Trick or Treat

A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery

By

Kathleen Suzette

Copyright © 2021 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.

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

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Chapter One

I glanced out the window of the candy store as the tree outside bent with the wind. I hoped the wind would let up by this evening so the kids could enjoy their Halloween trick-or-treating.

An older woman hurried up to the front counter, her arms full of candy. She grinned at me. “Wow. I almost couldn’t carry it all.” She set the candy down carefully onto the counter, and I chuckled.

“It’s a good thing you’re stocking up. The Halloween season is almost over.”

She nodded. “My grandkids would be so upset if I didn’t buy them candy from the Pumpkin Hollow Candy Store. They’ve been begging me for the last three weeks for candy from your shop. None other will do for Halloween.” She laughed. “It doesn’t get any better than this.”

I grinned as I rang up her purchases. “We certainly like to hear that. I hope you brought your grandkids to enjoy some of the festivities this season.” In Pumpkin Hollow we celebrated Halloween all year long, and with the big day finally here, the town was teeming with visitors.

She nodded. “Oh yes. I brought them twice this season, and we did make stops here at the candy store, but I only let them get one piece of candy each. Halloween is the day that I spoil them by making up a bag full of candy that I buy from the store.” Her eyes went to the candy on the counter. “I may spoil them too much, but that’s my job.”

“That’s a great idea. I bet they love it.” I placed her foil-wrapped hollow chocolate pumpkins into a shopping bag. She had enough candy on the counter to feed a small army, and I couldn’t help but grin as I rang everything up. “I hope you found everything you were looking for.”

She nodded, glancing at the display case. “Oh, I think I found more than enough. Why don’t you get me half a pound of your pumpkin spice fudge? That will be for me and my husband. Don’t tell the grandkids.”

I chuckled. “Your secret is safe with me.”

Christy came to stand beside me, taking in the candy on the counter. “Well, you went all out this Halloween, didn’t you?”

The woman chuckled. “I was just telling your sister that I’m going to make up a Halloween treat bag for each of my grandkids. You can tell that I’ve been here often enough because I know she’s your sister.”

Christy grinned. “Yes, she is. She’s my very favorite sister. She’s also my only sister, so she’s definitely my favorite.”

“Thank you, sister. You’re my favorite, too,” I said as I chuckled and continued ringing up the candy. “She would also like a half a pound of the pumpkin spice fudge. Can you get that for her, please?”

“You bet,” Christy said and got to work cutting the fudge. More people got in line as the sky outside darkened. I hoped it wasn’t going to storm.

It took more than an hour before the line at the front counter was gone. Christy leaned against the counter and sighed. “I can’t believe the Halloween season is almost over.”

I nodded. “Me too. It went so fast this year.” The Halloween season ran from Labor Day weekend until the second weekend in November, so we still had a little time left, but I knew the remaining days would fly by.

Christy straightened her Tinkerbelle outfit. “I just love this new costume. I don’t know why I didn’t think of buying it sooner.”

“You are rather cute as Tinkerbelle.” I was wearing a witch costume, and it was one that I had bought at the start of the season. It had orange and black striped stockings and a black taffeta skirt. I liked to refresh my stash of Halloween costumes from time to time so that I didn’t feel like I was wearing the same thing over and over.

She hopped up on the stool behind the counter, and I did the same on the other one. “My feet are killing me.”

I flexed my feet. “Mine too. I sure hope this weather blows over. The kids will be so disappointed if there’s wind and rain and they can’t go trick-or-treating.”

“They’ll still go trick-or-treating, they probably just won’t be able to stay out as long as they usually do.” She sighed. “I used to love trick-or-treating. We’re dressed up. We should go door-to-door and get candy tonight.”

I laughed. “Wouldn’t that be fun? It’s been so long since we did that.”

She straightened the skirt of her outfit. “I quit trick-or-treating when I was twelve because I thought I was too grown-up for it. If I had had any idea back then how much I would miss it, I would’ve gone until I was twenty.”

“Me too,” I said wistfully. How did childhood pass by so quickly? At least working at the candy store we got to relive it by watching all the kids come through in their costumes. They had the cutest costumes these days for little ones, and I was just a bit jealous.

“What are you and Ethan going to do this evening?” she asked.

“We talked about it, but didn’t make any firm plans. I would love to go on a hayride, and we could go through the haunted farmhouse. Or we could walk through the regular haunted house.”

“I think Devon and I are going for a hayride. But first we’ll probably stop by and get some pizza. We could make it a double date?”

“That’s tempting. I’ll ask Ethan what he has in mind,” I said. “But it sounds good to me.”

Linda Reid came from the kitchen with a tray full of candy corn flavored marshmallows. “Oh girls, you cleared this place out.” She chuckled.

“Almost,” I said. A few more customers were lingering over the shelves of candy at the back of the store, but with today being Halloween, the lull in business would only be momentary.

She nodded and came around to the back of the display case. Linda was dressed as a clown today. “I told my husband we needed to do something fun tonight. But he’s such a grumpy Gus he said all he wanted to do was watch a movie and turn in early.”

“That’s no fun,” I said. “You need to tell him he’s got to get out and have some fun on Halloween night.”

She nodded. “I’m going to tell him that. It won’t make any difference whatsoever, but I’ll tell him that.” She chuckled as she put the tray of candy into the display case. “Those candy corn marshmallows sure do smell good.”

I nodded. “I was thinking the same thing. I might have to get one for myself.”

The wind whipped the tree outside again, and one of its longest branches lightly scraped against the front window. We all looked in that direction.

“Oh, goodness, that isn’t going to be good for the trick-or-treaters,” Linda said, closing the display case door.

I shook my head. “Let’s hope it blows over soon.”

A customer walked up to the front counter with a bag of orange and black jellybeans, a foil-wrapped chocolate witch, and three white chocolate ghosts. She smiled. “I don’t suppose I need all this candy, but I couldn’t resist. Oh, and can I get some candy corn marshmallows? I get them every time I come in here if they’re available.” She glanced at the display case. “Oh, there they are. I love those. I’d like half a dozen, please.”

“You bet,” Christy said as she went to the display case while I went to the counter to ring the customer up.

“I hope you found everything you need,” I said as I got to work.

She nodded. “I sure did. I’ve been in here so many times this season that I really did not need to stop by today. But I thought I would, anyway.” She chuckled.

I glanced up at her. “I thought you looked familiar. Do you live here in town?”

She shook her head. “No, I live in Lake Tahoe. But it’s worth the short drive to get some candy.” There was another gust of wind, and the branch scraped against the window again. We all turned to look. “Oh. That doesn’t bode well. Have you ever been out in the woods when it’s windy like that?” She turned back to me.

I shook my head. “I don’t think I have. When the weather gets bad, I try to stay inside and drink hot cocoa in front of the fireplace. Well, when I’m not at work, that is.”

She nodded, her short red hair bobbing with the motion. “Well, they say, if you get a norther like that blowing through the woods, it’s a sign that the witches are on the prowl. And then when you combine it with Halloween? Well, then you’ve got to watch out for sure.”

We all laughed, but the customer didn’t.

“Oh, I hadn’t heard that before.” I placed a white chocolate ghost into a Halloween-decorated paper bag for her.

Her brow furrowed. “I’m not kidding about it. It’s the truth. You’ve got to watch out for those witches.”

I nodded. “I certainly will.” Our customers sometimes believed things about Pumpkin Hollow and all things Halloween that I couldn’t agree with, but if she wanted to believe that the witches were on the prowl, that was her business.

“Here you are,” Christy said, setting a wax bag on the counter with the candy corn marshmallows. “And we will definitely keep an eye out for witches.”

“You don’t want to run into an angry witch in a windstorm,” the customer warned.

I agreed, and she paid for her purchases and left.

I turned and looked at Linda and Christy. “Watch out for the witches tonight.”

Linda chuckled and headed back to the kitchen. “You bet I will.”

Chapter Two

“Aren’t you the sweetest?” Christy said as she handed a little girl dressed as a butterfly a handful of candy. The little girl giggled and said thank you. Christy turned and looked at me. “Makes you want one of your own, doesn’t it?”

I grinned and shook my head. “No, it doesn’t. I’m not ready for that.” Ethan and I had just gotten married the previous year, and we were enjoying being newlyweds. I suppose now that our first anniversary had passed, we were no longer considered newlyweds, but I didn’t care. We were enjoying life as a married couple.

“Suit yourself,” Christy said as she handed out some candy to a werewolf, Batman, and a cowboy. The boys laughed and giggled as they ran back to their mother waiting just outside of the candy shop door. On Halloween, the merchants gave out candy to the trick-or-treaters. It was a highlight of the Halloween season, but it was also kind of sad. I had to admit to myself that the Halloween season would soon come to an end.

“I’m going to suit myself,” I said as I handed a handful of candy to a ladybug. “Aren’t you sweet?”

The little girl looked at me shyly and whispered a thank you before dashing out the door to go to the other shops on the block.

“Are we having fun yet, girls?” Linda Reid asked as she carried a tray full of pumpkin spice fudge to the display case. I could smell it from where I stood, and it made my mouth water.

“We’re always having fun,” I said. “Mom is still making candy?” I glanced at the clock on the wall. It was just after 7:30, and Mom should have been done making candy hours ago.

She nodded. “She saw the display case was nearly empty, so she got back to work. This fudge smells so good I might take a little of it home myself if it doesn’t sell out.”

“I wouldn’t mind taking some of it home myself,” Christy said, leaning on the counter as we got a breather from the trick-or-treaters. They had begun filing in just before dark. Each one wearing a Halloween costume and a grin that was big as could be.

I sighed. “It’s been crazy busy all day, but I sure am going to be sad to see the Halloween season end.”

Linda nodded as she removed an empty tray from the display case and shut the door. “You and me both. There’s something special about the Halloween season. We’ll be busy for Christmas too, but the Halloween season is my favorite.”

I nodded. Part of me wanted to be home with Ethan handing out trick candy to trick-or-treaters, but part of me wanted to stay here, too. It was a tradition to hand out the candy here at the candy store, but I knew Ethan had a fire in the fireplace, and it would only take me a few minutes to make some hot cocoa and then snuggle up with him. We would watch It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown on TV. That was our little tradition.

“Hey!” my best friend Amanda said as she came through the front door with her daughter, Isabella, on her hip. They were both dressed as princesses and were cute as could be. “I hope we’re not too late for Halloween candy?”

I grinned and hurried over to her, stopping to kiss Isabella on the cheek. She blushed and grinned at me. “How is my favorite girl?”

She nodded, mumbling something that sounded vaguely like trick or treat, and I looked at Amanda.

Amanda laughed. “We’ve been working with her for days now. And in case you couldn’t figure it out, that was trick or treat.”

“Of course I could figure out,” I said, taking Isabella from her and carrying her over to the front counter. “She said it perfectly.”

Linda and Christy grinned and chuckled.

“Look what I’ve got for you,” Christy said, holding out an orange pumpkin-shaped lollipop. Isabella took it from her, grinning, and mumbled trick or treat again. “Oh, that was wonderful. Good job.”

I grinned and turned back to Amanda. “Where’s Brian?”

“He stopped to talk to somebody out on the sidewalk. He’ll be here in a minute. Where’s Ethan?”

“He’s handing out candy at home. I hope he’s having fun.”

She leaned on the counter. “Are you going to go to any of the attractions tonight?”

“We were talking about the hayride last night, but we haven’t decided yet,” I said as Isabella popped the lollipop into her mouth. She grinned, and drool started down her chin. I grabbed a tissue from a box on the counter and dabbed at it. “I bet you would love to ride the merry-go-round, wouldn’t you, Isabella?”

“That’s what I was thinking. We’ll go over to the merry-go-round and let her ride it a couple of times and then probably head home. It’s going to be past her bedtime pretty soon.”

“That sounds fun. Maybe we’ll do that too, it won’t take very much time. And then we can get home. I’m starving, and that wind is cold.” The wind hadn’t died down as I’d hoped, but it hadn’t stopped the kids from trick-or-treating.

I looked up as Ethan walked through the door, with Brian right behind him. I grinned.

“Hi, Brian,” Christy said. “I’m going to kidnap your daughter.”

He nodded. “Sounds good. We’ll get an evening alone.” Amanda wrapped her arm around his waist and kissed him.

“Why aren’t you wearing a costume?” I asked Ethan suspiciously.

He grinned. “I’m too big for a costume.”

“Well then, you don’t get any candy,” Christy said. “That’s a shame. Mom just made some pumpkin spice fudge.”

He looked at me, one eyebrow raised. “I do get candy, right?”

I shook my head. “Sadly, no. No candy for the big boys not wearing costumes.”

He shook his head and put his hands out to Isabella, and she gleefully went to him. “Look at you. You’re the cutest ever.”

“She takes after me,” Brian said.

We all groaned. “You know she looks just like Amanda,” Christy reminded him.

He shrugged. “Maybe so. Either way, they’re both beauties.”

“Aw, come here,” Amanda said and kissed him again. “You are so sweet.”

He smiled. “I’m always sweet.”

I turned to Ethan. “Did you get very many trick-or-treaters at home?”

He nodded. “I ran out of candy, so I shut off the porch light and came down here. I hate to disappoint the kids, but we had a lot of them come by.”

“Really? That was a lot of candy we had at the house.” We had bought seven bags of candy, thinking that we would only use four at the most.

“Everybody loves candy,” Amanda said. She turned to Brian. “I guess we better get going. Isabella is going to be worn out before we know it, and I want to avoid a meltdown.”

He nodded and took her from Ethan. “Let’s get going then. We want to avoid a meltdown at all costs.” He looked at us, his eyebrows raised.

I chuckled. “That’s a good idea.” A few more kids scurried through the candy shop door with their trick-or-treat pumpkin buckets and held them out, and Linda and Christy started handing out the candy. “We’ll see you guys later,” I said as Brian and Amanda left with Isabella.

“See you,” Amanda said.

I turned back to Ethan and sighed. “It’s been a crazy, busy day.”

“I’m sure it has been. Where do you want to go for dinner?”

I thought about it for a moment. “You know, we haven’t been to that steakhouse out on the highway for a while.” The steakhouse served great food and at this hour of the evening, probably wouldn’t be too busy.

He nodded. “Sounds great to me. I could do with a thick, juicy steak.”

Mom came out from the kitchen with another tray of fudge and headed to the front counter.

“Mom, why are you still making candy? We’re going to close in a few minutes,” I said.

She grinned and nodded. “I know, but somebody just called and asked if we had some more pumpkin spice fudge. They said they’d be here in just a few minutes, so I whipped up another batch. I can’t disappoint someone on Halloween.”

I nodded and glanced at the clock again. It wasn’t moving quickly enough. I was ready to enjoy dinner with my husband.

As if reading my mind, Mom turned to us. “Why don’t you kids go ahead and go home? Linda and I can finish up around here.”

I looked at Ethan. “Ready to go?”

He nodded. “You bet. If there’s any of that pumpkin spice fudge left over, you don’t have to worry about it, Ann. I’ll take care of it for you.”

She nodded. “I knew you would. I never have to worry about you volunteering for a job like that.”

He grinned, and we headed out to the door. “See you later.”

“See you,” Christy said as she gathered her belongings.

Once inside the pickup, I turned and looked at Ethan. “You didn’t kiss me.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Oh. You’re right.” He leaned over and kissed me, and I kissed him back.

“That’s more like it. I’m starving, let’s get something to eat, and then maybe we’ll come back for a hayride?”

He nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

I waved at my sister as her boyfriend Devon arrived to pick her up. We would probably end up running into them somewhere around town later tonight.

Chapter Three

I sighed as we drove toward the edge of town and then glanced down at myself. “I don’t suppose anybody will think it’s weird that we’re out to dinner and I’m dressed as a witch?”

He chuckled and shook his head. “Even if it weren’t Halloween, I don’t think anybody around here would think twice about it.”

“You’ve got a point. Any time of the year wouldn’t be unusual for somebody to be dressed in a costume around here.” I loved my little town. Dressing up was all a part of the fun and something that I looked forward to each year. “Maybe we should dress up during the Christmas season as well?”

He nodded. “You’d make a cute elf.”

“Are you going to be Santa Claus?” I looked at him, one eyebrow raised.

He rolled his eyes. “No. I’m not going to be Santa Claus. I might be Mr. Elf, though.” He looked at me, grinning.

I chuckled as we approached the haunted farmhouse. “It’s chilly out. Do you think it’s going to be too cold to come back for a hayride after we eat?”

He shrugged. “I’m sure we can find a blanket to snuggle under on the hayride.”

I nodded as we passed the farmhouse. The parking lot was filled with cars, and I could hear shouts of laughter coming from the haunted corn maze.

“Anything exciting happening at work?” I asked.

He shook his head. “No, it was a pretty boring day. I’d love to get some kettle corn when we come back to the farmhouse.”

I nodded. “I can smell it from here.” The wind had settled down a little, and for a moment I picked up the scent of kettle corn. There would also be corn dogs, Frito boats, and other fair-type foods sold at the haunted farmhouse. We could have just stopped in and gotten dinner there, but it had been a while since we had gone out to dinner, and I was looking forward to the steakhouse.

As we passed the farmhouse and headed around the curve, I glanced over at the dark woods. There was a chill in the air, and I thought we would have snow soon. “I want to build a snowman when it snows.”

“Of course,” he said absently. “And two snowcats. Remember?”

I nodded. “Two snowcats. One for Boo and one for Licorice.” Both Ethan and I each had a black cat when we got married, and we were a happy little family of four. Someday, I suppose that we would add a baby to that mix, but for now, I was happy with our life the way it was.

Suddenly the truck started bumping along the road, and Ethan pulled toward the shoulder.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Feels like a flat tire,” he said. “I must’ve run over something.” He eased the truck off the highway, and a car that was following behind us passed.

“Oh, that stinks.” I was starving, and this was going to delay dinner.

He nodded and brought the truck to a stop and shut off the engine, turning to me. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve got a spare, and it’ll just take a few minutes.”

I nodded and got out of the truck to keep him company as he got some tools from behind the seat and went around to the back tire and got to work on it. I wrapped my arms around myself in the cold air. The temperature had dropped several degrees in the last few minutes, it seemed. “I’m starving.”

