A Dash of Murder (Pecan Bayou Series)

by Teresa Trent

  “Were you the one who set the fire at Canfield’s office?” I asked.

  “You are way too nosy. Just like the rest of this town. You see, Canfield might have left some sort of connection to me at his office. I was about to start a fire, but then I saw you sneaking up the stairs. If you had found something, then you would have to be taken care of, as well. I hit you with some outlandish-looking cowboy statue and was getting ready to hit you again when I saw someone else coming up the stairs. I stepped back and hid behind a filing cabinet while Mr. Fitzpatrick dragged you out through the fire. I barely made it out myself, but luckily the two of you never looked back as I ran out of the building.”

  “So Fitzpatrick had nothing to do with it?”

  “No, my dear. He seemed to be there to look after you, not hurt you.”

  I felt warmed by that, though still wondering if he had been following me.

  “I knew I couldn’t return here because of the guard your father posted. Tonight, I knew you would come into this room, so I decided one last time to try and dig out Vickie. I had made some headway until your aunt showed up. “

  MacPhee looked at his handgun lovingly. He caressed the top. “I used this old gun in Vietnam, and now it continues to protect and serve. And now it will do its job for me again.”

  He glanced down at Maggie, and his face took on a wicked grin.

  “Ahh, the ghost of the Johnson TB Hospital … ahhhh!” He swirled around with his arms out, imitating an exceedingly bad ghost. He turned first one way and then the next. It was on the second turn that I stuck my foot out and tripped him. He fell backwards but kept hold of the gun, shooting one bullet into the ceiling. I went over and grabbed the cooler door and with all my strength attempted to clobber Dr. Mac on the head with it. As it came down I heard the thundering noise of another bullet, this time aimed right at me. I shut my eyes and put all of my strength into swinging that door. I heard something shoot past my ear as we both landed on the ground in a sort of grotesque human sandwich. Dr. Mac groaned and then became still.

  The door the to the morgue burst open, and Howard came in, trying to threaten a killer with his flashlight. My father came in behind him, gun drawn and shouting. I had never been so happy to see him.

  *****

  An hour later, I stood out by the police cruiser with Zach holding on to me by the waist. All of the Scouts were running around now, while Leo and Danny were trying to corral them back to the woods.

  “Are you sure you’re all right, Mom?”

  “I’m fine. It’s Aunt Maggie you need to worry about.”

  My dad pushed the hair back from his grandson’s forehead. “The paramedics said that she has a nasty cut on her head but that she will be fine. They just took her over to the hospital to check her out. After I ask a few more questions, you two can go over to the hospital to see her.” He looked a little tired tonight. A little grayer, and at least one more wrinkle had formed at his brow. Nobody ever said living with our family was easy.

  “I can’t believe what just happened.” I shook my head.

  “Well, you saved her, baby girl. I couldn’t believe it when I ran with in with Howard and there you were with that man squished under that door. I’ve never been much for religion, but at that moment, I shot up a prayer of thanks to the Almighty.”

  Leo Fitzpatrick walked up. “Mrs. Livingston, you and your family certainly seem to have a need for a full-time paramedic crew.” I laughed.

  He continued, “I’m just glad you and your aunt are okay. Did I hear you dodged a bullet?”

  “She sure did. He shot at her, and it went straight through the cooler door and past her ear.”

  “Wow,” said Zach. His mom just rose on the cool scale.

  “Just like the bad guys on the TV,” Danny agreed.

  “I just can’t believe he killed Canfield. I always thought he was the kindest man in town. I told him everything over the years,” I said.

  Miss Ruby came around the corner, her arm guiding Lillian MacPhee. She had taken her cap off and was shaking. She looked over to me. “What have you done to my husband?” She asked in a tinny voice that was almost too soft to hear.

  My father stepped in front of me. “Your husband is on his way to the police station. He has been arrested for attempted murder and has confessed to killing Oliver Canfield and his first wife.”

