Book Club Killer

by Mary Maxwell

  “Don’t listen to a word she’s saying!” Eve shouted. “She’s delusional from all of the pills she gobbles all day long!”

  Warren cringed. “Can I leave now?” he asked Ford. “These freaks are making me nauseous.”

  The detective shook his head. “I’d like you to come down to the station,” he said. “I need to ask you some questions as well.”

  Eve and Grace began cursing and hurling insults at one another. With the sudden increase in volume and the wildly flailing arms, our little corner of the club had become the center of attention. The bartender grabbed a baseball bat and headed our way while the people at the closest tables began cheering and clapping their hands.

  “But I didn’t do anything!” Warren protested. “When Carter introduced me to these two crazies, I was desperate for cash. They said I could earn a cool hundred bucks just by—”

  Grace Truscott staggered forward, both hands reaching for Warren’s throat. “You little snake!” she hissed. “I told Eve that we were making a mistake to involve such a lowlife moron.”

  “Don’t blame me!” jeered Eve. “I told Carter that Sonja’s sister was in the book club the second he mentioned Warren’s name.”

  “How did you know he was my brother?” Sonja blurted.

  Eve scowled. “Because I have money, honey!” she said. “And money buys private detectives. And private detectives can—”

  “That’s enough!” Ford announced, turning toward the uniformed offices that had moved closer. “Officers, please escort these three to the station for questioning.”

  Sonja and I stepped aside as the cops escorted Grace, Eve and Warren out of Rusty Red’s River Boat. When the trio was gone and the crowd had returned to their drinks, Detective Ford walked up and thanked us for staying above the fray.

  “I know you’re both pretty upset about your friend’s death,” he said. “And I know you’ve probably just had another shock today.”

  Sonja frowned. “Another shock?”

  “Yes,” Ford replied. “Discovering that your brother and a member of your book group are prime suspects in the murder of Rosemary Swanson.”

  “But I don’t think my brother realized what he was doing,” Sonja protested. “They paid him a hundred dollars to deliver a paper bag.”

  Ford nodded solemnly. “It sounds that way, but he’s an accessory to murder if all of that is true.”

  Sonja slumped into a chair. “It was Eve Walker,” she murmured. “And Grace Truscott. They’re behind the plot to kill Rosemary.”

  “Except I suspect Mrs. Truscott’s husband was the real target,” said Ford.

  I put one hand on Sonja’s shoulder. “Come on,” I said calmly. “Why don’t we go back to my house? I’ll fix you a nice cup of chamomile tea. We can relax and process everything that just happened.”

  Sonja looked up. Her eyes were wet with tears and her forehead was creased with worry. “But my brother…” she said again. “He didn’t know what he was doing.”

  After Detective Ford briefly described the next steps in his investigation, we walked outside to the parking lot. Promising to keep us informed, he climbed into his car and headed for the police station.

  “This is a nightmare,” Sonja said sorrowfully. “What am I going to do about my brother?”

  I dropped my arm around her shoulders. “Why don’t we wait to hear from the detective?” I said, pulling her in for a little hug. “There’s nothing that you can do now except give Warren support and compassion. He’s an adult. He made choices. The rest will probably be up to the district attorney.”

  Chapter 20

  Hours later, after Sonja and I talked in my kitchen over cups of tea and slices of my Aunt Lulu’s Luscious Lemon Cake, I was fixing dinner when my husband walked through the door. He was holding a bottle of my favorite wine along with a carryout package from a restaurant around the corner from the house.

  “How are you, hon?” He gave me a kiss and put the wine and food on the counter.

  “I’m not sure,” I said. “What’s all this?”

  “We’re celebrating!” Ben said. “We closed the deal with Brock Truscott. And I know you’ve been pretty distressed about Rosemary. So I decided to pickup dinner and the pinot that you like.”

  “But I’ve got dinner started already.”

  He gently took me by the shoulders, guided me to the table and pulled out a chair.

  “Let me put all of that away,” he said. “Whatever you were planning will keep until tomorrow.”

  “I suppose,” I said, feeling the knots along my neck slowly loosen. “What about the boys? Did you pick them up at soccer practice?”