He nodded as he put the jack under the tire. “So am I. I hope this doesn’t slow us down too much. I’d hate for the steakhouse to close up before we could get there.”

“I guess we could just go back to the haunted farmhouse and have a corn dog.”

He looked at me. “Would you rather have corn dogs than steak? We can always turn around and go back there.”

I shrugged. “I like steak. We haven’t eaten out in a long time.”

He nodded and got to work, taking off the tire. “If they’re closed by the time we get there, we’ll just come on back and get corn dogs. We can always go out for dinner tomorrow night.”

I nodded and looked off toward the woods. They were dense and dark, and I shivered in the cold. We needed to go for a walk in the woods as soon as it snowed. I loved getting outdoors after it snowed. But only in the daytime.

I was shivering by the time Ethan got the spare tire on. He got to his feet and put the jack back behind the truck seat. “There now. That didn’t take too long.”

I shook my head, still shivering. “I can’t wait to get inside the restaurant where it’s nice and warm. A steak will help warm me up just fine.”

“You should’ve stayed in the truck. It would’ve been warmer in there,” he said as he rubbed his hands along my arms. “Let’s get going so we can get something to eat. I’m starving.”

I nodded and headed to the passenger side. As I took hold of the door handle, there was a scream from the woods, and we looked in that direction. “What was that?”

Other than the wind blowing in the trees, it was quiet as we stared at the woods. “Maybe just some kids fooling around. It’s Halloween after all.” He started around to his side of the truck when there was another scream, and we turned back as we heard a rustling in the leaves deep in the woods. The scream sounded frantic, and I wasn’t sure it was kids fooling around.

“You think so?” I asked. There was another scream and Ethan turned back toward the woods, standing with his hand on his gun at his waist.

“You get in the truck,” he directed.

I stood with my hand on the door handle, waiting. Whoever it was, they were heading in our direction, and I wasn’t sure what was going on. The sound of running feet and crunching fall leaves could be heard in between gusts of wind.

In a few moments a man and a woman, both of them dressed in costumes, ran toward us. “Help! Help!” the woman cried. She was dressed as Frankenstein’s bride, and the man running a few steps behind her was dressed as a zombie.

“Hold it right there,” Ethan ordered. “What’s going on?”

The young woman got to him, out of breath. It was Daisy Stevens, someone I knew from around town. “Thank goodness you’re both here. Somebody in the woods is chasing us. We thought we lost Leo.” She looked over her shoulder. “Leo! Leo! Oh my gosh, Leo!”

“He was right behind us,” Caleb Phillips, the young man, said breathlessly.

Ethan glanced toward the woods and then turned back. “What happened? Tell me exactly what happened.”

Caleb bent over, breathing hard. “We were walking through the woods, taking a shortcut to the haunted farmhouse, and somebody started chasing us. They had a knife, and they were chasing us.” He took a deep breath and straightened up.

“It was bigger than a knife,” Daisy said. “It was huge, and my boyfriend Leo was right behind us.” She turned back to the woods. “Leo! Where are you?”

Ethan eyed the two, then looked back at the woods. He pulled his phone from his pocket and called for backup.

I wrapped my arms around myself and came around the side of the pickup truck. “What did the person look like with the knife?” I asked.

Daisy shook her head, glancing back at the woods. “He was in a costume. A costume like the guy from Friday the 13th wore. He wore one of those masks, so I don’t know who it was.”

I nodded, looking back at the woods, but I couldn’t hear anything. If Leo was back there in the woods, he wasn’t making any effort to let us know where he was at.

“What’s Leo’s last name?” I asked.

“Leo Frakes.”

I nodded. “I know Leo.”

Ethan got off the phone and turned to them. “Describe to me the person with the machete, and Leo.”

“He looked like that Jason guy from Friday the 13th. Leo was wearing a Dracula costume. That stupid cape of his. I think it got caught on one of the trees as we ran because I heard him swear, and he stopped running for a moment, but then I heard him start running again,” Daisy said in a rush.

Ethan eyed them and then looked at me, unsure of whether he wanted to leave me alone with them. “I’ll wait for backup, and then we’ll search the woods,” he finally said.

Chapter Four

It didn’t take long for the other police officers to arrive. Ethan and seven of the other officers headed into the woods to see if they could find Leo Frakes and whoever it was that was scaring the three of them with the machete. Officer Jennings had Caleb off to the side and was questioning him.

Daisy wrapped her arms around herself and turned to me, tears in her eyes. “I don’t understand it. Leo was right behind me. What could have happened to him? He should have been out of the woods by now.”

I shook my head. “Maybe he took a detour to try to lure the guy chasing you all away from you." It was the only thing I could think of. Actually, there was one other thing that I could think of, but I wasn’t going to say that to Daisy.

She swallowed, nodding. “I bet that’s what he did. I bet he led them down another path. That’s just like Leo, you know. He’s always thinking about me.” She pressed her lips together, scanning the dark woods.

I smiled, hoping it would help her calm down. “I bet that’s what he did then. Whoever is out there was probably just fooling around and happened to see the three of you in the woods. They probably decided to have some fun and scare you.”

She swallowed, turning to me, her eyes shadowed in fear. “We decided to cut across the woods to get to the haunted farmhouse quicker. Leo’s truck was in the shop and the farmhouse wasn’t far, so we decided we would just walk. That’s all we were doing. Walking to the haunted farmhouse.”

“You don’t have a car of your own?” I asked casually. I didn’t want her to feel like I was accusing her of not doing the smartest thing, but it was dark and stormy, and the woods weren’t the place I would want to be in this kind of weather. And then when you added the fact that it was Halloween and someone might be on the prowl to pull a prank on someone—well it wasn’t something I would do.

She shook her head. “No, I’ve been saving up to buy a car, but living on my own is expensive, and I haven’t been able to afford one yet.”

I nodded. “It is expensive to live on your own.” I knew Daisy well enough to say hello to her when I ran into her. She came into the candy shop frequently but always bought small amounts of candy. I wondered if it was because that was all she could afford at the time.

Her eyes got big, and she nodded. She glanced over at the officer talking to Caleb. I saw him shake his head and shove his hands into his pockets as officer Jennings jotted down what he was saying into a notebook. She turned back to me. “Why is that officer talking to Caleb?”

I shrugged. “You know how the police are. They want to get all the details so they know what’s going on. I’m sure Ethan will find Leo out into the woods, and if they can get a description of the person with the machete, that will help to track them down.”

She nodded and sighed. “What an idiot. I don’t know who that was out there, but they were just horrible doing that.”

“It was probably just some high school kid thinking he was going to scare somebody. It’s Halloween, after all.”

She nodded. “I’m sure that’s what it was.” She chuckled nervously. “I suppose we’re making a lot out of something that was just a stupid prank.”

I hoped that was true. I hoped that the police ran into whoever it was out there with the machete and at least gave them a good talking to. If he hadn’t actually hurt anybody, and it was just a kid, I was pretty sure they wouldn’t press charges.

In a moment, Caleb rejoined us. “The officer wants to talk to you, Daisy.” If I wasn’t mistaken, Caleb looked worried.

Daisy nodded and glanced at me and then headed over to officer Jennings.

I turned to Caleb. “I’m sure they’ll find Leo.”

He nodded, shoving his hands back into his pockets. “I’m sure they will. It was probably just some idiot out there in the woods fooling around.”

I turned back toward the woods, and I could see flashlights bobbing in the dark and disappearing behind trees. What was taking them so long? Where would Leo have run off to? If he had turned and chased the person in the costume, wouldn't he have caught him by now? And if he was running from the costumed goon, wouldn’t he want to run out into the open in the hopes of finding help?

I turned back to Caleb. “Well, have you been enjoying Halloween? Up until now, I mean?”

He grinned. “Yeah, we were having a good time until now. We got some pizza earlier and then decided to head to the haunted farmhouse to check out the corn maze. We’ve gone together every year since we were in junior high school.”

I nodded. “It is a lot of fun. Although I don’t particularly care for horror movie characters jumping out at me.”

He looked at me, one eyebrow raised. “Well, as of tonight, I don’t appreciate it either. Especially when they’re not a part of make-believe.”

A breeze blew a lock of my hair into my face and I pushed it back. “You think that he meant to hurt you?”

He nodded. “I do. You didn’t see this guy. He was screaming and running after us and making weird grunting sounds.”

“So you met him head-on out there?” I asked.

He shook his head. “No, we heard him walking through the dead leaves behind us. Even through the wind, I heard somebody behind us. We stopped and turned around, and the guy was just standing there in the path, staring at us. I called to him, but he wouldn’t answer me.”

“That’s spooky,” I said, glancing at the woods again.

He nodded. “You’re telling me. At first, I just thought it was a joke. Somebody was fooling around with us, but when they refused to speak, I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up, and I just knew that something wasn’t right. And then he started running at us, and we all screamed and ran.”

“Leo brought up the rear?”

He nodded. “Yeah, he was bringing up the rear. I don’t know why I didn’t look back behind us to make sure he was still there, but I didn’t even think about it. Leo has a limp, you know. One leg is slightly longer than the other, and he’s always had issues running.”

I looked at Caleb as he gritted his teeth together. “I did know that about Leo. I guess u never noticed it.”

He nodded, not looking at me. “Yeah, it’s not severe, but he’s never been very good at sports because of it.” He turned back to me. “I’m sure he turned around to try to scare the guy. That sounds like something he would do. I bet he tried to chase after him as best he could, and the guy probably didn’t even realize that he wasn’t much of a runner.”

I nodded. “I bet Leo is out there in the woods now trying to find his way back to the path that leads to the haunted farmhouse.” I didn’t know if that was true, but I certainly hoped that it was. The woods on this side of town weren’t terribly thick, but you could still get lost in them if you weren’t careful. With it being dark and windy, getting lost would be an easy thing to do. As we stood there, three more police cars drove up and parked next to the others. They got out and went to talk to Officer Jennings and then they headed in our direction.

“Hi Jasper,” I said to Ethan’s former partner.

He grinned at me. “Hey, Mia. Is Ethan out in the woods?”

I nodded. “Yeah, they’re still trying to find Leo Frakes.” I glanced at Caleb and then turned back to him. “Sounds like somebody’s out there trying to scare folks, and Leo may have taken after him.”

He nodded, glancing at Caleb. “I’m going to head out into the woods and see if we can find Ethan and see what he wants us to do.”

I nodded. “All right.”

We watched as the three officers disappeared into the woods, and I turned back to Caleb. “With all that help out there, I know they’ll find Leo.”

He nodded, but before he could say anything, an ambulance pulled up and parked next to the police officers’ cars and the EMTs went to talk to Officer Jennings. In a moment, I saw Daisy put her hands to her chest and she began to sob. I groaned quietly to myself.

“What’s wrong with Daisy?” Caleb said and headed over without waiting for me to answer him.

I glanced back at the woods and saw several flashlights moving about. I headed over to Ethan’s truck and got inside to wait.

Chapter Five

I stood in front of the stove in the kitchen at the candy store and yawned.

“Oh, my, Mia, that was a big yawn,” Linda Reid said as she walked by, carrying an empty tray to the sink.

I chuckled lightly. “Wasn’t it though? I didn’t get much sleep last night, I guess.”

“Too much excitement from the Halloween season?” She went to the refrigerator and pulled out three pounds of butter.

“You can say that I guess.” I hated working the early shift. Christy had gotten off easy and wasn’t coming in until later in the morning. Mom had some things that she needed to take care of first thing this morning.

I glanced up at the clock on the wall. It was seven a.m., and I heard a tap on the glass door out front. “I’ll get that.”

“Alrighty,” Linda said as she got to work making more fudge.

I headed out front and was delighted to see Mom standing there with a box of doughnuts and some coffees in a drink carrier. I unlocked the door and opened it for her. “You’re a sight for sore eyes. I didn’t expect to see you here this early.”

She nodded. “I didn’t expect to be here this early, either. But the doctor’s office called and canceled my appointment, so I thought I may as well stop by the donut shop and get us something tasty for breakfast. I brought some coffee too.”

I locked the door and followed her into the kitchen. “I can’t tell you how happy that makes me. I’m starving, and I sure do need some caffeine to wake up this morning.”

She nodded as she set the donuts and coffee on the kitchen counter. “That’s what I thought. I could use some caffeine myself. Good morning, Linda.”

“Good morning, Ann.” She came over to look at the donuts in the box. “Oh my, you’re trying to tempt me, aren’t you?”

“Always,” Mom said with a smile.

The Sweet Goblin Bakery never disappointed with all their Halloween-themed goodies. I looked over the donuts in the box and decided on a Frankenstein bar. The bakery would still make some Halloween-themed treats throughout the year, but a lot of the items would disappear as soon as the Halloween season was over.

Mom turned to look at me as she handed me a coffee. “Vanilla latte. So what did you and Ethan do last night after you got off work?”

I sighed as I took the coffee from her and took a sip. “Oh, that’s good. Thank you. Ethan and I were headed out to dinner when we got a flat tire. Then we were flagged down by a couple running out of the woods, screaming for help. There was a murder.”

Mom looked at me, eyebrows raised. “Oh no. What a shame. Who was it?”

“Leo Frakes.”

Linda turned and looked at me. “Leo Frakes? Goodness, I knew him when he was a little boy. How sad. Does Ethan have any idea what happened?”

I shook my head. “Only that he was shot.”

Although Daisy and Caleb had said they were being chased by a machete-wielding horror character, Leo had actually been shot. That left all sorts of questions, most of which I had to keep to myself because Ethan didn’t get home until after three a.m. It was a bummer that I couldn’t ask him questions, but I hadn’t even heard him come in, and when I woke up to get ready for work, he was already asleep.

“I sure do hate to hear about that,” Linda said. “I feel sorry for his parents. They’re such nice folks. Haven’t seen them in years, but I always enjoy talking to them.”

“They come in now and then. You must have just missed them,” Mom said, picking out a donut from the box.

I nodded. “Had either of you seen Leo lately? I waited on him when he came in for some candy early in the Halloween season, but I hadn’t seen him since.”

Linda shook her head. “No, I haven’t seen Leo in probably a couple of years, either. I must not have been here when he came in for the candy.”

I nodded and took a bite of my donut. It was fresh and tasty. “Well, I’m sure Ethan will figure out what happened.” I didn’t want to fill them in on the details that Daisy and Caleb had given us just yet. I thought it was odd that the victim had died from a gunshot wound and wasn’t stabbed with the machete. When Ethan had come out of the woods, he told me to take his truck and go on home after telling me Leo had been shot.

“What are we working on this morning??” Mom asked as she took a sip of her coffee.

“We’re still getting a lot of orders for pumpkin spice fudge. And I’ve got to make some chocolate-covered marshmallows for a large order that came in this morning.”

She nodded. “Pumpkin spice fudge will be popular until the Halloween season is over. Why don’t I go ahead and get started on that, and you can work on the marshmallows?”

I nodded. “Sounds like a deal.”

I got to work on the marshmallows, glancing at the clock again. I didn’t want to call Ethan and wake him up, so I was going to have to wait until later to talk to him again.

***

“Hello, everyone,” Christy said when she came in for her shift. She glanced at the donut box. “I hope there are some donuts left in that box.”

“We might have saved you one or two,” I said. “Maybe.”

She eyed me and then headed back to the office to stow her purse. When she returned, she was tying an apron around her waist. “What do you want me to get started on, Mom?”

Mom turned to her from where she worked at the stove. “Why don’t you go ahead and start packing up orders to get ready to ship out?”

The online sales were continuing to grow, and the printer had several orders ready and waiting for us to fulfill on it. Sometimes I enjoyed staying back in the kitchen and just packing up orders to go out, but it was time to open the shop, so I headed out front. I smiled when I saw Ethan standing at the door, looking a bit rumpled and tired.

“How are you?” I asked as I unlocked the door and pushed it open.

He grinned. “Tired. I would’ve stayed in bed longer, but the cats jumped on my back and woke me up.” He leaned over and kissed me.

“Aw, I’m sorry,” I said. “They’ve been doing that a lot lately, haven’t they?”

He nodded and followed me back inside the candy store. “Way too much.”

“Would you like something to take with you to work?” I glanced over my shoulder at him as we walked to the front counter.

He nodded. “You know me so well. How about some fudge?” He peered into the display case. We had just filled it, and everything was fresh and ready to go.

I pulled out the pumpkin spice fudge from the display case and glanced at him. “Okay, so what gives? Daisy and Caleb said they were chased by a machete-wielding horror movie character and yet the victim was shot?”

He nodded, shoving his hands into his pocket. “That’s what happened. Neither of them had much of an explanation for that, so I don’t have any answers yet.”

I nodded as I cut some fudge for him. “So he was only shot once?”

He nodded. “The killer must have been an awfully good shot. It was windy, dark, and yet he managed to take him down with one shot.”

I looked at him, eyebrows raised. “I see. That is quite a lucky shot, isn’t it?”

He nodded. “Looks that way to me.”

“What am I sensing about this? You’re not telling me something.” I wrapped the fudge for him. Something was up.

He shrugged. “I’m not sure I believe Daisy and Caleb, to be honest with you.”

I put the fudge into a bag for him and slid it across the counter. He leaned over and kissed me. “Why don’t you believe them?”

“Because they said it was a mysterious, machete-wielding Halloween character, and yet we have a gunshot wound. No sign of that machete-wielding character, or the machete, and our victim dies out there in the dark from being shot. How were they able to see the guy in the dark?”

“He had a flashlight that he turned on himself so they could see him, according to Daisy and Caleb.”

“Daisy said she didn’t realize Leo wasn’t still behind them when they were running away, and Caleb said that Leo had one leg slightly shorter than the other and wasn’t a good runner because of it. It seems like because they both knew that, then they would have kept a closer eye on him.” I leaned on the front counter, watching his eyes.

He nodded. “That’s what I’m thinking, but they may have been so scared that they didn’t think to do that. I’m also thinking there wasn’t a lot of blood. Sometimes with a clean gunshot wound, you don’t get a lot at first. And since it was still dark, I may have missed some of it, but everything looked awfully clean.”

I gazed at him. “Do you think they killed him?”

He shrugged and picked up the bag of fudge. “It’s too early to know anything for sure. But I have some doubts about their story. This is between the two of us, of course. I’ll have to look into it more.”

I nodded. “I think Leo and Daisy had been dating since high school. If I remember right, they were prom king and queen their senior year. I remember seeing it in the newspaper.”

