Death of a Coupon Clipper, page 18
“Lenora, I’m so sorry. . . .”
“Don’t be, Hayley. The last few years have been hell. Ron’s not the man I married. He’s angry and sometimes his temper, well, it can be rather intense.”
“He hasn’t hit you, has he?”
“No, but there were times when he’d go off about something, when the kids were gone, and he’d just yell at me and scream these awful threats. I would get so scared that I’d run upstairs and lock myself in the closet until he calmed down. It’s been that brutal.”
Hayley was shocked.
Was Ron really as unstable as Lenora claimed?
Spanky did see him verbally threaten Candace.
Maybe it wasn’t so far-fetched to believe Ron Hopkins was unhinged enough to be capable of murder.
“I heard a rumor, Lenora, that Ron had an argument with Candace Culpepper on the day she was killed.”
“Honestly, Hayley, I know nothing about that. But I will tell you, if some evidence surfaced suggesting Ron had something to do with it, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised.”
Hayley stood there, staring at Lenora, flabbergasted. She was basically saying that her husband from whom she was about to be divorced could be a murderer.
Lenora put her hands on her hips. “I’m certain we have some of that stain remover. Let me check out back. Hang on a second.”
Lenora marched past a curtain into the stockroom. Hayley couldn’t resist picking up the divorce papers and leafing through them while Lenora was preoccupied.
Interestingly, Ron’s lawyer had counteroffered a generous alimony payment, plus child support, until the kids were of legal age. But Lenora had written expletives all over it. She was clearly expecting more—a lot more. As Hayley got to the last page, she saw that in the upper-right corner, Lenora had written, Half the business or we see you in court!
So Lenora had her own motives for badmouthing Ron and suggesting he was unpredictable and possibly dangerous. Maybe she was even coaxing Hayley into drawing the same conclusions about Ron so she could haul her into court and have her testify against him in a divorce trial at some later date. Lenora was nothing if not smart. She was tiny but formidable; and like Mary Garber, she was another woman in town a person did not want to cross.
But even if it was Lenora’s master plan to cement Ron’s reputation as a bad husband with a vicious streak, in order to achieve her own personal goals, Hayley couldn’t ignore the fact that Spanky McFarland was pretty much claiming the same thing, having witnessed Ron’s red-hot temper firsthand.
And that made Ron Hopkins the number one suspect in Candace’s murder.
Chapter 28
Hayley made a beeline from Bark Harbor, carrying the brown paper bag with the pet stain remover she had bought from Lenora, to Drinks Like A Fish, which was just a few doors down the street. She was hoping to hitch a ride with Randy back to the house after he left his trusty bartender Michelle in charge for the rest of the night. There were very few customers there when Hayley blew through the door: a couple of fishermen, playing darts in the back, and Liddy, sitting atop her usual bar stool, sipping a Manhattan and chattering to Randy, who looked tired. Michelle washed glasses at the other end of the bar.
Randy looked up and smiled, relieved to see her, probably in need of a break from Liddy. “Hey, sis, didn’t expect to see you here tonight. Can I get you something?”
“No, thanks. I just had to go talk to Lenora Hopkins at Bark Harbor and was wondering if you might be heading home a little early, so I wouldn’t have to walk back to your place. It’s too cold out.”
Not having a car was really starting to become a major pain.
Much like her hip and jaw at the moment.
“Sure. Give me a few minutes to finish up some paperwork in the back and then we can go,” Randy said.
“What’s in the bag?” Liddy asked, swallowing the rest of her Manhattan.
Hayley had forgotten she was even carrying a bag. She didn’t want Randy to know she had bought super-industrial stain remover, because it would raise his suspicions about another direct attack from Blueberry on his furniture.
“Just some treats for Leroy. Poor little guy has been so abused lately. I thought he deserved a reward for putting up with Blueberry.”
It disturbed her that she was getting so good at lying.
Randy nodded and headed into the back. Hayley slid up on the stool next to Liddy, who signaled to Michelle that she was ready for another cocktail.
Hayley leaned into Liddy and whispered, “Did you know Ron and Lenora Hopkins are getting a divorce?”
Liddy spun around on her stool to face Hayley, her eyes nearly popping out of her head. “No, I did not! And how did you find out something that juicy before me? I pride myself on getting all the best gossip before anyone else! It’s like my thing. It’s what I’m known for!”
“She just told me. And apparently it’s getting pretty ugly. There are lawyers involved and she’s looking to get her hands on at least half of the grocery business.”
“Well, she should take what she can get now and just walk away and forget all about the Shop ’n Save. That place is struggling financially and is very close to going under.”
“How can that be? It’s the only major supermarket in town.”
“Well, I was up at the Bangor Mall doing a little shopping last week. For the record, I wasn’t there shopping for clothes, because we all know their selections are, like, two decades behind. I mean, seriously, their idea of a fashion show is just opening the Sears catalogue and pointing. Anyway, I was only buying some facial products, just a few creams and cleansers—”
“Liddy . . .”
“I know, I know, I just need to clarify what I was there for. If word gets out I was actually buying a dress at the Bangor Mall, my reputation as a clothes horse is kaput.”
