by Kate Bell
“So she had lost her mind?” I asked. “She sure didn’t seem to be all there yesterday.”
“It took a while for us to get her to answer questions coherently. She had some trouble with reality.”
“She kept saying I killed him,” Jennifer said. “Why would she think that?”
“She said she had seen you do it. What we think really happened was that she killed him in a fit of passion, and then hid and saw you when you took him the chicken and dumplings, and in her mind she got confused,” he explained. “In essence, she had a psychotic break.”
“I didn’t kill him,” Jennifer said, shaking her head.
Alec smiled. “We know that. You didn’t have enough time. We are all a witness to that.”
“Why did she ditch the murder weapon in the woods?” Thad asked.
Alec shrugged. “I’m not really sure. She may have been in a panic and ran out there, and either dropped it, or tried to hide it in the woods. Every time we brought up the fact that Tom was stabbed to death, she would go into a panic and start screaming and crying hysterically.”
“Wow,” I said. “Why was the vacuum gone and then brought back?”
“I don’t think she really believed Tom was gone. Even though we kept saying it and she kept reacting to it the way she did, she would go back to saying she needed to go and clean Tom’s house and she needed to leave now. She also said she needed to get some gingerbread men baked for Tom before Christmas. He apparently liked gingerbread cookies.”
“Ah,” I said, nodding my head.
“That’s a shame,” Mama said, looking down at her hands. “I always thought Mabel was a little touched in the head, but I never thought she was capable of killing someone.”
“It’s hard to know about some people,” I said, shaking my head.
“She mentioned that she thought Tom had a girlfriend and it upset her. I think she tried to keep up the fantasy of being his wife and that kind of thing would jolt her back into reality. She just didn’t want to see the truth,” Alec said.
I took a bite of my cinnamon roll. It was just as good as mine, and I was proud of the girls. I had been worried about Sarah fitting into the family, but this trip made me change my mind. She cared about Thad and that was enough for me.
I got up and limped into the kitchen and put my plate in the sink. It would be good to get home. I needed the rest. I had never expected Christmas to be scary, but that’s what it had been. I just wanted to sleep in my own bed and forget this ever happened.
Focusing on Alec and the kids would help me to forget all about this. Alec and I had a new career to begin in January. A career we had yet to iron out the details on, but we had time.
THE END
Author’s Notes
Christmas is my favorite holiday. There’s something about the bright colors, lights, cold nights, and that jolly old elf making kids happy the world over. My grandmother had the most beautiful flocked trees I have ever seen. Each year’s tree seemed to outdo the last. Tucked into each branch were ornaments as old as Grandma was. I stood and gazed at it for what seemed like hours, trying to take it all in.
I found a recipe called Joe Froggers in the newspaper over thirty years ago. It came with a short story with the recipe’s history and the addition of rum made me curious to try them. I fell in love and they’re my go-to gingerbread cookie recipe. I hope you enjoy them!
Don’t forget to check out the recipes at the end of this book. And, if you’d like to receive updates on the next Kate Bell book, follow me!
https://www.facebook.com/Kathleen-Suzette-Kate-Bell-authors-759206390932120/
Joe Froggers
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup unsulphered molasses
4 tablespoons dark rum
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon all spice
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/3 cup hot water (not boiling)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a small mixing bowl combine hot water and molasses. Whisk until water is incorporated into molasses. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream softened butter into granulated sugar with a beater. Mix in vanilla. Set aside.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, spices, salt and baking soda, until everything is incorporated into the flour.
Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and using a mixer, mix until combined. Mix 1/3 of the molasses mixture to this mixture, and alternate with remaining flour mixture and molasses mixture, until well combined. Do not over mix.
Cover and refrigerate 2 hours.
Cover rolling surface and rolling pin with flour, and remove ¼ of the dough from the refrigerator, and roll out 1/2 inch thick. Cut out with 4” gingerbread men cookie cutters, and place on parchment paper lined cookie sheets, 2” apart.
Bake approximately 10 minutes, until cookies are set, but still slightly soft in the center. Do not over-bake.
Let cool 3 minutes on cookie sheet, and then remove to a wire rack.
Pipe decorator icing onto cookies and add candies for decoration.
Apple Cinnamon Rolls
Dough
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 pkg instant yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons salted butter
1 large egg, beaten
Filling
1 medium Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
¼ cup finely chopped walnuts
Frosting
4 ounces softened cream cheese
2 ounces softened butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
small amount of half and half
1 tablespoon melted butter for brushing onto dough
Preheat oven to 200 degrees for ten minutes, and then turn it off. Leave the door closed until you put the rolls in to rise. Line a 10x10 square baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.
