Pork Chopped to Death: The Cast Iron Skillet Mystery Series, #7

Table of Contents

Map of Leavensport

Pork Chopped to Death

Copyright

Dedication

The Leavensport Crew

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Recipes

Cast Iron Cashew Chicken Noodle

Pudding Up With Relations Iron Skillet Hot Fudge Pudding Cake

Summer Fruit Skillet Cobbler

From the Author

Punkin Strudel Mayhem Blurb

Chapter One

Other Books by this Author

Map of Leavensport, Ohio

One can’t build little white picket fences to keep nightmares out. ~Anne Sexton

Pork Chopped to Death

Book 7 in The Cast Iron Skillet Mystery Series

Jodi Rath

Published by MYS ED LLC

PO Box 349

Carroll, OH 43112

jrath@columbus.rr.com

First Printing July 23, 2021

Copyright © Jodi Rath—MYS ED LLC, 2021

All Rights Reserved

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the internet or any other means without the publisher's permission are illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the authors’ rights is appreciated.

https://www.jodirath.com

Note from the Publisher: The recipes contained in this book are to be followed precisely as written. Be aware that oven temperatures vary. The publisher and author are not responsible for your specific health or allergy needs that may require medical supervision. The publisher and author are not responsible for any adverse reactions to the recipes contained in this book or series.

Cover Design by Karen Phillips at Phillips Covers, www.PhillipsCovers.com

Edited by Rebecca Grubb at Sterling Words, www.sterlingwords.com

Formatted by Merry Bond at Anessa books, http://anessabooks.com

Dedication

This book is dedicated to everyone who has ever felt alienated for one reason or another. This is a strange term to me—alienated—yet I readily admit that many have found me to be odd, weird, or abnormal. It’s unpleasant, but I think that most people have felt this way at some point in their lives.

People tend to form groups based on similarities and, in turn, oftentimes those groups alienate others who don’t have the same values and opinions that they do. We all do it—it’s called being human. But it becomes a moral failure when we become closed-minded and show no level of tolerance for others. People in power often marginalize those who don’t measure up to their standards or expectations or those they deem not good enough.

The last several decades of my life has been dedicated to teaching teenagers. The subject I taught was high school English, but I found over time I ended up spending more time teaching lessons on communication and diffusing conflicts that stemmed from these alienations. Because of that, one of the themes that runs through this series is diversity. Many of my previous students, who are now adults, have become my readers and friends. It’s important to me that they are ALL represented in this series.

I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that things are beginning to heat up between the villagers of Leavensport and the city dwellers. Be sure to pay attention to which characters want to bring peace—in our real society, these people are often marginalized or looked down upon when, in reality, they offer so much for all of us to learn from.

While the people in Leavensport and Tri-City will continue to be hard-headed and stubborn, only time will tell if they can learn from past mistakes, make amends, and figure out how to come together, or if they will repeat history and remain divided instead of united.

The Leavensport Crew

Two Protagonists:

Jolie Tucker-Milano-Co-owner of Cast Iron Creations, born in the village, best friend of Ava, granddaughter of Opal, daughter of Patty.

Ava Martinez-Co-owner of Cast Iron Creations, born in the village, best friend of Jolie, girlfriend of Delilah, sister of Lolly, daughter of Sophia and Thiago.

Jolie Tucker’s Family:

Grandma Opal-Jolie’s grandma, housewife who helped Jolie and Ava start Cast Iron Creations with her cast-iron skillet recipes.

Aunt Fern-Jolie’s wacky, unpredictable aunt, sister to Patty, man-hungry.

Patty-Jolie’s mom.

Eddie-uncle to Jolie. He, wife Shelly, and their five kids were estranged from the family for decades.

Wylie-uncle to Jolie.

Detective Mick Meiser-Jolie’s husband, from Tri-City, transferred career to Leavensport.

Ava Martinez’s Family:

Thiago Martinez-Ava’s dad; her family lived in Leavensport her entire life but are from Santo Domingo and Theo had to relocate to the Dominican Republic for work several years ago.

Sophia Martinez-Ava’s mom

Lolly Sanchez-Ava’s sister.

Theo Sanchez-Lolly’s husband

Delilah Sampson-Martinez-Sister of Bradley, village artist, wife of Ava.

Detective Mick Meiser AKA Milano family:

Maria Milano-Mick’s sister

Maddox Milano-Mick’s dad

Maya Milano-Mick’s mom

Imelda-Italian princess who is a love interest from Mick’s past.

