A Canary in the Canal Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery #8 (Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery Series)

by Anna Celeste Burke

  Miles was on the shelf right above Melody. He stood and leaned against a large amber-colored plate and it wobbled. I sucked in a deep breath as Melody passed under it.

  “What is it now?” she asked and stopped when she heard me gasp. If she’d kept going, she probably would have been fine, but Melody stepped back into the room. Greg had been examining some trinket he’d picked up and spun around to see what was going on. As Ella joined in the game Miles was playing, Cicely looked up and yelped. Melody did too and turned away as the plate clobbered her. It landed on her back between her shoulders with a thud that dropped her to the floor.

  The gun flew from her hand. I was closer, but Greg was faster. As he reached for the gun, Miles yowled and leaped from the shelf twelve feet above us. Cicely hooted, and Greg looked up. He turned, hoping to get away from not one but two cats hurtling toward him. Instead, he tripped and fell over the plate that had slid off Melody. When the cats landed, I heard the umph sound someone makes when the wind’s been knocked out of them. Twice in this case. I picked up the gun.

  “Cicely, will you grab the roll of duct tape and wrap it around Greg’s hands. He’s going to be well-behaved by putting his hands behind his back and lying completely still. I know he doesn’t want me to shoot him before he’s had a chance to tell his version of what happened to the police.”

  “I bet he doesn’t. Nor does he want you to reload and unleash the ‘cat-a-pult’ again,” Cicely said, and a nervous giggle followed. The cats accompanied Cicely as she picked up the tape. Ella batted at a shiny Swiss Army knife.

  “Why, thank you, little miss,” Cicely told Ella. “And aren’t you the hero of the day, big fellow?” They blinked at her with love in their blue eyes.

  As soon as she had his hands tied, I passed the gun to Cicely, rolled Greg over to check on him. His bottom lip was bleeding. Greg spit out a tooth and then started to weep.

  “I thought your new girlfriend, Tina, was making it up when she said you cried your eyes out last night. It’s too bad Rebecca isn’t here to cry along with you. That was some act you put on for Tina to convince her Duke killed Melody. The part of her story I found most interesting was about the prank they’d pulled by dressing alike and switching places. I’ll bet it gave Melody a chance to be in two places at once, or have Rebecca do awesome favors for her?”

  “Her name’s Jackie, not Melody,” Greg snapped. Cicely stepped closer with that gun pointing right at him.

  “I’m aware of that. I’m going to check on Jackie next if that’s okay with you. Don’t answer that. I’m making a citizen’s arrest, and let’s say I’ve just read you your rights, which means don’t speak until you’re spoken to.”

  The cats were a step ahead of me. They were cautiously sniffing Melody. She must have thought it was me and tried to throw a punch. Melody shrieked in rage or pain or both but didn’t move again. That’s not completely true. Her mouth moved, and the words that followed made my ears burn.

  “Cussing me out like that cost you a position in the Bayou Bay Balladeers. Can’t you learn, child?”

  Melody screamed, and Jack burst in through the front door. Seconds later, he was in the great room, followed by Doug and several uniformed officers.

  “Melody’s having a tantrum,” I said.

  “Melody?” Doug asked and glanced at Jack.

  “We have a cuckoo in the nest,” I said. Jack nodded as if he got it, but Doug looked blank.

  “Are you and Cicely okay?” Jack asked.

  “Thanks to the two most amazing cats I’ve ever seen,” Cicely replied.

  When they heard Cicely say ‘cats,’ they stopped grooming where they’d settled on one of the comfy couches and waited to hear what came next. Cicely and I looked up at the stand that was still on the shelf above us. Jack’s gazed followed ours.

  “Well, I’ll be… Miles, Ella, how did you get up there? Amazing is right!” Jack said.

  “Take this awful thing, please. I need to pay the cats some attention,” Cicely said handing the gun to Jack. Then she sat down on the couch and Ella climbed into her lap. Miles stretched and flopped on his side leaning against her.

  “Do you want me to believe the cats nabbed these two?” Doug asked as he looked at the thick glass plate on the floor. A crack ran through it, but it hadn’t broken.

