Breaking In
Page 3
Mel intervened. “Unfortunately, when he was a newborn, that wasn’t Hannah’s decision to make but, now that he’s hers, I’m sure she’ll give that and more all the thought required.”
The secretary wasn’t placated. “Pastor Scott is wonderful, such a fine man and just so great with children. He’d be happy to do it anytime. We will be seeing you at services tomorrow?”
“That’ll be $7.93 altogether, ma’am, and no, not tomorrow. Jef’s grandparents will be picking him up this evening and keeping him tomorrow. I imagine he’ll go to services with them.”
Doris wrinkled her nose in distaste. “The Amish grandparents?”
Mel shot the older woman a look but Doris was so focused on Hannah, she didn’t see it.
Hannah, for her part, stood her ground. “Yes, the Amish ones. They’re his blood family.”
Movement caught Mel out of the corner of her eye. She turned to see Lucy Sharpe standing, unsteadily and she covered the two steps to her quickly to take her arm.
The situation diverted Doris Procter’s attention away from Hannah and toward her friend. “Are you all right dear?”
“Yes, yes. I’m fine. At my age, I should know better than to sit so long, is all. It always makes me stiff.”
“Where are you going? I just got here and I’m sorry it took so long but…”
Lucy waved a hand to her. “It’s okay. No problem at all. I just really need to get back to the shop. I hadn’t realized the time.”
“Just give me a minute and I’ll help you out to your car, dear.” She turned back to Hannah, “I guess I’ll just take all of that to go.”
“You carry your stuff and I’ll assist Mrs. Sharpe; if that’s all right?” Mel offered, looking from Doris to Lucy.
“Thank you dear.” Lucy offered her arm and Mel took it as she nodded goodbye to Dana and Hannah. They walked out to the little parking lot the bakery shared with the store.
Marco was sweeping the sidewalk that ran along that side, in front of the cars. He nodded to Mel and Lucy. “Busy day for all of us today.”
“That’s wonderful,” Lucy said back to him. “Just the little shot of life this village needed.”
Doris walked out of the bakery then and Marco nodded to her, “Ma’am,” but then he turned right back to Mel.
“Saw you down there at the opera house. Battening down the hatches, were you?”
“That’s one way to put it,” Mel said. “As much as can be done.”
“What’s going on with the opera house?” Doris asked.
Lucy looked back and forth between Mel and Marco with interest. “Is somebody messing around in there too? Valerie Stroud told me she saw some kids trying to get into the old Baptist Church.”
“It looks that way ladies but I’ll put a stop to it before they do any damage. I’ve got my eyes on both places and I’m sure I’m not the only one.”
###
Sunday Evening, June 7th
“I really appreciate you helping me out this evening, Faye.”
“Oh, you don’t have to thank me; I love this stuff, you know?”
Hannah nodded. “We’re just about done for tonight. Once I have Jef up and ready to go in the morning, I’ll bring him to you and then come in here and finish up. You’re sure you don’t mind keeping him all day?”
Faye waved a hand at her. “Not at all. It’s nice to have a baby around again. You do have coverage for the shop though so you can get to class, right?”
“Yes, Dana’s coming in. This is all just so crazy…maybe I should have waited till I graduated.”
“Nonsense. In a couple of months or so, it will all be so much water under the bridge. We can all handle things between us until then and even after. Now, let me just check those cakes. They should be about done.”
While Faye checked on the cupcakes in the oven, Hannah started cleaning her workstation. She watched as the older woman began pulling trays of cupcakes out of the oven and then rotating other trays lower or higher in the tall unit.
“I’d think you’d done all of this before if I didn’t know better,” Hannah teased her.
“Oh honey, I’ve been baking all my life just as you have. I just have about 30 more years practice than you!”
Faye set a timer for three minutes and then busied herself putting ingredients away. Just as the timer dinged, she found herself standing over the kitchen trash bin, contemplating the bulk of it. To Hannah she said, “If you’ll deal with those, I’ll just run this out to the dumpster. It’s pretty full.”
“Thanks. It’s a deal.”
Faye tugged the bag up out of the 50 gallon can, expecting it to be heavy. It wasn’t. It was just full of flour and sugar bags and other assorted kitchen debris. She tied it closed, lifted it easily and went out the back door with it.
The bakery and the store shared a dumpster that was set out behind the building more than 20 yards to give the hauling company that emptied the large bin plenty of room to maneuver. It was after 9:00 PM and the dusk, Faye noticed, was beginning to turn to darkness as she opened one of the flip up lids and tossed the bag in.
She looked over to the detached garage that went with the house next door. The big bay door was down but the lights were on and she could hear the faint patter of a sports announcer. Probably Steve and his boy out there working on his go cart and listening to the Indians game, she thought and smiled.
