The Grim Steeper: A Teapot Collector Mystery (25 page)

“I can’t believe she did that,” Jason said. “Quiet, meek little Brenda. I never looked at her twice!”

“She sure didn’t seem meek to me,” Julia said, shivering.

“She was wearing a different jacket the night of the tea stroll, a nice one, but she never wore it again. I was surprised she didn’t wear something nicer to work other than that ratty old jacket with all the archery pins. But now I realize, the
nice
jacket must have been splattered with the dean’s blood and couldn’t be worn until cleaned. Those other pins, an apple and some scatter pins with initials, were all archery related, too. An apple is a common archery pin; I guess it probably came from the old William Tell story, of the apple on his son’s head. But the others . . . after I started getting suspicious of her I looked up the initials on them—at least the few I remembered—and found out they were from school teams she’d been on. And by the way, that ratty old jacket was worn more on one sleeve than the other because it’s the one she used to wear when she practices archery.
Archers wear a protective guard along their bow arm, and I think it rubbed on the fabric, wearing it out unevenly.”

“Clever girl! So, what about the sightings of Vince Nomuro in his tweed cap late that night?” Nana asked.

“He
was
wearing the duffer cap, but at some point Brenda stole the cap, probably from his car before he left, and wore it to do the murder so her face would be concealed by the brim. They’re about the same height.” She paused and frowned. “You know, I realized suddenly that her alibi was predicated on having a roommate that she stayed up with and told everything to about the evening. But she told me, among other things, that Vince was nice enough to feed her cat for her when she went out of town. If she had a roommate, why did she need someone to come in and feed her cat? I was pretty sure that there
was
no roommate, and of course now we know that, because she felt completely safe in locking Paul and Kimmy in her basement. No roommate, no alibi.

“By the way,” Sophie continued, “she was his Secret Santa last Christmas and gave him the arrow tie clip he wears. I figured that, though I wasn’t sure. Tara called me this morning with some info; a few folks in the office told her that Brenda Fletcher was behind his recent ten years of service gift, a reproduction urn with the images of archers on it. Like a lot of people, she planned gifts according to what she likes, rather than considering what the person would like to receive. When I began to suspect it was an arrow used to kill the dean, those items, the arrow tie pin and the urn with the archers on it, threw me off for a while; I thought maybe Vince was the grade scammer
and
killer.”

“And the sports car in Grandma’s photo?” Cissy asked.

“Yeah, the sports car. I was thrown off by that as well, because everyone seemed to drive one, even Vince. But so
did Brenda, and if I’d paid attention to something Josh said earlier, I would have wondered how an assistant registrar who was paying for her doctorate could afford a newish Porsche Boxster. Dead giveaway. You could kind of see, in that picture, the outline of the bow sticking up in the passenger seat.”

Chapter 24

T
he scandal rippled through the college ranks. Dozens of student athletes had their grades adjusted. Heck Donovan was fired and arrested for his part in the affair, as financial records proved the bribery was funneled through him, and that he actually took a cut off the top before putting the rest of the money in a safe deposit box in the bank. Penny left him and moved back to New York, taking her job back at the nonprofit.

An interim dean of faculty was named. Computer security was made a priority, but they had to hire an outside firm to take care of it. Paul Wechsler moved to New York with Jeanette Asquith, leaving his job for his own start-up, funded by his wealthy girlfriend, who by all accounts loved him in ways she had never loved her husband.

And Mac MacAlister was expelled, not for the grade alteration, but for skimming through school on bought papers paid for by his ambitious parents. Tara exposed it all with the
help of Kimmy Gabrielson, who had been trying to get Mac to eschew the easy way out and actually study. That was what she had been telling him the night of the tea stroll when she pulled him aside, that if he didn’t start writing his own papers, she’d turn him in. In fact, Kimmy confessed that she had been trying to stir things up without getting into the mess herself, and that was why she had slipped the badly spelled note into Julia’s mail slot; she was hoping Julia would investigate further.

