“Aren’t you the optimistic one?” Rex said. He tipped up her chin with his index finger. “Don’t look so forlorn. We’ve just begun to dig and actually unearthed quite a bit.”
“What’s your experienced cop’s brain telling you?” she asked. “What exactly have we unearthed?”
“First, any one of at least five of the people we talked to had cause to kill Eloise. Even the sixth, Liz, could have, depending on how she knew the woman in the past. But cause doesn’t mean action. It’s still possible that they were all in it together, or two of them could’ve partnered up to take her out, but more than likely, only one of them did it. Which on the face of it, may sound near impossible, but in the end will get us our murderer, because the path will lead only to that one.”
“I don’t disagree, but you could’ve told me that two days ago before we got started.”
“That was just Point One. We also know she was killed with poison, arsenic, to be exact.”
“Which was established by the medical examiner, not us,” she pointed out.
He stopped. “Be patient, Marla. I’m getting to that. Third, none of them wanted to be on the pickleball team, but they all stayed and put up with her rants and demands week after week. What was it about last Saturday that set her death in motion?”
She perked up with that. “Maybe it wasn’t just last Saturday, but that’s when things, whatever they were, seemed to come to a head. Pickleball may have had nothing to do with her murder other than serving as the springboard.”
“Clever.”
“It was out before I realized the pun,” she said. “Where does that leave us tonight?”
“Unless the financial information comes in, I’d say we rest our brains. Let’s take Kitty up on that offer of a free dinner in exchange for the apple pie demonstration.”
“Some free dinner, but I’m game,” she replied.
She texted her sister with their order, beef burritos and refried beans—her stomach would pay afterwards—and the two of them left for Kitty’s. They set up the equipment and ingredients while they waited for dinner.
“Your dinner should arrive in twenty minutes,” Kitty told them. “You could’ve asked for a gourmet meal and I would’ve been happy to pay.” She seated herself at one of the two stools around the kitchen island.
“What are you doing?” Marla asked her.
“Uh …?”
“You’re the performer tonight. It’s our turn to sit here and observe,” Marla said, exchanging a knowing look with Rex.
“Oh, right. Where do I start?”
“You have to ask?” Rex said. He shook his head. “Not a good sign, Kitty. If you’re to pull this off, you have to convince this guy you’re on top of things.”
She nodded. “You’re right.” She rose and toddled around the island. She put a hand to her forehead like a mentalist guessing the contents of someone else’s purse. She snapped out of her reverie in a few seconds. “Okay, let’s get baking. First step, my apron.” She pulled out a kitchen drawer and removed a bright pink chef’s apron and slipped it on.
“That looks new,” Marla said.
Kitty ran her hands down the front and beamed back at them. “It is! Do you like it? I bought it today. I needed something to inspire me.”
It figured. But if a new apron would get her in the mood, so be it.
“Now that the costume is in place, what’s next?” Rex asked.
“I guess I need to set up two staging areas, one for the crust and one for putting together the filling, sort of like the other night.”
Marla nodded. Rex waited for the next steps, expressionless.
Kitty started slowly, then moved more quickly as her memory from the prior baking lesson returned. Three minutes later, she was set up. “Now what?” she asked.
“You tell us,” Rex said.
“Uh, okay.” She pressed her lips together. She carefully measured the flour into a large mixing bowl. She’d thought to place the bag of Prairie Harvest Flour in the spot of honor on the island counter.
Thus far, she hadn’t said anything, intent on repeating exactly what she’d seen Rex and Marla do in their demo.
“Talk to us, Kitty,” Marla said. “Tell us, or rather Hub, what you’re doing at each step and why.”
Kitty quickly doused the pained look on her face with a hopeful smile.
“Now I’m going to cut up the butter and flour it.”
She was about to describe Rex’s approach when her phone rang. “Can you grab that for me, Marla? My hands are all floury.”
Marla picked up Kitty’s phone.
“Hi, Kitty. It’s Hub. I know I’m supposed to get my next pie tomorrow night, but I thought I’d surprise you and drop by tonight with that flour I promised you.”
“Uh, hi, Hub. This is Marla, Kitty’s sister. She’s unable to come to the phone right now. Let me tell her you’re here.” She muted the phone. “He thought he’d surprise you by dropping by tonight.”
“Omigod!” Kitty went even whiter than the flour covering her hands when she heard Marla talking to Hub.
“What should I tell him?” Marla asked.
“Send him away! He can’t see me like this.”
“He’s already here, and he knows you’re here, too. Time to bite the bullet, sis.”
Kitty shot her an accusing look. “Did you set this up?”
“No, although I wish I’d thought of it. If you want to know him better, he needs to be introduced to all the crazy, wonderful facets of Kitty Lovejoy.” Marla unmuted the phone. “Kitty says to come on up. You can help her finish the pie.”
