A slay ride together wit.., p.24
A Slay Ride Together With You,
p.24
“Brittany’s fingerprints match a set found on the back door of the bakery following the attempted break-in. Diane’s going to testify that this shows a pattern of stalking and harassment, which ultimately resulted in a man’s death.”
Some of this I’d heard from Diane Simmonds over the few days following Brittany’s arrest, but it was nice to have it confirmed and to know the police were gathering hard evidence.
Vicky and Mark joined us. They were both out of breath, red-faced, breathing deeply, and glowing with joy. “Okay,” Vicky said, “this looks like a seriously serious discussion. Why aren’t you partying? Alan, dance with me. Mark, you take Merry. Sorry, Russ—you’re on your own.”
“One more quick question,” Alan said. “What’s Brittany have to say about the attack on Vicky and Merry?”
“She’s likely going to plead not guilty. Say it was all a misunderstanding. Vicky and Merry panicked and ran off into the night, and worried for their safely, Brittany followed them.”
I snorted.
“Will that one hold?” Alan asked.
“Highly unlikely. She brought a knife with her, for one thing. Rather than park in Vicky’s driveway, the way a regular visitor would, she hid her car on a back street and, once again, climbed over the fence.”
“All’s well that ends well,” Vicky said. “Now, I want to dance.”
* * *
“I am not going to be able to decide,” my dad said to me as we were lining up for the midnight dessert buffet. “Everything looks better than the next.” He patted his ample stomach. “Do you think it would be rude to ask for a doggie bag?”
“Yes,” I said. I myself was having trouble deciding between the key lime pie and the triple-layer sprinkle cake. The lemon sorbet looked delicious, and it would have fewer calories, but it was a special occasion after all. Maybe just this once, the pie and the cake.
“I had an interesting phone call today,” Dad said.
“Do tell.”
“Janice Benedict, from Muddle Harbor.”
That came as a surprise. “What did she want?”
Dad helped himself to a bowl of chocolate mousse. I served myself pie, congratulating myself on only taking one dessert.
Dad jerked his head to indicate an empty table. We took our plates and sat down.
“Janice said the animosity between Rudolph and Muddle Harbor has gone on long enough. After you and Vicky visited, she got to thinking about her grandmother and her great- aunt, Iris and Ethel, and how the two sisters never visited or even spoke to each other in their later years.”
“That is sad, but Janice isn’t related to anyone we know, is she?”
“No. But she feels partly responsible for what happened with Brittany. It was her, Janice believes, who put the idea into the girl’s head about getting a job at Vicky’s, and everything flowed from there. Brittany was grumbling and complaining, as Janice said was normal with her, about the Muddle Harbor Café being beneath her. So Janice said something along the lines of, ‘Go to Rudolph then, if you’re so special.’”
“It’s hardly Janice’s fault what Brittany did with that suggestion.” I cut a sliver of pie and popped it into my mouth. Delicious.
“I know, and Janice knows that too. But she wants to talk, and I want to listen. She has an idea of maybe, at first, using Vicky’s place to provide cakes and pies for the café. Particularly around the holidays. Janice freely admits baking isn’t one of her skills, and the woman she was using as her supplier before she hired Brittany has decided to retire.”
“It’s a start,” I said. “What about Jack Benedict and Randy Baumgartner? How are they likely to feel about a … lessening of hostilities ,shall we say, between our two towns?”
Dad grinned over a spoon piled high with chocolate mousse. “Janice says it’s long past time to let the two old fools stew alone in their resentment. Janice plans to run in the next mayoral race. She’s got some promising ideas, and I’d like to give her the benefit of my experience to help her develop them. I’m going to Muddle Harbor on Tuesday for lunch at the café. I’ve long said we in Rudolph would be happy to share our success with Muddle Harbor, if they’d let us.”
I toasted my dad with the last slice of key lime pie. “If anyone can do it, Dad, I know you can. Just one thing: don’t commit Vicky to anything. I suspect she’d going to be even busier than she usually is for the next while.”
* * *
At the end of the evening, most people had left, the DJ had packed up his equipment, and the staff were discreetly clearing the tables. Vicky’s feet were propped up on a chair. She’d taken an extra dose of painkillers so she could dance up a storm and enjoy her own party, but tomorrow her feet would be killing her.