  “Greg’s missing a tooth, but I don’t believe anything’s broken. Melody’s another story,” I said ignoring Doug.

  “EMTs are on their way. When Carol called, I was afraid Melody had injured… someone,” Jack said as his voice trailed off and he broke police protocol by hugging me close.

  “I’m so glad you’re here,” I said. “That goes for the rest of you too.”

  “It is Melody, isn’t it? Doug couldn’t believe it when I wondered if one sister had smashed the other sister’s face in to get away with Duke’s money.”

  “How do you explain the fingerprints on the body match those in Jacqueline Jensen’s police record?” I explained how Melody and Rebecca had been playing doubles and switching places for years.

  “That’s ridiculous. Why would her sister, Rebecca Hardesty, have let the police arrest her?” Doug groused.

  “She owed me,” Melody said in an angry voice. “Ambulance! Lawyer!”

  “Besides, the police thought they were arresting Jackie Jenson. Rebecca didn’t end up with a police record. You’ll have to get the details from Melody when she’s ready to talk.”

  “Which will be never,” Melody said from the floor where her lips were still the only thing moving. “Ambulance! Lawyer!”

  “Shall I call Duke for you?” Jack asked.

  “No, don’t do that,” Greg said.

  “Loverboy can probably give you a good idea of what happened since he’s the guy Burton saw doing Melody’s errands for her Friday night.”

  “Burton? Who’s Burton?” Greg asked. “Lawyer!”

  “Rebecca was dead by then,” I said and explained what Melody said happened when they got to the rowboat.

  “That fits with what Mick told me,” Jack commented.

  “Mick? Mick who?” Melody asked.

  “As the coroner said, the blows to her head and face didn’t kill her. Melody explained how the scarf strangled Rebecca when she moved her body closer to where I found it, just as she hoped someone would,” I added.

  “Where’s Duke’s money?”

  “Ask your wife,” Melody replied. The detectives’ heads swiveled toward me again.

  “Greg ran another errand for Melody, and he put the money in my trunk while I was at work yesterday. That’s what they came here to get so she and maybe Greg could leave town. Melody hoped you’d have Duke in custody for her murder by now, so it would be easier to get away. She’ll tell you, nothing’s ever perfect.”

  “The crime lab found a bundle of money and a few hairs that are too dark to belong to Greg or the rowboat’s owner. Both Duke and Melody’s fingerprints were on the money. We know the stray hairs belong to a man, but we’ll have to wait for the DNA results to be sure they’re a match for Duke.”

  “Does it matter now?” I asked. “Greg obviously planted the evidence to make it appear that Duke had gotten his money back from Melody and then killed her. Melody must have had the evidence with her, by the way. Don’t let her tell you any of what happened was an accident.” Then I remembered another bit of what Burton had seen.

  “Greg, did you take a little of the money for yourself?”

  “No comment,” Greg said. Doug fished Greg’s wallet out of his pocket and pulled several fifty-dollar bills from it.

  “What do we have here?” Doug asked as he held them in a gloved hand.

  “You moron,” Melody wailed as the EMT’s stepped into the room. One knelt next to her as the other went to examine Greg.

  “It’s hard to get good help these days, isn’t it, Rebecca, or Melody or Jackie or whoever you are,” Carol said on the heels of the EMTs. “Jack didn’t call me, so I decided to come check on you myself.
”

  “Don’t call me a moron. I saved the receipts for Rebecca’s dye-job and hair-cut and for the dress you bought her. I didn’t know Melody was going to kill Rebecca until she did it. I had to help her,” Greg bellowed.

  Before I could reply to Greg, Carol stepped around the kneeling EMT and the glass plate to get to me. I held her as she burst into tears and let her sob.

  “I’m so glad you’re not hurt,” Carol sniffed. “Sorry to be such a baby.”

  “Dad! Georgie! There’s an ambulance and police cars out front. What’s wrong?” Jack’s daughter’s voice was strident. When she reached the doorway into the great room her eyes widened. “I thought I was going to surprise you. The surprise is on me, huh?”

