing,” Manny said as he motioned for Libby and Bernie to start walking toward the river. “Mr. Darius Witherspoon was a bad man, and he deserved to die.”

  “So what are you going to do with the danegeld?” Bernie asked. She had to yell to be heard over the crows. There were more and more of them. They were perched on the telephone line, and they covered the van.

  “I am taking it home,” Manny said. “Now move.”

  Bernie and Libby exchanged glances. Bernie was just about to trip and “accidentally” fall into Manny when a crow swooped down and landed on Manny’s head. Manny shook his head, and the crow flew off, to be replaced by another one.

  Manny cursed. “Damn birds. I should have shot them all.”

  A third bird landed on Manny’s shoulder. A fourth landed on his other shoulder and nipped at his earlobe. Manny grabbed at the bird, and Libby turned and grabbed for the gun. The gun went off, and a crow fell to the ground. It had been shot. Suddenly the crows on the van and the telephone line rose in the air and descended on Manny in a black, swirling cloud. He dropped the Glock and started running toward the river.

  “I told him he shouldn’t try to poison the crows,” a voice behind them said.

  Bernie and Libby whirled around. It was Mrs. Randall. They hadn’t heard her come up.

  “I told him they wouldn’t forgive him,” she said as she listened to Manny’s screams.

  Bernie and Libby got the impression that the screams didn’t bother her. In fact, she seemed to be enjoying them.

  She turned to them and smiled. “The behavior you’re watching is called mobbing. Corvids do it to protect their young, and occasionally for other purposes, as well.” Mrs. Randall shook her head and pulled up the collar of her pale blue peacoat. “He wasn’t a very nice man, and he shouldn’t have done what he did.”

  “Try to kill the crows?” Libby asked.

  “No, silly. Kill the people.”

  Chapter 54

  Four weeks later Mrs. Randall, Libby, Bernie, and Sean were sitting in the Simmonses’ flat, drinking hot spiced apple cider and tea, eating maple-glazed doughnuts and apple kuchen, and discussing what Mrs. Randall had christened the Costume Party Affair while they watched the rain drizzle down on the pavement. It had been a wet fall, and it seemed as if winter was going to be more of the same.

  “So they never got another super for the Berkshire Arms?” Sean asked Mrs. Randall.

  Mrs. Randall shook her head and readjusted the neck of her black turtleneck sweater. “The bank is foreclosing on it, anyway, so there really wasn’t much point. I got the eviction notice two weeks ago. When I ran into Moran’s son—”

  “Gus?” Libby asked.

  Mrs. Randall nodded. “He said the two murders were the final straw. There was no way they could sell the rest of the condos now, especially with the Witherspoons’ pictures being pasted all over the Internet, not to mention CNN, and the dailies.”

  “That’s what Gus’s dad said, too,” Bernie noted.

  “I can understand why the story is all over the media,” Libby noted. “It has all the elements. Buried treasure. Two murders. Vengeance. I wouldn’t be surprised if it became a made-for-TV movie.” She added a lump of sugar to her tea and took a sip. “So what’s going to happen to the property?”

  Cindy hopped up on Sean’s lap, circled around three times, and lay down. He gave her a pat. “Talk is that they’re going to demo the building and turn the place into a park. After all, it does have nice views of the river.”

  “Excellent idea,” Libby said. “As far as I’m concerned, the sooner that building is gone, the better.”

  Bernie turned to Mrs. Randall. “So where are you going to go?” she asked.

  Mrs. Randall smiled. “My sister has a camp out in Saint Vincent, so I’m planning to divide my time between there and Berkeley. My son got a faculty position teaching mythology there. I guess it does pay to read to your child. He always loved folktales.” She broke off a piece of her doughnut and ate it. “Delicious,” she said.

  “I didn’t see any crows when I was up there,” Libby said. She’d gone up with Lucy the day after her and Bernie’s run-in with Manny to reenact the scenario for their chief of police.

  Mrs. Randall spread her hands out. “That’s because they took off and went somewhere else.”

  “Why would they do that?” Sean asked.

  Mrs. Randall smiled at him. “The fanciful among us would say that their job guarding the treasure was done, while the less fanciful among us would say that they were tired of being disturbed and decided to roost in a quieter spot. They do change their nesting area from time to time,” Mrs. Randall said. “Of course, if we’re being entirely accurate here, if any birds were guarding the treasure, it would be Huginn and Muninn, who are ravens, not crows. But, really, all the corvids are basically the same.” She paused. “So what’s happening to the treasure?” she asked, switching gears. The police had found it in a suitcase in the trunk of Manny’s car.

  “I read that the Museum of Natural History has it, although I read something about it going to Norway in three years as a special traveling exhibition,” Bernie replied.

  “Well, the find has certainly upended a great many assumptions about the Norsemen,” Mrs. Randall said, sitting back in her armchair. “I know that there have been stories about the Norsemen coming this far up the Hudson and setting up a colony, but up until now there’s been no evidence to substantiate that.”

  Sean took a sip of his cider and put his glass mug down. “My mother used to tell me a story about men
in long boats sailing up the river and making a home here on the riverbanks. Her brother used to find the occasional coin on the banks of the Hudson, right beneath the Berkshire Arms.”

  “Which makes sense,” Bernie said, “considering that Darius found it buried in a well right by the building’s foundation. One of the archeologists working on the site says he thinks there’s more stuff down there. A lot more stuff. And there could be another settlement upstream. Evidently, Darius thought so, too, because the archeologist found some notes to that effect.”

