Merry Murder

A Cookie’s Creamery Mystery

by

Kathleen Suzette

Copyright © 2022 by Kathleen Suzette. All rights reserved. This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination, or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author or publisher.

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Table of Contents

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

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter One

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CHLOE HUNG THE LAST glass Christmas ball on the tree in the front window of the ice cream shop. “Come on, Santa, we’re ready.”

I laughed. “Right? We’re in the Christmas mood, and all we need is Santa to stop by.”

“You girls are doing a lovely job of decorating,” Chloe’s mom, Cookie, said from behind the front counter. She ran a white cloth over the top of the counter, but she needn’t have bothered. It was Black Friday, and we hadn’t had even one customer stop by. The new Christmas flavored ice creams couldn’t even draw them in this morning. Eggnog, gingerbread, peppermint, and frozen cocoa. Each was tastier than the last, so that certainly wasn’t the issue. The issue was that it was almost December, and ice cream was the last thing on most people’s minds, in spite of the fact we were on the central coast of California, and it wasn’t that cold.

I nodded. “Thanks, Cookie. I think it turned out great.” Cookie had hired someone to paint the windows in a Christmas scene filled with snow that we were never going to see in this town, but it was darling anyway. A large Christmas tree sat on a wooden box we had covered in a white sheet and cotton drape to give the illusion of a snow-covered hill, and we had decorated the tree with red and white ornaments. White twinkle lights lined the front window, and the inside of the shop got a lovely greenery treatment, accented with more red ornaments. Bing Crosby sang “White Christmas,” and the weather even cooperated as much as it could by giving us a chilly, foggy morning. No one could say that we hadn’t set the Christmas mood as well as we could.

“I love it all,” Chloe said, gazing at the tree.

We were quiet as we watched shoppers outside the window go from shop to shop. No one even glanced in our direction. Things had been slow since the weather had cooled down, and people got into the mood for the holidays. But I was afraid things were about to get slower, and I wasn’t sure how the shop would survive.

“I’m sorry, girls. We should have closed the shop down and gone Christmas shopping. It’s not too late. We can just lock up and go,” Cookie finally said.

“They’ll be in after a while,” Chloe said. “They always come in after they’ve gotten their shopping done.”

“Do things always slow down this much during the holidays?” I asked. I almost didn’t want to ask, but I was worried. Cookie had already shortened the hours the shop was open and laid off some of the other employees. I knew I was next. Not that I could blame her. I was more concerned with whether Cookie and Chloe could survive this season and keep the shop going. During the summer, things were hopping around here, but this slowdown was worrying.

Cookie nodded. “People still eat ice cream and cookies in the wintertime, but it does seem to be a little slower than usual.” She forced herself to smile. “But some years are like that. We’ve learned to hang in there because the season will always change, and things will be good again.”

Chloe nodded. “The seasons always change. Spring and summer will be here before we know it, and things will be busy again.”

I bit my lower lip. “Cookie, if you can’t afford to keep me on—”

“Nonsense,” Cookie cut me off. “You are family. Everything will be fine.”

I nodded, but I knew the truth. The last thing I wanted was to become a burden that Cookie couldn’t afford.

Cookie’s husband had died when Chloe was six, and it had been the two of them running the ice cream shop ever since. Chloe had been my best friend since we were little, and them giving me this job had been a blessing, but I didn’t want it to turn into a burden for them.

“What we need is to focus on the cookies. More than we normally do, I mean,” Chloe suddenly said, turning toward the bakery case. At Cookie’s Creamery, every customer got their choice of a free cookie with each ice cream purchase. They were a delicious treat all on their own and many customers came in just to buy cookies.

“That’s a good idea,” I said, going over to the bakery case. We had eight flavors of cookies in there now. “Maybe we could make a few more flavors and sell them in gift boxes.”

“And we could sell cookie dough!” Chloe said. “We can scoop the dough into balls and sell them by the dozen. People could bake them when they want a nice fresh cookie.”

Cookie’s eyes lit up. “We could do a little local advertising. Maybe folks would buy some as gifts for Christmas.”

“It’s a great idea,” I said. “And the ice cream—we could pack it into decorated plastic tubs. I eat ice cream during the winter. Other people do too. We just need to dress it up for Christmas.”

“Maybe we could make a few new flavors of ice cream,” Cookie said. “Christmassy flavors.”

Chloe nodded. “We can do this. Mom, we’re going to go shopping and see if we can find some gift boxes and containers for the ice cream.”

She nodded. “You go ahead. I think I can handle things around here.” She looked around the empty shop and chuckled.

Chloe turned to me. “Let’s go.”

I took my red Christmas apron off and hung it up. “Let’s go.”

Chapter Two

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“WE’RE GETTING A LATE start to increase Christmas sales,” I said as Chloe started her car. Brittany the wonder car was stubborn on cold, foggy days, and this morning she did not disappoint. It took four tries before she roared to life, then sputtered and died. Chloe glanced at me, then tried again, and she sprang to life again, promising to be good this time.

“I know. But if we can get the word out that we’re doing some new things, it will at least help a little.” There was a container store downtown, and Chloe headed there. 

We walked inside, and I immediately spotted a display of Chinese takeout boxes decorated in Christmas colors. “Look at these.”

“They’re perfect. And there are three sizes. We can put different amounts of cookies in each one and pack them fresh when the customers buy them.” She picked up two packs of each size, and I grabbed a shopping cart.

“I love it. Now we need freezer packs for the cookie dough and the ice cream.” We pushed the cart down the aisles, and within twenty minutes, we had what we needed. Chloe talked the store manager into giving her a discount because she was buying for a business. I was impressed with her ability to negotiate. We also picked up some ribbon, Christmas tags, and decorated waxed paper and tissue to put into the boxes.

“Well, that was easier than I thought it would be,” I said as we placed the shopping bags into Brittany’s trunk.

She nodded, then looked at me. “Maddie, between you and me, things aren’t great at the shop. It’s worse than you think it is. Mom doesn’t like to talk about it.”

I nodded. “I can see how few customers we’ve had in the past weeks. Is this the worst it’s been?”

She thought about it. “Maybe. 2013 was slow, too. But suppliers are raising their prices, and that’s making it even harder. We really need these new ideas to work.”

“You know I’ll do whatever I can to help out. And Chloe, don’t feel bad if you have to lay me off. It’s fine. I still have some money from my severance from my last job. I’ll be fine.”

She nodded. “Thanks. But I know Mom will do everything she can to keep that from happening. You know how she is.”

“I know. And I’m serious about this. I don’t want to be a burden.”

She nodded, and we turned to get into the car.

“Well, Maddie and Chloe! How are you girls doing?” someone said from behind us.

I jumped and turned to see Annalisa Worthington. How had she snuck up on us like that?

“We’re great,” Chloe said. “How are you, Annalisa?”

She grinned, removing her gloves and slipping them into the piece of luggage on her shoulder that passed for a purse. “I am doing wonderfully. It’s almost Christmas, and Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I love all the cheer and the bright colors. The only thing that’s missing is snow. Oh, how I wish we could get just a day or two of snow.” She absently ran one red-manicured fingernail along Brittany’s peeling trunk paint.

“Snow would be a lot of fun at Christmas,” I agreed. Annalisa was tall with long blond hair that was straight as a board. At forty-two, I didn’t think she had ever had a real job, nor had she married. Her family had money, and she spent her days either spending it or trying to help the less fortunate, as she put it. 

She nodded. When she smiled, she revealed blindingly white teeth. “Snow would make things perfect. Did you see the new decorations on Main Street? I arranged for the city to buy those. I thought they were lovely.”

I nodded. The new decorations consisted of wide red ribbons wrapped around the streetlamps and greenery tied to the tops of the light poles. The city had long ago installed ornamented light poles that resembled streetlights from the turn of the last century, and the ribbons and greenery with twinkle lights were a lovely addition. I admired it when the city put it up last week. Hearing that Annalisa had talked them into it didn’t surprise me.

“It’s lovely,” I said.

She nodded. “Girls, I have a favor to ask. We’re setting up Santa’s workshop in the town square again, and we need elves. Would the two of you like to step in and fill the remaining spots?”

I shook my head. “No.” The last thing I wanted was to be an elf.

She frowned. “No? Why not? Don’t you have any Christmas spirit?”

I glanced at Chloe, who stood there wide-eyed without saying anything. I turned back to her. “Because I don’t want to.” I’d read that it was best to be straightforward when answering and not go into reasons why.

There was silence, and it took everything in me not to sprint to the front door of the car and jump in.

“But we need at least two more elves, and you two girls would be perfect. You get to wear an elf costume and make the children happy. All you have to do is smile, take pictures with the kids, and hand out candy canes while Santa does all the real work. It’s only for one night a week unless one of the other elves gets sick.”

Pictures? Proof that I had once worn a green elf costume? No.

I smiled. “No, thank you.” Her one night a week would turn into a lot more than that.

She sighed, crossing her arms in front of herself. “Are you kidding me? You don’t want to bring joy to the children? Why don’t you want to do that? I thought you played Snow White at Disneyland. You’d be the perfect elf. Chloe, I need the two of you. Can’t you talk your grinchy friend into doing it?”

Chloe swallowed. “You know, Annalisa, we have so much work to do at the ice cream shop that I don’t think we can swing it. Thank you for asking, though.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. Chloe knew just what to say. And calling me grinchy wasn’t going to get me to volunteer any quicker.

Annalisa shook her head disdainfully. “I don’t know what this generation is coming to. People who don’t volunteer to make the less fortunate’s lives better will never get anywhere in life. Volunteering should be a way of life for everyone.”

“Okay, we’ll do it,” Chloe said.

My head whipped around to look at her. Had she lost her mind?

Annalisa broke into a smile. “Thank you, Chloe. I knew I could depend on you. The first meeting is tonight at six o’clock at the town square. I’ll see you there.”

I was still staring at Chloe. What had she just done?

She glanced at me. “Under one condition. No, two conditions.”

Annalisa’s eyes narrowed. “What conditions?”

Chloe took a deep breath. “Condition one is we’ll do it only if my mother can spare us when you need us. We don’t expect to have to do it every evening. We don’t have that kind of time. And condition two is that you allow us to hand out coupons for the shop. We have big plans to expand our cookie business, and we’d like the parents of the kids to have a coupon for cookies and ice cream.”

Now I knew why she had agreed. Chloe had become a businesswoman at six when her dad died, and she was used to thinking on her feet.

Annalisa shook her head. “I don’t think that would be right. We’re all volunteering, and you can’t expect to make a profit from the children who want to see Santa.”

“We’ll give each child a cookie,” I said. “You supply the candy canes, and we’ll supply a cookie.” I had no idea how many kids would be there each night, but we could manage a cookie, couldn’t we?

Chloe smiled. “That’s an excellent idea. Each kid gets a cookie and coupon. What do you say? If we give them a cookie, it’s not like they aren’t getting something. There’s no pressure for them to come to the shop and buy anything.”

Annalisa considered this. “It’s not a bad idea. Maybe we could get some of the other businesses to participate, and we could give the children a goodie bag of some sort. I’ll think about this. But you’ll need to be there tonight at six o’clock.”

“We’ll be there,” Chloe said.

Annalisa headed off to strong-arm someone else into volunteering, and I turned to Chloe. “That was either a brilliant idea or a disaster in the making. I’ll donate ingredients to make the cookies, if your mom thinks we can’t manage it.”

She shook her head, and we got into the car. “I think it’s a great idea, and it will work. One cookie per kid. That’s not going to be too terribly expensive. I don’t think. We can handle it. And the coupons will hopefully bring people into the shop to buy more cookies.” She started Brittany, and she must have agreed that our idea was brilliant because she roared to life on the first try.

Chapter Three

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“MOM, YOU WON’T BELIEVE what Annalisa Worthington did to us,” Chloe said as soon as we walked into the ice cream shop. We each held two bags with the items we had bought at the container store.

I stopped and sniffed the air. “What is that wonderful smell?”

Cookie grinned and held up a plate of cookies. “I’ve been experimenting with my cookie recipes. Snickerdoodles. I thought we could hand out samples as soon as a customer comes into the shop. Maybe it will entice them to buy some more.” She turned to Chloe as she set her bags on the counter. “What did Annalisa do?”

“She practically blackmailed us into being elves. Elves!” Chloe shrugged off her sweater and went to the backroom to hang it up.

Cookie looked at me. “Blackmailed?”

“Blackmail isn’t the right word for it. More like twisting our arms and trying to make us feel guilty, because there was no way we were going to do it willingly.”

“She’s so pushy,” Chloe said, returning to the front. “But we finagled some free advertisement out of it. I told her that if we were going to be elves, then she had to allow us to hand out coupons for cookies and ice cream to the kids.”

“And I told her she needed to let us hand out a cookie to each child along with the coupon. If that sounds like it will be too expensive, then I’ll buy the ingredients to make the cookies,” I said, tying my apron around my waist.

Cookie’s eyes lit up. “Wait. You girls are going to be elves, and you’re going to hand out samples and coupons to everyone?”

We nodded. “What do you think?” Chloe asked.

Her eyes widened. “I think it’s brilliant. When people get a free sample, it makes them more inclined to buy something. We need to sit down and work out which cookies to make and how to package them.”

I smiled at Chloe. “This is going to be fun. I don’t want to be an elf, but if we can give cookies away, make people happy, and bring in more business, then I’m all for it.

Chloe nodded. “Me too.”

***

“ALL RIGHT PEOPLE, GATHER around, gather around,” Annalisa announced. She was wearing a red, green, and white Christmas sweater and a long black skirt. “Come on, come on, the faster we get this done, the faster we get to go home, where it’s cozy and warm.”

I glanced at Chloe as we moved closer. Annalisa was standing on the platform where Santa and his elves would sit to listen to the children’s requests. I had to hand it to whoever had decorated it because it looked nice. There were two large velvet-covered chairs with dark wood trim and a decorated Christmas tree with three smaller trees on the platform. A large red throw rug sat beneath the chairs, and there was a makeshift stall at the edge of the platform where the reindeer would hang out. Along the back was a cardboard mural painted to look like a workshop with elves making toys. It was cozy and brightly lit with Christmas lights.

“Now. I’ll hand out your schedules, and you can pick up a costume before you leave.”

“Annalisa, I don’t want to be a reindeer,” Kelly Green said. “I want to be an elf.”

Annalisa frowned. “Kelly, everyone can’t be an elf. You agreed to be a reindeer.” She turned back to the small crowd. “Now, I wanted to announce that we are going to do things differently this year. Instead of the elves handing out just a candy cane, we’re going to hand out a goody bag. Some of the local merchants will be donating items to put into the bags. That’s why tomorrow night we’ll need to meet here Thursday evening to fill bags. Santa arrives next Friday evening!”

Chloe and I glanced at each other. “Annalisa, exactly how many goody bags are we going to make?” Chloe asked.

She beamed. Her cheeks were pink, and while it was cold outside, I thought the pink was from the overuse of blush. “I think about five hundred should do it for the first weekend. We’ll have to reevaluate after that, and decide how many to make for the following weekends.”

A groan rose from the crowd. I felt a little sick. I hadn’t thought about real numbers when I said we should give a cookie away to each of the kids.

“I don’t get paid for this, you know,” Jed Davis grumbled.

Annalisa put her hands up. “Now, let’s remember why we’re doing this. There are plenty of needy children in Lilac Bay, and they won’t get much for Christmas. A chance to visit with Santa and receive a goody bag is going to be important to them.”

