Lorraine Bartlett - Tori Cannon-Kathy Grant 00.5 - Panty Raid (4 page)

“Hey, what if that wasn’
t your glass?” Tori asked.

“Have you got a communicable disease?”
Kathy asked.

“Not as far as I know.”

“Me, neither,” Kathy said and shoved a glass toward her friend. She poured another for herself and then raised it in a toast. “To us.”

“To us,” Tori agreed, and drank deeply.

“I enjoyed that,” Kathy admitted. “It was an adventure. Wouldn’t it be fun if we had more adventures just like that?”

“You mean like solving crimes or something?” Tori asked, incredulous.

“Why not? You’re right; we
could
be the Thelma and Louise of good guys right here in Western New York.”

“That’s the wine talking,” Tori said.

“So what if it is?” Kathy asked and laughed. “Tor, it’s too bad you’re married to your job. I think if you and I put our heads together we could do anything. Just
anything!
”

“You want me to give up my job?
A sure thing for—for what?”

“I don’t know. I’m just saying that if the opportunity ever arose for us to do some kind of project together, there’
s no one else I’d rather do it with—there’s no one else I’d trust to be my partner.”

“High praise,” Tori said and raised her glass.
“Why not?”

Kathy
raised her glass, too. “So, instead of blood sisters, we are now officially
wine
sisters.”

“I think you may have had a little too much to drink.”

“And I’m just happy we solved your problem. Go forth tomorrow and replace your panties,” Kathy said and laughed.

“Very funny, but I think I will.” Tori took another sip of her wine and san
k back farther in her chair. “Do you really think we could one day go into business? What would we do? I don’t have any real skills. All I can do is teach.”

“And you don’t consider that a skill?”
Kathy demanded.

“Oh, sure, but beyond tutoring, how could I apply it to another vocation?”

Kathy brandished her nearly empty glass. “Now is not the best time to ask me that question. But I’m sure if the opportunity presents itself, we’ll be ready.”

“But how will we know it’s an opportunity?”

Kathy smiled. “We’ll know. Until then—” she raised her glass in a toast, “let’s drink to it.”

And so they did.

Kathy’s Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup packed light brown sugar

½ cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1
¼ cups all-purpose flour

½
teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups quick-cooking oats

1 cup chopped walnuts
(can substitute pecans)

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
(can substitute raisins)

Preheat the oven to 325°F. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the oats, walnuts, and chocolate chips. Drop by heaping spoonsful onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 12 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yield: 3 ½ dozen

COMING SOON:
With Baited Breath
, the first Lotus Bay Mystery.
Tori Cannon and her grandfather, Herb, return from her grandmother’s funeral, and it’s with sadness that she learns the bait shop and small motel they ran has fallen on hard times. Jammed into one of the motel’s units is the body of one of Herb’s customers, his mouth filled with spikes. The victim had no enemies, except for the rich woman who wanted to buy his eyesore of a home. But he’s also got a daughter who’s resentful her father wasn’t a major force in her life, and friends who were anything but.

Tori’s friend, Kathy, arrives to help spruce up the property, and the two of them find themselves mixed up in the petty jealousies and deadly consequences that murder entails. Can they save the bait shop and find a murderer before they, too, sleep with the fishes?

About the Author

The immensely popular Booktown Mystery series is what put Lorraine Bartlett’s pen name Lorna Barrett on the New York Times Bests
eller list, but it’s her talent—whether writing as Lorna, or L.L. Bartlett, or Lorraine Bartlett— that keeps her there. This multi-published, Agatha-nominated author pens the exciting Jeff Resnick Mysteries as well as the acclaimed Victoria Square Mystery series, the Tales of Telenia adventure-fantasy saga, and the upcoming Lotus Bay Mysteries, and has many short stories and novellas to her name(s). Check out the links to all her works here:
http://www.lorrainebartlett.com

Coming Fall of 2014

The Lotus Bay Mysteries

With Baited Breath

Other Books by Lorraine Bartlett

The Victoria Square Mysteries

A Crafty Killing

The Walled Flower

One Hot Murd
er

Recipes
To Die For: A Victoria Square Cookbook

The Tales of Telenia
(Adventure-Fantasy)

Threshold

Journey