Murder Sends a Postcard (A Haunted Souvenir) (19 page)

SUDDEN COLD AGAINST MY SCALP JOLTED ME BACK TO
awareness. Boomer held a towel to my temple, the ice inside it already beginning to melt in the afternoon heat.

Drops of cool water slid down my cheek and splattered onto my grimy T-shirt. I looked down and realized I couldn’t tell what color the shirt had been when I put it on that morning.

Two men in navy slacks and crisp white shirts hurried past me with a stretcher.

They disappeared into a door at the end of the hall.

Much later they wheeled the stretcher out of the room. This time there was a body strapped to it, tubes and wires running from under the draped sheet to beeping monitors and bags of clear fluid.

As they neared the top of the stairs, I forced my way to my feet. I had to see for myself.

Buddy’s face was nearly as pale as the stark white sheet. His eyes were closed, and he made a nasty gurgling sound with each breath. But he was breathing, and his eyelids fluttered as the paramedics rolled him down the hall.

They reached the stairs and stopped to maneuver the stretcher into position to carry it down. Buddy’s eyes opened slightly, and he caught sight of me.

The tube in his throat prevented him from speaking, but his expression of relief matched the emotion that passed over me.

We were both alive. Something I wouldn’t have bet on a few hours earlier. I hoped someday he could tell me what had happened in those hours. But for now we both needed medical attention.

The ambulance crew folded up the legs of the stretcher and made their way down the stairs. At the bottom I heard the legs click into place once again and the wheels clattered across the entry and out the door. A minute later the siren gave a chirp and the ambulance rolled away.

Jake emerged from the back bedroom with the paramedics, helping them lug their equipment back to the truck.

As I looked in his direction, I caught sight of the sagging cabinet door. A blossom of brownish dried blood marked the side facing the stairs.

“I did that,” I said to Boomer, pointing at the door. “She was coming at me, and I hit her in the face with the door.”

“I’d be willing to bet you broke her nose,” he said, “judging by the looks of it, and that puddle on the floor. I’ll be sure to add that to the bulletin.

“If she goes for medical help, we might find her that way.”

The three men reached us and stopped. Boomer took the equipment case away from Jake. “I’ll take this,” he said. “You take care of her and I’ll meet you at the emergency room.”

He held out his hand. “Give me your keys,” he said. “I’ll see to it that someone brings your truck back into town.”

The truck. “What time is it?”

Jake glanced at his watch. “Half-past twelve. Why?”

“Sly’s waiting for me. He was supposed to change the oil on the truck today.” I knew better than to even ask. There was no way Boomer would let me drive until I saw the doctor.

I dragged the keys out of my pocket and reluctantly placed them in his upturned palm.

“We’ll take it to Mr. Sylvester,” Boomer assured me. “But I suggest you call him so he doesn’t worry.”

“I would, but I lost my phone somewhere.”

“Oh, yeah.” Jake dug in his pocket and handed me my phone. Bloody fingerprints on the screen made clear when I had last tried to use it, and a shudder ran up my spine.

Jake grabbed it and stuffed it back in his pocket. “Never mind,” he said. “You can use my phone when we get to the car.”

He wrapped his arm around my waist and helped me down the stairs and out to his car. He retrieved his phone from the console, punched a couple buttons, and handed it to me. It was already ringing.

When Sly answered, he seemed relieved to hear my voice. “Miz Julie called here looking for you. Said you’d gone out to talk to that banker fella and she knew you were supposed to bring the truck by today. You okay?”

“I’ll be fine,” I assured him. “Had a little trouble, but it’s taken care of. Sorry for missing our lunch date.”

He laughed, and I could imagine the wide grin on his face. “Yeah, well, don’t let that fella of yours know I’m beating his time. You be by later?”

“I don’t know exactly. Boomer said he’d have someone drop the truck at your place and I can pick it up, but I don’t know quite when. Might be tonight before I can get over there.”

