Caramel Killer: A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 12
Page 8
“Hi Sonia, happy Thanksgiving!” I said when I stepped inside the shop. The scent of pumpkin pie filled the air, and I stopped and inhaled. “That smells so good!”
“Good morning, Mia,” she said from her place on the couch. “That’s my pumpkin pie scented candle, in case you couldn’t guess. How are you this morning?"
I headed over to where she was and sat down on one of the armchairs. “I’m doing great. Except for the fact that I forgot to pick up a couple of things at the grocery store. That’s where I was headed when I saw your light on and I decided I would stop in and say hello. So, hello!”
She chuckled. “Hello. Are you ready for the big day, other than running to the grocery store?”
I nodded. “Yes, I’ve got some baking and cooking to do today, but it won’t take long. I’ll get most of it done before noon. So, what do you think about snow? Do you think we will have some tomorrow?” It had been in the forecast that we would have snow, and I was hoping we would.
“I’m saying yes,” she said carefully eyeing the sky through the shop window. “The clouds have been threatening snow for days now, and it’s getting colder, so I think you’re going to be in luck. We’re going to get that snow.”
“I think so, too,” I said, looking around the empty shop. “Have you had any customers today?”
She shook her head. “No. No one has come in yet, and that’s fine. I’m catching up on my reading and just enjoying the day.”
“Do you have any plans for tomorrow?” I asked her.
“No, it’s just going to be a quiet day with me and my cats.”
“Oh? Don’t you have any family here in town?” I couldn’t remember if I had heard whether she had any family nearby.
She shook her head. “No, my family have either moved out of town or passed away. I was asked to come to a cousin's Thanksgiving dinner, but it’s over four hours away and I didn’t feel like driving.”
Now I was sad. “Well, why don’t you stop by my parents' house for dinner? We will have plenty of food and there’s no reason for you to spend the day alone.”
“That’s sweet of you Mia, but I think I’m okay on my own. I enjoy my solitude and my cats.” She chuckled. “The cats, especially.”
She might have enjoyed it, but that wasn’t going to prevent me from feeling sad for her. “Are you sure? Mom won’t mind. It’s just going to be my family and a couple of close friends. There’s more than enough food. We always make too much.”
She shook her head. “I appreciate it Mia, but really, I’m fine.”
I nodded. I didn’t want to press her, but it made me feel bad that she would be celebrating Thanksgiving by herself. “I can bring you Thanksgiving dinner,” I offered. “It won’t take but a minute to dish up some food and bring it over to you.”
“That’s very kind of you Mia, and if you don’t mind, that would be nice. But believe me, you don’t have to do that for me.”
“I don’t mind at all. I’ll put in some extra turkey so your cats can celebrate, too.”
“Thank you,” she said, brightening. “That’s very sweet of you.”
“I don’t mind at all.” I removed my gloves and laid them in my lap.
“So has Ethan said anything about whether he’s discovered who killed Fagan?” She picked up the coffee cup on the table and took a sip.
“He’s still investigating at this point,” I said. “I still can’t get over the fact that somebody murdered him."
“I’ve been thinking it over,” she said slowly. “And it occurred to me that he and Dave Jennings had a rather close relationship. Do you know who he is?”
“Yes, I know of him, but I don’t think you could say I know him well. He has come into the candy shop now and then, but other than that, I really don’t know him.”
She nodded. “He’s a sketchy character. He’s always up to no good, and I saw him in Fagan’s costume shop several times the week he died.”
“What do you mean by sketchy?"
“He’s involved in illegal activities,” she said knowingly. “He’s a bookie.”
“You know, now that you mention that, I think I heard that,” I said slowly. I didn’t want to let her know exactly what I knew about him. “I wouldn’t have imagined that Pumpkin Hollow was big enough to have its own bookie.” I chuckled. “Do you think he really is a bookie?”
“Oh yes,” she said, nodding. “It’s not a joke, he is a bookie. And I heard that if you don’t pay up, he’ll come looking for you.”
Now I was serious. “Come looking for you? And maybe force you to pay what you owe?”
She nodded. “Yes. Exactly that. Ethan probably should have a nice long chat with him.”
“So you saw him next door at Fagan’s shop? Several times?”
She nodded. “At least three times. I heard Fagan liked to gamble on sports, so obviously he and Dave have a relationship. And when you have a relationship with a bookie, it’s never good.”
“How do you know that Dave is a bookie?" I asked her. If I pretended I didn’t already know this, I might get some additional information about him.
She was quiet a moment and looked down at her hands in her lap. Then she looked up at me. “Well, don’t let this get around, but a long time ago I may have had some issues with gambling. Not terrible issues, it’s not like I was addicted to it, it was just a fun way to make a little extra money. Except for when I didn’t make any money and lost it instead.”
This was surprising. I couldn’t imagine Sonia visiting a bookie and making bets on a football game. “And Dave was your bookie?”
She nodded. “He was. And he gets ugly if you don’t pay up.”
This was getting interesting. “Ugly how? What did he do?”
“Oh, there was never a time that I didn’t pay, but there were a couple of times that I was slow in paying. He came to my house and busted out my window. After that, I decided I was never going to bet again, and I never have.”
I looked at her. “Seriously? He busted out your windows?”
She nodded. “Just one. But it happened to be the picture window in my living room, and it was extremely expensive to replace. But he owns the glass shop, and he cut me a deal.” She looked at me, one eyebrow raised.
I wasn’t quite sure what to say to that. “That sounds like a real mess.”
She nodded slowly. “You have no idea. I tell you, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he killed Fagan. He’s someone you don’t want to cross.”
