Death of a Pumpkin Carver (17 page)

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Authors: Lee Hollis

BOOK: Death of a Pumpkin Carver
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Chapter 33
The news of Norman Cross's death swept the nation and was the talk of the cable news channels especially given the added twist of a sordid cover-up.
Reporters invaded the town to broadcast live in front of the Cross mansion and the House of Horrors.
Despite a flurry of interview requests Sergio kept Crystal and Shane locked up in the town jail after a judge denied bail, and they were not allowed to speak to reporters. A decision echoed by their defense attorney, who preferred powdering himself with makeup and speaking for them on camera since he was a rabid attention hog.
Poor Aaron's vet practice was besieged by the press when word got out he had been dating the cold-as-ice femme fatale Crystal Collier. He was rumored to have been close to shutting his business down and fleeing town until all the hoopla died down, but Aaron was a professional, and there were way too many sick animals that needed to be nursed back to health. So he just kept his head down, focused on his job, and ignored the gaggle of reporters camped outside his office who shouted questions about Crystal every night when he walked to his car after his last appointment.
And then there was Danny.
He had spent the last two days in bed recovering at the Bar Harbor Hospital.
The bullet had just grazed his arm and his minor flesh wound was patched up pretty quickly, but Danny being Danny, he relished all the attention and drama of his injury so he chose to stay hospitalized at the doctor's invitation, just to be sure he was fully recovered, even though Danny, his doctor, and the entire hospital staff knew there wasn't a single reason he shouldn't be discharged.
Hayley stopped by the hospital for a quick visit before work, and when she walked into Danny's room, she found him sitting on the edge of the bed, fully dressed in a plaid shirt over a white T-shirt, blue jeans, and L.L. Bean work boots, his arm in a cloth sling.
He perked up at the sight of Hayley in the doorway.
“Hi, babe.”
“So they're finally kicking you out?”
“Are you kidding? The nurses love me. They're devastated I'm leaving. They've been fawning all over me. Tilly told me the staff got together in the cafeteria and talked about upping my blood pressure numbers just so the doctor would keep me around a little while longer.”
“You always were the life of the party, Danny.”
“They gave me a little going-away shindig this morning. One of the nurses baked a cake. It was very sweet. The gesture. Not the cake. The cake was dry and chalky and I had to spit it out in the sink.”
Hayley chuckled.
“I'm just waiting for them to bring my discharge papers and a wheelchair so they can escort me out. I think they're having an argument at the nurses' station as to who is going to do the honors.”
“You need a ride somewhere?”
“No, I'm good. I already have a designated driver. It's nice of you to stop by, Hayley.”
“Danny . . .”
“I know what you're going to say. When I saved your life down in that basement, that was the moment when you realized how much you love me and that those feelings for me are never going away, so maybe it's time we tried again. You're here to tell me I should move back in with you and the kids so we can be a real family again. And that I shouldn't answer now, but I should think about it, and when I'm ready, I should let you know what I want to do even though we both know I'm going to come back to you because we are meant to be together. Am I right?”
“Not even close.”
“I figured it was worth a shot. I knew you probably wouldn't go for it. I took a bullet for you. If that didn't work, what else can I do?”
“You were very brave and gallant down in that basement, jumping in front of me to protect me like that.”
“I love you, babe. That's never going to change.”
“So what are you going to do now?”
“I have an option or two.”
From inside the bathroom, they heard a toilet flush.
Hayley raised an eyebrow at Danny, who smiled sheepishly.
The sink ran water for a few seconds and then the door opened and Becky sashayed out, wiping her hands on her tight white blouse. “They're out of paper towels.”
“Becky?” Hayley said, surprised.
Becky looked Hayley up and down and with a pout said, “Oh, it's you. What do you want?”
“I just came to check on Danny. Like strictly platonic friends do. Please don't read anything into it,” Hayley said, desperate to avoid another confrontation.
“Well, that's awfully darn nice of you, Hayley. But don't you worry. My Danny is in good hands. Once I get him back to Des Moines I'm going to spoil him rotten and take care of him and make sure he doesn't have a care in the world.”
Danny sat up, rubbing his stiff neck, moaning a bit for effect. “You're too good for me, sweet pea.”
“I know. You're lucky to have me. And don't you ever forget it again,” Becky cooed, bending over and kissing him lightly on the cheek.
“Well, I'm happy to see you two back together,” Hayley said.
“Liar,” Becky shot back.
“Now, Becky . . .” Danny warned.
