Ice Cold Murder

by Kate Bell

  He sat back, breathing hard. “She was the only person that told me I was worth anything. She told me I could do it. Whatever it was that I wanted to do, I could do it.”

  “What about your mother?” I said weakly, finally finding my words. “Didn’t she tell you that you could do it?” I slowly reached for my phone in my pocket. I couldn’t recall what had happened to my purse.

  He laughed bitterly. “No. She said to be careful. She said you’re different. You can’t do things other kids can do.”

  “Mothers worry,” I squeaked out, still trying to make my way to my jeans pocket without him seeing me.

  “She didn’t want me to leave her. She didn’t want me going to Texas. She was so glad when I flunked out. She was happy about it,” he said. “She got what she wanted. But I didn’t get what I wanted.”

  “It’s hard for a mother to let her kids go. It’s only because they love their kids,” I said, and felt the bump in my pocket. I gently slipped the phone out and hid it in my hand, keeping it by my side.

  “You don’t know what love is,” he said without emotion. “No one but me and Mrs. Rose know what love is.”

  He suddenly turned to me and shoved me. I grabbed for purchase, and realized I was at the stairs entrance. I felt myself falling, and I reached up and grabbed the chain that was strung across the entrance and I held on with all my might as he shoved me again. My phone flew down the stairs and I found my voice and screamed.

  “I didn’t want to do it,” he said, pushing me again. “Let go!”

  I screamed with everything I had and my head screamed back. I felt vomit rising in my throat and thought I might choke on it, but I kept screaming.

  “Hey! What are you doing?” I heard a male voice shout from what seemed far away.

  “Let go!” Josh hissed at me, and punched me in the side of the head.

  Everything went black as I felt myself falling.

  --24--

  I lay on the hospital bed with Alec sitting at my side. The lights seemed so bright and my head swam with pictures. There was a needle in my arm and a bag of fluids hung on a metal rack beside me. I hoped there were pain meds in there because I needed some. I moaned.

  “Hey,” Alec whispered, leaning toward me.

  “Hey,” I said back, my throat cracking.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked.

  “Horrible,” I squeaked out.

  He leaned over and pressed his lips to my forehead. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered.

  “What happened?” I asked, trying to force the memories to come.

  “Josh tried to shove you down the stairs at the elementary school. But one of the teachers, Mike Evans, heard you scream and he stopped him. Unfortunately he had already hit you in the head and that’s why you’re here,” he said, gently brushing the hair off my forehead. “You also took a tumble about halfway down the stairs.”

  I tried to smile, but the skin on my face felt tight. “Did he confess?”

  “He did. I just spoke with Sam Bailey. Josh said he accidentally knocked Iris down the stairs. It seems he went to see her and confess his love for her.”

  “He did it,” I said, already knowing that fact.

  “Mike Evans said Josh had been making appearances at the school for a couple of weeks before her death. When Iris rejected him, he got angry and shoved her. He swears he didn’t mean to kill her, but he panicked and took her out into the woods and had a burial for her. That was his ring we found on Iris’s finger. He tried to give it to her that day. He said she wouldn’t take it.”

  “Poor Iris,” I whispered.

  “Why did you go to the school?” he asked.

  “Greggo,” I answered.

  Alec’s forehead furrowed. “Greggo?”

  I nodded, but pain shot through my head. “The little orange toy that was in Iris’s hands. In the show, he’s full of doubts. But one of the other characters, Jackie, always encouraged him. She kept saying, you can do it. I had a dream and Iris kept saying, you can do it,” I said and swallowed. My mouth was dry and my lips were chapped.

  “Here,” he said and brought a straw to my lips for me to take a sip. The water was room temperature, but it felt like Heaven in my hot, dry mouth. I swallowed.

  “He said Iris was the only person that believed in him and encouraged him. Remember? When we ran into him. He said it again today at the school.”

  Alec sighed. “Too bad he killed the only person that believed in him.”

  “Yeah. That’s pretty sad.”

  “But, at least we got a confession,” he said.

  “Do you think it’s true? That he didn’t mean to do it?” I asked him.

  “It could be. But he better get a good lawyer. I don’t think a jury’s going to be willing to believe it was an accident when he tried to do it a second time with you,” he said. He leaned over and kissed my forehead.

  I teared up. “That was so close,” I said.

  “I know, baby. It’s okay. Everything’s okay,” he murmured.

  I was beginning to think being an assistant PI might be bad for my health. I enjoyed spending time with Alec. Except for the near death experiences I was having, anyway. I was going to have to think about this assistant PI thing carefully.

  RECIPES!!

  SNOW CREAM

  4 quarts clean snow or shaved ice

  1 cup white sugar

  2 cups half and half

  4 teaspoons vanilla extract

  pinch of salt

  Heat half and half almost to the point of simmering. Remove from heat. Stir salt and sugar into half and half until sugar is dissolved. Refrigerate half and half until cold. Stir vanilla extract into half and half and pour over snow or shaved ice. Stir gently to combine. Do not over mix to keep from breaking down the snow or shaved ice. Serve with chocolate sauce or sprinkles.

  BLUEBERRY SOUR CREAM PIE

  1 9” deep dish piecrust, unbaked

  3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

  3/4 cup white sugar

  1/3 cup all purpose flour

  1/8 teaspoon salt

  2 eggs, beaten

  1/2 cup sour cream

  2 teaspoons vanilla extract

  For the streusel topping

  1/2 cup brown sugar

  1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

  1/2 cup all purpose flour

  1/4 cup butter, softened

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Rinse blueberries and pat dry. Place in unbaked pie crust and set aside.

  Combine 3/4 Cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour and salt. Beat eggs with sour cream, and then mix in sugar/flour mixture. Pour over blueberries in pie crust.

  In another bowl, combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and 1/2 cup flour. Cut in butter with a pastry blender of using a fork until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle over blueberries and sour cream mixture in the pie shell.

  Bake on center rack of oven 50-55 minutes, until top is lightly browned.

  Remove from oven and allow to cool.

  CHOCOLATE ORANGE CHEESECAKE

  Crust:

  9 ounces chocolate wafer cookies, crushed (chocolate sandwich cookies can be substituted)

  6 tablespoons butter, melted

  Filling:

  4, 8 ounce packages cream cheese, softened

  1 1/3 cups granulated sugar

  2 tablespoons orange flavored liqueur, or orange juice concentrate

  2 teaspoons orange zest

  1 teaspoon vanilla

  4 eggs, beaten

  dash salt

  Topping

  6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

  6 ounces heavy cream

  1 tablespoon butter

  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

  In a medium sized bowl, mix crushed chocolate wafers and melted butter. Press into the bottom of a 9” spring form pan, bringing the mixture 2” up the sides of pan. Set aside.

  In a large mixing bowl, mix softened cream cheese with sugar until combined. Add in orange liqueur, orang
e zest, salt, and vanilla. Mix until well combined. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Pour filling into crust.

  Bake 55-65 minutes or until filling is almost set. Open oven door and allow to cool on oven rack, 2 ½ hours.

  Place topping ingredients into a double boiler and heat over medium low, stirring constantly. When chocolate is melted and well incorporated, remove from heat. Allow topping to cool slightly, you want it to still be pourable. Pour the topping over the cooled cheesecake and refrigerate at least four hours before serving.