Russ, Alan, and Mark had dispensed with jackets and ties altogether, and I’d kicked off my shoes. We sat around a table, enjoying one last drink before heading off into the night.
I stood up, picked up a discarded dessert spoon, and tapped the side of my glass. When I had everyone’s attention, I cleared my throat and said, “I have one last gift for Vicky.”
“Not for me?” Mark asked with a twinkle in his eye.
“Only indirectly.”
Vicky threw a questioning look at Alan, and he shrugged. “I’ve no idea what she has in store. I never do.” He took my hand and held it lightly.
“I got a phone call from Roy McDonald this morning.”
“And he is …?” Mark asked.
“An editor at one of the biggest publishing houses in the United States. Specifically the editor in charge of their lifestyle and home imprint.”
Vicky’s feet dropped to the floor. “He wants to see my book! That is so great. Thank you, Merry.” She turned toward Mark, her eyes shining. “Did you hear that? He wants to see my book.” Her face fell. “It’s not finished yet. How long do I have before getting it to him? Will he wait or give up on me and go on to someone else?”
“He doesn’t want to see your finished book, Vicky.” The first couple of days after the injuries to her feet, Vicky had been unable to stand for long periods of time, and she insists she can’t bake sitting down. Instead, she sat at her desk in the bakery office, supervised her staff, worked on the accounts, and finally, finally got enough of her book proposal finished to send to me. I sent it to my most promising contact in publishing, and to my considerable surprise, he got back to me almost immediately. Normally, publishing works at a glacial pace, but Roy must have seen something he immediately liked.
“Not yet,” I said. “He wants to give you a contract. Now. Based on what I told him about it, and about you and your proposal. He’s ready to start to negotiate and give you an advance.”
She fell back against her chair. “An advance. Did you hear that, Mark? An advance. On my book.”
He grinned at her. “I heard, babe.”
“You’ll need an agent,” I said. “And to that effect, as the second part of my gift, I’ve arranged for one of the top cookbook agents in New York to talk to you.”
She started to get to her feet, but Mark put a hand on her arm. “Careful there.”
Vicky dropped down. The enormous grin began to fade, replaced with total panic. “Does that mean I have to … finish the book?”
“Yes, Vicky,” I said. “It means you have to finish the book.”
Recipes from Year-Round Holiday Favorites from America’s Christmas Town by Vicky Casey
Traditional Holiday Shortbread
These shortbread cookies are very traditional and a huge hit at Victoria’s Bake Shoppe. Shortbread is one of the easiest cookies for the home baker to make, as it has few ingredients and simple instructions. This recipe is best suited for baking in a slab and then cutting into squares and rectangles, not for cutting prior to baking with cookie cutters.
Ingredients
2 cups cake flour
¾ cup + 1 tablespoon cornstarch
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
⅓ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup confectioners’ sugar (aka icing sugar)
Instructions
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, and salt until well blended.
In a stand mixer set on medium speed, or with a handheld mixer, beat the butter until creamy. Beat in the granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary. On low speed, add the flour mixture in two or three additions until it forms a soft dough. Wrap the dough with plastic wrap and chill for approximately 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
On a lightly floured piece of parchment paper, roll the dough out to a ¾-inch-thick slab,
Transfer, parchment and all, to the baking sheet, and bake until lightly golden and firm to the touch, about 40 minutes. Slip the parchment paper with the shortbread onto a hard surface. Immediately sprinkle the shortbread heavily with the confectioners’ sugar. While still warm, cut the shortbread into 1- or 1½-inch pieces. Let cool completely.
Cookies will keep in an airtight container for about a week.
Coconut Sugar Cookies
Coconut flakes give these basic sugar cookies a nice modern touch. Great for making with kids who want to cut out the shapes and decorate with colored sugar or sprinkles before baking.
Ingredients
7 ounces sweetened flake coconut
3¾ cups all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons baking power
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1½ cups sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
Plain or colored sugar or sprinkles for decorating
Instructions
Place coconut in a food processor and grind until fine.
In a small bowl, mix flour, coconut, baking powder, and salt together.
Combine butter and sugar in a stand mixer or with a handheld mixer, and mix until pale and fluffy.
Add eggs and vanilla, and combine.