His chuckle died. “Sounds like more than a little trouble, girl. You
sure
you’re okay?”

Jake held out his hand, gesturing at me to hand him the phone. I surrendered it reluctantly, afraid he’d reveal more than I wanted Sly to know.

“Sly, it’s Jake.” He listened a moment. “No, she’s going to be fine. Bumped her head is all. Boomer and I both think she ought to be checked before she goes gallivanting around town.”

Gallivanting? Did I actually hear Jake use that word? He was clearly starting to talk like a local. Next thing you know, he’ll start saying “y’all.”

“I’m taking her to the doctor now,” he continued. “and I’ll bring her by to get the truck as soon as the doctor says she’s okay to drive.”

He was silent again, listening as he pulled onto the county road. “I’ll tell her,” he said. “And I’ll let you know when we’re headed your way.”

He hung up and tossed the phone back into the console. “He says for you to take it easy and not be in too big of a hurry about anything.” He glanced over at me, then back at the road. “I didn’t have to tell him that was completely useless advice, because you’ll just do what you please anyway.”

I started to protest, but he cut me off. “And don’t try telling me any different. I know better.”

Unfortunately, he did. I gave up trying to argue, and sat quietly the rest of the way to the hospital.

• • •

TYPICAL SUMMERTIME INJURIES CROWDED THE
emergency room. Kids with cuts and scrapes, teens with extreme sunburns, retirees with heat stroke, and a middle-aged couple injured by a fender bender.

But I didn’t have to wait. As soon as the nurse heard my name, I was whisked out of the waiting room and into a bed. “Boomer told us to take good care of you,” she said.

Jake stayed by my side, but discreetly turned his head as she cut away the remains of my T-shirt and covered me with a clean sheet. No one questioned his right to be there.

“How did you know what to do?” I asked him at one point. “You sounded like you were in charge up there.”

For a long moment I didn’t think he was going to answer, but then he said solemnly, “I was a paramedic once, in another life. I guess it’s time you knew about that life.

“I promise I’ll tell you all about it. After I get you home.”

I fully intended to hold him to that promise.

A nurse cleaned up my scrapes and iced my bruises. They sent me for X-rays and scans of my brain. They bandaged my arm and checked my blood for signs of the drugs Lacey had tried to shoot into me. The tests stretched into late afternoon. I sat in my bed, the curtains drawn for a modicum of privacy, and tried not to eavesdrop as patients came and went in the beds around me.

Jake stayed until I shooed him out. “You still have a store to run,” I reminded him. “You can’t just close for the day in the middle of the summer.”

“I can do whatever I choose to do,” he replied.

He finally let me chase him out, but only after Linda and Karen arrived in response to his calls. “Somebody needs to take care of her,” he told them, as though I wasn’t perfectly capable of taking care of myself.

Still, I had to admit I kind of like him fussing over me.

Boomer came in while I was waiting for the test results, and asked my two protectors to give him a few moments alone with me.

“Go get a Coke,” he said, and they agreed.

Once we were alone, he pulled a chair close to the bed.

“If you keep this up,” he said, “I am going to have to just give up and put you on the force.”

I shook my head, and instantly regretted it. “No,” I told him, “you really won’t. It’s not like I
want
to do this.”

“Then why, Glory? Why do you end up in the middle of these things?”

I couldn’t very well tell him it was Bluebeard’s fault. Bad enough I’d shared that secret with my friends. I didn’t want to share it with the police chief.

Instead I asked a question of my own.

“How’s Buddy? None of the doctors will tell me anything.”

Boomer seemed just as happy to change the subject. He told me Buddy was doing well, and was expected to make a full recovery. They’d removed the tube in his throat and he was awake and talking, though he was still weak.

“Lacey shot him full of something she got from the pharmacy,” Boomer said. “Probably the same stuff she tried to inject you with.” He cleared his throat, and lowered his voice. “We picked her up a couple hours ago, and when I left the station, she was still talking. Trying to blame it all on Francis.

