To Fudge or Not to Fudge (A Candy-Coated Mystery with Recipes) (22 page)

“Don’t let Daisy in the house,” Rex ordered as he moved toward me. I waited in the shack’s doorway. “I don’t want to have to arrest her for tampering with evidence.”

“I’ve made sure she stayed outside,” I said as he walked by me. I still clutched Mal to my chest. She had long ago given up squirming and had snuggled in for the long haul.

“Keep her there,” Rex said and narrowed his pretty blue eyes. Then he walked into the shack like a lawman, with careful, deliberate steps. “Jessop, what happened?”

“We were out walking when Mal went nuts, so Allie gave her her lead and she led us to the shack. Daisy was inside guarding something.”

“Let me see,” he said and nodded to the plainclothes policemen at the head and the foot of the old-fashioned bed. I watched from my perch near the door as they carefully lifted the bed and moved it across the shack.

The faint scent of decay filled the air. Rex squatted down to examine the body. He pulled out a pen and carefully looked under the shirt collar. “This is the first mummy I’ve ever seen,” he said. He touched a white substance on the shirt. “Someone used lye to cut the smell.”

“How long has he been under there?” I asked in a stage whisper, not quite sure why I was whispering except it felt like I should keep my voice low. Something about reverence for the dead.

“Hard to tell,” Rex said. He looked up at Officer Polaski. “Find out who the shack belongs to and canvass the neighbors. See if anyone knows anything.”

“Yes, sir,” Brent said, his sun-streaked hair giving him a boyish charm. He had the looks and charm to get a whole lot of story out of the neighbors.

“It might be Mrs. Finch,” I said.

Rex narrowed his eyes and looked at me. “What makes you say that?”

“Well, Daisy was here . . .”

“That dog is everywhere. There’s more, isn’t there?”

I swallowed hard. “I followed Mrs. Finch out this way the other day.” I held out my hand in a stop gesture when he scowled. “I didn’t get any farther than the Jessop property. Seriously, I ran into Trent.”

“I’ll vouch for her,” Trent said, his voice low as well. “It was day before yesterday. I was out here measuring the cubic footage of the contaminated mulch and compost.”

“Did you see Mrs. Finch?” Rex asked Trent.

“No, in fact, I didn’t know that Allie was following anyone.” Both men turned to me.

I shrugged. “She had said she was going to get Daisy’s leash and when I left the police station I noticed that she was walking in the opposite direction of her cottage.”

“So you followed her.”

“Yes,” I nodded.

“Without any backup or anyone knowing where you were or what you were doing?” Rex crossed his arms, disappointment and a note of fear on his face.

Trent cursed under his breath. “What were you thinking going into the woods alone?”

I hugged Mal to my chest. “I was thinking I was following an old lady and I had my ankle bracelet on. What could have possibly happened?”

Both men waved toward the mummy at the same time. Their reply to my question was self-evident.

“Oh,” I said. “Right.”

“Wouldn’t Mrs. Finch be in trouble, too? I imagine she passed right by here,” I said.

“I’m having Lasko go check on her,” Rex said. “The last thing I need right now is another body.”

“Do you think this is all related?” Trent asked.

“Wouldn’t that be easy,” Rex said. “I’d guess this guy’s been here for at least a year.”

“Was it foul play?”

Rex ran his big, square hand over his face. “Hard to tell. I don’t see any bullet holes or obvious stab wounds.”

“His head seems intact,” I interjected.

“It’s up to the ME and Carpenter to figure out how this fits in the big picture.”

“Who’s using my name in vain?” Shane asked as he stepped inside the tiny cottage with his big, black evidence kit in his hands. He wore a black Windbreaker that had CSU embroidered on the pocket. It hung open, showing the light blue shirt and black slacks he wore underneath.

“I told Jessop you were the guy to ask about COD. This one is beyond my scope.” Rex straightened. “Come on, Allie. Let’s get out of this man’s way so he can do his job.”

We stepped outside, and Mal wiggled until I put her down. I made sure I had a good hold on her leash this time. She wandered around with her nose to the ground.

“We have to stop meeting over dead bodies,” Rex said. His pretty blue eyes zeroed in on me long enough for me to become aware of my heart beating. “What made you come back out this way?”

“I was walking Mal,” I said, but we both knew it wasn’t entirely accurate. “Okay, I wanted to see where Mrs. Finch might have gone. We should look and see if there’s a leash for Daisy in the shack.”

“Noted,” Rex said.

