Trick or Treat and Murder

by Kate Bell

  “I can imagine,” he said. “It always feels good to go home, even if home is less than a hundred miles away. My own mother never could cook, but she could order pizza better than anyone I know.”

  I giggled. “You don’t mean that.”

  “Oh, but I do. She would try every now and then, but it was always a complete disaster. I had to learn to make mac and cheese when I was six just so I could survive.”

  I laughed again. “Well, at least she tried. It’s nice you can visit her when you want. Maine isn’t that different from Alabama, well, sort of. I mean, obviously it’s different. But the small town people are very similar. Just really friendly, you know?”

  He nodded. “I’ve heard people in the South are friendly, and it certainly applies to Sandy Harbor as well.” He glanced at my kitchen clock. “I hate to be a party pooper, but I have an early day tomorrow.”

  “Oh,” I said, disappointed. It was after eleven and way past my own bedtime, but I was enjoying his company. “So, what are you working on tomorrow?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. I’m sure I’ll find someone new to interview. Or interrogate. Or I may speak to Ellen Allen again. I’m sure she would be delighted, and I feel like there has to be something more there,” he said, laying down his fork.

  “And what about Diana’s husband? It seems like he should have a little more feelings for his deceased wife. And I know we’ve said it before, but who gets a divorce because they want to be a professional dancer this late in life? It doesn’t add up,” I said, picking up both of our plates and heading to the sink.

  “Well it’s true that her husband was pretty indifferent to her death,” he said. “But like I said, you never can tell with some people. There’s no telling what lies beneath the surface.”

  “You would think he would at least fake it for his sons’ sake,” I said. “I think we should interrogate him again.”

  Alec chuckled. “I guess I can haul him in and put him under some two-hundred watt light bulbs. ‘Where were you on the night of your wife’s death?’”

  “Now you’re talking,” I said as we walked to the door. “Maybe you can bust his kneecaps?”

  “I’ll get right on that,” he said. We stopped in front of the closed door and took a minute to stare at each other. “I have to go.”

  “Okay,” I said. He kissed me and I opened the door.

  “All right you two, don’t move!”

  We both looked toward the voice. Mary Payne stood on my front porch with a gun drawn and pointed at us.

  I sensed Alec tensing up. “Now Mrs. Payne, let’s not behave hastily. Why don’t you hand me that gun so no one gets hurt?”

  “I have no haste!” Mary said, and swayed a little. “I am not going to let the two of you ruin my son’s reputation, and his future! He has potential! He’s going to be the governor of Maine one day!”

  I wasn’t sure why she kept talking about his future. Bob was a loan consultant at the bank. He had become mayor only because his competitor, John Savins, died during the mayoral campaign. No one else stepped forward to run against him, and so he became mayor.

  “Mary, give me the gun before anyone gets hurt,” Alec soothed.

  If Mary had been drunk at the restaurant, now she was completely blotto. She swayed on her feet and the hand she held the gun in shook. I was afraid it was going to go off without her even intending it to.

  “Oh someone’s going to get hurt,” she slurred. “I know two someone’s that are going to get hurt. Now back up. We don’t want an audience.”

  I glanced at Alec. He remained stoic, with his jaw tight. “Mary, I want you to hand me that gun,” he tried again. “You don’t have to do this. I know you don’t want to hurt anyone.”

  She laughed and made a raspy-throated sound. “You’re crazy. I’m going to stop you from ruining my boy’s career. That crazy woman was blackmailing him. She had to be stopped and I’m glad someone did it. None of this was Robert’s fault!”

  “Did he kill her?” I asked. I figured it was worth a shot. Mary was so drunk she might squeal on her baby boy.

  She turned toward me, narrowing her eyes at me. The porch light glinted off the stream of drool that trickled down her chin. “No!” she barked. “My boy’s a good boy! He’s always been a good boy! He would never kill anyone! It’s all that woman’s fault. If she hadn’t tried to blackmail him and try to force him into having an affair, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

  I nodded at her. “Good. That’s a really good thing. And since he’s innocent, you have nothing to worry about.”