  “It wouldn’t surprise me if there is,” Sean said. “I remember Uncle Henry finding a knife once. It looked really, really old.”

  “What happened to it?” Bernie asked.

  Sean shook his head. “It disappeared. My guess is that it went in the trash when he died.”

  Bernie leaned over and cut a piece of apple kuchen for herself. It was the perfect fall snack food. Light and not overly sweet. The softness of the baked apple slices melded with the chewiness of the cake. Sometimes simple was best.

  “May I have a slice of that?” Mrs. Randall said, indicating the apple kuchen.

  “By all means,” Bernie replied, then cut her a piece.

  “Excellent,” Mrs. Randall pronounced after she’d taken a few bites. “It’s too bad I won’t be around for Manuel Rico-Perez’s trial.”

  “I have a feeling there won’t be a trial,” Sean told her. “He’ll probably take the deal the prosecution is going to offer him.”

  “How do you know they’re going to offer him a deal?” Mrs. Randall asked.

  “Because that’s the way these things usually go these days,” Sean replied. “Jury trials are expensive.”

  Bernie ate another piece of cake and thought about the last time she’d seen Manny as he ran toward the river. He’d been covered in crows pecking at him. They’d left him only when he dove into the river. Even then they’d circled overhead, cawing at him, until a fisherman who’d been coming in to shore pulled Manny out of the river. He’d been covered in blood. The expression pecked to death by ducks had entered Bernie’s mind.

  “He’s lucky he didn’t die from hypothermia,” Bernie observed.

  “Or the crows didn’t peck his eyes out,” Mrs. Randall said.

  Libby suppressed a shiver. “They wouldn’t do that, would they?”

  “They might,” Mrs. Randall replied. “Corvids can be vengeful, and when you add in the fact that they never forget a face . . .” She took another sip of cider. “I told him and I told him and I told him that crows and ravens aren’t to be taken lightly, but he didn’t listen. After all, I’m just an old woman. What do I know?”

  “Well,” Bernie said, “I don’t think he’s ever going to make that mistake again—not that he’s going to have a chance to, given where he’s going.”

  RECIPES

  I have three recipes for you today. The first one, salmon chowder, comes from my cousin Joan Bernstein, who is an excellent cook. The second recipe is called a Swedish pancake by some and a German pancake by others, but whatever you choose to call it, it makes a wonderful breakfast treat. And my third recipe is for Swedish glogg—a hot spiced wine.

  There’s a loose theme here, very loose—Scandinavia. The other thing these recipes have in common is that they are quick, easy to make, tasty to eat, and will, I promise, be in your repertoire for a long time to come.

  JOAN BERNSTEIN’S SALMON CHOWDER

  This is the kind of recipe for a busy weekday night. Add some bread and a salad and you’re ready to go.

  6 small new potatoes, cut into quarters

  28 ounces vegetable broth

  1 medium ear of corn, kernels removed, or ½ cup frozen corn

  One 2-inch sprig thyme or ½ teaspoon dried thyme

  12 ounces skinless salmon, cut into 1-inch chunks

  1 cup baby spinach

  ¼ cup sliced scallions

  Salt, to taste

  Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

  Combine the potatoes and the broth in a medium pot, bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and then reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes are tender but not cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add the corn and the thyme, and bring the broth back to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, covered, until the corn is tender, about 4 minutes. Add the salmon and simmer, uncovered, for 3–5 minutes. Stir in the spinach and scallions, season to taste, and serve.

  4 servings

  GERMAN (OR SWEDISH) PANCAKE

  This recipe goes by different names and you can find variations of it in many cookbooks. The one thing they all have in common is that the pancake finishes cooking in the oven. My kids love it and I have been making it forever.

  Combine and stir till smooth:

  4 beaten egg yolks

  2 tablespoons cornstarch

  ¼ cup lukewarm water

  ¼ cup lukewarm milk

  ¾ teaspoon salt

  1 tablespoon sugar

  Grated rind of one lemon or orange

  Beat 4 to 5 egg whites until very smooth and fold into the yolk mixture.

  Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a heavy 10-inch skillet. When the skillet is hot, pour in the batter and cook over low to medium heat, partly covered, for about 5 minutes, until the batter is set. Then place the skillet in a 400-degree preheated oven until the pancake is puffed out. Total cooking time is about 7 minutes. Serve immediately with powdered sugar, sugar, and cinnamon, or jam. Homemade apple compote is also a nice accompaniment to the pancake.

  2 servings

  SWEDISH GLOGG

  This is a very nice party punch, as well as something to sip on a cold winter’s night. There are literally hundreds of versions of this drink; some are made with wine, others with hard liquor, and some with both. This version is based on Martha Stewart’s, but feel free to make it your own. I have. Part of the fun of making this is adding a little more or a little less of things and seeing the results.

  1 bottle dry red wine, such as Pinot Noir or Zinfandel

  1 bottle port

  2 cups water

  1½ cups cognac, brandy, rum, port, or vodka or aquavit

  Rind of 1 orange and 1 lemon, cut into strips, plus their juice

  5 cardamom pods

  2 sticks cinnamon

  10 whole cloves or ½ teaspoon allspice

  5 slices peeled fresh ginger

  2 tablespoon granulated sugar

  10 teaspoons blanched almonds

  In a nonreactive saucepan mix together the wine, port, water, cognac, and spices. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and then reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. Cover and refrigerate for at least 12 hours and up to 24 hours.

  Strain wine mixture and discard solids. Reheat wine over low heat (do not boil) and stir in sugar to taste. Add 1 teaspoon almonds to each of 10 mugs. Fill with wine mixture and serve.

  10 servings