by Tonya Kappes
Okay. Well, that came as a shock. I did know they had something between them, but her actually thinking that he might’ve killed his uncle was a bold move that I didn’t think Angie even considered.
“I didn’t find any sort of rat poison. I also looked through all of your receipts to see if you’d bought any rat poison, and I might’ve gone down to the hardware store to see if they’d remembered you coming in.” Her words made Luke’s face contort into all different expressions. “But that’s part of dating a sheriff.” She laid the stamp on the table.
“Yeah. Well”—Luke ran his hand through his hair—“if that’s part of dating you, I guess I can live with it.”
From what Angie had said, Luke didn’t kill Lee, but who did?
“I’m going to have to take the stamp and give it to Bernadette because legally, it’s hers.” She used a finger to push it toward me. “And we have this little matter about the certified letter.”
“I didn’t know Bernadette was going to be the one he named as beneficiary, so I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong.” Luke had a point.
“Really.” I looked at Angie. “Honestly, there was no harm done. He didn’t call the stamp collector because I did talk to him and was more than happy to pass along his information to you. And he didn’t sell the stamp, so I wouldn’t want to press any charges.”
There was a look of relief on his face.
“I really want to find out who killed him,” I told her, knowing that all three of my suspects had been cleared.
“I hate to say it, but is it possible he accidentally poisoned himself?” Luke asked, his brows furrowed. “As much as people don’t want to believe it, he was having memory issues. He started to live like a homeless person. I caught him eating Buster’s dog food. He recycled his day-old coffee unless someone brought him a cup.”
“Fine. I will look into all that. But right now, you two have a repass to host.” Angie looked to be at her wits’ end. “We do have a few leads that might bring us some more information, but in the meantime, I’m asking the two of you to let me do my job.”
“Fine.” I only agreed because I was at a dead end.
“Do you know what you’re going to do with the house?” Luke asked on our way back down the hall.
“No.” I shook my head. “But if there is anything you truly want in the house, you can have it.”
“There are some family photo albums in one of those boxes. I’d love to have those.” Luke did have a tender side that was hitting my soft spot.
“Of course. Just be sure you clear it with Angie first.” I wanted to make sure Angie was definitely done with the house even though she’d cleared.
The living room and kitchen were filled with citizens who had come to pay their last respects to Lee. Times like these were when I loved living in Sugar Creek Gap. The community came together, no matter how they felt about Lee and his hoarding issues. Even some of his customers on his garbage route were there.
I moseyed around and stopped to listen to a few of the stories they were telling and thanked them for coming. Lee had touched more lives than either Luke or I had realized.
“Would you like another cup of Lee’s blend?” Matilda asked when I walked up to talk to her and Carla, who were standing alone in the hallway between the kitchen and living room.
“Lee’s blend?” I asked.
“Yes.” Carla smiled. “Lee and I might’ve had our differences, but we did like the same blend Matilda served, so I just so happened to tell her she should rename it.”
“I think that’s a great idea.” I couldn’t believe Carla had it in her to be nice about Lee.
“We were just talking about how Carla was probably the last person who bought Lee a cup of coffee before he died.” Matilda gave a soft smile to Carla. “If I hadn’t known he was poisoned, I’d think Carla might’ve killed him with kindness.” She joked, but I didn’t find it so funny.
“You did?” I questioned. “You took him a coffee the morning before I found him?”
“Yes. I did.” She gave me a stern look. “It was my last-ditch offer for a peace offering to get him to clean up that house. But you can see what good all that did me. We lost.”
“Mm-hhmmm.” I gulped and remembered Millie telling me how Lee would let the coffee sit and then reheat it throughout the day. “If you’ll excuse me.”
I couldn’t help but get the idea that Carla could’ve still killed Lee. I started to sweat and frantically look around the room for Millie or any of the front porch ladies. When I didn’t see them in the family room or kitchen, I slipped past Matilda and Carla to head back down the hall and see if they had gone into Luke’s office.
The office was empty.
“Are you okay?” Carla was standing in the doorway of the office when I turned around to leave.
“I’m fine.” I pinched a smile and recognized her sincere-sounding question wasn’t quite as sincere as she wanted it to be. “I guess I’m confused about why you would bring a coffee to Lee after you’d been hounding him for months about his house and then telling him about Luke going to talk to Vivian at the nursing home. It just seems odd.”
“Odd that I finally resorted to trying to be kind to the old fool? Honestly, Bernadette, your mother has always taught you a little kindness goes a long way.” Carla’s face contorted; her brows lifted. “Seriously, did you see that mess?”
Chills spread up my body. I gulped.
“You poisoned Lee. You got him a coffee and somehow poisoned it with rat poison.” As I said that, images of the rat poison sitting on the front porch of Mac’s house, the one Walter was selling, came into my mind. “You walked up onto the porch next door and you poisoned it.”
“Oh, Bernadette. Honey,” she scoffed. “I know people around town have talked about how you’ve changed and kinda lost your marbles since Richard died and then you had to hear he’d cheated on you your entire marriage, but to resort to calling me a killer now?”
