Cast Iron Cover-Up (The Cast Iron Cooking Mysteries Book 3) (5 page)

Chapter 10: Pat

“W
e need to come up with a plan before everyone gets here,” I told Annie after she got off the phone with our older sister.

“I thought that after everyone got here, we’d eat, and then we’d have ourselves a nice little chat,” she said.

“Don’t you think we need to come up with something better than that?”

“Pat, Kathleen has been grilling them for over an hour. Do you really think we should hit them with more questions of our own? Not only will it possibly infuriate our big sister, but the kids are going to resent it as well. On the other hand, if we keep it loose and unrehearsed, we might just be able to learn something new.”

“You’re right,” I said.

“That’s what I like I about you. You’re not afraid to admit when you’re wrong.”

“I never said that I was wrong,” I corrected her.

“Wasn’t it implied? Anyway, we have a little time to kill before everyone gets here. Should we make dessert, too?”

“Do you have time to make a pineapple upside down cake?” I asked her. It was my favorite dessert in the world, and not just because Annie used a cast iron skillet to bake it in. I loved just about everything about it, including the warm pineapple slices and maraschino cherries on top.

“There should be if I get busy on it right away,” she said.

As Annie started assembling the ingredients, I asked her, “Should I call the hospital and see if Peggy is still there, or should we just wait and ask Kathleen about her when she gets here?”

“I don’t know. It might be awkward to ask with her friends there. Why don’t you make the call, and I’ll finish this up?”

“Sounds like a good division of labor to me,” I said with a grin. “I’ll trade a phone call for some of your pineapple upside down cake any day of the week.”

I came back into the Iron ten minutes later after going out onto the front porch to make my call. Sometimes I got better reception out there, but this evening it had been a little sketchy even there. The cell phone industry liked to claim that there was coverage everywhere civilization ruled, but there were times when I couldn’t even get a signal upstairs in my bedroom. Oddly enough, there were other instances when I had as many as two bars on my phone. I didn’t understand it, and no one I’d ever asked had been able to explain it to my satisfaction.

“Did you have any luck?” she asked me.

“They’re keeping her overnight,” I said.

“Why? Was she hurt after all, or is she really in shock?”

“That I couldn’t find out,” I answered with a shrug. “But if you ask me, I’ve got a hunch our big sister has something to do with it. I’m sure she doesn’t want her only witness to what might have been a murder disappearing on her.”

“Would she really do something like that?”

“I’m sure she believes she’s helping Peggy at the same time, but don’t kid yourself. Right now, that girl is the only one who believes without hesitation that Bones is really dead.”

“Well, I’ve got to say, if it’s a practical joke, it’s in pretty horrific taste,” Annie said.

“I didn’t mean it that way. I’m just wondering if he was unconscious when Peggy found him, but soon after she left, he managed to get away from the site altogether.”

“Why hasn’t he asked anyone for help if that’s what happened?” she asked me.

“Well, someone did just try to kill him, and they failed through no fault of their own, apparently. Wouldn’t that make you reluctant to show yourself if it were you?”

“I suppose so,” she said. “Maybe I should run home and have a look around before everyone gets here.”

I sniffed the air, and I could tell that the roast, as well as the cake, was close to being ready to take out of the oven. “Is that really a very good idea?”

“You can handle things here. Just take everything out when it’s ready,” she said.

“Why the sudden urge to go home?” I asked her.

“What if Bones woke up and somehow managed to stumble to the nearest house? Where would he go?”

“Your place,” I said. I glanced at my watch. “Let’s roll. We’ve got twenty-five minutes before Kathleen shows up. How much time is left on the oven timer?”

“Everything should be finished in around ten minutes.”

“Then we wait together and pull everything out of the oven, and then we rush over to your place,” I said.

“Pat, it’s not going to work. We don’t have time to get there and back. Just let me go now.”

“Annie, it’s not going to happen. You’re not going to your place without an escort.”