Becky threw her hands up in the air. “It's all good. I know you're not a threat to me anymore, Hayley. My Danny has made up his mind as to who the best woman is for him. Isn't that right, Danny?”
“Absolutely. One hundred percent,” Danny agreed before winking at Hayley when Becky's back was turned to him.
“You know, I had a lot of time to think while I was behind bars and I realized that I still love Danny. It's like a virus that just won't go away,” Becky said, impressed with her deep thoughts.
A virus probably wasn't the best analogy she could have come up with, but Hayley wasn't going to quibble, especially since Becky was finally taking Danny off her hands.
“I suppose my passion got the best of me. It was wrong of me to try to run your car off the road. My bad,” Becky said as if attempted murder were the equivalent of an offhanded insulting remark. “But everything worked out in the end.”
“Well, the kids are going to miss having you around, Danny,” Hayley said.
“I'll be back,” Danny assured her.
“Next month is my court date,” Becky said nonchalantly as if she were only facing a small traffic infraction.
There was the strong possibility Becky would be spending the next six months to two years in the state of Maine.
Serving time.
Chapter 34
Hayley was delighted to receive an e-mail from Liddy while she was at the office later that morning. Liddy had embarked on one of her frequent shopping trips to New York, and while she was there she met one of her sorority sisters for dinner, who happened to be an editor at a small publisher.
Liddy had handed off Spanky McFarland's manuscript
The Devil's Honeymoon
to her college pal. The publishing house had a small imprint of genre titles, horror being one of them. Given the publicity surrounding the plot to steal the book and publish it as a Norman Cross novel, Liddy's girlfriend pretty much guaranteed her senior editor would approve its publication.
There was a lot of work to be done on the book's grammar and plot structure, but not an impossible task for a seasoned book editor. Liddy had already called Spanky at his home with the good news, and according to his mother, he was now floating on cloud nine.
Bruce had been moping around the office ever since Sal splashed Danny's mug on the front page of the
Island Times
as the local hero who uncovered Crystal Collier and Shane Hardy's crafty scheme to defraud the book world and make off with a multimillion-dollar fortune, not to mention murdering beloved eccentric Otis Pearson.
Hayley's name was barely mentioned in the accompanying article, and frankly she was fine with that, preferring to eschew the spotlight for once.
Let Danny enjoy his fifteen minutes.
Bruce was thoroughly bugged by all the attention Danny was getting. He felt it was undeserved, and that Hayley was downplaying her own role in solving the high-profile case.
In fact, a part of Bruce seemed resoundingly disappointed that Danny didn't turn out to be the killer of Otis Pearson.
Hayley finally decided to call him on it that morning after a particularly long rant about Danny playing up his bullet wound for sympathy, and how Bruce just couldn't respect a guy like that.
She was bolstered by the caffeine in her coffee.
Otherwise she just might have chosen to keep her mouth shut.
“Why do you hate Danny so much, Bruce? What has he ever done to you?”
“I don't hate him. How can you hate a guy who is so clearly inferior to you in every possible way?”
“Come on, Bruce. You hate him.”
“Maybe a little bit. But it's only because I know how he screwed you over for years and disappointed you and the kids, and was not a very reliable husband or father . . .”
“That all may be true. But why do
you
care?”
This caught Bruce off guard.
He hadn't expected her to ask him that.
“I . . . I . . . well . . . I mean . . .” Bruce sputtered, frantic to come up with something,
anything
to say.
Hayley sat back in her office chair and folded her arms. “I'm waiting for an answer.”
“If you must know . . . Okay, I'm just going to come right out with it . . .”
The door to the office opened and the strong, gusty winds brought in a few orange and brown fall leaves.
Aaron stepped inside. “Is this a bad time?”
He was bundled up in a heavy coat and his cheeks were red from the cold air outside.
“No, not at all. How can we help you, Aaron?” Hayley asked, smiling.
Bruce cleared his throat and grabbed the pot of coffee off Hayley's desk to pour himself a cup and try to compose himself.
“I was hoping to have a word with you,” Aaron said before glancing at Bruce.
“I'll be in my office,” Bruce said, getting the hint and turning to leave.
“No. We'll go outside,” Hayley said. “It's time for my break and I need some fresh air.”
Bruce nodded as he poured coffee into his mug.
It almost overflowed in his cup as he stared at Aaron before he caught himself.
Hayley grabbed her coat and followed Aaron outside.
They walked around the side of the building for some privacy.
“Is everything all right?” Hayley asked.
“Yes. I mean, aside from the TV trucks parked outside my home and office, but I can't imagine that's going to last much longer. I just came by to thank you.”