He nodded. “I’ll have to ask her about that. Anyway, I better get to work. Thanks for the fudge, and thanks for the kiss.” He leaned over and kissed me again.

I smiled. “I’ll talk to you later.”

I had a feeling that something wasn’t right about what Daisy and Caleb had told us about the events that went on last night and I was going to get to the bottom of it.

Chapter Six

Two days later, my mother and I decided to stop by Leo’s parents’ house to tell them how sorry we were about Leo. My mother had known Jane Frakes for years, and she felt bad about her son dying. We brought along a tin of pumpkin spice fudge to give them. It wasn’t much, but we felt like we couldn’t go empty-handed.

Jane’s eyes were red and puffy when she answered the door, and my heart went out to her.

“Hello, Jane,” Mom said gently. “We heard about Leo, and we thought we would stop by to tell you how sorry we were for your loss.”

Jane smiled sadly. “Thank you so much. Won’t you come in?”

We followed her into the living room and sat down on the couch. “I’m so sorry, Jane. We brought you some fudge.” I held the tin out to her, and she took it, smiling again.

“Thank you. It was kind of you to think of us.” Her eyes were on the tin in her lap, and she was quiet for a few moments, then she looked up at us, and her eyes shimmered with unshed tears. “I just can’t get over the fact that he’s gone. Nothing in life prepares you for something like this.”

Mom shook her head. “No, there isn’t anything that can prepare you for something like this. I was so surprised when Mia told me about it, and I hope it’s not too soon for us to stop by.”

She shook her head. “No, it’s fine. I appreciate the company. My husband is just beside himself. I don’t know if I’m ever going to come to terms with the fact that Leo’s gone.”

“My husband is working on the case, and I know he’s going to do everything he can to find his killer quickly,” I said.

She smiled and nodded. “Ethan is a fine young man. I’ve known his family for years, and I know that he will find Leo’s killer.”

We looked up as Jane’s husband Tom and their son Nolan entered the living room. We all knew each other, although not well. They both sat down on the couch next to Jane.

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” Mom said.

Tom nodded. “We’ve been in shock since we heard. It doesn’t seem real.”

“He just graduated from high school last year. He had his whole life ahead of him,” Jane said, her voice shaking as she spoke.

I nodded. “I seem to recall seeing his picture in the newspaper. He was homecoming king, wasn’t he?”

She smiled. “He was. He and his girlfriend Daisy won homecoming king and queen. Daisy was a nervous wreck about it. She was sure there was no way they both were going to win, but they did. Leo, on the other hand, was confident they would both win. That was Leo. Always so confident about everything.”

I smiled. “I’m sure that was a special evening for both of them.”

She nodded and glanced at her husband. “I’ve been going over in my mind what might’ve happened to him. I can’t say that I know of anybody that hated him, but I guess if I had to guess, then it may have been Eric Bell. His roommate.”

“Oh?” I asked. “Were they having trouble?”

She nodded. “Eric likes to party a lot, and Leo didn’t go in for that. I had wanted him to go away to college immediately, but he said he wanted to take a year off of school and work and just enjoy himself. He was going to start back to college in January. I think he took too much time off if you ask me. He didn’t earn enough money to pay for his own apartment, so he shared one with Eric. The two of them were like oil and water.”

“That can make things difficult,” Mom said. “Did Leo say that he was worried about Eric?”

She hesitated and shook her head. “No, not exactly. I don’t know. Maybe I’m just jumping to conclusions.” She glanced at her husband and then turned back to us. “It’s just that I can’t think of one person that disliked Leo. He was always the most likable kid around. Other kids flocked to him when he was in school. He was always a happy boy.”

“I think it was the fact that he had that one leg that was shorter than the other,” Tom spoke up. “It’s not like it was enough to be considered a disability, but he was self-conscious about it when he was younger, and I think it made him more determined to be likable and have lots of friends.”

Nolan snorted and looked away.

I turned to him. “I’m sure you’re going to miss your brother very much, Nolan,” I said.

He rolled his eyes and looked at me, then slouched against the couch back. “Yeah, I guess I’m going to miss him.”

I glanced at his father, and his jaw tightened. “We’re all going to miss him.”

I turned back to Nolan. “I bet the two of you were close.”

He looked at me now, his lip curled in a sneer. “Yeah, sure. We’re only ten months apart, so sure, we were close. But Leo, he was just like my mom said. All the kids flocked to him. I can’t imagine who would want to kill him.”

I didn’t believe him. The look on his face said otherwise, and his tone said he couldn’t stand his brother. “Being so close in age must have been fun. I bet the two of you did everything together.”

He shrugged and looked away.

“My son was a good kid,” Tom said quickly. “Everyone liked him, and he had a lot going for him. I wish he would’ve gone to college right away, but he chose to do otherwise. As Jane said, in January he was going to start college and earn a degree to become a math teacher.”

Jane nodded, but she looked nervous now. I didn’t know if it was because of how Nolan was behaving or not. “Yes, he was always good at math. He would have made an excellent teacher. As I said, the other kids loved him, and I’m sure that once he had gotten his teaching degree, that would have also been the case with his students.” She sighed and clasped her hands together. “It’s just so unfair. He had his entire life ahead of him, and now it’s over.”

Nolan shook his head but didn’t say anything. I could feel the tension in the room rising, and it made me wonder.

“I’m sure he would have been an excellent teacher,” I said to Jane. “And you’re right, it isn’t fair. It isn’t fair for him to of had his life cut so short.”

Tears sprang to her eyes, and she nodded, and I felt the tension leave the room. “That’s exactly right. All I want now is for justice to be served. I want Ethan to find his killer and put them away forever.”

“California still has a death penalty,” Tom said. “Whoever did this to him deserves the death penalty.”

Nolan rolled his eyes and smirked. “I doubt they just hand out the death penalty often these days.”

Tom turned and looked at him. “How do you know? Of course they will. If the crime is committed, then why wouldn’t they give the killer the death penalty?”

Nolan rolled his eyes again and got to his feet. “I’ve got to get going. I’ve got to get to work.” Without another word, he stomped out of the room and slammed the front door behind himself.

Jane shook her head. “Don’t mind him. He’s just distraught over Leo’s death.”

Tom’s jaw twitched. “Nolan and Leo didn’t always get along very well. It seemed like they were too close in age, and it became an issue for them. They had a lot of the same friends, and sometimes I think there was competition going on between them. Leo was so well-liked, but Nolan was quiet. It was stupid. There was no reason for the two of them not to get along better.”

“Sometimes it’s hard between siblings,” my mother said gently. “And even if there were issues between them, that doesn’t mean that they didn’t love one another. It doesn’t mean that they don’t care. Nolan is probably just having trouble dealing with his feelings right now.”

“I think that’s exactly it,” Jane said, sitting forward. “I think he’s in shock, and I think he doesn’t know how to handle his feelings.”

I didn’t know if that was the issue or not, but Nolan’s behavior struck me as odd. It made me wonder just how big those issues were between him and his brother.

Mom and I stayed and visited for a few more minutes, and then we excused ourselves. When we got back into my car, I turned and looked at her.

“I think there were some major issues between Nolan and Leo. The way he behaved didn’t say that he was sorry Leo was dead.”

She nodded. “I hope it really is what his mother said. That he’s just in shock, and he doesn’t know how to handle his death, but you might be right that there may have been more issues between them than they’re letting on.”

Chapter Seven

Christy and I were standing at the front counter of Amanda’s coffee shop, The Little Coffee Shop of Horrors, looking up at the menu board. I sighed, going over the offerings. Any cup of coffee that Amanda made was going to be delicious, so it really didn’t matter which one I chose. But I always had such a hard time making a decision here.

Amanda grinned. “Oh, come on. It’s still pumpkin spice season. Are you telling me that you’re going to pass up pumpkiny goodness?”

I eyed her and then frowned. “I’ve had an awful lot of pumpkin spice this season. Not that I’m complaining, mind you, but I’ve got my eye on that caramel apple latte. How is it?”

She grinned. “It’s excellent. Trust me. There’s tons of gooey caramel in it. I drizzle it over the top, and it sinks to the bottom, so when you’re finished you have all that tasty goodness there.”

“Oohhh,” Christy said, drawing the word out. “That does sound good.”

Amanda nodded. “Plus, I sprinkle just a bit of cinnamon across the whipped cream. It’s pretty tasty if I do say so myself. The apple is understated so it won’t overwhelm the other flavors.”

I groaned. “You just made my decision that much harder.”

“What about the butterscotch delight?” Christy asked, her eyes on the board again.

“Oh gosh, now that one is good. I made homemade butterscotch and drizzled it across the top of the coffee. Would you like that one?”

I glanced at Amanda and looked at the board again. “I should. I really should break out of my rut. But is it really a rut when pumpkin spice is only offered a few months out of the year?” I looked at her, one eyebrow raised.

She thought about this. “Well, I’m not sure we can call that a rut. Pumpkin spice, then?”

I nodded. “Pumpkin spice. Next week I promise to try both the caramel apple and the butterscotch.”

“I’m going to live a little. I’m going with the caramel apple. I used to love bobbing for apples when we had Halloween parties in grade school, and who doesn’t love caramel?”

Amanda nodded and chuckled. “There you go. You’re going to live a little today, Christy.”

She chuckled. “For today, I will live a little. But tomorrow I’m going back to pumpkin spice. I’m sure the caramel apple will be delicious, but we don’t have that much more time before all the Christmas flavors come out, and we’re going to leave pumpkin spice in the dust.”

I gasped. “Don’t talk that way about pumpkin spice. It’s so disrespectable.”

She shrugged. “Sometimes you’ve got to talk that way about pumpkin spice.”

I shook my head. “I know you’re my sister, but I don’t know you right this minute.”

As Amanda got to work on our coffees, the door to the coffee shop opened, and Daisy Stevens walked through it. She saw us and hurried over. “Hi Mia, hi Christy and Amanda.” She turned to me. “Mia, how is Ethan doing with the investigation? Has he found Leo’s killer?”

I hesitated and shook my head. “No, not yet. It hasn’t been long though, so don’t you worry. He’ll find them.”

She nodded and sighed. “I hadn’t heard anything, so I wasn’t sure how the investigation was going. I hope he’s able to arrest somebody quickly. I just hate that there’s a killer on the loose.”

“Me too,” Amanda said, nodding. “It seems like it’s all anybody talks about when they come in here. And it’s got me a little worried that some crazed lunatic is on the loose.”

“It’s all I can think about,” Daisy agreed. “I feel so horrible. Caleb and I ran off and left Leo behind. I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive myself.” Tears sprang to her eyes, and she sniffed. “It’s so horrible.”

“I’m sure in the panic, you thought he was right behind you,” I said. I’d never been in a situation like the one she and Caleb had been in, and I didn’t know what I would do. Would I just run off, not even thinking about who I was with? To be honest, I doubted it. If Christy were with me, I would make sure she was running alongside me, or I would go back for her. Ethan is probably the only person that I would be confident would be okay on his own. He carried his gun with him wherever he went, so he was going to manage just fine.

She nodded. “Panic is right. I can’t tell you how terrifying it is to suddenly turn around in the woods and find some stranger dressed as a horror movie character staring at you. And that machete.” She shuddered. “It was huge, and then when he started running after us, all we could think to do was to run. I was sure Leo was going to be right behind us.”

“How were you able to see him in the dark woods like that?” Christy asked, leaning on the counter.

“He had a flashlight. He held the flashlight up to himself so that we could see. It was crazy. It was as if he were hunting us.” She blinked and shook her head.

“You poor thing,” Amanda said as she worked on our drinks. “I can’t imagine going through something that terrifying.”

Daisy nodded. “I never in a million years would have thought something like that would happen to me. And especially what happened to poor Leo. I just hope that Ethan can find his killer soon.”

“I know he’s doing everything in his power to make that happen quickly,” I said. “Daisy, do you have any idea who might have wanted to hurt Leo?”

She hesitated a moment, crossing her arms in front of herself. “To be honest, I really hope that this is some random thing. That some crazed killer was out in the woods, and we just happened to run into him. It could happen that way, couldn’t it?”

I nodded. But the way she was talking felt a little off. “I suppose so. It could’ve been some rogue tourist that came to town to kill. It was Halloween after all, and maybe they thought they could make a name for themselves by killing somebody on Halloween in a Halloween-themed town.”

She nodded, her head bobbing up and down. “I hope that’s what it was. I hope it wasn’t anybody that we know. Although, if I had to point a finger at someone, I would point a finger at his roommate. Eric. Eric couldn’t stand him, you know.”

“Why is that?” I asked as I paid for mine and Christy’s drinks.

“Eric always had trouble coming up with the rent money. He always had an excuse, but Leo said he liked to spend all his money on video games and takeout food. That can get expensive, you know. It’s not like Eric makes a lot of money at his job at the pizza place.”

“That could get on your nerves fast,” Christy said. “So was he late with the rent money every month? Or just now and then?”

“Every month. Leo and I were looking to find an apartment so that we could live together. At least then he wouldn’t have to worry about not having all of the rent money. What he really wanted to do was to kick Eric out of the apartment and for me to move in, but in the end, we decided we probably should just find something a little less expensive and move in together. I think it made Eric angry, knowing that he was going to lose Leo and wouldn’t have his money to help pay the rent. He probably would have to move home, and he hates his parents.”

“So, had he told Eric that he was moving out?” I asked. “Had you guys found an apartment yet?”

She nodded. “Yes, I found a little apartment downtown that we would be able to afford together. It was a studio, and it would have been cramped, but it was kind of cute. I think it would have been a lot of fun to live together there.” She frowned.

“Would Eric have been angry enough at Leo for saying he was going to move out to kill him?” Christy asked.

Daisy shrugged. “They got into some pretty nasty arguments. And then last month, Eric said Leo owed him more money for the rent. It made Leo angry because he was good with money, and he always paid his bills on time.”

“Why would Eric say he owed him more money?” I asked.

“Because he’s a jerk. Honestly, he blamed Leo for some money coming up missing. He said he left eighty dollars on the coffee table after he paid for pizza with a hundred-dollar bill. I don’t believe it for a minute. What pizza delivery person has changed for a hundred-dollar bill?”

“Most pizza delivery people don’t carry much money,” Christy agreed. “So he left the money laying on the coffee table, and it went missing?”

She nodded. “Leo said that he was lying. There’s no way he would take money that was laying there when he knew that it wasn’t his.”

I wasn’t sure that Eric sounded as if he might have been angry enough to kill Leo. But then, I didn’t know Eric well. I would mention it to Ethan and see what he thought about it, but it didn’t seem plausible.

Christy and I picked up our coffees, and I turned back to the Daisy. “I’ll certainly let Ethan know what you said. He’ll probably get in touch with you if he has any questions.”

She nodded. “Honestly, I think Eric’s the most likely person that would have done it. But what do I know? All I know is that Leo is dead, and somebody needs to pay for his murder.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” I said. We talked for a few more minutes, and then we headed out of the coffee shop.

When the door had closed behind us, Christy turned and looked at me. “What do you think?”

“I don’t know Eric very well, so I don’t know if what Daisy is saying makes sense. Maybe we should talk with him.”

“If you ask me, I think she’s deflecting. She’s covering something up.”

“Do you?” I asked.

“I do. We’ll get to the bottom of it.” She nodded and took a sip of her coffee. “This is tasty. But, it almost sounds like Daisy is desperately reaching for a reason to blame Leo’s murder on Eric. And that makes me wonder why.”

“Me too,” I said. We headed back to the candy store, discussing what we knew about the murder.

Chapter Eight

I looked up when the candy store door opened and Caleb Phillips walked in. He smiled sadly at me and approached the counter.

“Hello, Mia.”

I nodded. “Hello, Caleb. How are you doing?”

He hesitated, and then he leaned on the front counter. Caleb was a man with worry written on his face. “Honestly? I just can’t get what happened on Halloween out of my head. We abandoned Leo. Right out there in the woods with some maniac.” He looked at me, and tears came to his eyes, but he blinked them back.

I hesitated. “Caleb, you didn’t abandon him out there. That wasn’t what you and Daisy intended to do, and it isn’t what you did. You thought he was right behind you.”

He looked away, his eyes going to the shelf of international candies near the front counter, then he turned back to me. “No, we didn’t intend to do that. Honestly, never in a million years would we have ever intended to do something like that. But that doesn’t change the fact that we did do that. We abandoned Leo to that blood-crazed killer.”

I wasn’t sure what to say to this. Yes, somehow Leo had fallen behind, and they hadn’t noticed in their mad dash to escape. But did that mean it was their fault? I didn’t think so, but clearly, the grief on Caleb’s face said that he believed it was their fault.

“Honestly, Caleb, I think you’re taking too much responsibility. Leo knew that you would never have abandoned him. Maybe he tripped and fell. Maybe something else happened to him, and he wasn’t able to keep up. Was the issue with his leg so bad that he couldn’t run?” When I’d talked to Daisy, I’d felt just a twinge of something not being right. But Caleb seemed truly broken up over Leo’s death.

He shook his head. “He could run. Just not well. But he was unable to keep up, and we didn’t notice it. I’m ashamed of myself.”

My heart went out to Caleb, and I just didn’t know what to say to make him feel better. Honestly, if I were in the same situation, I would probably feel the same way. If that were Christy and me out there, and I hadn’t realized that she wasn’t keeping up with me and she ended up dead? I would be devastated.

“I’m sorry you feel that way. I guess I can understand that.”

He nodded and glanced at the display case. “How is Ethan doing on the investigation? Has he found the killer yet?”

I shook my head. “Not yet. But you have my word that he is doing everything possible to find the killer. They’re not going to get away with this.”

“Whoever it was, they were some sick idiot. Dressed up the way they were? Trying to scare us before killing us? That’s what I have to wonder. Did they intend to kill all three of us?”

The thought gave me the chills. Somebody running around in a frightening Halloween costume murdering people on Halloween was more than I could stand. Pumpkin Hollow had always been a family-oriented Halloween-themed town. We try to avoid anything over the top scary. Sure, we had the corn maze with actors in horror character costumes jumping out at people, and there was the haunted house too, but we still never went in for lots of blood and gore. We wanted the families to keep returning every year.

