Bran New Death (A Merry Muffin Mystery) (28 page)

But there was something inside. A piece of paper. Maybe Dinah had left a little note for Binny. I plucked it out and opened it, smoothing it on the tabletop. No, it was a snatch of poetry.

For some are sane and some are mad

And some are good and some are bad

And some are better, some are worse—

But all may be described in verse.

What the . . . ? I recognized the piece; who was it by? It was . . . I searched my brain, sure I had heard those same words before. Aha! T. S. Eliot. From “Old Possum.”

Becket leaped up on the table and nosed the box, causing it to fall on the floor.

“Stop it, Becks!” I hollered, pushing him away. He came right back and nosed at the teapot, then at the note in my hand. “Becks, don’t . . .” I paused as my hand brushed against his collar, which I had put back on him. The tag on it that gave his name and that was all, was plastic, and had survived the almost-year he had spent in the wild since his master was killed. But the tag was oddly thick.

Why hadn’t I noticed that before?

My attention was pulled back to the note. The quote was in different handwriting, a nice, cursive script, than some of the other scribbles on it. And there were underlined words in the verse. It all seemed gibberish, and there was a string of exclamation marks, and a faint penciled phrase. I held the paper up to the light. “What the hell does this mean?” was scribbled in a slanting hand different from the poem.

I wished I knew.

I couldn’t shake the sense that there was some significance to it all, something I was missing. I retired to the kitchen, made a pot of tea, and sat in the chair by the empty fireplace, where, for the first time, Becket leaped up onto my lap. I toyed with his collar, and the tag. The plastic disc covering his name fell out, and out of the opening came a thin packet of paper, which folded out like a paper doll, maybe twenty discs long.

Just then Shilo came into the kitchen with Pish, both of them overheated but excited from their day. I couldn’t attend to what they were saying, though, because I was still puzzling over the paper disks. On each disc was a Latin word or phrase, beginning with
Quercus macrocarpa
, and on through
Acer pseudoplatanus, Tilia Americana
, and so on
.
On the back of the last disk was the name “Kilmer.”

Well, of course when I shared all of this with my friends, Shilo said, popping the lid on a can of cola, “Val Kilmer? Why would old Mel write down Val Kilmer’s name on his cat’s tag?

Pish frowned over at her. “Are popular references the only ones you know? Perhaps it refers to Joyce Kilmer . . . you know, ‘I think that I shall never see a poem so lovely as a tree?’”

“So she liked trees and poetry, huh?”

“It’s not a ‘she,’” I said absently. “It’s a he . . . I mean, Joyce Kilmer is a ‘he.’ They’re actually distant cousins, I’ve heard, Joyce and Val. Pish, do these Latin words mean anything to you?”

He leaned over the chair arm. “Hmm. Well, animals and plants are often called by their Latin names. Does that help?”

My eyes widened. I had actually seen some of these same words, on plaques in the arboretum! I shared my discovery with my friends, and said, “I wonder . . . okay, is this crazy? My mind is making connections. Could this be associated with the woods, and, perhaps a treasure hunt, or something? There are rumors that my uncle left a stash of money somewhere. Maybe that’s why Tom was digging holes on the property. Maybe Dinah thought it was true, that there was money here somewhere, and set Tom onto the task?”

“Could be,” Pish said.

Shilo hopped up and down. “A treasure, a treasure! Let’s go look for it.”

“How?” I said. Wait . . . tree names. Slowly, I came to a conclusion and spoke up. “I think that there is something to this, and I think it has to do with the arboretum. If these are tree names, then the woods is the place to look.”

Pish plunked down on the chair next to me as Shilo danced around the kitchen. “You know what, my dear, I think you just may have something. And I want to be in on the fun. I have a proposal to make. I would like to rent a room from you for the foreseeable future, and move some of my things here. This fraud investigation has got my juices going, and I’d like to make it the central story of my book-to-be.”

“Is it going to be that big a story?” I asked, startled.

