Devil's Food Cake (25 page)

“Maybe,” Eric said. Sadie couldn’t tell if he was placating her or being sincere. “What about this? We take him with us to my place for thirty minutes or so, see what you can learn. I’ll try to figure out that key you say you’ve got. Then you can take Josh and turn yourself in at the same time. Shawn and I can follow a little later after you soften up the cops.”

Sadie considered that plan. “If nothing else it would give me the time I need to make an absolute decision rather than acting in a heightened state of anxiety.”

Eric nodded. “Anxiety rarely leads to good decisions.”

Sadie was impressed with how similar his thoughts were to her own. “Right,” she said, nodding.

“But you’ve only got a few minutes to get the heck out of here,” Eric said.

Satisfied with the way that came together, Sadie let herself out of the car. They both ducked their heads and hurried through the snow. Sadie glanced behind her as she headed up the front steps, grateful there were no red and blue lights on the road just yet. Eric followed.

At the front door, she took a breath and ushered Eric into the house, quickly shutting the door behind them. Then she turned to look at the two young men looking back at them. Shawn was at the stove with a wooden spoon in hand. He was wearing Sadie’s “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy” apron, though it barely came below his waist. She was surprised he could tie it around his back. Josh was sitting at the kitchen table, his hand frozen in the process of turning a page in the yearbook that sat in front of him. The black duffel bag wasn’t too far away. Sadie was glad someone had thought to grab it as she suspected the camera was inside.

At first glance, the scene looked almost normal—well, other than the apron—but on closer inspection, Sadie realized that Josh’s ankles were lashed to the legs of the chair with what looked like belts, and his right hand was tied behind his back somehow. What a horrible situation!

“Dude,” Shawn said, looking at his mother with alarm. “What happened to you?”

Sadie glanced down at her arm lashed to her chest beneath her jacket, the empty sleeve at her side, and remembered the purple welt on the side of her face, not to mention her hair or the dried cake on her clothes. What she wouldn’t give for ten minutes to make herself presentable. “I’m fine,” she said. “I’ll tell you later.”

Shawn seemed to accept that, though not easily. Then his eyes slid over Sadie’s shoulder.

“Who’s that?” Shawn asked, pointing his wooden spoon at Eric.

“This is Eric,” Sadie said. “He’s helping us out.”

“Helping us with what?” Shawn stirred the pan while still appraising Eric.

“Oh,” Sadie said, her mind rewinding to why Eric was there. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the key she had found in Josh’s room. “This,” she said, lifting it up.

Josh’s eyes widened as he instinctively grabbed the front pocket of his jeans with his free hand.

“How did you—” he started.

“Never mind that,” Sadie said, waving off his questions and putting the key back in her pocket. “We’ve got to get out of here.”

“What?” Shawn asked, drawing her attention away from Josh. “Why? The rice isn’t done.”

Sadie moved to the rice cooker and unplugged it. “We’ll take it with us,” she said. “As for why, that’s an even longer story, but suffice it to say that we’ve managed to get ourselves in quite a bit of trouble.”

“We?” Shawn asked.

Sadie nodded toward Josh.

“Oh, right,” Shawn said, finally seeming to understand that bringing Josh home might not have been entirely smiled upon by the local police.

“We’re going to Eric’s for a little while, just to get our thoughts together.” The rice cooker was too heavy for her to lift with one hand, and she nearly dropped it. Eric came to her rescue and picked it up for her. She smiled at him gratefully and then nodded toward Shawn. “Put the chicken in a dish and bring it with us.” Shawn continued to stand there. “We need to hurry,” she repeated. Then she looked at Josh, feeling horribly guilty that he was there at all. But, she reminded herself, he was involved in a murder. That reminder gave her enough cause to keep going, even though it was hard to justify. “I’m assuming you’ll come willingly again?”

Josh looked from her to Eric and then to Shawn, who scowled at him. “I think it’s in my best interest,” he said evenly.

“Oh, good,” Sadie said with relief. She was not up for any more drama. She turned to Eric, “My car won’t do so good on these roads. Is it okay if we all go with you?” Not to mention that the police would be looking for her car.

“Sure,” Eric said, a hand already on the doorknob.

Shawn quickly scooped the contents of the pan into a dish. “By the way, Mom,” he said. “Your phone’s been ringing.” He nodded toward her purse on the kitchen counter. “I brought it in from the car for you.”

Sadie gave him a tired look. “If you’d have answered it, a lot of this mess could have been avoided.”

“Answer
your
phone?” Shawn said as he grabbed a rubber scraper to get the last of the sauce from the edges of the pan. “Why would I do that?”

Evil C
h
icken Dinner by Laree

Dieters beware!

1 pound bacon, cut into bite-sized pieces *

1⁄2 to 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, chopped into bite-sized pieces (one large chicken breast will usually do the job)

3 tablespoons chili powder

1 cup brown sugar

Up to 1⁄2 cup water, as needed

Cooked rice

In a large pan, cook bacon over medium-high heat until nearly done. Do not drain. Stir in chicken and chili powder. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until bacon and chicken are fully cooked. Add brown sugar and cook until sugar is dissolved and sauce begins to thicken, about 4 to 5 minutes. (Be careful once the sugar is added not to let the sauce turn into toffee.) Add water if necessary to thin the sauce, but keep in mind the sauce is more of a coating. Serve mixture over hot rice.

Serves 6.

* Bacon is easier to cut if it’s partially frozen.