“Do you think Mrs. Finch killed him?” I nodded toward the mummy in the shack.

“More likely he died of natural causes and for some reason his family didn’t want to bury him, so they hid him here.”

I wrinkled my nose and scrunched my brow. “Why wouldn’t you bury someone?”

“There are as many reasons as there are families,” Rex said as he eyed the terrain. “Sometimes grief causes a person to do strange things. Then there’s the fraud aspect.”

“What fraud aspect?”

“Someone in the family might be receiving social security or pension checks and would rather store the body here than declare him dead and lose those monthly checks.”

“That’s pretty creepy,” I said.

Liz came striding out of the woods with her camera hanging from around her neck. “Hey kids, I heard we have another body.”

“This one’s a mummy,” I said. “It looks like he’s been in the shack for some time now.”

“Too bad—it would be really great for sales if there was a serial killer on the loose.”

“Ugh, I don’t want to think about serial killers,” I said.

“Is that because you’re busy spending your grand prize winnings?”

I put my hands on my hips. “Now you’re just fishing. None of us see a cent in earnings if the beans are spilled before the last episode is shown.”

“When’s that?” she asked.

“In about eight weeks.”

Mal went over and sniffed Liz’s leg and nudged her until she bent down and petted her. “Hello, little dog,” Liz said. “Did you find yet another body? Maybe we should change your name to Sherlock—”

Mal looked offended and sneezed her opinion of the name change. We laughed.

Liz caught movement behind us and lifted her camera and got off a shot or two before Rex pushed her camera down. “Have some respect for the guy.”

“Do you have any idea who owns the shack?” I asked Liz.

“Angus says it belongs to the Finch family. They used to use it as a camp. A place where they could come and warm themselves if they were out hunting.”

“That explains the potbelly stove.”

“As far as we know, no one has used it in years,” Liz said and got off a couple of shots before Rex put his hand over her lens. “Hey.”

“No photos of my crime scene.”

“So this was a murder?” Liz and I asked the question at the same time.

“Looks like natural causes to me.” Shane walked out, escorting the body bag on the stretcher to the ambulance. It always struck me as odd to see the modern vehicle. Emergency services was the exception to the no-car rule.

“Oh, thank goodness,” I said. “I think we’ve had enough murder and mayhem.”

“Let me take a guess, that’s Mr. Finch,” Liz said.

“We don’t have an ID at this time,” Rex said.

“No worries.” Liz snapped couple more pictures then danced away when Rex tried to grab her camera. “I’ll find out when was the last time anyone saw Hector Finch. Tootles.” She waved her fingers and strode back into the woods.

“Are you going to let her do that?” I asked Rex.

He sent me a miniscowl. “The First Amendment gives her the right. Let’s just hope she doesn’t mess up my investigation.”

“Maybe she’ll help.” I tried to put a positive spin on it, but Rex glared.

“Are you ready to go?” Trent came up behind me. He put his hand on my elbow.

“Yes,” I said. “You know where to find me if you need me.” I directed that comment to Rex. “I doubt there’s anything I can do to help.”

“You’ve done enough,” Rex said and stalked off.

Trent and I walked in silence until we were out of reach of the police.

“Was that Liz MacElroy?”

“Yes,” I replied and ducked to avoid a branch as Mal tugged me back to the sidewalk.

“She’s a good resource,” Trent said.

“For what?”

“Mackinac is a small island,” Trent said. “News travels fast and the press travels faster. Maybe this was the break Manning was looking for.”

“How so?”

Trent shrugged. “I don’t know, it’s a gut feeling I have.”

“You think all of these murders are related? Like there’s a serial killer on the loose?”

“More like an opportunity killer,” Trent said and took my hand as we walked down the sidewalk. “Do you ever have time for a movie or dinner?”

“I eat,” I replied. “Movies, not so much. I prefer to watch the old black-and-whites.”

“Even better.” Trent winked at me. “They have a black-and-white movie night in the park once a week. I don’t know what’s playing but I’d like to take you.”

“Oh.” I was surprised. “Sure. I think that would be fun.”

“Great.” His eyes lit up. “I’ll stop by at eight.” He left me at the back door to the McMurphy with a kiss on my cheek. All I could do was stand there and watch him walk away.

“Nice view.”

I turned to find Jenn half out of the door. “He asked me out.”

“Score!” Jenn smiled. “It’s about time you started scoring.”

“Who’s scoring?” My mom asked as she too popped her head out the door.

