At Wick's End (Book 1 in the Candlemaking Mysteries) (23 page)

“
So when you found out you
couldn’t run me off, you decided to tamper with my
brakes.”

Again Young looked surprised by the
conclusion. “I must say, Harrison, I believe I underestimated you.
I worked in a garage when I was an undergraduate, so it was easy
enough to do. I purposely neglected to mention Belle’s truck to
you, but evidently someone couldn’t keep their mouth shut. I had
the perfect setup, but you somehow found me out.”

“
I was on the roof when you
were sabotaging my truck,” I said. “I saw you run away, but it was
too dark and too far away for me to see who you were. I just don’t
get why you’d stoop to murder. You did all this so you could
convert River’s Edge into a lawyer’s complex like Cragg was going
to do?”

Young laughed. “Hardly. I have more
ambitious plans. What wonderful condominiums these will make. I’ll
be able to pay off my gambling debts and have a steady income to
indulge my hobby.” Then I remembered Pearly saying that he’d seen
Young on his way to the racetrack in West Virginia.

I said, “Listen, I know I don’t have a
chance, you’re holding all the cards. Just tell me one thing before
you do anything rash. “I needed to appeal to his ego if I had the
lighten chance of getting out of this alive.

“
A last request.” be said.
“How dramatic.”

“
Why did you choose River’s
Edge to hide the diamonds you stole?”

“
Thanks for reminding me,”
he said “Where’s the one Belle found?”

“
I’ll answer you if you
answer me.” I said.  What did I have to lose? At least I
wouldn’t die of curiosity.

“
I used to lease Markum’s
office, I don’t know if you’re aware of that or not. There’s a
floor safe up there he doesn’t know about so I figured it would be
a perfect place to hide something important. The only problem was
that I dropped the bag of diamonds in the hallway in my haste.
Belle saw me as I was leaving the building the night of the
robbery, but I made up an excuse about coming to the complex to see
her. She would have bought it too, if I hadn’t lost one of the
diamonds. She decided to confront me the next evening, and I knew I
had to do something. In a very real way, it was self-defense. One
quick shove was all it took. Then it was simply a matter of staging
the accident downstairs. I would have been home free if I could
have only found that blasted diamond. I thought I covered my tracks
by killing the jeweler, but Belle suddenly became another loose
end.”

“
So why did you kill
him?”

“
I handled Bleeker’s
business affairs along with that cluck Ann Marie, so I knew the way
his security system operated. I needed something to pay off my
creditors, though it wasn’t enough to satisfy them completely. They
gave me quite a bit less than top dollar for the diamonds, but I
wasn’t in any position to complain. It was surprisingly easy to
dispatch the jeweler, he was extraordinarily careless. Kudos to
you, Harrison, you figured this out with the sparsest of
clues.”

“
It’s the only way it all
made sense. Belle must have found the errant jewel and somehow tied
it to you.” Another thought occurred to me. “You didn’t have
anything to do with my deposit being robbed, did you? You did.” I
said as I saw him smile.

“
I needed you to give up
your claim to the property. Harrison, if I was going to be able to
take over River’s Edge. I followed you to the library and couldn’t
believe my good luck when you left the deposit on the front seat of
the cab. It was a perfect opportunity to drive you away. But I
underestimated you, didn’t I? Ann Marie told me about your special
client who was going to save the day, so I had to discourage her
from patronizing your shop. I thought the telephone call would be
enough of a threat to keep her away, but she was more determined
than I thought she’d be. After that, I knew that I wasn’t going to
be able to scare you away from At Wick’s End, so it was time to
take more drastic measures.”

“
So you decided to mess
with my brakes.”

Young smiled. “I purposely didn’t tell you
about Belle’s truck, so you’d have to drive the Dodge. I knew you’d
drive it again sooner or later. The condition it’s in, I doubted
anyone would look twice at an accident.”

“
Your accidents are getting
to be a habit for you, aren’t they?”

Young shook his head. “Belle didn’t have to
die. If she’d only minded her own business, I never would have had
to take action. She was going to turn me in. Hiding that diamond in
the candle was a stroke of brilliance, I have to credit her for
that. She shouldn’t have confronted me first though. Can you
imagine, she wanted me to have the opportunity to turn myself in
before she did. That was her last mistake.”

I’d heard all I needed to hear. “And you’ve
made yours,” I said as I threw the hot wax at him, hoping to burn
his face with it for killing my great-aunt.

He threw his hands up automatically to
defend himself and caught the sizzling wax square on. There was no
way he could hold a gun with the burns, so I picked the weapon up
and trained it on him as I dialed Sheriff Coburn’s number.

The next morning, after very little sleep,
and troubled at that, we held an impromptu meeting at The Crocked
Pot with most of the tenants at River’s Edge, including Markum.

“
What I want to know is how
he slipped back into my office without my keys,” Markum
said.

Pearly said, “I hate to admit this, but I’ve
come to the conclusion he made copies of mine. I keep a master set,
it’s required by the fire marshal. Young must have absconded with
my set, duplicated them, then returned them without me being aware
of it. He hovered around here quite a bit, you know.”

Heather said, “Harrison, you should never
have tackled him on your own. You could have been killed.”

I smiled at her, then at Eve. “I had the
perfect defensive weapon with me. That wax is hot!”

Eve said, “I told you all along, you have to
be careful with it.” She glanced at the clock. “I’m so happy it’s
all turned out for the best, but it’s almost time to open our
shop.”

I got up to follow, and Eve added, “Why
don’t you come in later? You had an active night. Go up to your
apartment and get some rest.”

“
Maybe I’ll do that,” I
said.

Markum said, “Well, I’ve got to head out
too. I need to move my desk.” He looked at Pearly and asked, “Do
you have time to give me a hand?”