“I know Ethan will do everything he can to find the killer. He’s a good detective, and I know he will do his best to find them. I would love to know who it is. I want to know who was devious enough to do something like that.”

“There’s a possibility it was some crazy tourist,” Christy said, carrying a tray of fudge to the display case. “Sorry for butting in, but the more I think about it, the more I have to wonder if that was it. Somebody wanted to make a name for themselves. Stalking innocent people in a Halloween-themed town on Halloween? What better way than that to get some attention?”

Caleb nodded. “That makes sense. And in a way it makes me feel better than to think that the three of us were targeted.”

It had been so windy and cold that night in the woods, I would never have taken the risk of going through there, even if it did provide a shortcut. Daisy said Leo’s truck was in the shop, but didn’t Caleb have a car?

“Why didn’t you all just drive to the haunted farmhouse?”

He shrugged. “Leo’s truck was in the shop. We could have taken my car, but it’s a junker, and I thought it might break down. And then there was the fact that the three of us had had a little bit of alcohol. I probably shouldn’t be admitting that to a detective’s wife, but we got our hands on some beer, and we had been drinking. The last thing we wanted to do since we were underage was to get in a car and drive and get pulled over.”

I nodded. “I guess that makes sense. Smart on the one hand, but then cutting through the woods turned out to be disastrous.”

“You can say that again. I wish we had just gotten into my car and drove over there. It’s not like it’s that far from my house, and we weren’t flat-out drunk. You know, just a couple of beers apiece.”

I nodded. They had tried to do the right thing—not driving under the influence—but walking may have cost one of them his life. “I know Ethan is going to find the killer.”

Christy went behind the counter and opened the display case, removing an empty tray and putting the full tray of fudge inside. “It is kind of crazy. Somebody stalking you all out in the woods. You can bet I won’t be going out in those woods anytime soon.”

He nodded and turned to me. “You know, maybe I shouldn’t say anything, but Leo had a lot of problems with his brother, Nolan.” He hesitated and didn’t continue, stepping back from the counter half a step.

I looked at him. “What do you mean?” Nolan had behaved oddly when Mom and I had stopped by to talk to his parents the other day, and it made me wonder.

“Leo was class president in high school and was in all kinds of clubs, and Nolan? Well, he was just nothing. He didn’t even try to go out for any sports or anything like that. He just wasn’t that kind of kid, I guess.”

“I guess it can be hard when one brother is really good at something, and the other hasn’t yet found what he’s good at,” I said carefully.

He nodded. “Yeah, especially when it’s the younger brother that has outdone the older one. I think that makes it worse, and if I had to guess, and if it wasn’t just some random tourist, I think Nolan might have done it.”

“For what reason? Neither of them were in high school anymore,” I pointed out. “What difference does what happened in high school make now?”

He hesitated a moment and sighed. “It’s just that the two of them never got along. Leo talked to Nolan the day before he died, and the two got into an argument. Nolan wanted Leo to sell him the truck that their father gave him for graduation. Leo refused to do it, and they got into an awful fight. Then Nolan shows up that night with the beer.”

I frowned. “What do you mean? Their father gave Leo a truck, but not Nolan?”

He shook his head. “The pickup had been their grandfather’s truck. It’s a classic Chevy. I think it’s a 1968, and Nolan had always had his eye on it. Their parents gave him some old car they drove around for years, and Leo ended up with the pickup, and it made Nolan angry.”

Now this made me wonder. “So the truck had sentimental value, not just value in itself?”

He nodded. “Nolan and his grandfather had been close. He died before he graduated from high school, but the pickup had been given to their parents about a decade earlier. It meant more to Nolan once his grandfather had died. He asked his father for the truck, and he told him no. Said he was still using it himself. But the next year, he turned around and gave it to Leo.”

Christy leaned on the front counter. “Sounds like their father had a favorite?”

Caleb nodded. “You could say that. Their father was also class president and into all kinds of clubs. He favored Leo because Leo was following in his footsteps where Nolan didn’t.”

This was becoming more interesting. If Nolan was really angry about the pickup, had things just finally come to a head, and he killed his brother over it? Now that his brother wasn’t driving the truck, his parents would give it to him, wouldn’t they?

“Is there any other reason you think he may have killed him?” I asked.

He thought about it a moment, and then he shook his head. “Other than that, and the fact that Nolan was the one who supplied the beer that night, no.”

I looked at him, one eyebrow raised. “That does seem weird since they had fought the night before.”

He nodded. “Made me wonder if he was hoping Leo would get drunk and make him easier to pick off.”

I looked at Christy, and her eyes were wide. Nolan had bought the beer that kept the trio from driving and sent them into the woods.

Chapter Nine

“I haven’t been to the haunted house in forever,” I said as I took hold of Ethan’s hand. We had walked from the candy store down the street and around the corner to the haunted house, leaving his truck parked where it was. With the Halloween season ending soon, we wanted to enjoy as many of the attractions as we could.

“Me either,” he said as we approached. It was Friday night, and there was a short line to get inside. Katrina Hill was dressed as a witch, and she was entertaining people as they waited their turn to enter the haunted house. We headed over and stood at the end of the line.

Katrina spotted us and came over to say hello. “Here are two of my most favorite people in Pumpkin Hollow.” She grinned. Her face was covered in green makeup, and there was a fake wart on the end of her nose.

I smiled. “How are you doing, Katrina?”

In character, she cackled. “I’m doing great. It’s a shame that the Halloween season is nearly coming to an end though. I sure will miss hanging out here and dressing up as a witch.”

“Tell me about it,” I agreed. “We’ve all been lamenting the end of the Halloween season.” Although we sold Halloween candy year-round, we made just the basics when it wasn’t Pumpkin Hollow Days or the Halloween season. The pumpkin spice fudge would go away, along with some of the other items, but just for a while. The town wouldn’t completely close up the Halloween theme, but some of the attractions would close down.

She nodded and stepped closer. “I heard there was a murder,” she whispered, eyeing Ethan.

He nodded noncommittally. “Yeah, there was.”

We hung back from the other tourists as the line moved forward. “Sure hate to hear it. And it happened on Halloween. Of all nights. Families don’t like to hear about things like that.”

Ethan nodded. “Especially the family of the murder victim.” He eyed her.

She grinned and nodded. “Of course. I feel terrible about that. Any idea who did it yet?”

Ethan shook his head without looking at her, and we moved up a few more steps in line. “Nothing yet.”

She nodded again, nearly losing her black hat. She took hold of it and settled it back onto her head. “Well, I sure hope you find the culprit soon. I heard it was some crazy person out in the woods dressed like a homicidal maniac?” She looked at me for confirmation. I glanced at Ethan.

He nodded again. “We don’t know a lot yet.”

She nodded and moved closer to me. “I heard he had a machete.”

I nodded. “That’s what I hear.” I was uncomfortable with her asking so many pointed questions with Ethan standing right there. She needed to ask him those questions because I didn’t want to give away more information than he cared to give out.

“Want to know something interesting?”

I glanced at her, but Ethan didn’t look in her direction. “What?”

She sighed and glanced around to make sure no one was standing too close to us. “Since we’re coming to the end of the season, Charlie is doing an inventory of the props. There’s a machete missing.”

Ethan turned to look at her now. “Really?” he asked thoughtfully.

She nodded. “Yup. Of course, there are a lot of items that are missing if you want to know the truth. Sometimes school kids that work here on the weekends slip something away as a souvenir. They want to tell their friends and family that once upon a time, they worked as actors in the haunted house. But I thought it was interesting that a machete was missing, and they claim that the maniac was wielding a machete.”

It was interesting all right. I turned and looked at Ethan, and I could tell he was thinking about this.

After a few moments, he turned and looked at her. “Do you have access to something like that? Does everyone have access?”

She nodded. “I’m afraid so. I think Charlie should keep a tighter control on all the props, but it’s his haunted house, and he does as he pleases.”

He nodded. “That’s interesting. Thanks.”

She cackled and stepped back. “No problem. And watch your step as you go into the haunted house. Don’t want you to trip and fall. You never know when those homicidal maniacs might show up.” An eyebrow shot up, and I grinned at her.

“We’ll be careful.”

I squeezed Ethan’s hand as we moved forward in line. “That’s interesting,” I whispered.

He nodded. “It is. But then, you can buy one of those machetes in any costume shop, too. Daisy and Caleb weren’t close enough to be able to tell if it was real or a prop.”

He had a point. But I glanced over and saw Eric Bell dressed as a zombie, poking his head around the corner of the haunted house. His job was also to entertain the tourists as they stood in line waiting for their turn to walk through the haunted house. I nudged Ethan.

He nodded. “I saw him a few minutes ago.”

Eric was Leo’s roommate, and I wanted to talk to him. We stepped out of line, heading in his direction. When he saw that we were headed for him, he stopped and smiled at us and then glanced at the tourists in line for the haunted house. More people stepped in line, taking our place.

“Hi Eric,” Ethan said casually. “You staying busy tonight?”

He nodded. “Yeah, we sure are. Not quite as busy as it was leading up to Halloween, but we’re still getting a lot of tourists coming in.”

“I was sorry to hear about what happened to your roommate,” I said.

He nodded and sighed. “Me too. It’s weird being in the apartment without him being there. I keep thinking he’s going to come home any time.”

Eric wore tattered clothes, and his face was green with open wounds created with makeup. “Any idea about what might have happened to him that night?” Ethan asked. “I tried to stop by your apartment a couple of times, but you weren’t home.”

His eyes widened, and then he nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been working part-time here, at the Pizza Inn, and going to college. Sometimes I feel like I barely see my apartment other than to sleep.”

Ethan nodded. “You didn’t answer my question. Any ideas about what might have happened to Leo?”

He shook his head quickly. “No, sorry. I have no idea what might have happened to him. I’m just stunned by the whole thing. I talked to his parents the other day, and they sure are broken up over it. Makes me sad to think that they lost their son. His brother, though, he wasn’t quite as broken up as his parents were.”

“Is that a fact?” Ethan asked noncommittally.

He nodded. “Oh yeah, Leo and Nolan didn’t get along. Leo would always complain about him. Nolan was a real jerk to him.”

Ethan gazed at him steadily. “Is that a fact? Even though Nolan bought alcohol for you all that night? That doesn’t sound like something a jerk would do.”

Eric hesitated, and then he nodded. “Yeah, he did it for us once or twice. But it’s not like it was a regular thing. Nolan isn’t old enough to buy it, you know.”

“Oh, I’m fully aware of that,” he said. “Any idea how he got his hands on it?”

Eric shook his head vigorously. “No, I have no idea. I mean, if somebody offers you some beer, you don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, right?”

Ethan studied him a moment before answering. “No, I guess you don’t. Did Leo say that he had any specific issues with anyone before he died?”

Eric shrugged. “Other than with his brother? No, he never mentioned anything. Honestly, I hate to think that his brother did it. Nolan doesn’t seem like the kind of guy that could do something like that. But you never know about some people. The two of them sure could get into some arguments. He’d come over to the apartment now and then, and before I knew it, they’d start yelling at one another. It got kind of crazy. I mean, if they couldn’t get along, why come over to his house like that? Why not just stay away? It never made any sense to me.”

“No, that doesn’t make much sense, does it?” Ethan said, still sounding noncommittal.

More people got into line, and Eric looked past us. “If I knew something important, I sure would let you know about it, but I’m just as shocked as anyone else. I better get back to work before the boss sees me hanging around talking.”

“I’d like to talk to you more in-depth tomorrow,” Ethan said. “When will you have time?”

Eric’s eyes went wide, and then he nodded. “Sure. I’ll have an hour or so in the afternoon. Around four o’clock?”

Ethan nodded. “Sounds good. I’ll give you a call.”

We turned and got back in line for the haunted house. It had gotten longer in the few minutes we had talked to Eric. I looked up at Ethan, and he looked down at me and smiled, squeezing my hand. “We’ll get to the bottom of this.”

I nodded. “I know. I just hate that the killer is still out there somewhere.”

Chapter Ten

“I miss you,” I said, wrapping my arms around Ethan and holding him tight.

He kissed the top of my head. “I miss you too. Wouldn’t it be nice to have some time with just the two of us together? No work? No outside demands?”

I looked up at him. “You mean like a vacation?”

He grinned. “Is that what it’s called? I didn’t know they had a name for it.”

I chuckled and stood up on tiptoe, and he leaned down to kiss me. “You’re so adorable in the morning.” It was early, and we both had to leave for work soon, but I was going to enjoy these few minutes and pretend we didn’t have other obligations.

“So are you. But I need coffee.”

I groaned. “There’s coffee already made. Pour yourself a cup and take some with you to work. I’ve got to get going, or I’m going to be late.” So much for a few minutes together.

He sighed and kissed me. “Well, if you insist on running off when we were having a moment, you go right ahead.”

I frowned. “I’m not insisting, it’s just that I have a job to do. Maybe when we get home from work we can have another moment?”

“It’s a deal.” He gave me a quick peck, and I reluctantly released him.

“I’ll see you later.”

“See you later,” he said and headed to the kitchen.

I stepped over Boo and Licorice as they intertwined themselves around my legs and headed for the front door. “You kitties be good today. Don’t tear anything up, and I’ll bring you a treat tonight.”

I opened the front door and almost stumbled over something on the front step. I took a step back.

Somebody had placed an odd-looking item on the step. As I stood there and stared at it, trying to figure out what it was doing there, I realized that it looked like a pillowcase. A pillowcase that had drawings on it. And as I stood there, I realized there was something else on it. Something that looked like blood.

“Ethan?”

“Yeah?” he called from the kitchen as he looked through the kitchen cupboards for a travel coffee mug. I could hear items being moved around from where I stood.

My mind rejected the thought that it was blood. What on earth would a pillowcase with blood on it be doing on our step? A pillowcase with blood and Halloween drawings on it and that held something on the inside.

“Ethan?”

“Yeah?” he called again.

“Ethan, can you come here, please?” The cats started wandering toward the pillowcase, and I shooed them away. “Ethan, come here, please.”

“What’s going on?” he asked, stepping to the kitchen doorway.

I looked over my shoulder at him. “I think you should take a look at this.”

His brow furrowed, and he came over to stand beside me. When he saw what was on our doorstep, his eyebrows shot upward. “What the heck?”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking.”

Ethan stepped forward and then crouched down in front of the pillowcase. “Will you get me a pair of rubber gloves?”

I nodded and hurried back into the kitchen to grab a pair of rubber gloves that I used to wash dishes with and then hurried back to him, handing him the pink gloves.

He looked at me and frowned. “Pink?”

I nodded. “You’re masculine enough to pull it off.”

He grinned, put the gloves on, and then carefully picked up the pillowcase. I stepped back. I could tell from the way he handled it that there was something weighty inside.

“What’s in it?” I asked.

He glanced at me and then turned his body so that I couldn’t see when he opened it up and looked inside. “Candy.”

“What?” I stepped forward to get a look, and he held the pillowcase so I could see inside of it now. It was filled with Halloween candy. Not the kind you bought from our candy store, but the kind that you got when you went trick-or-treating. Smarties, miniature candy bars, a pair of wax lips, and other assorted candy.

“What on earth?”

He looked at me and then looked at the pillowcase. “It looks like somebody made a homemade Halloween trick or treat bag. They colored vampires and zombies onto it.”

I nodded. It looked like a child’s artwork done in crayon. “What’s that stuff there?” I asked, pointing.

We looked up as the door across the street slammed, and Christy walked out of her house.

“Well, good morning, Banks’,” she called, sounding much more chipper than she normally did in the morning. It made me wonder how many cups of coffee she had already had today. She hurried across the street. “What’s that you’ve got there, Ethan?”

He glanced at her. “Trick or treat bag. You didn’t lose one, did you?”

She shook her head as she walked up the sidewalk and stopped on our stoop. Then she frowned. “What’s all over it?”

Ethan sighed. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that’s blood.”

“Ew,” Christy said, glancing at me. “Where did the blood come from?”

He shrugged. “If I knew that, I might know a few other answers. Like what it was doing on our doorstep.”

“Well, that sounds more like a trick than a treat to me,” Christy said. “Are you serious that it just showed up on your doorstep?”

He nodded. “It’s times like this that I wish I had one of those doorbell cameras.”

“Me too,” Christy said. “If weirdos are going to be dropping stuff off on your doorstep regularly, I probably should get one. You know, to protect myself.”

He looked at her. “We aren’t planning on having people do this regularly, you know.”

She shrugged. “You never know.”

I didn’t like this one bit. “Are you serious that you think that’s blood? I mean, that’s what I thought when I first saw it, but could it be something else?”

He nodded. “Yeah, it could be something else. And maybe it is. I’ll have to take it into the lab. Can you go out to my truck and get an evidence bag? A large one?”

I nodded and grabbed his keys from the hook by the door and sidestepped around him and Christy, and hurried to his truck. He kept an assortment of evidence bags back behind the front seat, and I grabbed the biggest one I could find and hurried back to him.

“Now open it up as big as you can and keep your hands away from the opening. I don’t want to get any of this on you.” I nodded while he carefully slipped the pillowcase into the evidence bag, and then he took it from me and closed it. “I guess I’d better hurry in to work with this so we can take a closer look at it and then send it off to the lab.”

“You’re serious about somebody just dropping it here on your front step?” Christy asked again.

Ethan nodded. “We’re serious as can be.” He carefully peeled off the dishwashing gloves. “I’ll take these to work with me and dispose of them. I don’t want to get any of this on anything else.”

“Maybe it’s nothing?” I said. Even as I said it, I knew that wasn’t true. This was something. I just didn’t know what.

“We’ll soon find out,” he said. “I’ll see you two ladies later.” He took his keys from me and headed out to his truck.

Christy turned to me. “That’s not very nice. Dropping something like that onto your doorstep like that.”

I shook my head. “No, it’s not a nice thing to run into first thing in the morning.” I glanced up when Mr. Hornbeck came out of his house to get the newspaper on the front sidewalk. “Good morning Mr. Hornbeck!” I called as Ethan drove off.

Mr. Hornbeck was in his late sixties, and he was wearing a blue and white plaid bathrobe. He smiled and nodded. “Good morning, Mia, good morning, Christy. It’s chilly out here.”

I nodded. “It sure is,” I said as I headed over to him. “Mr. Hornbeck, you didn’t happen to see any strangers in the neighborhood earlier this morning, did you? Or last night?”