She walked out toward the edge of the road a little and looked on down toward the opera house. All seemed quiet down there. Eyeing the front of the house closest to it, the home of old Calvin Howe to the left of it across an expanse of neatly trimmed yard, she decided to see if he was home and pay him a little visit.
The television was turned up loud in Calvin’s house and playing some obnoxious infomercial at that. Faye banged on the door hard, twice before finally getting the old man’s attention.
He got up out of his chair just a few feet from the set and shuffled to the door, smiling when he saw her.
“Why Faye Crane,” he said as he swung the door open to admit her, “what brings you by? No wait, don’t answer that!”
Faye was taken slightly aback.
“Just lemme’ turn my hearing aid up. These damn shows are so loud anymore, had to turn it down.” He fiddled with the contraption rigged behind his left ear then shuffled back over to his chair, picked the remote up off the arm and turned the set off. “There; that’s better.”
He directed a halting gesture toward the sofa. “Please, have a seat.”
“No, no; I really can’t stay long, I just wanted to ask you a couple of questions.”
“Questions, you say? ‘Bout what?”
Faye pointed at the window a couple of feet to the right of the television set. It was covered only by a venetian blind that was closed. “When you’re sitting here watching your shows, do you notice anything going on out your window?”
“Out there?” He looked toward the window. “What would be going on in my yard when I’m not out there?” Tilting his head, he looked at her in confusion.
“Not in your yard, but at the opera house next door.”
“There? Nobody’s been in there in years, not that I know of.”
“Actually, there was a vagrant in there just the other night.” At the look of worry that crossed his face, she hurried to add, “Mel caught him and made sure the place was locked up tight.”
He went to the window, opened the blind and peered out.
“I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about,” Faye said. “Just, if you happen to look out and see anything odd going on over there at all, especially at night, you should call Mel.”
“Nothin’ happening there now,” he said as he turned away from the window.
“Good. Let’s hope it stays that way.”
Hannah’s Cupcakes
Hannah’s Hardy Red Velvet Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the red velvet cupcakes:
· 2 1/2 cups flour
· 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
· 1 teaspoon baking soda
· 1/2 teaspoon salt
· 1 cup butter, softened
· 2 cups sugar
· 4 eggs
· 1 cup sour cream
· 1/2 cup milk
· 1 1-ounce bottle of red food color
· 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
For the vanilla cream cheese frosting:
· 1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
· 1/4 cup butter, softened
· 2 tablespoons sour cream
· 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
· 1 16-ounce box of confectioners' sugar (powdered sugar)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl and set it aside.
2. Beat the butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Mix in the sour cream, milk, food color and vanilla. Gradually beat in the flour mixture on low speed until it’s just blended. Do not overbeat. Spoon the batter into 30 paper-lined muffin cups, filling each cup 2/3 full.
3. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Cool them in the pans on wire rack 5 minutes. Remove from the pans and cool completely.
4. Frost with the vanilla cream cheese frosting.
5. To make the vanilla cream cheese frosting: Beat the cream cheese, softened, butter, sour cream and pure vanilla extract in large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the confectioner’s sugar until smooth.
Hannah’s Heady Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Ingredients:
For the Carrot Cake Cupcakes:
· 2½ cups of all-purpose flour
· 1¼ teaspoons baking powder
· 1 teaspoon baking soda
· 2¼ teaspoons ground cinnamon
· ¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg
· ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
· ½ teaspoon salt
· 6-7 medium carrots, peeled and grated (3 cups of grated carrots)
· 1½ cups granulated sugar
· ½ cup light brown sugar
· 4 eggs
· 1 ½ cups canola or vegetable oil
· 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
· ½ cup raisins (optional)
· 1½ cups toasted nuts – pecans or walnuts (optional)
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
· 8 ounces cream cheese – softened, but still cool
· 5 tablespoons butter – unsalted – softened, but still cool
· 1-tablespoon sour cream
· ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
· 1 ¼ cups confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar)
Directions:
For the Carrot Cupcakes (Makes 24):
· Pre-heat the oven to 350F.
· Place cupcakes liners in muffin tins.
· In a large bowl, sift or whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt.
· Using a box grater or food processor, shred the carrots.
· Pat the carrots dry with a paper towel, then add them to the flour mixture, mix together and set aside.
· Using a mixer, beat together both sugars and eggs on medium-high until lighter in color and smooth, approximately 1 minute.
· Reduce the speed to low and slowly add the vanilla extract and oil
· Increase the speed to high for 1 minute until the mixture is light and well mixed
· Fold the flour and carrot mixture into the sugar/egg/oil mixture until no flour streaks remain.
· Scoop the batter into the pans.
· Bake 12 minutes then rotate your pans top-to-bottom and front-to-back.
· Bake another 10-14 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.
· Remove from the oven and let cool on a cooling rack for 2 minutes.
· After 2 minutes, remove the cupcakes and allow to cool completely on a cooling rack.
