Yarn Over Murder
Page 23
“Do you want us out there, Jayleen, or on the side of the house?” Pete asked, pointing toward the charred ground alongside the cut trees beside the house.
“Bless your hearts, Pete,” Jayleen said. “We surely do need help along there. I try not to look at it.”
Pete grinned. “Well, we’ll try to make it look better for you.”
“Well, I can start somewhere,” Mimi said, glancing toward the ranch house. “Did you have any smoke damage or food spoilage in the kitchen, Jayleen?”
“Lord, yes. I had to clean that fridge out twice. But the smoke smell is still bad in those back rooms facing the west. And I’m all out of that pine cleaner.”
Mimi beamed. “Well, we came in the knick of time.” She pulled out a super-sized bottle of the pine cleaner. “Where do you want me to start?”
“Just follow your nose, Mimi,” Curt advised with a wry grin. “It’s pretty damn smoky in there.” Mimi scurried off.
“Burt, I see some charred places out there, past the corrals. Why don’t you and I start there?” Kelly pointed toward the pastures bordering the other side of the ranch driveway.
“Sounds good to me.” Burt grabbed a rake and gloves.
Kelly took a handful of trash bags and some shears and was about to start for the pasture when she spotted an old pickup truck coming up the driveway. It looked familiar. Once the truck was closer, Kelly could see a bushy brown beard behind the windshield. Dennis Holt.
“Let’s say hello to Dennis first,” Kelly suggested to Burt.
Burt gave her a sly smile. “By all means. I was planning to update you once we had a moment.”
Dennis parked and approached the group, carrying a toolbox in one hand and a chain saw in the other.
“Looks like you’ve come to do some work,” Curt called as Dennis approached.
“Whooooeeee!” Jayleen said as she went to meet him. “Bless your heart, Dennis. We sure can use that.”
“Well, I figured you folks would have some burned trees you wanted cut down,” Dennis said with a smile. “I’m happy to help.”
“Dennis, you’re a jewel of a man, that’s for sure,” Jayleen said, putting her hands on her hips. “We’d really appreciate your help. But you’re not gonna take one step toward those trees until I give you a check to pay for boarding my alpacas these last three weeks.”
Dennis looked shocked. “Hell, no, Jayleen. I was glad to do it. You’ve helped me so much in the past, and I—”
“That’s true, but the past is over and gone, Dennis. This is the present and future, here and now. And I pay my bills. Don’t argue with me.”
Dennis shook his head. “I can’t take your money, Jayleen.”
“Then you’re gonna have to turn around and find someone else in Bellevue Canyon who needs trees cut down. You’re not helping here until we go inside and you take the check I’ve written.”
“Jayleen, I don’t want—”
“I don’t care what you want, Dennis. My mind’s made up. Don’t try to change it. I’m stubborn as a mule. You know that.”
Jayleen gave a ‘that’s that’ nod and lifted her chin in the way Kelly had seen her friend do in the past. Kelly suppressed her smile as she watched this exchange.
“I’d give in if I were you, Dennis,” Curt advised sagely.
Dennis looked from Jayleen to Curt then back to Jayleen again. Then he gave a big sigh. “All right, Jayleen. I’ll take the check.” He set his toolbox and chain saw on the ground.
“There you go,” Jayleen said. “C’mon to the kitchen with me, then we can all get back to work.”
“Smart move,” Curt opined as Dennis meekly followed Jayleen toward the ranch house.
Burt simply chuckled as he and Kelly started walking toward the pasture gate. “Jayleen is clearly not someone you’d want to argue with.”
“You got that right,” Kelly said, imitating Jayleen’s favorite expression. She reached out and opened the latch on the gate which led into the open pasture and corral. “You said you had an update for me. Did Dan and the other detective question Jim Carson?”
