Chocolate Dipped Death Page 23

  Find a weapon, I ordered myself. Find something. Anything. But Wyatt kept his truck immaculate. I couldn’t even find a straw from a fast-food drive-through on the seat. “So why poison Savannah and then hit her with the car?” I asked, “Why not just let the Elavil do its job?”

  Miles seemed rattled for the first time all night. “Because it wasn’t doing its job.”

  “It might have if you’d just waited.”

  “For what? For her to call for help?” I don’t know what he had planned, but he seemed to make a spur-of-the-moment decision, veering off the road into the golf course parking lot. This was it. Now or never. I could save myself or end up a statistic.

  He skidded to a stop in front of the clubhouse, and I waited breathlessly for him to let go of me. He’d have to at some point, if only for a second. I’d have to be ready to make my move.

  But I was wrong. He left the truck running and dragged me behind him as he jumped from the seat. Frantic to save myself, I grabbed the steering wheel and held on with both hands. He was strong, but despair can work miracles. I created just enough resistance to loosen his grip, which gave me a split second to slither away from him. I was lying across the seat again with my head near the open door, so I used the only weapon I had.

  Frantic to stay alive, I sank my teeth into the soft flesh of his wrist and bit as hard as I could. He let out a roar of pain, but that only made me more determined. It meant I had a chance.

  He jerked his arm away, and I thought he might pull my teeth out with it, but I managed to hang on. But only for one breath. With a bellow of rage, he hit me across the side of the face hard enough to make my nose bleed. Pain lanced through my temple, cheek, and jaw, but I refused to let go.

  I turned loose of the steering wheel, but only so I could lay my hand across the horn. The noise echoed in the emptiness around us, and I prayed that Wyatt would hear it—that Wyatt could hear it.

  Miles hit me again. This time, the pain seemed dull and far away. My bite loosened. There wasn’t anything I could do to stop it. Miles grabbed my arm and hauled me out of the truck. I knew my knee hurt, and my leg wouldn’t support my weight, but that pain, too, seemed almost disconnected from me somehow.

  As my hand left the steering wheel, the horn stopped honking, and silence settled around us again. Miles took a couple of steps, but even if I’d wanted to keep up with him, my leg simply wouldn’t let me. I sank to the ground, aware of a sickening pop and a burning sensation I hoped I’d be around to feel later.

  Miles whipped back around and stared down at me. His eyes were glazed, his face contorted with fury. “Get up.”

  “I can’t, Miles. My knee—”

  “I don’t care about your knee. Get up.” He jerked on my arm and moved me a couple of inches along the pavement. Just as I’d suspected, the more control he lost over the situation, the more vulnerable he seemed. “Get up, or I’ll kill you right where we stand.”

  I had no doubt of that. This was it. I had to find a way to save myself, or I was going to die. One sharp image— a maneuver I’d learned during a long-ago self-defense course—flashed through my head, and I knew it was the only chance I had. I held one hand up, beseeching. “Help me, Miles. I can’t get up by myself.”

  He hesitated for so long, I thought he might refuse. Then, slowly, he reached for my hand.

  I grabbed him by the upper arm and, using every bit of strength I had, pulled him toward me. He staggered, lost his balance, and landed on his knees beside me. While I still had the advantage, I wrapped my hands around his head and pressed on his eyes, hard, with my thumbs.

  He reared back, dragging me upright as he went. In the distance, I caught the flash of light through the trees, and I knew help was on its way. Just a few minutes more. I had to hang on until them.

  I pressed harder, refusing to let myself worry about the damage I might be doing. Let him sue me. That was the least of my worries.

  Again he jerked back sharply, and this time I let go. Roaring in pain, he covered his eyes with his hands. I was too desperate to care about how much I hurt, and somehow managed to find solid footing with my good leg. My other leg was on fire as I pushed to my feet and hopped back to the truck. My face throbbed, but I got myself into the truck’s cab and locked both doors. Exhausted, weeping with relief and fear, I leaned onto the horn and sent up my distress signal again.

  As the horn blared into the silent winter night, my heart ached for Savannah. I’d suffered a horrible betrayal at my ex-husband’s hands, but it didn’t even begin to compare to what Miles had done to Savannah. She had to have known that Miles wanted her dead. Even if only for a minute, the hurt must have been more intense than anything I could imagine.

  Even Savannah had deserved better than that.

  Chapter 23

  A week later, I sat behind a white-clothed table in the second-floor meeting room at Divinity. Wyatt, who had emerged from the forest that night just in time to see his truck and his baby sister disappearing around the bend, had carted me upstairs for the contest. Jawarski was there to make sure I got to my apartment when the judging was all over.

  He caught me watching him, and concern creased his face. “You okay?”

  Nearly dying can make even the most stoic kind of woman get a little emotional. I blinked rapidly, nodded, and readjusted my leg on its cushion of pillows. I’d only been wearing it a few days, but the leg brace the doctor had prescribed was driving me crazy. “I’m fine, just annoyed that I have to sit here, that’s all.”