  He shook his head. “They’re at Jake’s for a cookout. Tonight it’s just me and you, babe!”

  I watched in disbelief and joy as he put the salad greens and vegetables that I’d been chopping into storage containers. Then he poured us both a glass of the pinot noir, put the carryout meal in the oven to keep warm and invited me to sit on the back patio.

  “Isn’t this nice?” he asked.

  I smiled and sipped my wine. “The best kind of surprise,” I said. “Thank you for being such a good husband.”

  “You make it easy,” Ben said. “I mean, who could resist your angelic face and loving smile?”

  I’d caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror just before I started working in the kitchen. I knew that my hair was tousled and the bags under my eyes were the size of steamer trunks. But I thanked him for the compliment anyway.

  “What’s the latest on the situation?” he asked.

  “You mean finding Rosemary’s killer?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, but I didn’t want to put it that way.”

  “It’s okay,” I said, rubbing his arm. “Detective Ford called about an hour ago. He spent most of the afternoon interviewing Grace Truscott, Eve Walker and Sonja’s brother.”

  Ben’s eyes went wide with surprise. “Grace Truscott?” he blurted. “You mean Brock’s wife?”

  “One and the same,” I answered. “According to the detective, Eve and Grace have been friends for years. When Brock filed for divorce and Grace learned she’d be removed from his life insurance policy and will, she got the harebrained idea to kill him. Although it just proves what an imbecile she is—thinking that she could get away with something so obvious. Apparently, she tried sending anonymous notes that somehow linked the divorce to his business deals, but Truscott wasn’t about to withdraw the divorce papers. I guess his wife figured that the proceeds from his life insurance would still be hers along with the rest of his estate. As you can imagine, that would be a pretty big chunk of change.”

  Ben nodded. “It’d be millions,” he said. “Probably twenty or thirty.”

  “More like fifty million,” I told him. “Detective Ford shared that with Sonja and I on a conference call. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t have been so forthcoming but he knew that we’d been devastated by what happened.”

  “That’s putting it mildly,” Ben said. “The poor woman was poisoned here in our home.”

  “And Sonja’s brother was directly involved,” I added.

  “What about Eve?” he asked. “What was all that about her suspecting Rosemary of having an affair with her husband?”

  I shrugged. “I think that’s all in her head,” I said. “Once Detective Ford got the confession from Grace Truscott, he decided her hateful remarks about Rosemary were more wishful thinking.”

  Ben frowned. “Wishful thinking?”

  “Yes,” I said. “Apparently, Eve’s husband wasn’t having an affair; he was spending more time away from home than usual on business matters. I guess Eve’s self-confidence is so paper-thin that she somehow assumed he was cheating on her. And they ran into Rosemary at some social function and Eve thought her husband was flirting with her. As if Rosemary would ever step out on Ed! That’s just plain ridiculous.”

  “Sounds like it,” Ben agreed. “Anyone who knows Rosemary and Ed realizes that they
’re very much in love.”

  “They were,” I said as another wave of sadness crested in my heart. “I can’t imagine how he’s going to get over the shock of losing his wife.”

  We sat quietly enjoying our wine and the beautiful evening. After a few minutes, Ben got up, kissed the top of my tousled head and went into the kitchen.

  Later, after a delicious meal of roasted chicken and potatoes, we refilled our wine glasses and sat under a wide canopy of glimmering stars.

  “Are you feeling better?” asked Ben.

  I smiled. “Much,” I said quietly. “It’s been a crazy few days, but I hope things will slowly return to normal now.”

  “Did you reschedule the book club meeting?”

  “We’re skipping this month,” I answered. “We set a new date for three weeks from next Saturday.”

  “Are you doing it here?” my husband asked.

  “Yes,” I said. “I’m going to make all of Rosemary’s favorite things, and we’re going to discuss one of her favorite books.”

  Ben nodded. “That’s nice,” he said. “A fitting tribute to your friend.”

