Still Knife Painting

Book 1: Paint & Shine Mystery

by Cheryl Hollon

Genres: Female Sleuths; General Fiction; Craft & Hobby Cozy Mysteries

Synopsis

Miranda Trent has set up a sweet life in a scenic corner of Appalachia—until she stumbles across the trail of a killer . . .

After inheriting her uncle's Red River Gorge homestead in Eastern Kentucky—smack dab in the middle of the Daniel Boone National Forest—Miranda comes up with a perfect business plan for summer tourists: pairing outdoor painting classes with sips of local moonshine, followed by a mouthwatering sampler of the best in southern cooking.

To Miranda's delight, Paint & Shine is a total success—until someone kills the cook. As the town's outsider, suspicion naturally falls on Miranda. Murdering the best biscuit baker of Red River Gorge is a high crime in these parts. Miranda will have to prove her innocence before she's moved from farmhouse to jail cell faster than she can say "white lightning" . . .

Release date: June 30, 2020

Publisher: Kensington Books

Print pages: 352

Sample

Saturday Morning, Hemlock Lodge

Miranda paced like a soldier, her fists clenched, her heart beating fast, as she chanted under her breath, “Please don’t let me die. Don’t let me die of embarrassment.” Weeks of planning, permitting, construction, advertising, practicing, and loss of sleep had brought her to this point of excited anticipation. Her business was a real enterprise.

The thick treads of her hiking boots echoed on the oak wood floor, and her threadbare black corduroys swooshed with every step. Her path crossed in front of the two-story stone fireplace, the focal point inside the lobby of Hemlock Lodge.

It was built in the typical architecture of the 1960s. Perched upon a dramatic ledge, it offered stunning views from the wraparound balconies that overlooked the Red River far below. Deep in the Daniel Boone National Forest in the highlands of eastern Kentucky, it supplied the best accommodations nearest the hiking trails. It was the quiet time of the morning, right after the lodge guests ate a massive breakfast and headed out for the day’s adventure hikes.

Miranda glanced at the wall near the entry door to make sure her flyer was still pinned onto the bulletin board. She had replaced it three times in the past week. Someone was removing them and she thought it might be the receptionist. An entire stack from the brochure stand had disappeared as well.

She considered it a positive sign that six clients had managed to overcome the miserable internet access to find her website and sign up for her cultural adventure tour. Miranda pulled a loose thread from the small red logo embroidered over the front pocket of her special-ordered khaki shirt. It was designed to be untucked to give her a wide range of movement. The logo branded her new business, Paint & Shine.

She scanned the wide-angle view of the valley below through the floor-to-ceiling windows. The trees sparkled with the excitement of change that fall colors brought to the rugged cliffs of eastern Kentucky. For the first time, the beauty of the trees didn’t calm her.

Sleepless nights didn’t help her mood. Her worries thrived and multiplied in her restless mind—a creative mind that kept coming up with more and more ways for her business to fail. Statistics revealed that four out of five new businesses failed within the first year.

She fiddled with the six pin-on badges in her hands, one for each client who had paid for a three-hour cultural adventure. It combined a group painting at a scenic overlook with a traditional Southern dinner at her farmhouse, and finally a moonshine lecture with samples presented by the owner of a distillery. Six backpacks sat beside the fireplace loaded with the supplies her clients would need to complete a painting of the overlook at Lover’s Leap.

Group painting classes were popular in New York City, where last month she had been eking out a scant living as a classical portrait artist. Typically, each client would bring a bottle of wine or growler of craft beer, paint along with an instructor, and take home a finished painting and memories of a great night out. Her business was a new concept for this area of outstanding natural beauty. The nearest competitor was in downtown Lexington, Kentucky—more than an hour’s drive away.

Her mother had questioned her choice. “You, a teacher? You’re too quiet!” That had stung, but Miranda felt strongly about sharing the simple joy of painting a beautiful view in the great outdoors on a mountain trail—no screens, no music, only nature. This is important; I’ll deal with my introversion.

“Are you waiting for someone, honey?” The white-haired, sharp-eyed, plump woman behind the registration counter looked over her red half-moon reading glasses at the still pacing Miranda.

“Yes, ma’am. I’m waiting for my class to arrive.” Miranda walked over to the counter. “My name is Miranda Trent. I’m the art instructor for today’s outdoor painting class. It’s the notice that’s pinned up over there.” She pointed to the bulletin board.

“Trent? Are you one of those Trents out by Laurel Valley? You have their look about you.”

Miranda nodded. “My grandparents used to run the post office and general store over in Laurel. Well, actually, Grandma ran the post office while Grandpa ran the store. It was mostly a gathering place. In summer, Grandpa sat out on the porch swapping knives and whittling wood sticks with the other old men. In winter, they moved indoors to sit around the wood stove beating each other at checkers.”

