Basil Instinct (31 page)
Authors: Shelley Costa
Tags: #Fiction, #Mystery & Detective, #Women Sleuths, #General
Landon will never get over it.
With that, I heard my strangled roar, and I tried sinking my teeth into this surprisingly strong mandolin player. No luck. Cardona.
Cardona.
If he was
Italian, then Maria Pia would never get over it. I jerked my body just enough to overturn the table, and the weight of an insane Leo Cardona and me pushed the table screeching across the tiled floor until we hit another table. And still he hung on.
My fingers were clutching at the cord as I ran out of breath and the last thing I felt was the beginning of tears. I guess, when it comes right down to it, you never know when you’ve had your very last saltimbocca. Or kiss . . . I was just letting my mind stray to the image of Joe Beck to block out a killer that was filling my field of vision. Just as I felt my fingers slacken on the cord, another shadow eclipsed a hazy globe of light, and in a wide, dark arc an arm swung toward us and I heard the air knocked out of my assailant. Again the dark arc swung, this time downward, once, twice, like faceless fate, and the killer of my cousin Anna Tremayne fell off me and slumped in a heap to the floor.
I gagged attractively for half a minute, clutching my throat, my fingers plucking at the cord. When my vision cleared, I looked up. It was Mrs. Crawford, still in her mint-green flapper girl dress and gold cloche. She stood looking down at me, one hip thrust out, in something like amusement. “I forgot my music,” she said in that deep, nasal voice. Then she extended an arm to flourish her weapon at me. It was my leather
portfolio stuffed full of a class roster and ten good rocks. She seemed philosophical. “He was a terrible musician,” she drawled. Together we turned to look at the inert form of Leo Cardona. “Consider this”—she held up the portfolio to the unresponsive Leo—“my review.”
* * *
Within the hour I had more company. First a couple of uniformed cops carted off Leo Cardona, which helped my trembling a lot. Maria Pia gave me one of her strands of pearls to cover the bruises on my neck, and she kept her composure admirably. She had Giancarlo to hold and pat and squeeze her hand, because, no matter what the crisis, for her faithful Giancarlo, it was always about her.
And I had Landon, who was so manically relieved about so many things that he chattered incessantly and made up some canapés of cream cheese, cilantro, hot pepper jelly, and caviar. When I told him his sister Anna’s cat, Abbie, was now his to keep, he was radiant. I watched Paulette discuss the fine points of effective blows with rock-loaded cases with Mrs. Crawford. And Choo Choo, who had come running, bare-chested, in his striped pajama pants, hummed while he pulled espresso shots.
Then there was Detective Sally Fanella, taking
down the fine points of the story from Dana Cahill, who was plenty jazzed that she had stayed on the line, heard threats from Leo—“
Leo!
You think you know a person!”—and called Quaker Hills finest. I had a bad moment wondering if I was going to have to be indebted to Dana Cahill for the rest of my natural-born days. I guess it showed on my face, because Joe Beck whispered, “It’s okay, Eve, Mrs. Crawford was your first responder.”
We clinked espresso shots, and looked each other in the eye. I felt tired, but as I sat there with everyone I loved around me, sat there in my new pearls, I smiled. Joe Beck brushed the hair out of my face, and if we weren’t all suddenly singing a rousing crackpot version of “Those Were the Days,” I’m pretty sure he would have kissed me. Tomorrow I’d invite him over for drinks . . . and some pesto.
Definitely some pesto.
Choo Choo Bacigalupo’s Recipe for Gorgonzola and Spiced Walnuts in Port Wine Syrup
SERVES 4
“How hard can it be?”–Choo Choo Bacigalupo
3 cups port wine
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1
/
2
cup walnut halves
1
/
2
teaspoon cayenne
1
/
2
teaspoon black pepper
1
/
2
teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
8 oz. Gorgonzola cheese
In a saucepan, bring the wine to a boil. Cook over medium heat until reduced to
1
/
2
cup, about 12–15 minutes. Allow to cool.
In an 8-inch sauté pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the walnuts, cayenne, black pepper, salt, and sugar. Sauté until well coated and lightly toasted, 2–3 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Divide the cheese among four plates and spoon nuts over each portion. Drizzle the wine syrup over each plate and serve with crusty bread.
SHELLEY COSTA
is an Edgar® Award–nominated and internationally published author of short fiction; her stories have appeared in anthologies and journals including
Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories, Blood on Their Hands,
and
Crimewave
from the U.K. She holds a Ph.D. in English and is the author of
The Everything Guide to Edgar Allan Poe. You Cannoli Die Once
and
Basil Instinct
are the first two novels in her Miracolo Restaurant mystery series. A former New Yorker, she lives near Cleveland and is on the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Art, where she teaches fiction writing and screenwriting. Visit
www.shelleycosta.com
.
FOR MORE ON THIS AUTHOR:
authors.simonandschuster.com/Shelley-Costa
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Also by Shelley Costa
You Cannoli Die Once
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2014 by Shelley Costa
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First Pocket Books paperback edition July 2014
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Cover illustration by Brandon Dorman
ISBN 978-1-4767-0936-9
ISBN 978-1-4767-0938-3 (ebook)
Contents
Choo Choo Bacigalupo’s Recipe for Gorgonzola and Spiced Walnuts in Port Wine Syrup