“Me? For what?”
“Well, I guess for exposing Crystal for who she really is.”
“I'm so sorry, Aaron.”
“Sorry? For what? You saved me a lot of time figuring it out for myself.”
Hayley chuckled but then stopped herself. “I don't mean to laugh.”
“They say laughter is the best medicine. And I guess I'm going to need to laugh a lot to get over this one. You know, I was really dumbfounded when all this came out. I actually thought I had pretty good taste in women,” Aaron said, shaking his head before looking at Hayley. “Given my past track record.”
Hayley patted his hand. “Don't beat yourself up. We all make mistakes. Believe it or not, I've made a few myself.”
“Was I a mistake?”
“Of course not, Aaron.”
They looked at each other a moment.
Neither was sure what to say.
Finally, Aaron laughed. “I had a dream last night that you unmasked Crystal as a thief and a murderer just so you could clear the way to get back with me.”
Hayley burst out laughing.
“I know. Pretty ridiculous, right?”
“Yes.”
“I mean you're done. You've moved on,” Aaron said with a straight face as he gazed at Hayley. “There's no chance you would ever want to try again.”
He wasn't talking about his dream anymore.
He was speaking directly to her.
Filled with nerves and anticipation.
Hayley took a deep breath and shook her head. “No, Aaron.”
And she meant it.
Aaron snapped back to his lighthearted, jocular self as if nothing had happened and said, “Such a crazy dream. I better get to the office. Wish me luck with the press jackals.”
“Good luck.”
He jogged off to his car.
Hayley walked back inside the office, grateful for the warmth that greeted her, and sat back down at her desk.
Bruce hadn't moved very far.
He had probably been watching them from the window.
“Now, what were we talking about, Bruce?”
“I was going to say . . .”
He stopped himself and then changed tactics. “Would you like to join me for dinner tonight? There's something I'd like to discuss with you . . .”
“Not tonight, Bruce. My kids are a little sad because their father left town today, and I really need to be with them.”
“I understand,” Bruce said before quietly retreating to his office.
There seemed to be a lot of men swirling around her life lately.
Danny Powell.
Aaron Palmer.
Bruce Linney.
But Hayley was truly quite happy and content being alone for now.
She had said it out loud and she meant it.
Especially when her kids needed her.
Being a mother would always come first.
No matter what.
Island Food & Spirits by Hayley Powell
October is my favorite month during the fall season, mostly because I love Halloween and the foliage is at its most stunning. However, this year, I have to admit, I'm ready to finally move on into November and then the colder months. October has been one wild ride for my family, and I am ready to settle into the slower pace of a desolate, quiet, slow-paced Bar Harbor winter.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but although I won't miss the drama we all lived through this past month, I will surprisingly miss my ex-husband. I know, I know. I've spent endless columns arguing the reasons why it's best we're not married anymore, but even his biggest detractors (I'm talking to you, Mona!) have to acknowledge his good points. Plus, my kids adore him and they miss him already. At least their plans to visit him during their school vacations will give them something to look forward to in the spring.
Before Danny left town, our family knew we had one more loose end to tie up and that was to give dear old Uncle Otis some sort of proper good-bye. Since Otis was definitely not a churchgoing man, we wanted to come up with something that would be a little more meaningful for him.
His ex-wife, Tori, suggested hiking up Dorr Mountain where we could have a small service at the top surrounded by the lush beauty of Acadia National Park. Otis loved climbing to the top of Dorr when he was young, mostly because he could smoke some weed without the threat of being spotted by his parents or a policeman.
I quickly nixed that idea because Otis hadn't hiked a trail in years. Plus, Tori was, in her own words, “barely able to walk and in failing health.” Granted, some believe she embellishes her ailments in order to garner sympathy and keep her government assistance checks coming in, but that's just rumor. I, of course, don't think that, Tori! I know you read this column every day! But needless to say I was not going to risk going all the way up there only to have to call the park rangers to come and carry her down off the top of the mountain on a gurney if her back decided to go out or her legs lost feeling or she suffered an asthma attack. Also, judging by the list of Otis's aging friends, I thought the idea of a vigorous hike up a giant mountain would result in a lot of no-shows.
Finally, we agreed that we would all drive up to the top of Cadillac Mountain for his official send-off. Everyone could mercifully travel by car! We also knew this was the perfect place for a memorial service since it overlooked the scenic island Otis was born on, lived on, and unfortunately, died on a little too soon.