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
· Place cream cheese, butter, sour cream and vanilla in a mixing bowl.
· Using a whisk attachment, mix at medium high speed until well combined and creamy. Scrape the icing down the bowl as needed.
· Add powdered sugar and whisk on low for 15 seconds, then on medium-high 2 minutes until smooth, creamy and fluffy.
About the Author
Anne Hagan is an East Central Ohio based government employee by day and author by night. She and her wife live in a tiny town that's even smaller than the Morelville of her Mystery fiction novels and they wouldn't have it any other way. Anne's wife grew up there and has always considered it home. Though it's an ultra-conservative rural community, they're surrounded there by family, longtime friends and many other wonderful people with open hearts and minds. They enjoy spending time with Anne's son and his wife, with their nieces and nephews and doing many of the things you've read about in her books or that will be 'fictitiously' incorporated into future Morelville Mysteries and Cozies series books. If you've read about a hobby or a sport in either series, they probably enjoy doing it themselves or someone very close to them does.
Anne and her wife are the co-owners of a haunted house: Hagan's House of Horrors. Much as her dream has always been to write fiction, her spouse's dream has been to create it through the medium of horror. They took their haunt operation fully commercial in 2015. Watch them as they grow!
Check Anne Out on her blog, on Facebook or on Twitter:
For the latest information about upcoming releases, other projects, sample chapters and everything personal, check out Anne’s blog at https://AnneHaganAuthor.com/ or like Anne on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAnneHagan. You can also connect with Anne on Twitter @AuthorAnneHagan.
Also Written by the Author
The Morelville Cozies
The Passed Prop: The Morelville Cozies – Book 1 – The first book in the Morelville Cozies series featuring meddling mother sleuths Faye Crane and Chloe Rossi.
Chloe Rossi wants to retire with her husband and move away from suburban sprawl to bucolic Morelville; the only trouble is, Morelville is experiencing its worst crime wave ever and Marco Rossi wants no part of a move there. What to do?
Faye Crane would like nothing more than to have her good friend Chloe move closer to her and to Chloe’s own daughter. She’s got Chloe convinced it’s a smart move but Marco is a tougher nut to crack. A string of brutal crimes around Halloween with no witnesses and little evidence to work with has her own Sheriff daughter and her entire department stymied. Marco is second guessing even taking his retirement since Sheriff Mel can’t get a handle on it all and bring peace and well-being back to the tiny village.
Someone has to root out a killer. Can Faye and Chloe nose around and figure out what the police can’t to solve the crime? If they do, will Marco still waver or will he consent to move?
This is the first book in a spin off series from the Morelville Mysteries series by Anne Hagan. The book stands alone but, if you’re interested in getting all of the Crane and Rossi families back story, you should check out the fifth book in the first series, Viva Mama Rossi!.
The Books of the Morelville Mysteries Series
Relic: The Morelville Mysteries – Book 1 – The first Dana and Sheriff Mel mystery and the first book in the Morelville saga. It is widely available as a free download wherever eBooks are sold. Please click the link above which will take you to Anne’s website where you can obtain a link to get the book at your retailer of choice.
Cases collide for two star crossed ladies of law enforcement…
Customs Special Agent Dana Rossi was forced to start her life anew after a bad breakup with her former girlfriend and the loss of job that she loved. These days, she spends life on the road, moving from one case to another until one day when runs run right into the path of Sheriff Mel Crane. The feisty, sexy butch cop i
s as determined to uncover a counterfeiting ring in her county as Agent Rossi becomes to stop a stalker obsessed with Mel and hot for her company. Dana is under the added pressure of conducting an undercover investigation of her own with a tight deadline: finding and then stopping a ring of smugglers bringing high end designer knock-offs into the states.
Could their cases be related? When repeated vicious attacks on Mel and on her home accelerate the danger for her and also their attraction to each other, they become desperate to find the truth and solve the two mysteries. Can they find a way to work together to resolve both cases while coming to terms with their growing feelings for one another? Can Dana move beyond her jilted lover past and find true happiness with a small town Sheriff?
Busy Bees: The Morelville Mysteries – Book 2
Romance and Murder Mix in the Latest Story Featuring Sheriff Mel Crane and Special Agent Dana Rossi!
Customs Special Agent Dana Rossi is down but not out after being shot and seriously injured during her previous assignment. Will romance blossom or will sparks fly when she agrees to shack up in Morelville with the beautiful butch Sheriff Melissa ‘Mel’ Crane and her extended family while she recovers?
Will murder get in the way of love? If murder doesn’t, will life in a house with children or a political campaign keep them apart? Can Mel solve two major crimes and keep her former job on the road loving girlfriend happy in a tiny town?
Dana’s Dilemma: The Morelville Mysteries – Book 3 – The relationship matures between Mel and Dana in an installment that features a breaking Amish character, an ex-girlfriend, a conniving politician and murder.