  Jawarski grinned and pulled up a chair so he could sit beside me. “Keep this in mind next time there’s a murderer running loose in Paradise.”

  Like this was all my fault. “How ‘bout you answer the phone next time there’s a murderer running loose in Paradise?”

  His smile faded, and his expression grew serious. “Don’t do anything like this again, Abby. It’s too dangerous.”

  It was only about the hundredth time he’d said it, but I kind of liked the look on his face, so I nodded agreeably. “Deal.” And I meant it. Really I did.

  We fell silent and watched the activity around us for a few minutes. Karen, back on her medication and back at work, at least until my leg was better, was running the show with quiet efficiency. We still had issues to work out, but they were out in the open now, and I figured that would make it easier to find a resolution. I wouldn’t be happy until she’d come back permanently, and I think she knew it.

  Evie Rice, whose first-place win on the second night of competition hadn’t surprised anybody, stood a few feet away, watching intently while Meena Driggs delivered her egg nog fudge to the judging table. I’d tasted Meena’s fudge earlier, and I had a feeling Evie had some competition. I just prayed that we wouldn’t have a repeat performance from the first night. A cook-off between the two contestants I could handle. I wasn’t sure I’d survive another round of hysterics.

  It seemed like a lifetime ago that we’d been here for the first night’s judging of the contest, and for Savannah I guess it had been. I hadn’t always liked her, but no one deserved to die simply because she’d stumbled across the truth.

  It had taken a few days, but once Jawarski and the other investigators had started tugging at the threads of Miles Horne’s life, they’d unraveled a whole nest of lies. In fact, his entire adult life had been one lie after another, from the Harvard education right down to the job he’d landed in New York.

  How he’d faked the credentials well enough to pull that one off was beyond me, but he’d done it. I guess he’d had lots of practice. He’d been scamming people since he graduated from high school—maybe even before that. The police were still unraveling who knew what and when they knew it, but everyone connected to him seemed to be shocked and outraged. I wasn’t sure we’d ever know the whole truth.

  Even Savannah hadn’t suspected the truth until a chance encounter with someone from Miles’s past had opened her eyes. That’s all any of us really knew at this point. Her biggest mistak
e had been in confronting her husband instead of going to the police.

  Maybe she thought she owed him something, even if he had lied to her since the day they met. Love can make fools out of anybody, I guess.

  Speaking of foolish hearts, mine thumped around a little when Jawarski reached past me for a Rocky Road Drop. He popped it into his mouth, closed his eyes, and moaned with pleasure. “These are great,” he said. “Better than the ones my mom used to make.”

  I cocked an eyebrow at him. “You have a mother?”

  The question dropped out of my mouth before I could stop it. I was all ready for him to give me that look and clam up the way he does, but one eye opened, and he gave me one of those lopsided grins of his. “Yeah I do, believe it or not.”

  “Is she still alive?”

  He nodded slowly and looked away. Another silence fell between us, but this one didn’t last as long. “Still alive.”

  “Does she live around here?”

  He shook his head, still without looking at me. “She’s in Montana. Lives about ten miles from my kids.”

  I nearly choked on my tongue. “You have kids?”

  “Two.” He did look at me then, and the question in his eyes touched something I still wasn’t completely sure I wanted touched. “They’re fourteen and twelve.”

  It was my turn to sit silently, but that didn’t last long either. I wasn’t sure what this meant for us. Maybe nothing. “Are they boys or girls?”

  “One of each. Ridge is the oldest. Cheyenne’s in seventh grade.” His gaze dropped to his fingertips, and he scraped at something on one finger. “I don’t see them often enough, but I talk to them twice a week.”

  “Oh.” A million different things were tumbling around in my head, but I wasn’t sure how to react or what to say. He had kids. That meant he probably had an ex-wife out there somewhere. At least, I hoped she was an ex.

  After a long time, I reached across the space between us and put my hand on his. He turned his over and laced his fingers through mine. Yeah, I wanted to know more, but I decided not to push. I’d asked, and even though it had taken a while, he’d answered.

  For tonight, that was enough.

  Candy Recipes

  Divine Saltwater Taffy

  Yields: 1 pound

  2 tablespoons butter (use real butter, not margarine)

  1 cup sugar

  3/4 cup light corn syrup

  1 teaspoon salt

  2/3 cup water

  1 tablespoon cornstarch

  1 teaspoon flavoring of your choice

  food coloring

  Using the butter, grease a square 8 x 8 x 2-inch pan.

  In a saucepan, mix together the sugar, corn syrup, salt, water, and cornstarch. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until a candy thermometer reads 256°.

  Remove from heat at once.

  Stir in desired color and flavoring and pour into buttered pan. Allow candy to cool.

  Pull taffy until it is light in color and stiff.

  Pull into 2-inch strips, cut, and wrap in waxed paper.