  “That’s right, Mrs. Paine. I knew that Bob was innocent from the start. I simply needed to get information from him to help me catch the real killer. He’s been very helpful and I’m sure we will be catching the real killer any day now, thanks to Bob’s help,” Alec said in calm tones. He was a smooth talker and I hoped it worked on her, otherwise we were going to end up looking like Swiss cheese.

  “That’s not what Bob said. He said you all but accused him of murdering that crazy woman,” Mary said, swaying again.

  “He simply misunderstood me,” Alec said shrugging his shoulders. “I’ll certainly set him straight first thing in the morning. I’ll apologize for any misunderstanding. I would hate for him to think I suspected him.”

  I saw Mary’s trigger finger squeeze just a little, and I swallowed hard. We needed help and we needed it now, but it was late and cold out and there wasn’t anyone on the street.

  “You’re lying,” she told Alec. “I know how you cops are. I’ve seen plenty of CSI episodes. You break the suspect down and then throw the book at them. Doesn’t matter if they’re innocent or not. You just lock them away!”

  “No, Mrs. Payne, that’s all done for dramatic effect on television. Why don’t we go inside and discuss this like rational people? Have some coffee? It’s cold out,” Alec said. “Allie baked a delicious custard pie that you have just got to try.” I could see his hands flex from the corner of my eye. I wondered if he had a gun on him somewhere. I had never thought to look or to ask, but didn’t cops keep a gun on them at all times?

  Mary hesitated and a confused look came over her face, and then she shook her head. “Don’t try and confuse me. I know you’re trying to play a trick on me!”

  While she was still talking, Alec launched himself at Mary and had her on her back before she knew what hit her. She screamed and the gun flew out of her hand. Alec whipped out handcuffs from somewhere and slapped them on her. It all happened so fast, all I could do was stand there and watch. I was in awe of his prowess. Had he gone to school to learn how to do that?

  “Get off of me, he’s a good boy!” Mary cried. “Leave him alone!” She began sobbing loudly. I saw my neighbor’s light come on and the curtains moved aside a little.

  “There, there, Mary, it’s okay,” Alec soothed as if she were a hurt child. “Everything will be okay.” He looked at me. “Can you dial 911 and tell them to send backup?”

  I had been frozen in place and his request got me moving as I reached in my pocket for my phone. Before I could dial it, we heard sirens in the distance. “Looks like someone beat me to it.”

  “They must have been close by,” he said, rolling off of Mary and helping her to sit up. “Mary? Did you murder Diana Bowen?”

  Mary sobbed harder and nodded her head. Alec looked at me, eyebrows raised.

  “She did it?” I whispered to him. I did not see that coming.

  He nodded.

  “I couldn’t help it. I had to protect my Robert,” she sobbed.

  “How did you get her to eat that awful candy apple?” I asked. I just had to know.

  “We had community meetings for the bazaar every day for the week leading up to it. I gave her tea with poison in it. I thought that would be enough, but it wasn’t. Then I brought her the apple and I told her I made it special for her on account of all the work she had done for the bazaar. I told her there was no one else that could pull a bazaar together lik
e she could. She was so full of herself, I knew she wouldn’t refuse.” Mary lay on the ground and sobbed uncontrollably.

  I looked at Alec. Pride goes before a fall. Diana had been proud of her community work and it had been the death of her.

  “But the apple was store bought?” I pointed out.

  She sobbed harder. “Don’t you know you can get syringes from the vet supply store?”

  A police car pulled up and Yancey Tucker got out. “Whatcha got detective?”

  “Murder suspect,” Alec answered and helped Mary to her feet.

  “Really?” Yancey asked when he saw it was Mary Payne.

  “Really,” Alec said, handing her over.

  I pulled my sweater tighter around me and shuddered. The gun still lay on the porch, glinting in the porch light. I was glad I had asked Alec in for pie, otherwise I might not have seen the light of day had I been on my own.

