A Freshly Baked Cozy Mystery Box Set

by Kate Bell

  Lucy came over to where we were and asked, “What do you think is happening out there?”

  I shrugged and put a finger to my lips.

  “Okay, sorry,” she said. She looked at Mr. Spellman. “Are you enjoying that pecan pie, Mr. Spellman?”

  He smiled and nodded.

  “Can you help him?” I asked, handing her the plate. I wanted to talk to Alec.

  He was still on the phone, so I went and stood by him and waited. When he finished, I asked, “Is he?”

  He nodded. “I sent someone by the residence to see if anyone else was at home. Do you know if there was more family nearby? I hate for Mr. Spellman to have to sit here much longer.”

  “I’m not sure. I think Todd had a sister, but I think she lived out of state. I had a conversation with him once at the health fair and we talked about family. But I don’t remember what state she was in. Hopefully she’s in town for Thanksgiving. What sad news to have delivered on a holiday.”

  “It really is. It’s sad news any day.”

  I nodded. “Did they find the shooter?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “No, we’re pretty sure he’s left the area by now, but they’ll continue to search for awhile before sending everyone home. I’m afraid there are going to be some late Thanksgiving meals today.”

  “At least most of us will still be able to celebrate Thanksgiving,” I said.

  “That’s true,” he agreed.

  “Can you release Eileen Smith so she can go back to Henry’s to help fix the community Thanksgiving meal? It’s kind of important. Even though there are others there working on it, it would be a big help to a lot of people to let her go.”

  “I don’t see why not. I’ll get Yancey to walk her to her car,” he said. “I want you and Thad to go home with Lucy. I don’t know what time I’ll be by, but it will probably be much later.”

  “No, I want to stay with you,” I insisted. After what had happened here today, I didn’t want him out of my sight.

  “No, you have your kids home and you need to make the Thanksgiving meal for them. I’ll be by as soon as I can,” he said, slipping his phone into his pocket.

  I sighed. He was right. I had a lot of work to do at home to get the meal prepared. “Promise me you’ll be okay?” I asked.

  “I promise,” he said.

  I looked at him, still not wanting to leave. I knew he was right. He would probably be here for hours. There really wasn’t anything I could do here. “Okay. But call me if anything happens, okay?”

  “Everything will be fine,” he promised.

  Chapter Four

  It was nearly 6:30 pm and Alec hadn’t arrived for dinner yet. I had a houseful of hungry people and a turkey that was begging to be carved. I had looked out the living room window so many times I had worn a path to it from the kitchen.

  “Mom, I’m starving. I’m going to McDonald’s if we don’t eat soon,” Thad said, joining me in the kitchen. “I hate to do it to you, but that turkey is torturing me.”

  I turned around and looked at my son. He looked so much like his father, it hurt. And I only had him home for a few days. Along with his new girlfriend. A girlfriend I didn’t know existed before they got on the plane.

  “Give me ten minutes, and we’ll eat. Here, have a Triscuit,” I said, handing him the box. Triscuit crackers were Thanksgiving staples in my house when I was growing up in Alabama. You can’t have Thanksgiving without them.

  “Awesome,” he said and took the box from me.

  I raised him right.

  I pulled the turkey out of the oven and set it on the counter to rest. My stomach growled, and I hoped I was going to be able to wait. We had escaped death today, and that was more than enough to work up an appetite. I hoped Alec would be able to get away soon. I knew he had to be starving.

  “What do you need help with?” Lucy asked. I had invited her and her husband Ed, my kids, plus Thad’s new girlfriend, Sarah, and Alec. Only Alec was missing. He was still out looking for a killer.

  “I think everything’s about ready. We just need to get everything to the table,” I said, wishing Alec were here.

  “Don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll be here as soon as he can,” she said, reading my mind.

  “I know. I just wish it would be sooner rather than later,” I answered. The doorbell rang, and I put down my potholder and hurried to the door.

  “Hi,” I said and tried not to cry when I opened the door and saw Alec on the step.

