Hungry Spirits [Spirits 04] Read Online Free PDF Page A

couple of recipes in the little booklet for croquettes, little volcano-shaped things that looked far beyond my limited capabilities. I said something about maybe trying croquettes another time and then, thank God, it was time for me to open the oven door again.
    “ And there you go, ladies.” I spoke with understandable triumph as the aroma of perfectly cooked cheese custard wafted into the room. “Do you all remember what your dishes look like? Let’s take them out of the oven and sample our wares.”
    So we did.
    Only there was one dish left in the oven. Puzzled, I looked around at my class. Only eight women were left. “Where’s . . . ?” But I couldn’t remember their names. I mean, I could vaguely remember that somebody was named Margaret and somebody else was named Maria, but I didn’t yet know which woman went with which name. “Has someone left?”
    Then the ladies all glanced around. Evidently they didn’t know each other, either, because one of them said uncertainly, “I think so.”
    “ Hmm. Well, I’ll take her dish out of the oven, and we can just leave it here. Perhaps she had to go to the powder room or something.”
    “ I’ll go check,” said Flossie. She bustled off but came back empty-handed.
    “ Oh, well. I’m sure she’ll return. In the meantime, let’s see what we’ve made up and how it tastes.”
    So Billy, Sam and I bravely sampled my bread and macaroni pudding, as the other ladies sampled their own dishes, and Johnny, being the kindhearted gent he was, took a taste of everyone’s dish. He paused longer at Flossie’s desk than anyone else’s. Flossie colored and fed him a spoonful of her macaroni, and it did my heart good to see the two of them so happy together. Darn it, I could do some things right.
    Appearing perfectly dumbfounded, Billy said, “Hey, Daisy, this is pretty good.”
    “ Yeah,” said Sam, loquacious as ever.
    “ Thank you.” And I said no more. Occasionally I can keep my mouth shut, although not often.
    I glanced back at the stove to see if the one wandering woman had returned to claim her prize.
    But whoever the woman was, she never returned to the group that day.
    Maybe she didn’t think cheese and macaroni was worth her time? That made me feel pretty awful, to tell the truth.

 
    Chapter Three
     
    We ate the leftover macaroni pudding at supper that night along with Aunt Vi’s pork chops and brussels sprouts. My dish seemed a kind of paltry contribution to the meal, but the entire family raved. That’s only because they, too, knew about all my previous cooking disasters and were being kind to me.
    In order to divert everyone’s attention, I said, “I wonder if that woman will ever come back to class again.”
    “ If she does,” Sam said, surprising me, “let me know, will you?” Aunt Vi had begged him to stay for supper. Everyone loved Sam. Except me.
    I eyed him narrowly, mistrusting this fascination of his for my student defector. I could detect pretty well myself, and I detected more than casual interest in this police detective. “How come?”
    He shrugged.
    “ There’s something you’re not telling us, Sam Rotondo. If there’s a vicious criminal in my cooking class, I ought to know about it.” I glared at him.
    “ There’s no vicious criminal in there that I know about,” he said, sounding slightly exasperated. “I just thought it was peculiar that as soon as a policeman showed up, she vanished.”
    “ Darn you, Sam Rotondo,” I said, all the frustration of my day at last finding a target. “What in the name of heaven do you want with a poor, innocent woman who’s probably an impoverished refugee and who’s taking a cooking class? She’s a charity case, for heaven’s sake.”
    Ma said, “Daisy,” in a tone of voice I remembered of old.
    Aunt Vi said, “Honestly, Daisy Majesty.” She didn’t approve of rudeness in any form, not even when it was directed at Sam Rotondo, who deserved it.
    Billy snickered and said, “I