Heaven Preserve Us: A Home Crafting Mystery (A Home Crafting Mystery) Read online

  A small door at the end of the game room revealed a small storage closet. In Jude's idealized community center it would no doubt contain sports equipment and games within a week. Now all it contained was a vacuum and... a jar of pickled asparagus. I recognized the label. This was the jar I'd left for Maryjake Friday evening. She must have stuck it in there yesterday, meaning to take it home, and forgotten it.

  I took it out and hefted it. The quart jar fit nicely in my hand. I would have preferred a hardwood baseball bat, believe me, but I took it over to the table and set it next to the darts.

  I picked up one of the chairs. Time to break a window.

  Boy, I didn't want to do that. Sure, it made sense: break the window, scream my head off, get the hell out of there.

  Except if I could get out, Jude could get in, and I didn't know where he was.

  I heard voices out in the main room of Heaven House.

   

  "Help!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. Lightheaded with hope, I grabbed the folding chair and swung it at the glass. Hard. The window cracked a little

  God, what a wimp.

  I shouted again. "Help! Please help me!" And swung again. The glass shattered with a loud, satisfying crash and tinkle. I considered the gaping hole, lined with sharp glass teeth. The opening seemed small. Winter blew into the game room, and I shivered.

  "Sophie Mae? Sophie Mae! Where are you?"

  "In here. I'm in the game room," I shouted. That voice was familiar, but at the same time, not. Who was out there? "Hello?"

  Conversation again. I edged to the door and put my ear against it. They'd moved closer, but I strained to make out what they were saying.

  "What are you doing to her?" The strange voice demanded.

  He wasn't yelling now. Recognition dawned. It was my good friend, my buddy.

  My stalker.

  "Allen?"

  Scuffling sounds then, and a shout, then another, and a grunt, then an even louder yell, suddenly cut short. And then only the sound of my panting breath against the silence.

  I snatched the jar off the table, hauled the chair out from under the doorknob and swung the door open, brandishing the pickles. I heard a gurgle from my right, and in the dim light from the front windows I saw Jude, face red and jaw clenched, kneeling over Seth Chase, hands around his throat. Seth still struggled, but weakly.

  Fifteen feet away, Jude was killing the poor kid who had come to rescue me.

   

  I ran up behind him, lifting the jar above my head. He heard me coming, and whipped around at the last minute. His gaze locked on mine. I brought the heavy jar down, and he crumpled to the floor.

  The flash of resignation in Jude's eyes right before I bashed him over the head would stay with me for very, very long time.

   

  THIRTY

  EYES CLOSED, SETH ROLLED onto his side in a fetal position, hands moving protectively to his neck as he coughed and gagged air back into his lungs.

  I knelt beside him. "Are you okay?"

  His eyelids fluttered, and then he was looking at me. He nodded weakly, and his lips moved.

  "Don't try to talk. I'm going to call the police. Stay here." Like he was in any shape to go gallivanting off.

  His fingers curled onto my arm. "I'm sorry," he croaked, wincing at the effort.

  I brushed back a piece of dark hair that had flopped into his eyes. "Don't worry."

  "Are you going to tell them?"

  "Stop talking. I mean it. Just trust me, okay?"

  After a few seconds, he nodded and closed his eyes again.

  I left him and went to the telephone on Maryjake's desk. I dialed the police station and asked for Detective Lane. She was out.

   

  "Well, track her down. Tell her Sophie Mae Reynolds is at Heaven House and that someone just tried to kill me. He's still here but could regain consciousness at any time. And while you're at it, send a patrol car and an ambulance over here"

  Guess what? It turned out I should've called 911 instead of the Cadyville Police station. There was quite the hullabaloo as the cadet on the front desk tried to figure out what to do, and then I was talking to Sergeant Zahn, and then finally to Detective Lane on her cell phone. By then the sirens had arrived. Lane showed up soon after.

  I thought she'd be spitting nails, but she took one look at the situation and-get this-she apologized to me.

  Like I said, it was kind of hard not to like her.