He picked up the newspaper and squinted into the bright sunlight and then turned back to me. “No, I didn’t see anybody. Why?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I was just wondering if there were any strangers around. You have one of those doorbell cameras, don’t you?”

He nodded. “I do. Did you want to take a look at something?”

My heart started pounding hard. “Could we take a look at it? Now?”

He nodded. “Sure. Let’s go inside and take a look at my laptop.” We followed him inside, and he pulled the app up and started scanning through it.

“What’s that?” Christy said. We all squinted as Mr. Hornbeck backed up the video. There was somebody wearing a knit hat and a red jacket, but he didn’t come close enough to the camera to get a look at his face.

“Is that what you’re looking for?” Mr. Hornbeck asked.

I shrugged. “To be honest, I’m not sure. But if you don’t mind, I’m going to let Ethan know there’s a possibility that you have somebody of interest on camera.”

He squinted at me. “They didn’t try to break into your place, did they?”

I shook my head. “No, but they left something behind on my front doorstep. I appreciate you letting us take a look, and Ethan will be getting in touch with you.”

He nodded. “What did they leave?” he asked as we headed for the front door.

I hesitated and then turned to look back at him. “A trick or treat bag.”

Mr. Hornbeck looked puzzled, but I wasn’t going to explain. Ethan could tell him what he wanted him to know when he stopped by to look at the video.

Chapter Eleven

The bloody pillowcase on my front doorstep had me shaken. So shaken, that Christy and I decided we had better stop by Amanda’s for some coffee before going to work.

“It’s still fall. Can I get a pumpkin spice latte?” I asked Amanda as I leaned on her front counter.

Her brow furrowed. “Mia, are you okay?”

I nodded. “Sure. Why do you ask?”

She glanced at Christy. “You both look like something’s going on. Did you get enough sleep last night? You look pale.”

“Oh, we got enough sleep all right,” Christy said, coming to lean on the counter beside me. “Can I get a pumpkin spice latte? Two shots of espresso?”

“Better make mine three shots,” I said, not taking my eyes off of Amanda.

“Okaaay,” she said, drawing the word out. “Two pumpkin spice lattes, one with two shots and one with three of espresso. Are you sure you two are all right?”

“Can you add extra sweetener to mine also?” I asked. “I’m a fan of sweet coffee, and adding those extra shots of espresso is going to demand extra sweetener.”

“I’d like extra sweetener added to mine, too,” Christy said.

Amanda nodded. “Are you two going to tell me what’s going on?” she asked as she got to work on our coffee.

I glanced at the customers sitting at tables in the coffee shop. They all seemed to be absorbed in their own conversations or their eyes were glued to the phones in front of them. I turned back to Amanda. “When I opened my front door, there was a pillowcase with candy in it on the step.”

Amanda’s eyes went wide, and she nodded. “Well, that was nice. Somebody was bringing you candy since you didn’t get a chance to trick or treat?” She grinned and kept working on my coffee.

I shook my head. “You don’t understand. There was blood on the pillowcase.”

Her mouth dropped open. “Are you serious?”

I nodded and glanced around again to make sure nobody was listening, and then I leaned further over the counter. “I would not kid about something like that. I’m just a little freaked out by it.”

“I don’t blame you. What did Ethan say?”

“He took it to the station, and he’s going to send it to the lab.”

She shook her head. “That takes a lot of gall, leaving something like that on a police detective’s front step. Nobody has cameras in the neighborhood?”

“A neighbor across the street does, but the camera only got a glimpse of whoever it was, and you can’t see anything clearly.”

“I’m freaked out because I saw the bag, and because it was left on my sister’s doorstep,” Christy added.

“I don’t blame you,” Amanda said as she added the shots of espresso to the cup. She put the lid on it and set it on the counter. “No charge today, girls. You both need this.” She got to work on Christy’s coffee.

“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that,” I said, glancing over my shoulder as the front door opened. It was Nolan Frakes. I forced myself to smile at him. “Hi, Nolan.”

He nodded and got in line behind us.

Christy turned to him. “Good morning, Nolan. How are you doing? I’m so sorry about what happened to your brother.”

He shoved both hands into the pockets of his jeans and sighed. “I’m still kind of in shock.”

Christy nodded. “I don’t blame you. I can’t imagine how hard that must be.”

He looked at me. “Does Ethan have any idea who killed him yet?”

I shook my head. “If he does, he hasn’t mentioned it to me.”

He stepped closer to us. “If I were him, I would take a close look at Daisy Stevens and Caleb Phillips. Caleb is supposed to be his friend, but I have my doubts.”

“Daisy was dating Leo, wasn’t she?” Christy asked innocently.

He nodded. “Yeah, they were dating since their senior year of high school, I guess. Daisy is a flaky girl. Honestly, Leo never knew whether she was coming or going.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

He rolled his eyes. “She would tell him she wanted to go someplace for a date, but then when he went to pick her up, sometimes she wasn’t even at home. She changed her mind and forgot to tell him.”

“Well that can make a dating relationship difficult,” Christy said.

He nodded. “Sure can. There was just something about her that always got on my nerves. I don’t know why Leo put up with her the way he did.”

“And what about Caleb?” I asked. Amanda set Christy’s coffee on the counter in front of her.

“He says he was his best friend, but he and Daisy were stepping out.”

My eyes widened. “Really? Are you sure about that?”

He nodded. “Sure I’m sure. I saw the two of them out for dinner three weeks ago. I told Leo about it, but he brushed it off.”

“I wouldn’t think somebody would brush it off if they found out their girlfriend was seeing their best friend,” I said, picking up my cup of coffee and taking a sip. I grimaced. Amanda may have put a little extra sweetener in there, but those three shots of espresso were covering it up.

He snorted. “Are you kidding me? If my girlfriend were dating my best friend, I’d do something about it. Believe me, I would.”

The way Nolan said it left no room for doubt that he would not tolerate something like that. And it made me wonder why Leo tolerated it. “So you’re sure that Leo thought it was nothing?”

“That’s what he said. He said they all got along really well, and they always did a lot of things together as friends. I’m pretty sure they were doing things together because Caleb and Daisy wanted to be together, if you know what I mean.”

I didn’t like the sound of this. Maybe they were all friends, but if Caleb and Daisy were just going out as friends, why wouldn’t they have asked Leo to come along? And why would Leo and Daisy want someone else coming along as a third wheel? “Did you say anything to them when you saw them out at dinner?”

He grinned. “Are you kidding? You think I would pass up an opportunity like that? I went up to the table to make sure they knew that I’d seen them. You should have seen the looks on their faces. I was the last person they were expecting to see.”

“What did they say?” Christy asked.

“They said they both happened to be there at the restaurant at the same time and thought they may as well get a table together. I’m not buying it. Something is going on between the two of them.”

I had to wonder about this now. Were they seeing each other? Had they set Leo up? We stood there in silence for a moment, thinking about this.

“What can I get for you, Nolan?” Amanda asked, breaking the silence.

He glanced up at the menu board behind her. “How about a straight-up coffee with some half-and-half? No sweetener.”

She nodded. “You got it.”

“But even if they were seeing each other, why would they want to hurt Leo? Why wouldn’t Daisy just break up with him and go out with Caleb, if that’s what was happening?” I asked him, studying his face.

He frowned. “That would be the sensible does thing to do, wouldn’t it? I don’t understand people who cheat. Honestly, I don’t have an answer for that. You know how crazy some people are.”

“Maybe he caught them himself,” Amanda suggested. “Maybe he caught them, and he was angry, and they were embarrassed and felt like they had no choice but to get rid of him?”

“Maybe,” I said, taking this in. “But the easiest thing would have been for them to break up. And wouldn’t Leo get mad at them and do something to them if he caught them? But it’s Leo who ended up dead.”

“Maybe he threatened them,” Nolan said noncommittally. “I know Leo. He acted all laid-back, but inside he could get pretty angry. He was cool as a cucumber outside, but a boiling pot of water on the inside. Believe me, I know my brother. And maybe they killed him because he freaked out about it.”

This was interesting. I knew Leo, but how well did I know him? I had always thought he was fairly easy-going, but I didn’t know that on the inside he was like a boiling pot of water. This was something new to me. “Maybe you should give Ethan a call and let him know about this. He needs to know everything you can think of so he can figure out what happened.”

He nodded. “Yeah, sure. I’ll give him a call to see what he thinks.”

Amanda rang up Nolan’s coffee, and he paid for it. Before leaving, he glanced at us. “Good talking to you.” He turned and left.

“I feel sorry for Nolan,” Amanda said. “Sometimes he’s odd, and he can be off-putting. I’m surprised he said anything.”

That reminded me of the day my mother and I stopped by to talk to his parents. He suddenly said he had to go to work and then walked out.

I nodded. “Yeah, but he’s probably got a lot on his mind. His brother was just murdered after all.”

All of this made me wonder. Were Daisy and Caleb seeing each other on the sly? And after Nolan told Leo about it, had he become so angry that he threatened them and they decided they needed to get rid of him?

Chapter Twelve

The murder, the blood on the pillowcase, and what Nolan had told us were all I could think about all day. Thankfully, we had a lull in business since Halloween was over, and the Christmas season hadn’t officially begun yet.

There was only one customer in the shop, and she brought up two hollow chocolate pumpkins and set them on the counter. “All right, I know I’ve been in the shop multiple times during the Halloween season, but I’ll be honest and say that I’ve eaten every bit of the candy I’ve bought previously. I need more.”

I laughed. She sounded serious, and yet I couldn’t keep from laughing. “Don’t worry. We don’t judge around here. If you had any idea how much candy we consume every week, particularly during the Halloween season, you wouldn’t feel the least bit embarrassed about buying more candy.”

“Oh, I’m not embarrassed. I just believe that confession is good for the soul. And while you’re at it, I’ll take half a pound of the cinnamon spice fudge, please.”

I chuckled as Christy got to work on her fudge. “Half a pound of cinnamon spice fudge coming right up.”

I rang up her candy and placed the pumpkins into a bag for her. “So, have you enjoyed the Halloween season? Do you live here in Pumpkin Hollow?”

She nodded. “I just moved here two years ago, and I am as delighted with this town as I thought I would be when I first heard of it. I work from home, and I can live anywhere I please, so I might as well live in a town that celebrates Halloween all year long.”

I smiled at her. “You’re a woman after my own heart.”

Christy put the fudge into the bag with the pumpkins, and she paid for her order and left.

“Now that’s what I like. Somebody that picks up roots and comes to live in Pumpkin Hollow just because we’re a Halloween town. I think we should be best friends.”

I looked at the woman through the window as she got into her car. “If she keeps coming in here for candy, I’m sure we will be.”

I sat down on the stool behind the counter and sighed. Who killed Leo Frakes? That was the question of the day. Of the season, really, and I wanted to get to the bottom of this. I looked up when the bell above the door rang, and Ethan walked into the store.

He grinned. “Look at this. We’ve got the candy store to ourselves.”

I nodded and slid down off the stool and went around the counter and kissed him. “Have you found Leo’s killer yet?”

He shook his head and sighed. “Not yet. But just you wait. I’ll have an arrest before we know it.” He went up to the display case. “I better get some pumpkin spice fudge before your mom quits making it for the season.”

“You bet,” Christy said as she got the fudge out and cut a large slice for him and put it into a bag, and handed it to him. “Anything for my favorite brother-in-law.”

He eyed her. “Oh. What does that mean?”

She shrugged innocently. “It means that you’re my favorite brother-in-law. Also, my only brother-in-law, so that makes it nice.”

He looked at me and then leaned over and kissed me. “What’s she up to?”

I leaned against the front counter. “She’s not up to anything. But we had an interesting conversation with Nolan Frakes at the coffee shop this morning. He said Leo knew Caleb and Daisy were seeing each other behind his back because he told him.”

He eyed me. “Is that so? Neither of them mentioned anything like that to me, not that I’m surprised. How does he know this?”

“He’s supposed to call you and tell you everything, but he caught them out on a date. They lied and said they just happened to run into each other at the restaurant.”

“How do we know it’s a lie?” he said as he peered into the bag of fudge.

“I guess we don’t. But everything points to them being the killers. How on earth did they come running out of those woods, leaving Leo behind to be murdered?”

He shrugged. “Leo had that issue with his leg. I don’t imagine it slowed him down a lot, but maybe he tripped over tree roots? Maybe the killer was closer to him?”

“Why didn’t we hear the gunshot?” I asked. “Even with the wind, we would’ve heard a gunshot, and even if they had a suppressor, why? Why would they wave a machete around and then shoot him? They could have just stabbed him.”

He broke off a small piece of fudge and popped it into his mouth. “That’s a good question. We never found the bullet casing or the machete.”

“Did the medical examiner say when he had been shot?” Christy asked.

“His body was still warm when we found him. It hadn’t been long since he had been killed. With the wind blowing, his body would have cooled off quickly if he hadn’t been killed very recently.”

I had already texted him about our neighbor catching someone on their camera, but he hadn’t been able to make out who it was or whether they had left the bag of candy on our doorstep. “Okay then, why wave around a great big knife and then shoot him?”

Ethan shook his head and took another bite of his fudge. “Your mother makes the best fudge in the world. Have I ever told you that?”

“Multiple times,” I said. “Answer my question.”

He chuckled. “It’s not like I’m holding out on you. I don’t have an answer to that question just yet. But that doesn’t mean I won’t have an answer to that question. Just give me a little time, woman.”

Christy chuckled, and I frowned. “Don’t call me woman. I’m your wife.”

“Just give me a little time, wife. Is that better?”

I groaned. “Ethan, this is bugging me. Why on earth would somebody leave that bloodied pillowcase on our doorstep? For what purpose? And have they figured out what blood type it is? Has it been sent to get the DNA yet?”

“Yes, it’s been sent off for DNA analysis, but that takes time. It’s going to be a while before we get an answer on that. You need to just hold your horses and wait until we get the answers.”

“I can’t hold my horses when a bloody pillowcase is left on my doorstep. What about the blood type? Isn’t that easy to do?”

He nodded. “The blood type is O-positive. And so was Leo’s.”

I gasped. “That’s it then, isn’t it? He was killed someplace else and somebody dragged him out to the woods and left him. And that’s not an easy thing to do. It would take two people. Daisy and Caleb had to have done it.”

His eyes widened. “That doesn’t prove anything. A lot of people have O-positive blood. Just because it’s the same as the victim’s doesn’t mean it’s his. It could be. I’m not ruling anything out at this point. So you think that they killed him someplace else and dragged him out into the woods?”

I hesitated, thinking about this. “How long were you working on the truck tire?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Fifteen minutes? Twenty? It didn’t take that long. Why?”

“I think they were out in the woods and had already killed him, and they saw you working on the truck tire. They probably didn’t know who you were, but it would make a great alibi, wouldn’t it? Them screaming and running out of the woods as if somebody were chasing them? Only to pretend they accidentally left Leo behind and he got killed by the supposed lunatic?”

“But why the knife?” Christy asked. “The killer would have brandished a gun. Why on earth did they say it was a knife?”

Ethan thought for a moment. “We don’t have any proof that either of these things happened. Maybe they did shoot him out in the woods and then came up with something, but it doesn’t make sense to say the killer was brandishing a machete.”

“Maybe they knew they couldn’t say he had been shot? I mean, if the killer had a suppressor, and it’s dark out there, how would they know he had been shot? Especially if they were trying to say he had been left behind?”

“Now you’re onto something, Mia,” Christy said.

“Am I?” I asked, looking at Ethan.

He was quiet for a moment, thinking these things through. “It’s possible. It’s very possible. He could have been shot at close range, so they would have known he was dead. If they admitted that they knew he had been shot, then they had to have been close to him when it happened, since there was most likely a suppressor used. There would have been a flash from the gun, but they would have had to be looking in that direction to see it, and they were running toward us instead. Or so they say. I’m not done with this investigation. Don’t think that I’m not taking everything in and considering it.”

I shook my head. “I know you’re not done with the investigation. But I’m really creeped out by that pillowcase. I can’t imagine why somebody would leave it on our doorstep.”

“To freak you out,” Ethan said and took another bite of his fudge. “And it’s working.”

“But why? What would they get out of it?”

“Maybe just to throw me off the case?” he said. “No pun intended.”

“There wasn’t a lot of blood on that pillowcase,” Christy said. “Maybe there’s another victim? Maybe they killed somebody else, and someone is trying to send you that message?”

Ethan looked slightly uncomfortable now. “That’s a possibility, but until we find another body, we’re going to have to go with the fact that we just have the one.”

I nodded. “Somebody could cut themselves and wipe blood on that pillowcase to throw us off,” I said. “You’re right Christy, it wasn’t a lot of blood, but it was blood nonetheless, and it was obvious what it was when I opened the door.”

There are far too many questions in this case for me to come to any conclusions yet. But I was going to come to a conclusion at some point or other. I just had to.

Chapter Thirteen

At lunchtime, Christy and I and got into my car and headed toward the edge of town. I was on a mission.

“Where are we going for lunch?” Christy asked, looking at me with one eyebrow raised.

I chuckled. “We’ll grab something to eat before it’s time to go back to work. But I want to take a look around the woods.”

“Oh,” she said, settling into her seat. “You’re looking for another body, aren’t you? It’s a good idea. I bet there’s a second victim, and the blood that was on the pillowcase is from this new victim.”

I nodded. “Maybe. O-positive blood is common. I guess it would kind of be a coincidence if both victims had the same blood type, but it isn’t out of the realm of possibilities.”

“I like how you think.”

I grinned as I headed down the highway. “I hope there isn’t another victim. I really do. But if there isn’t, what’s up with the blood on the pillowcase?” I didn’t understand that, and it bothered me.

She nodded. “Exactly. It doesn’t make any sense otherwise. They messed up an entire bag of trick or treat candy.”

I chuckled, my eyes darting to the side of the road to figure out where Ethan had pulled over to change the tire. It had been dark and windy, but I was sure I could find it. As we passed the haunted farmhouse, I glanced at it. Things would be winding up there quickly, and I still wanted to get another hayride with Ethan in before that happened.

A few minutes later and I was pulling onto the shoulder of the road. I was sure this was where we had been when he pulled over to change the tire. We got out of the car and looked toward the woods.

“Are we going in?”