  That knocked the wind right out of her. Confusion spread over her face. “You’re wrong. I am his first wife, and I am most definitely alive.”

  “Lillian,” said Miss Ruby, “what you do say, I drive you down to the police station? Would that be good?”

  Miss Lillian stepped away from her and around my father. Her voice rose to shrillness. “Why did you hurt my husband? Whatever did he do to you? Why are you so ungrateful after he’s worked for so many years tending to your family? Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

  I know I should have been kind and understanding at this point because she was about to learn a whole lot about her husband, but her voice had taken on a haughty tone.

  “Yes, well he pointed a gun at me, and I’m pretty sure he meant to kill me when he shot it at me.”

  “I don’t know why you are lying about William, but you can bet our family lawyer will be in touch.” With that, she returned to Miss Ruby, and they headed for her pickup truck.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  On the following Monday evening, Zach and I pulled up to Benny’s Barbecue just as he was taking the skeleton out of the window and replacing it with a fluffy brown-and-orange paper turkey. We ran inside through falling rain. The temperature had dropped about twenty degrees since the campout as a cold front moved through Texas. The long, never ending summer of Texas had finally ended. The rain refreshed my soul as I pulled up the hood of my raincoat. Inside we were met by Maggie, Danny, Dad, Stanley from NUTV, Howard and Leo and Tyler Fitzpatrick. Benny pushed two tables together, and we all talked and laughed like a family on a holiday. The mood continued when Celia came in with her and Benny’s new baby girl, Mia.

  “She is beautiful,” I said as she grabbed my little finger with her hand.

  “Yes, she is,” Celia said. “I finally have me a little girl. Sugar and spice – and I don’t want to see her daddy signing her up for that Scout troop.” She laughed.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Benny nodded obediently.

  “I’m just so glad things are returning to normal, although I am going to have to find a new family doctor for us,” I said.

  “So you were the one who figured out that MacPhee pulled a ring off of Canfield’s finger,” Fitzpatrick said.

  “Yes, I figured that part out, but when I found the name ‘Roy’ on Canfield’s calendar, I was stumped.”

  My father added, “The ‘Roy’ was MacPhee, the sleazy orderly, before he reinvented himself into the loveable town doctor. That was one reason he knew just how to deal with Canfield. It takes a con to know a con.”

  “How is Miss Lillian doing?” I asked.

  “She’s been down at the station with her lawyer, visiting with Dr. MacPhee pretty damn near all weekend. I think she’s starting to recognize her husband for what he really is. When all this comes to light she just might be usin’ that lawyer for a good ol’ Texas divorce.”

  I turned to Leo Fitzpatrick. “So are you returning to Dallas now?”

  “Yes, I guess so. I guess you should know I don’t work for an investment firm. Actually, I’m a meteorologist, but after my sister … well … I took a leave of absence to take time with Tyler. At first we were just going to be getting used to living together, but when I found Oliver Canfield’s address among my sister’s things, I just had to come down here and find him. I didn’t know what I was going to do, but I was going to do something.”

  “Hmm, a meteorologist in Texas. I’ll bet you’re plenty busy watching all the big hurricanes,” I said.

  “Yes, but I think my little visit to Pecan Bayou has shown me there’s some pretty decent weather outside of the Big
D,” His eyes searched me out, and I had the feeling I was being looked at like a fine swirling funnel cloud.

  “Well, we’re all glad you and Tyler came, no matter what the reason.”

  “Maybe, before we leave, I can return the favor of the wonderful dinner you made for us.”

  I blushed. “That would be great.” I couldn’t believe I just said yes to a date. This was my week for significant changes, it seemed. I looked over at Zach, who nodded his approval.

  “You know, I just wish my sister was here to see all this,” Fitzpatrick said.

  Maggie put her hand on Fitzpatrick’s arm. “She’s here, Leo. She’s here, and she’s proud to know that Tyler is being raised by such a strong man.”

