Hark! The Herald Angel Screamed: An Augusta Goodnight Mystery (with Heavenly Recipes) (35 page)

“And just whose idea was it to sell your sister’s locket?” Louella snapped. “Of all the stupid notions, Jeremiah! Of course we had to get it back.”

“The locket was your only connection to Dexter Clark—the only real link with your sister,” Ellis said. “And when Opal Henshaw noticed that photograph of Dinah on your piano, she signed her death warrant.”

“It wouldn’t have been long,” I said, “before Opal put two and two together and realized Dinah’s husband was her nephew, Dexter Clark.”

I assumed it was the police when I heard footsteps approaching outside a few minutes later, so I was surprised to see Preacher Dave Tansey standing in the doorway with a lantern in his hand. It was the kind you use for camping and gave out a warm yellow light.

“I saw all the cars over here and thought I’d better check it out,” he began. And then he saw Jeremiah. “You!” he said. “I thought I told you to clear out of here. I suppose you know the police are looking for you. They say you killed the Clark fellow, and probably Opal Henshaw, too. And you might as well have killed your sister. Well, it’s going to end, and it’s going to end now.”

Dave Tansey set his lantern on the floor and raised a rifle to his shoulder, pointing it at his son.

“No!” Louella threw herself on Jeremiah. “No! Don’t hurt him! Please don’t hurt him.”

Jeremiah didn’t speak but stared defiantly at his father as I was sure he had done many times before.

“Get out of the way, Louella. I don’t want to kill you, too, although you deserve it for covering up for him all these years. If it hadn’t been for the two of you, our Dinah would still be with us. I—I had no idea what was going on until I found her diary, and God help me, I read it. Did you know she left a diary?” His voice broke with a sob.

“But I didn’t know. I didn’t!” Louella reached out to him. “Not until it was too late. Our Dinah’s gone … Jeremiah, he’s all we have left!”

“Preacher Dave! Think what you’re doing,” I said. “This is against everything you believe in.”

“Let the police take care of him,” Ellis begged. “Don’t ruin your life this way.”

“It’s already ruined,” he said. “It’s too late.”

“No, it’s not!” Idonia chimed in. “He’s not worth it. Think of your congregation. They need you.”

Still, he didn’t lower the rifle but held it steady, ignoring our pleas and those of his sobbing wife. I looked at Melrose, who now held the gun Jeremiah had dropped, and waited for him to speak, to intercede, but Melrose only drew Idonia closer. Maybe he didn’t care if Preacher Dave shot Jeremiah or not. Finally he stepped away from us. “Preacher, that’s not a good idea. You’re going to regret this. Now, listen—”

I jumped when I heard the clear, deadly click as Dave Tansey cocked his rifle. He meant to kill his son and there was nothing we could do about it. Melrose stood with the gun hanging loosely by his side. He was not going to fire on Dave Tansey and I didn’t blame him, but what Dave was about to do was worse than being shot.

“I can’t bear to think of what you did,” Preacher Dave said to Jeremiah, and his voice was so full of heartbreak it made me cry. “Please, Daddy, no! I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Jeremiah sobbed.

I felt as if we were part of a freeze-frame in a movie: the gaunt man with the rifle and the pleading son; the hysterical woman, the dark old house, the soft glow of the lantern, and the rest of us, stiff with dread. And then suddenly, Preacher Dave stepped back and lowered the rifle, and his face seemed to glow as brightly as the lantern at his feet. “Forgive me,” he said, and turned and walked away.

“I can’t believe she’s really gone and done it,” Nettie said. It was almost a week after Christmas and The Thursdays who gathered around my kitchen table didn’t even pretend they were there to discuss a book.

“And she didn’t even invite us to the wedding,” Jo Nell said. “Looks like she’d want one of us to stand up with her.”

“Nathan and his family were there,” I said. “She said she didn’t want a big wedding this time.” Idonia and Melrose had been married in a tiny chapel the day before and were now honeymooning on a cruise ship in the Bahamas.

Ellis stroked Clementine’s big head. “Sneaky thing didn’t tell us she and Melrose got their license and blood tests when they were staying at that inn near Raleigh.”

“And we were all frantic thinking she’d been snatched by the evil Melrose,” Zee said, laughing.

Claudia smiled. “But he really did turn out to be her knight in shining armor, didn’t he?”

“Sure did,” Ellis said. “He had all of us believing that gun was loaded.”

