Pies & Peril (20 page)

"
There's the pickup that tried to run me and Carla off River Road."

"
Looks like it's show time." He captured her mouth with another jalapeño-hot kiss. "We'll continue this later."

"
Do you have the binoculars?"

"
Yes. They're in here." He held up a dark blob that was really a spruce green drawstring backpack. "If we had been wearing them around our necks the optics would probably be knocked out of place by now. Or steamed up."

"
Ha. Ha. Let's get closer to the window."

Alex grabbed her hand.
"Be careful. There could be tools or wood scraps on the floor."

Amy shuffled her feet over the floor tiles as her husband led her to the window on the other side of the room.
"You're a genius for remembering that we can see the back of Maxson's from here."

"
I know." He squeezed her hand tighter. "Does that mean I get all of the cookies instead of Shepler?"

"
The cookies in the jar and my cookies. Win, win, baby."

"
Nice. I like prizes." He handed her a pair of binoculars. "I thought Shepler said he checked into what vehicles Maxson owned. Wonder who the pickup belongs to?"

"
My guess would be a rental company or a friend."

"
You could be right. That would explain how it slipped under Shepler's radar."

Amy
's blue Mini turned the corner, onto the narrow service road behind the Main Street buildings, and slowly rolled toward its destination. Mimi disappeared beside the pickup. Amy raised her binoculars. The security lights on the back of the businesses cast enough light that she could see her law enforcement stunt double approach the back door of the bakery. A rectangle of yellow light flashed on the hood of the pickup as the security door opened and closed.

There were no other vehicles in sight. Where was the backup? Amy swallowed. She was worried about
Officer Carson. "Don't you think they should box in the pickup so it can't leave?"

"
I'm sure they have a good plan." He put his hand on the small of her back. "It will be all over with soon."

His words seemed to cue the action. Half a dozen unmarked police cars, red and blue lights flashing in their windows, swarmed from the residential streets at each end of the service road. Within seconds the officers were out of the cars, guns drawn, as the light from the open door reappeared on the pickup
's hood. Amy pressed the binoculars to her eyes until there were dual circles of pain throbbing around them.

The officers shifted position as two women walked around the back of the truck. Officer Carson
's blonde wig was gone, revealing a long, dark ponytail. As usual, Kristi Maxson's rust colored hair was twisted into a messy bun on the top of her head. Her hands were clasped behind her back. Handcuffs glinted like silver bangles on her wrists in the light of a dozen flashlights trained on her.

"
They got her." Alex said. His hand slipped around Amy's hips and he pulled her closer. "You were right about her being behind everything."

She rested her head on his shoulder.
"How does it feel to be married to a woman who can solve murders faster than a highly-trained detective?"

Amy carefully set her coffee mug down on the counter. The orange caramel latte was topped with a beautiful chain of brown espresso hearts drawn on the milk froth. She didn't want to mess up the work of art before she could show it to Carla.

"
Sounds like a lot of exciting things are coming up the road," she said as she hugged Sophie. The owner of Riverbend Coffee bubbled enthusiasm ever day, but as she was telling Amy about the unexpected business proposition the bubbling almost turned into a 7th grade science project volcano eruption. Who wouldn't be bouncing off the walls with excitement at the prospect of doubling the size of a new business only a few months after it opened? "Keep me up to date with all of the developments. I'm so happy for you!"

She cradled the tall, cream
-colored ceramic mug in both hands and slowly made her way across the cafe. Every chair and table loomed like a thief on the side of the road, ready to rob Carla of the chance to see the masterful coffee art. Finally Amy made it to the tiny table for two beside the window that overlooked the river.

"
Check this out," Amy said as she presented the latte to her friend like it was a Faberge egg. "I'm going to start drinking my lattes here, instead of getting them to-go, so I can see more awesome espresso art. The baristas are so talented." She pulled her phone out of her purse and snapped a picture of the hearts. "I'll take pictures of all of them. They'd be cute framed and hung on the wall by the coffee nook in my bedroom."

"
You also have a coffee maker in the master bedroom?" Carla asked as she snapped her own picture of the latte. "I thought you just had one in the guest suite. I love that."

"
Me too." Amy took a sip of the rich latte. Orange and caramel was a genius food pairing, and it played wonderfully with the dark espresso and creamy, frothed milk. "Alex just realized how awesome the setup is a few days ago. He accidentally woke me up too early when I was hungover from the Shots & Whatnots evening from hell. So he ended up making amends with a salted caramel hot cocoa courtesy of the coffee maker. By the way, that was a very good hangover cure. I felt better within minutes."

"
Good to know. Salted caramel hot cocoa, huh?"

"
Yes." Amy held her index finger up. "Made with dark chocolate."

Carla broke off the corner of her dried cherry scone. She popped it in
to her mouth and looked out the window at the river. After a few seconds she said, "I can't believe we almost ended up in that water. Kristi always seemed a little unusual, but who knew she was that cracked?"

"
Nobody, not even her own husband supposedly. If he suspected her of committing any of the crimes, he hasn't admitted it yet. He's either oblivious or still in love with her. Apparently his excuse is that he was so busy trying to save their business, he never noticed she was sneaking around trying to snuff out his imaginary affairs."

