A Good Day to Pie
Page 26
“I had to do something,” I said modestly. “To keep you from another bout with the lie detector and to keep us both from going to prison.”
“Do they have Bridge in prison?” she asked.
“I hope so, for Donna’s sake,” I said. “At least you can get her a computer so she can play online.”
“It’s the least we can do,” she said. “We owe Donna big time for getting rid of Mary. I don’t know how we can repay her. I was thinking we should name the card room after her with a bronze plaque on the door.”
“Good idea,” I said. “Tell me, were you surprised that it was Donna who did it? I remember at one point you were sure it was an accident.”
“Nah,” Grannie said. “I just said that. Knowing how we all felt about Mary, I could see someone crossing the line.”
“Even you?”
“You know, I actually had a better chance of winning playing against Mary and Donna. I don’t know how I’ll do with a new couple.”
“Here’s to a winning hand and a better Bridge game,” I said, lifting my cup. I put it down when I noticed my hand was shaking. “I’m out of here,” I said. “One mystery solved and I’ve had it. I don’t know how Sam can do this for a living.”
Grannie kissed me on the cheek and followed me out to the car. “Drive safely,” she said. Then she went back inside. Probably not nearly as shaken as I was. She had her friends, and they’d be waiting to hear all the gory details.
_____
“Maybe Donna will get off early for good behavior,” I suggested to Sam the next day as he sat at one of my tables drinking coffee and eating a slice of Spinach and Feta Pie. “Especially if she gets a good lawyer.”
“Hanna, she murdered her Bridge partner. If she gets off, who will be next?”
“You mean who will be the next murderer or the next victim?”
“Either. Both. Finding Donna guilty should send a message. You can’t just off your partner.”
“Even if she’s cheating? Even if she’s demented? Can’t remember what’s trump?”
He shook his head. “Even if she’s the most unpopular woman in the whole place. Even if everyone wanted her dead. Only one person went so far as to actually take action.”
“Shouldn’t she get something for guts? For sneaking the extra meds in Mary’s pillbox?”
“She has got something. She’s got everyone’s thanks. Even Mary’s family, if what you say is true.”
“I’ll let you read Mary’s diary,” I offered.
“That’s stolen property. I’d be in trouble along with you,” he said. “Breaking and entering. Petty theft. Frightening an old woman. By the way, the lineup is cancelled.”
“Thank you. But I thought you wanted me to line up, be identified as a common thief and illegal trespasser, and suitably punished.”
“I did,” he said with a flicker of amusement in his eyes, “but Gayle next door didn’t want to cause you any trouble. You can thank your grandmother for that. I understand she intervened on your behalf. Gayle has dropped the charges. As far as she’s concerned, she saw a ghost on her deck or her own reflection in the glass patio doors.”
“Whew.” I wiped my hands on my apron and sat down across the table. “So neither I nor Grannie is under suspicion for anything?”
“I suspect you of playing loose with the law and the rules.”
“But you owe me for catching your murderer.”
“Okay, I owe you. What do you want?”
What did I want? A booming pie business. A social life. A better relationship with the Chief of Police. A chance to get to know him again. A chance to let him know me. And that was just for starters. The list goes on.
The End
Grannie’s Prize-Winning Fuji Apple
Southern Pecan Caramel Pie
One all-butter, deep-dish pastry crust.
Filling
½ cup sugar
3 tbsp flour
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
6 cups Fuji apples, peeled and sliced
Stir together the first four ingredients. Add the apples and mix. Pile apples into unbaked crust.
Crumb Topping
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup flour
½ cup rolled oats
½ cup unsalted butter
½ cup pecans, toasted
Stir together the first four ingredients to form coarse crumbs. Sprinkle topping over apples.
Heat oven to 375º F. Cover edges of crust with foil. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 25 minutes.
Remove pie from oven and sprinkle with the toasted pecans. Drizzle with Caramel Sauce.
Caramel Sauce
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup light brown sugar
½ tsp salt
1½ tsp vanilla
½ cup evaporated milk
Place butter, brown sugar, and salt in a small saucepan and melt over a medium heat. Turn up heat and bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and milk. Serve warm over pie.
Hanna’s All-Butter Pie Crust
For a single-crust pie
1¼ cup flour
1 stick cold unsalted butter
pinch of salt
3 to 4 tbsp ice water
Blend flour, butter, and salt with your fingers until mixture is like coarse crumbs. Drizzle ice water over flour mixture and mix until dough holds together. Put dough on your work suface and form into a disk. Refrigerate for an hour. Roll out to fit a deep-dish pie pan. Dough will keep refrigerated for a day, or freeze for later use.
Hanna’s Black-Bottom Raspberry Cream Pie
Crust
30 chocolate wafer cookies
1 stick unsalted butter
¼ cup sugar
Spray a 9-inch glass pie pan with nonstick cooking spray. Crush the cookies and mix in the sugar. Add butter and mix until crumbs form.
Press the crumb mixture over the bottom and sides of the pie pan. Chill the crust for 30 minutes then bake in a 350º F oven for about 10 min. Cool.
Filling
½ cup sugar
¼ cup cocoa
2 tbsp cornstarch
¼ cup whole milk or nonfat half and half
2 egg yolks and 1 whole egg
4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tbsp unsalted butter
Combine the sugar, cocoa, and cornstarch in a saucepan. Gradually add the milk or half and half, then the egg yolks and the whole egg. Stir over medium heat until pudding thickens and boils, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat and add the chocolate chips and butter. Whisk until smooth.
Spread pudding into cookie-crumb crust. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Topping
1 cup whipping cream
1 basket fresh raspberries
Peel plastic off pie. Whip cream until stiff. Spread over pie and garnish with raspberries. Chill pie again for one to four hours.
© Craig Culver
About the Author
Carol Culver is the author of over thirty books, including many bestselling Harlequin romance novels. She has a BA in French and studied at the Sorbonne in Paris. This is her debut mystery novel.
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgments
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Recipes
About the Author
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