Bill Snell snorted. “Yeah, but what about the spoiled rich kids? They’ll come too and get that goody bag. Spoiled brats don’t deserve them.”

Bill was in his sixties, and I guessed he was playing Santa, along with Jed Davis. Neither of them were the jolliest of people, and I wondered why Annalisa didn’t try to coerce a happier person into playing Santa.

Annalisa sighed. “Bill, Santa never makes a distinction between the children. They’re all deserving of his attention.”

There was a titter from behind me, but I didn’t turn around to see who had done it. I guessed there were about twenty-five of us playing Santa, Mrs. Claus, elves, and reindeer. I doubted Annalisa had chosen any of us for our talents. We were just the hapless saps who couldn’t say no to her.

“What part are you two playing?” Bev Reade stepped closer to us and whispered.

“Elves,” I whispered back as Annalisa droned on about schedules and the importance of keeping them.

“Me too.” I glanced at Bev. She looked like she should probably be playing Mrs. Claus. She had to be close to sixty and was a bit matronly looking. I smiled at her and turned my attention back to Annalisa.

She turned to us. “Oh, Chloe and Maddie, get with me afterward about your donation for the goodie bags.”

Chloe nodded.

“I wish they would get someone else to run this thing,” Bev whispered.

I glanced at her and smiled. I didn’t want to say anything negative about Annalisa with her standing there in front of us.

“Now then, if you’ll get in line, Junie will hand out the costumes.”

Bev took off like a shot and pushed her way to the front, where Junie had a table with boxes of costumes on it.

“She’s eager,” Chloe hissed.

We went to the end of the line. “Isn’t she? Too bad Annalisa couldn’t come up with more people like her.”

“What?” Bev asked Junie. “That isn’t for me. I’m an elf. I’ve played elves for more than thirty years.”

We leaned past the people in front of us. Junie was holding up a red costume that I was assuming was for Mrs. Claus. Junie said something that I couldn’t make out.

Bev shook her head incredulously. “No. I don’t want that. That’s for old ladies.”

“Who are you calling old?” Sandra Cross said from the middle of the line. “I’m playing Mrs. Claus, and I’m not old.”

“Says you,” Bev said from the front of the line, without turning around.

“You are old!” Bill Snell said. “You don’t look like an elf.”

There was nervous laughter from the crowd as Bev turned back toward the line. “Shut your yap, Bill! You’re the only old fool here!”

Chloe and I looked at each other. Things were about to get wild with the Christmas folk.

“Now, Bev, you would look darling as Mrs. Claus,” Annalisa said as a murmur went through the crowd. “You’re perfect for the part.”

“I’m an elf!” Bev insisted.

“I’ve got to get home,” Bill grumbled. “I don’t have all evening for this. Just take the costume and get outta here!”

Annalisa shot Bill a look. “Bev, why don’t we step aside and talk about this?”

Bev stepped out of line while Junie continued handing out costumes. I was relieved when we finally got to the front of the line, and we got our costumes and a schedule.

“Wait. What are these?” I asked, holding up green booties with toes that curled up.

Junie grinned. “Exactly what they look like. They fit over your regular shoes.”

“Come on, let’s go,” I said to Chloe, and we headed back to the car, leaving Bev to try to convince Annalisa that she should be an elf.

“I thought things were going to come to blows for a minute there,” Chloe said.

“Me too.”

“Well, what do we have here?” Missy Schiff said, stepping into our path. “Don’t tell me you two volunteered to be an elf?”

I inhaled. Missy Schiff’s dark hair fell over her shoulder, and there was a glint in her eye. A mean glint. Missy had been a mean girl in high school, and I had been thrilled not to have seen her even once after we graduated.

I smiled. “That’s what it looks like, doesn’t it?”

She smirked. “The two of you couldn’t play elves if your life depended on it.”

Chloe shook her head. “I guess you could do it for us.”

“I’ll probably have to.”

I pushed past her and headed for the car. I wasn’t in high school, and I didn’t have to deal with her if I didn’t want to.

“Great,” Chloe muttered under her breath.

“It’ll be fine,” I promised. At least, I hoped so.

Chapter Four

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FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL days, we scrambled to make coupons and postcards. We had decided to spend a little money mailing postcards that had coupons on them to locals, in addition to handing out coupons to the kids. We also had to buy more supplies once Cookie had decided on which cookies to make. We were expanding the flavors of cookies to a dozen different kinds. Of those dozen flavors, we were selling six of them as frozen cookie dough. Mixing the dough and freezing them in scoops cut out the baking step, so it wasn’t quite as much work. That, at least, was a bonus.

And the ice cream wasn’t forgotten about. We now had peppermint stick, eggnog, gingerbread, cinnamon crunch, old-fashioned ribbon candy, rum raisin, and fudge chunk. We were excited. As the recent weeks had gone on, and business dwindled, a sort of sadness had come over us without our even realizing it. But now, with all the ideas we had come up with, we were excited. We turned the Christmas music up as we worked and sang along. This was going to be a fun Christmas season.

“Maddie, are your folks coming for Christmas?” Cookie asked while stirring raisins into the rum raisin ice cream.

I shut the mixer off. “I haven’t talked to my mother since Thanksgiving morning. She was pretty sure they were going to make it, but I need to call her and find out for sure.” My parents and sister lived in Arizona with both of my grandmothers. When my grandmothers’ health had declined, they had all made the move so they could take care of them. They had contemplated selling their house, but after I lost my job, I decided to move home, and that’s where I lived now.

She nodded. “That’s nice. I’d love to see them again. Maybe we can have Christmas dinner together?”

“I think that would be great. They would love that.” I glanced up at the clock. “It’s time to open. I’ll do it.”

I picked up a tray of snickerdoodles and carried them with me up front, placing them into the cookie display case. Next, I turned on the cocoa machine and unlocked the front door. Before I could get behind the counter, the door swung open. I turned at the sound of the jingling bell and smiled.

“Good morning, Noah. How are you?”

Noah Grayson was the local police detective. He smiled. “Hi, Maddie. I thought I would stop by and say hello and grab some cookies. But don’t tell my mom I’m eating cookies for breakfast.” He glanced at the ice cream freezers.

“Well, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve got hot cocoa and coffee now. To go with the cookies. And I won’t tell your mother.” Cookie already had the cocoa and coffee machine at home, and because we were selling it for a steal, we were keeping it simple. We put together a Christmas basket with sugar packets and tiny flavored creamers. If customers wanted fancy coffees, they’d have to go elsewhere, but having a cup of regular coffee with cookies would be appreciated by some.

His eyebrows shot up. “Oh, now you’re not playing fair. I had better get a cup of coffee, and why don’t you give me three of those gingerbread cookies?” He nodded at the cookie case. “Hey Maddie, I heard you were going to play an elf this year.”

I turned to look at him. “Who started that nasty rumor?”

“You aren’t?”

I shook my head and held a cup beneath the coffee machine, and pressed the button. “No, I am. It’s still a nasty rumor though. Chloe and I were coerced into it.”

He grinned. “Sounds like fun. Well, fun for everyone except for Bill Snell.”

I removed the cup from beneath the spigot and set it on the counter. “Cream? Sugar? And you’re right. Bill was grumpy last night when we had a meeting of the Christmas folk. I think that’s what I’ll call it. A meeting of the Christmas folk.”

“Both cream and sugar, please. And he’s dead.”

I gasped. “What?”

He nodded. “I got the call at three a.m. He was stabbed at the square. That’s why I’m here.”

“Wait. What? You’re here why?” I was still trying to take in the fact that Bill Snell was dead. Chloe and I had just seen him the night before, and it didn’t seem real.

He nodded. “An officer found him behind the platform. He thought it was a homeless person just looking for shelter from the foggy night, but it was Bill.”

I shook my head. “I don’t even know what to say to that.” I handed him the basket we had put creamers and sugar packets in. He took three creamers and tore the tops off, then poured them into his cup.

“Yeah, it was a surprise. He was going to be Santa, wasn’t he? I was wondering if anything happened last night during the meeting of the Christmas folk. Anything unusual?”

I nodded. “Yeah, he was going to be Santa. But nothing much happened. Not really. I did think it was a little odd for him to play Santa because it’s not like Bill could ever be accused of being jolly.”

He snorted as he stirred sugar into his coffee. “I second that.”

“Oh, but he and Bev Reade did get into an argument last night. Bev wanted to be an elf, but Annalisa thought she should be Mrs. Claus, and Bill said she was too old to be an elf. Bev got offended.” And then I thought about why he wanted to know. “But it’s not like Bev could have done anything. She’s a nice lady. She wouldn’t kill anyone.”

He nodded. “I know her. She’s nice.”

“Chloe was with me, but she won’t be in for another hour. Maybe she noticed something else. But if she did, she didn’t mention it. He’s really dead?”

He took a sip of his coffee. “He’s really dead.”

I went to the case that held the cookies, took out three gingerbread men, and put them into a small bag for him. “If you want to know what happened, you should talk to Annalisa Worthington.”

“Why is that?” he asked, moving down the counter as I went to the cash register to ring him up.

“Like I said, she practically coerced us into being elves. She probably had to do the same to everyone else to get them to participate.”

“Why is it that everyone loves Christmas, but no one wants to make others joyful?” He grinned at me.

“It’s the costumes. If you saw them, you would understand.”

He laughed. “I guess I better take a look at the costumes before making a snap judgment then.”

I nodded. “Exactly. The shoes have curly toes.”

He laughed harder. “Oh, Maddie, don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m going to have to take a picture of you in your costume.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “I dare you.”

He laughed again. “Well, I had better get back to work. I just wondered if you noticed anything last night. I’ll check into the argument with Bev. Anyone with any sense knows you don’t tell a woman she’s old.”

“That’s what I’m saying. He should have kept his mouth shut.”

He paid for his coffee and cookies. “I’m glad you’re carrying coffee now. I really needed this. I’ll talk to you later.”

“See you.”

I watched as the detective left. It didn’t make sense that someone had stabbed Bill. No one was happy about being there last night, but I didn’t think anyone was so unhappy that they would kill Santa.

Chapter Five

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WHEN CHLOE GOT TO THE shop, I filled her in on what Noah had told me about Bill’s murder. She stared at me, her mouth open just a bit.

“Wow,” she finally said.

“I know, right?”

She nodded. “I know he and Bev were cranky with one another, but I didn’t think it was that bad. I mean, it’s not like they threatened each other.”

Cookie shook her head as she scooped candy cane sugar cookie dough onto a baking pan. This was the cookie flavor we were going to give away to the kids in their goodie bags, and Cookie was getting a head start on things by freezing the dough ahead of time.

“I don’t know what gets into people. I get it that Christmas can be a tough time of year, but murder?” She sighed.

We were standing near the kitchen doorway and the bell over the door jingled. “I’ll get it.” I hurried out front, and Estelle Davis was standing at the counter. Estelle was one of our most loyal customers, and she was a lot of fun to talk to. “Hi, Estelle!”

“Good morning, Maddie. I hope you’re on your best behavior. Santa Claus will hear about it if you aren’t.” She laughed.

I chuckled. “I’m doing my best, Estelle, but it can be tough sometimes. What can I get for you? We’ve got coffee and cocoa, by the way.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “What? An ice cream shop that sells coffee and cocoa? Am I in heaven?”

I nodded and leaned forward. “Things are a little tough these days, so we decided that if we sold coffee and cocoa along with the cookies, it would help us over the rough patch.”

She sighed. “Things are tough all over. I heard the Lilac Bay sandwich company was going out of business.”

“Oh, no,” I said. “I hate to hear that.”

She nodded. “Me too. They make the best roast beef on rye sandwich I’ve ever eaten.” She glanced at the cookie display case. “I think I’d like two of your fudge chunk cookies and a cup of cocoa.”

“That’s a great combination of chocolate,” I said as I got a cup for her cocoa. Estelle was a self-professed chocoholic, and she never disappointed with her orders. The more chocolate, the better.

“It’s chilly outside,” she said. Estelle was wearing a heavy pink wool coat and a pink knit hat.

I smiled. “It is. But at least there’s no snow.

She nodded. “Maddie, I heard a rumor.”

I glanced at her as the cup filled with cocoa. “What kind of rumor?” I thought I already knew what it was, and I wondered if she had anything to add to what I knew. I held up an oversized marshmallow with plastic tongs, and she nodded.

“Bill Snell was murdered last night. Heard he was supposed to be Santa, too, but that’s ridiculous because he’s a cranky old grump.” She chuckled.

I grinned as I dropped the marshmallow into the cocoa and set the cup on the counter. “It’s true that he was murdered. And it’s also true that he was supposed to be Santa, believe it or not. Annalisa Worthington wrangled Chloe and me into being elves, and he and Jed Davis were playing Santa. We had our first meeting last night, and I was as surprised as you are that he was there, but even more surprised that he’s been murdered.”

She snorted. “I knew Bill since he was a kid. He was always a complainer and was never very friendly. Lisa Jefferson married him, but I don’t know what she saw in him. Poor thing must have suffered being married to him until she died a few years back.”

“So he was always that way? Grumpy?” I asked and got her cookies for her. I put them in a small bag and set them on the counter.

She nodded. “Yes. It was just his nature, I guess.”

“Do you know who might have wanted him dead?”

She thought about it. “Well, if Lisa were alive, I’d say her, since she put up with him for so many years, but I’m pretty sure she hasn’t returned from the dead.” She laughed. “Oh, sorry. I shouldn’t say things like that. But he did have issues with his daughter. Or rather, his stepdaughter. Missy Schiff. Do you know her?”

I inhaled. “Yes, Chloe and I went to school with her, and she’s going to be an elf at the square. That’s a shock too, because Missy isn’t the type.” At the sound of Missy’s name, Chloe appeared.

“Good morning, Estelle,” she said cheerily as she tied on her red Christmas apron.

“Good morning, Chloe.”

“Estelle and I were talking about Bill.”

Chloe nodded. “I overheard you. Missy was one of those girls who you tried to avoid in school because she was a mean girl. She was pretty, rich, and stuck up. And when she felt like it, she would torment kids mercilessly.”

Estelle nodded. “That sounds about right. What I was going to say was that she resented her mother for marrying Bill. Bill was a devoted patron of the county library when I worked there, and we talked sometimes. After I retired, we would run into one another from time to time, and he would make comments about Missy. He was frustrated because her biological father was a rich man, and he couldn’t compete, and Missy didn’t want to live with Bill. Jack Schiff owns several businesses, and he spoiled her. Still does. I think it’s because he felt guilty about his marriage breaking up. But I might be filling in the blanks on that one.” She shrugged.

“I think you might be right,” I said. “We know she was spoiled. She got a brand new sports car for her sixteenth birthday, and she loved to show it off at school.”

“So she resented Bill?” Chloe asked.

She nodded. “I heard Bill and his wife, Lisa, were on the verge of divorce at one time because of Missy’s behavior. Then Lisa got cancer and died. The poor thing. But by that time, Missy was almost twenty and was in college. I don’t think she ever spoke to Bill again.”

“That’s kind of sad,” I said. “Did Bill and Lisa ever have any kids together?”

She nodded. “Candace Snell. I think she must be eighteen or nineteen now. I don’t know what her relationship with her half-sister is like, though.”

I glanced at Chloe. I didn’t know Candace, but I had a feeling I might make her acquaintance soon.