  Jude was still out, which scared me. I hadn't wanted to kill him; I'd only wanted to stop him. An ambulance whisked him off, and another set of paramedics stayed to work on Seth.

  He was feeling better by then, and in a whispery voice told Lane how he'd come by Heaven House to pick up some tools he and his brother had left there the day before. He had a key, which Jude had given the brothers for easy access since he planned for them to complete several handyman projects over the coming weeks. When Seth came in, he'd found Jude trying to get into the game room and me calling for help from the other side of the door. He'd confronted Jude, who had attacked him and tried to strangle him.

  His eyes locked on mine. "Sophie Mae saved my life."

  "That makes us even, then," I said. "Because you saved mine, too."

  Okay, granted, Seth's rescue wasn't as, um, hands on, but I had no way of knowing whether I could have escaped out that window or not. If it hadn't been for him, Jude might have very well killed me by now. The thought made me shiver, and Detective Lane's forehead wrinkled with concern.

   

  I smiled, big and bright, and she seemed to relax. When she went to talk to one of the patrolman, I crouched next to Seth's chair.

  "Was that you on the telephone? Did you hang up when Jude answered?"

  He nodded. "I saw your truck in the alley." He looked down, embarrassed. "It wasn't that I was following you, but I had my eye out. I wanted to talk to you."

  I harrumphed.

  He rolled his eyes. "Only to apologize. Only because I know I've been bugging you, and I never really meant to do that. The first call? It was stupid. I was just bored. But then you seemed so nice. I knew who you were. I guess I got a little obsessed. I'm real sorry. It's just, well, since we moved here it's been..." His whisper trailed off, and he blinked away the welling tears.

  "Here. Drink this." I handed him the bottle of water the paramedic had given him to sip.

  "Thanks"

  "Seth, you might have been bored when you called Heaven House that first time, but you were also depressed. And lonely. And you know what? That's okay. That's what the Helpline is all about. I wasn't very good at getting you what you needed, but I'll make you a deal."

  A stubborn expression settled on his face.

   

  "Just listen. If you'll contact one of the free counseling services I can put you in touch with, I won't tell Lane you were the one calling me."

  Alarm replaced the stubbornness.

  "Yes, she knows someone has been stalking me. I know you don't like it when I call it that, but you have to admit that it wasn't exactly normal behavior."

  Sheepishness across his features now. "Yeah. I know. I really am sorry.

  "I believe you. So that's the deal: you talk to a professional about the stuff you wanted to talk to me about-life, death, and maybe, if you want to, about your mom dying-and I'll keep mum. You stop calling me all the time like you were, and we can be friends."

  "Friends?"

  "Friends. And friends talk to each other. So you'll be able to talk to me, too. But no more being weird about it."

  He considered, then shook his head. "I can't. My dad, Luke-"

  "You don't have to tell them, at least not at first. It's your business if you talk to a therapist. They'll deal with what's happened to your family in their own way, but they don't get to tell you how to do it."

  Hesitation, a glance at Lane scribbling in her notebook across the room, then a single bob of his head. "Okay."

  I
had to fill out paperwork and give my statement at the police station. It seemed to take forever. Lane came over to the desk where I was rechecking my written statement one last time and put her hand on my shoulder. I looked up, wondering what she wanted from me now.

   

  "Just got a call from the hospital. Jude Carmichael is awake and lucid. And, from what I hear, has a heck of a headache. He's complaining left and right, but he's confessed to everything."

  Sighing in relief, I said, "I didn't kill him, then."

  "Nope" Her grin was wide. "You wielded those pickles with exactly the right amount of force."

  I gave her a look, and she left to talk to George Oxford, who was waiting pensively on the other side of the room. She was still grinning as she walked away.

  Taking a deep breath, I used one of the desk phones to call home. Meghan answered.

  "Is Barr around?" I asked. What a coward. I wanted him to tell her what had happened.

  "He's asleep upstairs."

  "Still?" I tried to keep the worry out of my voice.

  "No, Again. What's wrong?"

  "Nothing. Just tell him I'm done with the stuff at Heaven House, and I'll be home when I can. I'll probably be late."

