Baked Alaska Read online

  Another knock. Sadie closed her eyes. What was the right way to handle this?

  “Mr. Hoffmiller?” a voice called from the hallway. “Please open the door.”

  Sadie opened her eyes, feeling the tears rising as she looked up at the scared expression on Shawn’s face. She put a hand on his arm. “It’s going to be okay,” she said. “Just do what they say. We’ll follow you to the police station and get this figured out.”

  “Mr. Hoffmiller,” the voice said again. “This is Officer Wells from the Skagway Police Department. If you don’t come out of your room, your steward has been given permission to let us in.”

  “I’m coming,” Shawn said. He pulled Sadie into a bear hug that lifted her off the floor, held her tight for a second, then turned and put her down in front of the bed, placing him between her and the door. He grabbed his wallet off the counter beneath the TV and put it in his pocket.

  “Shawn,” Sadie said in a shaky voice, though she had nothing to add.

  He looked over his shoulder at her for one grim moment before opening the door and looking down at the officers. They moved back half a step, likely because they realized that if he wanted to, he could make this situation very difficult. He was bigger than both of them combined.

  Sadie told herself to be calm, but watching Shawn step into the hall was too much for her, and a moment later, she ran after the officers. “Don’t say anything without an attorney,” she shouted in a panic. Shawn turned to look at her in surprise. “And don’t—”

  “Sadie,” Pete said, taking her arm and pulling her away from the officers. Where had Pete come from? Where were the officers taking Shawn?

  Chapter 22

  “Let go,” Sadie said, trying to twist out of Pete’s grip, but he knew her tricks and had anticipated them, so his hold remained strong. He backed her up against the wall between two cabin doors and took her face in both of his hands, forcing her to look up at him. She tried to see where Shawn was going, but Pete held her head in place.

  “Sadie,” he said, quietly, calmly, and with tender understanding that made tears spring up in her eyes. “It’s going to be okay.”

  She tried to shake her head, but then he said her name again, and when the first tear started running down her cheek, he wiped it away with his thumb. “Get Breanna,” Pete said, his voice calm and even. “Meet us at the police station. They’ve agreed to let me go with him.”

  “Why you and not me?”

  “I’m cooperating,” he said with a slight smile. “And not telling Shawn to act like a criminal. Get Breanna. Meet us at the police station. I’m sure someone in town can point it out to you.”

  She swallowed and nodded. Pete leaned in, kissed her once, then turned and started walking down the hallway after Shawn. Sadie stayed right where she was, pressed against the wall, and taking deep breaths until she had counted to one hundred. She was afraid that if she moved, she’d chase Shawn down and go bonkers all over again. When she was certain she had control over herself, she hurried to her cabin. Breanna was still asleep, but Sadie flipped on the lights and told her to get up. She tried to give her a coherent version of what had happened, but the story was disconnected and rushed. Sadie had to stop and breathe again before she managed to relay all the information.

  It was nearly forty minutes before the doors of the ship were opened to allow passengers to disembark. Breanna and Sadie were the very first ones down the gangplank. Pete had texted Sadie the address for the police station, and though she’d replied with a request for an update, he hadn’t responded.

  The port was right next to the town of Skagway, and a helpful dockworker pointed them toward the police station, which was just a few blocks from the pier. Even though the wait to get off the boat had been excruciating, it had helped Sadie feel more centered. Now was the time for a plan. She’d already rehearsed how she’d demand—as kindly as possible—that a computer forensics crew determine if the e-mails had been compromised after Shawn originally sent them. They could do that, right? It seemed like the right place to start.

  At the police station, they checked in with the officer sitting behind a glass panel and were told to take a seat in the waiting room. Ten minutes later, Sadie’s center was fading when Breanna received a text message from Liam.

  “I need to talk to him,” Breanna said, making an apologetic face. “Is that okay?”

  “Of course,” Sadie said. “I’ll come get you once they’re ready for us.” A few minutes after Breanna stepped outside, Pete came through the door at the other end of the room. Sadie was on her feet in an instant and felt her calm focus abandon her.