“Candace worked here at the ice cream shop for a couple of summers while in high school,” Chloe said. “She’s a sweet girl.”

“Yes, I heard she was very nice,” Estelle said. “And now that you mention it, I do remember her working here.”

“I wonder why Missy would sign up to be an elf with Bill being Santa? Unless she and Annalisa had an agreement that she would only work with Jed Davis when he was playing Santa,” I said.

Chloe nodded. “That’s a good question. If she couldn’t stand Bill, she wouldn’t volunteer to work with him. right?”

“Exactly,” I agreed. “But maybe she had a reason that she wanted to be there.”

Estelle leaned forward. “I wouldn’t trust that one as far as I could throw her. Maybe the handsome detective should have a talk with her.”

I nodded and rang up Estelle’s cookies and cocoa. The last thing I wanted to do was talk to Missy Schiff. Chloe was right about her being a mean girl. But if it might give us insight into who killed Bill Snell, then it might be worth it.

Chapter Six

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WE STAYED LATE AT THE ice cream shop that evening to mix cookie dough. The candy cane drop cookies were tasty, as well as pretty, with red and green peppermint candies crushed up and mixed into the dough. They were also easy to make since they were a drop cookie. Attaching a coupon to the tiny, waxed paper bag we had chosen to put them in was a little more work, but we all thought it would be worth it.

We had just put our coats on to go home when we heard someone rattling the front door. “I wonder who that is?” I said, poking my head out of the kitchen. It took everything in me not to groan when I saw Annalisa at the door. She waved. Chloe stepped out with me.

“Oh,” she said under her breath when she saw her.

We both went to the door to unlock it. “Hi Annalisa,” I said. “What brings you out at this hour?”

“Oh, gosh, is it late?” She looked at her watch. “Well, look at that. It’s almost eight o’clock. I didn’t realize you closed so early.”

“With it being colder, we don’t stay open as late as we do in the summer,” Chloe said. “But we were here preparing cookies for Thursday.”

She nodded understandingly. “Oh, of course! And I’m so glad you all are going to donate those cookies. It was a great idea. I always come up with the best ideas, of course. That’s why people look up to me and ask me to help with all the fun things going on in this town.”

I almost groaned. It was my idea to give out the cookies, but who was I to argue with someone like Annalisa Worthington? “Oh, of course.”

She looked past us to the darkened shop. “Can I get some ice cream? I’ve been dying to stop by here and get some of Cookie’s peppermint stick ice cream.”

Oh, how I wanted to say no, but we were already struggling financially, and we couldn’t afford the luxury of refusing her.

“I’ll get it,” Chloe said and went behind the counter.

I stepped back and let Annalisa in.

“Oh, you all decorated for Christmas. How darling!” she gushed as she went to the counter. “I’d love that peppermint stick ice cream, two scoops, please. Oh, and can you drizzle a little chocolate syrup over it and top it off with whipped cream? I’ve got a sweet tooth tonight.”

“Coming right up,” Chloe said.

“Annalisa, we heard Bill Snell was murdered,” I said and went behind the counter. “I can’t believe it. We just saw him last night.”

She sobered, nodding. “It was an awful shock when I heard about it. I talked to that detective. Isn’t he handsome? I tell you, I could look at him all day. But poor Bill. I still can’t get over it. We’ll have to try to find another Santa. Jed isn’t going to be able to do it all.”

“Do you have any idea who might have killed Bill?” Chloe asked as she scooped peppermint stick ice cream into a waffle bowl.

Annalisa blinked. “Why would I know who did it?”

Chloe glanced at me and shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s what everyone is wondering.”

Annalisa looked at me, looking unsure of herself now. “Well, I wouldn’t know. The detective said he was killed in the middle of the night. It’s not like I would be hanging around the square in the middle of the night.”

Chloe and I glanced at each other again. “Of course not,” I said. “It’s just the talk of the town right now. I wonder who would hate him enough to kill him?”

She shook her head. “I have no idea. But you know, sometimes murder is a crime of passion. Maybe Bill had a girlfriend who got tired of him. You never can tell.”

I nodded. “That’s true. Passion, or someone just hated him and couldn’t control themselves another minute and stabbed him.”

She smiled. “That’s silly. I bet he had a girlfriend.” She turned to Chloe with a smile that looked forced. “That looks scrumptious. Chloe, you really have a knack for making ice cream. Oh, do I get a cookie?”

Chloe nodded. “You sure do. We don’t have much left over, though.” She motioned toward the cookies left in the display case.

Annalisa scooted over to look at what was left. “Oh, how about one of those fruitcake cookies? I bet you think I’m crazy, but I love fruitcake. How about making it two? I’ll pay for the second one.”

“That’s okay. We usually don’t sell cookies that have been in the case for more than a day or two. If there are any leftovers, we give them away. I’ll just give you the two,” Chloe said.

“Oh, well, in that case, why don’t you let me have the rest of them?” Annalisa said.

Chloe’s eyes widened. Annalisa was getting on her nerves. She nodded and got a paper bag for the four leftover fruit cake cookies. “Here you are.” She folded over the top of the bag.

“All of them.”

Chloe looked at her, not quite understanding.

“Since you’re going to give them away anyway, you may as well give them to me. Right?”

Chloe inhaled and got another bag. Annalisa was presumptuous, among other things.

She ran a red-manicured fingernail along the ledge of the glass display case. “I sure hope the police can find Bill’s killer. I hate that someone is wandering around town after committing murder.”

“Me too. You never know. They might kill again,” I said, as Chloe filled another bag with all the cookies we had left in the display case. When we baked in the mornings, we tried to gauge how many cookies we would need for the day, and since they would still be fresh, leftovers were sold the following day. But with business being so slow, there wouldn’t be much chance of selling these, anyway.

Annalisa turned to me and nodded. “I was thinking the same thing. I’m sure the detective will find them. Oh, and did I tell you girls how happy I am that you’re volunteering to be elves? It made my day when you said yes. I love to see happy volunteers.”

I smiled at her, even though I didn’t feel like it. “Was Bill happy about volunteering?”

Her eyes widened. “Well, you know how Bill was. I’m not sure he was ever happy about volunteering for anything. But he did it, and that’s what’s important. He enjoyed being Santa. He had volunteered four years in a row.”

“I didn’t know that,” Chloe said as she went to ring up Annalisa’s ice cream.

She nodded, placing her hands on the counter as she moved closer to the cash register. “He loved it. He said it gave him a chance to give to others. He just loved it. It was all he talked about whenever I would run into him around town. How much he loved being Santa.”

I wasn’t sure Bill loved it as much as she said he did. But I knew how she could pressure a person to agree to do something, so I could see where he had given in. But he had to have enjoyed it at least a little bit if he had done it four years in a row.

“That was nice of him,” I said.

She nodded and paid for her ice cream. “Well, thanks for staying open a little longer for me. I love the ice cream you all make. I’ll see you on Thursday.”

“See you,” Chloe said as I locked the door behind her.

I turned around. “Wow. If I wasn’t mistaken, it seemed like talking about Bill’s murder made Annalisa uncomfortable.”

She grinned. “I don’t think you were mistaken. But why would it bother her? That’s the question.”

I nodded. “That’s a very good question. One we need to find the answer to.”

If Annalisa had a secret of some kind, I was going to figure out what it was.

Chapter Seven

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“WHERE TO?” CHLOE ASKED me.

I stopped and looked down the street, trying to decide where we should begin, then turned to her. “Let’s look up Candace Snell. We need to let her know how sorry we are for her loss. And see how she feels about her half-sister.” Candace was Bill’s biological daughter, and she worked at the ice cream shop during the summers in her high school years, so Chloe had an in with her.

We’d gotten all the cookie dough made for the cookies needed on Thursday, and Cookie decided to close the shop a little early to give us the evening off before we had to bake all those cookies. Bill Snell had been dead for three days, and we hadn’t heard much news about what might have happened to him or who might have killed him. Not that we had much time to snoop around. We were getting ready for customers that as yet had not materialized. But we had spread the word all over social media and had found some friends of the ice cream shop to share our postings, and sales had increased a little. But it was far from what we were hoping for.

She smiled. “I like how you think. She lived at home when she worked for us. Let’s see if she still does.”

“Let’s go.”

***

CANDACE ANSWERED THE door. Her eyes were red, and for a moment I regretted disturbing her. But when she saw Chloe, she smiled.

“Hi, Chloe.”

“Hi, Candace. We heard about your dad, and we wanted to stop by and tell you how sorry we are for your loss. This is my friend, Maddie.”

Candace’s face crumpled, and tears ran down her cheeks. “I can’t believe this. First, I lost my mom, and now my dad. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Chloe pulled her close and held her. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. Her throat was thick with emotion, and a lump rose in my throat. “I’m so sorry.”

After a few moments, Candace pulled away. “Would you like to come in?” She looked past Chloe at me. “Hi, Maddie.”

“Hi, Candace. I’m sorry for your loss.”

She nodded. “Thank you.”

We followed her inside the house. It was neat and tidy, and there was an old recliner in the corner with an unopened newspaper on the table beside it. It broke my heart. That had to be Bill’s chair.

We sat down on the loveseat, and she sat across from us.

She sniffed. “I still can’t believe this happened.”

“We saw him the night before. At the meeting for the Christmas folk. We’re going to be elves, and I guess your dad was going to be Santa,” Chloe said.

She chuckled. “Dad loved doing that. You wouldn’t think so, but he did. He kept moping around the house after Mom died, and I knew that if he didn’t find something to take up his time, he was going to go nuts. It happened to be Christmas time, so I talked him into being Santa the first year, and it made him so happy. He loved to talk about the kids and what they asked for from Santa for Christmas.”

Now I felt badly. I had been so focused on the fact that Bill had been grumpy that it never occurred to me that he might get something out of playing Santa. “That’s sweet.”

She smiled again. “My dad acted grumpy, but he was an old softy. He always was.” Her bottom lip trembled.

“I’m so sorry this happened to him. I can’t imagine what goes through the mind of someone who commits murder,” Chloe said. “Do you have any idea who might have done it?”

She sighed, looking at her hands clasped in her lap. Then looked up at us. “I hate even thinking about it. But my first thought was that it had to be Missy. My half-sister. I know what you’re thinking. It’s awful of me to say something like that, but you don’t know Missy the way I do.”

“Why do you think it was her?” I asked.

She looked away. “Because she hated my father. In fact, she hates me. She wanted to live with her bio father, but our mother wouldn’t allow it.” She turned back to look at me. “Jack likes to drink, and it didn’t matter if Missy was with him or not. I don’t blame my mother for not wanting to leave her with him, but it would have made all of our lives easier. She was always trying to cause trouble between me and my parents. She’d lie and tell them I had sneaked out at night, Or I stole something from a store or some other awful thing she thought of. And she called my dad names all the time. She referred to him as the loser because my dad never made as much money as Jack did. Once Mom died, she never came to visit either of us. Not once.”

“Wow,” Chloe said. “It sounds like she made things miserable for you all.”

She nodded. “She did.”

“Why did she volunteer to be an elf if she knew Bill was playing Santa?” I asked. I couldn’t get the question out of my mind. If I disliked someone as much as Candace was saying Missy did Bill, then I would do my best to stay as far away from them as I could.

Her eyes widened. “What?”

I felt my own eyes widen. “Missy is playing an elf at the square.”

Her mouth dropped open, and she shut it.

“Maybe she didn’t know that your dad was playing Santa at the square?” Chloe asked.

She shook her head. “No. She knew. Because her boyfriend has a little boy, and last year they took him to see Santa, only to find out he was being played by Bill.”

“What happened when she realized it was him?” I asked.

“Dad said he could see her become angry. She said something to her boyfriend, but he shook his head and looked at my dad. He thought Missy wanted to leave, but they had stood in line for more than an hour by that time, and they were near the front. My dad said that at first, he thought she might not even recognize him at all, but she finally did. He had been watching her move up in line the whole time.”

“Then I don’t understand why Missy would volunteer to be an elf if she knew Bill would be there,” I said, turning to Chloe.

She shook her head. “I don’t either. It doesn’t make sense. Even if she thought he had only played Santa the one time, she would have at least asked Annalisa if he was going to be doing it this year.”

Candace sighed. “I know why she was there. She wanted a chance to kill him, and she got it.” Her face crumpled again, and she began crying.

I hated to even think that his own stepdaughter could murder him, but she might be right. It was the only thing that made sense.

Chapter Eight

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AFTER WE TALKED TO Candace for a while, we left. It broke my heart to see her so broken up. Losing a parent had to be one of the most painful things to go through, and poor Candace had lost both parents.

“I want to talk to Missy,” I said, glancing at Chloe when we got into my car.

She sighed. “I was afraid of that. I could go the rest of my life without ever laying eyes on Missy Schiff again. You know that, don’t you?”

I nodded, starting the car. “I sure do. I feel the same way. But it’s just too suspicious about her volunteering to be an elf when she couldn’t stand to be around Bill. If it was me, there’s no way I would have done it. She had ulterior motives.”

She nodded. “I agree completely. I just don’t want to talk to her.”

I sighed. We didn’t have much choice about it if we were going to figure out who killed Bill. But Missy was sly. If she knew we were trying to figure out whether she killed Bill or not, she would lie. She would lead us on a wild goose chase. And she would enjoy every minute of it.

I turned to her. “We’ve got to be careful, or we won’t find out a thing from her. We’ll wait until Thursday. She’ll be there to fill the goody bags so we can casually bring up Bill’s death and find a way to get some information from her.”

She nodded. “That’s a good plan. It’s not like we weren’t going to have to see her then, anyway.”

“I’m starving. Let’s get something to eat.”

One eyebrow rose. “Bailey’s?”

I nodded. “Baileys it is.”

Baileys was a cute little casual dining restaurant that catered to the locals. They had the best soup and sandwiches in the area, along with great entrees served at dinnertime. When I pulled into the parking lot, it was packed, as expected. The dinner entrees during the holidays were always delicious and I could hardly wait to see what was on the menu.

“Hey,” someone said when we got out of the car. I turned to see Noah walking toward us with a huge shopping bag from Bailey’s restaurant on his arm. He grinned. “What’s up?”

I smiled back. “We’re starving, and we thought we’d check out what’s for dinner at Bailey’s. What are you doing?”

He raised the arm the bag was looped over. “A few of us are working late, and we were starving. I needed to get out of the office for some fresh air, so I volunteered to pick up dinner. They’ve got a ham dinner with all the trimmings that I heartily recommend. I had it last weekend.”

“That sounds promising,” I said.

“I’m starving. A ham dinner sounds great,” Chloe said, joining me on my side of the car.

“Noah, do you have any idea who killed Bill yet?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Not really. Did I mention he had his Santa suit with him? It’s kind of sad.”

“Oh,” I said. “That is sad. We found out a couple of things.” I glanced at Chloe, then turned back to him. “He had trouble with his stepdaughter, Missy Schiff.”

Chloe nodded. “A lot of trouble. In fact, when Missy’s mother died, she never visited Bill or his daughter Candace. Candace is her half-sister, too. It’s like she wanted nothing to do with them.”

His eyes widened. “Wait. Missy Schiff? I’m going out with her on Friday.”

My heart started beating fast. “Are you serious?” Could he be that shallow? Anyone with any sense could see what Missy was about as soon as they talked to her.

He chuckled. “No. But she was what you could call flirtatious when I spoke to her the other day. Very flirtatious.”

