Free Murder by the Slice by Livia J. Washburn Page A

was a teacher. The printer was fairly fast, so it was printing the booklets about the same speed that Phyllis could straighten and staple them. It really didn’t take as long to get it all done as she had been expecting.
    One of the things Phyllis had discovered with the peanutbutter-and-banana recipe was the fact that the cookies tasted even better the next day. She spent Friday morning at WalMart getting all the needed ingredients for both the cookies and the cake, while doing the rest of the grocery shopping for her and the others in the house. She’d bought bananas earlier in the week, so they would be nice and ripe.
    After she’d put everything away in the cabinets, it was time to make the batch of cookies for the carnival. She slipped a David Sanborn CD into the under-counter CD player and started working to the soft saxophone melody. She put all the ingredients needed on the counter and preheated the oven to 375 degrees.
    Phyllis pulled out two baking sheets from the bottom cabinet. She tore sheets of parchment paper to fit the pans. Parchment paper worked well for this cookie and, since she didn’t have to oil the pan, it cut the fat just a little more.
    In a large mixing bowl, Phyllis measured, mixed, and blended the sugar with the butter and egg with the mixer on medium until it had a nice creamy look. Then, one by one, she measured, added, and mixed the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until all the ingredients were well blended.
    She took out a small bowl, peeled a brown-speckled banana, and broke the banana into pieces in the bowl. It was easy to mash the banana with a fork.
    She went back to the large mixing bowl, setting the mixer on low. She then proceeded to measure and add the oats, peanut butter, applesauce, and finally the mashed banana. She stopped the mixer just long enough to run a spatula around the sides of the bowl to make sure it was all mixed.
    Using two spoons, she scooped and dropped spoonfuls onto the parchment paper–covered pans. When she had the first pan full, she put it into the oven and set the timer for twelve minutes. While the first pan was baking, she started dropping spoonfuls of the dough onto the second pan so it would be ready to go in as soon as the first pan came out.
    The room filled with the smell of roasting peanuts. It brought back childhood memories of when her father would roast pans of peanuts. This recipe was definitely a winner as far as she was concerned.
    Since she spent Friday afternoon baking the cookies that would serve as her healthy snack entry, she had Saturday morning to make the cake. For a change, she knew beforehand what Carolyn was entering in the contest. She’d seen her muttering and throwing out failed attempts all week. She had been stuck on flavored popcorn for the first part of the week, but finally came up with some nice low-fat pizza rolls. She’d given Phyllis the recipe before most of the other entrants had sent theirs. If Carolyn’s entry won … well, then, more power to her. Phyllis wasn’t going to lose any sleep over it.
    She was actually more concerned with seeing what Carolyn was going to donate to the auction. She hoped her friend wouldn’t embarrass herself by attempting something beyond her abilities.
    The carnival was scheduled to begin at one o’clock Saturday afternoon. Phyllis was up early Saturday morning, baking the cake that she would decorate to look like a jacko’-lantern. She wanted it to be as fresh as possible for the auction.
    During the week, Sam had spent quite a bit of time at the elementary school, helping the custodians with their preparations. Eve had finally settled on working at the ticket booth. It wouldn’t be as much fun as a kissing booth, she said, but at least that way she would get to see just about everyone who attended the carnival.
    So for more than a week, the festivities at Oliver Loving Elementary School had dominated the conversation and thoughts of the four retired teachers, and