“I declare, now that I look at you, there’s a faint resemblance to your mother all right. You’re lucky to get the wavy black hair and green eyes.” The woman leaned forward and smiled. “It looks like you skipped out on inheriting the broad Trent nose. How’s your momma faring?”

“Very well, ma’am. She says she’ll come down from Dayton to visit me every other weekend.” Miranda nervously shifted her weight like a schoolgirl. She stopped when she noticed it. “I think she’s a bit homesick.”

“Along with half the folks in Ohio and Indiana. We went to high school together many, many years past. Well, you tell your momma that Doris Ann Norris says hi and that I still miss her wonderful Peanut Butter Potato Pinwheels.”

“I’ll mention that the next time she calls.” Miranda twisted her lip sideways, uncertain of Doris Ann’s feelings towards her. “And since I moved here, she calls several times a day.” Without thinking she pulled her cell from her back pocket and checked for messages. There weren’t any, yet.

“She must be worried,” said Doris Ann.

Miranda tucked away the phone. “Maybe. When I moved to New York City, it was once a week at best. As soon as I move back to her hometown, she’s like a mama bear with a truant cub.”

The front door opened, and Miranda snapped her head to look at an old couple with their arms hooked together and using canes on their opposite sides. Definitely not her clients.

“Did I hear right?” continued Doris. “That you moved back into your late Uncle Gene’s farmhouse up on Pine Ridge?”

“He left it to me in his will. I wasn’t expecting it. He was always interested in my paintings—he even bought a few—but I thought he was just trying to give me some cash for art supplies. I was shocked to be the sole beneficiary.”

“He was a good upstanding man, your uncle. He had a big heart.”

“My mom sent me to stay with him most summers. I keep expecting him to come into the house with a stomping of dusty boots on the porch and a slamming of the screen door.” She pressed her hand to cover her mouth for a moment.

“I wonder why I didn’t see you those summers. Most youngsters are up here climbing all through the trails in these woods.”

“I mostly helped Uncle Gene with his big garden. After chores, I sketched outdoors and then after supper, I read books in my room. The neighbors barely knew I was there.” She looked at her watch—only ten minutes yet to go.

“Are you getting settled in?”

“I moved in last month, but I still feel like a fish out of water.” The farmhouse was located about midway between Hemlock Lodge and Campton, the nearest town.

I also had a lot in common with my Uncle Gene. We shared the problems of coping with our introverted personalities in an ever more social world. I loved my summers of peace and quiet.

Doris Ann suddenly stood up with a great heave, and came around to smother Miranda in a hug that lasted a full minute, ending with a backrub. “Honey, hearing that your Uncle Gene passed away was such sorry news.”

Miranda felt the enormous pain of losing her favorite uncle wash over her—again.

She wanted to run and hide. Hugging was another serious challenge for her. As a child, she had been able to squirm out and run away, but not as an adult. She marveled at the unstinting compassion that was second nature in her large collection of Kentucky cousins.

They were all huggers.

Doris Ann released her and held Miranda out at arm’s length. “Your uncle was a gentle soul. He kept that little farm going all by himself longer than he should have with his bad heart. The turnout for his funeral was the largest that Wolfe County has seen in a mighty long time. I don’t remember seeing you there. Did I miss you in the crowd?”

Miranda carefully escaped Doris Ann’s hold. “No, I didn’t make it to his funeral. I had a Midtown gallery opening that day. I had worked on the portraits for months. He would have understood, but I still regret not being at the graveside. I heard it was a lovely service and he’s buried right down the road from the farmhouse in the old Adams Cemetery.” Miranda coughed to clear a catch in her throat. “That’s a comfort. I sort of feel like he’s watching over me.”

Doris Ann pointed to the Paint & Shine flyer on the bulletin board in the hallway. “I didn’t know that was you. You must have spoken to the manager on one of my days off.” She tilted her head back and frowned. “He give you any trouble?”

Miranda thought about it. “No, he seemed a little stiff, but not negative.”

“Well, he’s not from around here. The flyer just says the name of the business—not that you’re the owner or that you’re a local. Anyway, bring your next flyer straight to me. I’ll put it up, no fuss. So, this is a new business?”

“Yes. This is the first event and I need to get enough clients before the end of the year to pay for the farm’s property taxes. I’m trying to get employment in the school system as a temporary art teacher, but that’s going to take some time,” said Miranda. Miranda tugged at the bottom of her shirt, a nervous tic she first displayed in kindergarten. This is awful. I’m gabbling. Why did I tell her all that?

