A Time To Kiln

by Gilian Baker

  Phyllis furrowed her forehead and shook her head. “What is it with you and farm implements? Why don’t people try to kill you with the regular things—guns, knives…”

  “I don’t know, but I’d just as soon they didn’t try to kill me at all.”

  “Did you ever find out what Paula and Dillon were fighting about that day?”

  “Yeah, she’d found out about his affair. Can you believe it? From the start, the entire town believed she was the one cheating when it was really the other way around.”

  “The whole case coulda been figured out if we’d not judged books by their covers.”

  “Quite right.”

  “Can you explain why, for the love of Pete, Shelly attempted to burn up Paula’s body?”

  I sat up straight and smiled. “Shelly figured since Paula only cared about her pottery business, not Dillon or her child, she’d make sure Paula was stuck with it forever. She’d planned to reduce her to ashes and then add them to the bucket of iridescent glaze in the studio. Paula would have literally been part of the pottery.”

  “Well, my stars! Who’d have thought such an innocent-looking girl coulda had thoughts like that?” We sat in silence for a few beat, shaking our heads in disbelief.

  “Now I’ve got a question for you, Phyllis. Why did you invite me to brunch that day? Did your ESP inform you I needed a confidence boost or was it coincidence?”

  “No such thing as coincidence, dear. Gabby called me. She was worried about you after the dramatic message you sent her the night before. Asked me to see if I could work some of my magic on you.”

  “Well, you certainly did.”

  “Speaking of which, what are you going to do next? Are you feeling any better about your place in life?”

  “Yes, some, though I haven’t decided where I’m going to go with my business. I’m waiting for inspiration to strike. You know, you can’t always count on a murder to liven things up for you.”

  We both laughed, though it was a grisly thought. “Until then, Christian and I are planning a trip. We’ll wait until Ellie is back at school so we don’t miss any time with her. He’s calling it a second honeymoon. Ellie’s calling it gross that old people like us would go on a romantic trip.”

  Phyllis cackled. “She wouldn’t want to know what Homer and I get up to then.”

  “No, and neither do I, thank you very much.”

  She hooted with abandon and slapped her knee, then said, “I read Ellie’s article in the paper. It was good. Guess she got her scoop after all.”

  “Yep. She didn’t get the relaxed summer she’d planned, but she got a byline.” After a moment of silence, I said, “You know, Phyllis, I’ve decided I just have to come to terms with being middle-aged.” I shrugged. “I can’t fight it…it’s pointless. And you know what? After making that decision, I can suddenly see better with my bifocals. All the struggle and fighting had just been making things worse. When will I ever learn?”

  “When will any of us, dear? So where are you and Christian thinking of going?”

  “I’m thinking somewhere tropical. It will be fall then so the cold and snow will be soon upon us. I thought heading to a tropical island would help us get through another Wyoming winter.”

  “It sounds like the citizens of Aspen Falls better get prepared while you’re gone… Jade’s going to get her groove back.” She snickered.

  “I hope so. It’s taken a lot of sweet-talking to get myself out of Christian’s dog house. I promised him I’d be extra careful and not get myself into any dangerous situations. But how was I to know I was taking a chance by going to talk to Natalie? It wasn’t like I went there to make a citizen’s arrest or anything.”

  I picked up another cookie and took a bite, savoring the buttery sweetness without guilt. “Anyway, he made me promise not to get involved in any more homicides, but I told him he had nothing to worry about. This is Aspen Falls, after all. I suspect we are well and truly done with murders for the rest of this century, at least.”

  About the Author

  Gilian Baker is a former English professor who finally threw in the towel and decided to just show ‘em how it’s done. She’s gone on to forge a life outside of academia by adding blogger, ghostwriter and cozy mystery author to her C.V. She currently uses her geeky superpowers only for good to entertain murder mystery readers the world over. When she’s not plotting murder for her Jade Blackwell cozy mystery series, you can find her puttering in her vegetable garden, knitting in front of the fire, snuggling with her husband watching British TV or discussing literary theory with her daughter.

  Since childhood, Gillian’s been told she was nosy, though she prefers to think of herself as inquisitive. It’s long been a secret dream of hers to be paid to snoop, but she’s given up on being a real live gumshoe and has happily settled for living vicariously through her protagonist. As a literature professor, Gilian considered her one and only vice to be reading cozy mystery books before bed instead of well-thumbed classics.

  Gilian Baker lives in Flagstaff, Arizona with her family and their three pampered felines. In her next life, she fervently hopes to come back as a cat, though she understands that would be going down the karmic ladder.

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