Murder for Millions (Sky High Pies Cozy Mysteries Book 7) (19 page)

CHAPTER
44

Ninety minutes later, after the
dust settled and Ira Pemberton was safely behind bars, Trent’s fingers thumped
on the table at Burger & Brew like fleshy drumsticks:
tap
-
tap
-
thwack
,
tap
-
tap
-
thwack
. After a few minutes of the repetitive
cadence, Dina reached over and put one hand on his arm.

“Let’s cool it, Ringo,” she said.
“Band practice is over for the day.”

He grinned. “Was I doing that thing
again?”

“Relentlessly,” I answered. “It’s
your nervous tic.”

“Nervous?” His grin expanded to
reveal two rows of bright white choppers sullied by a chunk of something green.
“What’s there to be nervous about? I just got Ira Pemberton to confess to the
murder of Jacob Lowry
and
torching his body shop.”

Dina shot me a quick look. “
You
did that? All by your lonesome?”

The goofy grin vanished and pink
blotches colored his cheeks. “Well, it was a team effort, okay? You and Tyler. The
guys on the Aspen PD. And the helpful sleuthing of our very own Nancy Drew
wannabe.”

He winked at me, undoubtedly hoping
the attempt at comedy would earn a round of applause and generous laughter. I
smirked and held my tongue. The restaurant was filled with diners and I didn’t
want to disturb their meals with any crude language.

“Well, Katie?” Trent added. “Anything
to say?”

“You’ve got a piece of lettuce in
your teeth,” I told him.

He grabbed a knife, held it near
his mouth and smiled again. Then he got up from the table and headed for the
men’s room.

Dina chuckled. “That took the wind
out of his sails.”

“More like some of the hot air out
of his ego,” I said, reaching for my purse. “He’s probably getting ready so he
can compete with the French when they’re in town for a visit.”

“Ah, yes,” Dina said. “The
delegation is supposed to be here early next month for a couple of days.”

“Where are they from?”

She laughed. “France, Katie. Did
you miss that part?”

“No, I mean what city? Paris or
Marseille maybe?”

“I don’t even remember. But I’m
pretty sure it’s not one of the big ones.”

“I’ll ask Trent about it later,” I
said. “He seemed pretty excited that they were coming for a visit.”

She rolled her eyes. “You should’ve
heard him when Mayor Washington told him we actually have a sister city in France.”

“Was it awful?”

She smiled. “He started saying
everything with a terrible accent.”

“Oh, yeah! I heard a sample of that
the other day. It sounded like a bad impression of Pepé Le Pew.”

Dina wrinkled her nose. “Pepé who?”

“Seriously? Don’t you remember the
old cartoon character? Pepé Le Pew was a striped French skunk, and he—” I saw Trent
heading across the room. “You know what? I’ll finish that later. I should pay
my share and scoot before he gets back.”

Trent made it halfway to our table
before a couple of retired CCPD officers called his name.

“What’s the rush?” asked Dina.

I smiled. “Zack’s coming home
tomorrow. I want to clean my apartment and do some laundry tonight so
everything’s neat and tidy for his return.”

“Tell you what,” she said, pulling
a credit card from her wallet. “Why don’t you let me buy your burger? You
really helped us out again, Katie. It’s the least we can do to thank you.”

“That’s very kind,” I said. “Thanks,
detective!”

“You’re welcome. I’ll be in touch
if we have more questions about the case. Trent and I are heading back to the
station after this to spend some more quality time with Ira.”

I slipped my purse strap over one
shoulder. Then I asked Dina if she thought Marla and Matt Soble would face any
charges for their role in Ira’s fraud scheme.

“That’s up to the district
attorney,” she told me. “If I was a betting woman, I’d put some cash on at
least conspiracy charges related to the arson and extortion plot.”

“Even though they tried talking Ira
out of the idea?”

She nodded. “How can they prove
that? At this point, it’s their word against Mr. Pemberton’s.”

“True. I guess it would be a
different matter if Marla had called 911
before
he set the fire and not
after.”

“That might’ve also saved Jacob
Lowry’s life. If Marla or her son had alerted us to what Ira was planning, we could
have dispatched a car to the body shop. Chances are good that our officers
would’ve arrived around the same time that Jacob was driving by. If that had
been the case, then maybe he wouldn’t have confronted Velma’s dad about trying
to frame his daughter and her friends. We’re hoping that Ira will tell us what
Jacob said because we don’t know how he figured out that Mr. Pemberton was
behind the anonymous threats.”

I shook my head. “What a mess. All
because Ira couldn’t stop betting on horses.”

“And football,” Dina said.

“And hockey,” I added.

We shared a sad laugh and then I
saw Trent saying goodbye to the two men at the table in the middle of the room.

“That’s my cue,” I said. “I want to
be gone before the big guy gets back.”

“Have a good night, Katie,” Dina
said as I started for the exit. “Tell Zack that I said hey when he gets home
tomorrow.”

I was just about to push against
the door when I heard Trent calling to me.

“
Au revoir
, Nancy Drew!” he said.
“And thank you for doing your civic duty.”

I briefly considered spinning
around to respond, but settled on a quick wave over my shoulder before slipping
out the door and into the night.

CHAPTER
45

It was around five o’clock the next afternoon. Julia and Harper had both left an hour earlier, so I was alone in
the Sky High kitchen. While a bacon-broccoli quiche for Miriam Strang’s bridge
club cooled on the countertop, I measured whole wheat flour for a batch of
dinner rolls. Zack and I hadn’t discussed what we’d have for dinner after he arrived,
but I was planning one of his favorite meals: roast chicken, garlic mashed
potatoes, sautéed string beans and homemade rolls. Dessert would be vanilla
bean mousse layered between disks of chocolate cake.