Chapter 32

Just a block past Sadie’s house, they saw a police car heading toward them. It passed them by, but Sadie watched it in the side mirror as it turned into the circle. Her throat had gone dry, but she chose to see the fact that they got away as a good thing.

By the time they reached the first light, her stomach was growling. She hadn’t thought she was hungry until she was stuck in a car with three men and a pot of Evil Chicken on her lap. The rice cooker was between her feet where she could keep it from rolling around while they drove.

She had to shift her entire body to look over the seat to check on Josh, and winced at the discomfort in her shoulder. For the most part she could ignore the pain when there were other things to focus on, but she could never quite forget.

Josh looked back at her with cold, but slightly fearful eyes. Shawn had unfastened him from the chair, but then lashed his hands together with one of the belts. They sat next to one another in the backseat, Shawn holding the end of the belt like a leash. The black duffel bag was on the floor next to Shawn.

She was determined to make every minute count from here on out.

“Why were you taking pictures of Mr. Ogreski’s body?” Sadie asked point-blank.

Josh turned his head slowly until he faced her. “Posterity,” he said after a few seconds’ pause.

“You want your future children to see pictures of a man publicly executed?”

“Executed,” Josh repeated slowly. “I hadn’t thought about it like that, but it’s probably not too far from the truth.”

“And what is the truth?” Sadie asked, wanting an actual answer instead of Josh’s little word dance.

When he didn’t reply, she realized it was time for a little shock factor.

“You killed him,” Sadie said bluntly. She’d hoped for a jolt or a look of horror, but he made almost no reaction at all, just continued looking at her.

After a moment, he let out a breath and relaxed against the seat. “No, I didn’t kill him,” Josh said, sounding almost disappointed. “But I’d love to raise him up just to shoot him again.”

Sadie was unable to hide her surprise at such a malicious statement. “Why? What did he do?”

Eric took a corner a bit faster than she’d have liked and, without a hand to brace herself, she fell against the door. He glanced at her, but didn’t apologize. His manners were intermittent at best.

Josh continued to stare out the window, not answering.

“Listen, young man,” Sadie said, turning to look at him as squarely as possible as she moved up to the tough-cookie level. “You had better start talking.”

“Or what?” Josh challenged, swinging his head around. “You’ll get
mad?
I hate to break it to you, lady, but the stuff I’m dealing with is a lot bigger than you.” He sat back in the seat, looking somewhat smug.

“Dude,” Shawn said, nudging Josh with his shoulder. “She’s like freaky when she gets mad. You ought to tell her what she wants to know.”

Sadie enforced Shawn’s comment by giving Josh her best evil eye. When he didn’t answer right away, she offered up something else. “Thom showed up at your house after you left,” she said.

Josh jolted slightly at the mention of Thom’s name and the arrogance disappeared from his face.

“He did?” Josh leaned forward in his seat. “Was he okay?”

“Yeah,” she finally said, thinking about his shaky hands and blank stares. “I mean, I guess he was okay.” She paused before she decided to move forward. “I’m surprised his alcohol problem hasn’t been a bigger deal in the media.”

Josh looked out the window for a few seconds before he decided to speak. “It’s gotten worse these last few years,” he said with a degree of sadness in his tone.

“And why is that?” Sadie asked.

Josh faced her again, his eyes narrowed and the arrogance back. “Because life is hard, okay? Just ’cause he’s some fancy-schmancy author doesn’t mean his life is all peachy keen. His wife and son are both dead and he’s been tethered to Mark Ogreski ever since. His life pretty much sucks.”

“But he had you,” Sadie said, watching him closely so she could gauge his reaction. “Certainly that helped.”

“Except that he has no power in his own life,” Josh said. “He wanted to move closer to me, but Mark wouldn’t let him. Said California was the new New York for publishing and he needed to keep a presence there. Like Thom was going to get all better one day and start writing again.”

“He stopped writing?” Sadie asked. “I thought he’d been working on a sequel to
Devilish Details
for awhile.”

Josh grunted and turned back to the window. “I’m done talking about Thom,” he said. “His life isn’t any of your business.”

“Sounds like it wasn’t his own business either,” Sadie said. “Why would he let Mr. Ogreski rule his life like that? Or did it just happen as the years went by?”

“I’m done talking about Thom,” Josh repeated.

Sadie wanted to shake him! Not to hurt him, just to get his barriers down. He had information she needed yet refused to share it. The longer he held out, the worse things were going to get for everyone. “Okay, then, maybe you can explain why your mother attacked me with a frying pan.”

“Dude!” Shawn said, looking horrified. “Is that what happened to your head?”

“Not now,” Sadie said, shooting him a very quick, but very loaded, look.

Josh turned to look at her again, staring specifically at the side of Sadie’s head that bore proof of Mrs. Hender’s cookware.

“She’s going to be in a lot of trouble for it,” Sadie said, ignoring for the moment the trouble she herself was in. She grimaced; twisting around to look into the backseat was murder on her shoulder. “Your mother’s involved now. And then there’s Thom, who isn’t well, and let’s not forget Michele, who picked you up in the parking lot.”

Surprise flickered across Josh’s expression before he shut it down again.

“Michele was sitting at my table,” Sadie explained. “The interesting thing is that she acted as though she knew nothing about Thom Mortenson at all. Then she excused herself just before the shooting and didn’t come back until she picked you up. Quite the cast of characters, don’t you think? And here you are with the opportunity to make it easier on everyone by coming clean and yet you refuse.”