Leavensport Villagers:

Bradley-Brother of Delilah, village journalist.

Tad and Loreen Sampson-Delilah and Bradley’s parents

Chief Teddy Tobias-Police chief of Leavensport and born in the village, best friend of Keith.

Harvey Tobias-Teddy’s dad.

Keith-Ex-boyfriend of Jolie, born in the village, best friend of Teddy—now, an officer of Leavensport.

Lydia-Jolie’s frenemy, village nurse, best friend of Betsy, born in the village.

Lory-Lydia’s mom.

Karl-Lydia’s dad.

Betsy-Owns Chocolate Capers, best friend of Lydia, born in the village.

Bobby Zane-new principle of the Leavensport Lions High School—silent partner in Carlos’s upcoming new restaurant, Carlos’ Hot Tamales.

Nina Sanchez—Mother of Luis and owns a new bakery in town.

Mayor Nalini-mayor of Leavensport, Lahiri is his niece.

Abbey-Mayor Nalini’s assistant

Lia-Nestle’s ex-wife who is undercover

Devonte-knows who Lia is and protects her

Tom Costello—grocer in Leavensport; dating Grandma Opal

Tabitha-FBI and therapist of Jolie and Mick

Mary-Mirabelle’s mom and Carlos new wife

Carlos-Assistant manager at Cast Iron Creations, married to Mary, Mirabelle’s stepdad.

Mirabelle and Spy-Young woman with Down Syndrome in her twenties with a seeing-eye dog, Spy.

Ryder Chen-new chef taking over for Carlos at Cast Iron Creations—currently in training.

Tri-City Residents

Jackson Nestle-Unscrupulous political associate of Mayor Cardinal from Tri-City

Caleb and Asher-works for Nestle’s Construction Company

Stella-Owns Ralph & Stella’s New York Pizza Pie.

Chapter One

Leavensport Lions are LIARS!!!!!

Seeing the graffiti, my shoulders slumped over as I pulled my car into my parking spot for work. Ava, several town members, and I had just cleaned up the walls of the buildings in the art district from the last wave of spray paint.

Normally, summertime in Leavensport, Ohio was hot and humid but beautiful, with lush trees, blue skies, and the sun shining down on our quaint little village. The villagers were typically dressed in tank tops, shorts, with flip-flops and ball caps or floppy sun hats, sunglasses shading their lively, happy-go-lucky eyes as they headed to the center of town to splash in the community pool.

This year, many were still dressed the same, yet a dark cloud seemed to loom over the town with hostile graffiti threatening our tidy little white-picket-fenced world.

I looked at my haggard face in the rearview mirror. I had no make-up on, my jawline was so puffy I had actual jowls, and my ponytail was matted. I hauled my legs—with ankles swollen three times their normal size—out of the car. Then I grunted as I attempted to heave myself into a standing position while weighed down by my stomach, with Phil and Lil, our little punkins, growing inside.

I gave my bump a pep talk. Come along, you two, and please try to keep the kicking to a minimum today, okay? Mommy’s not sure how she will make it another three months with all this kicking and extra weight that I’m lugging around. I rubbed my belly with one hand and put the other on my lower back that was in constant pain now that I’d gained an extra twenty-five pounds. My doc, Dr. La Flesche, instructed me to begin eating an additional six hundred calories a day, seeing that my body was housing fraternal twins.

Can you BELIEVE they did it AGAIN? Ava came storming out of the restaurant, hands splayed in the air, eyes bulging, looking at the newest graffiti. I mean, this is getting ridiculous.

All of the businesses have cameras set up now, Ava. We’ll figure out who is behind the graffiti soon enough.

It doesn’t matter. I already checked our cameras. All of them are covered head to toe in black outfits and masks and gloves and sunglasses. They even waved to the cameras, Ava said through gritted teeth. The fact they wrote ‘Leavensport Lions’ makes me think it’s teens. Tri-City punks!

The majority of villagers blamed residents of the nearby city for the graffiti. Tensions had been building between the urbanites and villagers since Ralph, who owned the city’s New York-style pizza shop, was poisoned at a festival in our town last fall. Then, over the holiday season, Ava and I found some tunnels leading from the city to Leavensport which seemed to hint at something criminal, or at least nefarious, going on between the two areas. There had been a lot of speculation that the increasing gentrification was causing urban sprawl in our town. There had been a quiet battle building up recently that might finally be boiling over.