“You didn’t hear any of this from me,” Boomer continued, “because I can’t tell you anything, but Lacey said Francis went out to beg Bridget to help him keep his job and the house. Bridget knew him from the bank, so she let him in. But when he asked her to give him a second chance she said she couldn’t. Francis pushed her, she fell and hit her head, he couldn’t wake her. Francis called Lacey in a panic, and she decided she had to clean up his mess. Her words.”

I remembered her saying something like that at the house when she attacked me. “And her idea of cleaning up a mess was to shoot her full of drugs?”

Boomer shrugged. “She was improvising, and drugs were the one thing she knew. She thought she could pass it off as an overdose—that everybody would be willing to believe it—and it almost worked. She figured it would give them time to sell off anything of value and make a run for it.”

“If I hadn’t spent some time with her, I’d have believed it, too.” I left out the part about the postcards and Bluebeard. That part was personal, and he already had all he needed to put Lacey and Francis away for a long time.

He hesitated, as though deciding whether to give me any more information. “Did you know Lacey and Francis had a boat?”

“Nope.”

“Had it moored over near Port St. Joe. That’s where Lacey was headed. Guess they were planning to head south.” Boomer pushed himself up out of the chair. “Anyway, Buddy will be okay. We sent a unit out to pick up Francis, and I just got a call that they’re on their way in with him in custody.” He shook his head. “No job’s worth that.”

JULIE AGREED TO WORK UNTIL I WAS BETTER, INSISTING
I stay upstairs and rest. Jake agreed with her, and he checked on me several times a day to be sure I stayed out of the store.

At night he brought dinner and told me stories of his days as a firefighter, paramedic, and fire captain in California.

There was a lot to tell, including the fire that killed one of his crew, and forced his retirement on a partial disability. No wonder he’d been worried about making the grade in Keyhole Bay’s volunteer unit.

But even with the constant company of Jake and Karen and Sly and Linda, and a short outing to Karen’s for our regular dinner on Thursday, I was getting stir-crazy. A week of enforced idleness had nearly driven me nuts. When the doctor finally agreed on Monday afternoon to allow me go back to work, I was overjoyed.

Jake brought me home after my appointment and we let ourselves in the back door. Julie was at the counter with Mandy, deep in conversation.

“We need more,” Julie was saying as she inspected a shirt with a large picture of Bluebeard on the front.

“I’ll need three days, and that’s if we put a rush on it,” Mandy replied. “I think I can get my boss to waive the fee for it, just this once.”

Julie noticed me and waved me over. “Is that okay with you?”

“Is what okay?”

“A reorder. We need more shirts.”

I shook my head. “Not until these are sold,” I told her. I thought about the gamble I’d already taken with my Buy-Out-Peter Fund. “I can’t commit any more money to untested inventory.”

Julie waved a piece of paper. “I started taking orders last Monday, when Mandy brought the prototype, and people have been picking them up all weekend. We’re out of a couple sizes, and low on the rest. Oh, and the mugs are nearly gone, too.”

Stunned, I looked across the shop at Bluebeard. If it was possible for a parrot to look smug, he did.

Jake slipped his arm around me. “It’s time to start talking price with Peter,” he said. “Thanks to Bluebeard.”

From his perch across the shop, Bluebeard ruffled his feathers and struck a pose. Just like the one on the shirts and postcards.

“Pretty boy.”

This time he didn’t mean Jake.

Me
nus and Recipes

A cold supper usually consists of a variety of salads, along with bread and butter, a tray of pickles and olives, and sweet tea. While the salads require refrigeration, the flavors will be stronger and richer if the dishes are cool, not icy cold.

Glory’s Childhood Cold Supper

Chicken salad can be spreadable for a sandwich or chunky for a main dish. Either way, the ingredients are similar: cooked chicken and vegetables in a creamy dressing. Although some versions use grapes, Glory’s favorite recipe adds a bit of chopped apple for sweetness.

