Look Into My Ice (Garden Girls Christian Cozy Mystery Series Book 12) Read online

Ryan switched the grocery bag from one hand to the other. “Is Mally going to eat the yucky stuff?”

  “Unfortunately, yes, at least I hope so.” Gloria sighed. “Then she’s going to throw it up. If that doesn’t work, we’ll mix the bubbly stuff with a little ice cream.”

  “Ew,” Ryan gasped. “I would probably try it mixed with ice cream.”

  When they reached the farm, Paul was nowhere in sight but the kitchen was spotless.

  Tyler dropped the bag of groceries on the kitchen counter. “When can we make the stuff that’s gonna make Mally barf?”

  “In a minute,” Gloria said. The sooner the better she added silently.

  Gloria placed her purse on the kitchen chair.

  Chirp.

  Her cell phone began to ring. She slipped her reading glasses on and gazed at the screen. It was Eleanor Whittaker.

  “Hello?” She motioned for the boys to put the ice cream in the freezer and then turned her attention to Eleanor.

  “Hi Gloria.” Eleanor’s small voice replied. Gloria turned the volume all the way up so she could hear Eleanor speak.

  “I hope I’m not bothering you,” Eleanor apologized.

  “No bother, Eleanor. I have a small crisis with Mally but I have a minute to talk.”

  She waved at Ryan and Tyler to put the recipe items on the kitchen counter and to get a small mixing bowl from the cupboard. “Is everything alright?”

  “Yes. I-I just wanted to say I remembered a vehicle pulling into the Mueller’s drive the other night. It was dusk.”

  “Do you remember what kind of car?” That could be a huge clue!

  “No. I’ve tried and tried and it’s driving me nuts. I’ve been thinking…I would be willing to let Margaret try to hypnotize me.”

  Gloria squeezed her eyes shut. Margaret was not a professional hypnotist. What if she messed up and scarred poor Eleanor for life? She vowed to do a little research before calling Margaret and giving her the “good news.”

  “I’ll check with Margaret and call you back,” Gloria promised.

  She hung up the phone and turned her attention to the array of items on her kitchen counter. “First, we have to take care of Mally.”

  Gloria cooked the squash in the microwave and at the same time boiled some water to mix with the flax seed.

  After pureeing the squash, she mixed the squash with the flax seed and hot water and then added a small amount of smoked fish she had found in the deep freeze.

  “Grab a paper plate,” she told Tyler and then turned to Ryan. “Run into the bathroom and get the hydrogen peroxide. It’s under the bathroom sink.”

  The boys brought the plate and peroxide to Gloria. She added the hydrogen peroxide, quickly placed the entire mixture on the plate and set it on the floor.

  “C’mon Mally. Here’s a treat,” she coaxed.

  Mally trotted to the plate, sniffed the mixture and promptly backed away.

  “She doesn’t like it Grams,” Ryan said.

  “We need to add a little something else to entice her,” Gloria said. “How ‘bout a little canned chicken from the fridge?”

  Tyler raced to the fridge, yanked the door open and reached inside. He quickly returned with the plastic container.

  Gloria scooped a large spoonful of chopped chicken and then pressed it into the center of the pile of bubbling mush.

  Mally tiptoed over and sniffed the top. Deeming it now edible, she quickly devoured the plate of food.

  Gloria clapped her hands. “Yes! Success!”

  Ryan and Tyler did a high-five.

  She reached down and picked up the empty paper plate. “Now it’s time to head outside and wait.”

  The boys raced out the kitchen door and onto the porch. Mally was right behind them.

  Tyler and Ryan darted around the yard, racing back and forth with Mally in hot pursuit.

  Gloria glanced at her watch. Dr. Bailey had jotted a side note stating the mixture should work its magic in thirty minutes or less.

  She settled onto the porch chair to wait, her eyes trained on her beloved pet.

  The boys and Mally had stopped near the corner of the garden. Mally began heaving and the boys leaned over the top of her.

  Tyler looked up. “Mally is barfing, Grams!”