“You’ve got about a minute before he knocks on your door,” Rex said, entering the sister-to-sister standoff. “How do you want to handle this?”
Kitty sent her a panicked expression. “What’ll I do?”
“There’s no time to clean all this up,” Marla replied. “I’d say run with it.”
“But I haven’t even finished this first pie.”
“He doesn’t know that,” Rex said. “Play it up.”
Marla scuttled around the island, grabbed a fistful of flour and dabbed some of it on Kitty’s face and the rest on her beautiful new apron.
“What are you doing?” Kitty screamed, attempting to wipe away the results of Marla’s efforts.
“Forget about making him think pie making is a cinch for you,” Marla said, reapplying the white stuff. “Let him know it’s not easy.”
“But you’re willing to put in the time and work just for him,” Rex added.
Rex said that? Marla was about to give him grief for the comment when the doorbell rang. “Curtain going up!” she said on her way to answer the door. “Do your thing, kid.”
“What a nice surprise,” Kitty told their visitor in her warmest Kitty voice as Marla led him to the kitchen. The fluster had vanished.
“Here, take my seat,” Rex told the newcomer, vacating his stool and moving to lean against the wall in a corner.
“Thanks, man,” Hub Sherman replied, slipping in next to Marla. He wasn’t the kind of guy she was expecting. Not particularly dashing. Tall with graying blond hair and even a bit of a paunch. The most striking part of his features was his gray-green eyes. Kind eyes, not the hard eyes Marla had pictured. And he appeared to be much younger than Kitty.
“You caught me, Hub.” Kitty introduced Marla and Rex. “These two missed out on the pie I made earlier, so I’m making one for them tonight.”
“She told me she’d used some new techniques she’d read about for making a flakier crust,” Marla explained, “so she’s demonstrating for us tonight.”
“Looks like I arrived just in time,” Hub said. Then he spotted the open sack of Prairie Harvest Flour. “And apparently you didn’t need my addition.” He set the flour he’d brought on the island counter. “But I hope I can stay. I’d really like to see how you put together the delicacy I tasted last night.”
“Of course. Please do,” Kitty said in a honeyed tone. “I’ve just started to put together the crust.”
“Rex and I are waiting for our dinner to arrive, but you’re welcome to share it with us. We’re having beef burritos,” Marla said.
“Thanks, but I don’t want to help myself to your dinner. Why don’t I just order my own?” He didn’t wait for them to respond but pulled his phone out and touched a number. He returned his attention to Kitty. “Please, continue with what you were doing.”
To Kitty’s credit, she kept her cool and continued to prepare the butter and shortening combo. Just as she was about to mix it in her blender, Hub jumped up. “Wait! That looks easy enough. Can I do it?”
“Be sure you …”
He didn’t give Kitty a chance to finish her warning but immediately claimed his place at the blender and flipped the switch. A shower of flour, butter and shortening shot out of the appliance and flew everywhere in the kitchen, caking not only the countertops and island but also the four of them.
“… place the lid on top,” Kitty finished, seconds too late.
After that, no one said a thing for a few beats, all four of them too astonished to speak.
Hub took the worst of the deluge, his hair and clothes covered in the stuff, but Kitty’s hair looked like it had gone white overnight.
“Omigosh! Sorry, everyone,” Hub said weakly. “I had no idea that could happen.”
“No kidding,” Marla said, brushing flour off her top.
“That’s not supposed to happen,” Rex said. Trained to respond to emergencies, he was already pulling kitchen towels from drawers while Marla grabbed the roll of paper toweling. “There’s a safety lock built in that won’t let the motor engage if the lid’s off. Unless that’s an older model manufactured before that feature was added?”
“Older, like over thirty years?” Kitty asked, swiping flour from under her eyes with a finger. “I think I got that thing for a wedding present in another life. I rarely use it.” She retrieved a broom and dustpan, which she handed Hub. “Here. Start working on the floor.” She fired up the hand vacuum and tackled another corner of the kitchen.
A half hour later, most of the debris had found its way to a couple of garbage bags. They took turns removing what they could from each other’s hair, skin and clothes.
More than once, Marla and Rex exchanged looks, trying not to laugh. She wanted to say something to relieve the tension but left that to Kitty. This was her rodeo.
Kitty didn’t disappoint. “And that, Hub, completes your first lesson in what not to do when preparing a pie crust.”
Hub, apparently anticipating being banished from the kitchen and probably her condo, blinked until he realized he had already been forgiven.
“Good thing I brought that extra bag of flour, huh?” He laughed.
“Good thing you came here tonight not expecting a piece of pie,” Kitty returned.
“I take it the kitchen is closed for the night?” Hub said.
“Good guess,” Marla said.
That’s when Marla and Rex’s burritos arrived. Kitty had ordered one for herself too. The foursome rounded up plates, soft drinks and beers and headed for the dining room.