“She was an awful person in high school,” I said. Missy could flirt all she wanted, but she wasn’t going to get away with murder. “Honestly, Missy is the only person I can imagine being his killer.”

He nodded. “I’ll talk to her again. It’s early yet, and I like to talk to family members at least a couple of times to see if they remember something later that they had forgotten.”

“Noah, she hated Bill. But she volunteered to be an elf in the square, knowing she would have to see him. That doesn’t make sense,” I pointed out.

He nodded. “Okay. I’ll talk to her again.”

“She did it,” Chloe said, nodding. “I know she did.”

“Me too.” I felt a little frustrated. Didn’t he realize how much Missy hated Bill? I didn’t think so, and I didn’t want him to overlook her while talking to other suspects.

He nodded. “I promise to look into her. What do you know about Jed Davis? He’s playing the other Santa.”

“Jed?” I asked. “Not a lot. Why?”

He shrugged. “Someone said he and Bill worked together before Bill retired. They suggested that Jed was the reason Bill retired early. I guess they didn’t like each other at all.”

“Oh,” I said. “So they had a history.”

He nodded. “That’s what I heard.”

“If their relationship was so bad that Bill felt like he had to retire early to get away from him, it must have been bad,” Chloe said, looking at me.

“I don’t know much about Jed. He came into the ice cream shop regularly during the summer, but I haven’t seen him in at least a couple of months.” Jed seemed nice enough, but I clearly did not know enough about him if he was causing Bill trouble, and Bill retired because of him.

Noah pulled his keys out of his pocket. “Well, I had better get back to the station before the food gets cold. I don’t want that happening, there’s some sweet potato casserole included with this dinner that I am dying to dig into.”

My eyebrows rose. “Oh, that sounds so good. I think I’ll have to get that ham dinner.”

“You won’t be disappointed,” he said. “See you ladies later.”

We watched as he walked to his car. Noah was dressed in jeans and a chunky knit cable sweater. Green, which is my favorite color.

“You need to be friendlier to him.”

I turned to Chloe. “What? Why?”

She shrugged, a smile playing on her lips. “I don’t know. I think the two of you would make a cute couple.”

I sighed. “I don’t need a boyfriend. I’m doing fine without one.” We headed to the front door of the restaurant and my stomach growled. I really needed to get something to eat. I’d only had a cookie and a scoop of eggnog ice cream for lunch, and I was starving.

Chapter Nine

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THURSDAY CAME SOONER than I would have thought possible. Business at the ice cream shop had continued slowly increasing, and we were all feeling hopeful. We had sold a lot of frozen cookie dough, and it was nice to be able to offer something Christmassy, other than ice cream. Who wouldn’t want to make their life easier by purchasing frozen cookie dough so you don’t have to spend as much time in the kitchen?

“Now then, have we got them all?” Cookie asked, looking over the shopping bags filled with candy cane cookies in their little bags with coupons attached. The baking had gone smoothly—far more smoothly than I thought possible and I was thrilled that we had accomplished what we had set out to do.

“I think so,” Chloe said. “I’ve never baked so many cookies in all my life. I’m tired, but at least they were drop cookies and not cutouts.”

Cookie nodded. “Now that would have been a lot of work.”

“I love that we did this,” I said. “It makes dressing as an elf worth it.” Well, sort of. There were still those curly-toed booties to be reckoned with.

Chloe nodded, grinning. “Right? And I think it’s going to have a positive effect on our business. A very positive effect.”

Cookie took her red apron off and tossed it on the counter. “I’ve made a platter of assorted cookies for you to take for everyone who is working on the goody bags,” she said, holding up a large platter of cookies she had wrapped with plastic wrap.

“That was nice of you,” I said. “I’m sure everyone will appreciate that.” I took the platter from her and stuck my arm through the handle of a shopping bag. “We had better get moving unless we want to deal with Annalisa’s ire.”

Chloe picked up the other two shopping bags. “You’re telling me.”

“See you later, Cookie.” We were leaving her behind to lock up the store and I kind of envied her.

She nodded. “I’ll see you girls tomorrow.”

***

BY THE TIME WE GOT to the square, I was excited. At other times of the year, the square had plays and other events. There was a small building there that could be used by the organizers and participants. Annalisa had tables set up there, each covered with a Christmas tablecloth. We set the bags of cookies down in the center where the small Christmas-themed paper bags sat.

I turned to Annalisa. “Hi, Annalisa. Cookie made a platter of cookies for us to enjoy while we work.” I held out the platter so she could see.

Annalisa glided over, smiling broadly. “Oh, my goodness. Wasn’t that sweet of her? Chloe, you must tell your mother how much we appreciate that. Why don’t you set it on the food table, Maddie? I brought hot chocolate in my crock pot, and some of the others brought a few snacky things to eat while we work. And Chloe, why don’t you remove the cookies from the shopping bags and put them right in the middle of the table?”

I went to the table where there were trays of candy from the local candy shop and finger sandwiches from the local sandwich shop that was supposed to be going out of business. I wondered if they were doing their best to hang in there by participating in giving away something to the kids.

“If I can have your attention,” Annalisa said. “We’re going to put one of each item in each bag and pass it down to the next person at the table. A sort of Merry Christmas assembly line. Remember, one item per bag.” She turned to Jed Davis, who was sitting at the end of the long table. “Jed, why don’t you start?”

“Sure, sure,” Jed grumbled. “It’s not like I have anything else to do.”

I headed back to sit beside Chloe when Bev Reade stepped into my path. “Maddie.”

I smiled. “Hello, Bev. This is going to be fun, isn’t it?”

Her brow furrowed. “Give me your elf outfit. I’ll make a fair trade with you. You can be Mrs. Claus.”

I didn’t know what to say to this. For one thing, my elf costume wasn’t going to fit her. For another, I wasn’t in charge of deciding who played what. “Have you talked to Annalisa about this?”

She rolled her eyes. “Her?” She jerked her head toward Annalisa. “She doesn’t have a clue about how things should work around here. I liked it a lot better when Jemma Jackson used to organize this thing. Ever since Annalisa took over, things have been a mess, let me tell you.”

I could vaguely remember who Jemma was. I was pretty sure that she hadn’t been in charge of organizing the Christmas folk for more than a decade. “Oh? Why isn’t she organizing things now?”

She sighed loudly. “It’s a little hard to organize anything when you’re dead.”

“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that. Why don’t you talk to Annalisa again? She’s a reasonable woman.” I moved on before she could argue with me because we both knew that Annalisa was anything but reasonable. I sat down next to Chloe. “I’m back.”

“Now then,” Annalisa said, eyeing Jed, who had yet to put one thing into a Christmas goody bag. “Why don’t we get started?”

Large candy canes were on the table in front of Chloe and me, each with a green piece of yarn tied around it and a cardboard tag that offered 10% off anything on the menu at the Lilac Bay Sandwich Shop.

“News must have gotten around about us asking to add a coupon to the goody bags,” I whispered to Chloe.

She nodded. “It’s a great idea. Good thing Annalisa came up with it.” She rolled her eyes at me, and I chuckled.

I glanced around the room. “Where’s Missy?” I whispered. Everyone was supposed to be here, but she was nowhere to be seen.

She shook her head. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen her.”

I frowned. I didn’t want to talk to Missy, but we needed information.

Filling the bags didn’t take long, and we soon had two long tables filled with bags.

“I’m starving. I’m going to get a plate.” I got up, with Chloe following behind me.

“Everything looks good,” Chloe said, looking over the table.

“It does look good, doesn’t it?” someone said from beside me.

I turned to my right. “Oh, Jed. I didn’t see you walk up. It does look delicious.” Noah had said he and Bill had issues, and I scrambled with a way to bring it up. “Oh, Jed, did you hear about Bill? Isn’t it horrible?” And then I wondered why Annalisa hadn’t brought it up. People had to have heard, but it still would have been nice of her to mention him. But sometimes Annalisa didn’t do nice.

He looked at me, squinting and frowning. “Yeah, I guess so.” He turned back to the table and picked up a small paper plate.

“What do you mean, you guess so? Poor Bill was stabbed to death.” I said it lightly. I didn’t want to alienate him, in case he had some valuable information we could use to figure out who killed Bill.

He shrugged and placed a roast beef finger sandwich on his plate. “Sometimes you got it coming to you. Know what I mean?” He didn’t look up when he said it.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I know what you mean,” Chloe said.

He looked up at us now. “That Bill Snell was a jerk. No, that’s not the right word for it. He was a weasel. Underhanded, if you know what I mean. He didn’t think about anyone but himself, and he couldn’t get along with anyone. I bet he made the wrong person angry.” He put a gingerbread man and two fudge chunk cookies on his plate and went to the crock pot that held cocoa at the end of the table.

I scooted over. “Who do you think that person was?”

He glanced over at Annalisa and turned back to me. “Our illustrious leader.”

“What?” Chloe said, looking at Annalisa.

My mouth dropped open. “Why do you think she would do that?” My heart was pounding in my chest. Annalisa had behaved oddly when she was in the ice cream shop earlier in the week, and the subject of Bill’s murder had come up. Could it be that she was Bill’s killer?

He looked in her direction again. “Let’s just say that woman has secrets. Real secrets.” He picked up his cup of cocoa and headed back to his seat.

I looked at Annalisa. She was laughing about something Kelly Taylor, one of the reindeer, had said. Then she looked at me and stopped laughing.

Chapter Ten

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I PULLED UP TO THE square and parked, gripping my steering wheel. Was I really going to do this? The skirt on my elf outfit was very short, and the belt buckle going around my waist was insanely huge. But it was the elf booties with the crazy curly toes that really sealed the deal. Don’t get me started on the hat. Who thought of this outfit? I know what you’re thinking. I was Snow White at Disneyland while in college and I should have had no problem with this, right? But at least in Disneyland, I got to wear a cute costume, and I rarely ran into anyone I knew. Occasionally, a random person from my life would pop up, but it was Disneyland. The character parts were coveted by many of the young women I knew while in college. And it was fun. I wasn’t sure about this.

I got out of my car and headed for the platform where there was a long line of excited kids and their parents waiting for Santa to show up. When some of the kids caught sight of me, squeals rang through the air. I was immediately transported back to my Disneyland days, and the practiced smile came to my lips, and I waved as I hurried past the kids and to the activities room. I should have worn a coat to hide the outfit, but the day had turned warm, and the costume was also surprisingly warm.

“Oh, there you are,” Annalisa said, hurrying over. “I thought we were going to have to work without elves tonight.” She sighed in exasperation.

“It’s fifteen minutes before we start,” I pointed out. “I’m early.”

Her hands went to her hips. She was dressed in a lovely black dress and black suede boots that went almost to her knees. No curly-toed booties for her. “I expected you to be a professional and arrive no later than thirty minutes before our start time.”

“Sorry.”

She rolled her eyes. “Let’s try to keep our start time in mind, shall we?”

Oh, how I wanted to say something I would regret, but I decided not to. I was doing this to help Cookie and Chloe. “Where’s Missy? I thought she was going to be an elf tonight, too. And where was she yesterday? You said we all had to be there, but she didn’t show up.” When annoyed at someone, it’s best to change the subject.

“She had a last-minute emergency. I’m sure she’ll be here any minute.” She turned and walked away, leaving me to glare at her back.

“She’s a peach, isn’t she?”

I turned to see Bev dressed in her Mrs. Claus costume, complete with one of those hats that looked like they must have been popular in the Elizabethan age. “I was thinking the same thing.”

She scooted closer. “I heard the cops were breathing down her neck about Bill’s death.”

“What? How do you know that?”

She shrugged. “I keep my ears open.”

“Why would she want to kill Bill?” I whispered.

She looked past me to where Annalisa was speaking to two of the reindeer. She turned back to me. “She’s Bill’s illegitimate daughter.” She waved a hand. “I guess people don’t say it like that anymore, but you know what I mean.”

I stared at her. “Are you sure?” My mind did the math. It was possible, but it meant that Bill had fathered her in his late teens. He could have been as old as twenty, but no more.

She nodded. “My aunt knew her mother, and she and Bill were high school sweethearts. But her mother never told her who her father was. She did a DNA test, and it led to Candace Snell.”

I wasn’t sure what to make of what she was saying. Why hadn’t Candace mentioned this? “Why would that make her want to kill him? Why didn’t she want to get to know him? Be a part of his family?” I was thinking logically, which isn’t always the best thing to do where a murderer was concerned.

She stepped closer. I could smell the peppermint on her breath as she pushed her fake gold-rimmed glasses back onto the bridge of her nose. “She was angry that he was right here in this town, and he never tried to get to know her. All her life she had wanted a father, and there he was raising another daughter and not even trying to be a father to her. I think that’s what got to her the most. The fact that he had another daughter, and he was involved in her life. You’ll notice that Candace was born when Bill was in his early forties. He could have been a father to Annalisa all those years. When she introduced herself to him, he told her he didn’t want anything to do with her.”

I stood there, stunned. I turned back to look at Annalisa. Now that she mentioned it, I could see a slight resemblance to Bill in her nose and her ruddy skin coloring. I turned back to Bev. “You’re sure about all of this? What about her mother? Why didn’t she tell her who her father was?”

She shrugged. “She was so bitter about Bill refusing to marry her that she told her he was dead.”

I was reeling with this information. Annalisa wasn’t always the nicest of people. I mean, she could be when she wanted you to do something for her, but after you’d agreed, that was the end of that. But kill her biological father because he had rejected her? I wasn’t sure that even someone as self-centered as she was could do that.

The room was humming with conversation as Bev moved off to talk to someone else, leaving me wondering once again if Annalisa was capable of murder.

“Annie, this is the best we can do for Christmas. You’ll have to make do.”

I turned to see who was speaking. It was Jed, dressed as Santa. “I’m sorry, were you speaking to me, Jed?”

His brow furrowed as he gazed at me. “Annie?”

“It’s Maddie.”

His eyes widened, and he smiled. “Sorry, Maddie. My mind was wandering back to another Christmas.” He patted my shoulder and walked away.

That was odd.

“People, people,” Annalisa said loudly. When the conversations didn’t die down, she clapped her hands. “People!”

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at her.

She smiled, her red lipstick dark against her fair, ruddy complexion. “All right, settle down now. We’ve got a show to put on. Jed, you are no longer Jed, but Santa Claus. Bev, same for you. Elves, you need to be on your toes watching the kids and making sure no one rushes the stage. Um, platform. And make sure each child gets one goody bag. I want to see merriment and joy from each of you. That’s what the kids are coming to see. Now. Let’s take our places.”

I looked around the room, searching for Missy and wishing that Chloe could have been working with me this first night, but Missy was nowhere to be seen. I hurried over to Annalisa.

“Annalisa—”

“Oh, Maddie. Grab those two big baskets of goody bags and bring them with you to the platform. When they get low, you’ll have to come back in here and refill them. Don’t wait until they’re empty, or the kids will have to wait for you to fill them, and that will put a stop to the whole thing.”

“Annalisa, where is Missy? I thought there were going to be two elves each night?” I was suddenly worried that I was going to have to do everything myself if Missy didn’t show up.

She frowned and glanced around. “She isn’t here yet? Well, don’t worry about it. You can handle things. You’re a professional, anyway. Snow White knows all about elves. Or dwarves, or whatever they are.” She rushed off, leaving me standing there.

I sighed and picked up the two oversized baskets, one in each hand, and hurried out to the platform. The elves welcomed the children and announced Santa’s arrival. I was glad I had at least a little training in this sort of thing.