  Sure enough, Gloria’s dog was heaving. “Thank you, God,” Gloria whispered and then smiled. She never thought she would be thankful that her dog was throwing up. “Can you see anything?”

  Ryan frowned and waved a hand across his face. “Nope. It’s just a lot of stinky orangey stuff,” he reported.

  “Wait! I see something!” Tyler pointed.

  Gloria eased out of the chair and made her way to the edge of the porch. “Does it look like a key ring?”

  Tyler darted across the yard and over to a yellow birch tree near the edge of the garden. He picked up a fallen tree branch, raced back to Mally and Ryan, and began poking in the pile of puke. “Yeah.”

  Tyler lifted the branch. He was still too far away for Gloria to see so she stepped off the porch, crutches in tow. “Does it look like a key ring?”

  Tyler and Ryan nodded in unison.

  Tyler took a step toward his grandmother. “You want me to go rinse it off?”

  Paul, hearing the commotion, appeared in the doorway of the garage. “You’re back. Any luck at the vet?”

  Tyler spun around. “Yeah. Mally just puked and this was inside the puke.”

  He shifted the stick so Paul could see. “Looks like the key ring in question,” he said. “Let me grab the shovel and get rid of the pile.” He disappeared inside the garage and returned moments later, shovel in hand.

  Mally, who was now feeling much better, trotted over to Tyler and began sniffing the end of the stick.

  “Oh no you don’t!” Tyler swung the stick in the air and out of reach.

  While Paul shoveled the pile of squash and carried it to the edge of the garden, Gloria made her way inside to grab a plastic grocery sack.

  She stepped back onto the porch and held it up. “Ryan, give this to your brother so he can put the key ring inside and we can throw it away in the trash.” She didn’t want to chance Mally finding the key ring again and cause a re-enactment of the days’ events.

  Ryan grabbed the bag and darted over to his brother who was standing near the edge of the sidewalk.

  Tyler waved the stick close to his brother’s face. “I dare you to touch it,” he taunted.

  Ryan hopped backward. “Gross.”

  “Tyler,” Gloria warned.

  “O-kay!”

  Ryan held the bag open and at a distance, while Tyler tilted the stick and the key ring dropped into the bottom of the open bag.

  Ryan quickly tied the top shut and handed it to Paul, who had just returned from doggie duty.

  Tyler ran to the edge of the garden, flung his arm back and then threw the stick into the field.

  Mission accomplished, the boys darted across the lawn and came to an abrupt halt at the bottom of the steps. “That was fun!” Tyler said excitedly.

  “Can we have some ice cream now?” Ryan asked.

  Gloria held the kitchen door open and waited while Mally, Ryan and Tyler sprinted inside. “Yes! You both earned a big bowl of ice cream.”

  She waited for the boys to fix the bowls of ice cream before she limped to the dining room and settled into the chair in front of the computer.

  It was time to do a little research on hypnosis.

  Chapter 8

  Gloria started to check her emails and then remembered she had promised to call Dr. Bailey to update him on the outcome of Mally’s situation. She shifted in her chair. “Can one of you bring me the house phone?” she called out to the kitchen.

  Ryan appeared moments later, phone in hand. “Thank you Ryan.”

  She turned the phone over and dialed the veterinarian’s number. Dr. Bailey was with a four-legged patient, so Gloria left a message with the receptionist telling her Mally had “returned” the key ring
and was feeling fine.

  “Can we give Mally a taste of ice cream?” Mally patiently sat in front of the kitchen table and eyed the boys’ treats.

  “Just one large spoonful, but make sure it’s just the vanilla ice cream with no chocolate or candies in it.”

  The boys proceeded to fight over who was going to give Mally the spoonful of ice cream. “You can both give Mally one spoonful,” she said.

  The compromise seemed to settle the argument and after Mally gobbled her treat, she trotted into the dining room and flopped down under the desk.

  Gloria tilted her head and peered at her dog. “Those boys sure know how to wear you out, huh?”

  Mally sighed and closed her eyes.

  Tyler appeared in the doorway a short time later. “We rinsed our dishes and put them in the dishwasher. Can we go back outside?”