  “What’s happening? Is Shawn all right? Can I see him?”

  “He’s talking to the police,” Pete said as he approached her. He took her hands and guided her back into her chair. “Things are going as well as can be expected.”

  “Are they arresting him? Do we need to get an attorney? Is the FBI involved? Do they know what was showing up in Lorraina’s tox screen yet?”

  “Sadie,” Pete said, “take a breath.” He watched her until she obeyed, then gave her a smile that would have been patronizing if it had come from anyone else. “It’s going to be okay. Shawn has done nothing wrong.”

  “They didn’t bring him in for questioning because they think he’s innocent.”

  “They brought him in for questioning because they have in their possession several threatening e-mails addressed to a woman who is in a coma under suspicious circumstances. I also understand that it’s the cruise line that’s making a big deal about this. They asked a bunch of questions about if he’s been on other cruises and which ones. That makes me think they’re fishing for something, but I don’t know what. I’m hoping they’ll reveal more information as the day goes on. But the police are doing their job, and Shawn is cooperating, which is exactly what he should do. You freaking out makes it look as though he has something to hide.”

  “I’m his mother. I think freaking out because my son was escorted off a cruise ship and taken to the police station is completely acceptable.”

  “Acceptable, yes. Helpful, no.”

  “Um, Mom?”

  Sadie turned to see Breanna standing not far away, holding up her cell phone. “Maggie’s wondering if we’re still meeting for breakfast. I guess she’s been waiting at the Tiara Room.”

  Maggie. Sadie wasn’t sure she could focus on her right now. However, she connected some possible dots in Sadie’s mind as well. “Did she send the e-mails to the police?” she asked, then looked at Pete. “Could Maggie be the reason all of this happened? Is she trying to get Shawn in trouble?” She’d no sooner said it than she saw it all laid out in front of her. “Maybe Shawn’s concern that Maggie was a part of Lorraina’s whole scheme was spot-on. Maybe Maggie was out to make Shawn into the bad guy, which meant she might have something to hide!”

  “Slow down,” Pete said, lowering his voice, which reminded Sadie to lower hers as well. He let go of Sadie’s hands and stood, taking two steps toward Breanna, who was still standing a few feet inside the waiting area. “Ask Maggie if she wouldn’t mind coming to town for breakfast instead.” He looked around the waiting area thoughtfully. “I heard the officers talking about a café on Broadway—Sweet Tooth, I think? Have her meet me there.”

  “Why you and not us?” Sadie asked.

  “’Cause you’re a basket case,” Breanna said while texting on her phone. “You need to chill.”

  “Chill?” Sadie repeated, throwing her arms up in exasperation. This was ridiculous. Her son was in jail! “Chill? And where am I supposed to chill? Here? In this waiting room while the police interrogate my little boy and—”

  “Okay,” Pete said, taking Sadie by the shoulders and turning her around so she faced the doors. “Breanna, will you get her out of here? Take her on a walk, or back to the ship, or something. I’ll meet Maggie at Sweet Tooth, and we’ll move forward from there. I’ll update you guys when I have something to tell you.”

&n
bsp; “Got it,” Breanna said, hooking her arm through Sadie’s and pushing her through the door. Pete followed as though worried Sadie might try to run back inside. Which she might have done if she thought she’d make it or if she had any idea what she’d do once she got back in.

  Sadie tried to argue, but before she knew it, they were on the streets of Skagway. Breanna received a text, presumably from Maggie, and showed it to Pete, who nodded and pulled out his phone before typing a text of his own. Sadie had all these arguments she wanted to make but it was as though the words were tripping over one another on their way to her mouth. She could feel her heart racing similar to a panic attack except that she wasn’t anxious, she was just mad and scared. But Pete was distrustful of her because of her emotions, which meant she had to find a way not to show them right now if she wanted to be of any help to her son.>

  “’Kay, Mom. Let’s go back to the ship.”