CHICKEN SALAD

3 cups cooked chicken, chilled and cubed

¹
/
₂
cup each chopped onion, celery, and apple

¹
/
₂
cup toasted pecans

¹
/
₄
teaspoon caraway seed

salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon lemon juice

³
/
₄
cup mayonnaise

There are several options for the chicken itself: grill or bake chicken breasts and/or thighs, roast a whole chicken (or buy one already cooked at the supermarket), or buy precooked breast strips.

Toss the chicken, onion, celery, apple, and pecans lightly. Stir the caraway seeds, salt, pepper, and lemon juice into the mayonnaise; pour over the chicken mixture; and stir to coat. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to serve. Garnish with additional pecans, if desired.

For a luncheon, serve a scoop of salad atop a leaf of butter or iceberg lettuce. Or like Glory, you can serve family-style from a large bowl.

Deviled eggs are a favorite in the South. While a dozen eggs may sound like a lot, these are very popular. And if you do have leftovers, mash them into egg salad for sandwiches!

DEVILED EGGS

1 dozen eggs, hard-cooked

¹
/
₂
cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon mustard

2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish

salt and pepper to taste

paprika, for garnish

To make perfectly hard-cooked eggs, refrigerate raw eggs for 3 to 5 days before cooking (they will be easier to peel) and bring them to room temperature. Place them in a single layer in a pot, cover completely with cold water, and bring to a rapid boil. When the water boils, remove the pan from heat, cover tightly, and let sit for 17 minutes (20 minutes for jumbo eggs). Drain and cover the eggs with cold water for at least 10 minutes. A trick for peeling eggs: after draining the cold water, leave the eggs in the pan, put the cover back on, and shake gently for 20 or 30 seconds.

When the eggs are cooled, cut them in half and scoop the yolks into a bowl. Mash the yolks with the mayonnaise, mustard, pickle relish, salt, and pepper. Fill the scooped-out whites with the yolk mixture, sprinkle with paprika, and chill.

Coleslaw is another Southern staple. It’s a mainstay on BBQ platters and at picnics throughout the region.

COLESLAW

¹
/
₂
head each green and red cabbage, shredded

1 carrot, shredded

dressing (recipe follows), or use your favorite bottled dressing

parsley for garnish

Toss the shredded cabbage and carrot with the dressing. Chill for at least an hour to allow the flavors to mellow. Garnish with parsley.

Coleslaw Dressing

³
/
₄
cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons vinegar

¹
/
₂
teaspoon sugar

¹
/
₂
teaspoon celery seed

salt and pepper to taste

¹
/
₄
teaspoon caraway seed, optional

Mix well.

Everyone has their favorite potato salad recipe. In the South there is a wide variety of pickles, most of which can be used in place of the dill pickles.

POTATO SALAD

3 pounds potatoes

3–4 boiled eggs

¹
/
₂
cup each of celery, onion, and dill pickle, chopped

1 cup mayonnaise

¹
/
₄
cup mustard

salt and pepper to taste

paprika for garnish

Cook the potatoes until tender, but still firm. Cool, peel, and cube. Reserve one boiled egg, and chop the remaining eggs. (See “Deviled Eggs,” above, for instructions on cooking eggs.) Mix the potatoes, chopped eggs, celery, onion, and pickles. Mix the mayonnaise and mustard with salt and pepper. And a tablespoon of pickle juice, if desired. Pour the dressing over the potato mixture, toss gently, cover, and refrigerate.

When ready to serve, slice the reserved egg to garnish, and sprinkle with paprika for color.

Macaroni salad and potato salad are very similar, though macaroni salad usually does not include boiled eggs. As a variation, macaroni salad may be made with Miracle Whip, a popular mayonnaise substitute with a sweeter, spicier flavor.