“No one,” I muttered and sent Jenn a dirty look for catching Mom’s interest. “Hey,” I changed the subject. “Guess what Mal found on our walk today?”

“Oh, no, let me guess . . .” Jenn started.

“Another dead body,” Mom finished.

Butter an 8” x 8” x 2” pan. Then line with wax paper or parchment.

 

In a double boiler melt milk chocolate, sweetened condensed milk, and butter until smooth and thick.

 

Remove from heat. Add vanilla and stir. Pour half of the fudge into pan. Layer chocolate nougat, then caramel chips, and cover with remainder of fudge. Cool. Remove from pan. Cut into pieces. Store in a covered container.

Place first five ingredients in a saucepan—stir over low heat until it reaches the soft-crack stage (about 3–4 minutes) or a candy thermometer reads 275°F; remove from heat.

 

Whisk egg white until stiff—drizzle in the cooling sugar mixture until egg white is glossy and stiff.

 

Add to fudge for Chocolate Ways Fudge.

“That dog needs to be deputized,” Mr. Devaney said. “She’s doing better work than our esteemed police department.”

“At the very least she should be on the payroll,” Frances added.

“I bet they could pay her in dog biscuits,” Mom said. She petted Mal, who was curled up on her lap. We all sat around in the apartment living room after a nice dinner. Mr. Devaney had changed his shirt and washed up. Frances wore a lilac printed skirt and a white blouse. Mom had on a pair of tailored slacks in navy and a crisp navy and white blouse.

I had changed into jean shorts and a McMurphy T-shirt.

Jenn passed out beverages, using a wooden tray from Grammy Alice’s things and five matching tea cups and saucers with a carnation print. Mal got down from Mom’s lap as soon as the drinks were brought out.

“And of course, everyone knows the real news story for today,” Jenn said.

“What news?” I asked, confused.

Jenn curled up on the couch and sipped her cup of tea. “The fact that you have a date with one Trent Jessop.”

“Really?” Frances asked, her expression perking up.

“
The
Trent Jessop of the Jessop Stables and the Jessop Compost and Mulch and the Jessop manor house and the—”

“Okay, we get it.” I cut Jenn off and put my hand up in a stop sign. “Yes, Trent Jessop asked me to go to the black-and-white movies in the park.”

“Well, good for you,” Mom said. “It’s not healthy for a girl your age to do nothing but work and walk her dog.”

“Really, Mom, you’re concerned about my love life?”

Mom sipped her coffee and took her time settling the cup into the saucer. “I do want to have grandchildren one day.”

I shook my head. “It’s just a movie, Mom. Don’t start saving for your grandkids’ college.”

Mom raised her right eyebrow. “Who says I don’t already have said savings account?”

I rolled my eyes. Mal came over with her leash in her mouth. “Looks like someone needs to go out. I’ll be right back.” I put Mal’s harness and leash on, then turned to the family assembled. “No discussing me or my love life while I’m gone.”

“Why would we talk about you when you aren’t here?” Jenn batted her lashes at me.

I narrowed my eyes as Mal tugged me to the door. “I mean it. Remember, I know your secrets.”

We went down the stairs to the back of the McMurphy. I opened the door and stepped out to a perfect cool summer night. The sky was clear and filled with twinkling stars. Mal and I moved across the alley and to her favorite potty spot.

“I’ve been waiting for you.”

I started as Mrs. Finch emerged from the shadows under the fire escape. “Oh, hello, Mrs. Finch. You gave me quite a scare.” I put my hand on my heart.

“I plan to do more than scare you,” she said, her voice oddly tight.

“I’m sorry? What?” Mal finished her squat and went over to the older woman, who wore a Windbreaker jacket, black slacks, and a pale pink T-shirt.

“You ruined everything,” she said and jerked Mal’s leash from me. Mal growled. “Don’t worry, little doggie. I know it’s not your fault.” She turned back to me, her dark eyes a void of blackness in the soft summer air.

“Give me my dog back,” I said with as much authority as I could muster and held out my hand.

Mal sat at my tone, knowing that I was all business.

Mrs. Finch acted as if I hadn’t spoken. “First you discover Heather, then Cathy, and now, the worst thing of all, you have taken my Hector from me.”

“Wait—what? You knew your husband was under the bed?”

“He asked me to stuff him and stand him in the corner but my taxidermy skills are rudimentary, so I did the next best thing and mummified him.”

“Why?”

“They were his last wishes.”

“Okay, so why not get a mortician to help you? Why hide him under the bed?”

