Better Late Than Never

by Jenn McKinlay

  The room was silent as they all looked at her, waiting to see if she was done.

  “What?” she asked. “Too much?”

  Lindsey laughed. She put her arm around Paula and gave her a half hug.

  “Not at all,” she said. “I love your enthusiasm.”

  “But you still don’t love the book,” Paula said. She held up her craft project. “And I bet you’re just going to love the bead project I was planning to share.”

  Lindsey glanced at the chain of beaded daisies Paula held in her hands. It looked hard. Mercifully, she was saved from having to answer by the arrival of their newest member.

  “Am I late?”

  They all turned toward the door to see Matthew Mercer hurry into the room. He was carrying a Crock-Pot and had lost his ubiquitous beanie, which freed his unruly black hair to swirl about his head in dark waves.

  “Yes, but if you brought food all is forgiven,” Mary said. She moved items on the buffet table to make room for Matthew’s contribution.

  “Not only did I bring food, I brought meatballs in marinara sauce and fresh-baked bread.”

  He set the Crock-Pot down along with a paper bag that had a warm loaf of Italian bread sticking out of it. He glanced around the room and took an empty seat beside the elephant, which was actually Beth still in her story time costume. The fact that Beth’s outfit, which included a hefty trunk that hung over her face, didn’t even faze him made Lindsey think he was a natural fit in their book discussion group.

  “Matthew, if I wasn’t already happily married, I’d propose to you,” Charlene said as she lifted the lid off of the Crock-Pot and breathed in the delicious aroma of homemade sauce and meatballs.

  “And I’d say yes,” Matthew said with a grin. “Now how far along in the discussion are we?”

  “I am trying to convince them that Holden is the poster boy for antiestablishmentarianism,” Paula said.

  “Totally,” Matthew agreed. “It starts when he runs away from prep school and is maintained as a constant theme throughout the book.”

  The two of them beamed at each other in perfect accord and Lindsey exchanged a grin with Beth.

  “I think having a man in the crafternooners is going to broaden the opinions quite nicely,” Violet said. “Can he knit, though?”

  “Probably better than me,” Lindsey said. While the group went to go and fill their plates, Lindsey moved to sit beside Matthew. “I’m glad you joined us.”

  “Me, too,” he said. “I think I bring a much-needed infusion of testosterone to the group.”

  “Matthew, is it true that Principal Larsen resigned from his position at the high school?” Beth asked. “I heard a rumor but I figured you’re closer to the whole situation and might know the deets.”

  “Yes, he did,” he said. “You all know Karen murdered Candice because she believed that she was having an affair with James Larsen?”

  Violet and Nancy nodded while the rest of the room went silent to listen to Matthew’s recap of the events.

  “Thanks to Lindsey, here, who noticed a picture of Judy wearing the sweater that Candice was found in, the identity of the killer was revealed.”

  “Because I’m an idiot and led her right to Judy,” Lindsey muttered. “It’s a good thing you and Benji happened to be sitting up in the bleachers, contemplating what to do to draw the killer out, when we arrived.”

  “Yeah, we started meeting at the bleachers every morning to talk over our search for the killer and, I suppose, in some small way to be with Candice,” he said.

  “It was almost deadly, for all of us.” Lindsey shivered at the memory.

  Matthew patted her arm in a comforting gesture. It was a nice effort but Lindsey knew she would never forgive herself for almost getting Judy killed, not to mention putting her own life in jeopardy, especially when she had so much to live for.

  “Anyway, the nitty-gritty of it is that Principal Larsen suspected his wife had killed Candice in the mistaken belief that he was having an affair with her,” he said. “His guilt at being the one to cause his wife to commit such a heinous act kept him quiet. He told Judy to leave town, although he didn’t explain why, just that he thought it was for the best. Heartbroken at her closest friend’s death, Judy went.

  “Meanwhile, Benji Gunderson and I became the most likely suspects because of our closeness to Candice. We both felt the need to leave Briar Creek. I bounced around for a while, but finally, I realized I was never really going to move forward with my life if I didn’t get some closure on the past. I tracked Benji down through his brother’s social media posts, and we started messaging back and forth. We started talking about how lousy it was to be driven from our hometown for a crime we didn’t commit. That’s when I decided to return to Briar Creek in disguise and see if I could figure out who really killed Ms. Whitley.”

  “You are a very brave young man,” Nancy said.

  “No. Stubborn maybe, not brave,” he said. “I’m just glad we caught her. Now that Judy is on the mend, she is planning to create a scholarship in Candice’s name for students with an interest in literature or theater, and I’m going to help.”

  “We all will,” Violet said. The rest of the crafternooners nodded in agreement.

  “Well, it looks like Karen will be in jail for the rest of her life,” Mary said. She raised her glass in the air. “Justice has been served.”

  They all raised their glasses of iced tea and lemonade in return and toasted her words. The small group went back to dishing their food and the conversation broke off as they discussed the possible future that Karen would be enjoying in prison.

  Lindsey turned to Matthew. “I know we’ve hashed all of this out, but I need to clarify something.”