  “That’s silly,” Sadie said, trying to keep her voice reasonable. Pete had slipped back into the police station, so Sadie turned her focus on Breanna. If she could convince Breanna that she was up to this, Breanna could talk to Pete. “I don’t need to go back to the ship. I can go to breakfast with Pete and Maggie.”

  “Have you noticed that, like, every store here sells popcorn?”

  “What?” Sadie asked, thrown off her train of thought. She looked around and realized they were back on Skagway’s main street, which was called Broadway. It looked like something from an old Western movie set, except with brighter paint jobs. There were boardwalks instead of sidewalks and hand-painted signs hanging above the covered doorways of the different facades.

  “Seriously,” Breanna said, pointing across the street to a window display featuring at least six different types of popcorn. “That one has caramel and raspberry, and is that lime, do you think? It’s green—they wouldn’t make mint popcorn, would they?”

  “You’re trying to distract me,” Sadie pointed out, and yet she couldn’t help but wonder if it was indeed mint-flavored popcorn. She looked farther down the street and saw at least three more shops with popcorn displays in the window.

  “We should buy some,” Breanna said, pulling Sadie across the street. “I wonder if the caramel corn is as good as Aunt Carrie’s.”

  Sadie had a strange relationship with her sister-in-law these days, and they had never been particularly close, despite living next door to one another for more than twenty years. Even on days when Sadie was annoyed with her brother’s wife, she couldn’t deny the fact that Carrie made the most amazing caramel popcorn. Dry rather than chewy, it never got stuck in your teeth or made your fingers sticky. And it had just the right blend of butter and brown sugar.

  “Well, I guess we could buy a bag.”

  “Two,” Breanna said. “One caramel—to compare with Aunt Carrie’s—and then the green kind.”

  They entered the store a few minutes later, and the teenage boy behind the counter scrambled to help the pretty lady wanting two bags of popcorn at ten in the morning. Even with only a few minutes to get ready that morning, Breanna’s natural beauty shone through. Everyone saw it, except maybe her.

  Sadie inhaled the scent of caramelizing sugars, and now that she was removed enough from the situation at the police station, she could admit that she had perhaps overreacted. Well, maybe not overreacted—her son was at the police station—but he hadn’t been arrested and he wasn’t guilty and Sadie did believe in the judicial process, most of the time. She knew Pete would take good care of him and that he’d get whatever information from Maggie he could, whereas Sadie might be too intense right now to be effective.

  Breanna handed Sadie the bag of caramel corn and set about opening the bag of green popcorn she was holding. They exited the shop and headed back to the pier.

  “Lime,” Breanna said as she held out the open bag of green popcorn to Sadie. “I win.”

  “I didn’t know we were competing,” Sadie said, shifting her bag of caramel corn in order to take a handful of green kernels. It was good. Sadie had a recipe for fruity popcorn in her Little Black Recipe Book—it used Jell-O.

  “We weren’t competing, but I thought lime first, then mint as a second possibility, so I won by choosing correctly the first time.”

  Sadie eyed her daughter while Breanna took another handful of popcorn. “Why are you so calm about what’s happening with Shawn?”

  Breanna looked at her with a serious expression. “Because my mom has told me all my life that I am in charge of me. Shawn knows that too, and I think he’s handling this rather well—talking to the police and all that. You need to have faith in him and calm the heck down enough to be helpful ’cause you’re in charge of you too. And right now you’re making yourself look bad.”

  Sadie felt herself flush under the reprimand, but she also took the words to heart. She was in charge of her own reactions, just as Shawn was responsible for his. She knew he was innocent, so why was she so scared?

  “Do you think he said those horrible things in the e-mails? You read them; did they sound like him?”

  Breanna took another handful of the lime popcorn while thinking over her answer. Finally, she met Sadie’s eyes. “I don’t know, Mom. I don’t want to think he did, it’s not like him, but sometimes we find ourselves feeling things and doing things that are out of character.”

