Blackberry Crumble

by Josi S. Kilpack

  “Did you ladies leave room for dessert?” she asked. “We do have our seasonal desserts right now.” She pointed to what looked like a cobbler. “The blackberry crumble is particularly good.”

  Whatever Sadie had been about to say was lost as she contemplated the juicy berries and crumb topping, which meant that whatever thoughts she’d been about to share must not have been all that important in the first place, right?

  Salmon and Wild Mushroom Casserole

  1 (12-ounce) package wide egg noodles

  1⁄2 cup butter, plus 2 tablespoons butter, divided

  1 (14-ounce) can salmon*

  1 onion, chopped

  5 celery ribs, diced

  4 to 8 ounces wild mushrooms (oyster, shiitake, etc.), washed and sliced (quantity should be based on how much you like mushrooms)

  1⁄2 teaspoon salt

  6 tablespoons flour

  1 teaspoon double mustard powder

  1 cup milk

  1 (14-ounce) can chicken broth

  1 cup crushed oyster or saltine crackers

  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 2-quart casserole dish. Cook the noodles according to package directions (don’t forget the salt). Drain, then return to the pot and toss with 2 tablespoons of butter. Set aside.

  While the noodles are cooking, open and drain the can of salmon. Remove any round bones and discard them. (Other bones are soft enough to mix with the fish.) Mash the salmon meat with a fork. Set aside.

  Melt 6 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onion and celery and sauté until translucent, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the mushrooms and salt. Cook, stirring often, until the mushrooms give up their juices, about 4 minutes.

  Add flour to the skillet and stir well. Add mustard powder. Stir until combined. Cook 2 minutes. Slowly add the milk and chicken broth, stirring constantly (remember to scrape up any browned flour on the bottom of the pan for more flavor). Stir until mixture is thick and bubbly. Add the salmon. Turn off the heat. Salt and pepper to taste.

  Pour the vegetable-salmon mixture over the buttered noodles and mix until well combined. Pour into buttered casserole dish.

  Melt remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and toss with crackers. Spread buttered crackers over the top of the casserole dish. (A little garlic salt tossed with the oyster crackers is yummy, too.) Bake 30 minutes. Serves 6 to 8.

  *Could use canned chicken in place of salmon.

  Chapter 16

  Both of them decided on the blackberry crumble—how could they not?—and the contrast between the tart berries and sweet crumble topping was perfect. Nothing beat a fresh berry dessert; Sadie’s own recipe for blackberry crumble was similar to this one, though Karri’s version had a hint of lemon and the crumble was more like a big oatmeal cookie on top of the fruit. How fortuitous that Sadie had been able to come to the Pacific Northwest during berry season. Another good omen, right?

  It wasn’t until she and May had parted ways that she realized they’d left some of the details of the case undone. But she had taken good notes—up until the food arrived—and knew May’s goal was to determine whether or not Keith Kelly killed her father. Despite Sadie’s reservations, she really, really wanted to help May and that fueled her determination and quieted her concerns.

  On the way back to the hotel, she veered off course when she saw a sign for Camera World—she’d heard about that place. It was supposed to be the largest camera store in the country, and here she was in need of a camera! However, it took only a few minutes to realize they sold much more than cameras. Half an hour later, she was offering a twenty-dollar tip if a stock boy would help her take her purchases back to the hotel. It wasn’t until she’d started looking at the all the gadgets that she realized how many she needed. A laptop computer—her desktop was a dinosaur anyway—a wireless printer, a voice recorder, and, of course, a camera that could record video as well as take still shots. It was exciting to invest in so many tools of her new trade, even if she couldn’t carry them all herself. The employee who helped her told her about various places he swore were a must-see—Voodoo Donuts and the International Rose Test Garden, for starters.

  Once she’d thanked her helper and given him the well-earned tip, however, her excitement at being so well-outfitted quickly led to intimidation at figuring out how to use it all. After attempting to read three different sets of easy set-up instructions, and finding them all rather taxing, she decided to follow up on her promised call to Pete in hopes it would give her technology-inspired feelings of intimidation some time to even out. Plus, she’d promised she would call, and it had lingered in the back of her mind ever since her plane had landed.

  “So, how are things going?” Pete asked after he said hello and asked about her flight.

  “Things are good,” Sadie said, trying to sound bright and cheery but professional all at the same time. “I’ve determined my starting point and met with . . . my client.” It seemed strange to say that, but in a good way . . . she hoped.

  Pete was quiet for a moment. “You know I can’t help you with this, right?”

  Sadie straightened slightly and put her free hand on her hip as all the defensiveness came rushing back. “Help me?” she repeated. “Did I ask you to help me?”

  “Well, no, but, you know, based on some things I’ve done for you in the past, I just need to make sure you understand that this is different.”

  “Because I’m getting paid?” Sadie asked, trying not to be annoyed by his assumption that she needed his help. The annoyance helped cover her disappointment that he was going to the effort of letting her know he wouldn’t be available for her. Not that she needed him or anything.