“Well, bless your heart, dearest. Folks ’round here don’t really hold much stock in artists and their freewheeling ways.” Doris Ann shook a stubby finger. “It just doesn’t seem like a proper way to make a livin’. How’s this deal work?”

“I know this is unusual for the area, but there are lots of tourists who are looking for a cultural experience and something to take home as a souvenir. I provide all the painting supplies and step-by-step instruction. No art experience needed. Then, after the class, we go to the farmhouse for a home-cooked meal paired with moonshine cocktails from the Keystone Branch Distillery.”

“Well, I don’t hold with spirits,” huffed Doris Ann. “You’ve certainly put a lot thought into this. I hope it works out.”

She noticed the pleasant tone in Doris Ann’s voice turn cold enough to freeze a river.

Her head held high and her spine stiff, Doris Ann returned to sit behind the reception desk. She reached for a stack of papers and began to straighten them into a tidy pile.

Miranda’s chest tightened and her insides quivered. Her mother had warned her that Doris Ann might disapprove of the moonshine component of her cultural adventure. An alcoholic brother had caused Doris Ann to take on a near evangelical opposition to drink. Since it was in a state park, the Hemlock Lodge served no alcoholic beverages. It was the perfect place of employment for Doris Ann.

Miranda nodded a goodbye and resumed pacing in front of the fireplace, peering at everyone who walked into Hemlock Lodge. Mentally, she reviewed the various ways her business could fail. Like a threatening storm, the worries returned to plague her. One of them was the situation she faced right now—no one would show up.

The door swished open to admit a family of five with two toddlers and an infant in a stroller so large that it looked like it could comfortably hold a baby elephant.

This is absolutely horrible. No one will show up on the first day. I’m a failure.

Finally, at five minutes past the official start of 9:30 a.m., a well-groomed, tall, almond-skinned man walked over with his hand stretched out. “Hi, you must be the painting instructor. I’m Joe Creech from Dothan, Alabama,” he said in a soft Southern tone. He drew his hand through close-cropped jet-black curls with a distinctive white patch of hair over his right eye.

“Welcome, Joe.” Miranda shook his hand too hard and with too many pumps. “Here’s your badge and a backpack with everything you’ll need out on the trail over to our lookout at Lover’s Leap. You’re a long way from home. If you don’t mind my asking, what brings you here?”

Really? Try to stop chattering.

“I’ve received an exploratory grant from my university to support my doctoral research. Mainly, I’m going to look through the town hall records to gather income and population data.” Joe pinned the badge to the front of his green plaid flannel shirt. “I’ll be here for a couple of weeks.”

“You know the trail is classified as challenging?”

Joe tilted his head back and laughed easily. “Yes, I read that on your website.” He patted his round belly. “I’m actually in pretty good shape. I’m not decrepit, yet. I have quite a few more years to go before retirement. I’ll be fine.” Then he wandered over to the huge windows to watch the bird feeding stations installed along the sidewalk on the cliff side of the lodge.

Popping in from around the corner by the elevators, a young couple holding hands nearly walked into the low bentwood coffee table before looking away from each other. The slim, fair-haired young woman put a hand over her mouth. “Oops, excuse me, I wasn’t paying attention. Are you the instructor for the painting class?”

“Yes, I’m your group leader, Miranda Trent.” She shuffled through the badges in her hand and drew out two. “You must be Mr. and Mrs. Hoffman, the newlyweds.”

The petite bride looked at her equally blond husband. “That’s the first time we’ve been called that.” She clapped her hands together. “Mr. and Mrs. Hoffman. I love the sound of that. It’s so romantic.”

The young man flushed to his ears, looked away from his bride, and turned to Miranda. “Call us Laura and Brian, please. We’re from Akron, Ohio.”

Brian smiled weakly and took the badges from Miranda. He pinned a badge to Laura’s neon pink sweatshirt. She followed that by rising up on her tiptoes with a leg kicked up and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. He blushed a deeper rose and pinned the badge onto his own sweatshirt. Oblivious, Laura dragged her new husband over to the loveseat, where she plopped down and pulled him beside her. She grabbed his hand in both of hers.

“Is this the painting class?” said a fortyish woman in designer jeans accompanied by another plump woman in similar jeans. Both wore red Converse shoes.

“Welcome to the Daniel Boone National Forest,” said Miranda. “You must be Kelly Davis and Linda Sanders—all the way from New York City.”

Kelly took both badges. “That’s us.”

Miranda looked down the short corridor to the entry door and didn’t see anyone else. She had one more client in the class. The sequencing of the events meant that her schedule was tight, and any delays could cascade into a timetable disaster. She needed to leave the lodge right now and get out on the trail to keep from using up all her slack time.