Chapter Eleven

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THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT being in front of a large crowd that both terrifies me and makes me feel the most alive that I’ve ever felt. Not that standing in front of a crowd of kids and their parents was the most exciting thing I had ever done, but it was a lot of fun, regardless of the resistance I had felt to do this in the first place.

Wait. Did I say it was a lot of fun? Because the kid at the front of the line spit at me and screamed for Santa. But it was fine. I sidestepped just in time. How could such a little kid get so much distance, anyway? I set the baskets near Santa’s chair and waved for all I was worth. Most of the crowd clapped. The rest screamed.

“I think I just heard bells jingling!” I called as I cupped my ear. The sound of jingle bells could be heard, and the crowd quieted down. “In fact, I know I did. Could that be the sound of bells on reindeer harnesses?”

On cue, Jennifer Slayton and Sarah Wheeldon, dressed in reindeer costumes, walked on stage with Santa holding the string of bells that went around the front of them in a makeshift harness. Jed ho ho hoed and waved for all he was worth and came to a stop beside his chair. The crowd went wild.

Jed did the ho ho ho thing several more times, then dropped the bells as the reindeer wandered off to the side of the platform where the makeshift barn sat beside a manger filled with hay.

“Hello, children!” Santa said. “I brought someone special with me.” Jed held his hand out, and Bev waltzed onto the platform. Yes, waltzed. It was sweet and unexpected. Bev might not have wanted to play Mrs. Claus, but she was great at it.

I glanced around at the crowd while Santa did his thing. That was when I caught sight of Noah in the crowd. He grinned and waved at me. I waved back. He pointed at his toes, held up his thumb and first finger in a big ‘0’, grinning, then held up his phone as if he might take a picture.

I shook my head and went to assist the spitter onto the platform while keeping as much distance between us as I could. There was a photographer who wasn’t as lucky as I had been at escaping the spit. I shook my head as the child’s parents stood on the edge of the platform, looking mortified.

A moment later, Missy appeared in her costume. She was wearing black suede boots instead of the curly-toed booties, and I groaned. Spoilsport.

She sidled up to me. “How’s it going?”

“Great. You missed the big opening. Where were you?” I spoke through gritted teeth while continuing to smile. You learned how to do that at Disneyland.

“Busy.”

There were so many things I wanted to say, but I didn’t want to ruin any chance I had of getting information out of her about Bill’s murder.

“Oh, it’s time to walk the next kid up to Santa’s chair. You can do that.”

She smirked. “No.”

I turned to her, narrowing my eyes and forgetting to smile. “What?”

She shrugged. “I don’t want to. I’m here to look cute.”

I stifled a groan and went to the stairs to help the next child up them and over to Santa, then hurried back to her. I smiled, reminding myself of my mission. I kept my attention on the crowd and did my job for the next hour. I didn’t want to make her think I was only interested in the murder. That would get me nowhere.

After a bit, I scooted over to where Missy stood with her hands on her hips. “This is fun, isn’t it?”

She shrugged. “I guess for some people. Love your booties.”

She wasn’t going to give an inch, but I had to know. “Did you hear about Bill Snell?”

She nodded without looking at me. “What a shame.” But she said it in a way that let me know she didn’t think it was a shame at all.

“I can’t imagine who would do that to him.”

She shook her head. “If I had to guess, I’d say it was Santa.” She nodded at Jed.

“What? Why would you say that?” I almost held my breath, hoping she had something good on him.

“He hated Bill. But then, most people did.” She was smiling for all she was worth, but believe me when I say that she was avoiding helping the kids as much as possible.

“I didn’t hate him.”

She rolled her eyes. “That’s because you didn’t know him very well. He turned Jed in at their workplace years ago. Said he was stealing, but he had no proof.”

“Why would he do that?” I asked.

She looked at me. “Like I said, Bill was a jerk. I should know. He liked to cause trouble wherever he could. He was just a miserable human being.”

“Oh, that’s right. Bill was your stepfather, wasn’t he? I’m sorry for your loss, Missy. I don’t know what I was thinking. Are you okay?” I could pretend to be sincere when I needed to be.

She crossed her arms in front of herself. “Believe me, I’m fine. Bill got what he deserved.” She moved away.

I groaned under my breath and followed her. “How can you say that? He was murdered. It had to be awful. I bet he was terrified when he realized what was happening.”

She smirked. “Look, I’m not sorry he’s dead, and I’m not going to say that I am, no matter who wants me to say it. Bill made my life hell when I was growing up, and I’m not sorry he’s dead.” Her cheeks turned pink as she spoke, and she hurried over and handed a little girl a goody bag. She smiled and helped the next child up the steps. It was odd. I hadn’t expected her to tell me what her real feelings were. And she didn’t seem to care who knew how she felt. Helping with the kids was also odd for her. Missy was full of surprises.

I scanned the crowd for Noah, but couldn’t pick him out. Maybe he had found something else to do. I wasn’t sure if I was disappointed or relieved. I didn’t need my picture taken in this outfit.

Jennifer Slayton, one of the reindeer, sidled over to me. “That one is something else. She acts like Bill made her life hell, but it was the other way around. She threatened to kill him when she was sixteen.”

I stared at her. “What? How do you know?”

“My brother, Mike Simmons, is a resource officer at the high school, and he talked to her about it.”

I shook my head, confused. “So she was arrested? I remember officer Simmons, but I don’t remember Missy being arrested. Or even getting into trouble, which she would have deserved, believe me.”

She chuckled. “Bill wouldn’t press charges. He just wanted Mike to talk to her, which he did. She should be thankful he didn’t press charges, but instead, she’s always been hateful toward him.”

“She certainly should have been grateful.”

I turned back and watched Missy as she handed a goody bag to another child. Her eyes met mine, and all I could see was evil.

Chapter Twelve

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“GOOD MORNING, ESTELLE,” I said. “How are you doing? Wait, don’t tell me, you want something chocolatey?” I gave her my best smile.

Her eyes widened. “It’s almost like you can read my mind!” She laughed heartily.

“Oh, Estelle, you really are my favorite customer.”

She waved a hand at me. “Oh, you. I recognize flattery when I hear it. And I’m fine with it. Now, what have you got for me today?” She leaned forward, looking over the ice cream in the freezer. It had gotten a bit warmer over the past few days, and ice cream was in my sights as well. “Now, wait a minute. What is that?” She pointed at the Christmas ribbon candy ice cream.

“That is Cookie’s current favorite concoction. It’s crushed old-fashioned Christmas ribbon candy in an ice cream base that’s a little vanilla, a little lemony, and a hint of orange. But the predominant flavor is vanilla. It’s pretty tasty, but it isn’t chocolate.”

She looked up at me through her silver-rimmed glasses. “I’ve got to have a scoop of that. My grandmother always had ribbon candy at Christmas time, and I was just thinking about her this morning. She was the best grandmother a girl could have.”

“It’s fate. You’ve got to have a scoop. Cone or cup?”

“How about a waffle cup? And a very light drizzle of chocolate syrup?”

“Chocolate syrup?” It wasn’t a flavor I would have thought went with the ribbon candy ice cream, but it might have been delicious.

She nodded. “I can’t get ice cream without some chocolate. And how about a chocolate chunk cookie to go with it?”

“You got it.” I got a small waffle bowl for her and opened the ice cream freezer.

“How was your elf performance last night?”

I glanced at her. “It was a lot of fun. There were so many kids, I could hardly believe it. Cookie is working on making more peppermint stick cookies to give to the kids as we speak.”

She nodded. “It’s always that way on the first night. You won’t believe this, but I was Mrs. Claus twenty years ago.”

“Really? You would make a great Mrs. Claus. Why aren’t you volunteering to do it this year?”

She shook her head. “I had a kid throw up on my shoes and decided that was enough for me.” She laughed. “Maybe I should change my mind about it with you and Chloe playing elves.”

“That would be so much fun, Estelle. You should do it.” I dropped the scoop of ice cream into the cup and glanced at her again. “Estelle, between you and me, what do you know about Annalisa possibly being Bill Snell’s daughter?” It had been on my mind since Bev had told me, and while I hated to say it out loud, Estelle would keep my secret. I was sure of it. But if it was true, then why hadn’t Candace told us about her when we talked to her?

She pressed her lips together before answering. “I had heard that, but I can’t tell you if it’s true or not. You know how rumors fly in this town. But I do know that Annalisa never knew her father. Her mother refused to tell her who he was. I thought that was wrong of her. A child should at least know who their father is, even if he doesn’t want to be in their life.”

I drizzled a light stream of chocolate syrup over the scoop of ice cream. “I agree. I think it would be hard to live all your life without at least knowing who your father was and what happened between him and your mother.”

She nodded. “Bill told me he thought he might have another daughter, but he had never met her.”

“So he knew?”

“He suspected. He and Raquel Stuart were going to get married right out of high school, but she cheated on him. He broke up with her, and that was the end of that. But when he ran into her, and she was about eight months pregnant, she walked away without talking to him. He said he wondered then, but then thought it was probably the new boyfriend’s child. When Raquel never married him, he wondered again. But he said he never asked her.”

“That would be hard, wouldn’t it?” I held up the can of whipped cream, and she nodded. “Back then, I guess it was harder to know for sure who the father of a child was. I mean, if the mother was with two men at the same time.”

She nodded. “Annalisa may have been almost grown by the time it became common to test DNA, I think. But Raquel did all right for herself. She opened that bakery up on Grand Avenue, and she made a lot of money. She made investments and did quite well for herself, and Annalisa never had to worry about money.”

“Interesting.”

She nodded. “I had a funny encounter the other day.”

I looked at her. “What do you mean?”

“I was at the grocery store, and Bev was there. I brought up Bill’s murder, and she laughed about it. It was odd. It was as if she thought his death was funny.”

“That is odd.”

She nodded. “Bev works at the grocery store, you know. I thought she should have retired by now, but she said she wasn’t old enough to retire. You could have fooled me. She said the police were going to have a difficult time finding Bill’s killer. I asked her what she meant by that, and she changed the subject. She never did answer me.”

“That’s odd, too. You think she was trying to avoid telling you something?”

She nodded. “Seemed like it. Bev never liked Bill. She said he was full of himself.”

“Hi, Estelle,” Chloe said, carrying a tray of gingerbread men to the display case.

“Hello, Chloe. Oh, my. Those gingerbread men are beautiful. Did you make them?”

Chloe shook her head. “My mom did. It takes a while to decorate them like that, but they are beautiful. Almost too beautiful to eat.” Cookie had gone into intricate detail with the icing, and they turned out gorgeous.

Estelle turned to me. “Why don’t you give me two of those? Chloe’s right. They’re too beautiful to eat, but I’m going to give it my best shot.”

I nodded. “Coming right up.”

“I hope that handsome detective finds Bill’s killer. I’d hate for them to get away with it.”

“Me too,” Chloe said. “That would be terrible.”

“I do have to wonder, though,” Estelle said thoughtfully, as I rang up her cookies and ice cream. “What was Bill doing at the square in the middle of the night?”

I glanced at her. “Maybe he stayed late after the meeting? It was cold that night, and we were all glad to get back to our cars and go home. I bet no one noticed he stayed behind.”

“Yes, but why would he stay behind?” she asked. “Unless he knew his killer. Knew them well. And they asked him to stay behind.”

“Or meet him there,” Chloe said.

“I think you’re on to something,” Estelle said as she paid for her ice cream and cookies.

“I agree,” I said. The problem was that everyone who we thought may have killed Bill was at that meeting. Any one of them might have asked him to stay behind. Missy. Bev. Jed. Annalisa.

Chapter Thirteen

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NAT KING COLE WAS SINGING “The Christmas Song” on the radio as I mixed a fresh batch of fruit cake cookies. The cookies had what you would expect in a fruit cake—chopped walnuts, bits of dried fruit, and chopped red and green candied cherries. I wasn’t sure I would like them, but once I tried them, I found them addicting. They were drop cookies, which meant they were easier to make, and the drizzle of icing across the top made them incredibly tasty.

“Did I tell you girls that we’ve gotten almost twenty coupons back already?” Cookie asked as she mixed rum raisin ice cream.

I turned to her. “No, that’s fantastic!” It was Tuesday morning and hearing we had received that many coupons back already was surprising. I had taken several of the coupons in from customers, but I didn’t realize we had that many already.

“That’s great, Mom. Do the customers seem to be buying more when they use the coupons?” Chloe asked. She pulled a pan of sugar cookies out of the oven and set the pan on the cooling rack.

“I think so. I had one customer buy eight dozen frozen cookie dough balls. She said she always dreaded making cookies for Christmas but didn’t want to buy them already made from the store, and this was a great compromise. And as long as nobody caught on, she would impress her in-laws with her baking skills.” She chuckled. “I told her that her secret was safe with me.”

I laughed. “That’s encouraging, Cookie. Selling frozen cookie dough may have been the best idea you’ve ever had. I know I intend to buy some for when my family comes to town for Christmas.”

“Let me know how much you need and what kind,” Cookie said. “I’ll make sure there’s plenty of it.”

“It’s time to open,” I said, glancing at the clock. “I’ll go unlock the door.”

Chloe came over to the mixer I was using. “I can put this dough on a cookie sheet and then into the freezer for you.”

“Thanks.” I headed out front, unlocked the door, then went back behind the counter to make sure everything we needed for the day was stocked up. The bell over the door jingled, and I looked up. “Hi, Bev.”

She smiled, nodding. “Good morning, Maddie. I heard you all were selling freshly baked Christmas cookies, and I thought I’d stop by and see what you had.”

“Cookie makes the best Christmas cookies around. We’ve also got coffee and cocoa. The coffee is plain jane stuff, but it’s good.”

“Oh, why don’t you get me a cup? Cookies pair so well with coffee.” She leaned over the display case. “Now, what should I pick? Everything looks so good.”

I poured her a cup of coffee and got the basket with the cream and sugar and set it on the counter. “We’ve got frozen cookie dough, too, if you don’t want to make cookies for your family for Christmas.”

She turned to me. “That’s one thing I don’t have to worry about. I don’t have any family.”

I was surprised to hear this, and I realized that I didn’t know much about Bev. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to misspeak.”

She shook her head. “I never got married, so I don’t have children, and my parents and brother passed away several years ago. Sometimes I help out at the homeless shelter over in Pismo, and sometimes I go see a movie. It’s kind of nice since there aren’t many people there on Christmas day. And I get to buy myself whatever I want for Christmas with no worries about having to return anything.” She chuckled, but it made me feel a little sad for her.

“I didn’t realize your family was gone,” I said. I knew she didn’t want me to feel sorry for her, but I couldn’t help myself.

She waved a hand. “It’s fine. You get used to it. And you don’t have to share Christmas cookies. Why don’t you give me three of the gingerbread men and a dozen frozen fudge chunk cookie dough balls? I’ll probably be back for more cookie dough before Christmas because I really enjoy the fudge chunk cookies. And the gingerbread men are even more delicious than they look.”

I smiled. “I’ll go in the back and get the frozen cookie dough.” I hurried back to the freezer and picked up a small pail of fudge chunk cookie dough. We had printed labels with the baking instructions and put them on the little pails. “I’m taking a dozen fudge chunk cookie balls.”

Cookie nodded. “I’ll make a note of it, and we’ll make some more.”

I hurried back out front. “Here we are,” I said and set the pail on the counter. “Let me get those gingerbread men for you.”

