“Nice try,” Max spat. “There’s only cupcakes here. And that horrible flan thing, that’s already cut. Why would you need to cut those?”
Faith froze. She hadn’t asked JoJo to go get a knife. And what Max had said was true – there was absolutely no need of one. But she watched tears coursing over JoJo’s cheeks, and his wide innocent eyes.
Alizee was furious. “He wanted to cut one of his cupcakes open, to show that there’s a piece of Milky Way in the middle. That’s why. Leave him alone. Why can’t you just leave all of us alone? I know you all think that we killed Robbie. When we didn’t even know the guy. Why would we kill him?”
“Nobody thinks you killed him,” Robert Lewis Senior said. “I have my own ideas about who did it.”
Capability backed away from the group, pointing the gun at each one of them in turn. “This is getting too weird. Which one of you threatened me for money? Come on, confess.”
Tabby burst into tears. “Why is everyone staring at me?”
No one had been, but they certainly were after that outburst.
“Just because I’m poor, doesn’t mean I would do that,” Tabby said. “We’re about to be homeless, but I still didn’t do it. I still didn’t.”
“No, you didn’t,” Robert Lewis Senior said. “I know who did. I know who killed Robbie, and who hurt Capability Moses.”
“You do?” Faith said. “Tell us.”
Robert Lewis Senior got his own gun out, and held it at Andrew Martinez’s head. “I thought you were my friend,” he spat, his voice full of tears.
“What?” Andrew reached out to Robert Lewis Senior. “Rob, what’s going on? Are you losing your mind?”
Robert Lewis Senior stepped smartly back, both his hands on the gun. “Don’t come closer! I should have known I couldn’t trust you.”
It clicked into place for Faith – all her suspicions about him had been right all along. “So it’s true!” she said. “You killed Robbie just before the election, hoping that Rob would be so devastated he would pull out.”
“No!” Andrew Martinez said.
“And then when you heard we were turning it into a place of hope, so you decided you just couldn’t have that,” Faith continued. “So you brought along a camera crew and hurt Capability, so that Robert would lose even more hope. Then you planted the rock in JoJo’s bag, to make it look like the kids had done it.”
“What?” Andrew Martinez said. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I had no idea you’d stoop this low,” Robert Lewis Senior said. “I thought you were my friend.” He adjusted his hands on the gun. “I should kill you right now.”
“Please, just listen to me.”
“If the senator job meant that much to me that you’d kill my son over it, I’d have given it up for you. All this, over a political seat?” His voice heaved with tears. “All of this?”
“But you don’t understand,” Andrew Martinez said. “I’m not even running.”
A silence stretched out for a moment.
“What?” Robert Lewis Senior said. “Of course, you’re running. Why wouldn’t you be? Your numbers are the best they’ve ever been.”
“I’m not running… because I have terminal cancer.” Andrew Martinez dropped his chin onto his chest. “I’ve been given until the end of the year. If I won, I’d spend maybe two months in office. I didn’t bring the cameras to make you look bad in the news. I brought the cameras to make you look good. I desperately want you in office. I think you’re the best man for the job.”
Robert Lewis Senior’s chest was heaving up and down. “Is this true?”
Andrew Martinez looked at him sadly. It was the realest Faith had ever seen him look. “I’m afraid so, buddy. It would be a pretty sick thing to do, wouldn’t it, to make up the fact I have cancer. I wish I was making it up. Call my wife and find out, if it’s too hard to believe.” He sank to his knees.
Suddenly, something clicked for Faith. As Robert Lewis Senior got on his knees to embrace his friend, saying, “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry,” she thought of something. She pulled out her iPhone, knowing she had to do some research. But there was one thing she was forgetting – the name. The name.
“So who did it, then?” Capability said, still holding his gun and waving it around. “I’m not lowering this until someone confesses.” Then he noticed Shane standing next to him. “Move,” he said. “I don’t want anyone next to me, not even you. I don’t trust any of you.”
Shane, dejected, walked away. For once he had nothing to say. He looked afraid, really afraid.
Faith looked around at all of them. Everyone looked afraid. How could any of them be a killer? And then the penny dropped – she remembered the name.
She punched it into Google, and yes! There it was.
“I know who it was,” she said, though the theory was still formulating in her head. She wasn’t sure she had all the details, but she had that one detail she needed, and a strong gut feeling. That would have to be enough.
*****
Chapter 20
“Please don’t say me, please don’t say me,” said JoJo.
Alizee growled. “She better not say you.”
“It was Max,” Faith said, feeling less certain than she sounded.
Max rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” But Faith saw his hands were shaking.
