Rocky Road (29 page)

Sadie Hoffmiller had always liked things to be just so. “A place for everything and everything in its place” was efficient, consistent, and reduced both stress and loss. Certainly the events of the last few years had shaken some of Sadie’s confidence in being able to keep things as they should be, but for the most part, she felt the changes these disruptions had caused were for the better. She felt more capable of recovering from difficult circumstances, more aware of what went on around her, and increasingly confident in her ability to take life as it came and respond accordingly. Even a lingering threat on her life was something she had come to terms with, knowing she might one day face it but hoping that perhaps the threat had disappeared.

She still preferred order to chaos, of course, when she had any say in the matter—and of all the things Sadie should be able to have control of, her own wedding was it. Which is why the four-by-nine-inch envelope sitting in the middle of her kitchen table terrified her.

The wedding invitations she’d spent the last two days preparing were stacked on the entry table of her living room waiting for her to take them to the post office the next morning. They would soon be winging their way to her friends, family, and acquaintances all over the world—she was hoping the postal service would have a wedding-specific stamp that would be the perfect final touch. Even if the people living out of state couldn’t be there, she wanted them to celebrate the occasion with her.

And yet the lone envelope on the table had been sent to her. Sadie had discovered it in her mailbox this afternoon, and she was trying to work up the courage to open it. Was it mocking her? Egging her on? Or simply staring back at her as a reminder that not everything in her life could be controlled and anticipated?

There was no name on the return address, just a P.O. box and the city, state, and zip code. But Sadie knew only one person who lived in San Francisco—her older sister Wendy, whom she hadn’t seen for years. Did Wendy somehow already know about the upcoming wedding? Although the unexpected letter certainly triggered some of Sadie’s overactive curiosity, it hadn’t been enough to overcome her reluctance to invite her sister back into her life. Especially now.

Sadie pulled the final pan of jam bars from the oven—she’d managed to come up with a dozen tasks around the house to delay the inevitable opening of that envelope. She’d been trying not to bake after six o’clock in the evening—she had a size twelve wedding dress to fit into, after all, and at the age of fifty-eight, she couldn’t simply eat salads for a week and expect to lose a couple of pounds like she’d been able to do in her twenties. But the letter had knocked her off the proverbial wagon. That Wendy had always hated their mother’s jam bar recipe was purely coincidental.

The digital time display on her microwave read 9:44 p.m. Tomorrow would be a full day of more wedding preparations now that she was back home and sufficiently recovered from her vacation-turned-investigation in Utah the week before. The wedding was only three and a half weeks away, and she felt giddy every time she thought about it. Mrs. Peter Cunningham. Wow.

Her eyes strayed back to the envelope on the table, and she felt ridiculous for having put this off for the better part of the day. It was time to get it over with. She grabbed her letter opener from the drawer of the desk in her living room. She picked up the envelope. The handwriting looked different from what she expected—that is, if she had expected this at all, which she hadn’t.

“Wendy,” Sadie said out loud. Her sister’s name sounded strange on her tongue. It was sad that they were so disconnected, and yet Sadie had little motivation to reach out to change what had always been a difficult relationship. Wendy was five years older than Sadie and the source of many frightening memories from Sadie’s childhood, including broken and missing toys, dead spiders in her oatmeal, and, on one memorable occasion, being locked outside for hours while their parents were gone.

Wendy left home at seventeen, creating a void in the lives of Sadie’s parents that was never remedied. Despite all the chaos and difficulty she’d brought into the family, she was still their daughter, and they’d always wanted to be a part of her life. Now and then, she’d popped in to ask for money or to throw a tantrum about one issue or another, but for the most part she stayed out of their lives completely.

Sadie hadn’t seen Wendy since their mother’s funeral almost fifteen years before. She’d stayed in town for four hours, long enough to put her rose on the casket and rifle through Mom’s jewelry box. When their father died just four years ago, Sadie had tracked her sister down, only to have Wendy say she couldn’t get away for the funeral but she’d send flowers. She didn’t send any flowers, and Sadie and her brother, Jack, followed their father’s casket from the church without even a whisper about Wendy’s absence. After that, Sadie had stopped sending Christmas cards that were never reciprocated or marking Wendy’s birthday on her calendar at the start of each new year, and each time she thought about her sister, she forced herself to think of something else. For all intents and purposes, she didn’t have a sister and never really had. She hadn’t even told Pete about her, other than admitting she existed.

Sadie inhaled deeply, hoping to control the growing anxiety that thoughts of Wendy induced. The scent of baking in the air didn’t relax her like it usually did. No doubt she would eat a dozen bars herself before finally going to bed tonight. She’d faced off with murderers and crooks, but her sister could send her into a panic with just a simple letter.

Sadie took a breath, turned the envelope over, and carefully slid the letter opener into the open corner. The blade sliced smoothly through the paper with barely a sound. She pulled out a white sheet of paper that revealed a newspaper article folded inside of it. Intrigued yet hesitant, she unfolded the newsprint. She was a bit confused by the partial coupon for Fourth of July flower arrangements until she realized that must be the back side. She turned the article over and read the heading.

Woman Found Dead in Mission District Apartment

Sadie’s heart rate increased as she read the opening lines about a badly decomposed body being found after an anonymous call to 911 about an apartment fire. Sadie squeezed her eyes shut tight. When she opened them, they wouldn’t focus on the words of the article, as though they were unwilling to read more. Unable to process it, she put the article down and pushed it away from her, her head tingling. After catching her breath, she turned her attention to the sheet of paper she still held in her shaky hand.

Ms. Hoffmiller,

My name is Ji Doang. My natural mother was your sister, Wendy Wright Penrose, and I found your address among her possessions. Her body was found in her apartment June 25th and I thought you would want to know. I am working to clear her apartment before the tenth of next month and determine what to do with her remains when the autopsy is complete. If you are available, I would appreciate your help as it is a big job and I am quite busy with family and work. If I don’t hear from you, I will understand. I was not close with her either.

Sincerely,

Ji

Crust

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup quick-cooking oats, uncooked

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Topping

3/4 cup flaked coconut

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup strawberry or raspberry jam

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. For crust, in large mixer bowl, combine all crust ingredients. Beat at low speed, scraping bowl often, until mixture is crumbly, 1 to 2 minutes. Using hands, press mixture in bottom of greased 9x13-inch baking pan. Be sure to spray or grease sides of pan as well as bottom. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned.

For topping, in same mixer bowl, combine coconut, nuts, flour, brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon. Beat at low speed, scraping bowl often, until well mixed. Crumbling mixture with clean hands works well, too. Spread jam evenly on hot crust, almost to the edges. Sprinkle topping mixture over jam. Continue baking 18 to 20 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars.

Makes 15 to 24 bars, depending on size cut. Serve warm with ice cream or cool with whipped topping.