“Then I suppose you can go, too, but I don’t know why you’re so afraid to do a simple task here.”

“Sis, we both know that timing on when something is done is highly subjective, especially with cast iron. You’ve had a lot more practice with it than I have. But that’s not the real reason. Neither one of us needs to go someplace that secluded alone. If Bones really does need help, then he’s going to need more than we can give him. We should just call Kathleen, tell her what we’re thinking, and then let her check it out herself.”

“Why so timid all of a sudden, Pat?” she asked me. “You aren’t losing your nerve, are you?”

“You bet I am,” I said without hesitation. “That’s the best way to stay alive, as far as I’m concerned.”

Annie hesitated for a full five seconds before she spoke again. “What if he’s at my cabin, and he’s gravely injured? Any delay may cost him his life. Do you honestly want that hanging over your head for the rest of your life while we try to get ahold of our big sister?”

“That’s why I want to tell Kathleen,” I said. “As a matter of fact, I think we should call her now.”

“Go on,” Annie said, “but don’t go outside, okay? I’d like to at least hear your end of the conversation when you make the call. Besides, I bet I get better reception in here than you do out on the porch.”

“It wouldn’t take much,” I said as I dialed Kathleen’s number.

“We’re on our way, Pat, so don’t you dare cancel on me at the last minute,” our older sister said.

“We wouldn’t think of it,” I said. “Annie and I have been talking, and there’s something we wanted to ask you.”

“I can’t really talk right now,” she said.

“Are you still with the kids? How’s that going?”

“Sure, later is fine,” Kathleen said.

“So, you don’t want to talk about it in their presence, is that it?”

“Absolutely,” she said. “Was that all?”

“No. We think you should send someone over to Annie’s cabin immediately. What if Bones woke up, stumbled through the woods, and made it to her place? He might be in trouble.”

“Yes, we did that already,” Kathleen said. “There was no sign of any cat in the tree. It’s probably Mrs. Hickman’s overactive imagination again. If that’s all, I really do have to go. I’m on my way to dinner with friends.”

“Got it. See you soon.”

I hung up and breathed a sigh of relief.

“What did she say?” Annie asked me.

“They already left, but she managed to let me know that she checked your place out earlier, and it was all clear.”

“Did she say that in so many words?”

“No, she had to speak in code, since she wasn’t alone. She said that there was no sign of a cat in the tree, so Bones wasn’t there when her people checked your place out earlier.”

Annie frowned at me. “That’s quite a leap going from looking for Bones to not seeing a treed cat, wouldn’t you say?”

“You had to hear both sides of the conversation to fully understand,” I said. “She didn’t want to tip the kids off about what we were talking about. It made perfect sense to me.”

“Is that why Kathleen gets so frustrated with us sometimes? I swear, it’s like you two were speaking in some kind of code that I wasn’t aware of.”

“The only secret language I know is the one we made up as kids,” I said with a smile.

“Looking back on it, we must have driven everyone around us crazy back then.”

“What makes you think that stopped when we grew up?” I asked her.

Annie pulled out the Dutch oven with our pork roast and lifted the lid to peek inside. The aromas were nearly magical, and I was beginning to regret inviting anyone else. Still, it was for a good cause, so I decided to keep my disappointment to myself. Next, the pineapple upside down cake came out, and I immediately started having regrets again. The sacrifices I was willing to make in order to uncover the truth could be quite painful at times.

I heard a car pull up out front, and when I walked to the front of the store, I saw Kathleen get out of her squad car, along with the three kids she’d been interrogating. No one looked particularly happy about being there, so I knew that so far, things hadn’t gone that well.

Maybe Annie’s food and my company would make things better, but even if they didn’t, at least we’d all get to eat a delicious meal and dessert, too.

“Hey, Pat. Hi, Annie. Thanks for feeding us,” Henry said solemnly. The young man was quite a bit more subdued than he’d been earlier that day when we’d first met. Had it really just been that afternoon that all of our paths had crossed for the first time?

