A Beeline to Murder

“Some watchdog you are, snoozing away while there’s a murderer on the loose. No jumping. Get down.” Sugar wasn’t taking no for an answer and covered Abby’s face in wet licks. “No means no!” Abby reiterated. She felt for the tea towel she kept draped over the oven door handle. Tying it in a knot and pitching it away from the kitchen, Abby prayed that Sugar would run after it.

With the dog bounding to the living room in search of the knotted towel, Abby took the opportunity to close, lock, and shutter the patio door before groping her way to the bedroom. There, she stealthily opened the drawer to the bedside table and pulled out her Ruger LCP 380 semiautomatic pistol and its magazine. Though it was lighter than her service revolver, the weight of the small gun in her hand had a calming effect. She might have a gimpy thumb, but her two-handed aim was still good. She slipped the magazine into the gun and inhaled deeply, then slowly let go of the breath. Crouched on high alert in the darkness, stroking Sugar’s neck to keep her silent, Abby remembered the crates of jars and wine bottles awaiting removal by the property’s heirs and considered the possibility that a roaming wild animal had knocked them over. As the clock on the wall ticked away minutes and Abby heard no other racket, she concluded that maybe she’d been spooked by something wild, and not necessarily the two-legged kind. All the same, she decided to sleep with her gun within arm’s reach. The dog didn’t seem particularly interested in the doggy toys or her own bed, a folded blanket. Nor had Sugar yet learned that Abby’s bed was off-limits.





Tip for Using Honey for Optimum Health



One to two teaspoons of raw honey eaten each day helps to strengthen the immune system, according to modern science and medical doctors. Regarded as a super food, raw honey is beneficial to your health and healing. The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates advocated the use of honey as medicine. In the ancient world, honey was used to treat a variety of medical problems owing to its antibacterial properties: it kills germs and thus promotes healing. Honey doesn’t go bad. If honey in a jar crystallizes, simply place the jar in hot water to liquefy the contents.





Chapter 5


Sow plants that produce aboveground crops during a waxing moon and plants that produce belowground crops during a waning moon.

—Henny Penny Farmette Almanac





At a quarter to six, Abby awoke to the kuk-kuk-kuk chatter of a squirrel in the Black Mission fig tree that towered over the north side of her house. Houdini was already engaged in a crow-off with a neighborhood rooster. Somewhere down Farm Hill Road, a dog barked nonstop at what sounded like a garbage truck, its engine revving for starts and its brakes squeaking for stops as it lumbered along its route. Sugar leaped from the foot of Abby’s bed to engage fully in her role as watchdog. The pooch stood on point beneath the window and barked without letup.

Abby rubbed her eyes, yawned, and stretched, taking notice of how energetic she felt. Hormones. There were times of the month when she hated her hormones, but then there were other times, like today, when she felt like a world-class gymnast in a thirty-seven-year-old goddess body. Feel like jogging up the mountain. Ten miles over, dip in the Pacific, ten back. Could be fun . . . but then again, those heirloom beans aren’t going to plant themselves.