I looked at her and nodded. “We’re going in.” I wrapped my arms around myself as we headed toward the woods, wishing that I had worn a heavier coat. It was breezy today, but not as windy as it had been on Halloween night.

“You know, the witches are out in the woods on a windy night on Halloween,” she said, turning to me as we walked.

For a moment I was confused, then I remembered what the customer had said. I chuckled. “Yeah, I guess it could’ve been a witch that shot Leo Frakes. But I’ve never heard of a witch having to carry a gun.”

She laughed. “You’ve got a point. I guess we’ll have to look for more mortal killers.”

I nodded as we headed into the woods. About ten yards in, I stopped and glanced around.

“What’s up?”

I shook my head. “I didn’t go into the woods with Ethan that night. I don’t know exactly where they found the body.”

She sighed and wrapped her arms around herself. “It’s chilly here. Let’s just keep walking. I bet they left the crime scene tape up.”

I nodded. “I wouldn’t doubt it.” That was one thing I knew about Ethan and his coworkers. I was pretty sure no one had come back to remove the crime scene tape. We walked for another ten minutes, but we never saw any police tape. I stopped and sighed. “Maybe we’re in the wrong place?”

“Maybe. It is kind of hard to take a look at things if we don’t know exactly where it is.”

I moved on, kicking at the dead leaves as I walked. “Ethan has probably been back out in these woods at least once or twice more. He probably removed the crime scene tape.” I was disappointed with this. I was hoping that it was still up so we would know where Leo had died.

“If it was Caleb and Daisy that killed Leo, why would they bring up the machete?” Christy mused. “Maybe it was just a misstep? Maybe they’d had plans to kill him with a machete but shot him instead. In their panic, after they had shot him, they said it was a machete? Who said that it was a machete?”

“I think Daisy said it first. I guess that’s a possibility, but when you’ve just shot someone dead and are trying to say it was some crazed killer, I don’t think you would make a mistake about what you were threatened with.”

“I guess so. But if you’re not a professional killer, you’re going to be anxious and freaked out. Or at least, I would be. I guess some psychopath might be calm, but not me.”

“I’m glad that we’re not killers then. You’d probably give us away.”

She turned and looked at me, one eyebrow raised. “Probably so. I’m glad we’re not killers just because I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in jail. Even good killers get caught, eventually.”

“I can’t argue with you about that,” I said, continuing to kick leaves out of my way. Christy was doing the same as we walked, and suddenly she fell forward onto the ground.

“Are you all right?” I asked, hurrying to her side.

She looked up at me, a look of shock on her face. “I guess I’m clumsy today.” She rolled over and sat up. And then she saw something and reached for it. She pulled a large machete from beneath the leaves. “Look what I tripped over.”

I stood looking at it in awe. “That thing is huge. There’s no way you could miss something like that.”

She looked at me. “Well, you can miss it if you trip over it in the leaves.”

“And now you’ve got your fingerprints all over it.”

She tossed the machete on the ground, looked at me wide-eyed. “Oh. Ethan isn’t going to like that.”

I nodded, pulling my phone from my pocket, and called Ethan. “Hey, you won’t believe what Christy and I found out in the woods. The machete.”

There was a pause. “Aren’t the two of you supposed to be making candy?”

“Yes, but we do get a lunch break. I’m serious. There’s this huge machete here in the woods.”

He sighed. “Are you in the woods where we found Leo’s body?”

I hesitated. “I think so. Honestly, it’s hard for me to tell if it’s the exact spot, but you’ll see my car parked on the side of the road. Just head straight to the woods, and you’ll find us.”

“I’ll be right there.”

***

Ethan bent over, his hands over his knees, as he eyed the machete. “That’s a heck of a machete. But it looks fake to me.”

As soon as he said it, I realized that it did look fake.

“It was kinda lightweight,” Christy admitted.

He looked at her. “What do you mean? You picked it up? You got fingerprints on it?”

She nodded and shrugged. “Sorry. I wasn’t thinking. We were searching here in the leaves, and I tripped over it and fell, and then I picked it up to see what it was that I had tripped over.”

Ethan straightened up, took some pictures, and put on a pair of rubber gloves. He picked up the machete. “This was not here when we searched the woods previously.”

“Did you only search the woods one time?” I asked him.

He shook his head without looking at me. “No, I’ve been out here two other times. The last time was three days ago. It wasn’t here.”

“It was buried under the leaves, though,” Christy pointed out. “You could have missed it.”

He nodded. “Sure, I could have missed it. But the first time we searched, there was a crew of nine of us searching this very area, and it was not here the first time. It could have been put here any time after that because I was searching alone the other two times, and I could have overlooked it.”

“If you had to take a guess, why do you think they would bring the machete back? You already knew that he was killed by being shot. What good would it do?”

“Well, if Caleb and Daisy are the killers, they may have decided that planting a machete would lend more credibility to their story.” His eyes went to me. “It could be just like you said. They saw us changing the tire and came running out of the woods with their story to try to make themselves look innocent.”

“It was, therefore, luck that it happened to be the two of you out there changing a tire,” Christy said. “They can’t change the story about what they said once they told it to a detective. And they might’ve tried that if it had been just some Jack and Jill out there changing a tire.”

He chuckled. “Plenty of people try to change their stories when talking to me. But whether they realize it or not, this machete makes them appear more guilty than they did before.”

“I think they did it. I really do,” I said, wrapping my arms around myself again as the breeze kicked up. “Can you believe that? His girlfriend and his best friend? They killed him because he knew they were seeing one another.”

He nodded. “Why don’t you two go back to work? I’m going to look around here in the leaves and see if I can find anything else.”

“We’ve still got a little more time on our lunch break,” I said. I didn’t want to miss out on anything.

He smiled and kissed me. “I’ve got it. You two go on. I appreciate your giving me a call about this.”

I sighed reluctantly. “Okay, I guess we’ve still got to pick up something for lunch, anyway.”

“Man, we miss all the fun,” Christy complained as we headed out of the woods.

“I think Daisy and Caleb may have caused more trouble for themselves than they know,” I said.

She nodded. “They did. They’re so guilty that they’re trying to cover their tracks, and in the process, they’re making themselves look more guilty.”

I glanced back over my shoulder one last time before getting into my car. I hoped Ethan would be able to make an arrest soon.

Chapter Fourteen

“We’re going to need some more pumpkin spice fudge,” Linda said as she peered into the display case.

“It’s late in the afternoon. Maybe we’ll have enough to get us through?” I suggested. Linda and Jennifer Jones, our temporary employee, were packing orders to be mailed out. It seemed that everyone was ordering the pumpkin spice fudge because they knew that it wouldn’t be available much longer.

She nodded. “I’ll tell your mother. I know she’s got to be tired from standing on her feet all day.” She headed back to the kitchen.

I was wiping the glass counter in between customers when the bell over the door jingled, and Daisy Stevens walked through it. I glanced at Christy, and she was looking at me. She set down the box of bulk jellybeans she had been filling the bin with and came to stand with me behind the front counter.

“Hello, Daisy,” I said. “It’s a lovely afternoon, isn’t it? The weather has really settled down after the storm we had on Halloween.” I put my hands on the front counter, ignoring the fact that I was leaving fresh fingerprints after I’d already cleaned it. Daisy and Caleb were guilty, weren’t they? I could almost swear to it.

Daisy smiled, nodding. “Oh, it’s nice. It was so cold Halloween evening.” She sighed and glanced at Christy, and then turned back to me. “Has Ethan figured out who killed Leo? I can hardly sleep, I miss him so much.” She stepped closer to the front counter, waiting for an answer.

So many thoughts were running through my mind. I wanted to accuse her of killing her boyfriend, but that was the wrong thing to do, so I took a deep breath and forced myself to smile. “I’m so sorry, Daisy. I know you and Leo’s family are missing him terribly. Ethan is still working on the case, and I know he’ll catch the killer soon.”

She nodded understandingly. “Of course. I’m sure if he had made an arrest, I would have heard about it right away. It’s just that I can’t get his murder out of my mind. I won’t have closure until I know who killed my Leo. He’s all I think about.” She sniffed, but I noticed that there were no tears in her eyes as she spoke.

“I can imagine,” Christy said, eyeing her. “It must have been so terrifying that night. I mean, a crazed killer chased you through the woods with a machete. It must have been horrible.”

Daisy nodded. “It’s the most terrifying thing I’ve ever been through in my life. I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive myself for letting Leo fall behind. But the more I think about it, the more convinced I am that it was just like Leo to drop behind like that. He probably thought he could handle the killer on his own. He was protecting me and Caleb.” Tears did come to her eyes now, and she sniffed again.

I didn’t believe it. Not for a minute. Crocodile tears or not, I wasn’t falling for her story. Who drops behind to try to fight barehanded with somebody with a machete?

“It’s just so weird that you say that the guy had a machete, and yet Leo was shot,” I said carefully, waiting to see what she would say.

Her brow furrowed, and she nodded. “That’s something that I can’t get out of my mind. I suppose that the killer had the gun on him as well, and it was just a machete that we saw in the moonlight. Maybe Leo tried to knock the machete out of his hand, and then grabbed for the gun, and the killer shot him.” She shook her head, and tears welled up in her eyes again. “That was Leo for you. He was always trying to be the hero.”

I wanted to tell her I thought she was a liar. She seemed so fake as she told the story, and even though there were tears, I didn’t buy them for a minute. But there was no way I could say any of the things that were going through my mind. It might mess up the investigation, and I couldn’t do that to Ethan.

“Yeah, that’s sad,” I finally said.

“So you saw the machete by the moonlight?” Christy asked. And as soon as she asked I remembered that Daisy had said the supposed killer had had a flashlight that he’d shined on himself. That didn’t make sense either. Why would he do that?

Daisy hesitated and then shook her head. “Did I say moonlight? No, sorry, the killer had a flashlight, and he shined it on himself. I think it was just a tactic he used to terrify us.”

It took everything in me not to tell her that I knew she wasn’t telling the truth. “I’m sure Ethan will find the killer soon. Just because he hasn’t arrested them yet doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have somebody he’s looking at. He doesn’t tell me everything. There are lots of things that he keeps to himself, so it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he was ready to make the arrest. Soon.” I watched her, and she seemed to squirm as I spoke.

She nodded, her smile looking forced. “Good. That’s what I want to hear. I want to know that Leo’s killer is put in jail so they can never hurt anyone ever again. And if you want to know who I think it was, I believe it had to be his brother, Nolan. I hope Ethan is looking closely at him.”

I eyed her suspiciously. “Why do you think it would be Nolan? What reason would he have for killing his own brother?” Was she going to come up with something new, or was she just going to complain about him as she had before?

“Nolan is crazy. He’s always been in some sort of trouble since I’ve known him, plus, I’m pretty sure that he might be doing drugs.”

Her answer sounded flimsy to me.

“A lot of people act a little crazy and do drugs, but that doesn’t mean they kill people,” Christy pointed out. She was leaning on the counter, and I could tell she didn’t believe a word Daisy was saying.

Her eyes went wide. “That’s true, but Nolan and Leo fought all the time. They were only ten months apart in age, you know, and that just made them get on each other’s nerves. Nolan was jealous of Leo. Leo was so popular in high school, and Nolan was practically an outcast.” She licked her bottom lip, glancing at Christy and then back at me.

“They weren’t in high school anymore. What difference would that make to Nolan now?” I asked, leaning against the counter. She had to come up with something better than that. I was getting tired of her flimsy excuses.

She nodded and glanced around the empty candy shop. “I expected you to have more customers in here today. It’s very quiet in here.”

“There’s always a lull right after Halloween and before the Christmas season gets going.” She could change the subject if she wanted, but I wasn’t fooled. She and Caleb had killed Leo. I was sure of it. “I don’t think Nolan had a reason to kill him.”

She turned back to me. “Like I said, Nolan is crazy. He and Leo got into an argument about four months ago, and Nolan went nuts. He slashed Leo’s tires.”

This was surprising, and I wondered if it was true. If he did do it, was it because he had wanted the truck their father gave to Leo? “Did Leo file a police report?”

She shook her head. “No, he wouldn’t do it because Nolan was his brother. He didn’t want him to go to jail, even though he had slashed his tires.”

“What made Nolan so angry that he would slash his tires?” Christy asked.

“Nolan thought Leo was flirting with his girlfriend, Mallory Jacobs. Can you believe it? Leo and I were committed to one another, and there was no way that Leo would ever flirt with his girlfriend.”

I studied her. Was this true, or was she just trying to get our minds off of her and Caleb? I was more interested in her and Caleb. And then I realized that Nolan was the one who told us about Caleb being out with Daisy. It suddenly sent a slight bit of doubt through my mind. Was Daisy telling the truth? Had Leo flirted with Nolan’s girlfriend, and was Nolan trying to get back at him by saying that Daisy and Caleb were seeing one another? Maybe Nolan had killed Leo and now regretted it and was trying to shift suspicion to Daisy and Caleb. I shook off the thought. No, everything pointed at Daisy and Caleb. Ethan would get to the bottom of it, and I was sure that the two of them would end up in prison.

“I know Mallory,” Christy said. “She’s my boyfriend’s cousin. I just talked to her last week.”

Daisy suddenly seemed to pale. She was lying, wasn’t she? Leo really hadn’t flirted with Mallory, and now that she knew that Christy knew Mallory, she might ask her about it. In fact, that was something that we needed to do. Talk to Mallory and see if what Daisy was saying was true.

Daisy nodded. “Mallory is a nice girl. I wish she never got mixed up with Nolan. He’s crazy like I said.”

“You keep saying he’s crazy, but you haven’t given an example of that,” I said calmly.

She swallowed. “Slashing his brother’s tires isn’t exactly sane. But back in June, we were taking a drive out by the lake, and we ran into Nolan and Mallory. We talked for a few minutes, and Nolan had had a little to drink. When we were getting ready to leave, Nolan got behind the wheel, even though he had been drinking. He pulled onto the road going one direction, and we got on the road going the other direction, and he ran Leo off the road.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Just because he thought it was funny. He laughed as he drove away.”

I glanced at Christy. She was looking at Daisy, and I could see that she still didn’t believe what she was saying. I wasn’t sure if I believed her or not.

Chapter Fifteen

After work, I stopped by the grocery store to pick up something for dinner for Ethan and me. During the Halloween season, I’d worked so many hours that I hadn’t done much cooking, so I decided I would make him a real dinner. Ethan had been putting in so many hours working on the murder case that he deserved a nice, relaxing meal.

I pushed my shopping cart down an aisle and spotted someone I knew up ahead.

“Hi Eric,” I said, coming up behind him.

He turned and looked at me and smiled. “Hey, Mia. Fancy meeting you here.”

I nodded. “I figured I better get down here and pick up a few things, or my husband is going to think that I’ve deserted him. The fridge is looking a little bare these days.”

He chuckled and held up a cup of instant Ramen soup. “I’m not doing anything fancy here, just picking up a few cups of Ramen to get me through the week.” He glanced into his shopping cart, turned back, and grinned. “Not to mention a couple of bags of chips, Twinkies, and Red Vines.”

My eyes widened. “Well, I guess you’ve got everything just about covered, haven’t you?”

He nodded. “Don’t tell my mother. She’ll have a fit, but when you’re a college student, you get a free pass with junk food, right?”

I nodded. “When I was in college, I guess I ate more than my share of junk food. Which college are you going to?”

“The community college over in Truckee. Next year I’m going to transfer to UCLA though. I’ve got a 4.0 GPA, so I think I’m a shoo-in.”

“I’m impressed,” I said, nodding. “I had a tough time keeping mine up above 3.5, to be honest. It takes a lot of hard work to get a GPA over 4.0. Tell me what your secret is?”

His eyes widened, then he swallowed and grinned. “I guess my secret is I must have good genes—I inherited my smarts. Sorry, no real secret there.” He chuckled. “Leo used to ask me all the time how I got such good grades. I felt sorry for the poor sap. He could barely keep a 2.0-grade point average, and that was with a lot of extra hours studying.”

I gazed at him. Leo’s mother said he wanted to be a teacher, and he was supposed to start college in January.

“College is tough. A lot harder than high school, and that was a shock to me. My freshman year was really hard, but I managed to get through it somehow. So, Leo struggled in college?”

He nodded, glancing back at the shelf of soups. “Oh yeah. He struggled all right. He ended up dropping out of college last semester.” He picked up two more cups of soup and tossed them into a shopping cart, and turned back to me. “He sure was mad every time I brought home such good grades, and he couldn’t manage to do it for himself.” He grinned.

“College is hard for some people,” I said carefully. “I wasn’t sure I would make it past that first year, but once I did, I was fine. So he dropped out?”

He nodded. “He was afraid they were going to kick him out of school if he didn’t drop out first, so he decided to do that.”

I wasn’t sure what to make of this. Why had Leo’s mother told me a different story? “Eric, what do you think about Leo’s death? Now that you’ve had time to think about things, do you have any idea who might have killed him?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. But I tell you, I don’t believe Daisy’s or Caleb’s story. I couldn’t believe it when they told me what happened. It doesn’t make any sense to me. But that’s between the two of us.”

“Of course,” I said, glancing around. The other shoppers in the aisle were down at the far end. “So you don’t think what they said is true?”

He shook his head and grinned. “Are you kidding? No way. It just sounds too phony to me.”

“Then what do you think really happened?”

He picked up another cup of soup from the shelf and held it for a moment. “I don’t know. Between his crazy brother and his cheating girlfriend and backstabbing best friend? I guess you know about Daisy and Caleb sneaking around? It could’ve been any of them. I feel bad for Leo. He dropped out of college because he just couldn’t handle it, and then he gets killed like that.” He tossed the cup of soup into the shopping cart and nodded. “Ethan, have any idea what happened?”

I shook my head. “Not yet.”

“You should see how Daisy and Caleb flirt with each other. Always giggling and laughing, and they did it right in front of Leo, too. Leo was kinda stupid that way, you know?”

I was taken aback by his remarks. “What are you talking about? Stupid?”

He nodded and grinned. “Yeah, if Daisy was cheating on him, he would never have caught on. He was too blind to see what was right in front of his face. It was like that with college, too. The teachers warned him that his grades were dropping too far and that he needed to bring them up, and he acted like he was confused about it. He said it was community college, and they weren’t going to fail him. I told him it was college. If he didn’t keep his grades up, he was going to flunk out. How could he not understand that?”