As the last car pulled into the parking lot of the mountain's outlook and all the mourners joined us for the impromptu ceremony, I was amazed by the size of the crowd. Apparently Uncle Otis was liked by more people then I ever knew.
Danny being Danny, and completely in his element in front of a large crowd, began a raucous send-off by telling some wildly entertaining stories about Uncle Otis's adventures from when he was a hell-raising teen to his days operating below the radar of the law with his successful moonshine business. The crowd roared with laughter. Danny had them in the palm of his hand. I swear Danny could charm a rattlesnake, and for another forty grand, I bet he would actually try.
Once Danny finished, one mourner after another stepped forward with a funny anecdote about Uncle Otis. Everyone loosened right up and laughed heartily. I was so surprised by the love for this man. I always assumed he was a bit of a loner and kept to himself.
By the twelfth Otis story, I was starting to shiver because the breeze up on the mountain was picking up and a cold chill was in the air.
I turned to my friend Liddy, who was standing to my left, and asked, “If this doesn't end soon, I'm going to freeze to death!”
Mona, who was to Liddy's left, tipped up a clear glass bottle, which looked like it was filled with water, and chugged half of it down. Mona let out a moan and shook her head. “Try some of this! It'll warm you up real good!”
She handed me the bottle. That's when it struck me that she hadn't been drinking water! This was Otis's moonshine! I glanced around at the crowd and it appeared as if everybody was enjoying their own bottle of Otis's moonshine! No wonder everybody was laughing so hard at the stories about Uncle Otis!
It didn't take Jessica Fletcher to solve the mystery of who was behind this. It had to be Danny! He was always up for a good time, and any situation was ripe for a party, so he had brought bottles of Uncle Otis's coveted moonshine and passed them out like party favors.
After the last story, Danny called for a toast. He walked to the edge of some rocks on the top of the mountain, and had everyone gather behind him while he uncapped the urn that contained Uncle Otis's ashes and held it high in the air. Everyone else raised their bottles up as Danny made his heartwarming toast to Otis's colorful life.
I stood back from the crowd, watching and shaking my head, knowing full well that if Uncle Otis was looking down upon his nephew right now as he entertained this crowd and generously shared Otis's precious moonshine, the poor man would be rolling over in his grave. Well, if he was actually in one and not in the urn Danny was holding over his head. The point is, Otis would be spitting nails over the fact that all of these people were drinking his secret moonshine stash for free. Otis never would have stood for it if he were alive!
Once Danny finished his toast, he dramatically shook out his uncle's ashes over the side of the mountain as everyone began to take a drink from the moonshine bottles.
Unfortunately, there was a sudden huge gust of wind, and if by magic, the ashes lifted up in the air in a giant cloud and in one big whoosh they blew back and landed all over everyone at the memorial. A hush went over the crowd, and then all at once, everyone went wild screaming, spitting out their drink, trying to dust themselves off, jumping up and down, and then running toward their cars, jumping in and speeding off down the mountain. Most likely to go home and shower poor old Uncle Otis off their faces and clothes.
Danny was beside himself, covered in ashes, in a state of shock. All I could do was laugh. I swear that stiff wind was Uncle Otis voicing his displeasure over all of the free booze his nephew had handed out. I bundled Danny in the car and promised to warm him up with a big bowl of my pumpkin chili soup that I had made in the Crock-Pot before I left, and then we drove back down the mountain.
Good-bye, Uncle Otis! You will always be in our hearts. But hopefully not on our heads. It took three showers to get all the ashes out of Danny's hair.
 
Easy Pumpkin Chili in the Crock-Pot
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound ground beef
1 onion chopped
2 14-ounce cans diced tomatoes
2 cups fresh pumpkin
1 15-ounce can chili beans
1 15-ounce can black beans
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon pumpkin spice
1 tablespoon chili powder
Feel free to spice this up to your taste.
 
Heat the tablespoon of olive oil in a pan on the stove on medium heat; add your ground beef chopping it up with a spoon and cook until brown.
Add the ground beef and all the ingredients to the Crock-Pot, stirring to combine all of the ingredients.
Set on low heat and cook for 6 hours.
I like to eat my bowl of chili with a big slice of buttered cornbread. It's so darn good on a chilly evening.
Also there is nothing like having a chilled beer with my chili so I suggest you head out to your favorite grocery store and pick up the special pumpkin ale brews that many sell during the fall season (or look up businesses online that sell them in your area). My choice as an accompaniment to my chili is Shock Top Pumpkin Wheat ale and the best part is it comes in a six-pack!
 
Happy Halloween!

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