She leaned on the counter as I got a small paper bag with a Christmas print and then got her gingerbread men for her.

“So, Maddie, have you heard anything new about Bill’s murder?”

I shook my head. “Not really. I hope the police find his killer soon.”

“It’s a shame that someone did that to him. I just can’t imagine having that happen to me. It’s so horrible. He had to be scared out of his wits. But I’ve been thinking about things, and if I had to take a wild guess as to who did it, I would say it had to be Missy Schiff. You know that she’s Bill’s stepdaughter, don’t you?”

I glanced at her. “Yes, I heard that.” It was odd that Estelle had said Bev had laughed about Bill’s murder, but now she was acting like she thought it was a shame he was murdered? What was going on with her?

She nodded and opened a packet of sugar and poured it into her coffee. “I’d keep my eye on her if I were the police.”

I folded over the top of the bag of cookies. “I bet they have a list of people they’re keeping an eye on.”

She looked at me sharply. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I just think the police are looking for every possible clue to figure out who killed him. Don’t you think so?”

She nodded, but there was something in her demeanor that had changed. “Have you heard anything new about his murder?” I asked her.

She looked at me sharply again. “Me? Why would I have heard something?”

I shrugged again. “I don’t know. I was just asking.”

She carefully removed a cream container from the basket and slowly removed the top. “If I was a killer, I think I would plan the whole thing out. Every last detail. Otherwise, I might make a mistake, and the police might be able to track me down.” She looked at me meaningfully.

I nodded, not quite sure where she was going with this. “If you were a killer?”

She gazed at me longer than necessary before turning her attention back to her cup of coffee and pouring the little cup of cream into her coffee. “I am not a killer. But I watch a lot of those true crime shows, and I noticed that people get lazy. They leave things behind, or they switch their story after telling the cops one version, or they commit the crime in a state of passion and make a mess of everything. No, if I were to commit a murder, I would plan it out to the last detail.” She smiled now and grabbed three more creams in a quick motion. I suddenly felt uncomfortable.

“Would you ever kill someone, Bev? I mean, is there a circumstance where you might feel forced to do it?”

She smiled again. “Not me. I couldn’t. But Missy Schiff? Now that girl could kill someone. Like I said, I hope the police look at her as a suspect. How much do I owe you?”

I took a deep breath and rang up her order. “I couldn’t commit murder either,” I said in the awkward silence that followed.

She paid for her cookies and coffee and picked up the pail of cookie dough. “Well, it sure is a shame about Bill. Don’t forget about Missy. Keep your eye on her. I guess I’ll see you this weekend. Not that I have any reason to show up, but I probably will.”

I nodded. “Have a good day.”

I watched as she walked out the door. What was that about?

Chapter Fourteen

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ON MY LUNCH BREAK, I headed to Noah’s office. But first I stopped and picked up a roast beef sandwich for him and a turkey club for me at the Lilac Bay Sandwich Shop. It was presumptuous since I had no idea if he liked roast beef better than turkey or any other sandwich meat, and also because I had no idea if he had lunch plans or not. But I figured I could take it home and have it for dinner if he either already had plans or he was deathly allergic to roast beef. I also figured I was probably in the clear about the deathly allergen to beef.

I knocked on Noah’s office door, balancing the bag holding the sandwiches and two large drinks in my hands. There were four gingerbread men in a small bag in my coat pocket.

“Come in!”

I looked at the doorknob and stuck a pinky finger out to try to turn it. I quickly decided that was not going to work. I pushed the corner of the door with my shoe, but it was firmly closed. “I can’t!” I called through the door, trying not to be so loud that I’d disturb the other officers in nearby offices.

A moment later, the door opened, and Noah’s eyebrows rose when he saw me. “Hey, Maddie. Good to see you.”

I grinned. “I hope you don’t mind, but I brought lunch by.”

His eyes widened. “Oh, you are a lifesaver. I wasn’t sure I was going to get to leave and pick up lunch today. Can I help?”

I nodded at the drinks, and he took them from me. “I guess my intuition was good, then. I had a feeling you would be too busy to get lunch.” I followed him into the office, and he shut the door behind me.

“You have no idea. It’s been crazy.”

I sat down in the chair in front of his desk, and he sat in his chair behind it. “I hope you like roast beef because that’s what I got for you. Unless you’d rather have the turkey club? I’m good with either.”

He nodded. “I’m a roast beef fan. It was kind of you to think of me. Thank you.”

I smiled. “I didn’t want to go home and eat alone. Although my cat, Oliver, probably would have helped me devour this sandwich.” I handed him the roast beef sandwich and took the club for myself. “So. Any big news about the case lately?”

He grinned as he unwrapped his sandwich. “Now I feel like this was a setup. A roast beef sandwich in exchange for information.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, you know I would totally bribe you with a sandwich. Oh, and three gingerbread men. I brought those, too.”

“Three gingerbread men? There’s a law against bribery, you know.”

I nodded and took the bag from my coat pocket. I removed one for myself and put it on a napkin, then handed him the bag. “Make sure you note that I paid a high price for the bribe.”

“Noted.” He took a bite of the sandwich and held up his thumb and finger, making an ‘0’. When he’d swallowed, he said, “Lilac Bay Sandwich Company makes a great sandwich. But to answer your question, I’m still working on the case. There are a couple of people of interest, but no one I can arrest yet.”

I took a sip of my soda. “Missy Schiff?” I may have sounded too hopeful when I said it, but she seemed like the obvious choice to me.

He grinned. “Missy Schiff? She’s a curious girl. She called and invited me to breakfast yesterday morning. I would have taken her up on the invitation, but I had a meeting.”

My stomach dropped. Was he interested in her? If he was, would he be able to investigate her properly? Because she was guilty. I was sure of it.

I swallowed. “I feel like she’s a good bet as the killer. She hated Bill and caused all sorts of trouble for him when she lived at home.”

He nodded. “She doesn’t even try to hide the fact that she disliked Bill. Most of the time, people who kill won’t admit they hate the victim. It gives them an automatic motive. But some people don’t care if everyone knows they hated them.”

“See? She had motive, and she was at the Christmas folk meeting that night.”

He nodded. “She said she was there.”

He sounded unconcerned, and I wanted to scream. Was he going to look at her seriously? “Are you sure she doesn’t seem guilty to you?”

He sighed. “She might have some small holes in her story, including the fact that she doesn’t have an alibi for when she left the square that night.”

Now we were getting somewhere. “She was an awful person when I was in high school. A real mean girl. I could see her committing murder.”

He swallowed the bite of the sandwich in his mouth. “Duly noted. What else have you got for me?”

Bev popped into my mind. I gazed at him. “What about Bev Reade?”

“What about her?”

“She came into the ice cream shop and acted weird. She went into detail about what she would do if she was a killer. And she emphasized what she would do to keep the police off her trail.”

“Like?” He took a sip of his soda.

“Like have a well-made plan of how to carry out the murder. She said people who killed on a whim were stupid, and they were more likely to get caught. Plus, Estelle said she laughed about Bill’s death, but when she came into the shop, she acted like she was concerned.”

He nodded. “Maybe she’s a little off mentally. But it’s true about people who kill on a whim. Most people can’t keep their heads on straight after they kill someone, and they leave clues behind. I’ll talk to her again.”

“Were there clues left behind?” I took a bite of my sandwich. There’s something about bacon and avocado that makes a sandwich stand above the rest. This one was as tasty as they got.

He gazed at me. “Not a lot. There were fibers in his clutched hand, but they’re with the lab.”

I gasped as a vision of Bill grabbing his killer’s clothes came to me. “See? She knew what she was doing. She planned it. Wait. What kind of fibers?”

He shrugged. “That’s what we’re waiting to find out from the lab. But there were red, green, and white ones. They could have come from his costume.”

“Except for the green. Missy is an elf, and her costume is green. But Bev’s costume is red with white trim. Those could have come from her costume.”

He smiled. “You think they got together and killed him?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Stop it. The fibers could have come from either of them, though. You have to admit it.”

He nodded. “They could have come from either of them, or neither of them at this point.”

“The killer is going to mess up. Regardless of whether they planned it out or not.” I was sure of that.

He nodded. “I agree. They always do. I just hope it won’t take years for that to happen. I hate for Candace to not have any closure on this.”

I took a sip of my soda and then remembered something. “Noah, Bev Reade said the police were breathing down Annalisa’s neck. Is that true?”

His brow furrowed. “Breathing down her neck? I’m not breathing down anyone’s neck just yet, as much as I would like to. Where do people get this stuff?”

I was a little disappointed by his answer. I wanted him to be breathing down someone’s neck so this case could be closed. “Do you think Annalisa could have done it?”

He shrugged. “Like I said, I wish I could pin this on someone right now, but I can’t.”

I sighed. “You know how rumors fly when someone is murdered.”

He nodded. “Maddie?”

“Yes?”

“I love the elf costume. Especially the shoes.”

I rolled my eyes at him.

I wasn’t sure whether I thought Bev or Missy was the most obvious choice as Bill’s killer. Or even Annalisa. But Missy had more motive. Did Bev have one at all? I mentally went through everything I had learned and couldn’t come up with a reason why she would want to kill him. She was weird, and she had that little spat with him the night he was killed, but was that enough? I either needed to find out for sure if she had a motive or move on to someone else.

Chapter Fifteen

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“ATTENTION, PEOPLE! Attention!” Annalisa shouted above the din of conversation. It was Friday evening, and we were about to begin another night of making children happy as they asked Santa for gifts. When no one paid attention to her, she clapped her hands ten times in a staccato beat.

I looked at Chloe. Her eyebrows rose, and she leaned toward me. “She needs to calm down.”

I nodded. “You’re telling me.” I was thrilled that I got to work with Chloe tonight. We were both dressed in our green costumes and pointy-toed shoes, but I could ignore the shoes because it was going to be a lot more fun with her here.

Everyone quieted down as Annalisa gave us a look. “I’d like to introduce Arnie. He’s our new Santa.”

“Eh?” Jed said, frowning. “What do you mean, our new Santa?”

Annalisa all but rolled her eyes at this. “With Bill—gone—we needed another Santa so you wouldn’t have to do it each night. Arnie is going to fill in starting tomorrow night.”

“Well, I don’t mind being Santa every night. What did you go and do that for?”

She sighed. “Jed, it’s a lot for one person to do. We appreciate all you’ve done, but once a week is enough for anyone to be Santa.”

Jed scowled. “You coulda come and talked to me first.”

“Uh oh,” Chloe whispered.

I gave a slight nod of my head. “Don’t mess with Santa.”

Annalisa pressed her lips together, and when she released them, they made a pop sound. “Look, Jed, why don’t we talk later tonight? Meanwhile, let’s all welcome Arnie.” She clapped for him, and after a few moments, others joined in.

“Thanks,” Arnie said. “I intend to be the best Santa this town has ever seen.”

Jed snorted and rolled his eyes, crossing his arms in front of himself, but he didn’t say anything else.

“Let’s get ready now,” Annalisa said brightly. “Elves, take your places!”

***

AT THE END OF THE EVENING, we headed back into the building to pick up our sweaters.

Arnie was inside drinking a cup of coffee. He smiled when he saw us.

“Well, hello, merry elves. You both did a wonderful job out there this evening. I tell you, without elves, Santa is nothing.”

I smiled. “Thank you, Arnie. Are you from around here?” He didn’t look familiar, but he was very friendly.

He shook his head. “No, I’m from Bakersfield. Me and the wife retired here about six months ago. You two look familiar. Don’t tell me... do you work at the ice cream shop?”

We both nodded. “My mother owns it,” Chloe said.

“I knew it. Best ice cream and cookies in California. The wife and I stopped in a time or three during the summer, and we were very happy with what we bought. Giving a cookie away with each ice cream is pure genius.”

I wasn’t sure what to make of Arnie. He was the friendliest stranger I had ever met. But there was something about him I couldn’t put my finger on.

“Thank you. I’ll tell my mother.”

“So have you played Santa before?” I asked.

He nodded. “Oh, sure. Back in Bakersfield, I played Santa in the annual Christmas parade. It’s a hoot. Of course, I guess it wasn’t a hoot for Bill. I know playing Santa is a rough role, but I never thought it might get you killed.”

There was a glimmer in his eye, as if he knew something he wasn’t telling. Or he thought the whole situation with Bill’s murder was funny, which it wasn’t.

“I guess you had better watch out,” Chloe said.

He grinned. “I guess I better.”

“How did you hear about Bill?” I asked.

He shrugged. “It was on the news, and it seems to be the talk of the town. But between the three of us, I think someone got jealous.”

“Jealous?” I said. And then I realized what he meant. “You mean Jed?”

He nodded. “Rumor has it that he wasn’t about to let Bill become the lead Santa. He put an end to that before it began.”

“What do you mean?” Chloe asked.

He shrugged again. “I heard he really, really wanted to be lead Santa. Insisted on it. And that didn’t sit well with someone else. Someone who had been Santa several years longer than he had.”

I glanced at Chloe. “I hadn’t heard that he might be jealous of Bill.” I had heard other things, but not that.

He nodded. “Sure he was. He couldn’t stand him.”

“Then why did you agree to replace him? Weren’t you afraid that Jed would be jealous of you? And you might end up the same way Bill did?” Chloe asked.

“Well, let’s just say that being Santa is in my blood.” He patted his slightly bulging belly. “I’ve been in training for it for years.” He laughed. Chloe and I just looked at him. “Oh, now, don’t worry about a thing. I’m not worried. I have a yellow belt in karate if someone tries to take me out like they did Bill. Yellow isn’t as high up as black, but it will do. Well, I’ve got to get going. You girls have a good evening.”

When the door closed behind him, I turned to Chloe. “If all we’ve heard about Bill and Jed is true, then this might make sense. That Jed was jealous because Bill wanted to be the lead Santa.

She nodded. “He already couldn’t stand him because of working with him. Maybe it was the last straw. But Arnie is weird.”

I snorted. “You can say that again. And Jed didn’t seem to happy that Arnie was going to play Santa some nights.”

“He certainly did not.”

We needed more information if we were going to figure out who killed Bill Snell.

Chapter Sixteen

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WHEN CHLOE AND I GOT off work, we decided we needed to check in on Candace. With it being the Christmas season on top of losing her father, she had to be struggling, and my heart went out to her. I also had some questions that I hoped we could have answered.

“Does this seem weird?” Chloe asked me as she parked Brittany at the curb in front of Candace’s house.

I shook my head. “No. It’s customary to bring someone something when they’ve had a death in the family, and she might not feel like eating much right now. But when she does, she’ll have these in the freezer to bake.” We had brought Candace a tub of candy cane drop cookie dough. We had also sent flowers to Bill’s funeral, which had been several days earlier, so it wasn’t like the cookies were all we were giving her after her loss. They were just a little something that I thought she might like.

Candace answered the door when we knocked and smiled. “Hey, Chloe, Maddie. How are you girls?”

“We’re good,” Chloe said. “We wanted to check on you to see how you were doing. Oh, and we brought you some frozen cookie dough. We thought it would be better than baked cookies since you can take a couple out at a time and bake them when you want.”

Candace smiled. “Thanks, that’s thoughtful of you. And I loved the flowers you sent for Dad’s funeral. They were really pretty. Would you like to come in?”

Chloe nodded. “That would be great.”

We followed her inside and sat on the couch. I was pleased to see that she had put up a large, flocked Christmas tree, although it didn’t have many ornaments on it at the moment.