  Leo Fitzpatrick gave a soft grin to my aunt as his eyes became rimmed with tears. He looked away, embarrassed by his show of emotion. Maggie continued, moving the topic tactfully away from his sister.

  “I can’t believe how cold Dr. MacPhee became. He seemed like such a lovely man when you were in the hospital with Zach.”

  “It was all an act, I guess,” I said.

  Benny walked over with a plate of beignets. “An act Canfield saw through. What’s that saying – you can’t kid a kidder? Canfield figured out his weakness and was ready to add him to his list of suckers.”

  Fitzpatrick took a light, delicious pastry from the tray. “Yeah, I heard what he was doing to you and your business.”

  “Things are still tough for us,” Benny said, “but at least he has his hooks out of me now.”

  “That reminds me,” Stanley said, rubbing the powdered sugar off his hands. “We were wondering if you would consider bringing out some barbecue plates out for our crews when we film the turkey shoot in a couple of weeks. Perhaps we could trade for some free advertising? I don’t mean to brag, but I can put together a pretty good commercial.”

  Benny smiled, rubbed his hands on his apron and grabbed Stanley’s hand. “You’ve got a deal.”

  Maggie sighed. “I just wish we would have seen a ghost. Just one single little apparition.”

  “Aunt Maggie with all that was going on, I don’t even think we got enough footage for the program,” I said.

  “Oh! I forgot.” Stanley rummaged in his pocket and brought out his phone. “I brought some footage of the program we uploaded. I put the video on my phone because it was so amazing. We had one shot of Betsy walking into the hospital when we were testing the thermal camera, and it was just incredible.”

  I remembered the thermal camera was a device that shot film in bright yellow and orange. It looked like a Peter Maxx painting with layers and layers of color around its subjects, picking up on their heat patterns. Stanley started the video on his phone. I could see myself walking into the hospital carrying one of the recording cases. The camera followed me, and as I stepped onto the front stoop and looked back, there it was, clear as a bell, a deep red wisp of a thing that seemed to be following me. It darted around a couple of times, reminding me of Zach when he wanted something from me. It seemed to be trying to get my attention. I, of course, was clueless to its existence.

  “Oh my word,” Aunt Maggie said. “Betsy, you have a spirit. You have an apparition following you.”

  “I need to confess something,” I said. “I have never really believed in ghosts.”

  Aunt Maggie gasped.

  “But I felt like there was someone around me the whole time. I kept hearing those footsteps, and this is really going to sound silly, but whoever it was must have had a chest cold. I kept hearing coughing.”

  “I know who it was,” said Howard as he stared at Stanley’s phone.

  “You know the name of this ghost?” This was going to be good, I thought.

  “It was Vickie.”

  “Vickie MacPhee?”

  “She was trying to lead you to her body.”

  Cue the Twilight Zone music. Too weird. “Me? Of all the people out there, Howard, why would she choose me? Why not you with your paranormal degree? I was just an unwilling extra who was signed on to help. That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “You were like her,” Maggie said. She looked up at me, her blue eyes seeing into my soul. “Don’t you see? She saw in you things that were in herself. She was alone. You were alone. She was duped by the man she loved, and you were the same. She sensed in you a sister in her despair, and in the end, you were the one who freed her from her prison.”

  I ran my hands through my hair, drawing in a breath. Was that true? Was I as pitiful a person as the dead Vickie DuPont MacPhee? In one part of my brain I knew she was right, but in another, I knew it didn’t have to be that way. I had so many things Vickie didn’t have. I had a child I loved dearly, as well as a family I couldn’t live without. My family would never leave me to rot in a hospital like Vickie’s did. I had a career, and even if there wasn’t always a man in the picture, that was okay, too.

  Yes, I had a much better life than Vickie MacPhee, and from here on out I knew it would get better. Instead of waiting like she did, year after year in the old hospital, I was now living my life in the present and maybe a little in the future. Life was about what was happening today, not about what happened way in the past. Barry had been mixed up with Oliver Canfield, and now Canfield was dead. Was Barry dead? I still didn’t know. I don’t know if I ever will.