“So you were buying a dress?”
“I’ve been very busy juggling three escrows this month and have not had a moment to get on a plane to New York to do some real shopping—so, yes, I needed an outfit for a fund-raiser on the fifth. You’ve busted me, Detective Powell! Another mystery solved. But—so help me, God—if you breathe a word to anyone . . .”
“My lips are sealed.”
“Thank you. Anyway, I was coming out of—God, I can’t even say it—JC Penney, when I ran into Sissy Rivers. I had to stuff the bag with the dress I had just bought into a garbage can before she spotted it. Luckily, Sissy is finally talking to me again after she caught me peeking into her windows a while back when I was personally investigating Karen Applebaum’s poisoning. . . .”
“Yes, Liddy. I was there, remember?”
“Oh, right. I always think I was the one who solved that murder, but I guess you were around to help, too, as I recall.”
“Yes, I had a little something to do with finding the killer,” Hayley said impatiently, knowing she was the one who put all the clues together and finally unmasked the murderer. Liddy had a habit of bolstering her supporting-player status into a leading role. Which was why when she played one of Ophelia’s ladies-in-waiting in a high-school production of Hamlet, she went around acting as if the play had been renamed The Story of Ophelia’s Best Friend by William Shakespeare.
“Well, Sissy was complaining because her husband, Ted, the big-time attorney, has been working overtime lately. It seems the bank has retained him to represent them in a lawsuit against Ron Hopkins.”
“The bank is suing Ron? Why?”
“The cost of the renovations to his store were spiraling out of control, and Ron needed to take out a huge loan to complete the job. The bank agreed because Ron played with the numbers and gave a rosy picture of how well his business has been doing. But it wasn’t doing well at all. The store has been steadily losing money and he’s in the hole for hundreds of thousands of dollars and he’s already defaulted on the loan. So now the bank is initiating plans to take it over.”
“So the coupon-clipping show taping at Ron’s store is some kind of a last-ditch effort to bring attention to the Shop ’n Save and hopefully save it from bankruptcy,” Hayley said.
Michelle brought Liddy her Manhattan.
“Thanks, Michelle, you’re a doll,” Liddy said, then swiveled back to Hayley. “Yes. They’re paying him enough cash at least to keep the bank at bay until he can figure something else out. But he’s playing a losing game. He’s drowning in way too much debt.”
“If that’s true, then why would he jeopardize the game show by stabbing one of the contestants? He knew Candace had been selected to appear on the show. Ron would’ve wanted everything to go smoothly. It doesn’t make sense for him to kill her.”
“You think Ron Hopkins was the one who offed Candace?”
“It’s a theory. He had a huge argument with her the day she was murdered.”
“Hayley, I’ve known Ron since we were little kids. When we were in the fifth grade, there was a spider crawling on his desk and he cupped it in his hand and gently went to carry it outside to let it go free.”
“That’s sweet.”
“Yeah, it was, until he accidentally bumped into me as I was coming into the classroom and dropped it on my sweater. I screamed and brushed it off me and then stomped on it four times with my penny loafers.”
“So, basically, you don’t think Ron has it in him to kill someone?”
“Absolutely not. He’s always had a bit of a temper, but he’s really a pussycat. Sorry. I know you don’t like thinking about cats right now.”
“Lenora told me she was scared of Ron.”
“Lenora also used to go around saying she was a distant relative of Princess Diana, until it came out Lenora was actually Lithuanian. She’ll say anything to make herself look good. And if she’s trying to take Ron to the cleaners in a divorce settlement, then I wouldn’t put it past her to play the battered-wife card, which is despicable. Once it’s out there, people in town are going to believe it—whether it’s true or not.”
“Ron was under a lot of pressure. Sometimes desperate circumstances cause people to do desperate things. They were fighting. Ron was already at his tipping point. Maybe things blew up between him and Candace and he just temporarily lost it.”
“And stabbed her three times? That’s someone with a real ax to grind.”
“I need to find out what they were fighting about,” Hayley said.
A part of her didn’t want to know.
Because she was afraid she wouldn’t like the answer.
Island Food & Spirits by Hayley Powell
While standing in front of the open refrigerator last night, contemplating what to make for dinner, I noticed one of the leftover chickens I had purchased tucked in the back, so I decided I would make a hearty chicken noodle soup. As I started pulling out the ingredients from the refrigerator, I reminisced back to a dark, cold night last winter when my days of making chicken soup nearly came to a grinding halt.
A friend of mine had dropped by my house and gifted me with a very large roasting chicken that she had won at the Congregational Church Christmas Bazaar. Since she had already bought a roasting chicken earlier that day for her Christmas dinner, and knew how much I love chicken, she chose me as the lucky recipient of her prize.
I immediately knew what I was going to do with it. Dig out an old family chicken soup recipe I hadn’t used in a while and invite a few friends over to share my bounty. Well, they all jumped at the chance to come over the following evening for cocktails, conversation, and some good old-fashioned chicken soup.
Don’t ever let anyone tell you cocktails and chicken soup don’t go well together. Trust me, they do!