MACARONI SALAD

3 cups cooked elbow macaroni

¹
/
₃
cup each of celery and onion, chopped

¹
/
₄
cup chopped pimento, optional

¹
/
₂
cup mayonnaise or Miracle Whip

1 tablespoon vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

salt to taste

Cook the macaroni according to the package directions. Rinse and run under cold water. Toss with the celery and onion. Add the pimento, if using. Whisk together the mayonnaise, vinegar, and sugar. Toss the macaroni mixture with the dressing. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

For three-bean salad, you can either cook your own beans or use canned beans. If you’re trying to avoid heating up the kitchen, canned is the way to go.

THREE-BEAN SALAD

1
¹
/
₂
cups kidney beans

1
¹
/
₂
cups garbanzo beans

1
¹
/
₂
cups green beans

1 red onion, thinly sliced

¹
/
₂
cup vinegar

¹
/
₂
cup salad oil

salt and pepper to taste

If using canned beans, drain and rinse well under cold running water. Toss the beans and onion with the vinegar and oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate several hours, or overnight, to allow flavors to combine and mellow.

Fruit salad will depend on the season, and the region. Use whatever fruit is perfectly ripe when you visit your local grocery store. Better yet, seek out a local farmers’ market for fresh, local produce. Experiment with different melons, such as yellow watermelon, Santa Claus, Crenshaw, or Persian melons. Red, black, or green grapes can also be added.

FRUIT SALAD

1 small watermelon

1 medium cantaloupe

1 medium honeydew melon

3 medium peaches

2–3 kiwifruit

1 medium pineapple

1 pint strawberries

¹
/
₂
pint blueberries

¹
/
₂
pint blackberries

dressing (recipe follows)

mint leaves, for garnish

Cube the melons, slice the peaches, and peel and slice the kiwis. Clean and cube the pineapple. Clean and hull all the berries—they can be used whole or cut into pieces, depending on size. Toss the melons and pineapple; gently fold in the berries. Arrange sliced peaches and kiwi on top, and drizzle with dressing. Chill. Remove from the refrigerator, garnish with mint leaves, and let stand about 20 minutes before serving.

Dressing

juice of 1 orange, about 2 ounces

juice of 1 lemon, about 1 ounce

juice of 1 lime, about 1 ounce, optional

1 tablespoon good-quality honey

Mix the orange and lemon juices (and lime, if using). Whisk in the honey.

We truly have no idea where these cookies originated, but they appear under many names in kitchens across the country. They’re easy, tasty, quick to make, and require no baking—a real plus in a Florida summer!

LUNCHROOM COOKIES

3 cups oatmeal

¹
/
₂
cup peanut butter

¹
/
₂
cup milk

2 cups sugar

¹
/
₄
cup cocoa

¹
/
₂
cup butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

¹
/
₄
teaspoon salt

Mix the oatmeal and peanut butter in a large bowl. Set aside. In a saucepan, combine the milk, sugar, cocoa, and butter. Stir frequently, until the mixture makes a syrup. Bring to a rolling boil and boil 1 minute, stirring frequently.

Remove from heat; stir in the salt and vanilla. Immediately pour the hot syrup over the oatmeal–peanut butter mixture. Stir. As soon as the syrup is mixed in, drop the batter by teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper. Allow to cool for at least 1 hour before removing from the paper. Store in an airtight container.

Homemade ice cream is a wonderful end to any meal. Sweet, creamy, flavored with fresh fruit. Who could ask for anything more?

PEACH ICE CREAM

4 cups fresh peaches (about 8 small peaches), peeled and diced

1 cup sugar

12 ounces evaporated milk

1 package (3.75 ounces) instant vanilla pudding mix

14 ounces sweetened condensed milk

4 cups half-and-half

Mix the peaches and sugar; let sit for 1 hour. Puree the peach mixture in a blender or food processor until smooth. In a large bowl, stir the pudding mix into the evaporated milk. Add the pureed peaches, condensed milk, and half-and-half.