Filling
Mix in a small bowl peeled, cored and chopped apple with lemon juice to prevent browning. In a non-stick saucepan, melt butter over low to medium heat. Add apple, brown sugar, cinnamon, and walnuts and sauté until apple is soft. Set aside.
Dough
Place flour, sugar, yeast and salt in a stand mixing bowl. Mix the flour by hand until well incorporated and then put bowl on stand. Heat butter, milk, and water in microwave just until butter is melted, about 30 seconds. Mix butter mixture into the flour mixture, then add beaten egg. Mix for 3-4 minutes, until dough is no longer sticky.
Sprinkle flour on a flat surface and rolling pin. Roll out dough into a 14”x9” rectangle. Brush dough with tablespoon melted butter using pastry brush. Spread filling onto dough, leaving bare a 1/2” of dough all the way around. Carefully roll dough from the short end. There will be a lot of filling, so take care not to squeeze it out the ends.
With a sharp knife, cut roll evenly into 9 pieces and carefully transfer slices to baking pan. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and place in warm oven to rise for 20 minutes.
When 20 minutes is up, remove plastic wrap. Turn oven on to 375 degrees. Bake cinnamon rolls for 18-22 minutes.
While rolls are baking, make the frosting. Place all ingredients except half and half into stand mixer and mix until creamy. Add half and half by the teaspoon until frosting is desired texture.
Remove rolls from oven, and allow to cool 10 minutes
. Spread frosting on rolls and serve warm.
Buttermilk Biscuits
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 stick, (1/2 cup) cold butter
1 cup buttermilk
Melted butter for brushing
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar until well incorporated. Unwrap butter and slice butter into flour mixture with a butter knife, making approximately 20-25 pieces. With a fork or pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour mixture until butter pieces resemble small peas. Mix buttermilk in until dough is combined. Do not over-mix or biscuits will be tough. Dough may be a little sticky.
Sprinkle flour onto flat surface and onto rolling pin. Using half the dough, roll out 1” thick and cut with a 2” round biscuit or cookie cutter. Do not twist cutter. Shake off excess flour from the bottom of cut biscuits and place 1” apart on cookie sheet.
Roll scraps of dough together to make a single piece of dough 1” thick and cut out more biscuits. Continue, adding the remainder of dough from bowl until all biscuits are cut. Brush tops of biscuits with melted butter and place in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes. Watch carefully so they don’t over-brown.
Ice Cold
Murder
A Freshly Baked Cozy Mystery
by
Kate Bell
Kathleen Suzette
Copyright © 2016 by Kate Bell. All rights reserved. This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination, or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author or publisher.
Table of Contents
Chapter one
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Author’s Notes
Snow Cream
Blueberry Sour Cream Pie
Chocolate Orange Cheesecake
Chapter one
It had never felt so good to be home. I had enjoyed spending Christmas with my mother in my hometown of Goose Bay Alabama, but my daughter Jennifer and I had come too close to becoming murder victims. Now that a new year was here, I made up my mind that it was going to be a good one. I had a new love in my life and I was working on a new career, even if I hadn’t pinned down all the details yet.
The sun was shining down on Alec and I as we ran through my neighborhood. In spite of the early morning cold, I could tell it was going to be a warm day. Warm for January in Maine, at least.
I took a swig from my water bottle and we crossed the street and headed for my house. The closer we got to the marathon we planned to run in May, the less prepared I felt. I still had an extra five pounds I needed to lose after spending Christmas with my mother. Darn those fresh buttermilk biscuits slathered in butter and homemade strawberry jam. But a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do, and now I was paying the price.
“I have the best idea ever,” Alec said, as we finished our run and headed inside my house.
“Do tell,” I said and took a seat on the bench located along a wall inside my mudroom. I grabbed my everyday shoes from under the bench and began untying my running shoes. After a few weeks of treadmill running and staring at a blank wall, I had paid extra for a pair of shoes that would help keep me on my feet on icy and snowy roads and sidewalks. I had missed running outside.
“Let’s make snow cream,” he said. “I haven’t made it in a couple of years.”
“Snow cream? Thaddeus used to make that. But it’s sunny out and the weather channel said there wouldn’t be any new snow for a couple of days,” I pointed out.
He shrugged. “So? It snowed last night.”