  "But, Erin-"

  "I know. I'll get there as fast as I can"

  "Sophie Mae, what on earth..."

  "Fill you in later."

  "But everything's okay?"

  "It is now."

  I hung around until someone returned from George's house with the rest of the Hannah's preserves. George had confirmed that Jude had taken several of the jars to Heaven House, but he didn't know exactly what he'd removed. At one point, he said, there had been beets out in the garage with the rest of his wife's homecanned goods.

   

  No telling whether they'd be able to prove the beets Jude had pilfered to give to Philip were from the same batch. For all I knew, the jar the Health Department had taken from Philip's apartment had been summarily destroyed and wouldn't be available for comparison. But between Jude's confession and my statement, the prosecutor wouldn't need the beets to make his case. I didn't know if it would do any good, but I'd told Lane about the jar of Ruth's beets I'd hidden away.

  By the time the police were done with me, it was pitch dark outside. I hurried home, took a quick shower and changed my clothes. The day was not yet done.

  Two kids remained on stage when I got there, and tension in the room was high. I excuse-me'd my way down the row of seats to the empty one next to Barr, causing grumbling from the spectators as I went. Kelly sat on the other side of my housemate, his hand on her knee. Meghan craned around Barr to spare me a questioning look, then redirected her attention to where Erin sat alone on a stool under the bright spotlights. A carrot-topped kid stood in front of the microphone stand, looking terribly serious. The spray of freckles across his nose was visible from a third of the way back in the auditorium.

   

  "Where have you been? I was getting worried," Barr whispered in my ear.

  I smiled and turned my head slightly, glad that in the dim light Barr couldn't see the bruise blossoming across my cheekbone. I'd pay for not telling him and Meghan right away about my near deadly encounter with Jude, but I'd had enough on my plate at the police station. Dealing with Detective Lane, Sergeant Zahn and Chief Maher had taken all my energy. The last thing I'd needed was to worry about my boyfriend rushing from his sickbed and yelling at me for being stupid.

  Ditto for Meghan, minus the sickbed. And probably double the yelling.

  "I'll tell you later," I said.

  "Is it good news?"

  Meghan nudged Barr's arm. "Ssh"

  "The best," I whispered. "You look fabulous, dahling." I was changing the subject, but also telling the truth. Dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt and cowboy boots, he looked almost like my old, reliable Barr. A big blue hunk of turquoise decorated the string tie around his neck this evening.

  He pointed up front.

  "Fluorescent," droned an adult voice through the sound system. I spied the speaker holding a microphone off to the side and below the elevated part of the stage.

  "Fluorescent," repeated the red-haired kid. "F-l-u-o-r-e-s-c-en-t. Fluorescent."

  "That is correct."

  Applause, even from the kids already eliminated and now sitting in the front row.

   

  Carrot-top and Erin switched places. She licked her lips and squinted against the bright light, eyes searching the audience. Her gaze settled on our row, and she gave a little smile.

  "Serendipitous," intoned the judge.

  Erin licked her lips again. "Serendipitous. S-e-r-e-n-d-i-p-e-to-u-s. Serendipitous."

  "I'm sorry. That is incorrect."

  Her face fell, and I heard Meghan groan.

  Then the whole place erupted in applause, people standing and clapping. The judges got everyone settled back down for the awards ceremony.

  Later, as we were all filing out to the cars, Erin said. "Well, at least I still get to go to regionals.

  "Really?" I asked.

  "Yep. Top two."

  Behind me, Meghan made a small noise, too low for her daughter to hear, but enough that I turned around and looked at her. She gave me a weak smile, and Kelly laughed.

  Of course, all hell broke loose when we got home and I told them what had happened. Meghan cried, and Barr kept hold of my hand and wouldn't let go. Kelly listened carefully, and I had the feeling he wanted to take notes for the foundation.

  "I can't believe you went off with him alone like that," he said at one point, though he sounded oddly admiring. Barr frowned. Probably afraid I'd feel encouraged to do something that stupid again.