“No!” Janice said. “It wasn’t!”
“I wouldn’t rush to his defense,” Faith said. “Since he told me you were a psycho and a compulsive liar, who lied about his dad being murdered.”
“What?” Janice said, devastation weighing down her voice. “Max, what is this?”
“She is a liar!” Max hollered. “My father was never murdered! She just makes things up!”
“Then why have I got this report right here?” Faith said. “It’s in the newspaper archive, the murder of Jonas Neumann. Caught in the crossfire in a gang war. Lim Ngo charged with murder.”
“It’s a lie!” Max shouted. “It never happened!”
“It’s right here in black and white!” Faith said.
Max paused, then burst into tears. “Fine!” he hollered. “Fine! Well, Robbie deserved it! He was a dirty bleeding heart liberal who loved these disgusting little criminal children.”
“Hey!” Alizee said. Faith realized she was totally fearless. “Don’t talk about us like that!”
“Shut your mouth,” Max said. “I would have killed you if I could get away with it. I did think of killing one of you, to pay you back for what you all did to my father. But I thought it would be much better to kill Robbie and make them all believe it was one of you.”
“Max,” Janice said, tears streaming down her face. “Please tell me this isn’t true.”
“Shut up,” he said, then looked at Capability. “I don’t care, point your stupid gun at me, you think I care? I enjoyed hitting you over the head with that rock. Then I planted it in that stupid little criminal’s bag.” He nodded at JoJo. “But you all think you’re so good and nice, and that people change. People don’t change. Criminals never change. Mom, you’re so dumb to think that nasty Lim murderer has changed. Even if he has changed, I don’t care. They all deserve to die. All criminals deserve to die, even kids like you. You all disgust me.”
Faith’s heart was heavy. “But this is what I don’t get,” she said. “These kids had nothing to do with your father dying.”
“Yes, they did,” he spat. “They’re just like him. He’s a nasty criminal. They’re nasty criminals. They’re all one and the same.”
“Can someone just take this guy out, please?” Alizee said. “Just shoot him or something.”
“See?” Max said. “See? Listen to the little criminal girl. She wants to kill me. See what kind of people we have among us?”
Nathan’s voice was trembling. “You killed Robbie. You hurt Capability. And you did it deliberately. You’re worse than any of them will ever be.”
“Your father’s death was trag
ic,” Faith said, “but even that wasn’t deliberate. You killed Robbie, an innocent person, deliberately.”
Robert Lewis Senior got out his phone, his hand shaking. His gun was still in his right hand, and he was pointing it at Max. “I’m going to call the cops, before I do anything I might regret.”
Janice collapsed into a heap on the floor, crying her eyes out. Somehow everyone knew they shouldn’t approach her. How could they possibly make her feel better? Her husband had been murdered all those years ago, and now her only son had turned into a killer. She had lost them both, and nothing anyone could do would make any difference to her devastation. She was entitled to her pain.
Max stood still as a statue, his eyes glazing over.
“Why did you think you could take Robbie’s life away from us?” Nathan said.
Max didn’t even answer. Faith guessed he hadn’t even heard. He looked like he’d checked out of the world altogether.
*****
“Capability, you were the greatest,” Shane said, beaming up at his hero. “You had that gun there and pointed it at everyone like, Freeze, suckers, no killer is going to win today. And because you had the gun, Max couldn’t do anything crazy.”
Capability smiled at him. “Everyone handled themselves very well. You guys were very calm, and that helped the situation a lot.”
“Calm?” Alizee scoffed. “He was terrified.”
“Was not!” Shane protested.
“It’s okay to be scared of things,” Laura said. “It’s natural. That was a very scary situation. Everyone was scared.”
They had considered calling off the grand opening, but Robert Lewis Senior had said, “That goes against the whole spirit of the place. We wanted closure, we got closure. Now let’s celebrate Robbie’s life, and hope.”
So they’d all trooped into Robbie’s Springs of Hope to enjoy the last half-hour before the general public were let in. They bathed in the pools, and admired Capability’s flowers, and basked in the new-found peace they had, knowing that there was no more danger.
“Robbie would have loved this,” Nathan said.
“Yes,” Robert Lewis Senior said, relaxing back in one of the pools, and looking up at the creamy-blue sky. “In fact, I feel like he’s here. Watching us. Laughing with us.”
That was such a comforting thought, that everyone went quiet and sank into it.
Faith smiled. “Even when the worst things happen, and you think it’s never going to get better, it always does, doesn’t it?”