  “Because you’re working without a license or training,” Pete said. “I know you see that as a trivial detail, but it isn’t. For instance, if you break into someone’s house, it’s a crime.”

  “I’m not planning on breaking into anyone’s house.”

  “Did you bring that lock pick set?”

  Sadie froze. How did he know she even had that?

  “You left the shipping receipt out on the counter a few weeks ago,” Pete explained as though reading her thoughts through the silence.

  “Well, I sometimes lose my garage key,” Sadie said, defending the purchase. “It’s not the same lock as the house.”

  Pete actually chuckled. “You do not lose your key,” he said, calling her bluff. “It’s on your key holder with a label like all your other keys. You’ve been teaching yourself how to pick locks. What are you up to—double or triple pins?”

  “Five pins, thank you very much.” She nearly slapped her hand over her mouth when she realized she’d fallen right into the trap he’d made for her by giving her a chance to brag.

  “Don’t pick any locks,” Pete said, his tone serious again. “And don’t impersonate anyone who needs a badge or a degree.”

  “I’m not going to do anything stupid,” Sadie said.

  Pete didn’t answer, which she took to mean that he already thought she’d done that.

  “Licensed investigators have a little more leeway, but are also under more obligations to uphold certain—”

  “Colorado doesn’t require a license,” Sadie said in a haughty tone.

  “Are you in Colorado?”

  Shoot, she hadn’t thought about it like that. “Look, I don’t even think I’m going to charge her,” she said, justifying herself even more. “But I did a contract and everything to keep things on the up-and-up. This is just my practice run, Pete, to see if I want to pursue this further. I’m not going to break any laws.”

  “Or ask me to give you information?”

  From his tone, she could tell that he thought there was no way she could do this without his help. She was even more offended. “You’ve made yourself quite clear,” she said. “And I don’t plan to come running to you for help. But, just to clarify, you offered to help me in the past. I didn’t ask you do anything you were uncomfortable with.”

/>   “I didn’t say you had asked me to do anything previously,” Pete said, and his tone sounded a little defeated but as determined as ever. “I just need to be sure you understand my boundaries on this one.”

  “As I said, you’ve made yourself very clear.” Even Sadie could hear the icy tone in her voice. “Would you prefer that we not talk until I’m finished here?”

  “Actually, I was hoping we could really talk, now that we’ve both had a few days to think about things. But maybe this isn’t the right time.” A touch of insecurity had entered his voice, and Sadie knew he wasn’t referring to the case anymore.

  She was silent for a moment, trying to shift gears. “Talk about us?”

  “Yeah,” Pete said. “Us.” The conversation had taken a 180-degree turn in two sentences—a turn Sadie wasn’t ready for.

  Sadie gathered her thoughts and then pushed forward. “I don’t want this to sound wrong, Pete,” she said, carefully. “And I don’t want to give the impression that ‘us’ isn’t important, but I’ve spent the last few days getting ready to come up here and take on this case. I haven’t had the time to think about ‘us’ much. I think you’re right that now might not be the right time to discuss it.”

  “I see,” he said. The disappointment in his tone cut like glass.

  “I would like to talk when we can both focus,” Sadie said. She wanted to offer him an olive branch of her own humility. “And I think it would be better in person when I can keep my thoughts centered on us and not be pulled in half a dozen different directions.”

  Pete paused a moment as he considered that. “How long do you think you’ll be there?”

  “A few days,” Sadie said, relieved that he’d accepted her suggestion to talk about their relationship later.

  She wanted to give him the list of what she was going to do, starting with surveying Keith’s home and business, then moving into a basic background check. Those things were necessary to really know the kind of man he was. But she also planned to go deeper and learn all about the fire suppression industry and see where that took her. She was eager to get started and eager to tamp down the feelings of insecurity Pete had ignited. Of all people, Pete would understand those feelings, could even give her advice, but he’d drawn the line and she wasn’t about to cross it.

  “I’ll give you a call when I get back to Garrison,” she offered, trying to sound casual. They had spoken or seen one another nearly every day for months, and she hated the separation, but didn’t want to have this conversation every day either.

  “I miss you.”

  Sadie startled at the quickly spoken words from the other end of the phone. They weren’t the three words she’d been hoping to hear from him, but they softened her all the same and helped renew at least a little bit of her confidence in their future. “I miss you too,” she replied, turning to sit on the bed and feeling all squishy inside. She’d needed assurance that all was not lost between them.

  “I really am worried about you, Sadie,” he said, sounding vulnerable. He paused for a breath. “You’ve found yourself in some pretty difficult situations these last few months.”

  “And I’ve been fine.”

  “You’ve been hurt,” Pete clarified.

