The Graves of the Guilty (Hope Street Church Mysteries Book 3) (31 page)

Maggie complied. After digging through layers of white tissue paper, she pulled out a piece of orange fabric. She unfolded the material, revealing the round shape of a pumpkin and holes for a head, a pair of tiny legs, and two little arms. It was a baby’s Halloween costume.

“Oh, my stars!” Maggie shouted and immediately started crying. She hugged Ashley and Lincoln over and over again. Earl pumped his son-in-law’s hand and then grabbed him in a manly embrace. He then kissed his daughter on both cheeks.

Grammy looked confused, so Cooper leaned over and said, “Ashley’s pregnant. I’d say the baby is due right around Halloween.”

With a smile that caused her entire face to wrinkle with joy, Grammy opened her arms. “Come here, my girl! Why didn’t you just say so in plain English?”

Ashley bent over and kissed Grammy, tears glimmering in her eyes. “Are we friends again?” Cooper heard her whisper. “Now that I’m giving you a great-grandchild?”

Grammy held on to Ashley’s hand. “I didn’t want you to have a baby for me, you silly child. I wanted you to have one for you
.
And your husband.” She included Lincoln in her smile. “All I want is to see my family happy. This is the kind of night that makes it worth stayin’ alive for, despite my bad hearin’, the aches and pains, my sore teeth, my—”

“Stuff and nonsense, Ma!” Earl waved at Grammy. “You’re healthy as a horse. If you weren’t, could you have eaten that whole bowl of beef stew and a slice of chocolate chess pie besides?”

Grammy ignored him and turned to Ashley. “Tell me everything.”

As the family rearranged themselves around the table, Nathan went through the hall to hang up his wool overcoat. When he walked by Cooper, he brushed her cheek with his fingertips and she felt warmth flood through her.

Earl also stepped into the hall, and Cooper could hear the murmur of the two men’s voices.

“Honey?” Maggie waved at Cooper and gestured at the wood salad bowl on the table. “Can you fetch me the good salad tongs from the chest in the dining room?”

Cooper nodded and went into the next room to search for the tongs. As she rifled through a few drawers, she heard her father say, “Your time will come, son.”

Puzzled, Cooper took a step forward. She moved just enough to be able to see Nathan’s reflection in the hall tree’s mirror. She watched her father reach out and clap Nathan on the back.

“You’re right, sir.” Cooper saw Nathan’s hand close over a square black box. It was just large enough to hold a pair of earrings, a pin, or a ring.

A ring!
Cooper retreated, lest her intake of breath and the pounding of her heart give her away. She did a little dance in the middle of the dining room, all thoughts of searching for the salad tongs forgotten.

On the other side of the wall, Nathan sighed contentedly. “Yes, my time will come. And I’m prepared to be patient. She’s worth the wait.”

Magnolia’s Marvels

Raspberry Truffle Fudge

3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk

1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

¼ cup heavy whipping cream

¼ cup Chambord liqueur

2 cups white chocolate chips

Spray an 8x8-inch pan (for thicker fudge) or a 9x9-inch pan with nonstick cooking spray and line with wax paper. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk. Heat in microwave until chocolate melts, stirring occasionally. Be careful not to overcook. Stir in the vanilla extract. Spread into pan and cool to room temperature. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine cream, liqueur, and white chocolate chips. Heat in microwave until the chocolate melts; stir until smooth. Cool to lukewarm, then pour over the fudge layer. Refrigerate until both layers are completely set, about 1–l½ hours. Cut into 1-inch squares.

Key Lime Cookies

½ cup unsalted butter (no margarine, please!)

1 cup white sugar

1 egg

¼ cup Key lime juice (in baking aisle)

1 tablespoon finely grated lime zest

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 bag white chocolate chips

½ cup confectioners’ sugar

Grease cookie sheets (or use parchment paper). In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar, and egg until smooth. Stir in lime juice and lime zest. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Blend into the butter mixture. Add white chocolate chips. (Dough will be sticky.) Refrigerate for about 4 hours. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Form dough into rounded teaspoons (or use cookie scoop) and arrange on cookie sheet. Bake 10–12 minutes or until lightly browned. Sift confectioners’ sugar over cookies while still warm.

Comfort Cookies

1½ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) softened unsalted butter

2 eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup golden raisins

1 cup sweet & tart dried cherries (Maggie uses Sunsweet)

3 cups oatmeal, quick-cook or old-fashioned

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream sugars, butter, eggs, and vanilla extract. Gently stir in flour mixture, and then stir in dried fruit. When well mixed, stir in oatmeal.

Drop by the tablespoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for approximately 10 minutes. Cool 2 minutes on sheet before placing on racks.

In case you missed it,

keep reading for an excerpt

from the first book in the

Hope Street Church Mystery series

by Ellery Adams,

The Path of the Crooked
!

Cooper Lee was at a crossroads. Her boyfriend of five years had just left her for another woman, she was living in an apartment above her parents’ garage, and her job as a copier repairperson was feeling a little, well, repetitious. Hoping for a fresh start and a new outlook on life, she joins the Bible study group at Hope Street Church. The last thing she expects while studying the Bible is a lesson in murder.

When Brooke Hughes, the woman who first invited Cooper to Hope Street, is found murdered in her home, all signs point to her husband as the culprit. But Wesley Hughes was an elder at Hope Street Church, and the members of the Bible study are filled with disbelief that such a kind and loving man could take a life, much less his wife’s. Unwilling to let an innocent man and friend be railroaded into prison, the Bible group decides to investigate on their own.