The unlikely pair Tara Mitchells saw was Paul Wechsler with Vince, who gave him a lift the day he crashed Jeanette’s car. She got her byline on a piece in the Rochester newspaper on cheating by college athletes, and every word of it was the truth.

*   *   *

A
lmost two weeks later, Dana Saunders was a happily engaged young woman, and had gotten her friend to let Wally and Cissy book the cottage on the lake for a romantic weekend away, just the two of them. It was a Saturday, and Belle Époque was full, with Thelma seated at a table in the middle of things, regaling the tea sippers with her story of how she beat the killer into submission so the police could haul her away.

Auntie Rose’s was busy, too, but Cindy, supervised by Laverne, was happily working away, making scads of money in tips. For the moment there was a lull, as everyone had their tea and goodies. Sophie washed some dishes as Nana sat at the register in front. The Auntie Rose phone rang.

It was Wally. “Sophie, you, Laverne and Mrs. Freemont better get over to Belle Époque right away! Something major is up,” he said, and then the phone went dead.

“What now?” Sophie hurriedly explained to her godmother
and grandmother what Wally said, and hustled them across the alley. Gilda let them in the side door and led them through the kitchen to the tearoom, a silly smirk on her face. As they entered from the back, they saw Dana, Eli and Jason at a table with Cissy. Wally, uniformed, stormed in the front door and rushed to the table.

And dropped to one knee by Cissy. “Cissy Peterson, when I first saw you, you were a little girl in a flowered dress a little too big and knee socks that sagged down around your ankles. You were six and I was seven, and I fell in love with you.” His voice broke, and he paused, clearing his throat.

Cissy, eyes wide and again wearing a pretty floral dress, had her hands clasped in front of her. Thelma, grinning, had turned from her group and sat, her hands propped on her knees, watching.

Sophie hopped up and down, grabbing Nana’s arm and hauled her closer. “He’s going to do it right here and now,” she muttered to her grandmother.

Laverne whispered, “My good lord, he is!”

He pulled a ring box out of his blue police shirt pocket. “Cissy Peterson, I would be the happiest and proudest man on the planet if you would allow me to serve and protect you for the rest of our lives.”

Cissy burst into tears, and the tea drinkers broke out into applause, but among the blubbering, clapping and cheering, Sophie could understand one word:
yes
.

Only it sounded more like “Yesyesyesyes.”

A while later, as Cissy and Wally sat at a table in the corner canoodling, as Thelma called it, Sophie and Nana sat with Jason, Eli and Dana. Dana explained that Wally told her he was not going to leave Mrs. Earnshaw out of the most important moment in her granddaughter’s life, not when it was so important to her that Cissy was happy. He was sincere,
but it didn’t hurt that it would earn him major brownie points, either.

“So, we’re all taking the plunge,” Dana said, waving her left hand with her own nice-size sparkler, as Eli gazed at her adoringly. “When are you two kids going to get down to brass tacks?” She eyed Sophie and Jason with one raised eyebrow.

Everyone laughed, but Sophie wondered, what did Jason really think?

A little while later, Jason said, “Can I walk you home, Soph?”

“All the way across the alley? Why certainly, sir.”

The others exchanged glances, but no one said a word. She followed him out the front door.

“Let’s go for a drive instead,” he said.

“It’s pretty cold,” Sophie said, eyeing the sports car Jason had once again borrowed from Julia. “You have got to stop borrowing that car.”

“I didn’t borrow it, it’s mine. With the baby coming she needed to get rid of it, so I bought it.”

“Really? Cool!” She hopped in, and he put the top up. He drove her to the lake, where as teenagers they hung out all summer every summer when she wasn’t at Auntie Rose’s and he wasn’t working in his father’s hardware store. Hand in hand they walked down to the dock and sat on a bench. All the boats were gone, and the lake looked deserted. She could see all the way across the beautiful blue stretch to the long low hill on the other side of Seneca Lake, clothed in a solid forest of gold, red and brown trees. It made a gorgeous tableau that reflected in the still water.