  “Hi. Sorry I’m so late. I thought we’d be done before now,” he said, sounding tired.

  “It’s understandable,” I said and led him into the living room.

  I introduced Alec to everyone he didn’t already know and immediately got the stink eye from my daughter Jennifer. I ignored her. She would just have to learn to deal with the fact that Alec wasn’t going away. At least, not if I could help it.

  “Why don’t we all head to the dinner table?” I suggested. “You must be starving, Alec.”

  “Well, the truth is, I am,” he said with a grin.

  “Oh, here, have a Triscuit,” Thad said, holding the box out.

  Alec looked at me, questioning. I shook my head. “Pay no attention.”

  Lucy and I got dinner on the table within two minutes. It was a beautiful sight. I had made the turkey, yams, cranberry sauce, stuffing, five different pies, and a pear cranberry tart that screamed Thanksgiving. Lucy had made a cheesy broccoli casserole and a green bean casserole. Jennifer contributed a potato salad and buttermilk biscuits that would melt in your mouth. Everything was perfect.

  And then suddenly, I had a dilemma. Ever since my husband had passed away, Thad had taken over turkey carving duties. But Alec was my boyfriend, albeit a new one. Should he do it? I glanced over at him. In my Southern family, it was tradition for the husband or significant other of the woman of the house to do it. Or a grandfather. Old fashioned, to be sure, but I didn’t know any other way. Then Thad picked up the knife and I shook my head. I was being silly. Thad should be the one to do it. I hadn’t been dating Alec long enough to think otherwise.

  Thad was an excellent turkey carver, and he handled the task with ease. It made me proud to watch him. I glanced over at Sarah. I could see she was proud, too. Her eyes shone when she looked at him. There was a part of me that bristled at the way she looked at him. I reminded myself to be nice.

  “So was the shooter caught? How is the investigation going?” I asked as we passed serving bowls around.

  “It’s going as well as can be expected,” Alec said. “Still no suspect in custody and it’s too dark outside to do anything further tonight.”

  “What happened with Mr. Spellman?” I asked.

  “That poor man,” Lucy added.

  “His daughter and her husband were indeed visiting. I don’t think he understood what was going on and his daughter was going to have a talk with him after I left.”

  “That’s wild,” Thad said. “Someone just shot his son dead during the Turkey Trot.”

  Alec nodded. “It’s terrible.”

  “Hopefully the murderer will be caught soon,” I said, serving myself some cranberry sauce.

  “Well, maybe it was just a hunter that accidentally shot him?” Jennifer said with more than a little attitude. “I mean, what if everyone’s jumping to conclusions? How does anyone know it was a murder?”

  “It’s highly unlikely,” Alec said. “It looks very calculated from the preliminary investigation. That could change as we get further in to it, of course.”

  “Yeah, but you don’t know. What if it was some kid trying to get his first deer and the poor kid made a mistake and hit that guy? How terrible do you think he’s going to feel, not only at having killed someone, but now everyone thinks he’s a murderer and is passing that around town like it’s the truth.”

  All eyes were on Jennifer. She was getting far too invested in some little kid that she didn’t even know if he existed.

  “Well, that hardl
y seems plausible. The Turkey Trot was highly advertised and there was a fairly large group out running or walking in the area,” Alec explained patiently. “I don’t think anyone would make the mistake of hunting that close to the Rec Center.”

  “You don’t know. You don’t know anything yet,” she said, sulking.

  “If it was a kid, don’t you think he would have stuck around to explain himself?” Thad pointed out.

  “Not if he’s scared! He might have run off when he realized what he did.”

  “Jennifer, I think if it was some kid trying to shoot a deer, then he wouldn’t have shot at Alec and I after hitting Todd,” I said, giving her my best “mama’s about to get mad” look.

  Jennifer narrowed her eyes at me and stuck a piece of turkey in her mouth. I tried not to sigh too loudly. The girl needed to calm down. I glanced at Alec and gave him an apologetic smile.

  He grinned and cut into his candied sweet potatoes with the edge of his fork. “These are awesome,” he said after taking a bite.