  Ryan stood next to his brother. “Yeah. We still haven’t gone into the front yard with the metal detectors.”

  “Yes, but stay away from the road,” she said.

  “Let’s take them into the tree fort,” Tyler told his brother as they slipped on their winter jackets and headed outdoors.

  Mally, not wanting to miss the action, sprang to her feet and followed them outdoors.

  Gloria turned in her chair and watched as they darted past the front window before turning her attention back to her search. She typed in “Process of Hypnosis” and clicked the enter key.

  The first item to pop up was a video on hypnosis.

  She clicked the video, turned the volume up and leaned forward. A flickering candle appeared and a man began speaking in a low voice, so low that Gloria had to turn the volume to the highest level to hear.

  “Relax your body, relax your thoughts…” The man’s voice droned on for several minutes and Gloria’s mind began to drift, not to a state of relaxation, but to mull over poor Ed Mueller’s demise. What was the reason for Mueller and Officer Joe Nelson’s argument in front of the Quik Stop?

  Had Eleanor caught a glimpse of Mueller’s truck parked in the cottage drive?

  Gloria shut off the video, still unsure if hypnosis was something they should mess with.

  Gloria’s home phone began ringing. “Hello?”

  “It’s me. Margaret. Eleanor called to say she wants to try the hypnosis thingy.”

  “I don’t know…” Gloria’s voice trailed off.

  Margaret interrupted. “Well, you don’t have to come, but I’m going to Eleanor’s tomorrow around ten to try it. I have a video and everything.”

  Gloria closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I’ll be there.” Paul and Gloria planned to take the boys to Dot’s for dinner. Hopefully she would have a chance to let the others know Margaret’s plan for the next day.

  Someone needed to supervise and that someone was going to be Gloria!

  ***

  Gloria hopped to the front porch to check on her grandsons. She opened the screen door and peered out. She could hear the echo of their voices and the sound was coming from their tree fort.

  She stepped out onto the top porch step and peered from side to side. “Where’s Mally?” she hollered.

  “In here.” Ryan’s head popped out of the front window of the tree fort. Mally’s furry face appeared next to his.

  “How did…” She was going to ask how in the world the boys managed to get Mally up into the tree fort but had second thoughts. Maybe she didn’t want to know. “Be careful coming back down.” She shut the door, shaking her head as she hobbled back to the dining room.

  She folded the load of laundry she’d tossed into the dryer earlier in the day, and then carefully placed the folded laundry in the backpack Paul had brought home right after they returned from their honeymoon.

  She slipped her arms through the shoulders straps and reached for her crutches. The backpack had been a lifesaver for Gloria.

  She glanced through the front porch window as she headed through the dining room, into the living room and finally, the master bedroom.

  Paul had also placed a small folding tray in the closet so she could set clothes and other items on top. “A couple more weeks,” she muttered under her breath as she shrugged off the backpack.

  She placed the backpack on the small table and unzipped the front. It was sometimes tricky balancing, but she had to admit it was getting a little easier.

  After she finished hanging the last sweater on the hanger and placing it on the closet rod, she slung the empty backpack over her shoulders and headed back to the kitchen.

  Gloria’s stomach grumbled. She hadn’t eaten a bowl of ice cream with the boys and lunch seemed like eons ago. She grabbed a bag of potato chips from the pantry and hopped to the kitchen table, sliding into the chair on the far wall, close to her corner cabinet.

  She pulled her worn Bible from the shelf and flipped it open to the marker. Next, she slipped her reading glasses on, and popped a potato chip in her mouth.

  “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will…” Ephesians 1:11 NIV

  Gloria pulled her glasses from her face and gazed out the kitchen window as she contemplated the verse. The idea that God had destined her life from before she was ever even a twinkle in her father’s eye was mind-boggling.

  Not only had God planned every moment of her life, He knew that someday she would marry James and then Paul, she would have three wonderful children, and grandchildren and friends she dearly loved.

  God also knew the moment she would take her last breath and leave this world for her eternal home.

  Gloria read a few more minutes, tucked her marker between the pages and closed her Bible. She glanced at the clock. It was time for the boys…“her” boys to come in and get cleaned up for dinner.