Since that frightening night at Willowbrook we had learned that Jeremiah Tansey, with his mother’s knowledge, had been running a fencing operation dealing in stolen goods, which were stored in a hidden room in the basement at Willowbrook. When Dexter Clark met Jeremiah there to return Dinah’s locket, he’d arrived when Jeremiah was unloading some of his plunder and threatened to tell his father. The two fought and Dexter fell or was pushed from the decaying balcony. He dropped the locket before he fell and Jeremiah, hoping to keep the meeting and the locket a secret from his parents, sold it, along with stolen estate valuables, to G. Wayne Gravitt, who asked no questions, and that’s where Melrose came into the story.

Nettie folded a paper Christmas napkin in accordion pleats. “So it was Jeremiah who drugged Idonia’s punch. But how did he manage to do it?” she asked.

“When the police finally arrived at Willowbrook that night they found a tape player hooked up to a microphone that could be controlled by a remote, along with a dress and wig in that hidden room in the basement, and the music he played was probably an old tape of Dinah’s. Jeremiah was slender enough to easily fit into the dress. From a distance, no one could tell the difference,” I told her.

“So he wore those to slip in and drug Idonia’s punch,” Jo Nell said. “But I don’t understand how.”

“Jeremiah’s small,” I explained, “and wearing the dress and wig he could walk right past that bunch at Bellawood, then go upstairs, and slip something in Idonia’s punch. He and Louella didn’t want that locket traced back to them as it would connect him to Dexter Clark’s death. It must’ve been a shock when Melrose bought it and Idonia turned up wearing it.”

“Remember when Idonia carried on so about being followed the night we went caroling?” Ellis said. “I wonder if that was Louella.”

“Maybe. Those two were determined to get that locket back,” I said. “It could just as easily have been Jeremiah.”

“Was he the one who pushed Opal from the balcony?” Zee asked.

“The police seem to think Louella moved the swag and Jeremiah did the pushing, but I don’t think they know for sure,” I said.

“If only Opal hadn’t noticed that locket in the photograph and told Louella about an identical one in her own family,” Claudia said.

“That was before most people knew the body at Willowbrook had been identified as Dexter,” Ellis added. “Unfortunately for
Opal, the police seemed to want that kept quiet. And, too, Opal had seen the locket Melrose bought for Idonia. She was bound to wonder how he came by it when she heard of Dexter’s death.”

“If Opal Henshaw hadn’t been so hell-bent on delivering that fruitcake, she’d be alive today,” Zee said. “I always knew that stuff was deadly!”

“She was only trying to do the right thing,” I said, shaking my head. “And look where it got her.”

Nettie sighed. “Poor Dexter! It’s a shame he waited until Dinah’s death to change for the better.”

“Well, it won’t help to dwell on that now,” Jo Nell reminded her. “Are Cudin’ Vance and his fiancée still planning to renovate the old home place?” she asked. “If I were those two I think I’d just find a nice little house in the suburbs.”

I laughed. “The last I heard they were still interested, but Vance says they’ll probably have to do it in stages, so if they start from the basement up we might not live to see it!”

Ellis got up and poured coffee all around. “I feel bad about Preacher Dave. It makes me sad to think of what he must have been through. His son and his wife are both in jail for murder, or accessory to murder. And can you believe that mealy-mouthed Louella? I wonder how long she knew that degenerate Jeremiah was abusing his own sister and still did nothing about it.”

“That must be why Preacher kept Dinah’s things in that locked room,” Ellis said. “It really was a shrine of sorts. I expect he spent a lot of time in there just thinking of what could’ve been, and can you imagine how he felt when he found that diary? That’s probably what drove him to what he almost did.”

“I’m glad to hear his congregation has been supportive,” Zee said. “They even helped move him into a small house next to the church out there. I guess your cousin will have to find another caretaker for Willowbrook.”

“Pete Whittaker told me Dave Tansey had spoken to him
about forming a group with other churches in the area to reach out to abused children,” I said. “I’m sure something good will come of that.”

“I wonder what stopped him from shooting Jeremiah,” Claudia said. “From what you all told me, he came close to killing his own son.”

Nettie stirred sugar into her coffee. “Somebody told me Preacher Dave said he sensed somebody standing right behind him, and felt such goodness surrounding him he just couldn’t pull the trigger. Kind of a wild tale if you ask me. I don’t know whether to believe that or not.”

I looked up to find Augusta standing in the doorway and smiled. “Believe it,” I said.

Some of Stone’s Throw Favorites
Ellis’s Hot Clam Dip

One 8-ounce package cream cheese

½ pint sour cream

One 7½-ounce can minced clams, drained

Juice of 1 lemon

Dash red pepper, Texas Pete (or Tabasco), and Worcestershire sauce

Salt to taste

Cream the cheese and sour cream together and add the other ingredients. Heat in chafing dish until hot and bubbly, and serve with crackers or chips
.