“No mortician would stuff him. The taxidermists recoiled in horror at the thought. Then one busybody started asking questions. She said she was going to the authorities as it seems there are laws against keeping a dead body. She forced me to hide Hector. The shack was the perfect place until you came along.”

She drew her arms up and revealed a long, slender knife in her free hand. “You have been such a bother,” she said, as if discussing the weather. “If you hadn’t made a fuss about the mulch, Heather would be resting in peace.”

“Wait, what do you know about Heather?”

“She was a nuisance. Poor girl thought she could win my nephew’s heart and acquire his fortune.”

Mal wandered around, bored, at her feet. The whole encounter seemed as if it were a bad dream. “Fred Gooseworthy is your nephew?”

“Yes.” She waved away my question. “Everyone knows that I married well and brought the Finch fortune to the island.”

My mind clicked through the clues. “You’re Tammy’s aunt.”

“Of course.” She tilted her head and studied me like a bug. “Are you putting the pieces together?”

“Heather was up for the same job as Tammy.”

“Another reason to get rid of her.” The old woman grinned, sending chills down my back. “I tried to buy her off, but she simply laughed at me and called me an old bat. She wasn’t laughing when I stabbed her. I have a good idea where the arteries are, you know. We used to butcher our own pigs and chickens. Although a human’s neck is not as easily snapped as a chicken’s.” She shrugged. “Nonetheless, she bled out quickly.”

Mal had her nose to the ground and sniffed, following a trail I couldn’t see. Mrs. Finch had dropped Mal’s leash and to my relief my puppy hurried off into the shadows.

“But Heather was shredded,” I pointed out. It occurred to me that Mrs. Finch might be hallucinating or grandstanding. There was no way this little old woman could kill a grown woman. Was there? At least I needed to believe she couldn’t.

“That was brilliant, right?” Her eyes glittered in the street light. “She followed me out to the cabin after I told her that I would pay her fifty grand to move off island and never return. Unfortunate for her, Heather declined my good offer,” she cackled. “Really, what kind of stupid are you to give up that kind of money?”

“You look cold, Mrs. Finch. Why don’t you come in by the fireplace and put your feet up?” I offered, my thoughts circling as I tried to figure out how to handle a crazy woman. With any luck Mal would stay away from Mrs. Finch, although I believed the crazy old woman was a pet lover and would rather stab herself than hurt my pup.

“No!” She pointed the knife at me. “I’m here to kill you.” She circled me and I turned with her, keeping my gaze on her as we shuffled around in the alley.

“I don’t want to be killed,” I said and gauged how far I was from the back door. The McMurphy back door was locked at eight
PM
, when the fudge shop closed. I kept a key card in my pocket.

“If you insist on being a problem, it will only hurt more when I miss.” She shook her head. “Trust me, you want it to be clean and fast.”

Okay, I wasn’t playing anymore. We had rotated so that my back was in the alley and my face to the back door of the McMurphy. I had dog-walking shoes on, but I had no problem screaming and running. I could outrun an old woman, right? “You don’t really want to hurt me. My family will find you and then all this will be for nothing.”

She laughed a strange and gargled sound. “This isn’t about you or your family, dear.” She snapped her fingers, and two men stepped out of the shadows. It was Jabar and Tony from the reality show. They flanked Mrs. Finch and crossed their arms over their massive chests, spreading their legs wide as if preparing for a fight.

“Wait.” I decided to play clueless. “Why are you two involved?”

“Surprising, right?” Mrs. Finch said with a nod. “You see, the joke is on Heather. I really did have fifty thousand dollars to give away. The boys were smart enough to take it and in return are doing me a few favors.”

“By beating up Chef Thomas?”

“Well, yes, that did go a bit far, but the boys were tired with the whole charade. Chef Thomas was the main reason they weren’t casting new contestants. And then taking out cast members gave my Tammy a chance to be cast.”

“But they didn’t recast.”

“That little man who decided that is next on my list.” She sighed long and hard. “So many bothersome people to take care of, so little time. Boys”—she gestured toward me, but I had been watching her every move, waiting for her to give them a signal.

I bolted. I wasn’t sure if they could catch me, so I screamed, “Fire! Fire!” as I ran. I could feel Jabar catching up, so I turned and ran toward him, ducking under his arm before he could think.

There was a problem with my brilliant plan. Tony was far enough behind Jabar to stand between me and freedom.

I made him work as I went left and tried to climb the fence that lined the alley. He caught my right ankle as I flung myself over the fence. He was strong. Strong enough to jam me back against the chain-link fence. I was slammed so hard against the metal chain link it took my breath away. So much for screaming.