   

  Fat chance.

  "Well, I did think you were going to be there," I said.

  "What? Why?"

  "Jude told me he'd asked you and Bette to help him move, too. Then you weren't there, and he said you were running late. Then he finally told me you weren't coming at all. And by then-" I shrugged, "-I thought George was upstairs."

  He shook his head and started asking more questions, most of them about the money

  Finally, I held up my palm and pointed toward the living room. Erin sat on the sofa, acting like she was watching television, but I could tell she felt upstaged.

  "Listen. Seth is fine, and he's not really a stalker after all. He agreed to go see a professional, as long as we don't rat him out to his brother and father, and I agreed to be a friend when he needs one. The kid just misses his mom and wanted someone to talk to.

  "Jude has a nasty concussion, but he's a hard-headed s.o.b., and he's going to be fine, too. Except for the going to jail part. Detective Lane is sure she can work with the county attorney to put a good case together against him for Philip's murder. I'm sure Ruth will agree to help, now that he can't hurt Thaddeus."

  "What about Heaven House? And the foundation?" Meghan wanted to know.

  "No clue. And you know what else? I don't really care. Philip's killer has been caught, the Cadyville Creep won't hurt anyone else, and even my own personal stalker mystery is solved. I'm perfectly happy to put this all behind us and celebrate Bug's victory."

  So we all trooped into the living room and Meghan broke open the sparkling apple cider and the single malt Scotch, and we toasted our resident spelling expert in as many creative ways as we could think of. Finally, we called it quits, and Meghan pointed Erin toward the stairs to put on her pajamas and brush her teeth. Before she obeyed, she came over and put her arms around me.

   

  "I'm glad you're okay."

  "Thanks, Bug. I'm glad you get to go to the regional bee."

  A big grin split her face. "Me, too. 'Night everyone."

  After she'd gone to bed, Barr said, "That agreement you made with Seth Chase? I don't like it."

  "You sure say that a lot. Let's see how it goes. If he breaks his word, or if he still seems to be acting strangely, I'll be the first
one to take action."

  Meghan said, "I think it was a compassionate and kind thing to do. Sometimes you have to give people the benefit of the doubt."

  Kelly, beside her on the sofa, was all goo-goo eyed as he watched her. Oh, he had it bad, too, I thought.

  "Thank you," I said, directing a triumphant look Barr's way. "When are you going back to work?"

  "In another week or so. I've found I kind of like the time off. And the TLC I've been getting here. Doesn't seem right to be in too much of a hurry to end it." His eyes said more, reminding me of his suggestion the night before. For some reason, after having my life threatened, the idea of making a major step forward in our relationship didn't seem quite so scary.

  "To family," I said

  Barr smiled, and Meghan and Kelly raised their glasses. "To family, and to friends."

  THE END

   

  RECIPES

  WINDING ROAD SALTEA BAGS

  These have it all! Like other bath tea bags, this recipe includes dried herbs long used to benefit the skin. However, you'll also find Epsom and sea salts, essential oils to sooth your skin and your mood, and a slight fizzing action that disperses a light, softening bath oil.

  Makes four teapot-sized bags.

  1/8 cup dried green tea (gunpowder green if available)

  1/ cup dried calendula

  1/ cup dried chamomile (loose leaf chamomile tea is fine)

  1/ cup dried lavender flowers OR dried spearmint OR dried

  rosemary OR dried lemon peel

  1/2 teaspoon of one of the following essential oils to match the

  dried herb above: lavender, spearmint, rosemary or 1/ each

  of lemon and orange

  1/8 cup baking soda 1/16 cup citric acid

  2/3 cup Epsom salts

  2/3 cup sea salt

  2 full teaspoons light oil such as hazelnut, jojoba, almond or

  wheat germ

   

  Combine all dry ingredients thoroughly. Combine oils separately, then drizzle over the top of herbal/salt mixture. Mix thoroughly. Divide into four large (teapot sized), heat-sealable tea bags (available online, or in specialty bulk tea shops). Wrap in cellophane or package in a glass jar to preserve scent.