  “And I’ve healed.” Sadie took a breath, rolled the shoulder she knew Pete was referring to, and softened her tone. “Pete, I don’t know if you can understand this—it probably sounds very silly—but I believe I’m supposed to be here right now. I believe I’m supposed to help this woman find closure to her father’s death. It’s not like the other situations I’ve found myself in. I’m not working against the police or caught in the middle of the action. I’m on the sidelines hunting for information—not people. I appreciate your concern, I do, but I’m going to be okay, and I’m not going to do something stupid.”

  “It’s not stupidity I’m worried about, it’s . . . ignorance, I guess.”

  Sadie’s hand tightened around the phone, and all those soft feelings he’d inspired went out the window. She stood up from the bed. “Well, I’m glad to know where you stand. I think—”

  “I don’t mean it like that,” Pete hurried to say. “I just meant that—”

  “I know what you meant,” Sadie snapped. “I know that you don’t think I’m capable of this. Maybe you’re right, but either way I’m going to find out for myself. I’ll call you when I get back to Garrison. We can talk about all this, and we can talk about us and decide what kind of future we have. For now, however, I need to get to work. I have a client waiting on me. Bye, Pete.”

  She pulled the phone from her ear and pushed the end button without feeling at all guilty about hanging up on him. Well, maybe she felt a little guilty. But she felt a lot mad! Of all the arrogant, demeaning . . . She took a deep breath to calm herself. He was only trying to help, she told herself, but she couldn’t stop herself from thinking he didn’t know her as well as she thought he did. How was that face-to-face meeting going to work out when she returned to Garrison? The very idea made her clench her eyes closed, dreading it already.

  In serious need of a distraction from the phone call, she turned back to the bed and surveyed the equipment she’d bought. She picked up the compact camera, grateful for the photography class she’d taken in college thirty-five years ago. She knew how to take a decent picture; it was the downloading and technological details that were overwhelming. Now was not the time to start questioning herself, however.

  With her purpose in mind, and even more determination to prove herself after talking to Pete, Sadie shoved the camera into her purse, put batteries in the new voice recorder she was going to use for notes from here on out, and fixed her hair before heading out the door.

  Chin up, purse over her shoulder, and keys in hand, she marched out of her room and into the role of Sadie Hoffmiller, PI extraordinaire!

  Chapter 17

  Dora led her through downtown Portland and over one of the eight bridges of the city before winding around until Sadie had no idea where she was in relation to her hotel. Once she arrived at the offices for Kelly Fire Systems, she drove around the building—unobtrusively, of course—and took thirty-one photos of the office, the parking lot, the cars parked in the parking lot, and the UPS man who was making a delivery. That took about ten minutes, which then left her sitting in her car across the street doing absolutely nothing for nearly an hour. It was so boring!

  She had her investigating book with her and read through the section on stakeouts, which left her feeling a bit concerned that she had no goal, which, the book had pointed out, was essential. Sure, she would learn Keith’s routine by watching him, but it would take days of observation to establish reliable patterns and that wasn’t really the point of her coming here. She was trying to prove he was a murderer—how would sitting in her car and determining what time he went to lunch every day help her with that?

  Was it her imagination that she was not only looking for a needle in a haystack but didn’t know which haystack to even start with? She let out a long, labored breath and tried to talk herself out of her negativity, but it wasn’t easy. She tried to reassure herself that the newness of this whole thing was the reason she felt intimidated, but that just made her more insecure.

  The dashboard clock told her it was 5:52. The workday was coming to an end. Then what would she do? Stake out his house, and wait for him to come outside with his hands up? There had to be a better use of her time than this. She flipped through the pages of the book, hoping to find some new ideas, and ended up reading a couple more chapters on finding information online, but the minutes dragged by as though tied to the back of a turtle. It was agony.

  After what felt like forever, she caught movement out of the corner of her eye—a man walking toward a car in the parking lot. He was young and tall and wore a baseball cap—not Mr. Kelly. A woman left a few minutes later, tapping her way across the parking lot in really cute brown pumps that matched the brown patterned skirt she’d paired with a red shirt. She was laugh
ing on her cell phone. Secretary, Sadie guessed.

  The next man to come out of the building, however, headed for the white Mercedes she’d already determined was probably Keith’s. It was the most expensive car in the lot, and from what Sadie had learned about him, he was the kind of man who liked expensive cars and would park them by the road so they could easily be seen by people driving by.

  Sadie sat up straight and scrambled through the papers on the seat to find the picture of Keith Kelly she’d printed off the Internet. She looked from the black-and-white photo to the full-bodied version, lining up the round face and full head of gray-white hair. She noted the double chin was more pronounced in real life—Photoshop strikes again—but the basic details were spot-on. A surge of adrenaline rushed through her as he got into his car and started the engine. She suddenly felt so obvious—like he was going to see her and know she didn’t belong here, know she was watching for him. She shifted her own car into drive and then picked up her cell phone, pretending to talk on it so that she would look occupied as Keith came out of the parking lot and passed her on the road.