“No kidding!”
“I don’t understand why she wanted to kill you. It was really just because she thought you had a thing for Todd?” Ryan asked.
I shrugged. “That’s my understanding. It doesn’t make sense to me, but I guess it made sense to her.”
“You were never even alone together,” Matt said. “Were you?”
I elbowed him in the ribs. “No, of course not. And even if we had been, we’re both happy with our partners. Were happy, I guess.”
I’d run into Todd a couple of times since Karli’s arrest—once at the grocery store and a couple of times at his gym, where I was still taking classes. The first time, he’d tried to stammer an apology for Karli, but he looked so stricken that I told him it wasn’t his fault.
It wasn’t, of course. He’d had nothing to do with her poisoning the punch or the chocolates or trying to chloroform me to death, but he knew that she was doing it because she wanted to keep him. From what Mike said, she’d told Todd as much when she was being guarded in the hospital while she recovered from the concussion Sammy gave her. As far as I knew, she never said what it was that made her think I wanted Todd or that he would even consider leaving her for me, but that was what she thought, which was why she was facing dozens of charges for assault, murder, and attempted murder.
I was relieved that I could feel safe again, but I was sad too. She was so young. It was such a waste of a life.
Mike greeted us at the door to Town Hall and escorted us up to the council chambers. There were seats reserved for the four of us in the front row. When Sammy was looking the other way, I passed Mike the tote bag, and he disappeared up to the front with it.
We took our seats and talked quietly amongst ourselves until the meeting was called to order.
Sammy’s recognition was the first thing on the agenda.
The mayor called us up to the front, where Sammy and I stood side by side with Ryan and Matt behind us.
“Samantha Ericksen,” he began, “it is my privilege today to recognize you with the highest civilian award Cape Bay has to offer.” There was some laughter, since that was also the only civilian award our small town had. The mayor continued. “The Cape Bay Mayor’s Commendation in honor of your heroism in wielding a cast-iron skillet against an armed attacker and rescuing Francesca Amaro. We are truly proud to have you as a daughter of Cape Bay.”
The small crowd made up mostly of our friends applauded as the mayor handed Sammy a framed certificate.
“I understand there’s something else?” The mayor looked around.
Mike stepped forward with the cast-iron skillet I’d slipped to him earlier. He passed it to the mayor.
“Is this the skillet?” he asked. He weighed it in his hands to demonstrate its heft to the audience. The mayor had a reputation for being a bit of a ham when given the opportunity. “Impressive! Did you use one hand or two?”
Sammy flushed bright red. “Two.”
He held it like a baseball bat in front of him and mocked a swing. “Yes, I can see how that would work better.” His demonstration done, he reverted to a slightly more dignified manner. “Now, Sammy, something you don’t know is that your friends had a little work done on this skillet for you.”
She looked at me. I smiled and shrugged. I’d just gotten the skillet back from the local metalsmith that morning. I knew what he’d done, but she didn’t.
The mayor turned the skillet over in his hands so that the back was facing the public. “It’s engraved. Can you all read what this says? It says Sammy’s Sledgehammer, and it has the date right here that she saved Fran. Let’s all give Sammy a round of applause!”
The townspeople clapped for Sammy. Ryan and Matt contributed a little gratuitous cheering that soon spread until everyone was on their feet, applauding Sammy.
We both had tears in our eyes as she turned to hug me. “Thank you,” I whispered.
“People will know better than to mess with us again,” she whispered back.
“I sure hope so.” I hugged her tight, feeling safe and blissfully happy. Everything was right with the world. Except for the sticky issue that I still had to hire more staff.
Recipe 1: Cream Horns
Makes 16-18 cream horns
Ingredients:
• 1 pack puff pastry sheets
• Cream horn molds
Cream ingredients:
• 8 oz. whipped topping, thawed
• 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
• ½ cup powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 400°F. Roll out each sheet of dough into a square on a surface dusted with flour. Cut dough into ¾-inch-wide strips. Wrap each strip around the cream horn mold, overlapping so there are no gaps.
Place them on a greased pan or baking sheet. Bake for 18 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove from oven. Using gloves or a towel to hold the ends of the mold so you don’t burn your hands, remove each horn from the mold to prevent them from sticking together. Let horn cool completely before filling with cream.
For Cream:
Beat Cool Whip and cream cheese in a medium bowl until well combined. Add powdered sugar and increase mixer speed until combined and smooth in texture.
Fill a decorating bag with cream mixture, using a size-appropriate attachment to squeeze the cream into the horns. Pipe cream into each horn.
Recipe 2: Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients:
• 1 cup butter, softened
• ½ cup icing sugar
• ½ cup cornstarch
• 1 pinch salt
•2 cups all-purpose flour
Preheat oven to 325°F. In a medium bowl, beat butter for about 3 minutes, until cream. Sift in icing sugar, cornstarch, salt, and flour. It’s better to do this in four parts, using a wooden spoon to mix in ingredients in between. Knead.
Roll dough onto a surface dusted with flour, with a rolling pin