Add flour mixture and combine. Do not overmix.
Wrap dough in plastic and place in refrigerator for 2–24 hours.
Preheat oven to 350ºF.
On a floured surface, roll out dough to approximately ¼ inch thick, and cut into shapes.
Place cookies on baking sheet or silicone mat, approximately 1 inch apart.
If desired, sprinkle lightly with plain or colored sugar or sprinkles.
Bake for 10–12 minutes, until edges are golden brown.
Cookies will keep in an airtight container for about a week.
Curried Butternut Squash Soup
As well as baking favorites, Vicky’s cookbook includes some of the recipes she makes for hungry holiday shoppers, take-out orders, and catering. This is a great soup for using up what you have in the way of end-of-harvest-season produce, so you don’t need to stick to the measurements provided. Feel free to adjust to your heart’s content.
1 butternut squash, peeled and chopped
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 large or 3 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 slice of hot red pepper, finely chopped (as desired)
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon curry powder
½ tablespoon cumin powder
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
½ tablespoon dried rosemary
2 cups vegetable stock.
Toss squash, sweet potatoes, potatoes, onions, and hot pepper into a roasting pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Mix spices and herbs in a small bowl, and add to vegetables. Sprinkle with vegetable oil and toss thoroughly.
Roast in 350ºF. oven for about 1 hour.
Put vegetables in a stock pot and add stock. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for about 20 minutes. Puree in a blender or with an immersion blender.
The Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery
The Sign of Four Spirits
The Game Is a Footnote
A Curious Incident
There’s a Murder Afoot
A Scandal in Scarlet
The Cat of the Baskervilles
Body on Baker Street
Elementary, She Read
The Lighthouse Library Mysteries
(writing as Eva Gates)
Death Knells and Wedding Bells
Death by Beach Read
Deadly Ever After
A Death Long Overdue
Read and Buried
Something Read, Something Dead
The Spook in the Stacks
Reading Up A Storm
Booked for Trouble
By Book or by Crook
The Ashley Grant Mysteries
Coral Reef Views
Blue Water Hues
White Sand Blues
The Klondike Mysteries
Gold Web
Gold Mountain
Gold Fever
Gold Digger
The Ray Robertson Mysteries
Blood and Belonging
Haitian Graves
Juba Good
The Year Round Christmas Mysteries
Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas
Dying in a Winter Wonderland
Silent Night, Deadly Night
Hark the Herald Angels Slay
We Wish You a Murderous Christmas
Rest Ye Murdered Gentlemen
The Constable Molly Smith Mysteries
Unreasonable Doubt
Under Cold Stone
A Cold White Sun
Among the Departed
Negative Image
Winter of Secrets
Valley of the Lost
In the Shadow of the Glacier
The Tea By The Sea Mysteries
Trouble is Brewing
Steeped in Malice
Murder Spills the Tea
Murder in a Teacup
Tea & Treachery
The Catskill Summer Resort Mystery
Deadly Director’s Cut
Deadly Summer Nights
Also Available By Vicki Delany
More than Sorrow
Murder at Lost Dog Lake
Burden of Memory
Scare the Light Away
Whiteout
Author Biography
Vicki Delany is a bestselling author of more than thirty novels and novellas in several of mystery’s subgenres. Born in Manitoba and raised in Ontario, she is the former president of the Crime Writers of Canada, a member of Capital Crime Writers, and a member of Sisters in Crime.
This is a work of fiction. All of the names, characters, organizations, places and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real or actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: The recipes contained in this book are to be followed exactly as written. The publisher is not responsible for your specific health or allergy needs that may require medical supervision. The publisher is not responsible for any adverse reaction to the recipes contained in the book.
Copyright © 2024 by Vicki Delany
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crooked Lane Books, an imprint of The Quick Brown Fox & Company LLC.
Crooked Lane Books and its logo are trademarks of The Quick Brown Fox & Company LLC.
Library of Congress Catalog-in-Publication data available upon request.
ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-63910-879-4
ISBN (ebook): 978-1-63910-880-0
Cover design by Elsa Kerls
Printed in the United States.
www.crookedlanebooks.com
Crooked Lane Books
34 West 27th St., 10th Floor
New York, NY 10001
First Edition: September 2024
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Vicki Delany, A Slay Ride Together With You