Serves about 6–8 (easily doubled)
.

Claudia’s Marinated Mushrooms

1 pound fresh mushrooms, washed, or two or three 6-ounce cans whole mushrooms

1 onion, sliced

⅔ cup tarragon vinegar

½ cup olive oil

1 medium clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon sugar

1½ teaspoons salt

Dash freshly ground black pepper

Dash pepper sauce

Put the mushrooms and onion in a jar or tightly covered container. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over them. Refrigerate until ready to serve
.

—In memory of Meredith Camann—

Augusta’s Spicy Meat Pies

Pastry:

2 cups all-purpose more plus more to cover surface

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

⅔ cup shortening

4 tablespoons ice water, more if needed

Sift dry ingredients together, blend in shortening with a fork or pastry blender, and add ice water a little at a time. Knead on a floured surface to form a ball
.

Filling:

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 large clove garlic, minced

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne)

¼ pound ground lean beef

¼ teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons golden raisins, chopped

3 tablespoons pimiento-stuffed olives, chopped

1 cup canned diced tomatoes with juice

1 egg

Heat the oil in a skillet and add the onion and seasonings. Add the beef. Cook until the beef begins to brown and stir in the raisins, olives, and tomatoes. Cook about 10 minutes until almost all the liquid evaporates. Remove from the heat
.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
.

Roll out the pastry—thin for piecrusts. Cut as many rounds as possible using a glass or 3-inch cutter. Put about 1 or 2 teaspoons of the filling in each round, fold over, and crimp the edges. Brush the tops with 2 tablespoons water beaten with the egg. Bake about 12 minutes on an ungreased cookie sheet until golden brown. Serve warm. (These are kind of troublesome but very good.)

(Easily doubled.)

Martin Shackelford’s Good-and-Easy Biscuits

1¾ cups self-rising flour plus more to cover surface

1 cup whipping cream

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
.

Mix the dough and roll out on a floured surface. Cut with a biscuit cutter and bake in the preheated oven about 10 to 12 minutes. Serve hot
.

Anna’s Cream Cheese and Apple Salad

One 3-ounce package lemon gelatin (Anna usually adds about ½

3-ounce package more)

One 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened

One 20-ounce can crushed pineapple, drained (reserve juice)

⅓ cup sugar

2 cups tart apples, peeled and chopped

1 cup pecans, chopped

One 8-ounce container frozen whipped topping, thawed

Lettuce (optional)

Cream the dry gelatin and cream cheese together. Combine the reserved pineapple juice and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add to the
gelatin mix and stir until dissolved. Add the apples and pecans. Cool, then fold in the whipped topping and spoon into a 9 × 13-inch ungreased pan. Chill for 6 hours or overnight. Cut into squares and serve on lettuce, if desired
.

Cousin Jo Nell’s “Joyed It” Jam Cake

1 cup butter

1½ cups sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup buttermilk

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon each allspice, cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg

1 cup seedless blackberry jam

1 pinch powdered ginger

Glaze (optional)

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Grease and flour a tube pan; put wax paper cut to fit in the bottom of the pan
.

Cream the butter; add the sugar and eggs. Add the baking soda to the buttermilk and add to the egg mixture. Sift the flour and sift again with the spices. Add the flour mixture gradually to the butter mixture. Add the jam last. Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes. This is good with a glaze made of the juice and grated rind of one orange, mixed with sifted confectioner’s sugar. You don’t want to get it too runny so measure a little at a time. It’s also good just plain
.

Mattie Durham’s Charleston Squares

1 stick (½ cup) butter or margarine

1 cup sugar

2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pure almond extract

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 egg white

½ cup firmly packed brown sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup chopped nuts (pecans or almonds are good)

1 4-oz. bottle maraschino cherries, chopped and drained

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
.

Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and egg yolk, one at a time, mixing well. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt and add to the creamed mixture. Add the almond and 1 teaspoon of the vanilla extracts. Spread the batter in the prepared pan. Beat the egg white and add the brown sugar and the remaining ½ teaspoon vanilla. Spread over the batter and sprinkle with the nuts and cherries. Bake for about 30 minutes. Cool and cut into squares. These are delicious and great for parties
.

Aunt Eula’s Lemonade Cake

One (3-ounce) package lemon Jell-O

¾ cup boiling water

1½ cups granulated sugar

¾ cup oil

4 eggs

2½ cups plain flour

2½ teaspoons baking powder