“Come on now.” Jabar grabbed me by the waist and pulled me back toward the alley. “Take your consequences like a good girl.”

I struggled against him and screamed out, “Mal! Mal!”

Mal popped out of the darkness and barked at Jabar. We made quite a racket, Mal’s barking and my screaming her name. My thought was that Mal had quite a few friends in the neighborhood and one or two of them might look out to see if there was something wrong with the dog.

“I said shut up.” Jabar boxed my head so hard I saw stars, but I knew my only chance for survival was to keep screaming.

“Police, freeze!”

Of course, I kept screaming so loud my brain barely registered the words. I had no idea really why Jabar froze on the spot. What I knew was that I got in a lucky elbow shot and he let me go, cursing and doubling over.

The second he let me go, I was off like a shot. I was down the alley and inside the police station before I could even think. Mal was with me the entire way. I pulled the door open, and she and I ran inside, and I shut the door and drew the lock.

“Freeze!”

Okay, see, now
that
I heard. Well, “freeze” and the sound of a lot of guns being cocked. I put my trembling hands up in the air. Mal stayed beside me, not making a sound.

“I’m sorry,” my words came out in between huge gasps for air. Really, I needed to find a gym or start running on a regular basis. Especially if I was going to keep running from bad guys.

“Turn around slow.”

I did as ordered. “I’m unarmed,” I said. “I was attacked in the alley behind the McMurphy and managed to get free.”

“So you ran to the police station?” Officer Lasko asked, her gun still pointed at my heart. Why did she not like me?

“It was the safest place I could think of.”

Someone tried to open the door behind me. The sound made me squeak and whip around. Rex pounded on the door. “Let me in.”

Officer Lasko grabbed my arm as she put her gun away and pulled me away from the door. Officer Heyes moved from behind the reception desk to the area where I stood. Officer Beech unlocked the door.

Rex pushed Jabar through the opened door. The big man had his hands cuffed behind him.

“Did you get her?” I asked.

Rex ignored me and handed Jabar off to Officer Lasko, telling her to put him in an interview room.

Finally he turned to me. “Are you all right?”

“Yes,” I said, and then my knees gave out. I fell to the floor with a
woof
of my breath. “Or, maybe not.”

Mal climbed up in my lap and licked my face. I started laughing, which only encouraged more licking. I laughed until I cried. I was only partially aware that Rex had left and come back with a blanket and a glass of water.

“Drink this.” He handed me the cup. I took it in both hands to keep from trembling as I tried to do as he ordered. Mostly, I got water sloshed on me, which only served to cause another fit of laughter. Seriously, my sides hurt.

Rex squatted beside me and draped the blanket around my shoulders. “Breathe,” he ordered. “In . . . and out . . .” I concentrated on him and tried to breathe in time with his words and breath.

We did that three or four times, and he stopped and pushed my hand toward my mouth. “Drink.”

I realized that I still held the water glass, and I took a sip. The shaking had slowed down. Mal licked a puddle of water I had splashed on the tile floor.

“Now,” Rex said, his pretty eyes serious. “Are you okay?”

“I think so,” I said as slowly as he had spoken. “Did you get her?”

“Who?” he asked and motioned for Officer Beech to do something.

“Mrs. Finch,” I said as I concentrated on Rex’s eyes. “She wanted to kill me.”

“Mrs. Finch wants to kill everyone.” Rex waved off my comment. “The crazy old bat always has some complaint or another.”

“She was in the alley,” I said, trying to convey the importance of my words. “She had a knife.”

“You saw Mrs. Finch in the alley with a knife,” he made it sound as if I were making it up.

“This is not
Clue
,” I said, suddenly angry. “Mrs. Finch is Tammy’s aunt. She killed Heather when Heather wouldn’t take money to go away.”

“Mrs. Finch killed Heather.”

“Yes, she told me.”

“How did she kill her?”

“She stabbed her and let her bleed out. Like a chicken or something.”

“Mrs. Finch,” he said.
“The
Mrs. Finch who is ninety-two years old if she’s a day.”

“Yes,” I stressed. “Ask Jabar. She paid Jabar and Tony to beat up Peter and to come for me. Didn’t you see them in the alleyway?”

He shook his head. “No, I only heard you screaming Mal’s name and I turned down the alley in time to see Jabar haul you back over the fence. I pulled my gun and said, ‘Police, Freeze.’”