  “Betsy?” my aunt said. “A penny for your thoughts? Are we sunshine or shadows?”

  “Sunshine, Aunt Maggie, all sunshine,” I answered.

  Hints from the Happy Hinter

  Homemade Bug Repellents

  Vanilla Extract

  Use PURE vanilla extract only. Dab it full strength on each wrist. People like the smell, bugs do not. You can also put a few drops in a spray bottle with water and use as a bug spray. If you put vanilla extract in a bowl near where you are sitting, it will attract the gnats.

  Witch Hazel Bug Spray

  Put together a few drops of witch hazel and an essential oil like lavender, peppermint or tea tree.

  Add 1/2 liter of water.

  Put ingredients into a spray bottle and shake.

  Spray clothes and body before going outdoors.

  Plant lavender to discourage mosquitoes.

  Benny’s BBQ Sauce

  1/4 cup cider vinegar

  1/2 cup ketchup

  1/2 cup water

  3 tablespoons brown sugar

  1 teaspoon salt

  1 teaspoon chili powder

  Directions

  In a medium bowl or bottle, combine the vinegar, ketchup, water, brown sugar, salt and chili powder. Mix well and store in the refrigerator until ready for use.

  How to Get a Stuck Ring Off Your Finger

  Put your hand in a bowl of ice water until the finger contracts enough to remove the ring.

  You may also want to ice your hand and raise it above your heart for about ten to fifteen minutes. Then massage your finger, pushing towards your hand.

  Ten Ways to Stay Safe in the Heat

  1. Stay hydrated with water or fruit juice.

  2. Avoid alcoholic beverages (Sorry, Miss Ruby!).

  3. Wear light fabrics and light colors.

  4. Wear a lightweight hat in the direct sun.

  5. If you must go out in the heat, go out early in the day or in the evening.

  6. Avoid rigorous activity in the heat of the day.

  7. Stay away from caffeinated beverages.

  8. Wear sunscreen.

  9. Check any medications you may be on and how they will affect you in direct sun.

  10. If you feel dizzy or nauseous, lie down in the shade right away and drink water or fruit juice.

  How to Wash and Dry Tennis Shoes

  Remove the loose dirt and mud with a dry scrub brush or by banging the soles of the shoes together a few times.

  Use a bucket large enough to hold your shoes. Fill it with warm water and some mild laundry soap.

  Take out your shoelaces and let them soak in soapy water for an hour.

>   Use an old toothbrush and soapy water to scrub the shoes, top and bottom.

  Stuff tennis shoes with balled-up newspaper and set them and the shoelaces in the sun to dry.

  Aunt Ida’s Chocolate Pecan Pie

  3 eggs, slightly beaten

  1 cup Karo syrup (light or dark)

  6-ounce package chocolate chips

  1/3 cup sugar

  2 tbsp melted butter

  1 teaspoon vanilla

  1 1/2 to 2 cups of pecans, chopped

  1 pie crust

  Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over unbaked pie crust.

  In a large bowl, stir remaining ingredients together and then add pecans.

  Pour into pie crust over chocolate chips.

  Bake at 350 for 50 to 60 minutes.

  Refrigerate leftovers.

  How to Get Blood Stains Out of Clothing

  Immediately rinse out the spot with cold water. Simply rubbing the sides of the stain together in the cold water may remove the stain. If it does not come out, then use some bar or liquid hand soap on it.

  Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookies

  3/4 cup butter

  1/2 cup white sugar

  1/2 cup packed brown sugar

  1 egg

  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  1 teaspoon peppermint extract

  1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

  1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

  1 teaspoon baking soda

  1/4 teaspoon salt

  1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheets.

  In a large bowl, cream together butter, white sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy.

  Beat in egg, then stir in vanilla and peppermint extracts.

  Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt; gradually stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in the chocolate chips.