  “Thanks! That’s my mama’s recipe.”

  Sarah was still staring at Thad and it was really starting to bug me. “Sarah, would you like some gravy?” I asked. She apparently was a girl of few words and I was beginning to wonder if she ever talked.

  She looked at me and smiled. “Yes, thank you.”

  I handed over the gravy boat and smiled back at her. I wanted a real conversation with the girl. “So tell me, Sarah, what are you studying at school?”

  “Comic Art,” Sarah said.

  I looked at her, confused. “What? What’s that?”

  “It’s the study of comics as art. It’s also teaching technique,” she said and poured gravy over her turkey.

  “Comics? Like in the Sunday paper?” I asked, puzzled.

  “Yes. But there are other sources of comics these days.”

  I stared at her and then looked at Thad. He had a tiny smirk on his face. “Is she serious?” I asked him. Surely she had to be teasing me.

  He nodded. “Comics have become very big since the advent of the Internet, Mom. Actually, they’ve been big since the advent of, well, comics. You should check it out. You know, the Internet? A newspaper, maybe?”

  I gave him the stink eye. “I’ve been to the Internet. I’m well acquainted with it, considering I write a blog. I’ve even read a newspaper or two.”

  “Comic art is very important to our generation, Mrs. McSwain,” Sarah explained. “We’ve lived all our lives surrounded by them, from comic books, to the Sunday comic pages, to art work to video games. Our society would not have evolved like it has if there were no comics.”

  I stared at her. I didn’t think she knew that many words. And I was pretty sure society would have evolved just fine without comics. It took all I had to keep from making a smart remark. “Really?” was all I could come up with that wouldn’t have been offensive at that point.

  She nodded very seriously. “Just look at the advent and rise of Comic Con and all the resultant ‘cons.’ It’s an important art form.”

  “I like Archie’s comics, myself,” Lucy said, buttering a biscuit.

  “Comics are nice,” Alec added noncommittally.

  I glanced at Alec and then at Lucy and Ed. Ed had so far remained silent and I thought he might be the smartest man in the room.

  “I see,” I finally said to Sarah.

  “Mom, you need to expand your horizons,” Thad said, leaning back in his chair and putting one arm across the back of Sarah’s chair.

  “I’ve heard of Comic Con,” Ed finally said, digging into a pile of mashed potatoes. “I’d like to go to one.”

  “What kind of job are you looking at when you graduate, Sarah? Are you a junior, like Thad?” I asked her, ignoring the others.

  “Well,” she said, pushing her glasses further up on her nose. She had blond hair with a streak of red dyed hair on one side and a smattering of freckles on her nose. She was a cute girl, but she had me worried with this comic business. “I’m really thinking about adding Internet studies to my major. I want to create websites for the Post-Millennial generation. And yes, I’m a junior just like Thad.”

  I looked at Thad. Thad was majoring in criminal law. What was he doing with this girl? Maybe I was letting my age show, but it seemed highly improbable that she was going to make a living creating websites and comics for the Internet. She seemed intelligent, except for her decision on her college major, so maybe I was underestimating her. But I had my doubts about her career choice after college.

  “And what do your parents think of your college major?” I asked.

  “They’re all for it,” she said with a smile.

  I nodded. Of course they were.

  I turned to Alec. “Are you going to be tied up with the investigation tomorrow?”

  “I’m going to let the officers finish investigating the crime scene. I’ve been over it pretty thoroughly myself, but sometimes another pair or two of eyes will discover something I didn’t,” he answered. “I’ll probably go over it again later, after they do their part, though. I’m kind of OCD that way.”

  I smiled. “Good. Let’s go Black Friday shopping first thing in the morning.”

  He chuckled. “I haven’t done that in years, and as I recall, I never did enjoy it.”

  “Good, it’s settled then,” I said, giving him a cheesy grin. Shopping was therapy for me and after the day I had had, I needed some therapy. Plus, the sales were always good on Black Friday.

  Chapter Five

  “Hey!” I cried out as a teenage boy ran past me, hip-checking me as he went.