  Sadie didn’t like that answer and looked down the street of colorful shops that were slowly filling up with tourists. A second cruise ship was maneuvering into the port, and a third could be seen a half a mile or so away, likely waiting its turn to dock.

  “But Shawn’s in charge of Shawn,” Breanna continued. “And if he wrote those e-mails, it’s okay for him to be accountable for it. You should want him to be.”

  Carrie’s Crunchy Caramel Popcorn

  8 cups popped popcorn

  1 cup brown sugar

  1/2> cup butter

  1/4cup light corn syrup

  1/4 teaspoon salt

  1/4 teaspoon baking soda

  1/4 teaspoon vanilla

  Put popped popcorn in large bowl (the bigger the better) and set aside.

  Combine sugar, butter, corn syrup, and salt in medium-sized saucepan. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Decrease temperature to medium-low, and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. (If mixture begins to scorch,remove from heat and lower temperature before returning to the stove top.)

  Remove from heat, and add baking soda and vanilla. Mix well.

  Pour sauce over popcorn. Use a spatula coated with a nonstick spray to stir the popcorn, being careful not to crush the kernels. Spread coated popcorn on a cookie sheet and bake at 250 degrees for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

  If made in the oven, it may overflow the pan as it bakes; line your oven, just in case.

  Note: You can also make this recipe in a large electric roaster oven. Put popped popcorn in roaster oven with heat turned off. Add sauce and turn on heat to 200 degrees. Stir popcorn every couple of minutes for about 20 minutes or until caramel has coated and hardened onto kernels. Turn off heat before you stop stirring.

  Note: This recipe doubles well!

  Fruity Popcorn

  8 cups popped popcorn

  1 cup sugar

  1/2 cup butter

  1/4 cup light corn syrup

  1/4 teaspoon salt

  1 (3-ounce) package Jell-O, any flavor

  Put popped popcorn in large bowl (the bigger the better) and set aside.

  Combine sugar, butter, corn syrup, and salt in medium-sized saucepan. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture comes to a boil. Decrease temperature to medium-low, simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly. (If mixture begins to scorch, remove from heat and lower temperature before returning to the stove top.)

  Add Jell-O, mix well, and simmer 1 minute or until gelatin is dissolved. (Mixture will be thick.) Remove from heat and pour over popcorn. Stir to coat the kernels, being careful not to crush
kernels. Work quickly as syrup will harden as it cools. Let popcorn sit in bowl for 10 minutes or until cooled. Break into large chunks. Store leftovers in large, zip-top plastic bag.

  Chapter 23

  Sadie felt her mind clearing in response to Breanna’s wisdom. Shawn was responsible for himself. If he wrote those e-mails—so help him—he had to make that right. If he didn’t write them, then he needed to clarify that with the police so they could move on.

  She thought back to Maggie’s original opinion of Sadie: super-controlling, would freak if she knew the truth. Sadie was not that woman. She would prove it by not freaking out and by letting Shawn handle this. He was innocent; Sadie needed to show her faith in him by not being defensive. She wondered why the officers had asked him about other cruises. This was the first one he’d been on since his high school graduation when the three of them had cruised the western Caribbean.

  “There’s Maggie,” Breanna said, pointing ahead of them. Maggie was wearing a bright purple top, white jeans, and cute purple leopard-print heels. She was texting on her phone while she walked and hadn’t seen them yet.

  Sadie grabbed Breanna’s arm and pulled her into a gift shop, not wanting to get in the way of Pete and Maggie’s meeting now that she’d accepted that Pete was right about her backing off a little. Breanna went along with the unexpected detour, and Sadie had purchased two Christmas ornaments, a magnet, and a bright pink jacket with “Alaska” embroidered on the front before they went back out to Broadway. Maggie was nowhere in sight by then, but Sadie spotted the sign for the restaurant where Pete said he’d meet her. She wasn’t going to be a super-controlling-freak-out-mom, but she did wish she could be a fly on the wall and listen to their conversation.