Diva 04 _ Diva Cooks a Goose, The (34 page)

“Who?”

“Kenner. I mean, he’s kind of gaunt, with those sunken cheeks, and he looks like he couldn’t smile for anything, but he’s okay.”

“You’re turning into a police groupie.”

“Oh, gosh! I wonder if Zack is at your house.”

We passed a little alley where someone still tried desperately to start a car. Kenner pulled his car up behind it, and the driver of the stalled car got out.

Hannah elbowed me. “It’s Tom. Oh my gosh, he looks great!”

He did. We joined Kenner and Tom at the open hood of his car.

“Beautiful sweater!” gushed Hannah.

“Thank you. Emma made it.” Tom’s chest puffed out a little bit as he showed off the white sweater with slate cables knitted into it. “I’m late to pick up my date and now my car won’t start.”

Kenner leaned forward under the hood. “What is this? Did you put it in here on purpose?” He withdrew a mass of blue fluff and shone his flashlight on it. “
Eww
. Mouse poop. Mice moved into your engine. Looks like they shredded a blanket and made a nest.” He bent closer with his light. “Nuts? They’ve done a number here. They’ve carried almonds into your engine. Didn’t you have trouble driving here?”

“Maybe you should have kept those kittens, Tom!” Hannah giggled.

Tom looked like he’d bitten into a lemon. He held up his hands as if he wanted nothing to do with it. “The engine sounded like it was grinding but everything else was okay. Thanks for your help. I’ll take a cab and call my auto club to come out here and take care of this tomorrow.”

“No, no,” insisted Kenner. “Give me a minute here. Sophie, would you mind turning the key to see if the car will start now that I’ve removed these blanket bits?”

“Sure.” I opened the door, slid into the driver’s seat, and twisted the key to the right. For a second, I thought it might start, but then it made the sick grating noise.

“Wait a second, Sophie,” called Kenner.

I looked around—Tom was a car pig. He couldn’t pick up a date in this car. Two soccer balls rolled on the floor of the passenger side. The seat contained fast-food containers, mail, the hammer he’d used earlier, an open bag of almonds, and three cupcake wrappers, just like the ones Forrest used on his Red Velvet Cupcakes.

I studied them. Tyler told us Forrest gave them cupcakes. There was nothing sinister about that. But their presence explained how someone might have gotten cream cheese on the sleeve of a Santa Claus jacket. Tom ate them in his car. He hadn’t known about Ginger’s matching gift wrap rules, and after installing the poison in the music box, he’d rewrapped Emma’s gift in the wrong colors.

When I looked up, Tom stared in at me. His friendly smile had disappeared. I had a very bad feeling that an entire Santa Claus suit might be found in his trunk, and that the sleeve would have a piece torn out of it. “Kenner!”

In a split second, Tom bashed the hood of the car on Kenner’s head—so hard that I cringed for him.

“Hannah, watch out!” I screamed.

It was too late. Tom wrapped his arm around her neck, much as I imagined he had done to Ginger. Had I been alone, I might have locked myself in the car, but I couldn’t let him choke Hannah or, heaven forbid, break her neck.

Moving slowly in the hope he wouldn’t notice, I slid the hammer up the sleeve of my bulky winter jacket, gripping the heavy head in my hand so he wouldn’t see it.

I stepped out of the car. “Let her go, Tom. She’s not Ginger.” What did he expect to do? Kill all three of us right here in the alley? He couldn’t drive away.

He forced Hannah to walk toward the trunk with him. Suddenly, I knew what he meant to do. If he could wedge all three of us in the trunk, he could get away. I couldn’t think straight. Would he stop if I reasoned with him? If I sympathized? If I gave him a way out?

“You know Forrest wants to kill Ginger,” I said.

He stopped propelling Hannah forward, and I thought I might have thrown him off guard.

“Forrest doesn’t have the guts. He should have eliminated her years ago to save our children from her wrath. She is the reason our children can’t come home! She is the reason my son had to be shipped away to a military school. They weren’t planning to come for the holidays this year because of Ginger. They sent a box of gifts, including the music box for Ginger, and that was the last straw for me. That sweet girl bought her mother such a lovely gift, even though my son told me that it blew their budget and they had to eat beans and rice for a month. But Ginger was full of venom. She had to be killed, like the poisonous snake that will bite you if you let him live.”

I tried to buy time. “What about Emma? Weren’t you afriad she would be arrested for the posionous gift?”

“That was the beauty of it. Once the seal broke and the chemicals mixed, they would dissipate in the air, and no one would be the wiser about the cause of her death.”

Would he leave us alone if he thought he accomplished his goal? “She’s dead now. Your son and Emma and your grandchild can live in peace.”

“Don’t think you can fool me. I saw the ambulance.”

“They always send an ambulance. What—you think they send a hearse when someone dies?”

“Open the trunk!” It was a command.

What if I didn’t? Where was everyone? Didn’t anyone ever come down this way?

Like he could read my mind, Tom said, “If you scream, I will tighten my arm just a hair, and your sister’s pretty little neck will break.”

Hannah’s eyes caught mine. She was terrified.

I needed him to bend over so I could smack him in the head with his hammer. I wasn’t tall enough to give him a good blow otherwise. Reluctantly, I opened the trunk.

It looked worse than the front seat of his car. He wouldn’t be able to fit us in there unless he emptied it. How old was this car, I wondered. Maybe the trunk had an interior latch to open it. Or maybe not. I couldn’t take a chance.

“Get in.”

“Me?”

“Get in!”