Place the mixture in the container of a 4-quart ice cream freezer and freeze according to the manufacturer’s directions. When the freezing is completed, place the ice cream in an airtight container in the freezer until firm and ready to serve.

The standard Southern beverage, sweet tea, is served at every meal. Southerners like their sweet tea, and most traditional homes will have a pitcher or two in the refrigerator.

SWEET TEA

6 cups water

6 tea bags—traditionally, plain black tea

1 cup sugar

mint sprigs or lemon slices for garnish, optional

Bring the water to a boil, add the sugar, and stir to dissolve. Steep the tea bags in the sweetened water to the desired strength, and serve in tall glasses of ice. Garnish with mint sprigs or lemon slices, if desired.

A grilled dinner is a tradition across the country on Independence Day. But instead of the standard burgers and dogs, try these recipes for an exciting change of pace. Add a big jug of sweet tea or a cooler of beer, and you have all the ingredients for a spectacular Fourth of July.

Felipe’s Grilled Gala

Shrimp in lettuce cups, or lettuce wraps, are a cool spicy/sweet start to an evening of grilled goodness. The lettuce acts as a bowl or wrap, which makes these finger food.

SHRIMP IN LETTUCE CUPS

1 pound cooked cocktail shrimp

1 small cucumber, chopped

1 large avocado, diced

3 Roma tomatoes, diced

¹
/
₄
cup cilantro, chopped

¹
/
₄
cup white wine

¹
/
₄
cup olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1 head Boston, Bibb, or romaine lettuce (see instructions)

Toss together the shrimp, cucumber, avocado, tomato, and cilantro. Mix the white wine and olive oil, add salt and pepper to taste, and pour over the shrimp mixture.

For lettuce cups, use Boston or Bibb lettuce. Wash and dry leaves and arrange on a plate. Place a spoonful of shrimp in each lettuce “bowl” to serve.

For rolls, use romaine lettuce. Cut the bottom off the lettuce, wash and dry leaves, and cut in half crosswise. Place a spoonful of shrimp mixture on each half leaf, fold up one end about a half inch, and roll up like a cigar. Use a toothpick to secure each roll.

Serve with plenty of napkins!

This simple marinated and grilled chicken is the perfect antidote to a summer of hamburgers. Served with grilled vegetables, it makes a hearty, and healthy, summer meal.

GRILLED CHICKEN

³
/
₄
cup white wine

³
/
₄
cup melted butter

1 ounce lemon juice

5–6 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons dried rosemary, or 2 sprigs fresh rosemary leaves

salt and pepper to taste, about
¹
/
₂
teaspoon each

2 chickens, 3–4 pounds each, quartered; or 6 pounds bone-in chicken pieces

Mix all the ingredients except the chicken; reserve about 1 cup for basting. Pour the remaining mixture over the chicken in a plastic bag. Turn and shake gently until the chicken is completely coated. Force out as much air as possible, close the bag securely, and allow the chicken to marinate for several hours in the refrigerator.

Place the chicken bone-side down on a hot grill. Baste with marinade, and continue basting frequently while cooking. Cook for about 10–12 minutes, turn and baste, and cook another 10–12 minutes. Repeat turning and basting until the chicken is completely cooked (meat thermometer reads 180° when inserted in thickest part of the piece). Total cooking time is about 45 minutes.

Vegetable skewers, with their variety of colors and textures, are an attractive addition to any grilled menu. Use or omit any vegetable that you prefer, or do each skewer with a single vegetable and allow your guests to help themselves to their favorites.

SKEWERED VEGETABLES

2 each medium red bell, green bell, and yellow bell peppers

2 small yellow squash

2 small zucchini

1 red onion

24 cherry tomatoes

24 mushrooms

¹
/
₂
cup olive oil

¹
/
₂
cup lemon or lime juice

¹
/
₄
cup water

¹
/
₄
cup Dijon mustard