“I love your Christmas tree,” I said. “The flocking really makes it pretty.”

She smiled. “Thanks. My mom bought it the last Christmas she was with us. I didn’t want to put it up the year we lost her, but my dad insisted. He said she would want us to celebrate, even though she wasn’t here to celebrate with us. The last thing I wanted to do was put up a Christmas tree, but I can almost hear his voice saying that he wanted me to celebrate.” Her voice cracked as she spoke, and tears came to her eyes.

A lump came to my throat, and I cleared it to speak. “You know he would say that to you. It’s sweet that he wanted you to put it up after your mom died.”

She nodded. “He adored my mother. He would have done anything for her.”

“Candace, are you going to be by yourself on Christmas day?” Chloe asked. “Because we would love for you to spend it with us if you don’t have plans.”

I nodded. “That would be really nice. Our families are going to spend the day together and we would love to have you.”

She smiled. “That’s sweet of you to ask, but I’m going to go to Ventura to spend it with my aunt, uncle, and cousins. My aunt is my dad’s sister, and we’re going to comfort each other.”

“I’m glad you aren’t going to be alone,” Chloe said.

“Candace, can I ask you about a couple of things? You don’t have to answer,” I said hesitantly.

She nodded. “Sure. What is it?”

I took a deep breath. I hated to pry, but some of the things I’d heard didn’t add up. “You said that Missy hated your dad. When she was in high school, did she threaten to kill him?”

She sighed. “Yes. She had just turned sixteen, and her father had bought her a sports car. She snuck out one night to go for a drive with her friends after my mom had forbidden her to go to a party. She got caught climbing back in through the window in the middle of the night, so my father grounded her for two weeks and told her she couldn’t drive her car. She threw a fit and threatened to kill him. My dad called the resource officer at the high school, and he sat her down and had a stern conversation with her. For a few months after that, she was nicer, but it didn’t last long. I know I said I thought she might have killed him, but I don’t know anymore. It’s an awful thing to say about someone.”

I nodded. “I guess she was just being a spoiled teenager when she said it.” But that was what Missy was, wasn’t it? Spoiled and entitled. Someone who got what they wanted.

She nodded. “Definitely.”

“What about when he retired from his job? Didn’t he work for that oil company on the ridge?” I asked. “Did he enjoy his job?” And did he leave because of Jed?

She hesitated. “No, he didn’t enjoy his job toward the end. Management had changed, and things weren’t done the way they had been done previously. He was frustrated. He wanted to work a couple more years, but then he had a falling out with Jed Davis. Jed was promoted and was his supervisor, but my dad caught him stealing equipment from the company. When he told on him, they didn’t do anything to Jed, and Jed found out about it. He made things unbearable for my father, so he quit. Why are you asking these things?”

I bit my lower lip. I didn’t want to upset her with my questions, but I had to know. “I guess we’re just concerned about an as yet unsolved murder. You know how it is. Lilac Bay has always been a nice town, but with a murderer on the loose, we’re worried.”

She frowned. “And people are talking, right?”

I nodded. “Yes. Everyone is worried.”

She sighed. “I hate that the killer is out there somewhere.” She was quiet for a moment. “You know, something occurred to me the other day. A few weeks ago, my dad made a comment that I didn’t pay much attention to at the time. But now I’m wondering about it.”

I leaned forward before I realized what I was doing. Was this the breakthrough we had been looking for? “What was it?”

“He looked out the window one evening and muttered something under his breath. I asked him to repeat himself, and he said some crazy old lady was stalking him. Then he laughed.”

“Did he mention her name?” Chloe asked.

She nodded. “Yes. It was Bev Reade. He didn’t seem worried about it, but it still makes me wonder.”

My heart started beating fast. Bev? “It does make you wonder, doesn’t it?”

She nodded. “But if he wasn’t worried about her, then it probably didn’t mean anything.”

“Did you mention it to the detective?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No, it’s been a few days since I’ve spoken to him, and I hadn’t even remembered it until the other day.”

“You might want to mention it and see what he says about it,” Chloe said. “You never know if it might be important.”

She nodded. “I’ll talk to him about it.”

“I guess we shouldn’t take up any more of your time,” I said. “We just wanted to check up on you.”

“I’m glad you stopped by. And thanks for the cookie dough. I’ve got a sweet tooth, and I know I’ll enjoy them.”

We got up, and she walked us to the door. When we stepped outside, I turned to her. “Can I ask you a crazy question?”

She nodded. “Sure.

“Are you your dad’s only child?”

Her brow furrowed. “Yes. Why?”

I shrugged. “I just wondered. What with Missy having a different dad and your dad being older when you were born. I just wondered if he had a child from another relationship.”

She shook her head. “Nope. There’s just me.”

“Well, we had better get going. We’ll talk to you later,” I said.

We headed to Brittany and got in. She roared to life when Chloe started the engine.

I turned to her. “She doesn’t know about Annalisa.”

“No. And Bev might have been stalking Bill before he died.”

This was the information I had been waiting for where Bev was concerned. She behaved oddly, and it worried me. Now I knew something new about her. I had to tell Noah.

Chapter Seventeen

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“I LOVE ALL THE HOLIDAY ice creams you’ve got here,” the woman at the front counter said. She was dressed in a red and green sweater and wore dangling Christmas tree earrings.

I smiled. Chloe, Cookie, and I were wearing our Santa hats, and the Christmas music was playing, putting me in a particularly festive mood. “I’ve tasted them all, and they are all delicious. Especially the eggnog. But I might be partial to that one.”

“I love eggnog. Can I get a pint to take home?”

I nodded. “You bet.” I got out one of the pint plastic pails decorated with a Christmas scene. “Just the pint of eggnog?”

She looked over the tubs of ice cream in the freezer. “Oh, why don’t you give me a pint of the old-fashioned ribbon candy, one of peppermint stick, and one of rum raisin?” She looked at me with a gleam in her eye. “I might be an ice cream addict. Maybe.” She chuckled.

I shook my head. “Your secret is safe with me. I love ice cream too. Maybe just a little too much.” I got to work scooping the first pint while Chloe worked on the line. There was a line. It almost made me giddy. The coupons we had given out and the extra advertising was paying off. We were selling more ice cream and cookies this week than we had during the previous two months.

I hummed as I scooped. “Have you got your Christmas shopping done?”

She nodded. “Most of it. I just need to pick up a few more things.”

The front door swung open, and Annalisa walked in. Her hair was piled on top of her head, and diamond earrings glittered from her earlobes. She gave me a little wave with her freshly manicured fingers, and I nodded, smiling at her. Even Annalisa couldn’t put a damper on my mood today.

When I had finished scooping the eggnog ice cream, I put the lid on it. “I think I have the other ice cream flavors already scooped in pint containers in the back freezer. I’ll be right back.”

I hurried to the kitchen where Cookie was mixing more cookie dough. “Is it as busy as I think it is out there? I keep hearing the bell ring.”

I nodded and opened the large, walk-in freezer. “It is. It’s nice to see.” Thankfully, the other flavors of ice cream my customer wanted were in the big freezer. Scooping pints and quarts were time-consuming, and Chloe could use my help out front. I smiled when I saw all three flavors on the freezer shelf.

“Sell, sell, sell,” Cookie teased as I passed her on my way back to the front.

I laughed. “We’re doing that!”

I rang up my customer and helped Chloe with the line until there was only Annalisa left. When she got to the front, she looked over the cookies. “My goodness, those cookies look so good. For a minute there, I thought you wouldn’t have any more by the time I got to the front of the line.” She looked up at us. “That was quite a line of customers. I guess the coupons are working?”

I nodded. “We’ve got a fair amount of them back. It’s nice that we could offer our customers a discount.”

“It was a great idea,” Chloe said, looking at me with one eyebrow raised.

She nodded. “It was. I’m glad I could help you out. Now then, I think I’d like a gingerbread man, four of those fruit cake cookies, along with a pint of rum raisin ice cream.”

Chloe got to work on her order. “Coming right up.”

“Listen, girls, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about,” she said, leaning on the counter. “It’s about Jed.” She glanced over her shoulder at the now empty shop. “There’s something not right about him.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

She sighed. “Well, you know I introduced Arnie as the alternate Santa the other night, right? Jed stayed behind after everyone left and he was hot about it. He said he was the only Santa here, and he wasn’t going to put up with me bringing another one in. I had no idea that he was that invested in the role.”

“Really?” I asked. “He did seem a little unhappy when you made the announcement.” Chloe and I glanced at each other. Why would adding a replacement Santa make Jed so upset?

She nodded. “I noticed that, but I thought it wasn’t my business, so I wasn’t going to ask him about it. But he made me uncomfortable. He was just so angry about the whole thing.”

“Really?” Chloe said, looking as perplexed as I felt. She put the cookies into a bag for Annalisa. “He was that angry about it?”

She nodded. “I know what you’re thinking. Why would something like that make him so angry? I was just as surprised as you are.” She shook her head. “I told him there was nothing I could do about it since I had already told Arnie that he could be Santa, too. Arnie is a professional. You should see him in action. The kids just love him, and the parents eat his act up. I just hope that Jed isn’t going to be a problem.”

“What kind of problem?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Well, before I asked Bill to be Santa, Jed told me that he could handle the whole thing. I said I wasn’t comfortable with only having one Santa. What if he got sick? The kids would be so disappointed if there was no Santa. I told him I couldn’t leave it all to one person. I left it at that, but later, when I told him that Bill was going to be joining us, he became angry. He said he hated Bill. Apparently, the two had worked together before they both retired and he said Bill was both a liar and unreliable. Then I told him that Bill had done this for a few years and I never had any problems with him being unreliable.” She shook her head. “I don’t get why this is so important to him.”

“It doesn’t make sense,” I agreed. “But Jed made you feel uncomfortable?”

She nodded. “He did. He got right up in my face and said I should watch how I handle things. I asked him what that meant, but he didn’t answer me. He just said that Arnie better do a great job, or he would be sorry. Then he left. Do you think I should talk to that detective?”

“I don’t know,” Chloe said. “It sounded like he meant it as a threat.” She went to the register and rang up Annalisa’s order.

She stepped over to the cash register. “That’s the way I took it. He said he couldn’t understand why I would do this to him. Like it was something personal. It’s not personal at all. I just want the children to have a great experience when they talk to Santa. But maybe I’m making too much of it.”

“I don’t know, it sounds odd,” I said. I didn’t know Jed well enough to know why he would behave this way. Maybe he was one of those people who allowed their emotions to get the better of them. “Has he ever behaved this way before?”

She shook her head. “I don’t remember him doing this. He was the alternate Santa last year. I knew about his problems with Bill, so I tried to keep them apart as much as possible. I don’t even think they ever ran into each other.”

“Then maybe you should talk to the detective,” Chloe suggested. “You know, just in case.”

Annalisa paid for her ice cream and cookies and picked up the bag. “I think that’s an excellent idea. I’ll give him a call. Just in case. Well, you ladies have a good evening. I’ve got to get home and see if there’s anything for dinner. Otherwise, I’m going to have to place an order for something. See you later.”

“See you,” I said. When the door closed behind her, I turned to Chloe. “That’s odd that Jed felt that strongly about being Santa.”

She nodded. “Agreed. I guess you never know about some people.”

I grabbed a cloth and wiped the top of the counter. Selling ice cream and cookies meant lots of fingerprints. Maybe I needed to call Noah and tell him what Annalisa had said, in case she didn’t do it herself. I had already texted him about what Candace had told us about Bev stalking Bill, and he had simply texted back, thanks. Sometimes that man frustrated me.

Chapter Eighteen

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IT HAD BEEN MORE THAN a week since Chloe and I had visited Candace or seen Noah. I had dropped by the station four days after I brought him lunch, but he had been in a meeting, and I decided I was dropping by too often to feel comfortable about it. He was busy trying to find a killer, and he didn’t need me getting in the way. I also called him to fill him in on what Annalisa had told us but got his voicemail. I left a very edited version of what she told us, and he never called me back. If he needed more information, he was going to have to call her.

The elf thing was going great. I don’t know what I was worried about when Annalisa first asked us to do it. I’d only had my curly-toed booties stomped on ten or eleven times. I have no idea why some people seemed to think that was a fun thing to do.

“I need some ice cream,” Chloe said, looking over the buckets of ice cream in the freezer. “I wonder how rum raisin ice cream with chocolate syrup would taste?”

I made a face. “Awful. I’m quite certain it would taste awful. If you need something with chocolate syrup, then I’d go with the peppermint stick or eggnog.”

“You think it would work with eggnog?”

“I can’t swear to it, but it’s worth a shot.”

“I’ll live dangerously.” She plopped a scoop of eggnog ice cream into a paper cup and drizzled chocolate syrup over it. She took a bite and nodded. “This is good. Surprisingly good.”

“I’m glad I could be of service.”

She chuckled. “So, are you excited about your family coming for Christmas?”

“I am. I put the tree up and decorated it as much as I could. I skipped the lights outside the house, though. My dad is the one who puts them up, and you know I don’t like heights.”

“I don’t blame you. Our neighbor does ours.”

The bell over the door jingled, and we both turned toward the door. Arnie grinned as he walked in.

“Well, it’s my two favorite elves. How are you two doing today?”

I smiled. “We’re doing great. What can we get for you today?”

He glanced at the ice cream. “I told my wife I was going to stop by and get some peppermint stick ice cream, but looking at all the flavors you’ve got, I might need to get something else to go with it.”

“My mom came up with the best flavors this year,” Chloe said. “You had better get some of the Christmas flavors before they’re gone.”

One eyebrow shot up. “That would be a shame to miss any of it. I love ice cream. How about you get me a pint of eggnog, too? And four gingerbread men cookies. I love those things.”

“Coming right up,” she said. “I think we’ve got a pint of each back in the freezer. I’ll be right back.”

I went to put his cookies in a bag for him.

“Did you hear about Jed making Annalisa uncomfortable a week or two ago?” he asked me.

I glanced at him. “She mentioned it when she was in here. I don’t understand it. Jed doesn’t seem the type to let his anger get away from him.”

“Yeah, yeah. Some people can hold it for a while, but then something happens to make them blow. I don’t know what his problem is.”

“I don’t either. Maybe he was having a bad day.” While I was a little concerned about Jed making Annalisa uncomfortable, I thought there must not have been much to it since I hadn’t heard back from Noah.

“I suppose that could have been it.” He looked up when Chloe returned from the kitchen.

“I’ve got a pint of each flavor.” She set the pails on the counter.

“Maddie and I were just talking about what happened between Jed and Annalisa. It sure is a shame that one person is trying to make things difficult for her. Makes me wonder if he made things difficult for Bill, if you know what I mean.”

Chloe glanced at me, then turned back to him. “Yeah. But it doesn’t seem like something Jed would do. Losing his temper, I mean.”

He nodded and pulled his wallet from his back pocket as Chloe rang up his order. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but he seemed almost confused when he was playing Santa on Saturday. Were you two there?”

We shook our heads. “We didn’t stop by that night.” We had worked at the square on Friday with Arnie and didn’t have a reason to be there on Saturday. I had to admit that Arnie had a way with the kids. Even the ones who were scared of Santa were putty in his hands.

“What do you mean by confused?” Chloe asked.

He shrugged. “Like he kept forgetting to say ho ho ho. And then he would stare off into space while kids got antsy waiting for their turn.” He leaned forward. “Between the three of us, I told Annalisa it almost looked like he was on something. And that makes me wonder. Maybe that’s why he got so angry the other night. Maybe, like you two said, it was unlike him to be that way with someone. But if he was on something, then I could see it.” He shrugged. “If that’s true, then maybe he killed Bill without even meaning to.”

