Free A Peach of a Murder by Livia J. Washburn Page A

"Whatever that is you've got cookin', it smells mighty good;' he said.
    Phyllis leaned over to look past him down the hallway toward the living room. When she didn't see anyone lurking there-like Carolyn-she said quietly, "It's peach cobbler."
    "I knew it had to be something with peaches in it." Sam took another sniff and then frowned in thought. Ànd something else, maybe......
    "Can you keep a secret?"
    "I was a schoolteacher for a lot of years. Had to keep many a secret."
    "Some of the worst gossips I've ever known have been teachers," Phyllis said. "I'm serious."
    Sam nodded, a solemn expression on his face. "Then sure. Whatever you tell me, it stays between us, Phyllis " She decided she believed him. "It has candied ginger in it, too," she said. "The cobbler, I mean."
    "Ginger, huh?" Sam rubbed his jaw; the faint rasp of beard stubble against his fingertips was a sound that Phyllis hadn't heard in a long time. Not since Kenny's passing, in fact. It struck a chord in her, and she felt an odd fluttering sensation in her chest. You just never knew what you would miss, or what would touch something inside and bring back memories.
    He went on, "That sounds like it might be good."
    "I hope so. I'm counting on it, in fact. It's going to be my recipe for the cooking contest at the peach festival:"
    Sam smiled. "Well, if I can help out by being a guinea pig sometime, I'd be glad to-"
    "Good," Phyllis said quickly. "Sit down." Sam looked surprised. "Now, you mean?"
    "Yes, sit down there at the table. I'll get you a bowl. I just took it out of the oven a little while ago to cool, and it should be all right to eat by now."
    His broad shoulders rose and fell in a shrug.. He sat down at the table as Phyllis had told him, while she got a couple of bowls from the cabinet and spoons from a drawer. She had draped a clean dish towel over the quart-sized dish she'd used to bake the cobbler, just in case Carolyn was to come in.
    When she removed the dish towel, the delicious aroma grew even stronger.
    "I don't know where the other ladies are," Sam said, "but that smells so good it's liable to lure folks in off the street." "Mattie's at the high school, and Eve's gone to pick her up'" Phyllis said as she scooped cobbler into the bowls. "Mattie volunteers there as a tutor for the kids who have to go to summer school. And Carolyn's upstairs somewhere. She won't come down."
    "You seem mighty sure of that. Is it because of me? I've tried to be nice to her, but she doesn't seem to warm up to people very fast."
    Phyllis brought the bowls over to the table. "It's not because of you at all, Sam," she assured him.
    "Carolyn knows that I'm down here working on my recipe and don't want her skulking around."
    "Ah," he said. "So it's like that, is it?"
    Phyllis pushed the bowl toward him. "Eat;' she said. Sam dug in, putting a spoonful of cobbler in his mouth and chewing slowly and deliberately, obviously taking his time so that he could fully appreciate the flavor. Phyllis watched him anxiously, forgetting to eat any of the cobbler she had put in her own bowl.
    Sam swallowed, and Phyllis said, "Well?"
    "A fella can't judge something like this from just one bite," he said. "Let me try another." He dipped his spoon in the cobbler again.
    He's doing this on purpose, Phyllis thought. He's teasing me by making me wait.
    In an effort to distract herself, she finally thought to take a bite herself. The cobbler was good, she decided. The crust was flaky on top but had plenty of body, the amount of sugar she'd put on it was just right, and the filling below was cooked to the proper consistency. A cobbler shouldn't be too runny or too thick and sticky.
    Sam swallowed his second bite and said, "You got any vanilla ice cream='
    "No ice cream," Phyllis broke in. "Just the cobbler." "Well, in that case ... one more bite. . . "
    She tried not to grit her teeth.
    When he had finished the third bite, he said, "The ginger's not real strong, but it gives it a little whang."