B.B. Cantwell - Portland Bookmobile 02 - Corpse of Discovery (20 page)

Darrow paused to
drain his glass, then continued as another thought struck him.

“He may have to
look for a new job, though, after messing around with the Rose Medallion clue.
The
Oregonian
takes the medallion pretty seriously.”

Hester rolled
that over in her mind, then remembered a bit of news she had to share with Nate
and Pim.

“Oh! I forgot to
tell you both – and to thank you, Nate! You have saved Portland from the gimlet
eye of Miss Sara Duffy!”

Darrow’s
eyebrows knit as Hester laughed.

“Do tell?”

“Yes! When you
were riding to our rescue and you sideswiped the Wiener Wagen on the Astoria
bridge, the impact scraped Miss Duffy’s face off one side of the bookmobile.
And Dora, the library’s delightfully cheapskate bookkeeper, has found that it’s
thousands of dollars cheaper to have the whole bookmobile repainted than to
have any of the fancy supergraphics restored. So we’re getting our plain old
magenta bookmobile back!”

“Hallelujah!”
responded a broadly smiling Pim, who was never a fan of the late head librarian
and had made it no secret that she thought the new bookmobile’s outer decor was
“as cheesy as Tillamook.” She happily pounded on the table with her good hand.

On the table,
Pim’s fist caught the handle of a butter knife. Its blade rested under the edge
of one of the clam buckets. The bucket flipped up, crashed on its side, knocked
over the mustard jar, which caught an edge of the butter bowl. A torrent of Dijon,
clam nectar, half-coagulated butter and empty shells cascaded into Nate
Darrow’s lap.

Darrow leapt to
his feet, sending clamshells flying, and looked down in shock at the brownish
yellow starburst across the front of his khaki trousers.

For a moment Pim
looked like a deer in headlights, frightened at what she’d done.

Then, gradually,
an impish look crept across her face.

“Well,
Inspector,” she quipped, looking down proudly at her for-once spotless Aloha
shirt. “Looks like lunch is on you.”

About
the author

B.B.
Cantwell is the pen name for the wife-and-husband writing team of Barbara
Cantwell, a former Portland bookmobile librarian, and Brian Cantwell, an editor
and travel writer at The Seattle Times. They live aboard their sailboat in
Seattle, with two cats.

Learn
more about Portland Bookmobile Mysteries at

 murdermobile.weebly.com

Appendix

Candy
Carmichael’s Library Cheer

Where do you get

great
books to read?

Portland
City Library!

Need answers to
questions

in
the nick of time?

Portland
City Reference Line!

Can’t come to us?
We’ll

come
on wheels.

Portland
City Bookmobile!*

*Hester always
hated the last line

 because
it didn’t rhyme properly.

Recipe

Nana’s
Cream Puffs

Preheat
oven to 400 degrees F.

Heat
to a rolling boil in a saucepan:

1
cup water

½
cup butter

Stir
in all at once:

1
cup sifted flour

Stir
vigorously over low heat until mixture leaves the side of the pan and forms
into a ball – approximately 1 minute. Remove from heat and beat in thoroughly, one
at a time:

4
eggs

Beat
the mixture until smooth and velvety.  Drop by rounded tablespoonful onto a
baking-paper-lined baking sheet.  Bake until dry, approximately  45-55 minutes.

Custard
filling

Mix
in saucepan:

1
cup sugar

1
teaspoon salt

2/3
cup flour

Stir
in:

4
cups milk

Cook
over medium heat, stirring until it boils. Boil one minute. Remove from heat.
Stir a little over half of this mixture into:

8
egg yolks (or 4 whole eggs), lightly beaten

Blend
the mixture back into the saucepan. Bring just to the boiling point and then
cool. Blend in:

 
4
teaspoons vanilla

Thin
chocolate icing

Melt
together over hot water:

1
square unsweetened Baker’s chocolate

1
teaspoon butter

Remove
from hot water and blend in:

1
cup sifted confectioners’ sugar

2
Tablespoons boiling water

Beat
until smooth.

To
make up the cream puffs:

Slice the top
off a cooled cream puff. Gently pull out any soft strands from the interior. 
Fill with custard.  Replace top and spoon thin chocolate icing over the top. If
icing gets too thick, add a few drops of boiling water to it. Refrigerate cream
puffs.