I stared at him. Jed had seemed confused about who I was the first night he played Santa. Had he really killed Bill? I didn’t know what to think. I turned, and Chloe was looking at me. She was thinking the same thing I was.

Chapter Nineteen

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“WHY DOES SHE WANT TO talk to us?” Chloe asked. “I’m tired. I want to go home.”

I nodded. “Me too. And she didn’t say exactly. But she did say she wanted to reward some of the Christmas folk for doing such a great job.”

She sighed.

Annalisa had texted me earlier in the day asking me to meet her at the square and to bring Chloe. It was December 23rd, and we had had a crazy busy day selling ice cream, cookies, and cookie dough. The coupons had been a success, and we were thrilled with the turnaround in business we’d seen because of them. Cookie had decided that we would take Christmas Eve off, and we had let our customers know earlier in the month that if they wanted cookies, they should put in an order early. That led to more work than I had ever done in one day. The texts from Annalisa had been odd, but I was so busy that I didn’t have time to think about them.

Chloe turned to me. “Why don’t we blow her off? Tell her we worked late and couldn’t make it.”

I parked my car. “I’d like to. We’re already here, though. It shouldn’t take long.”

We got out and headed to the little building near the square. The lights were on inside, and Christmas lights twinkled around the outside of the windows. I was hungry and thought I’d pick something up for dinner after dropping Chloe off at her house. My family would be here tomorrow morning, and I’d have three days off to rest and visit with them. I was ready for that time off.

I opened the door and was surprised that only Annalisa was here. Weren’t there more Christmas folks deserving of the reward?

She smiled at us and got to her feet. “Hi, girls. I’m so glad you could stop by. I know it’s late, but I promise I won’t keep you.”

“Hey, Annalisa,” I said. “It’s been a long day, but at least it’s almost Christmas.” She grinned. That was when I noticed there was something in her hands. “Why did you ask us to meet you here?”

“I wanted to reward you two for your hard work. I’ve been watching everyone, and the two of you were the hardest workers. You had so much Christmas spirit. I wanted you to know how much I appreciated that.”

Chloe must have noticed something, because she gave me a worried look. “That isn’t necessary.”

“Oh no, I insist.” She stepped closer to us. “We’re just going to take a little ride. To get you the reward.”

“Sorry, Annalisa, but we’re too tired to go anywhere. We appreciate that you want to reward us, but you don’t have to do that.” Something in the air had changed, and I wanted out of that little building. And then I realized something. “Annalisa, what are your plans for Christmas?”

Her eyes widened slightly. “My plans? What do you mean?”

“Are you going to spend the day with the family? Your parents, for instance? Or someone else?”

She shook her head. “My mother is dead. My father is, too. So I’m going to open all the gifts I bought myself and celebrate me on Christmas day.” She smiled, but it wasn’t a friendly smile.

“How did your dad die?” Chloe asked. “I heard about your mother dying, but not your dad.”

Annalisa shook her head. “Really? We’re going to do this? Why don’t you two turn around and walk to my car? It’s parked right outside.”

“No,” I said incredulously. “We’re going home.”

She slowly showed the small gun she held in her hands, pointing it at us. “I beg to differ.”

Chloe gasped. “What are doing, Annalisa?”

She smiled. “Taking you two for your last ride. I’d love to say that you both made great elves, but the truth is that you really stank. I thought you’d be better at it, Maddie, but you were a great big disappointment. Would it kill you to be nice to the kids for a minute?”

“What? I was nice to those kids! And don’t you critique my performance. I was a Disneyland princess.”

She rolled her eyes. “Get in the car.”

“Wait. Why are you doing this?” I asked. Surely our performances as elves weren’t that bad.

“Why do you think?”

I inhaled. “Because you killed Bill. But why kill us?”

“Bingo. And it’s because you two were so nosy. If you would have kept your noses out of things, I wouldn’t have had to do this. But I heard you were talking to people. If you would have just focused on Missy as the killer, I wouldn’t have had to do this. I even tried to get you to believe Jed did it, but you didn’t even tell that detective what I told you. I have no choice now.”

“I did tell Noah what you told us. Or at least I left him a message on his voicemail. But he’s busy, and it’s not like I could run to the station and bug him all the time.”

“Really? Because I thought you would. Oh well. I guess that’s the way it goes.” She smiled again.

“Please, Annalisa, don’t do this,” Chloe said. The whine in her voice was unmistakable.

“We won’t tell anyone about this.”

She rolled her eyes again. “Yeah, I’m going to fall for that one. If you don’t get moving, I’ll shoot you and leave you here for the custodian to find.” We turned toward the door, and she moved close behind us so we wouldn’t get too far ahead of her.

“Fine,” I said and shuffled toward the door. I glanced at Chloe, and there were tears in her eyes. She stepped ahead of me to go out the door, and I shoved her forward, jumping through the door, and slamming it on Annalisa’s outstretched hand that she held the gun in. We ran toward my car with Annalisa screaming in pain.

Chapter Twenty

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“HOW ARE YOU, DEAR?” my grandmother Pearl asked, hugging me.

I smiled. I had been lost in thought, staring into space. “I’m great. I decorated the tree and baked some cookies. All we have to do tonight is relax, eat cookies, and drink cocoa.”

“She isn’t going to give in, that one,” my grandmother Ellen said, shaking her head. “She was almost killed and all she’s thinking about is cookies.”

I smiled at my mother and shrugged. I was distracted by what had happened and wasn’t being a very good host. I’d have to make it up to them.

Thankfully, Bill’s murder had been resolved. Annalisa’s arm was only bruised, but she had dropped the gun when I slammed the door on it. I’d like to say that I was smart enough to grab that gun, but Chloe and I were too scared to even think about that. We ducked into the nearby gift shop, and the owner locked the door while I called Noah. If Annalisa had gotten in her car and driven away, she might have been able to escape. But instead, she searched for us for several minutes before trying to leave the area. By that time the police were there, and she was now unhappily spending her Christmas Eve in jail. I was waiting for Noah to call me, but it was just after four o’clock in the afternoon on Christmas Eve, and I was beginning to think that he might not call.

Dad put an arm around me. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

I smiled. “Thanks. Why don’t we order a pizza for dinner?”

“I love pizza,” my sister Hailey said. “I vote for pizza.”

“Cookie is making a ham for dinner tomorrow, and I promised I’d bring a pumpkin pie, dinner rolls, and sweet potato casserole,” I said. “I thought the pizza was a good choice for tonight.”

“Sounds good. I’ll save my Christmas dinner appetite for tomorrow,” my dad said.

My mother smiled at me. “Pizza is wonderful. I’m just glad we could visit for Christmas. Maybe next year you can come to see us in Arizona?”

I nodded. “I’ll do my best.”

I loved having my family here for Christmas. I missed them and wished they lived closer. But I was exhausted both from work and from what Annalisa had tried to do to Chloe and me the previous night. All I wanted to do right then was relax and visit with my family.

“Hey Maddie, who’s this cute guy coming up the walk?” Hailey asked from the living room.

I’d like to say that I went to the front window to see who it was in a dignified manner, but I’d be lying. I almost knocked over Grandma Pearl.

“It’s the detective.” I opened the front door only wide enough for me to squeeze through and shut it behind me. “Hey.”

He smiled, but he looked tired. “Hey yourself.” He glanced at the front window where my sister, mother, and one of my two grandmothers were looking out at us. “You have company. I should have called.”

I shook my head. “It’s okay. It’s my family. They came in this morning from Arizona. So. What happened with Annalisa?”

He smiled. “She finally admitted that she killed Bill. He was her biological father, and she claims he didn’t want anything to do with her. I’ve got to hand it to her. She held out for a long time, claiming that she was too dignified to do something like murder a poor old man. Emphasis on poor.”

“Figures. It’s going to be hard to get her nails done in prison. I can’t believe she would kill him. Bev said she figured out Bill was her father because of a DNA test that Candace had done.”

He nodded. “She never let Candace know that she was her half-sister. But when she had the test done, Candace popped up as a possible sibling. Annalisa looked through her mother’s high school yearbooks and saw pictures of her and Bill holding hands, and that was how she knew they had dated, and since Candace was a sibling, she knew Bill was her father. Then she asked to have her test results removed from the website so Candace wouldn’t know she was a sibling match.”

I sighed. “That’s why Candace said Missy was her only sibling. She really didn’t know.”

He nodded. “That’s why. Annalisa made up the story about Jed making her uncomfortable and asked Arnie to go into the shop and tell you the same story. She wanted to be sure that you passed the story on to me, which you did.”

I gasped. “Did you arrest Arnie too, then?”

He shook his head. “He never told me anything, so there’s nothing I can do about it.”

“I wonder why Bill didn’t want a relationship with Annalisa?”

“She said that he denied she could be his, and when she asked him to take a DNA test to prove it, he refused. He said he appreciated that she wanted a father, but he was too old to be one to her. She threatened to tell Candace, and he said she would be sorry if she did. I think she just wanted a family, and when he kept refusing to be one to her, she became angry.” He shook his head. “She said she didn’t mean to do it. They stayed late to talk, and she tried talking him into the DNA test again, and when he refused, she lost her temper.”

“Why did Bill agree to be Santa, since it meant spending time around her?”

“I guess he just thought she would understand that he didn’t want anything more than to be Santa to the kids.”

“That’s sad.”

He nodded. “It is.”

“Was Bev really stalking him?”

He shrugged. “She won’t admit it if she was.”

I folded my arms in front of myself as a breeze kicked up. “I feel sorry for Candace, but at least she’ll know her father’s killer is in jail.”

He nodded. “I’m glad this thing was resolved before Christmas. I’m going to go home and spend time with my own family. My sister is home from college, and my parents are in town.”

I smiled. “Thanks for coming by and letting me know.”

He nodded. “Merry Christmas, Maddie.”

“Merry Christmas.”

I turned and headed back to the house. It had turned cold, and it was threatening to rain. A fire in the fireplace and some hot cocoa was in order.

“Hey, Maddie?”

I turned and looked at him. “Yes?”

His eyes went to the window, then back to me. He jogged the few feet between us and stopped in front of me. “I was thinking. Maybe we could go out? Next year?”

My heart did a little pitter-patter dance in my chest. I nodded dumbly. “Sure. Yes. That would be great.”

He smiled. “Great. I’ll see you around. I’ll give you a call next year and we’ll make plans.”

I chuckled. “Next year. That sounds great.” I turned around and almost tripped over the garden hose I had meant to wind up. Noah Grayson had just asked me out. I looked at the window, and my family was all standing there, grinning. It was a Merry Christmas indeed.

The End

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Books by Kathleen Suzette:

A Cookie’s Creamery Mystery

Ice Cream, You Scream

A Cookie’s Creamery Mystery, book 1

Murder with a Cherry on top

A Cookie’s Creamery Mystery, book 2

Murderous 4th of July

A Cookie’s Creamery Mystery, book 3

Murder at the Shore

A Cookie’s Creamery Mystery, book 4

Merry Murder

A Cookie’s Creamery Mystery, book 5

A Lemon Creek Mystery

Murder at the Ranch

A Lemon Creek Mystery, book 1

The Art of Murder

A Lemon Creek Mystery, book 2

Body on the Boat

A Lemon Creek Mystery, book 3

A Rainey Daye Cozy Mystery Series

Clam Chowder and a Murder

A Rainey Daye Cozy Mystery, book 1

A Short Stack and a Murder

A Rainey Daye Cozy Mystery, book 2

Cherry Pie and a Murder

A Rainey Daye Cozy Mystery, book 3

Barbecue and a Murder

A Rainey Daye Cozy Mystery, book 4

Birthday Cake and a Murder

A Rainey Daye Cozy Mystery, book 5

Hot Cider and a Murder

A Rainey Daye Cozy Mystery, book 6

Roast Turkey and a Murder

A Rainey Daye Cozy Mystery, book 7

Gingerbread and a Murder

A Rainey Daye Cozy Mystery, book 8

Fish Fry and a Murder

A Rainey Daye Cozy Mystery, book 9

Cupcakes and a Murder

A Rainey Daye Cozy Mystery, book 10

Lemon Pie and a Murder

A Rainey Daye Cozy Mystery, book 11

Pasta and a Murder

A Rainey Daye Cozy Mystery, book 12

Chocolate Cake and a Murder

A Rainey Daye Cozy Mystery, book 13

Pumpkin Spice Donuts and a Murder

A Rainey Daye Cozy Mystery, book 14

Christmas Cookies and a Murder

A Rainey Daye Cozy Mystery, book 15

A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery Series

Candy Coated Murder

A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 1

Murderously Sweet

A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 2

Chocolate Covered Murder

A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 3

Death and Sweets

A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 4

Sugared Demise

A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 5

Confectionately Dead

A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 6

Hard Candy and a Killer

A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 7

Candy Kisses and a Killer

A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 8

Terminal Taffy

A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 9

Fudgy Fatality

A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 10

Truffled Murder

A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 11

Caramel Murder

A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 12

Peppermint Fudge Killer

A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 13

Chocolate Heart Killer

A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 14

Strawberry Creams and Death

A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 15

Pumpkin Spice Lies

A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 16

Sweetly Dead

A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 17

Deadly Valentine

A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 18

Death and a Peppermint Patty

A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 19

Sugar, Spice, and Murder

A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 20

Candy Crushed

A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 21

Trick or Treat

A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 22

Frightfully Dead

A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 23

Candied Murder

A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 24

Christmas Calamity

A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 25

A Freshly Baked Cozy Mystery Series

Apple Pie a la Murder,

A Freshly Baked Cozy Mystery, Book 1

Trick or Treat and Murder,

A Freshly Baked Cozy Mystery, Book 2

Thankfully Dead

A Freshly Baked Cozy Mystery, Book 3

Candy Cane Killer

A Freshly Baked Cozy Mystery, Book 4

Ice Cold Murder

A Freshly Baked Cozy Mystery, Book 5

Love is Murder

A Freshly Baked Cozy Mystery, Book 6

Strawberry Surprise Killer

A Freshly Baked Cozy Mystery, Book 7

Plum Dead

A Freshly Baked Cozy Mystery, book 8

Red, White, and Blue Murder

A Freshly Baked Cozy Mystery, book 9

Mummy Pie Murder

A Freshly Baked Cozy Mystery, book 10

Wedding Bell Blunders

A Freshly Baked Cozy Mystery, book 11

In a Jam

A Freshly Baked Cozy Mystery, book 12

Tarts and Terror

A Freshly Baked Cozy Mystery, book 13

Fall for Murder

A Freshly Baked Cozy Mystery, book 14

Web of Deceit

A Freshly Baked Cozy Mystery, book 15

Silenced Santa

A Freshly Baked Cozy Mystery, book 16

New Year, New Murder

A Freshly Baked Cozy Mystery, book 17

Murder Supreme

A Freshly Baked Cozy Mystery, book 18

Peach of a Murder

A Freshly Baked Cozy Mystery, book 19

Sweet Tea and Terror

A Freshly Baked Cozy Mystery, book 20

Die for Pie

A Freshly Baked Cozy Mystery, book 21

Gnome for Halloween

A Freshly Baked Cozy Mystery, book 22

Christmas Cake Caper

A Freshly Baked Cozy Mystery, book 23