“Sadly, my dear, I think so. I’m pretty sure it’s going to go national, if the financial papers get ahold of it. I am trying to do
all
I can to help the Autumn Vale Community Bank stay alive, because it is in grave danger of folding.
That
is the more important story here. Those federal investigators don’t really care, but I do. I hate to see small, local banks fail. Diversity in the banking industry is unfortunately becoming quite rare.”

“Yikes. I care, too. These folks have been through enough tough times.”

His tone honeyed and persuasive, he said, “If I stay and rent a room, Merry, it would help you with the utility bills, which are
not
going to be pretty this winter. And I can help, then, with the treasure hunt!”

“Deal,” I said, not adding that he had not needed to sweeten the pot, so to speak. Having him around was a treat.

“Deal, deal, deal,” Shilo sang, spinning around.

I took a deep breath. An adventure had begun. In fact, I was in the middle of an adventure, but hadn’t stopped to realize it. I grinned over at Pish, who smiled back, then we both turned to watch Shilo spinning around the kitchen, out of control with love and joy and happiness, followed by Becket, who lunged and batted at her fluttering scarf.

I couldn’t wait to get started.

Golden Acres Banana Bran Muffins

Yield: 12 Muffins

1
¹
/
₂
cups bran flake cereal

1 cup mashed ripe banana (2–3 large)

¹
/
₂
cup milk

1 egg

3 tbsp. vegetable or canola oil

1 cup all-purpose flour

¹
/
₄
cup sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

¹
/
₂
tsp. baking soda

¹
/
₈
tsp. ground nutmeg

¹
/
₄
tsp. cinnamon

¹
/
₄
cup chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 F. Grease or paper line muffin cups. If greasing, use cooking spray.

Combine cereal, bananas, milk, egg, and oil in a bowl, mix well and let stand. Stir occasionally to break up cereal. Let stand at least 10–15 minutes or however long it takes for the cereal to break down completely.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and nuts (if using) in a separate bowl.

Add flour mixture all at once to cereal mixture, stirring until just moistened.

Divide evenly among prepared muffin cups.

Bake 20–25 minutes until toothpick poked in center comes out clean, or until muffin springs back when top is pushed down.

Bacon Cheddar Muffins

Yield: 12 muffins

¹
/
₂
pound bacon

¹
/
₃
cup bacon drippings

1 egg

³
/
₄
cup milk

1
³
/
₄
cups all-purpose flour (use half all purpose and half whole wheat, if desired)

¹
/
₄
cup brown sugar

1 tbsp. baking powder

2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

Cook bacon in a skillet over medium high heat until crisp. Remove the bacon from the pan, drain on paper towels. Reserve the drippings and measure out
¹
/
₃
cup. Once the bacon is cool, crumble it. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the egg, milk, flour, sugar, baking powder, and bacon drippings. Stir until combined. There will still be some lumps. Stir in the bacon and cheese until evenly distributed. Divide the batter among the cups of a lightly greased muffin tin.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the pan and cool or eat warm.

Gouda and Harvest Vegetable Chowder

2 tbsp. butter

1 medium onion, diced

2 cups cauliflower finely chopped

2 cups broccoli finely chopped

1 cup grated carrot

3 cups good quality or homemade chicken stock

2 cups milk

¹
/
₄
cup all-purpose flour

1
¹
/
₂
cup shredded Gouda; you can substitute a different cheese if you like. Cheddar works well!

salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in large saucepan. Cook and stir onion over medium heat until soft.

Add cauliflower, broccoli, carrot, and chicken stock. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until vegetables are soft.

Whisk milk into flour until smooth, add to vegetables. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture boils and thickens. Remove pan from heat, add 1
¹
/
₂
cups Gouda and stir until melted. Season with salt and pepper.

Optional, to serve, sprinkle with
¹
/
₂
cup cheese and buttered croutons.

Enjoy the Bacon Cheddar muffins with the soup! Mmmm!