“They sure did. Showed up at Jim’s door yesterday morning. Dan said Jim looked surprised to see both of them. He followed them to the department and they let him sit in the interview room for a while, alone. Dan said Jim was pretty jumpy when they finally came in together. They read him his rights, then they told him there was conflicting information about when he actually left the canyon. A man claimed he gave a ride to someone who fit Jim’s description, later at night when everyone was evacuating. Apparently Jim started stammering, saying that couldn’t be right, he was already in Landport late at night. Then they told him the driver described his KISS concert tee shirt and his dragon tattoo. Jim stammered a little more. That’s when Dan told him about the two campers who witnessed him pushing Andrea off the deck of her house. Jim went white as a sheet, Dan said, then he started stammering again, faster and faster. Saying he didn’t mean to hurt Andrea, he was just so angry, seeing her kiss Dennis, he was angry she’d dump him, and on and on.”
“Wow. Sounds like Jim had a meltdown. He’ll be charged, right?”
“Yeah, second-degree murder. Not premeditated. Crime of passion. You know.”
“Well, we brought some resolution to Andrea’s death at last. And cleared Dennis and Connie from suspicion. That’s what’s most important to me.”
Kelly surveyed the edges of this pasture which bordered the driveway and all the way down to the canyon road. No noticeable burned areas at all. She turned toward the northeast side of the pasture, which sloped downward. “Okay, let’s check out this section while we talk. I want to be doing something if I hear bad news. Are the police still going to charge Dennis with misdemeanor theft?”
Burt matched her stride as they started through the tall heat-stressed grasses. Dry and brittle, even with a fine red mist. “Well, I can report some good news there. A bunch of Dennis’s Poudre Canyon friends . . . some retired cops and firemen . . . and some other folks all showed up at the police department to vouch for Dennis. Not at the same time, mind you. But over these last two days. Dan told me they each said they thought Dennis should not be sentenced harshly. All of them swore Dennis was not a thief. He was ‘honest as the day was long,’ one of them said.” Burt smiled. “Dan said he got a kick out of it.”
Kelly stopped in the midst of the dry grass and grinned. “That’s fantastic! Good for them! Dennis deserves that kind of support. Do you think that will really make a difference when he’s sentenced?”
“Oh, indeed, it will,” Burt said as they walked. “I’m betting that Dennis will probably be sentenced to a year or two at the most at the county detention facility. Maybe the last part could even be a work-release with one of those ankle bracelets. We’ll see.”
Kelly pondered that while they walked through the grass. “Well, I guess that’s pretty mild, considering.”
“If I’m not mistaken, your client Arthur Housemann might have had something to do with that. Didn’t you say he mentioned alerting Dennis’s friends in the canyon about his predicament?”
“Yes, he did. As Dennis’s neighbor, he’d gotten to know him and like him. Arthur was really upset with what had happened to Dennis.”
“Apparently, Housemann has also offered to pay Dennis’s mortgage for him so he won’t lose his home in the canyon while he’s serving his sentence. And, Dan said Housemann also mentioned he’s pretty sure he can find Dennis steady work doing repairs on some of his rental properties once he’s released.”
Kelly’s smile spread inside this time. “Well, how about that? It’s time Dennis had a break or two. Arthur mentioned he’s helped out others in the past who’ve needed a helping hand. That old sweetie. I’m going to bake him some of Aunt Helen’s gingersnap cookies for a gift. He loves them.”
Burt stopped in his tracks. “In Ju
ly! Good Lord, Kelly! It’s still in the upper nineties back in town. You’ll swelter in that kitchen!”
“Hmm, good point,” Kelly said, staring off toward the mountains in the distance. “Maybe I’ll sit outside with Carl in the shade of the cottonwood trees while they’re baking.”
Burt and Kelly both laughed out loud as they continued to walk through the pasture of dry grass. No burned patches over here either. Small blessings were everywhere.
Canyon Pullover
FINISHED MEASUREMENTS IN INCHES:
Sizes:
S
M
L
XL
Bust (at underarm)
36
40
44
48
Length*
22
22
22¾
22¾
*Length is easily adjusted between the bottom edge of the sweater and the armhole.