Ava, no one knows for sure who’s doing this. I know everyone is assuming it has to do with the recent conflicts between the villagers and our local metropolitans, but it’s not good to blame with no proof.

When did you become an owl?

Huh? I pursed my overly chapped lips, causing them to crack even more.

Wisdom. Your little pumpkins are making you sensible, oh wise one. Ava brought her hands together and bowed before me, then stood up quickly, moaning and rubbing her preggo belly.

Punkins, I said without thought.

What?

Not puMpkins but puNkins. I over-emphasized the difference, tightening my lips.

That makes no sense at all, Ava growled.

Don’t get angry. Jeesh! And yes, it does. I crossed my arms. Mick’s grandfather called him punkin when he was little and he’s the only man in his family that he admires. So, punkins, I stuck my chin out.

Sorry, I get overheated quickly lately with my little duckling. Ava rubbed her belly.

You and I are some pair. Who knew pregnancy was so trying? I feel like moms need to somehow warn future moms of what they are in for, I said, placing a hand on the back of my purple maternity dress and arching my spine further than needed to stretch it out as I walked, making me look like a slow-moving, gigantic, purple weeble wobble. Except, unlike weeble wobbles, I was known to fall down.

Well, at least part of the graffiti is on the windows, so you and I can use a razor to scrape it off again, Ava grumbled, referring to Delilah, Mick, my entire family, and nurse Lydia yelling at us for not realizing we shouldn’t be using solvents while pregnant.

It will all get figured out over time, I said, humming quietly to myself as I started the coffee pots. Then I walked back to the kitchen to get the Hot Fudge Pudding Cake prepped for the dessert today. Betsy, who ran Chocolate Capers in town, had made a three-tiered-chocolate pudding that I was using in our chocolate cake recipe as part of the cross-selling our village participated in to help out each other’s businesses.

You being so Zen is making me antsy, Ava yelled back before opening up for the day.

Magda came in a few minutes after we opened and said good morning as she got her apron and order pad and hustled toward the front to help Ava.

Oh, Magda, I yelled before she got through the swinging doors.

What’s up?

I just heated up the regulars’ breakfasts. Can you carry the to-go boxes up for when they arrive, please?

Of course! See, you don’t have preggo brain yet! Magda exclaimed.

I jerked my head back, feeling like I had been slapped in the face. Have I been forgetful or overly emotional lately? I tried to keep tears from welling up. I was an emotional person before I was pregnant. Now, it was off the charts!

What, oh NO, Jolie. Ava just jokingly told me to be careful because you had mush brain this morning, Magda started the statement strong, then choked off the last words as she watched the emotions on my face go from sappy sorrowful to irritated. Sorry, she said before turning to dash up front.

I took a deep Zen breath, breathing in the good and exhaled out Ava’s rudeness. Pregnancy made me more emotional than normal, so I’d taken it upon myself to watch some YouTube videos on how Zen practice can help me find peace and calm. But that was typical Ava. She and I were the queens of verbal sparring and now that we both were pregnant, I’m sure we’d make an excellent reality TV show. Also, I felt sorry for all the people in our lives and had to tolerate both of us every day while pregnant—like Magda.

I combined the dry ingredients of flour, sugar, cocoa, salt, and baking powder into the bowl, trying to focus on measuring carefully, since I was tripling the recipe to serve the lunch crowd and to be able to take some to our monthly village meeting tonight.

I couldn’t believe Carlos was only going to be with us for a few more months. Ava and I needed to start thinking about hiring a new chef who had the potential of becoming an assistant manager. I started mixing in the wet ingredients of milk, butter, and vanilla. I’d been trying to prep more for Carlos because I knew he was working overtime with a new baby at home, overseeing the building of his new Mexican restaurant, Carlos’ Hot Tamales, and he was so stressed about leaving us around the time both Ava and I were due with the babies.

I was pretty stressed out about that myself. But Bea Seevers, my family, and other villagers had already promised to help out as much as possible if we hadn’t found the right fit for a replacement by then so we would be comfortable leaving the restaurant for a month or so while we figured out how to be mothers.

I finally got to a stopping point and went to the restroom for about the twentieth time that morning. Hey, I’m going to get the razors from my purse and work on the window a little while there is a lull, I told Ava. She was finishing up with a customer and nodded toward me.

I found the blades and went out front to work on scraping