  Cappuccino Divinity

  Yields: 20 Servings (1½ pounds)

  21/2 cups sugar

  ½ cup dark Karo syrup

  1/2 cup water

  1/4 teaspoon salt

  2 egg whites

  2 tablespoons dark rum

  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  2 teaspoons instant coffee powder

  1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

  1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (if desired)1

  In a 2-quart saucepan, stir together the sugar, Karo syrup, water, and salt. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil over medium heat.

  Reduce heat.

  Stop stirring and cook to soft ball stage (candy thermometer registers 248°). Just before the candy temperature reaches 248°, beat egg whites in a large bowl with mixer at high speed. Beat until stiff peaks form. Keeping mixer at high speed, slowly pour about one-half of the hot mixture over the egg whites.

  Cook remaining syrup to 272°, or until a small amount of mixture when dropped into very cold water separates into threads that are hard but not brittle.

  Remove from heat and stir in the dark rum and vanilla. Beating constantly, slowly pour the hot syrup over the egg white mixture.

  Beat in coffee powder and ground cinnamon. Continue beating until mixture begins to lose its gloss, and a small amount of mixture holds a soft peak when dropped from a spoon.

  If the mixture becomes too stiff for the mixer, beat with a heavy wooden spoon.

  Drop by teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper.

  Let cool.

  Store in a tightly covered container at room temperature.

  Lady Slippers

  (Butterscotch Drops)

  Yields: about 4 dozen

  2 cups sugar

  1/4 cup light corn syrup

  1/2 cup (1 stick) real butter

  2 tablespoons water

  2 tablespoons white wine vinegar (don’t substitute another kind)

  Combine all ingredients in 2-quart heavy saucepan. Stir and cook mixture over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved.

  Reduce heat and cook at a medium boil, stirring as needed to control foaming and avoid sticking as mixture thickens. If sugar crystals form on sides of pan, wipe down with a moistened pastry brush.

  Cook to the hard crack stage (300° on a candy thermometer).

  Remove from heat and let mixture stand for 1 minute.

  Meanwhile, butter 2 sheets of aluminum foil and place on 2 baking sheets. Quickly drop teaspoonfuls of butterscotch onto foil, making patties about 1 inch in diameter. Space them at least 1/2 inch apart.

  If the candy thickens and does not drop easily, set the pan in hot water until the mixture is again workable.

  Strawberry Bonbons

  Yields: 40 berries

  1 can sweetened condensed milk

  2 7-oz. packages flaked coconut

  1 4-oz. package strawberry gelatin

  1 cup blanched almonds

  1 teaspoon almond extract

  red food coloring

  water

  21/4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

  2 tablespoons heavy cream

  green food coloring

  (You’ll also need a pastry bag with an open star tip)

  Combine the milk, coconut, 1/3 cup of the gelatin, almonds, and almond extract. Add red food coloring to tint the mix to the shade you want.

  Chill for one hour.

  Using 1/2 tablespoon-size drops of the mix, form into strawberry shapes. Sprinkle the remaining gelatin onto waxed paper and roll each strawberry to coat.

  Using a pastry brush, lightly brush each strawberry with water.

  In a small bowl, combine the confectioners’ sugar, heavy cream, and green food coloring.

  Using the pastry bag and open star tip, pipe leaves on top of each strawberry. Place bonbons on baking sheets lined with waxed paper. Chill berries for one hour.

  Store covered at room temperature.

  Rocky Road Drops

  Yields: 5 dozen

  1 111/2 oz. package milk chocolate morsels

  1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk

  3 cups miniature marshmallows

  2 cups dry roasted peanuts

  1 cup raisins

  In the top of a double boiler, over hot (but not boiling) water, melt chocolate morsels together with sweetened condensed milk; remove from heat.

  In large bowl, combine the marshmallows, nuts, and raisins; stir in chocolate mixture.

  Drop by teaspoonfuls onto baking sheets lined with waxed paper.

  Chill for 2 hours or until firm.

  Store loosely covered in cool, dry place.

  Celestial Chocolate French Toast

  Yields: 6 servings

  3 1.55 oz. milk chocolate candy bars (no nuts)

  3 eggs

  1 cup milk

  1 teaspoon sugar

  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  1/4 teas
poon salt

  12 slices day-old bread

  2 tablespoons real butter

  confectioners’ sugar (for dusting at the end)

  Break each candy bar in half, the short way. Grate just a little chocolate (no more than 1/2 teaspoon off of each piece) and save in a small bowl for later.

  In a medium bowl, beat the eggs with the milk, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Pour half of this mixture into a large (13 x 9-inch) un-greased baking dish.

  Layer six slices of bread horizontally over the egg mixture. Place one piece of candy bar in the center of each piece of bread. Top each slice with remaining pieces of bread like sandwiches. Pour the remaining egg mixture over the sandwiches. Let this stand for at least 5 minutes so the bread can absorb the egg mixture.

  On a griddle or in a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Fry sandwiches until golden brown on both sides. Add an additional 2 teaspoons of butter midway, if cooking in batches.

  To serve, cut each sandwich diagonally. Dust with confectioners’ sugar and sprinkle with chocolate shavings.

  1

  Add 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans to mixture with coffee powder and cinnamon if desired.