Chicken Caccia-Killer (A Jordan McAllister Mystery) (31 page)

“I’m glad for Frankie. Maybe this will be enough to qualify as his rock bottom and he’ll get sober this time.”

“Hope so.” Alex stood up. “I need to get going. I have someone from the office picking me up, but we’ll drop you at the office and then I’ll see you back at your apartment later with dinner.”

“How’s your arm holding up?” she asked.

“I’m off the hard stuff and only using ibuprofen now.” He followed her out the door.

* * * * *

Jordan could have used at least a few more hours of sleep, she thought as she walked into the office. The moment she arrived at her desk, her phone rang, pushing all thoughts of actually catching a break today, further out of her reach. Jackie Frazier, her boss’s secretary, called to tell her that Egan wanted to see her in his office as soon as possible, and she promised it wouldn’t take long.

She put her purse down at her desk before making the dreaded trip up to Egan’s office, noticing that Loretta wasn’t at her cubicle. Assuming she was already up in Egan’s office, Jordan decided it was now or never and headed that way.

She tried to mentally prepare herself for whatever her editor was about to say to her. But she wasn’t the same girl today as she was just two days ago. Getting dumped as the culinary reporter seemed miniscule when compared to almost dying at the hands of the bull in the pasture.

When she got off the elevator, Jackie looked up and smiled.

That was a first! Egan’s secretary had never tried to make nice before.

“He’s waiting.” She waved her in with a hand.

Jordan was surprised to see that Loretta wasn’t there, waiting to gloat. She sat down in a chair across from her editor and waited for him to get off the phone.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” he said after he disconnected. “The story about you and that Italian woman is all over the front page today. I’ll need you to give a full interview to one of our reporters.”

She nodded, waiting for the hammer to drop. “Where’s Loretta?” she asked, too impatient for small talk.

“Downstairs in her uncle’s office.” He reached for his coffee mug and took a sip. “Want Jackie to bring you a cup?”

She shook her head. “Get on with it, please. Am I back to writing only the personals again?”

He took the last swallow of coffee before he leaned back in the chair and put his hands behind his head, making his oversized ears protrude even further from his face. “Why would you think that?”

She lifted her chin and met his unreadable stare with an icy one of her own. She wasn’t in the mood to play games. “Just tell me, and I’ll be out of your hair.”

“For your information, you are no longer writing the personals,” he answered.

There it was—worse than she’d imagined. Not only was he taking the culinary column away from her, but he was also giving her the boot.

“You’re now my full-time culinary reporter, and I’ve bumped up your columns to four a week.”

Her head snapped up, positive she hadn’t heard him right. “What about Loretta?”

“Seems she posted a recipe in Friday’s paper that has a lot of angry people bombarding Uncle Earl with phone calls and emails.” He chuckled. “She claims you deliberately sabotaged the recipe so that would happen. That so?” His eyes told her he already knew the answer to the question.

“I did no such thing. I told her the recipe was missing one of the main ingredients, but unfortunately, she’d already stolen it from my desk drawer and posted it.”

He leaned forward on his elbows and supported his chin with both hands. “That’s what I figured. Well played, if I have to say so myself.”

“So what’s she going to be doing?”

“Uncle Earl reassigned her to the Classifieds, and I can tell you, she’s not a happy camper right now.”

“And the column is really mine now?”

“As long as you keep the people of Ranchero happy, it is.” He shuffled a few papers on his desk. “Now get out of here and get some rest. I’ll see you in the morning.” He tilted his head and stared at her as if trying to figure her out. “Oh, and McAllister, I’d appreciate it if you’d reprint the correct recipe and get all those people off my back.”

She bit her lip to hide the smile. “I’ll see what I can do.” She stood and walked out when he dismissed her with a nod.

* * * * *

After gathering her purse, she went home, and although she didn’t think she could, she slept for three hours. Awakened by a knock at the door, she was surprised to see that it was already after five.

When she opened it, her friends poured into the apartment, all talking at once.

“Tell us everything,” Rosie said. “And don’t you dare leave anything out.”

“Then y’all had better sit down, because it’s a doozy.”

When they were all seated, she started at the beginning of how her snooping had landed her in Jeff’s car on the way to the pasture with the bull.

When she was finished, Victor’s eyes were wide with excitement. “Damn, girl! I’ll bet you needed new underwear after seeing that bull coming at you.” He gritted his teeth. “I always miss out on the good stuff.”

“Be careful what you wish for, my friend” Jordan said. “This was way too close for comfort, even for me.” She waved to Ray who had just walked in with a bag from Myrtle’s. “Please tell me that’s her Chocolate Bread Pudding.”

“Nope. It’s her Better Than Sex Cake. I know how much you love it. I had to promise to fix all her smoke alarms in the morning to get her to break it out. She was saving it for a book club luncheon tomorrow.”

“I love you, Ray Varga,” Jordan said, hugging his neck. “If I didn’t know what a great lady you already have by your side, I might consider making a play for you.”

“Oh, hogwash!” Lola said, throwing her arms in the air. “On second thought, a shot at that handsome officer of yours might be worth trading for.” When Ray nailed her with a glare and was about to protest, she held up her hand. “Oh chill, honey. You’ll always be my little teddy bear.”