  She slipped into her jacket, grabbed her crutches and headed outside.

  First, she stopped by the garage workshop. She could hear the whir of a table saw from behind the closed door. Gloria lightly tapped on the door.

  The whir continued.

  She tried knocking again, this time harder.

  The noise stopped. Paul peeked out through a crack in the door and the smell of sawdust drifted out.

  “It’s time to get cleaned up. We’re going to Dot’s for dinner,” she reminded him.

  “I almost forgot. I’ll be done in a minute.”

  Gloria nodded and headed out of the garage. She crossed over the sidewalk and limped to the front yard.

  A brisk winter breeze whipped ‘round the corner of the house. The cold air rushed up her shirtsleeves, chilling her to the bone.

  She stopped under the tree, balancing on her crutches. “Hey boys! Time to come down and get cleaned up for dinner!”

  Tyler’s head appeared in the window. “What’s for dinner?”

  “We’re going to Dot’s Restaurant.”

  Tyler nodded and disappeared inside the tree fort. He re-emerged moments later through the fort door. Ryan was right behind him and Mally brought up the rear.

  Gloria shifted her gaze from the fort to the ground. “How are you going to get Mally down?”

  “Watch this!” Tyler held up an old brown potato sack. “We found this out in the barn.”

  “C’mon Mally.” With a great deal of coaxing on Ryan’s part, he was finally able to convince Mally to crawl inside.

  Gloria could see her shift inside the bag and moments later, her furry face appeared.

  “Ryan, you hold the other end.”

  Tied to each side of the sack was a long piece of twined rope. Tyler held onto one rope and Ryan held the other side.

  The boys carefully lifted the bag, gently placed it over the side of the fort’s porch and slowly lowered the bag to the ground.

  When the bag reached the ground, Mally popped out of the bag and trotted over to Gloria, who patted her head. “That looked like loads of fun,” she told her pooch.

  Tyler backed down the tree fort steps,
which were nailed to the side of the tree.

  Ryan followed behind his older brother. “Uh-oh. We forgot the metal detectors.”

  Tyler scampered back up the tree, disappeared inside and returned moments later with the detectors in hand. He lowered the detectors to his brother and then descended once again. “I’m starving.”

  “Me too,” Ryan said.

  “Go inside and wash up. We’ll be leaving shortly.”

  The boys raced ahead. Gloria and Mally brought up the rear. When they got to the porch, Paul was waiting by the door. “This afternoon flew by,” he said as he held the door.

  It had been quite an afternoon between Ryan getting his fingers stuck in the grate, a visit to the vet, finding out Mally had swallowed a key ring and then trying to get the key ring back. “No kidding,” Gloria groaned.

  After they finished cleaning up, the four of them hopped into the car. “I’m gonna eat five chili dogs,” Ryan predicted.

  Gloria adjusted her seatbelt and stared out the window. “Dot has a new dinner special and tonight it’s all-you-can-eat goulash and French bread.” Dot had been working on her new super-secret recipe and Gloria could hardly wait to try it.

  It was only five o’clock when they pulled into an empty parking spot out front. The dinner crowd hadn’t descended on Dot’s yet and they had their pick of tables.

  Gloria led the way, deciding on a table near the back.

  Ray, who was standing in front of the pass-thru window that connected the kitchen with the server station, waved. He appeared moments later and approached the table with a tray full of glasses of ice water. “Dot mentioned you were stopping by for dinner.”

  He ruffled Ryan’s hair. “I didn’t know you were bringing the big eaters with you,” he joked.

  “We haven’t eaten all day and I’m starving,” Ryan grumbled.

  “You have too.” Gloria shook her head. “We had pulled pork sandwiches and tater tots for lunch.”

  “I’ll bring you a quick snack,” Ray promised. He turned to Gloria. “Dot had to run down to the Quik Stop. We ran out of butter, believe it or not.”

  He disappeared in the back and reappeared moments later with a tray of chips and large bowl of salsa.

  “Well, there you are!” Gloria turned to see Dot hustling over to the table. “I didn’t know you were bringing the boys.”