  As the sky darkened and the stars flickered above, I leaned back in my lounge chair and thought about Rosemary. Losing her in such a tragic and sudden way would always be a painful memory, but we’d shared so much laughter and joy as friends that I silently promised her to focus on those remembrances instead of the difficult ones.

  “Penny for your thoughts,” Ben said after a long stretch of quiet.

  “Just thinking,” I said. “I still can’t believe it all happened.”

  “Yeah, it was truly shocking,” my husband agreed. “We’ll have to do our best to support Ed and the kids as time passes.”

  “Rosemary would expect nothing less,” I said. “She’s always been good to us, and that’s what friends do.”

  Another lull of quiet lingered before I heard the front door slam.

  “Sounds like the boys are home,” Ben said.

  “So much for peace and tranquility,” I agreed. “We should go inside and hear all about their wild adventure tonight.”

  Ben got up from his chair and took my hand. “After you, babe,” he said, opening the sliding door into the kitchen.

  “Thanks, sweetie,” I offered as our sons raced into the room on a wave of laughter and excited chattering. “And thank you for making tonight so special.”

  Also by Mary Maxwell

  Murder by the Slice (Sky High Pies Cozy Mysteries Book 1)

  Lavender Lipstick Lies

  Favorite Recipes from Book Club Members

  Triple Chocolate Almond Treasures

  Ingredients

  8 ounces of semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped

  1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream

  1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

  1 teaspoon of almond extract

  Cocoa powder

  2 ounces white chocolate, chopped into small pieces

  Finely chopped almonds

  1. Bring the whipping cream to a simmer in a small saucepan.

  2. Pour cream over chocolate pieces in a separate bowl.

  3. Add vanilla and stir until smooth.

  4. Cool briefly before placing in refrigerator for 90 minutes. Scoop chocolate from bowl with teaspoon, roll into balls and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

  5. Refrigerator for six hours.

  6. Roll in cocoa powder, white chocolate pieces and chopped nuts.

  7. Refrigerator for 30 minutes and serve.

  Aunt Lulu’s Luscious Lemon Cake

  Ingredients

  1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

  2 1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided

  4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

  1/3 cup grated lemon zest

  3 cups flour

  1/2 teaspoon baking powder

  1/2 teaspoon baking soda

  1 teaspoon kosher salt

  3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

  3/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature

  1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

  Glaze

  2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted

  4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

  Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two loaf pans.

  2. Cream butter and 2 cups granulated sugar.

  3. Stir in lemon zest and eggs.

  4. Sift flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder in one bowl. In second bowl, combine buttermilk, 1/4 cup lemon juice and vanilla extract.

  5. Add flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to the batter. Divide the batter between loaf pans.

  6. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Test center of each loaf with toothpick or knife to make sure the center is thoroughly cooked.

  7. For the glaze, combine confectioners sugar and lemon juice in a bowl until smooth.

  8. When the cakes are done, cool for 15 minutes. Remove from loaf pans and set on a rack inside a tray or sheet pan.

  9. Gently spoon the lemon glaze over the top.

  White Chocolate Pecan Popcorn

  Ingredients

  8 ounces of white chocolate chips

  2 bags microwave popcorn

  Finely chopped pecans

  Directions

  1. Melt white chocolate in a double boiler or microwave.

  2. Microwave bags of popcorn and pour into large bowl.

  3. Drizzle white chocolate over popcorn.

  4. Add chopped pecans and lightly toss until popcorn is coated with melted chocolate and pecans.

  5. Chill for 10 minutes before serving or packaging.

  Peppermint & Pearls Snack Bark

  Ingredients

  20 ounces mint chocolate, chopped

  1 cup hard peppermint candies, chopped

  1 cup toasted almonds, chopped

  8 ounces white chocolate chips

  Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 250°F.

  2. Line 17x11-inch rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Sprinkle chopped chocolate evenly on parchment-lined sheet.

  3. Soften chocolate in oven for approximately 6 minutes.

  4. Remove chocolate from oven and spread evenly on baking sheet.

  5. Sprinkle peppermint candies and almonds over chocolate.

  6. Refrigerate until chocolate is firm, about 2 hours.

  7. Break or cut bark into bite-size pieces.