  “Sure,” he said. “Anything I can do to help.”

  “Okay, here’s the thing,” she said. “Why did you return the copy of The Catcher in the Rye that Candice gave you on amnesty day?”

  Matthew put his hand on the back of his neck. He looked uncomfortable, but Lindsey wasn’t about to let him off the hook. When they had gone to the police station after he and Benji subdued Karen, he admitted to returning the library book while Benji had admitted that he had been the one to burglarize the homes of those people with a connection to Candice. So far no charges had been filed, and Lindsey doubted any would be.

  “Why return the book to the library?” she pressed.

  “For years I kept that book with me,” Matthew said. “Ms. Whitley and I met right outside the library on the day she died, and she gave it to me, telling me to read it because I would relate to Holden Caulfield. Sadly, I related to him much more after her murder than I would have before. I would have preferred not to.”

  A faraway look came into his eyes and Lindsey knew he was thinking about the last moments he’d shared with Ms. Whitley.

  “When she was killed, I felt like it was the last thing I had of her. I kept it with me through all of my travels and all of my moves. I tried to keep it in pristine condition out of respect for her and her belief in me. I read it once a year faithfully, but then . . .”

  He paused and after a few moments, Lindsey nudged him with her elbow, and said, “But then?”

  “After I returned to town as Brian Kelly, and I got to know a few people, I learned that a certain librarian had a reputation for figuring things out. It occurred to me, and Benji agreed, that if we returned the library book that Candice had checked out right before she died, you would be curious and start asking questions.”

  He gave Lindsey a side eye, as if checking to see how mad she was.

  “It’s okay,” she said. “I’m aware that I have a reputation.”

  “Well, it proved out,” he said. “If the burglaries hadn’t been enough to start up interest in the old case, you deciding to turn the book over to the police did. And even better than that, you started asking
questions. Karen never would have been caught if it weren’t for you, Lindsey. Benji and I are so very grateful.”

  “You’re welcome,” she said. “And I was happy to help, but this is the last time I am ever going to do anything like that ever again.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’ve learned my lesson,” Lindsey said. “I need to change my ways and respect the limits of my position as the town librarian. Karen scared me straight. I will not be doing any more investigations. From now on I am going to mind my own business and let the police handle things.”

  The room went silent. Lindsey turned away from Matthew to find all of her friends staring at her as if they didn’t recognize her.

  “What?” she asked. “Why are you staring at me?”

  “Because getting information is what you do,” Beth said. “It’s like hardwired into your DNA or something.”

  “I’m not turning in my reference credentials, just my snooping ones,” Lindsey said.

  “But you’re like an information superhighway all on your own,” Violet said. “I’m not sure you can just switch that off.”

  “Besides, you know Sully loves you just the way you are,” Mary said. Then she clapped a hand over her mouth.

  Now they all went wide-eyed, except for the newcomers because, of course, they had no idea that the “L” word had been the topic of last week’s crafternoon meeting.

  “No way!” Beth jumped up and down, sending the elephant trunk on her head bouncing until it slapped her in the face, forcing her to calm down. “Who said it first?”

  Lindsey felt her face go hot. “I never said . . . I’m not . . . Hey, did you know that The Catcher in the Rye was the most censored book in the U.S. from nineteen sixty-one to nineteen eighty-two?”

  “He totally said it first,” Beth said to Mary, who giggled.

  Lindsey rolled her eyes. Then she noticed that everyone in the room was grinning at her. They were happy for her. It was impossible not to respond and Lindsey beamed back at them, unable to keep her newfound happiness contained.

  “Yeah, he said it first,” she admitted. “And it was pretty great.”

  “‘I like it when somebody gets excited about something,’” Paula said to Matthew.

  He laughed and added, “‘It’s nice.’”

  “Hey, that’s from the book,” Violet said. She glanced from them to Nancy. “Looks like we have a couple of smarty-pants in our crafternoon group.”

  “Excellent,” Nancy said. “If Lindsey really is going to quit being a buttinsky, we’re going to need some new recruits to keep things interesting.”

  She glanced at Lindsey with one silver eyebrow raised. Lindsey knew she was trying to get her to recant her declaration of no more investigations, but Lindsey wasn’t going to be swayed so easily.

  Life was feeling pretty perfect at the moment, and she didn’t plan on doing anything to mess it up, which included unraveling mysteries that were none of her business. Surely, that couldn’t be too hard, right?

  The Briar Creek Library

  Guide to Crafternoons

  The crafternooners would love to help you kick-start your own crafternoon. It’s pretty simple in concept and execution. All you need is a gathering of friends to share good food, a craft and a conversation about a really good book. So here you go!