He turned to her. “Sophie, I’ve been thinking about this for a while. When we were teenagers you got under my skin pretty good. I was heartbroken when you left, but I get now why your mom didn’t want us to get too serious. We were kids.”

“Uh-huh.” She stared into his light brown eyes, swept his longish hair behind his ear and caressed his stubbly chin.

“But we’re not kids anymore. Soph, I’m still nuts about you. I think about you all the time. Even with all the crazy stunts you pull, I think I might be more than a little in love with you.”

“Jason, I—”

“No, let me talk, he said, grabbing her hand and clasping it between his, warming it against his chest. “I don’t know where your heart is, but I hope it’s right here,” he said, flattening it over his heart. “Will you make it semiofficial? Can we tell people we’re together?”

“Finally! I was afraid you were going to break up with me. Yes! I’ll be happy—ecstatic—to do whatever it is we’re doing, only with each other.” She leaned into him, still feeling his heart beat against her hand, and touched his lips with her own, sinking into a proper kiss, one that promised many more to come.

From Auntie Rose’s Kitchen

Serves: 12–16

*Note: This may seem like it has a lot of instructions, but it’s really a very simple—and simply delicious—dessert, moist, fruity and luscious.

TOPPING:

1 cup white sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ cup all purpose flour

½ tsp salt

BATTER:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

½ cup butter, room temperature

1 cup light brown sugar

½ cup white sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup fat-free Greek yogurt

2 cups fresh blueberries

1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Lightly butter a 9 X 13 pan.
   
2. In a small bowl mix the topping ingredients until well blended. Set aside.
   
3. In another small or medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
   
4. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the sugars. Using a handheld mixer, mix on medium-high to high for approximately 8–10 minutes. Set aside.
   
5. Whisk together the egg, vanilla and yogurt in a separate bowl. Add to the butter mixture in two parts, mixing with your handheld mixer on medium and making sure that the first part is fully incorporated before adding the rest. Increase speed to medium-high and mix for 1 more minute.
   
6. Add the flour mixture to the wet, and mix on medium for 1 minute.
   
7. Spread half the batter into the prepared pan. This layer will be thin! Don’t worry about that; it’s important to have enough left for the second layer.
   
8. Sprinkle half the blueberries over the layer of batter, then half the pecans. Over all this, sprinkle half or a little more than half of the topping mixture.
   
9. Now spread the remaining batter; this may get a little tricky, but dropping the batter in small spoonfuls all over the top will make it easier to spread the batter out.
   
10. Top with the rest of the blueberries, the rest of the pecans, and sprinkle the remainder of the topping mixture over the whole.
    
11. Bake for approximately 45 minutes, or until the cake seems set when lightly pressed. It will be soft, you just don’t want liquid in the center.
    

Let it cool slightly, but this is best served warm with a big dollop of whipped cream or scoop of ice cream. You
can
heat it up the next day for more yumminess. Stored in a plastic tub, it’ll stay moist for
days.

A Brief Description of Tea Strainers and Infusers

By Karen Owen aka Karen Mom of Three
http://acupofteaandacozymystery.blogspot.ca/

Tea strainers are as functional and collectable as teapots and teacups and saucers. Known for both their function and practicality, with a tea strainer, you can spend a little or a lot to infuse your favorite blends of tea in your pot or cup. Strainers were historically made from silver, but today they are commonly made from materials such as stainless steel, plastic, silicone, sterling silver and porcelain.

Traditionally, tea leaves were added to the teapot. A strainer was then used when the tea was poured into the cup. Tea strainers like these work well for the first few cups, but as the leaves sit in the pot, they cause the taste of the tea to become bitter. Here is a brief description of the different types of tea strainers and infusers available to today’s discerning tea drinker:

Tea Strainers
: I was surprised the first time I had a pot of tea made the traditional way in a British tearoom. My first two cups were wonderful, but as the tea sat in the pot containing the leaves, it became bitter. While I didn’t enjoy the tea, I did adore the lovely silver tea strainer that balanced delicately on my bone china teacup, then in its matching bowl when not in use. It was ornately engraved and beautifully made. I came home and looked on eBay to add one to my personal collection. I quickly learned that these tea strainers were in high demand to collectors; the more ornate they were, the higher the cost. You can purchase a plain metal strainer for your teacup with a bowl for under ten dollars, but a vintage silver tea strainer will set you back a few hundred or even a few thousand dollars.