  --22--

  “Well, I’m glad that’s over,” Lucy said, taking a sip of her coffee. She was melancholy and I couldn’t blame her. She had lost a dear friend as well as her boss. “I never would have suspected Mary Payne. I delivered flowers to her countless times over the years and she always tipped me. She was always a friendly, talkative person.”

  “At least there’s closure,” I said, putting my hand on hers. “We won’t have to wonder who the murderer is anymore, and she won’t hurt anyone else.”

  We were having coffee at the Cup and Bean. I glanced around to make sure Mr. Winters wasn’t eavesdropping with those bionic hearing aids of his. The coast was clear. He must have been out walking his ancient Yorkie, Stanley.

  Alec sat across from me, texting. After a few minutes, he put his phone down and looked up.

  “And like I said, Allie. Someone having a short temper does not make them a killer,” Alec said, stirring his coffee. “You shouldn’t jump to conclusions.”

  I stuck my tongue at him. “I was close. It was his mom. How did you know to ask her if she was the killer?”

  He shrugged. “She was very emotionally invested in her son’s innocence. Granted, many mothers would be, but I just had a hunch. And she was drunk, making her a little more likely to talk.”

  “In other words, you got lucky?” I said, giving him a big smile.

  He chuckled. “You could say that. But I prefer detective’s intuition. Besides, what did I have to lose? All she could have said was, no.”

  “What a whack job,” Lucy said. “I never realized she was nuts. She was the principle of the high school for almost thirty years! Good thing she wasn’t a teacher. No telling what she would have taught those kids.”

  “Yeah, I never took her for crazy,” I said, thoughtfully stirring my coffee. Sometimes you just couldn’t tell about a person. “I always thought well of her.”

  The morning sun was shining through the coffee shop window and I had to scoot my chair over toward Alec to keep it out of my eyes. It was as good an excuse as any to get closer to him.

  “Do you really think Diana was blackmailing Bob Payne?” Lucy asked with a hint of a tear in her voice. “I just can’t imagine her doing that.”

  Alec shrugged his shoulders. “That’s what he and his mother say. But he never gave us any proof of it. Not that it matters now that we have a confession.”

  “I just can’t believe that I didn’t know that Diana was capable of something like that,” Lucy said, stirring her coffee. “I thought I knew her so well. We spent so much time together.”

  I sighed. “I’m just glad it’s over. Lucy, have you heard what will happen to the flower shop?”

  “Nope. I asked Dick and he said he hadn’t decided anything.”

  We all looked up as rain began splattering against the coffee shop window and the sun was covered by a dark cloud. I shivered. The calendar might still say fall, but it felt like winter was setting in.

  “Wow, it’s really coming down,” Alec said. “I love the rain.”

  He looked at me and our eyes met. I was so glad we had met. He was the best thing that had happened to me in a long time. For the first time in a long time, I felt hopeful about the future.

  THE END

  RECIPES!!

  Killer Caramel Apples

  10 Granny Smith Apples, washed, dried and stems removed

  1 cup butter

  2 cups packed brown sugar

  ¾ cup light corn syrup

  1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk

  1 tablespoon vanilla extract

  dash salt

  10 wooden candy sticks

  Green starbursts, tootsie rolls

  Insert wooden sticks into apples. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper to dry apples. Unwrap starbursts and tootsie rolls and using a rolling pin, roll out flat. It they are too hard, place in microwave on a microwave safe plate and heat on low power for 5-7 seconds. You just want them soft and pliable, not melted. Rolling pin can be dusted with fine sugar before rolling so candies won’t stick to it. With a sharp knife, cut candies into triangles and mouth shapes.

  In a heavy non-stick saucepan, heat butter, sugar, corn syrup, sweetened condensed milk and salt over medium high heat. Stir constantly until it comes to a boil.