I stepped on the bumper and pulled myself up. Crouching, I placed one foot in the trunk. I wasn’t sure what I hit with my boot, but I had to take a chance. It was now or never. Watching him from the corner of my eye, and praying that I wouldn’t hit Hannah, I stood up as straight as I could and swung at his head.

The hammer connected with the back of his head, stunning him enough for him to loosen his grip on Hannah. She tore away from him, coughing. I hauled my hand back and swung at him again, just as he turned to face me. His nose crunched when the hammer hit him. I winced at the sound and he went down.

Somehow, I didn’t think he would be so good-looking anymore.

I sat on him, ready to use the hammer again if necessary. “Hannah, check on Kenner and see if he’s got a phone or a radio on him.”

“He’s out cold,” she yelled.

She returned to the rear of the car and flashed me a nervous smile. She couldn’t fool me, though—while she gave information to 911, the phone in her hand shook like a leaf in the wind.

THIRTY-SEVEN

The police finished with us at eleven thirty. Tom had clammed up, but everyone thought he had attacked Natasha to throw suspicion on Ginger. When he hadn’t been able to kill Ginger, he’d tried to get rid of her by putting her in jail. He’d planted the crutch and the Santa clothes to implicate her.

We’d called my house to assure everyone that we were fine. While Hannah and I explained our story to the police, the rest of our family and Laci’s family had enjoyed the fondue. They generously decided to wait until after the fireworks to cut the New Year’s Bombe so that we could join them.

With less than half an hour to go to the new year, Hannah and I walked toward the Torpedo Factory, an actual torpedo factory that had been converted to an art center. Running was simply out of the question.

Kenner had been taken to the hospital with a nasty concussion, but both he and Ginger survived. The doctors didn’t think she would be paralyzed from the injury. Ginger’s broken neck would take a while to heal, but Emma’s broken heart would take much longer.

The year hadn’t ended on a happy note for her. Dasher had been arrested and hauled off to the Fairfax County Police Department. Police were on the hunt for some of his old hoodlum contacts, since it was unlikely he’d pulled off the Christmas-gift heist all by himself.

No one could believe that Bonnie had been a fence. However, after Hannah and I told our story, I overheard one of the police officers mutter to another one, “Bonnie Scarborough fencing stolen goods—hard to imagine, but it does explain some things. You watch, it will turn out she’s been doing it for years.”

We wound our way through the crowds to the waterfront, where our family gathered. After hugs and assurances, Hannah and I told them the whole story.

“Can you imagine,” said Laci to her mother. “They thought you were having an affair with Forrest!”

“He
is
a handsome man, but I think I’ll stick with your father.”

Phil wrapped a proprietary arm around Marnie, and they looked every bit the adoring couple, like my parents.

Laci avoided my eyes when she asked her mother, “So where have you been going? You keep taking off, and no one knows where you are.”

Marnie shifted her shoulders like she was doing a little dance. “Surprise! Daddy and I are moving here! We’ve been looking at houses.”

“Here?” choked George. “Here as in Old Town?”

“No, silly. We want to be near you and our only grandchild. We found an adorable town house, but now that Tom’s house might be coming on the market ...”

George’s eyes literally rolled back into his head. Laci and I steadied him. He came around in seconds, but a glazed look remained in his eyes as though he couldn’t believe what he’d heard.

Jen and Vegas hung on the railing overlooking boats that still glittered with Christmas lights. George and Laci watched the girls, and Shawna clung to Tyler as though he was the one she’d wanted all along. He had some legal issues to clear up, but apparently Dasher had been decent enough to clarify that Tyler hadn’t been involved in the theft of the gifts. Hannah found Zack looking for her in the crowd. They held hands and had eyes only for one another.

A bit farther away, I spied Forrest with Emma and Edward. Rude and unfriendly as she was, I was still glad Ginger had survived. I didn’t think her marriage had, though. With the baby on the way and Dasher in jail, I guessed Emma and Edward would move in over the bakery, and help Forrest realize his dream.

As the one-minute countdown to the new year started, an arm slid around my waist. After the night I’d had, I reacted strongly, whipping around with my fingers tightly wrapped into a fist. My hand stopped inches from Wolf’s face.

He grinned at me and tilted his head toward mine for a kiss.

Fireworks exploded over the river. “You’re just in time,” I said.

He stood behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. His chin nuzzled my hair, and I relaxed in his embrace. “I see Shawna’s out of jail. How was your Christmas?”

“I’m glad it’s over.”

RECIPES & COOKING TIPS

Place the butter, flour, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt in the bread machine. Sprinkle the yeast over the top and add the warm milk. Set the machine on manual so that it will go through the first rising but won’t bake the dough. If it looks too sticky, add a little bit of flour.

After it has risen, punch down the dough, remove from the bread machine, and divide into equal portions. Roll one half of the dough into a large rectangle, dusting with additional flour as needed. Mix ½ cup sugar with 1 tablespoon cinnamon and spread over the dough. Roll the longest side inward until you have a long log. Cut into roughly 1-inch slices. Grease an 8-inch cake pan and fit the rolls in, but not too close to each other. (Disposable cake pans work very well for this and can be easily transported.) Allow to rise a second time until the rolls have completely filled the pan and doubled in height.

At this point, you can slide the pan into a gallon-size freezer bag and freeze up to a week. Repeat with the remaining half of the dough.

To bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake 25-30 minutes, until the tops are done and a tester comes out clean.

Beat the cream cheese with the powdered sugar, adding milk or cream as necessary to achieve a spreading consistency. Spread over the cinnamon buns and serve.