Robert Lewis Senior said, “Yes. If we take the good from what happened. Robbie was a special person. So joyful, so encouraging, so free. I know he doesn’t want to see us fall into a dark hole and never come out again. So as much as I’m mourning him, and will for a long time, I’m going to respect him by learning from him. Learning to be more joyful, more encouraging, more free. That’s really honoring him.”
“Yes,” Nathan said, for once not sounding choked up when he spoke about his friend. “He was as free as a butterfly.”
Just at that moment, the most beautiful, huge butterfly fluttered over their heads. It was exquisite, a beautiful creature of oranges and yellows and reds and purples.
“Oh, look!” Alizee said. “Look at that huge butterfly!”
“I have a butterfly pencil,” said Allen, about to get out of the pool to fetch it.
Laura pulled him back in. “We’ll see it when we’re done bathing. Bathe first, then pencil.”
“Does this sound crazy?” Faith said. “It was like when that butterfly flew over us, it was Robbie or something. Does that sound really crazy?”
“No.” Robert Lewis Senior smiled. “It doesn’t sound crazy at all.”
The End
*****
Thank you for reading our story! We hope you liked it! If so, please sign up for our newsletter so we can notify you when the next book is available! We’ll also fill you in on behind-the-scenes info and let you know about any special offers PLUS, as a Thank You for subscribing, we’ll send you a FREE BOOK in this series called The Cream Pie Alibi! Just click this link to SUBSCRIBE TO OUR MAILING LIST! (Please note: this is a mailing list for the “Slice of Paradise” series ONLY, not for any of Nancy McGovern’s or Cyra Bruce’s solo projects. There is more information about each of the authors, including more about their other work & how to contact them directly, on the final pages of this book.)
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Continue for your delicious recipe…
A RECIPE FOR YOU!
Faith’s Flan-tastic Flan
Serves: 10-12
Ingredients:
5 medium eggs
3 cups whole milk
3 cans sweetened condensed milk
2 cups sugar
1 cup pecans, roughly chopped
1½ tablespoons cocoa powder
Directions:
1. Add the sugar into a medium saucepan. Heat on medium-low, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens and turns into golden brown caramel.
2. Saving a small portion for later, pour the caramel into a 10 inch molding pan, coating the bottom and extending approximately 1 inch up the sides. Allow to cool and harden.
3. Heat the oven to 375 degrees F.
4. Using a blender, mix the eggs, whole milk, condensed milk, cocoa powder & half the pecans for 20 seconds, until thoroughly mixed.
5. Fold in the remaining pecans then pour the mixture over the firm caramel.
6. Cover the molding pan with foil and place it into a large, heat-safe/ovenproof dish filled with warm water. Carefully transfer to the oven.
7. Bake for 50-70 minutes, until a knife stuck into the flan comes out clean.
8. Remove the flan from the oven and allow it to cool completely. Then refrigerate overnight.
9. Run a knife around the edges of the molding pan then gently flip the flan onto a plate.
10. Heat the excess caramel to soften and use as a drizzle.
11. Cut into slices and serve.
12. Enjoy!
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Meet the authors…
Nancy McGovern
I'm a mother, wife, homemaker, pet lover, teacher, student, reader, writer, drinker of tea & wine (depending on the time of day) and sleep-deprived dreamer. While originally from Northern New Jersey, I now live in Syracuse, New York with my husband, Doug (a veterinarian & writer of science fiction), our three children and too many furred & feathered friends to list!
My Email:
[email protected]
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Meet Cyra Bruce…
Cyra Bruce
I’m a 30-something young woman with an old soul – I love staying in and baking on a Saturday night, growing flowers, little old southern houses, lacy tablecloths, taking afternoon tea on the porch and, of course, writing cozy
mysteries! I live in a little stone cottage on the Caribbean island of St Lucia with my husband, a St Lucian, who I met and married in my native England. We decided to move to this little island paradise to grow our own food and live more simply, and I am grateful to live a much more peaceful life than the characters in my books!
While I have been writing for myself and others all my life, “Slice of Paradise Cozy Mysteries” is the first work I’ve published under my own name. If you would like to know more about both the books and me, please SUBSCRIBE to the series mailing list! You’ll get a FREE story called The Cream Pie Alibi that cannot be found anywhere else PLUS special discounts & fun stuff…like contests! We’ll have so much fun!
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Rights & Disclaimer
This is entirely a work of fiction. All people, places and events contained have been completely fabricated by the authors. Any similarities to real people, places, or events are completely coincidental.
Pecan Flan Murder Plan Copyright © 2017 Nancy McGovern & Cyra Bruce
All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any manner or used in any way without advanced written permission by the authors.
Pecan Flan Murder Plan Page 10