He was right. It had snowed the previous evening, but we hadn’t thought ahead to put a bowl out to catch clean snow. “We missed the snow,” I said. “We can watch and put a bowl out when it gets ready to snow again.”
“Why?” he asked. He had his right foot on the bench, tying his shoe.
“Because we want clean snow? If we’re going to eat it, right?” I wasn’t sure why he wasn’t making the connection.
He chuckled. “We’ll get clean snow. We’re going to drive out to the woods and find some fresh, clean snow. We’ll fill up a bucket and make a big bowl of snow cream.”
“Uh, wait a minute,” I said. “You’re going to get snow off the ground? And eat it?” He had to be out of his mind. Who did that? I wanted my snow to be guaranteed clean, without any critters having made tracks, or worse, through it.
“That’s right, smarty pants. Right off the ground. It tastes better that way. Back to nature and all that.”
“Says you. What if Yogi Bear, you know, did his business in it?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at him. Surely he had thought of this, right?
He laughed and put his foot back on the floor. “I’m pretty sure we’ll be able to tell if Yogi has been anywhere near the snow we’re going to get. I promise you, we’ll get clean snow. I’ve been doing this all my life and I know what I’m doing.”
I sighed. “Well, I guess if you know what you’re doing. But let’s get some breakfast first. I’m starving.”
I wasn’t at all sure he knew what he was talking about. Everyone I knew that went to the trouble of making snow cream simply left a large bowl or bucket outside when it was snowing and collected what they needed. Sure, I’d heard of people going out to the woods to get snow, but I figured all those people must be doomsday preppers or whatever it was they were calling themselves these days.
I quickly scrambled up some eggs and Alec made toast and coffee. Nothing fancy, but it was warm and filling. There was something about the smell of coffee on a winter morning that made me happy. It also made me feel warm and cozy and I wondered if it was too early in the morning for a nap. I had flannel sheets on my bed and the long run had worn me out. A nap sounded good.
“Hey,” Jennifer said sleepily as she wandered into the kitchen and stretched. She wore flannel pajamas and white fluffy bunny slippers. Her tattered Hello Kitty bathrobe was wrapped loosely around her body.
“Good morning, Jennifer,” Alec said. His dark hair was mussed after our run, but he was still handsome as ever.
Jennifer hadn’t been crazy when Alec made an appearance in our lives, but ever since our almost-got-murdered scare last month, she had been nicer to Alec. I didn’t raise any fool. She knew Alec had a gun and that he knew how to use it. That sort of thing could come in handy in an emergency, and it had when a crazed murderer had taken both of us hostage.
“There are more scrambled eggs in the skillet, but you’ll have to make your own toast,” I said.
“And guess what we’re doing?” Alec asked her, sounding like a kid on Christmas morning.
“What?” she asked, stumbling to the coffee maker and pouring herself a cup.
“We’re going out to the woods to collect some snow and make snow cream,” he said happily.
She turned and looked at him, with an arched brow. �
��Why are you going out to the woods?”
“He likes his snow wild caught. It has a different bouquet than domesticated snow,” I supplied.
“Yeah, I bet it has a different bouquet. Eau de deer pee,” she said.
I giggled. Like mother, like daughter.
Alec sighed. “You two are not very adventurous. You need to step out of your comfort zones. I assure you, other people make snow cream this way and live to tell the tale.”
“Yes, people who live in tents and don’t have access to electricity,” I said.
Alec gave me the stink eye and I smiled big at him. We finished up our breakfast and got ready to leave.
“You sure you don’t want to come along, Jennifer?” Alec asked as we headed out the door.
“Nope. I’m good. Thanks,” she said, slumping over her cup of coffee at the kitchen table, phone in hand. Jennifer had never been a morning person.
Alec’s black SUV had belonged to the police department and when he retired on December 31 it had gone back. He was on foot until he could find a car he liked. I let him drive my car since he was sure he knew exactly where to get clean snow. We left town behind us and after fifteen minutes of driving out into nowhere, I was starting to get worried. Just where was this clean snow?
“Hey, where are we going?” I finally asked him. “We’ve been driving a long time.”
He smiled. “You’re such a worry wart,” he said and pulled off the road. “We’ll walk into the woods a little ways and there will be miles and miles of clean snow.”
“Okay, if you’re sure about that,” I mumbled and got out of the car, pulling my coat closer. A breeze had kicked up and I wondered if I was wrong about it being a warm day or if the weather was just somehow colder out in the wild.