As Cooper and this humorously diverse group of people—including a blind folk artist, a meteorologist with a taste for younger women, and a soft-spoken web designer who might be out to catch Cooper’s eye—dig deeper into the clues, they’re about to discover that finding the truth sometimes takes a leap of faith.

1

Cooper Lee was more comfortable with machines than people. She drove all over the city of Richmond, Virginia, to fix them. By the time she got to these copiers, laminators, or fax machines as they waited in their offices, hospitals, or schools, they were broken. Broken and quiet. Cooper would kneel beside them and meticulously lay out her tools, and as she did so the machines didn’t raise their brows in surprise or barely concealed amusement that a woman worked as an office-machine repairman. A thirty-two-year-old woman dressed in a man’s uniform shirt didn’t seem odd at all.

Most importantly, they never stared at her eyes.

Her left eye wasn’t worth a second look. It was a flat, almost colorless blue. No one would have dreamed of comparing it to sapphires or deep seas or cloudless summer skies. But the other eye, the eye Cooper had received through ocular transplant surgery after she’d been smashed in the face with a field hockey stick in junior high, was a shimmering green. It was exotic—invoking images of lush jungles flecked with firefly light or the green shallows of tropical waters.

That single moment at field hockey practice, when a girl on Cooper’s own team had accidentally swung her stick too high as she prepared to hit the ball with incredible force, made Cooper more self-conscious than other teenagers. Still, she wanted what most people want. She wished for one close friend, to be loved by someone she could grow old with, and for her life to have purpose. Cooper thought she had found all of those in her boyfriend, Drew. Until he dumped her.

Shaking off her gloomy thoughts, Cooper cut a piece of crumb cake for breakfast, wrapped it in a paper towel, filled her twenty-eight-ounce travel cup to the brim with milky, unsweetened coffee, and tossed a banana onto the passenger seat of her truck. She drove east on I-64, the sun blinding her most of the way. According to Bryant Shelton’s weather report, there wouldn’t be a cloud in the sky this April Friday. For once it appeared as though Bryant might be right, though it didn’t matter much to Cooper. She’d be inside offices most of the day, but could enjoy brief moments of sunshine while driving the work van from one destination to another.

At ten minutes to nine, Cooper pulled into the parking lot belonging to one of a dozen corporate buildings resembling silver LEGO blocks. The Make It Work! headquarters was on the fringe of an area called Innsbrook, where hundreds of different companies, replete with an abundance of office equipment, depended upon Cooper and her coworkers to keep them operating smoothly.

“’Mornin’, Coop!” Angela called out a chipper greeting as Cooper approached the reception desk. Angela’s smile, combined with a vase filled with plump yellow roses, created a warm welcome. Few people visited the office as most of Make It Work!’s transactions were conducted via telephone, but Angela bought a dozen roses every Monday, claiming that a good workweek always began with fresh flowers. Angela was in charge of appointments and billing. She was at her desk every morning before anyone else, wearing one of her vintage sweaters, a pencil skirt (both of which were always too tight), and a pair of sexy heels. Angela’s platinum hair, powdered face, and fire-engine-red nails and lipstick were supposed to call to mind an image of Marilyn Monroe, but Angela was older and plumper than the late actress had ever been. Still, Angela was the heart and soul of their small operation. Filled with pluck and boundless optimism, Angela could thaw even the frostiest of customers.

“You’ve got an emergency waitin’ for you, sugar.” Angela examined her reflection in a small compact that was never out of reach. “Some poor lady has gotten her weddin’ ring jammed in the insides of a copier.” She held out a pink memo pad and ripped off the top sheet with a flourish.

“At Capital City?” Cooper asked, reading the message. “I have to go over there anyway. They ordered half a dozen Hewlett-Packard 7410 multifunction printers and I have to bring them to Building F and hook them up.” She grinned at Angela. “A wedding ring, you say? I wonder how she got it stuck inside.”

Angela shrugged. “You know folks like to try to fix things themselves. You’ve fished stranger things out of those machines. ’Member the bologna sandwich last year?”

“Do I?” Cooper laughed. “That mayo was
everywhere.
And that obnoxious executive tried to blame it on his administrative assistant. What a jerk.”

“That’s why I like workin’ for Mr. Farmer. He’s just as kind as he can be.” Angela’s eyes, beneath their curtain of long fake lashes, twinkled as they always did when she mentioned the boss’s name.

Cooper buttoned up her gray Make It Work! uniform jacket and grabbed the keys to one of the company’s two vans. Ben, the other repairman, was already off on his rounds. He came in an hour earlier than Cooper and was out the door by 4:00 p.m. He was obsessed with developing his naturally thin frame into a walking mass of muscle, so he spent two hours at the gym before heading home to his wife—a woman no one from Make It Work! had ever laid eyes on. Ben never spoke of her either.

“Can you grab some Mexican from Casa Grande for lunch?” Angela asked as Cooper opened the front door, wiggling the van keys until they sounded like metal castanets.

“Sure. What would you like?”

“Chicken quesadillas for me, something for yourself, and a Pan Filo burrito for Mr. Farmer. He almost went with a salad, saying that he needed to be more like Ben and watch his weight, but I told him that a little stuffing makes a nicer pillow.” Angela giggled, placed a twenty-dollar bill on the desk, and pushed it toward Cooper. “Lord, he turned beet red when I said that!”