“It’s our pleasure. We’re just sorry about everything that’s been happening today,” I said.

“Tell me about it,” Gretchen said. “Hey.”

“Hello.”

Marty just scowled at us all, including the college kids he’d come to Maple Crest with. As a matter of fact, he looked as though he’d rather be anywhere else at the moment than at the Iron, and I didn’t blame him one bit. They’d come in search of treasure and wealth, and all they’d managed to dig up was tragedy, if Peggy’s story was to be believed.

“I hope you’re all hungry,” Annie said as Kathleen came in last, carefully locking the door behind her. “We’ve got pork roast and pineapple upside down cake for dinner and dessert.”

Gretchen frowned. “I’m sorry, but I can’t stand pork,” she said glumly. “Oh well. At least I can have some cake, unless there’s pork in that, too.”

“Nonsense. I can whip something else up for you. You’re not a vegetarian, are you?”

“No, I just don’t like pork,” she repeated.

“How about an omelet?” Annie offered.

“Or I could make you one of my special egg and cheese sandwiches,” I volunteered. “While Annie’s the pro at just about everything else in the cooking world, I’m the king of egg sandwiches around here.”

“That sounds nice,” Gretchen said as she smiled at me, “but only if it’s not too much trouble.”

“It’s no problem at all,” I said as Marty’s scowl turned particularly malevolent when he turned to me. It appeared that he had a bit of a crush on Gretchen, and he wasn’t all that pleased that another man had her attention, even if for only a moment. I just shrugged as I took my place behind the counter while Annie joined the others. She set all of the places as I grated some cheese and started two eggs in a pan. Popping the bread down in the toaster, I worked with practiced ease, since this was my preferred meal most evenings Annie didn’t volunteer to feed me. Was this how it felt for her, mistress of her domain as she prepared everyone’s food? It was nice, I had to admit, not that I ever had any interest in changing places with her on more than an occasional basis. Annie was just serving the others as I finished Gretchen’s sandwich. Her thanks were out of proportion for what I offered her, which managed to make Marty a little angrier still, something I hadn’t been at all sure would be possible earlier.

As we ate, there was very little conversation besides a polite request for salt or pepper or a refill of sweet tea. I’d been hoping for an open discussion, but we might as well have been eating under vows of silence. Kathleen tried to ask them all a few questions, but her inquiries were met with utter quiet, so eventually she stopped even trying.

After we all finished dessert, which was just as amazing as the pork roast had been, Kathleen said, “That was truly outstanding. I suppose we’d better get back to the station, though.”

“Do we honestly have to go back there tonight?” Henry asked. “We’re exhausted. It would be great if we could get our camping equipment out of the van and set up at the park, or somewhere else that’s out of the way.”

“There’s no camping allowed there,” Kathleen said, “and besides, we’re still going through all of your things.”

“Where are we supposed to sleep, then?” Marty asked. “We can’t afford a motel room, even a cheap one. Bones is the money in this operation. The rest of us are just a bunch of broke students.”

“I suppose you could always sleep at the jail,” Kathleen said. “It’s not much, but I can offer you cots and blankets.”

I had a sudden thought. Without even consulting with Annie, I suggested, “Nonsense. They can stay here tonight with me.”

Annie and Kathleen stared at me with the exact same expression of disbelief in their eyes, as though I’d just lost my mind. I knew that I’d just invited one potential murderer into my business and my home, but I hadn’t been able to stop myself.

“Where are we supposed to sleep, on the floor?” Marty asked.

“Hey, don’t be so ungrateful,” Henry replied, perking up from the meal he’d just eaten. “I’ll happily take a spot on the floor, if that’s all you’ve got.”

“Nonsense,” Annie said, getting into the spirit of things. “We have air mattresses and sleeping bags. You can all sleep in the storeroom.”