“This.” I pointed a finger at her. “This is your ammunition. You use your nasty hateful words to get what you want, and when you don’t get your way…” I hesitated. “Oh my gosh, you and Lee had another fight. You didn’t give a coffee the first time you went.” I recalled Millie telling me that she’d seen Carla show up at Lee’s house twice that day. “You went back with a coffee, and that was when you poisoned it. You walked right up to the porch next to Lee’s, put rat poison in the coffee, and decided to hand it to him.”
“Listen to me,” Carla said through her gritted teeth. Her eyes snapped as she got closer to me. Her hand tugged on a piece of her hair. “I gave him multiple chances. He refused to help out our town.”
“The coffee cup.” I gasped and brought my hand up to my mouth when I remembered the coffee cup in the negative space where the safe had sat. “When you went into the house with me, you tried to throw away the coffee cup from the Roasted Bean. I told you to leave it all there.”
Her chest heaved up and down, her glare got harder, and her jaw clenched. She moved closer to the desk. She shifted her gaze down, and I could see it fix on the scissors.
“That’s the coffee cup that you gave him. The sheriff couldn’t put you at the scene, because he didn’t drink it right away. Lee is known to heat and reheat his coffee, which is why the poison didn’t kill him until hours later after he’d finished that cup of coffee.” My eyes darted back and forth from her clenched fists to the scissors as I noticed her eyes shift.
I could tell by the look on her face and the meanness in her eyes that I’d figured it out and she was trying to figure out what to do in this situation.
“You know, I never really liked you.” She grabbed the pair of scissors from the desk and ran toward me at full force.
“Help!” I screamed and grabbed Carla’s forearm before she lunged forward and tried to stab me with the scissors. I pushed her to the right and tried to get around her to the left.
She continued to swing her arm around and at me, with th
e scissors jabbing at any part of me she could try to stab.
“You won’t get away with killing me! Help!” I screamed. “Help me!”
Her eyes were wide open. Her nostrils were flared as she breathed in and out at a rapid pace. Her back was hunched over as she tried to figure out my next move.
The madness in her eyes told me her normal person wasn’t present in the situation and she would try her best to kill me.
“Carla,” I tried to say in a calm voice when I thought no one could hear me over all the people in the house and the chatter going on. “Let’s think about this.” I held my hands out and moved right when she moved left and vice versa.
“I’ve thought long and hard about him and this for months. I did this for the good of our community.” Carla seemed to believe she had done Sugar Creek Gap a great deed.
Over her shoulder, I could see from the corner of my eye that Angie had opened the door. She put her finger up to her mouth for me to stay quiet.
“Lee Macum was an eye sore, and I got rid of the problem. Now you have a new house. You can live by your boyfriend.” Carla stood up straight. “We can keep this little secret ours, Bernadette. Look at it as if I did you a favor.” An evil smile curled up on her face. “Isn’t Julia pregnant with your first grandbaby? Wouldn’t you want them to live in a nice home? Have a good neighborhood? See, that’s what I did for you. I killed Lee. He left you the house, and now your grandbaby will have a home and not some apartment above a diner. You have me to thank for that.”
“Don’t you dare bring up my family in your murder. We don’t need your help.” I pointed at Angie. Carla jumped around.
“Angie.” Carla put the scissors down. “Bernadette killed Lee. She knew he was leaving his house to her, and she found out Grady is having a baby and wanted the house for them. Lee told her no, and she used the poison on the front porch of Mac’s house next to Lee to poison him with the food she’s always bringing him. She killed Lee Macum.”
Was she really turning this on me? I blinked in bafflement.
“I had to grab the scissors because she was threatening to kill me if I told you that I figured out who killed him.” Carla pointed at me. “Arrest her!”
Angie reached around and took the badge out of her back pocket.
“You’ll find the murder weapon in a garbage bag in Lee’s house. A coffee cup,” I said.
“What?” Carla glared at me. “I didn’t kill him. She did.”
“Carla Ramey, you are under arrest for poisoning and killing Lee Macum.” Angie started to read all the rights over Carla’s protest as she guided her out of the house and into her sheriff’s car.
Everyone had walked out of the house, spilling into Luke’s front yard, a little confused about what was going on. Murmurs softly crossed everyone’s lips, and a few shrugs rose from the crowd as we all stood there watching Angie pull off with Carla in the back seat.
“Looks like she’s going from the beautification committee to jail.” Millie couldn’t stop smiling.
NINETEEN
From what I’d heard, it took Carla Ramey a few hours to finally confess to killing Lee Macum. Angie had gone back to Lee’s house and picked up the garbage bag. Jigs Baker had used some sort of technology to get a test run on the dried-up coffee in the bottom of the cup. That way, Angie could have a way to see any poison was in there before she sent the coffee off the crime lab.
I’d even received a call from Iris. She has volunteered me to help her with the bridal shower Zeke Grey was hosting. The front porch ladies were going to die when they found out. I actually missed my regular route and my normal routine. I couldn’t wait until the morning when I got back to my customers.