  “I’m so glad to see you,” Jack said and grabbed Beth pulling her into a bear hug with me. She looked as if she might cry. Carol was sniffling and I was getting weepy too.

  “Can you all clear out of here?” Doug asked. Miles and Ella jumped to attention and stared him down. “Please?”

  “Let’s go into the kitchen, Beth,” Carol said. “I bet Georgie has cookies and coffee. We have quite a story for you about a canary in the canal.”

  “And a cat-created cat-apult,” Cicely added with Ella in her arms.

  Beth unloaded the shoulder bag she’d been carrying and shoved it down the hall with one foot. Then she leaned over and picked up Miles.

  “Have you been playing cat and mouse games with criminals again?” She asked Miles who purred loud enough for me to hear.

  When I began to follow them, Jack hung on. He leaned in and kissed me, which set off snickering among the other professionals in the room.

  “Snicker all you want you guys. Who else has a gorgeous wife who lets him eat dessert first, can keep up with a police investigation, and turn a takedown of two perps into a party!”

  “Aw, you’re going to make me blush, detective. When you’re done, guys, don’t leave without helping yourselves to cookies.”

  That went over well, with a “yes ma’am” and an “all right!” I’m almost certain one of those comments came from the bird dog himself. Then I leaned in and whispered to Jack.

  “You’ll call Frederick and tell him he’s no longer a murder suspect, won’t you?”

  “That’s a good idea. When you get a chance, you can call Katy and tell her one of my retired cop pals found out her note-writing nemesis is no longer a problem. His wife said he died not long after Kay retired. She found a bunch of unopened notes that he’d written to Kay that the post office had returned to him. She sent a letter apologizing to Kay, but that came back too. I’ll give Kay the full report as soon as I can.”

  “Kay was right. You are one of the good guys,” I whispered and took off for the kitchen.

  “Wait until we tell Beth about the million dollars of gangster money in the trunk of my car.”

  —THE END—

  Thanks for reading A Canary in the Canal, Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery #8. I hope you enjoyed the book and please, please, please, leave me a review on Amazon, Bookbub, and Goodreads. I’d love to get your feedback and hope you’ll help other readers know why they ought to read the book!

  Georgie and Jack will be back soon in a very special mystery. A Merry Christmas Anniversary Mystery, Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery #9.

  When Georgie Shaw met Detective Jack Wheeler it was love and murder at first sight. In the year since they were married, they’ve solved lots of mysteries, but nothing has prepared them for what they face in A Merry Christmas Anniversary Mystery.

  Georgie’s boss, “Mad” Max Marley, insists that she and Jack start their anniversary celebration in New Arcadia where they were married the year before. Only days until Christmas, the weather in North Palm Springs is perfect. The music and decorations make it a merry place to be at the happiest time of the year. Max even keeps his promise not to disturb them. Suddenly, their celebration goes up in smoke. When they try to contact Max, they can’t reach him.

  Where in the world is the maniacal genius behind the multibillion-dollar entertainment empire? Join Georgie, Jack, and their Siamese cats—to find out. It’s going to be a blast!

  RECIPES

  Pecan Praline Bars

  Makes 20 bars

  Ingredients

  Crust

  1 cup softened butter [not melted]

  1/2 cup brown sugar

  1 1/2 cups flour

  1/2 cup pecans, chopped

  Filling

  1 1/2 cups brown sugar

  1/3 cups butter, divided

  1/2 cup half & half

  1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

  1 teaspoon vanilla

  Topping

  3 tablespoons butter

  3 tablespoons brown sugar

  1 1/2 cups pecan halves

  Directions

  Crust

  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

  Grease a 9x13 inch pan with non-stick spray or butter.

  In a mixing bowl, cream together 1 cup softened butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Add the flour. Chop 1/2 cup of the pecans and then add them to the mixture. Press it into the pan and bake it at 325 for 22-25 minutes. Set aside to cool for 30 minutes.

  Topping

  Adjust oven temperature to 225 degrees.

