Candy Cane Murder (38 page)

“You go first,” said Lucy, handing him a cheerfully wrapped present.

“I thought we'd agreed….” protested Bill.

“It's little enough,” said Lucy, smiling as he unwrapped a Walkman cassette player.

“This is great,” he said. “How'd you know I wanted one?”

“I didn't. I just thought you might like to listen to music while you work.”

“I do. This is perfect. Thanks. Now you go,” he said, handing her a drugstore bag tied with a big red bow. “Sorry about the wrapping.”

“I guess I'll forgive you this time, since your hands are burned.”

“Right,” he said. “Open it.”

Lucy withdrew a paperback book, a compendium of New England crimes. “This is great,” she said, delighted. “How'd you think of it?”

Bill blushed. “Well, I knew you were interested in what happened to Miss Tilley's mother, and you've been reading mysteries.”

“That was very thoughtful. Thank you,” she said, opening the book and scanning the table of contents. One listing immediately caught her eye: The Angel of Death. Settling back into the corner of the couch she turned the pages and began reading, fascinated by the story of a nurse who was thought to have killed more than twenty of her patients using a variety of hard-to-detect methods such as drug overdoses, poison and smothering. “Oh my God,” she breathed, her eyes glued to the page.

“I didn't think you'd like it this much,” complained Bill, who was feeling ignored.

“You won't believe this. This woman, this nurse, she's the one who killed Mrs. Tilley. It fits, exactly. It all fits.”

“You're kidding.”

“No. It's all here. Even her name. Well, her aliases. Anne DePasquale, Andrea Dale, Anita DeSouza. Always a first name beginning with A and a last name beginning with D. Angela DeRosa, that was the name she used when she was supposedly caring for Mrs. Tilley. Everybody thought she was an angel, but she was actually killing off her patients.”

“How'd they figure it out?”

“People started getting suspicious when none of her patients ever seemed to recover,” said Lucy. “One man who happened to be a chemist analyzed the medicine she was giving his wife and found it was arsenic and went to the police.”

“Did they arrest her?”

“They tried,” said Lucy, reaching the end of the chapter, “but she killed herself before they could take her into custody. A lethal dose of strychnine.”

“She must have been nuts,” said Bill, lifting Toby onto his lap and opening a picture book.

“I've got to call Miss Tilley,” said Lucy, heading for the phone.

Miss Tilley answered the phone with a cheerful “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas to you,” replied Lucy. “And thank you for yesterday. It was a wonderful surprise.”

“I think everyone enjoyed themselves,” said Miss Tilley. “I put quite a bit of brandy in the eggnog, just to help things along.”

“So that's your secret,” said Lucy. She paused. “I think I've found your mother's murderer—and it wasn't your father.”

“Who was it?”

“The nurse. Angela.”

“No, no. She was so kind….”

“It's in a book. She killed at least twenty of her patients, maybe more.”

“She was convicted?”

“No. She killed herself before there could be a trial. There was an investigation, though, and some of her victims were exhumed and their bodies contained poison.”

“I can hardly believe it.”

“Nobody could. That's how she had so many victims.”

“Papa never liked her.”

“He had good instincts.”

“He was innocent!” announced Miss Tilley, joyfully.

“Absolutely,” said Lucy. “I just wanted you to know, but I've got to get back to my family….”

“Thank you. This was a wonderful Christmas present. The best Christmas present I ever had.”

“But I still don't know where the cane came from,” said Lucy. “Maybe it was a gift from Emil Boott.”

“Or maybe my mother planned to give it to my father as a Christmas gift.”

“We'll never know,” said Lucy.

“No, that will have to remain a mystery,” said Miss Tilley. “Merry Christmas!”

CHRISTMAS SPRITZ COOKIES

Lucy's mother always made these cookies every Christmas. They require a cookie press, which is a gizmo rather like a caulking gun that is available in kitchen supply stores.

Cream butter, adding sugar gradually. Add unbeaten eggs, then sift dry ingredients and extract. Dough will be stiff.

 

Fill cookie press and press cookies out onto cookie sheet and decorate. (Lucy sprinkles colored sugar on the long strip cookies and puts bits of candied cherry in the center of the flower shapes.)

 

Bake at 375 degrees for 10–12 minutes, remove to rack to cool. These cookies keep well in a tightly sealed tin, but you'll have to hide it well if you want to save them for Christmas.

SAND TARTS

These cookies are named for the dusting of cinnamon sugar that looks like sand. They're delicious and not very well known anymore. Lucy remembers them from her childhood, when her grandmother used to make them. This is her recipe, written in her style.

Add to first mixture and blend well. Chill for several hours. Roll dough very thin and cut with a star or circle cookie cutter. Place on buttered baking sheet and put a split blanched almond on each cookie. Brush with unbeaten egg whites and sprinkle with mixture of 1 tablespoon sugar and ¼ teaspoon cinnamon.

 

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool on racks.