MATERIALS:
Heavy worsted weight yarn or any combination of yarns to obtain gauge.
Sizes:
S
M
L
XL
Yardage
935
935
1000
1070
NEEDLES:
US Size 7—double-pointed needles (for neck and sleeve ribbing)
US Size 7—32-inch circular needle (for ribbing)
US Size 8—double-pointed needles (for sleeves)
US Size 8—16-inch circular needle (for sleeves)
US Size 8—32-inch circular needle (or size necessary to obtain gauge)
ADDITIONAL SUPPLIES:
Stitch holders
Tapestry needle
GAUGE:
3.5 sts = 1 inch
INSTRUCTIONS:
Body:
With 32-inch US Size 7 needle, CO 126 (140, 154, 168) sts. Join in a circle being careful not to twist the sts. Work in k1, p1 ribbing for 2".
Change to larger needles and continue in st st until body measures 13" or desired length from the beginning to the armhole. Split the work by placing half the sts on a holder or piece of scrap yarn. Work back and forth in st st.
Back:
Continue working in st st until armhole measures 9 (9, 9¾, 9¾) inches. Work 23 (26, 29, 32) sts. BO the center 17 (18, 19, 20) sts, and work to the end of row. Place remaining shoulder sts on holders 23 (26, 29, 32). Leave a long enough length of yarn to knit the shoulders sts together.
Front:
Place front sts on a needle and work the front same as back until front measures 6 (6½, 6½, 7½) inches.
Shape neck: Row one (RS): Work 28 (31, 34, 37) sts, BO next 7 (8, 9, 10) sts. The bind off area designates neck edge. Work to the end of row 28 (31, 34, 37) sts.
Row two (WS): Work to neck edge. Drop yarn and join a second ball of yarn after the BO sts. BO 2 sts at this side of neck edge; complete row.
Row three (RS): Work to neck edge. Drop yarn. BO 2 sts at opposite neck edge, using second strand of yarn. Work to end of row. 26 (29, 32, 35) sts remain on each shoulder.
Continue in this manner, binding off one stitch at each side of neck edge, 3 times; 23 (26, 29, 32) sts remain on each shoulder. Continue until the front measures the same as the back.
Join Shoulders:
Turn the garment wrong side out and join the shoulders with three needle bind-off as follows: Place the back shoulder sts on one end of the needle and the front sts on the other end. Hold the two ends of the needle together and with a spare US size 8 needle, knit one st from the front needle and one from the back needle together, k the second st from front and back. Pass first st over second. Continue until all sts are bound off from both ends of the circular needle.
Sleeves:
With the 16-inch US size 8 needle, pick-up 72 (72, 78, 78) sts evenly around armhole opening. Knit every round. Place a marker on either side of the center st at the underarm. Knit 5 rnds. Continue in pattern, decreasing 1 st each side of the markers every 4th row 20 (20, 21, 21) times. Switch to double-pointed needles when sleeve is too small for the circular needle. [32 (32, 36, 36) sts remain].
Neckline:
With the right side facing, use the 16-inch needle, begin at the right shoulder, pick-up sts evenly, skipping every 4th st, around the neckline. A larger or smaller neckline can be created by picking up more or fewer sts. Work in ribbing for 1½". This neckline can easily be altered to make a turtle neck by working neckline in st st, or by extending the ribbing.
Wash in cool water with Lambspun Herbal Magic, dry flat, enjoy!
Pattern courtesy of Lambspun of Colorado, Fort Collins, Colorado. Designed for Lambspun by Laura Macagno-Shang.
Chocolate Fudge Brownies
½ cup butter
2 squares (2 ounces) unsweetened chocolate
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
¾ all-purpose flour
½ cup chopped nuts
In a medium saucepan, melt butter and chocolate over low heat. Remove from heat. Stir in sugar, eggs, and vanilla, then beat with fork until combined. Stir in flour and nuts. Spread batter into a greased 8" x 8" square baking pan. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes, then cool on wire rack.