  While the crust cools, and oven temperature adjusts, melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a small skillet along with 3 tablespoons of brown sugar set on medium-low heat. When butter and sugar have melted, add 1 1/2 cups of pecan halves. Coat the pecans with the mixture and allow them to for 3-5 minutes. Transfer the coated pecans to a baking sheet and toast them in a 225-degree oven for 20 minutes. Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool.

  Filling

  In a saucepan, add cream, butter and brown sugar. Bring to a low boil over medium heat while stirring. Boil for 1 minute and remove from heat. Whisk in powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Pour over crust, and top with toasted pecans. Let stand 30-45 minutes to set-up. Store in refrigerator.

  Georgie’s Tips

  These bars are sweet, crunchy, and almost melt in your mouth.

  If you like your pecans toasted, there’s no reason you can’t use toasted pecans in the crust. I keep toasted pecan halves in a sealed container. They store well and they’re so good tossed into salads, on ice cream, or as a snack by themselves. The coated pecans used in this recipe are also delicious as a snack or treat for guests, so you might want to make a double batch while you’re at it.

  Artichokes Alla Romano

  4 servings

  Ingredients

  1 lemon

  10 small to medium artichokes stems included cleaned and halved, buy the tenderest artichokes you can find

  2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

  2 cloves garlic, chopped

  2 teaspoons dried whole oregano

  3/4 teaspoon sea salt

  1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

  1 cup water

  Directions

  In a large bowl squeeze the juice of a lemon and water, leaving room for all ten artichokes to be placed into the water.

  Remove the tough, outer leaves from the artichokes, 3-4 layers of leaves, or until you see pale, yellow leaves. Cut in half cut and remove the choke using a knife (it looks almost furry).

  Remove 2 - 3 inches of the stem and clean it, trimming with a knife to remove the tough outer layer.

  Put cleaned artichoke and stem into bowl of lemon water to keep them from turning brown while you clean the rest of the artichokes.

  In a small bowl, mix together the mint, garlic, oregano, salt and olive oil.

  Drain the artichokes and stems and place them in a medium frying pan, Pour the oil and spice mixture over them and add 1 cup of water. Mix gently to coat them.

  Cover and cook over low to medium heat for approximately 20 minutes or until water has evaporated and artichokes are tender.

  Georgie’s Tips

  This dish sounds fancy, but it’s simple. In fact, most of the work is in prepping the arti
chokes. If you get artichokes fresh enough there might not even be a choke, and you can skip that step. Use the highest-quality EVO you can afford for this dish. It matters!

  Artichokes can darken your hands, so you can either wear gloves or rub your hands with lemon juice.

  Sheet Pan Balsamic Chicken Breasts and Vegetables

  Serves 4

  Ingredients

  4 boneless skinless chicken breasts pounded to even thickness

  1 pound carrots, peeled and chopped into 2-inch pieces

  2 pounds baby red and/or gold potatoes chopped into 1-inch pieces

  3 tablespoons olive oil

  salt and pepper to taste

  1 teaspoon garlic powder

  1/2 teaspoon dried basil

  1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

  1 cup balsamic vinegar

  1/3 cup honey

  2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

  Directions

  Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange potatoes in a single layer on one third of a greased sheet pan, chicken on one third of the pan, and carrots on the remaining third.

  In a medium sauce pan bring balsamic vinegar and honey to a boil. Cook for about 5 minutes until reduced by half, then remove from heat and pour into a heat-safe bowl.

  Drizzle oil over the potatoes, chicken, and carrots. Rub the oil over the chicken with your fingertips. Season potatoes, chicken and carrots with salt and pepper to taste, garlic powder, basil, and thyme.

  Spoon half of the balsamic sauce over the chicken. Sprinkle parmesan cheese over the potatoes. Bake for 20-25 minutes until chicken is cooked through and carrots and potatoes are tender. Drizzle remaining balsamic sauce (it should be slightly thickened now after cooling) over the chicken and carrots and serve.

  Georgie’s tips

  Sheet pan meals are so versatile—you can have a different one every night. If you switch the meat to fish or change out the vegetables, you’ll never get bored.

  Always use a high-quality extra virgin olive oil and the freshest ingredients you can get.