I stared at Eric. Was Leo really that blind? It didn’t seem possible. “Wow. That doesn’t make sense.”

He shook his head. “That was Leo for you. He wasn’t too bright.”

I nodded, still trying to make sense of what he was telling me about Leo. “His parents are struggling with his death. I feel sorry for them.”

He sobered and nodded. “Yeah, his mom and dad are good people. I feel bad for them.”

“So, what was Leo studying in college?”

“He just wanted to get an AA degree. He thought it would help him get a better job, but I kept telling him that you’ve got to have at least a four-year degree these days. Not many companies think much of a two-year degree. I’m going to be an engineer. I’ve had my eye on engineering since I was a little kid. If my parents had more money set aside for me, I would’ve gone to UCLA right off instead of going to a community college. But it’s no big deal. It saves me a lot of money the first two years, and I’ll still get my degree from UCLA.”

“Community colleges are a good place to start your education,” I agreed. “I wish I had done the same. So, Eric, how did you and Leo get along?” It may have been direct, but I needed to know.

He shrugged. “We got along all right. We both had jobs along with going to college, so we decided to share the apartment, and things worked out for the most part. Leo could kinda be a slob, you know. He left his dirty clothes and books and stuff all over the place, and we constantly argued about that, but we got along.”

Daisy said Eric had issues coming up with his share of the rent each month, and I wondered if it was true. “Sharing an apartment with a roommate is a good idea. It’s tough paying for everything on your own these days. You just have to be able to depend on your roommate to make sure they come up with their share of the money to pay for things.”

He nodded. “Yeah, Leo was all right that way. I guess if he didn’t have the money, sometimes he might ask his parents to help him out, and they always did. But we never really had any huge issues other than the fact that he was a slob. It’s a shame that he didn’t try harder in college, but he liked to spend a lot of his free time running around and goofing off.”

“So you spend a lot of time studying?”

“I spend whatever time is necessary. Maybe not a lot of time, since school comes so easily to me. It always has. I was on the honor roll every quarter in high school, so I know what it takes to get good grades.” He smiled. “Well, Mia, it’s been good talking to you, but I’ve got to get going. These soups aren’t going to make themselves, you know.” He laughed.

I chuckled. “No, I suppose they aren’t. I had better find something for my husband for dinner.”

I watched as he pushed his shopping cart off, and I wondered about him. I was surprised at the way he talked about Leo, and yet he said that they had no real issues. Did they really get along? Or were there things that he wasn’t telling me? And why did Jane Frakes tell me that Leo wasn’t starting college until January?

Chapter Sixteen

The following morning found Christy and me standing at the Sweet Goblin Bakery staring bleary-eyed into the display case. We had the opening shift, so we had no excuse for being so tired, and yet we were. Neither of us were early risers, so working the nine a.m. shift was so much better for us than the early four a.m. shift at the candy store.

“What’s up with you two?” Angela asked from behind the counter. She had a white apron on, and her hands were on her hips as she took us in. We must have looked even more tired than I thought we did.

“It’s still early,” Christy lamented. “We’re tired.”

She shook her head and chuckled. “I’m here at four a.m. every morning. I’ve got donuts to make and customers to make happy. I wish I could sleep in like the two of you.”

I nodded. “I wish we could sleep in just a little bit longer,” I said and looked closer at the donuts in the display case. “I’m starving. Why don’t you just give us an assorted box of a dozen donuts?” I looked at her, raising my eyebrows.

She nodded and picked up a bakery box and unfolded it. “One dozen, coming right up. The Halloween season sure did go fast, didn’t it?”

I nodded. “You can say that again. It seems like every year it goes quicker and quicker.”

“I vote we have the Halloween season all year long,” Christy said, leaning on the front counter. Her eyes were half-closed as it was, and I was sure she couldn’t handle a year-long Halloween season.

I shook my head. “I don’t think we could convince the tourists of that.”

“I bet we could try,” Angela said as she put a maple bar into the box. “It’s worth a try.”

I shook my head again. “No, we would never get a break then, and I need my breaks.”

“Suit yourself,” she said as she put a chocolate bar into the box beside the maple.

“I think we need some coffee, too,” Christy said, blinking. “We could wait and get some at Amanda’s, but I’m too tired to even go that far down the sidewalk.”

Angela squinted at her. “What do you mean, get some at Amanda’s? That expensive highfalutin coffee? Forget about it. I’ll get you some coffee right here.”

“How about six vanilla lattes?” I said.

She looked at me, one eyebrow raised. “Six? Are you two going to drink them all?”

I shook my head. “No, but I’m not sure how many people are working this morning, and I don’t want to come empty-handed. If there’s any leftover, I’ll drink them.”

She chuckled as she continued filling the bakery box. The door opened, and we all turned to look. It was Daisy.

“Hello, Daisy,” I said, straightening up. “How are you this morning?”

She frowned as she came to stand beside us at the front counter. “I’m sad. I miss Leo so much. I don’t know if it’s ever going to sink in that he’s really gone, and I’m never going to get to see him again.”

I wanted to sigh in exasperation. She was really beginning to spread it on thick. “I’m so sorry. I know this must be so difficult for you.” There. Ethan would be proud of me for being polite.

Christy turned to her. “Daisy, I know this is probably going to sound rude, but I think you killed him. I don’t think you’re missing him at all.”

My head jerked around to look at her. At least one of us was nice.

Daisy’s eyes flew open. “What are you talking about, Christy? Are you out of your mind?”

I shook my head at my sister. She didn’t need to accuse Daisy. If she did it, and I was pretty sure she did, Ethan would handle it.

Christy nodded. “Yeah, it’s just weird that you and Caleb managed to escape the killer, and yet Leo got left behind. I heard you and Caleb were fooling around behind his back. Why don’t you just admit that you killed him?”

Daisy gasped. “Are you out of your mind? I would never kill Leo. I loved him. Who told you I was seeing Caleb?” Her face turned red as she spoke, and I thought she was going to explode.

Christy shrugged. “I forget who said it, but it’s going around.”

“It’s a lie! I would never do that to Leo. I think Eric did it. The police need to talk to him.” She looked at me, huffing as she spoke.

I nodded. “I know Ethan is talking to everyone he needs to. Don’t mind Christy. She’s tired.” I shot Christy a look.

“What makes you think his roommate did it?” Angela asked as she continued putting donuts in the box.

Daisy crossed her arms in front of herself and shot Christy a nasty look. “Because they argued all the time. It’s his fault that Leo got kicked out of college.”

“I thought he dropped out?” I asked. Maybe now we would get some place with the college issue.

She hesitated. “He was expelled. The reason that Eric gets such good grades is that he’s a cheater. He taught Leo how to do it, and then he turned him in to the college. Leo was so mad about it. After that, all they did was fight. Things got crazy between the two of them, and I’m sure Eric killed him.”

“Really?” I asked thoughtfully. “You sure about Eric getting him expelled?”

She nodded. “Yeah, Eric was a cheater in high school, too. Somehow he always managed to get away with it, so when he started at the Junior college, and Leo did too, he used to make fun of Leo for not being as smart as he was. But he wasn’t all that smart, other than the fact that he knew how to get away with cheating. So Leo asked him how he did it, and he told him. Gave him a bunch of pointers. And then Leo began to do it himself, and his grades came up.”

“And then Eric told the college what Leo was doing?” I asked for clarification.

She nodded. “He sure did. He thought it was so funny when Leo got kicked out of school.”

“Then why didn’t Leo tell the school that he learned all his tricks from Eric?” Christy asked. “I think you’re lying.”

I shot Christy another look. Angela was watching the show with eager anticipation. Angela liked to gossip.

Daisy snorted. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Christy. I told Leo that he needed to let the school know what was going on, but he was afraid of Eric. He said Eric would get him back for doing that.”

I shook my head. “What did he have to lose? If Eric had already turned him in and gotten him kicked out of school, all he had to do was move out of the apartment and be done with him.”

She nodded, the bun on top of her head bobbing with the motion. “That’s what I told him. I told him he needed to turn him in and then just get away from him. It’s not like he could do anything to him.” She bit her bottom lip for a moment. “Except maybe I guess he could. Because now Leo is dead.”

I glanced at Christy. Her eyes were narrowed as she watched Daisy. “Why should we believe that?”

“I don’t care what you believe, Christy. It isn’t any of your business, anyway. I’ve already talked to Ethan, and he believes me.”

This was news to me. If she had already told this to Ethan, Ethan hadn’t said anything about it. But maybe he didn’t think the information was significant enough, or it was just one of those things that he kept to himself.

“I heard Leo wasn’t starting college until January,” I said.

She frowned. “He started college last summer. Leo was so upset because he wasn’t going to be able to get a college degree because of Eric.”

“Well, he did cheat,” I said. “He knew he was taking a risk when he did it, so it was his fault that he wasn’t able to get a degree.”

She sniffed and turned away. “If Eric had just shut his mouth and kept his nose out of our business, Leo would still be alive. I’m sure of it. He would’ve been able to stay in school and have a career.”

That didn’t make sense. If Leo was cheating, at some point it stood to reason that he might have gotten caught at it, even if Eric hadn’t said anything. But now it made me wonder. Were the two of them really having issues like this? Had Eric gotten tired of it and killed Leo?

“I got your donuts and your coffee for you,” Angela said, ringing them up. “I put a little extra espresso and the lattes. I hope it will help you stay awake today.”

“Me too,” I said as I paid for the donuts and coffee. “Thanks.” I turned back to Daisy. “Daisy, I really am sorry that you’re suffering over the loss of Leo. Nobody deserves to die like that.”

She looked up at me, and there were tears in her eyes. “Thank you. It’s still just so hard to deal with.”

I nodded. “See you both later. We’ve got to get to work.”

Christy picked up the box of donuts, and I picked up the two drink carriers with the coffees in them, and we headed to the door. Once we were outside on the sidewalk, Christy turned and looked at me. “You believe her?”

I shrugged and went over to the driver’s side of my car. “I have no idea. We’ll have to see what else we can find out.”

Chapter Seventeen

I looked up when the bell over the door rang and Mallory Jacobs walked through it. I stopped sweeping the floor and turned to her. “Hello, Mallory. How are you this afternoon?”

She smiled and inhaled deeply. “It smells great in here. So, right now, I am in candy heaven. And that’s all that matters.”

I chuckled and bent over with the dustpan, swept the dirt into it, and then straightened up. “You and me both. It’s amazing what a little candy can do for your mental health, isn’t it?”

She nodded and came over to the shelf near me, looking over the candy that was there. “Isn’t it, though? It may not be the healthiest of obsessions, but I sure do love chocolate. So I guess you all are gearing up for Christmas now?”

I nodded. “A little bit of Thanksgiving, and then Christmas. It seems that the world was made for candy holidays, doesn’t it?” I headed back behind the front counter and emptied the dustpan into the wastepaper can back there. I leaned the broom against the wall and set the dustpan down.

“You can say that again,” she said and headed up to the display case. “Oh, look at all that delicious fudge. I love fudge more than anything in the world.”

“You and me both. My mother is the world’s best fudge maker, far as I’m concerned.”

She chuckled and nodded. “And look at those chocolate turkeys. Don’t they look tasty?”

“They’re filled with caramel. Nice, gooey caramel. I had better quit talking about candy, or I’m going to talk myself into eating some more.” I leaned on the front counter. Mallory was twenty and had long chestnut-colored hair that went to her waist. She was Nolan Frakes’ girlfriend, and they had been dating for several years.

She turned and looked at me. “That’s the problem coming in here. I don’t want just one thing, I want five things. And now I think I have to try one of those caramel turkeys, and a quarter-pound of your vanilla fudge.”

“I’ll get that for you,” I said, opening up the back of the display case. “If you like pumpkin spice fudge, you had better get it quick, because once the Halloween season ends, you won’t be able to get it again until Pumpkin Hollow Days next summer.”

She eyed the tray of fudge in the display case. “Now you’re making it hard for me. How about I get a quarter of a pound of that too?” She chuckled. “I told you I couldn’t make up my mind about anything. I’m going to have to get some of everything.”

“One of everything coming right up,” I teased and brought out the trays of fudge. “How are things going, Mallory?” I got to work cutting the pieces of fudge for her.

She leaned on the front counter, the keys in her hand clinking against the glass. “I guess everything’s going all right. Poor Nolan is broken up over losing his brother, and I feel bad about it, too. We did things together sometimes, and it seems weird that he’s not around anymore.”

I glanced at her. That wasn’t the impression I was given by Nolan or anyone else. “Did you? I guess with you all being so close in age that makes sense that you would go out and do things together.” Only, it didn’t, because Nolan and Leo didn’t get along.

“Yeah, Leo and Daisy are friends of mine. Nolan sometimes got annoyed that his little brother was tagging along, but you know brothers can be. It seems like they were always in competition.” She chuckled again.

I turned back to her. “Oh, were they? They were pretty close in age though, so that makes sense.” She nodded as I brought the fudge over and placed them into a bag. “So Nolan and Leo were close?”

She shrugged. “I guess it depends on what you mean by close. They did things together sometimes, but sometimes they got on each other’s nerves, and they argued a little. Sometimes it was a lot. Their parents seemed to favor Leo, and that bothered Nolan.”

“You can’t blame him for that.” I went back to the display case and put the fudge trays back in and then looked at the chocolate turkeys. “One turkey?”

She looked at the display case again. “Oh, why don’t you make it two? I know they’re going to be delicious, and I’ll wish I had gotten another one.”

I chuckled and used some wax paper to pick up two chocolate turkeys and put them into the bag I had put the fudge in. We didn’t make a lot of Thanksgiving-themed candy, but we did make a few things each year. “Anything else?”

She turned and looked around the candy store. “Oh, I would love to get a lot more, but why don’t we just stick with what I’ve got? You know I’ll be back in a week or two, anyway.”

I nodded. “Mallory, can I ask you a question? I don’t want to pry or anything, but I was wondering about something.”

She nodded. “Sure, what is it?”

“Somebody mentioned that there was an incident out at the lake. Between Nolan and Leo. They said Nolan ran Leo’s truck off the road?”

She frowned. “Yeah, Nolan can be a jerk sometimes. I told him not to do it, but they were playing chicken, each of them driving the car way too fast toward one another. It scared me. I told him to stop, and he did, but not until Leo backed down. He laughed about it. That’s Nolan for you.”

Daisy hadn’t said they were playing chicken. “They were playing chicken? I don’t blame you for being scared. And you tried to get Nolan to stop, and he wouldn’t?”

She nodded, frowning again. “Nolan can be stubborn. When he sets his mind on something, he’s going to do it, whatever it is. And when it came to Leo, he always liked to show that he was the boss. Running him off the road was his way of doing that.”

“But what if Leo wouldn’t have backed down?”

She sighed. “Exactly. But Leo tended to always back down to Nolan. To be honest, just between the two of us, sometimes it felt like Nolan was kind of a bully. I would get mad at him and tell him that he shouldn’t be mean to him, and he would promise he wouldn’t do it again, but then something would always come up. It’s like he was always tempted where Leo was concerned, and he couldn’t let that temptation pass him by.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” I said, resting against the front counter. “Did this happen often?”

She shook her head. “No, not often. Just now and then, Nolan would suddenly do something stupid like that. That incident really scared me. A lot. I didn’t talk to him for nearly a week after that, and I was really considering breaking up with him, but then he sweet-talked me like he always does, and I went back to him. I guess that’s not very bright.”

I studied her for a moment before answering. “The heart knows what the heart wants. Even if it might not be good for us,” I said carefully. “Mallory, did Leo ever flirt with you?”

Her eyes widened, and she took a small step back. “Flirt? I don’t know if I would call it flirting exactly. Like I said, Leo and Daisy and I have been friends for years. Ever since grade school. So we tease one another back and forth, but I wouldn’t consider it flirting. I don’t think Leo had any thoughts about me other than we were just friends.”

I nodded and rang up her candy, and she paid for it. “You lost a good friend. I’m sorry for your loss.”

She smiled sadly. “Leo was a good guy. Nolan is a good guy, too. The two of them just had a lot of trouble getting along, and while I hated to see it, I cared about both of them. And I’m so sorry that Leo is gone now. So is Nolan. He’s really broken up over it. I think he regrets how he treated him in the past.”

“Is he?” I had to wonder if he was. His behavior seemed just a bit off whenever the subject of his brother was brought up.

She nodded. “He really is. We had a long talk the other night, and he told me how much he regretted not being nicer to his brother while he was still alive. He said he wished that he was here so he could make it up to him, and it broke his heart that he couldn’t do that.”

I nodded and handed her the bag with her candy in it. “It’s hard when you have a complicated relationship, and then the other person dies. I imagine he has a lot of regrets. I know I would.”

“I think that’s what it is. Just so many regrets because their relationship was so complicated.” She sighed and glanced at the door when the bell jingled, and a customer walked in. She turned back to me and smiled. “Well, thanks for the candy, Mia. I’ll be back in again soon. Have a good day.”

“Thanks, Mallory, you have a good day too.”

What Mallory said about Nolan and Leo’s relationship had me thinking. Maybe Nolan had decided to pull a prank on Leo on Halloween night. Maybe he hadn’t meant to shoot Leo, but just scare him, and something went wrong, and now he was dead.

Chapter Eighteen

I was watching the clock in anticipation of closing up for the day when Jane Frakes walked through the door. She smiled when she saw me.

“Hello, Mia. I hope I’m not coming in too late?” She glanced up at the clock that was above the door. It was fifteen minutes before closing.

“No, not at all. What can I help you with, Jane?”

She smiled again. “I thought I would pick up some vanilla fudge. My husband loves it, and I think he’ll enjoy having some.” She walked up to the display case, and I headed back behind the front counter. Christy was refilling the bulk bins of candy. “Hello, Jane.”

Jane turned and smiled. “I’m sorry, Christy. I didn’t see you there.”

Christy grinned. “That’s okay.” She came back behind the front counter with me. “How are things going?” she asked gently.

Jane sighed. “Not so well. I keep telling myself that it’s going to take time to figure out how to go on with life without Leo. I’m one of those people that likes to make a decision quickly and move on with whatever that decision is. But now I’m finding myself stuck in the middle of grief, and I’m not quite sure what to do with myself.”