  Lower heat to medium. Clip a candy thermometer to the side of the pan, being careful that the tip doesn’t touch the bottom of the pan, otherwise you’ll get a false temperature reading. Continue stirring until caramel reaches 245 degrees.

  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Dip each apple into the caramel, coating completely and set on parchment paper. While caramel is still warm, stick on candy triangle eyes and noses, and the mouths. Allow to cool completely. Enjoy!

  Jack O’ Lantern hand pies

  For the crust:

  2 cups all purpose flour

  3 Tablespoons white sugar

  1 ¼ teaspoons salt

  ¼ teaspoon nutmeg

  1 cup cold butter

  ½ cup ice water

  For the filling:

  ½ cup pumpkin puree, not pie filling

  1/3 cup brown sugar

  1 egg

  ¼ cup half and half or heavy cream

  2 tablespoons flour

  ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

  ¼ teaspoon cinnamon

  Sprinkle:

  1 teaspoon sugar

  ¼ teaspoon cinnamon

  For crust: mix flour, sugar, salt, and nutmeg. Cut cold butter into flour mixture and using hands, incorporate the butter completely. Alternately, you can use a mixer or food processer. Add water by tablespoons, mixing after each addition. When crust is of the consistency that it can be rolled, don’t add anymore water .

  Roll half of dough out onto a flour covered surface to a 1/8” thickness. Using a 4” biscuit or round cookie cutter, cut 16 rounds. With a sharp knife, cut out Jack O’ Lantern faces in 8 of them.

  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and lay out the un-cut circles of dough. Pinch small pieces of dough from remaining dough and attach to uncut rounds for stems, by pinching them onto the rounds. These are the pumpkin backs.

  Mix filling together. Spoon a tablespoon or so of the filling onto the pumpkin backs and spread a little less than ¼” from edges. Place Jack O’ Lantern face piece over the back and crimp the edges together.

  Mix the cinnamon and sugar for the sprinkle together and sprinkle over hand pies.

  Preheat oven 400 degrees. Bake 25 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool.

  Lemon Chess Pie

  1 ½ Cups sugar

  ½ cup butter, melted

  4 eggs

  juice and grated rind of 1 large lemon

  1 tablespoon cornmeal

  pinch of salt

  9 inch pie crust

  Beat sugar and eggs together. Add melted butter and lemon juice and rind. Add salt and mix together. Pour into 9 inch pie shell. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes.

  Old Fashioned Custard Pie

  1 ½ Cups white sugar

  3 Tablespoons but
ter, melted

  ½ Teaspoon salt

  4 eggs

  1 cup whole milk

  2 teaspoons vanilla

  1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

  10 inch piecrust

  nutmeg to sprinkle

  Preheat oven to 375.

  Mix sugar, butter, and salt until smooth. Add eggs and mix well. Add milk, vanilla and ¼ teaspoon nutmeg and mix well. Pour into piecrust. Sprinkle top of pie with nutmeg. Bake 40-45 minutes. Pie is done when a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean. Let cool completely and then refrigerate.

  Half and half can be substituted for the whole milk for a richer pie. Do not use milk with less fat than whole milk, as the results will not be nearly as tasty.

  Old Fashioned Popcorn Balls

  2 cups white sugar

  1 ½ cups water

  ½ cup white corn syrup

  ½ teaspoon salt

  1 teaspoon white vinegar

  2 teaspoons vanilla

  5 quarts popped popcorn

  Butter for greasing pan

  Butter the sides of a heavy saucepan.

  Put popped popcorn in a large bowl.

  Combine sugar, water, corn syrup, salt and vinegar in saucepan over medium high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar and keep from burning. Clip candy thermometer onto side of pan, making sure tip of thermometer doesn’t touch bottom of pan. Cook mixture until it reaches 250 degrees. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

  Slowly pour hot syrup over popcorn and mix just to coat popcorn. Butter hands and shape popcorn into balls. Colored sprinkles can be added now. Let dry on parchment covered cookie sheets. Makes 15-20 balls, depending on size.