The playful moment was cut short when the doorbell rang and Jordan jumped up to answer it, expecting to see Alex with a couple boxes of pizza. She flung the door open and couldn’t believe what she saw. Looking up at her with big doe eyes was the white dog with one black paw. She bent down to pet him, and he jumped into her arms, knocking her over before covering her face with wet kisses.

Then Alex stepped out from behind the door. “Jordan, meet Max.”

“How did you find him?” she asked, laughing as she returned the affection to her little friend.

“I talked to a farmer who knew immediately what dog I was talking about when I described him. He sent me to another farm house farther down the gravel road where I was prepared to pay big bucks to bring him home to you.” He laughed out loud. “This dog was made for you, Jordan. As it turns out, the farmer was so glad to get rid of Max, he probably would have paid me to take him off his hands. Seems your little friend has every cattle rancher in the area furious because he chases their cows and teases the bulls.” He handed her the leash. “So you’re stuck with him.”

She looked up at Victor and Michael. “I know there’s a no pet policy here but—”

“This dog saved your life, Jordan. How can we say no? Just try not to let the other tenants see him,” Michael said bending down to pet the dog.

“Yeah, right. If Max is as frisky as Alex says, that’s not going to happen,” Rosie said, stooping down to receive a big wet kiss. “We’ll all help you take care of him. He can be the new Empire Apartment mascot.”

Jordan looked up at Alex. “Max, huh?” When he nodded, she smiled and mouthed, “I love you.”

His eyes sent a slow and sensual message in reply. “Save that thought for tonight, love, ” he whispered. Then he looked at the others. “Okay, who’s gonna help me bring in the pizza and beer from the car?

T
HE
E
ND

C
OPYRIGHT
I
NFORMATION

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

For more information, please direct your correspondence to:

The Story Vault

c/o Marketing Department

364 Patteson Drive, #228

Morgantown, WV 26505-3202

CHICKEN CACCIA-KILLER

All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2013 by Elizabeth Roth Lipperman

http://www.lizlipperman.com

Cover Design by Kelly Crimi

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Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.

L
ILL’S
S
PAGHETTI
S
AUCE
A
ND
M
EATBALLS

(From the files of Rose Magistro)

For the Meatballs

3 lbs. ground chuck

3 large eggs

1 ½ cups Italian flavored bread crumbs

1 ½ cups Parmesan cheese

6 tablespoons parsley

3 teaspoons salt

¼ cup virgin olive oil

2 country style pork ribs

1 tablespoon garlic powder (optional)

For the Sauce

6 cans (12 ounces each) tomato paste

18 cans (using empty tomato paste cans) of water. If making less, use 3 cans water to each can)

Salt and pepper to taste

2 bay leaves

Heat olive oil in a large heavy skillet. Mix together ground chuck, eggs, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, parsley, and salt and fry in olive oil, along with the ribs until completely browned. Shake some garlic powder on the meatballs while they are cooking.

In large stock pot, mix together all the sauce ingredients. Add as many meatballs as you want along with the two ribs. Bring sauce to a low boil and let it cook for 3-4 hours until it thickens, stirring frequently to keep it from sticking to the bottom. Be sure not to stir too hard as this may cause the meatballs to break up. Remove bay leaves and enjoy!! This sauce, without the meatballs, can be used with baked ziti, ravioli, and lasagna. It makes a large amount, but it freezes well. Any leftover meatballs can also be frozen for a later meal.

D
EZI’S
B
AKED
Z
ITI

Yields 6-8 servings

1 package (1 pound) Mostacioli, Ziti, or Rotini pasta

1 tube (16 ounces) Italian sausage

7 cups Lill’s Spaghetti Sauce (Or you can use 2 jars (24

ounces) prepared sauce. I use one jar of the hot and

spicy and one regular.)

4 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare pasta as package directs. Crumble sausage and brown in a separate skillet and drain. In a large bowl, combine pasta, sausage, spaghetti sauce, and 2 cups of cheese. Mix well. Turn into greased 9x13 baking dish. Cover with foil and bake 45 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Uncover and top with remaining 2 cups cheese. Bake 10 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.

A
SPARAGUS
R
ISOTTO

Yield: 3-4 servings

1 pound asparagus, washed

4-6 cups chicken or vegetable stock

3 tablespoons butter, divided

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/3 medium onion, finely diced

½ teaspoon salt

1½ cups Arborio rice

½ cup dry white wine, warmed

½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Add the asparagus to a pot of boiling water and cook until a fork can penetrate the tip of the spear (five minutes or more.) Drain water and rinse asparagus under cold water. Cut off the spears and aside. Cut the green part of the remaining stalks into one inch pieces and also set these aside. Discard the white part of the stalks.

Using a medium saucepan and low heat, warm stock. While you’re doing that, melt 1 tablespoon of butter with olive oil in a deep skillet over medium heat. Add the onions, stirring frequently until they soften, 3-5 minutes.

Add rice a little at a time and cook, stirring occasionally, until it is glossy, about 2-3 minutes. Add white wine and stir frequently until the liquid has evaporated. Add salt and warm stock, ½ cup at a time, stirring occasionally. When stock is almost evaporated, add another ½ cup until broth is almost entirely gone. When you add the last bit of broth, add the asparagus pieces and the asparagus tips and continue cooking until rice is al dente(about 20 minutes total time from the time you start with the broth.)You can add hot water if you need more liquid. Rice should be tender but still crunchy and may take as long as 30 minutes to get to this stage.