  Readers Guide for

  The Catcher in the Rye

  by J. D. Salinger

  1. Do you find the character of Holden Caulfield likable? Why or why not? Is he a typical teenager?

  2. What does the title The Catcher in the Rye refer to? How is it used in the novel?

  3. Why does Holden go to New York City? What is the significance of the setting?

  4. Why does Holden Caulfield see everyone as “phony”? Is his perception of others accurate? Is Holden himself a phony?

  5. Why is the character Phoebe special to Holden? Why is she the only one he seems to care for?

  Craft: Paula’s Beaded Daisy Chain

  Thread

  Needle

  3 colors of beads (the directions will use white petals, yellow centers, and green leaves)

  To start cut a six-foot length of thread and thread the needle so that you have a double thread three feet in length.

  Start by making a ring of beads for the clasp. For this, string six green beads and two white beads, then pull all eight beads all the way down the thread until they are two inches from the end. Then bring the needle through the first bead, going in the side of the bead closest to the two-inch tail, then go through each bead and pull the thread tight to form a ring. Tie a knot with the thread and the two-inch tail to keep the ring of beads secure.

  Now the first daisy will be formed by bringing the needle and thread back through the two white beads. String six more white beads and bring the needle and thread back through the first white bead, forming a ring of white beads. String one yellow bead and bring the needle and thread through a white bead on the opposite side of the ring, at the top of the daisy. This creates your first daisy in the chain.

  The next step will make leaves and the beginning of the next daisy. String two green beads, two white beads and two more green beads. Bring the needle and thread through a white bead at the top of the previous daisy and pull tight so that it forms a ring. String one green bead to fill the center of the ring and then pull the needle and thread through one of the white beads on the ring. Now your leaves are done.

  Repeat the directions for the first daisy and the leaves until your beaded daisy chain is the desired length. End by stringing six green beads and forming a loop just like the first one. Tie off the string in between beads.

  Recipes

  VIOLET’S HAM AND CHEESE SLIDERS

  ¾ cup melted butter

  1½ tablespoons Dijon mustard

  1½ tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

  24 smalls rolls

  1 pound sliced ham

  1 pound sliced Swiss cheese

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13x9–inch glass baking dish with parchment paper. In a small bowl, mix together the melted butter, mustard and Worcestershire sauce and set aside. Slice the rolls, placing the bottom halves onto the parchment paper in the baking dish. Layer the ham on the rolls and then the cheese. Put the tops of the rolls onto the sandwiches. Brush the mustard mixture evenly over the rolls and bake for 20 minutes, until the cheese has melted and the rolls are golden brown.

  MATTHEW’S CROCK-POT MARINARA MEATBALLS

  2 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano

  1 (14.5 ounce) can tomato sauce

  2 tablespoons tomato paste

  1 tablespoon sugar

  1 teaspoon garlic powder

  1 teaspoon onion powder

  1 teaspoon kosher salt

  36 meatballs, uncooked (recipe below)

  2 bay leaves

  In a large blender, combine all ingredients, except the meatballs and bay leaves. Blend until your sauce is the consistency you prefer, chunky or smooth. Pour half of the sauce on the bottom of the Crock-Pot. Put aside remaining sauce to pour on top of the meatballs. Place uncooked meatballs in Crock-Pot. Pour sauce over top, until covered. Add bay leaves. Cover and cook on high for 3–4 hours, or low for 6–8 hours.

  MEATBALL RECIPE

  1 pound ground beef

  ½ cup Italian breadcrumbs

  ½ cup red wine, such as Chianti

  ¼ cup fresh-grated Parmesan cheese

  1 teaspoon garlic powder

  1 teaspoon onion powder

  1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning

  ½ teaspoon salt

  ½ teaspoon black pepper

  1 large egg, lightly beaten

  In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients until well blended. Roll the mixture evenly into 36 meatballs.

  HANNAH�
��S CHAI TEA

  8 cups water

  1 cinnamon stick

  6 green cardamom pods

  8 whole cloves

  1 (½ inch) piece of ginger root, peeled and thinly sliced

  6 black peppercorns

  2 tablespoons loose-leaf black tea

  ¼ cup brown sugar

  1 cup milk

  In a medium saucepan, combine the water, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, ginger and peppercorns; bring to a boil for five minutes; remove from heat and let sit for ten minutes.

  Add the tea, return to the stove and bring to a boil, then lower the heat to simmer for five minutes. Use a wire strainer to strain the spices and tea leaves from the liquid into another saucepan and return the liquid to the stove. Over low heat, use a whisk to stir in the brown sugar and milk until well blended. Serve while hot.

  MAKES 8 (1 CUP) SERVINGS.

  Keep reading for a special preview of

  Jenn McKinlay’s next Hat Shop Mystery . . .

  ASSAULT AND BERET

  Coming January 2017 in paperback

  from Berkley Prime Crime!

  “You know everyone says that French waiters are rude, but I don’t think our waiter is rude at all,” I said to my cousin Vivian Tremont. “He seems very pleasant.”

  “That’s because he’s trying to sleep with you, Scarlett,” Vivian said. “Why do you think our bottle of Cheverny La Bodice was on the house?”

  “Seriously? Free wine for a tussle in the sheets? Do I look that easy?” I asked. “Well, that is rude.”

  “Uh-huh,” she said. Which was only slightly better than I told you so, but not much.