Luckily, I had three mason quart jars of a hearty, rich chicken stock already in the fridge from some experimenting I had recently done with another recipe. I placed the chicken in the pot, poured the two quarts of chicken stock over it, followed by a quart of water, and brought the whole thing to a boil before simmering until the chicken was ready to fall off the bones. Then I removed the chicken and cut it up into pieces, placed it in a plastic container, and set it aside to add to the soup tomorrow. Finally I added my secret seasoning ingredient to the stock. A little cayenne pepper always gives my soup an added kick and really warms everyone up. I placed the stockpot in the fridge to sit overnight so all of the flavors would blend together, because that’s the way my grandmother had always done it, God rest her soul.
The next evening six girlfriends showed up—all of them commenting on how heavenly the soup simmering in the kitchen smelled. And I attributed it to my secret spice.
My famous pitchers of sage sangrias were flowing and we were having a wonderful time telling stories.
Have you ever noticed when you’re with your friends and having cocktails, everyone tends to tell the same stories they’ve already told a hundred times? I swear, the more sangria we drank, the funnier the stories got, like we were hearing them for the very first time. My sides were hurting from laughing so hard.
I stood up to add the egg noodles to the soup so they could cook while I warmed some loaves of crusty French bread in the oven. When everything was done, we all grabbed our glasses and headed to the table and I ladled out big bowls of the hot chicken noodle soup for everyone to enjoy with the bread.
We were still laughing and joking and I began to tell one of my stories that everyone had already heard. I knew it was a corker and worked every time; but as I got to the funniest part, I suddenly noticed everyone getting a little quieter and reaching for their glasses of sangria more often than usual. Pretty soon after that, one by one, they all dropped their spoons and gulped their drinks down like they were stranded in the desert and dehydrated.
When I brought in a fresh pitcher of sage sangria, everyone began fighting over it. Liddy got hold of it first, so the rest of them stampeded into the kitchen to get some water. Several ransacked the cupboards for glasses. Mona didn’t waste time finding a glass; she just stuck her head underneath the faucet and let the water pour into her mouth.
Liddy, teary-eyed, dabbing at her face with a napkin, her voice hoarse as if it were burning, finally managed to ask, “Hayley, what did you put in that soup? I know you like things spicy, but, good Lord, did you try it?”
Staring at all the chaos around me, I said, “I guess I was so busy trying the sage sangrias, I forgot to taste the soup.”
I picked up my spoon and dug into the soup, tasting it for the first time. At first, I didn’t know what all the fuss was about. I had only put a teaspoon or two of cayenne pepper in it, but as I kept spooning it in my mouth, I felt a stronger burning heat start to kick up in the back of my throat. And then, as the burning became a raging inferno, the awful realization hit me that something definitely wasn’t right with this soup, and it wasn’t the cayenne pepper.
I jumped up from the table and ran to the fridge, whipping open the door and sorting through my mason jars. I should add that from now on I will start labeling them instead of relying on my memory. I identified two mason jars full of chicken stock still in my fridge, but two jars of jalapeno juice, which I use for pickling, were now missing!
When I finally mustered up the courage to turn around and face my friends, who were all staring at me, only now with red faces and sweat pouring down their cheeks, I put on a big smile and said, “I’ve got a funny story to tell you. And, hopefully, next year, when I tell it again over cocktails, we’ll all be laughing together!”
For this week’s recipe of chicken soup, it might be better if you follow the recipe, and, please, if you do want to add your own touches for heaven’s sake, read your labels! Or if you’re like me and don’t use labels, check your ingredients very carefully!
Sage Sangrias
Ingredients cup honey
cup boiling water
15 sage leaves
750-milliliter bottle rosé wine
Ice
Slices of lemon, to garnish
In a heat-proof bowl, mix your honey and boiling water together until dissolved.
Add the 15 sage leaves to the syrup mixture and muddle with the back of a spoon and let cool slightly, then strain into a pitcher, pressing the leaves.
Pour your bottle of rosé into the pitcher and stir well. Serve in ice-filled wineglasses and garnish with a lemon slice. Your friends will forgive you anything!
Hearty Chicken Soup
Ingredients 1 stewing chicken (about 4 pounds), cut up
3 quarts water
2 cans chicken broth (14 ½ ounces each)
5 ribs celery, chopped and divided
5 carrots, chopped and divided
2 medium onions, quartered and divided
½ cup chopped green pepper, divided
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
1 bay leaf
8 ounces uncooked medium
egg noodles
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
(optional)
Place your chicken in a large stockpot and add the water, broth, half of the celery, carrots, onions and green peppers, ½ teaspoons salt and pepper and the bay leaf. Bring to a boil and reduce heat; cover and simmer for 2 ½ hours or until the chicken is tender.
Remove the chicken from the broth, cool, then remove the chicken from the bone and set aside.
Strain the broth and skim the fat; return your broth back to the stockpot. Add the rest of the onion, celery, carrots, green pepper; and salt and pepper, to taste. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer until veggies are almost tender, about 10 minutes. Add your noodles and cook for 10 to 15 minutes until noodles are tender. Ladle yourself a nice big bowl. It’s sure to warm you up on a chilly night.