After a long night of questioning Kristi and Elliot, Shepler had finally gotten to the bottom of all of the madness. Elliot was trying to
keep the floundering bakery afloat. Kristi thought his business-saving maneuvers were affairs. One of his schemes was getting the prize winning recipes from the Summer Festival contestants so he could sell the baked goods and enjoy the profits. That's why he had been having coffee with Mandy Jo. Kristi found out about the meetings, but not the reason for them. She imagined the negotiations were an affair and decided to eliminate the imagined competition for her husband. When she got Mandy Jo alone at the Town Hall the night of the pie contest, she strangled the doomed Pie Queen with one of the kitchen towels that was always looped through her apron ties.

Kristi had also been the one who set the fire in the alley behind The Breakfast Spot.
While Elliot had just been trying to finagle a wholesale agreement with Bea, Kristi once again got the wrong idea. Even though she knew that Amy was meeting with Elliot because of the donations for the memorial, everything got twisted around in her short-circuiting brain. When Elliot followed Amy into the Shots & Whatnots crowd, Kristi snapped and moved past written threats. The black pickup had been borrowed from her father while her car was in the shop for engine repairs.

Sophie expertly wove through the table maze and placed a small plate with two, sunny yellow lemon bars on it in the middle of the table.
"I want you to try these. I added a bit of lime and grapefruit juice to the usual lemon. Let me know what you think." She rocked on her toes. "I just got some good news. I think I can get the vacant store next door, to give me more space for tables and seating."

"
That's wonderful!" Amy exclaimed. The exciting opportunities couldn't be happening to a nicer, more deserving businessperson. "I'm sure everything will be spectacular. I think I'm going to be living here soon. Could I develop my contest recipes in your kitchen?"

"
Of course! You're always welcome in my kitchen. Ooh, have to go," Sophie said. She waved goodbye and hurried to the counter to take care of a customer.

"
What's that all about?" Carla asked as she plucked one of the lemon bars off the plate.

"
Elliot has offered to sell her his bakery. I guess finding out everything Kristi did was the last straw, and he's given up on trying to save it. If everything works out and Sophie can get the shop in between here and there, she'll end up with a huge commercial kitchen and two or three times the dining space."

"
Nice. She could go way beyond a coffee shop with that kind of setup."

"
Exactly. I certainly don't blame her for being excited."

A spot of fluorescent yellow caught Amy
's attention when she bit into the citrus bar. Across the river a worker in a safety vest was standing on the memorial walkway with a shovel in his hand.

"
Look." Amy pointed at the man. "I bet he's placing Mandy Jo's brick."

"
We can go check after he's done."

"
I'd like to do that." She took a bite of the unexpected treat Sophie had brought. Even the zing of the citrus curd couldn't chase away the melancholy washing over her. The brick wouldn't be necessary if someone had realized earlier that Kristi's weird outburst were really a sign of insanity.

"
I know how Bruce used a decoy to arrest Kristi," Carla said as she used a fork to divide her lemon bar into bite-sized chunks. "What I don't know is how you figured out Kristi was out to get you that night."

Amy took a sip of her latte then
winked. "Bad grammar."

"
What? Seriously?"

"
All of the notes I got had grammar and spelling errors. That fact alone didn't point to Kristi, but the night she tried to lure me to the bakery I had sent an email to Elliot concerning the donation jar I needed to pick up. The reply, asking me to come to the bakery, had the same kind of errors. You know how Elliot is a walking dictionary. There's no way he would've written a note riddled with so many mistakes. The chance that Rayshelle could've hacked his email account was so remote you'd need a microscope to see it, but a spouse certainly could get access easily enough. Luckily I was finally right. I struck out a few times while trying to figure out the killer, but hit it out of the ball park when it counted. I hope Shepler isn't mad."

"
Nice. I'm glad you paid attention to the details. It saved your life." Carla smiled. "I wouldn't say Bruce is exactly mad, more like perplexed. You had him chasing after so many false leads, I think he was surprised to end up with a full confession courtesy of your latest theory. He's glad that the murder was solved, though."

Wow. Carla had full
-out smiled. Ding dong, the effects of the Botox were finally all gone. Or they had been banished prematurely because she couldn't help smiling after hanging around the fine Detective Shepler. Whatever the reason, it was wonderful to see her best friend smile again.

Amy stuck a red plastic coffee stirrer into her latte and tried to make another heart.
"I wasn't going to the bakery that night no matter what. Alex and I were formulating other plans for the evening, courtesy of a bottle of Prosecco, when I got the email. I'm just glad I figured out it was Kristi before she did some other stupid crazy-woman trick. It never crossed my mind that the notes were warning me to stay away from Elliot instead of his pie contest. I feel much safer now that she and her mile-wide jealous streak are sitting in jail."

"
Me, too. There was over a thousand dollars worth of damage on my car." She patted the back of Amy's hand. "And best friends like you are a once in a lifetime find. Irreplaceable, unlike car parts."

Fruit & Nut Brownies

The chewy, sweet/tart dried fruit in these dense, fudg
y brownies make these treats taste like a gourmet candy bar.

½ cup (1 stick) butter

2 ounces (2 squares) unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

⅓
cup all-purpose flour, sifted

¼ tsp. salt

¼ cup dried blueberries

¼ cup sweetened, dried cranberries

¼ cup raisins

½
cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 325° F. Coat an 8x8-inch square cake pan with butter or non-stick cooking spray. In a medium saucepan, combine the butter and chocolate. Cook over low heat, stirring frequently to prevent burning, until the mixture is smooth and completely melted. Remove from the heat. Stir in the sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat well. Add the flour, salt, blueberries, cranberries, raisins, and pecans. Stir until just combined. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until moist crumbs remain on a cake tester when inserted near the center.