As I poured the wheat flour into
the mixer, I heard a muted knock on the backdoor. I wasn’t expecting Zack until
six, so I guessed it was Miriam coming to claim her special order.

But when I crossed the room and peered
through the window, I saw the world’s most handsome photographer. He was standing
on the back porch with a bouquet of roses, a bottle of wine and carryout from
our favorite Chinese restaurant.

“Lucky Jade?” Zack said, holding up
the large paper bag as I opened the door.

“No,” I said. “Lucky Katie!”

Once he was inside and the packages
were unloaded on the counter, we disappeared beneath an avalanche of tender
kisses. He smelled like stale airplane air laced with his usual cologne, a
fragrant and subtle blend of jasmine, sage, basil and rosemary.

“I missed you,” he murmured against
my neck.

My reply was lost in a kiss. When
we came up for air, I said, “Missed you, too. Was it a good trip?”

He squeezed his arms tighter.
“Besides catching an earlier flight today, the only good thing about being gone
is this,” he whispered, pulling me closer. “I know we’ve both got separate
lives and we’re busy and—”

My mouth found his and the barrage
was interrupted briefly.

“I’m just glad you’re home safely,”
I said as his arms fell away and he took my flour-speckled fingers in his
hands.

“Ditto,” he said. “I brought food.
I thought maybe we could…” He wiggled his eyebrows and nodded toward the
ceiling. “Spend a few hours upstairs getting reacquainted.”

I smiled. Then I leaned in and
pressed my lips against his ear. “Or we could do some of that down here.”

He glanced around the room. “You
mean…” His laugh was deep and husky. “On the counter?”

I swatted his rear. “The food,
handsome. I meant we could have a bite to eat and a glass of wine down here
before we go upstairs for dessert.”

He lifted his hands and cupped my
face. “Am I looking at dessert right now?”

“You are if your eyes are wandering
over my shoulder to the vanilla bean mousse I prepared earlier.”

He kissed my forehead. “I was
talking about—”

“I know what you meant, handsome.
And there will be plenty of time for that and a few bites of something sweet.”

His forehead crinkled as his
eyebrows lifted. “See? All of that sounds like—”

I pressed my lips to his again and felt
a warm surge of pleasure as we leaned into one another for an extended moment.
My eyes were closed as I listened to the hushed tempo of his heart. When I
heard his voice a second later, I couldn’t tell what he was saying.

“Hmmm?” I mumbled, pushing away
from his embrace. “What was that?”

“Moo goo gai pan,” he said, kissing
the tip of my nose. “You hungry?”

I nodded. “I am, but I need to
finish a batch of dough first.”

“I can wait,” he said. “Maybe keep the
Chinese warm in the oven?”

“Did you have lunch?”

He shook his head.

“Breakfast?”

“Protein bar,” he said, smiling.
“But it’s okay, Katie. Finish what you’re working on and then—”

I kissed him again. “And then we
can start working on a different kind of recipe.”

He winked. “One part me, one part
you?”

“You got it, handsome. Now, how
about you open the wine while I finish the dinner rolls?”

“I’ll be happy to,” he said. “And after
that, I can be your pastry assistant.”

“Oh, yeah?”

He shrugged. “You’ll have to tell
me what to do.”

“I can do that,” I replied. “Or we
could just figure it out together.”

“Teamwork?”

“Absolutely,” I said, heading over
to the mixer to finish the dough. “One part me, and one part you!”

Nana Reed’s Sky High Recipes

Ham & Cheese Scones

Ingredients

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup sugar

2-1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed

2 large eggs

3/4 cup heavy cream

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

2/3 cup diced ham

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).

2. Prepare two baking sheets: lightly grease or line with
parchment paper.

3. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and garlic
powder.

4. Blend cubed butter into dry ingredients with pastry
blender, fork or fingers until mixture is coarse and crumbly.

5. Combine eggs and cream.

6. Add wet to dry ingredients; hold aside 2 tablespoons of the
egg and cream mixture.

7. Fold in shredded cheddar cheese and diced ham; mix until
all ingredients are combined.

8. On a floured surface, shape the dough into a circle (8-
to 9-inches in diameter).

9. Brush top of dough with remaining wet mixture.

10. Divide the dough into 14 scones with cutter or knife.

11. Arrange scones evenly on prepared pans.

12. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

13. Cool on wire rack briefly before serving warm with
butter, cream cheese or other favorite condiments.

Snazzy Snickerdoodle Bars

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter

2 cups brown sugar

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2-2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon candied ginger

Directions

1. Preheat oven
to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C).

2. Lightly grease 9x12 inch baking pan.

3. Cream butter and sugar in mixing bowl before adding eggs,
vanilla extract, baking powder and salt.

4. Slowly add all-purpose flour and blend until fully
incorporated.

5. Transfer batter into baking pan with spatula and
distribute evenly.

6. Combine sugar, cinnamon and candied ginger before lightly
dusting the top of batter.

7. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

8. Remove from oven and cool thoroughly before slicing into
bars.

Red, White & Blueberry
Breakfast Smoothie

Ingredients

1 cup frozen raspberries

1 cup unsweetened almond milk

1 cup frozen blueberries

1-1/2 tablespoon honey

2 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger

1 teaspoon flax seed

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1.
     
Combine all ingredients in blender.

2.
     
Puree until smooth.

3.
     
Serve in chilled glass or mug.

4.
     
If desired, garnish with fresh mint and finely-chopped walnuts.