I removed the tray of fudge from the display case. “That’s understandable. I don’t think anybody really knows what to do with themselves when someone we love dies.”

She nodded. “I know. I keep telling myself things like that. It doesn’t help me much, but I know it’s going to take some time to get through this.”

“How much fudge did you want?” I asked.

She smiled. “Better make it a whole pound. I seem to be eating my sorrows, not to mention my husband doing the same.”

I nodded. “I tell you what, I’m going to give you a pound of vanilla fudge, and there’s about a half-pound of chocolate left. On the house.”

“Oh, I can’t ask you to do that,” she said. “You already brought us a pound of fudge a couple of weeks ago.”

I shook my head as I wrapped up the fudge for her. “You’re not letting me do anything, I’m insisting.” I put the fudge into a paper bag and set it on the counter. “There now. I know it won’t do a lot for you, but at least it’s there.”

She smiled sadly. “Thank you, Mia. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that. It seems that the small things are turning into the big things these days.”

I felt a lump rising to my throat as I saw the tears in her eyes. “Jane, I don’t want to be nosy, so tell me if I am. What happened with Leo going to college?”

She sniffed and hesitated. “College? Well, the truth is, Leo was just an average student in high school. He relied on his charm to become class president. He decided to go to the community college so he could work on becoming a better student. He hoped to later transfer to a four-year school. But he never made it that far. He was caught cheating on his final, and he was expelled. I was so angry when he told me what happened. I guess I’m also a little embarrassed that he would do something like that. He was raised better than that. I’m sorry. I didn’t tell you the truth because I didn’t want people to know what he did.”

I nodded. “Maybe he felt the pressure to perform and felt like he had to do that,” I said carefully. “Sometimes people think that a community college isn’t going to be challenging like a four-year university, but that isn’t true.”

She nodded. “I’m afraid that he found it to be quite challenging. But I couldn’t understand him cheating like that. It didn’t make sense to me. He had never done that before. Or at least, to my knowledge, he had never done anything like that.”

It kind of made sense why Eric had made fun of Leo. He was caught cheating and was kicked out of college. But was it true what Daisy said? Had Eric told on him and gotten him expelled after teaching him how to cheat?

“Jane, how was Leo’s relationship with Daisy and Caleb?” I wasn’t sure how to bring up Eric showing him how to cheat, so I was going to let that go for now.

She looked at me and shrugged. “I think he had a good relationship with both of them. He was happy with Daisy, and she seemed so in love with him. Every time they were around the family, she just beamed. I kind of thought that someday they might make it permanent. They might get married. And as far as Caleb? They were friends since grade school, and Caleb has always been a good kid. Why do you ask?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. It just bothers me so much that Leo was killed like that. At nineteen, he had so much ahead of him.”

She nodded and sighed. “He certainly did. I think that’s the hardest thing to get past. He had barely begun his life. He was excited to get a job, go to college, and then get his own apartment with his friend, Eric.” She hesitated and looked over her shoulder, but we were the only ones in the candy store. There were no more customers, and the other employees had gone home for the day. She turned back. “If you want to know the truth, I feel like Eric had something to do with Leo getting into trouble at the college.”

This was what I wanted to know. “Why do you say that?”

“When Leo told me about getting expelled from college, he suddenly said Eric’s name and then swore. I asked him what he meant by that, but he never would explain anything further. I just had the feeling that he didn’t get along with Eric very well.”

“Had Leo known Eric as long as he had Caleb and Daisy?” Christy asked.

She shook her head. “No, he met Eric in high school. They hung around a little bit, but I was never under the impression they were particularly close. But, they both needed a roommate, and so Leo thought it was a good idea for them to move in together.”

“So Leo and Daisy had known each other since they were kids? And they just started dating recently?” Christy asked.

“They started dating their senior year of high school. I was surprised. I didn’t think Leo had an interest in her other than being friends. They both had dated other people through high school, and then, in January of their senior year, they decided to go out with one another. I think it made Caleb feel a little left out if you want to know the truth. I felt like he was a bit jealous.”

“That would be hard to deal with,” Christy said. “The three had been best friends forever, and then two of the best friends were dating? I could see where Caleb would feel left out.”

“You have a point,” I said to Christy. “That might be a tough one to handle.”

Jane nodded. “I always wondered if that was why they didn’t date earlier than they did.”

“I wonder if Caleb wanted to date Daisy?” Christy asked.

I turned and looked at her. Suddenly, something clicked. Maybe Daisy and Caleb had wanted to date? Maybe that was why they were out there in the woods with Leo, and Leo ended up dead. Maybe they wanted to get rid of Leo so they could be together.

Jane gazed at Christy. “I hadn’t thought of that. It does make you wonder, doesn’t it?”

Christy nodded. “It does. It might not be anything, since they were all best friends. Maybe Caleb just learned to manage to be that third wheel.”

Jane was quiet for a moment. “Maybe so.”

We talked to Jane for a few more minutes, and then she left. Christy and I finished straightening up before going home for the night.

This had me thinking. Caleb might have managed to be that third wheel. But that would have been a new position for him, and it might not have been one he was happy about. I needed to talk to Ethan about this. If Caleb had a thing for Daisy, and Daisy had changed her mind about Leo, things would have been incredibly awkward between them. How would she break up with Leo and then start dating Caleb? It would have been a tough transition to make. Maybe one that felt insurmountable. And maybe the only answer to that would be the death of Leo.

Chapter Nineteen

I sat down next to Ethan with my cup of cocoa in hand and sighed.

He put his arm across my shoulders and pulled me closer. “That sigh sounded pretty heavy. We’ve got a Peanuts special to watch. That should make you happy.”

I nodded and watched the marshmallows slowly making a tour of the inside of my cup. “I guess I’m feeling a little deflated.”

“Deflated? Why?”

I looked up at him. “I don’t know. I guess because the Halloween season is officially over and the Christmas season hasn’t begun. I feel like I’m sort of stuck in some kind of holiday limbo.”

He chuckled. “Holiday limbo. I’ve never heard that before but I think it’s appropriate.”

I took a sip of my hot cocoa and closed my eyes. It was perfect. There was a fire in the fireplace and our cats, Boo and Licorice, were curled up together on a black and red plaid pillow that was laying in front of it. The two were snoozing soundly. I had bought Boo an orange collar for Halloween, and Licorice a purple color.

“We’ve got the cutest cats in the world.”

He nodded. “I can’t argue with you there.”

I sighed again. “We also have an unsolved murder.”

He groaned and then took a sip of his cocoa before answering. “That we do. But that’s my responsibility, and there’s no reason for you to worry about it. I’ll find the killer.”

I nodded. “I know you will. I just think that I would feel a little happier if we had Leo’s killer in jail right now.”

“I know something that will brighten your evening if a Peanuts special won’t.”

I turned to him. “What?”

“It’s starting to snow.”

I gasped. “Seriously? And you were keeping this to yourself?” I jumped to my feet, trying to keep my hot cocoa from spilling, set the cup down on the coffee table, then hurried to the window.

He chuckled from behind me. “I was going to tell you, eventually.”

I went to the front door and flung it open, waking Boo and Licorice. A draft of cold air came through the door, and the two felines leaned away from it on their warm pillow. I hurried out onto my step, and at the same time, Christy came out onto hers, with Devon following behind her.

“It’s snowing!” Christy cried.

“I see that! It’s snowing! It’s going to be the Christmas season now!” I stepped off the top step and onto the sidewalk as the snow gently fell from the sky. It was light and powdery soft as I turned my face up to it, and a snowflake landed on my nose. At the rate it was coming down, I doubted it would even stick, but it was beautiful to see.

Ethan chuckled and came to join me. “Would you look at that? Snow. And it isn’t even the Christmas season yet.”

I shook my head, my face still tilted upward. “It’s snowing, and that means it’s the Christmas season, regardless of what the calendar says.”

“You’re going to have to shovel snow now, Ethan,” Devon called from across the street.

Ethan nodded. “I know it. It’s the snow shoveling season.”

“I want to make snowmen!” Christy called.

“Me too!” I called back. The snow brightened my mood, making me forget about the unsolved murder. We stood in our front yard calling back and forth to each other for a few more minutes before we went back inside, and Ethan turned on It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown for the third time this season.

***

I was off from work the next morning, so I was spending a leisurely morning in my pajamas. There was no hurry to get dressed. The weather had gotten colder, and I was wrong about the snow. It had stuck to the ground, and it was beautiful. I had already gone to the front window three times this morning to gaze at it. There wasn’t enough to build snowmen yet, but with a little luck, it wouldn’t be long before we were able to do that. I yawned and headed into the kitchen, where Ethan had made coffee and was working on breakfast. “It smells good in here. I can’t believe you’re actually making bacon for us.”

He nodded. “I have so many wonders you have yet to experience.”

I chuckled and wrapped an arm around him, squeezing him tight. “I’m so glad I picked you. You’re about the best husband I could ever imagine.”

He chuckled. “Thanks. I feel the same way about you. I mean that you’re the best wife ever.”

I went to the coffee pot and poured us both a cup of coffee and then got the peppermint mocha creamer from the refrigerator and set it on the counter. “The calendar may say otherwise, but it’s time for peppermint mochas.”

“Sounds good to me,” he said. “How many eggs do you want?”

“Two, please.”

I went to the kitchen doorway and looked into the living room, and just then, Boo and Licorice hit the floor, creeping like little kitty ninjas. “What’s up with the cats?”

“I don’t know. What do you mean?”

“Look at what they’re doing.”

He glanced at the cats from where he stood at the stove and then turned the fire off from underneath the pan of bacon. “Looks like they hear something.” Ethan headed to the front window and peered out, first looking across the street and then looking toward the outside of the front door. He suddenly launched toward the door, slinging it open, and ran out into the cold morning air.

“What’s going on?” I called, but he didn’t answer.

I ran after him, tripping over something and sprawling onto the frozen lawn. My breath was sucked out of my lungs, and I lay there, stunned for a moment. Fortunately, Ethan had gotten dressed this morning, and I saw him sprinting down the street chasing someone.

Christy opened her front door and came out. “What’s going on? Where is Ethan going? And what are you doing on the ground?”

I shook my head, trying to get the air back in my lungs, and gingerly got to my knees as she came across the street. “Are you all right?”

“I think so.” She gave me her hand so I could get to my feet. I’d lost one of my slippers and tried to slip my foot back into it, but it was being difficult, and all I managed to do was chase it in a tiny circle.

“The Banks’ sure do have a funny way of spending their mornings off.”

“I know. And now I’ve made a mess of my pajamas.” There was mud and snow down the front of my flannel pajamas and slippers. I finally got the slipper back onto my foot, and I sighed.

“What is that? Isn’t Halloween over?”

I looked at her, confused about what she was talking about, and then looked in the direction she was looking. I gasped and shook my head. There was a plastic trick or treat pumpkin on our front doorstep. It had fallen over, and there was candy splayed on the step. “That must have been what I tripped over.” We went over to examine it, and I jumped back.

“What is that?” Christy whispered.

“I’m not sure, but it kind of looks like blood.”

She bit her bottom lip. “Blood? Like the pillowcase full of trick or treat candy that you found a couple of weeks ago?”

I nodded as we stared at it. “Someone was trying to scare us.” I looked off down the street in the direction that Ethan had gone, but he and whoever he was chasing were out of sight now. “The cats were acting funny, and then Ethan went to check it out.” As I spoke, the two cats came to the doorway, looking apprehensively up at me.

“Did you get a look at who he was chasing?” Christy asked.

I shook my head. “No, I didn’t even realize what he was doing at first, and then I tripped and fell. Maybe we should get in the car and go see if Ethan needs some help.”

She looked at me. “That is an excellent idea.”

I looked down at my muddy pajamas and shook my head. “No, we better not. I’ll call the police station and tell them what direction Ethan went in case he can’t stop to use his phone.”

She followed me into the house. “Oh, come on. Let’s try to find him. He might need our help.”

I snorted. Christy was always up for anything. “It might not be safe,” I said.

“What’s that smell? Is that bacon? Oh my gosh, you call the police, and I’m going to eat.”

I shook my head at her as I went to get my phone from the bedroom to make the call.

Chapter Twenty

“Are you hungry?” I asked.

Ethan looked down at me as I wrapped my arms around his waist. “When am I not hungry?”

“You ran out of here before having anything for breakfast. You must be starving.” I went to the refrigerator to see if I could find something to whip up for him quickly.

“Ed brought us burgers earlier, but they weren’t that great.” He leaned against the kitchen doorframe.

I shook my head. “Christy ate your breakfast, so we aren’t going to have breakfast for dinner, but maybe I can find something to make.”

“Christy ate my breakfast? Why on earth did she do something like that?”

I looked at him and grinned. “Because she’s my sister.”

Licorice and Boo wrapped themselves around his legs as he stood there, so he crouched down and rubbed their heads. “It’s a good thing you two are alert. We must have missed the signals the first time around.”

“So? What was his story?” I asked, peering into the refrigerator. He had called me earlier and told me that it was Eric Bell that he had chased and that he was responsible for Leo’s murder. I can’t say that I was shocked, but my money had been on Daisy and Caleb.

“Leo threatened to talk to someone at the college and tell them Eric was cheating, because Eric had told them about Leo’s cheating. I guess Leo just finally got angry enough to threaten him.”

I closed the refrigerator door and turned to him. “Honestly, I don’t have much of anything we can whip up. How about we have a pizza delivered?”

He nodded and straightened up. “I’m always up for pizza.”

I pulled my phone from my pocket and placed an order, a Hawaiian pizza, and a combination pizza, and then tucked my phone back into my pocket. “It’ll be a few minutes. So Eric was afraid Leo was going to get him kicked out of college?”

He nodded. “Eric was sure he could keep cheating his way through junior college, and then a four-year university, and come out with a degree in engineering four years later. But now Leo was threatening to destroy the rosy future he had planned.”

I shook my head. “Cheaters never prosper. Is that how it goes?”

He nodded. “Something like that.”

“It stinks that he got Leo expelled, and when Leo threatened to do the same thing to him, he killed him.”

“I don’t know why Leo didn’t move out when this whole mess started.”

I went to him, stood on my tiptoes, and kissed him. “I’m glad this murder is solved.” I frowned, remembering how Eric had bragged about himself. “Why didn’t Eric just go to a four-year university to begin with? Why was he at a community college? If his grades were as perfect as he said they were, why didn’t he just go to a four-year college?”

He shrugged. “He said that he got a lot of scholarships, but it still wasn’t enough to pay for college. When he was in high school, he thought he would get a full-ride scholarship, but he didn’t make that much in scholarship money. He just couldn’t afford it.”

I nodded. “So he dressed as Jason from Friday the 13th and chased Leo, Caleb, and Daisy into the woods?”

He nodded. “He thought he was being clever. He knew that Leo’s truck was in the shop and they were going to have to walk, so after they left the apartment, he dressed up in his costume and followed behind them. When they got into the woods, he wanted to make sure that they knew they were being stalked.”

“Why didn’t he just slip up on him?” I asked as we headed into the living room and sat down on the couch.

“He wanted to terrify them before he killed Leo. I guess that was fun for him. His gun had a night scope on it, and he said he was a good marksman. He was confident that he could hit Leo without hitting the others.”

I leaned my head against his shoulder as the cats made their way to the fireplace and laid down on their pillow. “Why the candy on our doorstep? And what about the blood on the pillowcase and the pumpkin?”

Ethan shook his head. “He thought he was being funny. The blood on the pillowcase came from Leo. He had frequent nosebleeds and had one in the middle of the night several days before Eric killed him. He saw the pillowcase in the laundry hamper after he had killed him. He thought he was being clever by leaving the candy on our doorstep and just wanted to scare us and throw me off on the investigation. When I didn’t come up with a killer, he decided he would leave the pumpkin. Just his way of making sure I knew he was still out there. That wasn’t blood on the pumpkin though, it was Halloween makeup.”

“Wow. That Eric is something else, isn’t he?”

He nodded. “He got away with cheating for so many years that he let it go to his head, I guess. He was sure he was going to get away with murder, too.”

I sighed as Ethan turned the television on. “What a mess that Eric is.”

“You can say that again.”

The television sprang to life. “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown?” I looked at him, one eyebrow raised.

He shook his head. “No, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.”

“You are the best husband ever. It’s time to move on to Thanksgiving, isn’t it?”

He nodded. “It’s time.”

I settled in and glanced at the clock. The pizza wouldn’t be here for another fifteen or twenty minutes. Then I looked back at him. “What about the machete? What about that?”

“He took the machete from the haunted house and left it in the woods, hoping someone would find it and it would further confuse the investigation. That was done after my initial investigation, as I thought. He had intended to leave it the night he killed Leo, but in his haste to get away, he said he didn’t realize he was still holding onto it. He hadn’t expected us to be there on the side of the road when he realized that Daisy and Caleb were running to somebody. He was afraid we might see him, and there was a greater chance he would be caught, so he ran back through the woods.”

“I’m glad you didn’t go into the woods that night since he had a gun with a night scope, and he was such a good shot.”

He nodded. “Me too. He could have picked me off before I even knew where he was.”

I sighed and settled my head back against his side as he put his arm around me. “At least now we’ve got closure on the murder. Now we can focus on Thanksgiving and then Christmas.”

He leaned over and kissed me on top of my head. “You bet. I can’t wait for Thanksgiving at your mom’s house. She is such a great cook.”

I looked at him, one eyebrow raised. “I’m a pretty good cook too.”

He chuckled. “Of course you are. Christy is no slouch either. So as long as the three of you make a lot of food, we’ll have a great Thanksgiving.”

“We will make a ton of food,” I promised.

I was glad that Leo’s killer had been found. It gave us all closure, and it brightened my mood. We had a few more days to relax before the Christmas season got into full swing, and I was looking forward to it. We would spend a lot of evenings snuggled in front of the fireplace, drinking hot cocoa, and watching Peanuts specials.

The End

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Books by Kathleen Suzette:

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

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

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

A Gracie Williams Mystery Series

Pushing Up Daisies in Arizona,

A Gracie Williams Mystery, Book 1

Kicked the Bucket in Arizona,

A Gracie Williams Mystery, Book 2

A Home Economics Mystery Series

Appliqued to Death

A Home Economics Mystery, book 1