If he doesn’t show, I’ll have to refund his money and there goes any profit. With only five clients, I’ll barely break even. First lesson learned—allow a lot more time for gathering everyone together before the hike.

Looking at her watch to confirm that it was more than fifteen minutes past the class start time, Miranda stepped over to the reception desk. “Doris Ann, I’m expecting one more client. He hasn’t arrived, but we need to get out there on the trail. Could you do me a big favor and give him his badge along with a backpack? Just tell him to follow the markers for the Original Trail and then follow the number nine Laurel’s Ridge Trail out to Lover’s Leap.”

“Sure, I can do that. I’ll mark up a map and send him on his way.”

Miranda felt a sense of pride. The one thing you could count on from country folk is that they are eternally helpful, the good ones anyway.

Her jaw clenched, Miranda picked up her backpack and motioned to her class. Five clients would be a break-even day for her business—not a horrible start. “We’ve got to get on the trail. Follow me.”

Saturday Morning, View of Lover’s Leap

If those towering cliffs could speak, Miranda thought they would have told her to take her clumsy, noisy, clueless clients back down to Hemlock Lodge, instantly refund their Paint & Shine cultural adventure fee, and direct them to move back to the city at once. Luckily for her, cliffs don’t speak—they merely hint at danger through silent looming menace.

The clients stood as mute as statues at the trail’s end. It was common to be awestruck by the beauty of the deadly view. Miranda gazed at Lover’s Leap and for the millionth time lost herself in the stacked rocks and whispering pines. The group managed the steep climb up to Natural Bridge and stood at the end of the sandstone arch. The main trail continued to a stunning overlook.

Joe was barely out of breath. Only Linda seemed to struggle a bit. But after quickly crossing the flat arch over the valley, she gulped down half her water and recovered her breath in good time. “Why didn’t you warn me we would be so high? I’m afraid of heights.”

“I’m so sorry. I’ll add that to the flyer for the future.”

After taking yet another unnecessary head count, Miranda turned to face her little class. She felt a bubbling gurgle in her gut.

Goodness, I’m way more nervous than I thought I would be. Teaching is not going to be a piece of cake, but I’ve got to do this if I want to make this business a success.

Miranda took a long deep breath and cleared her throat.

“I scouted out this large clearing just a few steps over here to the right of the view. It’s roomy enough for all of us to paint.” Miranda walked along the cliff trail a few yards and slipped the backpack off her shoulders and placed it in a leaf-littered space about ten feet from the cliff’s edge. “This is where we’ll paint our landscapes. I’m going to set up right over here. So, each of you choose a spot behind me where you can see my canvas and still have a view of Lover’s Leap.”

“This is so beautiful,” said Joe Creech. “It looks a little bit like the Ozark Mountains. I feel right at home.”

Miranda pulled two folded easels from her backpack. “Oh, I almost forgot. Don’t block the trail. This is one of the more popular hikes.” She unfolded and stood up two easels. She placed a blank canvas on one and a finished painting of Lover’s Leap on the other. “I always stand while I paint, but if you want, you can sit on your canvas bag. The easels will adjust to either height.”

“Sweetie,” whispered Laura to Brian loud enough for Miranda to hear. “Let’s put our bags close together and sit in the back away from the others.” She took her groom by the hand and they fashioned themselves a little nest area.

Now that they were about to paint, Miranda smiled with confidence. “We’re using a quick-dry acrylic paint. I’ll squirt puddles of the colors we’re going to use onto your paper pallets. Use the mason jar for washing out your brushes. Put the jar on the ground and put your three brushes inside it. For any of you experienced artists, don’t worry about damaging your brushes by keeping them in the water. These are student grade acrylic brushes. Definitely not the kind Rembrandt would use. We’re only going to be out here for about an hour. Trust me, your water cup is the safest and cleanest place for them.”

Each of her clients finally claimed a painting spot in the clearing. There was a good deal of friendly chatter as they juggled and jostled on the narrow path. It was a good sign. A happy class was easy to teach. She noticed that Joe looked a little lost.

After they settled and placed a blank canvas on the shelf of their easels, Miranda took a large bottle of water and poured two inches into each mason jar. “Just for fun but mostly for clarity, I’ve named your brushes Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear. Can you guess which one is which?”

There were giggles and groans through the group.

“Let’s get up in the front,” said Kelly to Linda. “I love the colors of the trees, especially the bright yellow and vivid red. It’s breathtaking and I want to be closer.”

Miranda grabbed her six-pack of paint bottles nestled in a cardboard soda carrier. Each color was held in a large ketchup-type bottle about the size of a one-quart milk container. She squirted a generous glob of each color onto everyone’s palettes.

“First, we’ll lay in the s. . .