  I heard Alec chuckle. “Well, you did want to go Black Friday shopping.”

  I gave him a look, narrowing my eyes at him. “You get the best deals today. It’s worth a few bruises. But next time, can you trip whoever runs into me so they’ll at least get some bruises, too?”

  “Oh, sure. No problem,” he said, leaning against the display of shoes. We were at Kohl’s and it was just after 5am. Most of the athletic shoes were forty percent off and I was going to get ten dollars in Kohl’s cash for every fifty dollars I spent. Believe me, it was worth the hassle to get running shoes that cheap. I planned on stocking up on them.

  “You need to try some of these on. I’m sure you wear them out just as fast as I do.”

  “Where would you propose I try them on?” he asked, looking around at the crowded shoe department.

  He was right. The display was being swarmed by every runner and non-runner in the county. The benches to try shoes on were filled with bleary-eyed shoppers, many with kids in tow, and open boxes and stray shoes lay all over the place.

  I grabbed a cute pair of neon green and orange ones and sat on the floor next to where he stood to try them on. “See? It’s not so hard,” I said, looking up at him.

  He smirked. “Okay, let’s see,” he said, grabbing a pair of Nike in classic black with a white swoosh in a size twelve. He sat on the floor next to me and took his shoe off.

  I stood up to get a feel of the new shoes I was trying on. They were a little tight, but the aisles were stuffed with people and I wasn’t sure I could get a look to see if I could find the same style in a half size larger. Instead I grabbed a pair of electric blue with a yellow swoosh and sat back down.

  “Those are stylish,” he said, looking at mine. “Maybe I should look for hot pink in my size?” He stood up and took a few steps to try and get a feel for the pair he had on.

  “Good luck with that,” I said, slipping on the new shoe. It felt good. “I am determined to get at least three pairs of running shoes today.”

  “I guess I should get a couple, too,” he said and scooted as close to the shelves as he dared. He reached over a teenaged boy to grab a box of shoes, only to have the kid turn and give him the evil eye.

  “That’s mine,” the kid protested. He was on the small side and probably wasn’t much over five feet tall.

  Alec looked at his feet. “Nice try, but maybe you can fill t
hese in another ten years,” he said and came back to sit by me.

  “Ouch,” I said as he grinned at me.

  Before he could sit down, Bob Payne came around the corner and nearly collided with him.

  “Hey, look out!” Bob said, and then his eyes got big when he realized who it was that he had nearly run down.

  “Excuse me?” Alec said, just as surprised to see Bob as Bob was to see him.

  Bob frowned and huffed air out his mouth.

  “Excuse me,” he said, and tried to go around Alec, but an elderly lady with a walker blocked his path.

  Bob Payne was the part-time mayor of Sandy Harbor. “So, Bob, I’m sorry to hear about Todd Spellman. I’m sure he’ll be missed,” I said. Todd Spellman had been Bob’s boss at the Bank of Maine. I figured since he was here, I may as well see if he had anything to say about what had happened the previous day. He had not been in attendance at the Turkey Trot since it wasn’t being held on a golf course, and golf was all he seemed to be interested in, but I figured he knew plenty about what happened by now.

  “Oh? Are you? Because I’m sorry my mother had to spend Thanksgiving in jail, seeing as how the judge denied bail. Flight risk! She’s sixty-six years old!” he said, looking at me.

  Bob’s mother had recently committed a crime and it sounded like she wasn’t enjoying jail very much.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. But since she does own a house in Canada, it is conceivable that she might take a little trip. You know, for the holidays?” I pointed out. “I mean, she did confess to a crime, and she also tried to kill Alec and me.”

  Bob rolled his eyes at me. “She was a little tipsy! She didn’t know what she was saying! And there weren’t any bullets in the gun she threatened you with,” he said, putting his hands on his hips.

  “When a gun’s pointing at you, you have to assume it has bullets,” Alec pointed out. “It’s a good thing I didn’t go for my gun, or your mother would have spent Thanksgiving in a completely different place.”