Tea Balls
: Tea balls are the most practical choice for infusing tea leaves in a teapot, and they offer the user the ability to easily remove the tea leaves before they can become bitter and tannic. Tea balls can be found online or in stores for a fraction of the cost of the silver tea strainers used in high-end tearooms. Tea balls are most often a stainless steel or metal mesh ball that fits inside your teapot and can be removed easily by the short attached chain.

When selecting, pick a large tea ball for a teapot and a smaller one if you are a mug person. The larger the tea ball, the more space the leaves have to expand in your infuser, allowing them to disperse their full flavor. If you’re someone who likes the occasional mug of tea, a smaller tea ball is the best choice.

Tea Brewing Baskets or Infusing Baskets
: Tea brewing baskets are popular for today’s busy tea lover. Often sold along with oversized tea mugs, these baskets allow for easy infusing and discarding of loose-leaf tea leaves. An infuser will often fit in the top opening of your teapot, so the freshly
boiled water surrounds the leaves, allowing them to expand and release their intoxicating flavors. It can then be removed to prevent oversteeping. They can be metal or ceramic. The London Pottery Company creates truly wonderful teapots with built-in stainless steel strainers that are designed to fit inside the teapot with the teapot’s ceramic lid. The lid will fit perfectly over the strainer. If you can get your hands on one of these teapots, you will be very pleased.

Tea Socks
: Yes, you read that right:
tea socks
. When I heard about this I was a little put off, but there are places in the world where an everyday sock is used to brew the most exotic of teas. Commercially you can purchase what is known as a “tea sock,” made of cotton and metal. This tea strainer resembles a butterfly net and is quite functional for brewing your tea leaves. Then again, you can always try a clean sock . . .

Silicone Tea Strainers
: Silicone tea strainers make excellent gifts and party favors. You can find them in so many fun shapes and designs, from hearts with arrows piercing through them, to fruit-shaped strainers, flower-shaped strainers, sea life such as manatee-shaped or shark-shaped silicone strainers, submarine-shaped, Eiffel Tower–shaped and my personal favorite, tea-bag-shaped silicone strainers. Look for them in gift shops and on eBay, priced from around one to twenty dollars.

Novelty Metal Strainers
: Novelty metal strainers are also popular, more for their shapes than their functionality, though. They do work; however, they are often harder to clean and more for show. From robot- and spaceship-shaped strainers to monkey-shaped and even umbrella-shaped fun strainers, these metal tea strainers can be found online on eBay and in specialty shops year-round but are most popular around gift-giving holidays. Usually priced from five to thirty dollars, these strainers are highly collectable and fun.

Plastic or Metal Teaspoon Strainers:
Plastic or metal teaspoon strainers have a long neck like a spoon, with a shaped basket on the end. The strainer basket can be a simple orb, or may be heart shaped. It opens so you can put your leaves inside, and snaps closed to be used in your teapot or mug. There are also more novelty teaspoons made of plastic in the shape of swans or musical notes. A popular “scoop-style” plastic strainer that I enjoy using and giving as gifts looks like a coffee scoop, but with a bent plastic mesh basket that sits on the side of a tea mug and holds only the amount of loose-leaf tea required for a mug of tea. These are great for the office or the home and for a quick spot of tea. These strainers can be found on eBay, priced from just under one to ten dollars.

Tea strainers are a tea enthusiast’s delight. There are so many wonderful options in every price range. Each of these strainers offers their owner a vessel for the voyage toward the perfect cup of loose-leaf
tea.