“How did you figure all of that out?” Grady asked me from the table as he helped Julia snap the green beans so we could get them on the stove and cook them for the Sunday family supper. Rowena was sitting on the bench next to Julia. Buster was waiting for a green bean to accidentally fall on the floor. I had to admit, since he moved in with me, my floor was very clean. Rowena wouldn’t be caught dead eating something off the floor.
“Carla had come over to help me clean up the yard the morning the judges were coming because she knew it’d been willed to me.” I went to the back door to let Mac in.
“Hey.” He greeted me with a smile and gave me a nice soft kiss on the lips when he came inside.
“Hey.” I couldn’t help smiling. Being around Mac gave me all the warm, fuzzy feelings that I’d longed to have.
“I saw your parents coming up the driveway.” He handed me a dish. Buster trotted next to him. “I’ll go help them in. Iris dropped off a pie to bring. She said she can’t make it to supper.”
Mac and Buster headed back out the door to go help my parents bring whatever they were going to bring for supper. Mom never told me, but most of the time she brought something left over from the diner or combined ingredients to make something. Either way, Sunday supper with the family was my favorite time of the week. I loved being around my family, and now that my relationship with Mac had drastically changed, it was even more special.
Mom had brought fried pork chops. We ended having way too much food.
“How about a slice of Iris’s pie with a nice cup of coffee?” I stood up from the table after everyone had eaten and started brewing coffee in the coffee maker. “While the coffee brews, I have something to say.”
I grabbed the manila envelope from the counter and took it over to the table so everyone could see me.
My eyes teared up when I looked at Mom, Dad, Mac, Grady, and Julia gathered around my table. Of course Rowena was still sleeping on the bench next to Julia, and Buster was keeping an eye on the floor hoping something would drop.
“As you all know, Lee Macum has left all of his belongings to me.” I opened the top of the envelope and slipped out the papers. “I have given all the contents of the house to Luke. He is much in need of the items to sell, and that includes Lee’s stamp collection. I have decided that Rowen, Buster, and I are going to move into Lee’s house.”
Grady’s jaw dropped.
“Mom, this is our family home.” He reached over and put his hand on Julia’s belly. “I want my child to experience everything you let me experience.”
“Hear me out,” I told him. “I am giving you and Julia the farm.”
Julia gasped. Grady’s jaw dropped again.
“I want the two of you to experience the farm with your family. This way, you can grow as you want to and do all the things you love.” I watched as my son and his wife hugged.
My parents held hands on top of the table.
“Mac has already agreed to help me pick out new fixtures for Lee’s house that’ll suit me and with any sort of architectural needs I might have. It’s perfect for me to get to work. It’s a small two-bedroom home that’s going to be perfect for me. Also, I’ll be close to Mom and Dad.” I looked at my parents.
My dad patted Mac on the back.
“You did good, kid,” my dad said.
“I only have you and Mom to thank.” I looked between my parents, then back at my son.
I said a little silent prayer for Lee Macum. I hated that Lee had died, and I’d like to think that even if he hadn’t died and left his house to me, I would’ve still given Grady and Julia the farmhouse and moved into the apartment over the diner.
“What are you thinking?” Mac got out of his chair and came over to stand next to me.
Mom and Dad were busy talking to Julia and Grady about any changes to the house they’d like to make.
“I’m thinking life is pretty great.” I looked up at him. “If you would’ve told me a few months ago that I was going to inherit a house on your street and would also become a grandmother soon, I wouldn’t have believed you.”
“Would you believe it if I told you that I’ve been in love with you for many years?” He looked down at me and smiled.
“Mac Tabor.” I put my arm around him. “I think you were right after
all these years.”
“What about?” he asked and tugged me closer.
“You always said I picked the wrong best friend to marry,” I teased, remembering how he’d say in front of Richard, “Bernie, you picked the wrong guy.”
“I don’t think it would come as a surprise to Richard that I’m pursuing you now.” He bent down and kissed me.
I wanted to tell him that I knew Richard wouldn’t be surprised. But I kept the little secret that Richard would always tell me—that if anything ever happened to him, he wanted me to end up with Mac Tabor.
It looked like everyone in my life was finally getting everything they’d ever wanted. And really… all we ever wanted was to be surrounded by love.
RECIPES
Bonbon Cookies-submitted by Linda Swann
Chocolate Crinkles
Chocolate Chip Blonde
BonBon Cookies
submitted by Linda Swann
INGREDIENTS
1/2cup soft butter
3/4cup sifted confectioners’ sugar
1 Tbsp. Vanilla
1 1/8 cup sifted flour
1/8 tsp salt
Fillings can be candied or well drained maraschino cherries
pitted dates or
gumdrops
DIRECTIONS
Thoroughly cream butter and sugar; stir in vanilla.
Mix in by hand ,the flour and salt.
Wrap a level tablespoon of dough around your filling.
Place 1 inch apart on a ungreased baking sheet.
Bake 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes until cookies are set, but not brown.
Chocolate Crinkles
INGREDIENTS
9 oz (270 g) dark chocolate, chopped, divided