“
Absolutely,” Pearly
said.

That left Millie, Cragg, Heather and me.
Cragg glanced at his watch and said, “I’ve got to get over to the
courthouse. I’m defending Lucas Young.”

I said, “No offense, but I hope you
lose.”

He shrugged. “The accused is entitled to the
best defense possible.”

“
You mean that their money
can buy,” Millie added, loud enough for Cragg to hear on his way
out.

“
Now what can I do for you
two,” she asked. “More coffee? How about some pumpkin doughnuts? I
just made a new batch.”

“
If I drink any more
coffee, I’ll never be able to take a nap.”

Heather said, “Who are you kidding? If At
Wick’s End is open, you’re going to be there. That’s where you
belong, Harrison.”

“
It is, isn’t
it?”

As I walked to the candle shop, I found
myself wishing I’d had the chance to thank Belle for my new life.
She’d given me a great trust, leaving River’s Edge, and At Wick’s
End in particular, to me.

I made a solemn promise to her that I’d do
my best to live up to that trust.

I walked back in and Eve was looking
frantic. “Thank goodness I found you.”

“
You couldn’t have been
looking that hard, I was still at The Crocked Pot.”

Eve said, “You don’t understand. Mrs.
Jorgenson just called. She wants her first lesson on pouring
candles this morning, and no one else will do.”

After facing down a killer the night before,
I was pretty sure I could handle Mrs. Jorgenson.

After all, pouring candles was my new
specialty.

Belle’s Snickerdoodle
Cookies

This is a longtime favorite of my
family.  These cookies are a treat out of the oven, but
they’re just as tasty right out of the freezer, too.

Ingredients

Dough

2 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

A dash of salt

1 cup butter or margarine, creamed

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

Coating

3 tablespoons sugar

3 teaspoons cinnamon

Combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking
soda and salt. Sift this mixture thoroughly, then set it aside.
Cream the butter (or margarine) until fluffy, then gradually add
the sugar and eggs. Stir in the dry ingredients, then chill the
dough until it’s cool to the touch. This makes it easier to work
with. Make balls a little bigger than a quarter, then roll them in
the combined cinnamon/sugar mix. Place them two inches apart on an
ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. The
cookies take 8-10 minutes to bake and will be lightly browned on
top.

This recipe makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Millie’s Pumpkin Doughnuts

For a delightful treat on an autumn day, my
family and I make these doughnuts when the leaves start to
turn.

Ingredients

3 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 cup butter or margarine, soft

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 can solid pack pumpkin

2/3 cup buttermilk

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda,
salt, cinnamon and ginger; then sift and set aside. Cream butter
until fluffy, then gradually add the sugar and beat until fluffy
again. Beat in 1/4 cup of the dry ingredients, then add pumpkin and
buttermilk and mix thoroughly. Add the remaining dry ingredients
and stir just until blended. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Roll dough out on floured surface to a quarter inch thickness, then
cut out doughnuts and holes with a 3 1/2-inch doughnut cutter.
While the doughnut cut-outs are resting, heat 4 inches of oil in a
heavy large saucepan to 365 degrees Fahrenheit. Add doughnuts and
holes and cook until golden brown, turning once. Drain on paper
towels, then dust with powdered sugar and enjoy.

Tips for Making Beeswax
Rolled candles

Rolled candles are a great way to begin
candlemaking. They are easy to make, producing a satisfying product
with minimum effort. And the candles burn great too. This is an
especially easy way to get started with kids.

Once you’ve mastered the technique of rolling
a tight candle with the wax sheets, it’s fun to play and experiment
with cookie cutters. We make all kinds of shapes, from card-suit
candles to red hearts on Valentine’s Day to green Christmas tree
candles in December. It’s especially nice to alternate two
complementary colors as you build up your cookie cutter candles.
For July 4th, try stacking individual candle cut-outs with red,
cream and blue waxes for a patriotic centerpiece candle.

To make a layered candle with cookie cutters,
treat the wax sheet as if it were dough and cut individual
thicknesses out of the colored wax you prefer. Open cutters work
best here, as the wax sometimes gets stuck in the closed cutters.
Build a candle with four or six layers, remembering to put the wick
in the middle. Don’t be afraid to press the edges of the candle
together. This gives the candle a softer, more rounded look and
also serves to bind the pieces together. A blow-dryer gently run
over the edges can help soften the wax, just enough to further
press the candle together.

Another technique we enjoy with wax sheets is
rolling two diagonally trimmed pieces, alternating colors together,
giving the candle a nice layered look.

To finish off your rolled projects, you can
dip the bottoms in a pan of melted wax, sealing the candle and
giving it a more stable base, but it’s not really necessary.

The most important thing to remember when
making candles is to have fun!

Here’s a glimpse of SNUFFED OUT, second in
the Candlemaking mysteries by Tim Myers

SNUFFED OUT

by Tim Myers

Chapter 1

I was hunting for the short circuit that
knocked out the power to River’s Edge when I stumbled across Aaron
Gaston’s body. I hadn’t known the potter all that well, exchanging
a few greetings and a shared cup of coffee or two since I’d taken
over the complex of small businesses from my Great-Aunt Belle. My
candleshop, At Wick’s End, was on the other side of the converted
warehouse/factory from The Pot Shot, Aaron’s name for his pottery
studio. Still, I had no trouble identifying him in the weak beam of
my flashlight as he lay sprawled on the floor in the middle of his
studio. As the new owner of the building, I should have been more
involved in my tenants’ lives and businesses, but running the
candleshop was nearly more than I could handle. I’d let Pearly
Gray, my well-educated and erudite handyman, serve as my liaison to
most of the folks who worked at River’s Edge.

Now it appeared that I’d lost my last chance
to get to know Aaron.