I looked at her, thinking these things over. If Fagan had gotten into hot water over a bet, it was possible Dave had killed him. Jeff had said Fagan had gotten into trouble and hadn’t paid him. And after cleaning up that cabin, there wouldn’t be any evidence left. Unless of course, he didn’t do as good a job as he had hoped. I wondered if Ethan could manage to get a search warrant for the cabin with this information.
“I know Ethan is doing everything he can to find Fagan’s killer. I’m sure he’ll be able to make an arrest soon.”
“I’m sure he is,” she said, nodding. “It doesn’t make any difference to me whether his killer is found or not. These are just things that occurred to me as I was sitting here reading my book.”
“Well, I appreciate hearing about your thoughts. Ethan certainly should look into that.” I glanced at the clock on the wall. “I had better get going to the store, it’s going to be a madhouse in there today. I’ll stop by your house tomorrow evening with a plate of food.”
“Thank you, dear,” she said. “That’s very kind of you, and I certainly do appreciate it.”
What she said made me feel even more that Dave had to be the killer. But would there be any traces of Fagan’s murder in that cabin? I didn’t know and I realize that because Ethan and I had gone out there to see him, he probably would have gone back over it again to be sure nothing was left behind.
Chapter Fifteen
“Hello!” I called as I walked through my parents' front door. “We’re here!”
“Hi Mia, hi Ethan,” Mom called from the kitchen doorway. “We’re in here."
“That turkey smells amazing,” I said, and stopped in the kitchen doorway and inhaled. The house was warm and cozy from all the cooking Mom and Christy had been doing and the smell was wonderful.
“Thanks,” Mom said. “I hope it tastes as amazing as it smells.”
“I have no doubt it will,” I said and kissed her on the cheek and then turned to Dad and kissed him on the cheek.
“Hi Mia, I hope you’re ready to eat,” Dad said. He was sitting at the table, folding cloth napkins.
“I am starving. I can’t wait to dig in.”
“Hi everyone,” I said. Devon and Christy sat near each other on the far side of the table and Amanda and Brian sat on the end.
“Hi, Mia, hi Ethan,” Amanda said.
“Ethan, you can set that casserole on the counter there,” Mom said, pointing to an empty space. There were scalloped potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, glazed carrots, a pecan pie, and a lime and cream cheese Jell-O salad, with an antipasto plate and veggie tray on the table.
“Now this is what I’m talking about,” Ethan said, setting the casserole dish down and looking at the other dishes. “I hope you made a lot Mrs. Jordan, because I intend to eat a lot.”
Mom laughed. “Oh Ethan, I made so much food. You are going to be impressed.”
“I would have been happy with a turkey sandwich, but I’m glad you went to the trouble to make all of this food,” he said.
“Oh no,” Christy said. “We don’t do turkey sandwiches for Thanksgiving around here. We’ve been cooking all morning and we are going to feast.”
“This is the right place to be then,” Ethan said. He turned to Devon and Brian. “Hey, Devon, Brian. How are you guys doing?”
Devon nodded. “I’m doing great. I’ll be doing even better when we get to dig into all this food.”
“I’m starving,” Brian said.
Ethan went and sat at the table and looked at me. “All right Mia, I’m ready. Whenever you’re ready, I’m ready. I will relieve you of all that food you made.”
I chuckled. “Of course you will.”
“I don’t want to brag,” Dad said, setting the napkins in the center of the table. “But I’ve been known to go back for thirds at Thanksgiving.”
“Wow,” Ethan said. “Devon, Brian, and I have some work ahead of us then.”
“You certainly do,” Dad said.
“I might be able to handle thirds,” Devon bragged. “Maybe.”
Millie came trotting into the kitchen. Millie was half Chihuahua and half schnauzer. She was an older dog but when food was around, you wouldn’t know it.
“Hi Millie,” I said and squatted down beside her and ruffled her graying fur. “You look marvelous, darling.”
Mom opened the oven to check on the rolls. “The vet says he’s impressed with how healthy she is.”
“Well, I’m impressed with her, too,” I said. I stood up. “Is there anything you want me to do?”
She closed the oven door. “We’ll be ready to eat pretty soon. Maybe set the table.”
“I promised Sonia Perrins that I would bring her a plate. She’s all by herself for Thanksgiving. I invited her to come to dinner, but she said she enjoyed her solitude."
“That’s terrible,” Christy said. “She should have just come. We wouldn’t have bothered her.”
“We would have just passed her some food and let her go to town on it,” Dad agreed. “We’ll all be so busy eating anyway, it’s not like we would have had time to engage her in conversation.”
I chuckled. “I know. I guess some people aren’t big on people though.”
We finished getting everything ready and had everything on the table in less than an hour. After Dad said Grace, I got up and put a plate together for Sonia and filled some containers so she would have some leftovers, then put them into a shopping bag. She only lived six blocks down and around the corner from my parents’ house.
“Want me to take that over to her?” Ethan asked me.
“You can probably get there faster than I can, why don’t you go ahead?”
“You got it.” He picked up the shopping bag and hurried to the front door and was gone.
“I wish Sonia would have come and enjoyed dinner with us,” Mom said as she sat down. “Should we wait for Ethan?”
“Let’s give him a couple minutes. I think he’s going to make quick work of that delivery,” I said.
We set tea and milk on the table and by the time we got our classes poured, Ethan came running back through the front door, out of breath.
“I didn’t miss any of the food, did I?” he asked.
Mom chuckled. “No, you’re just in time.”
He sat down in the chair next to me. “Sonia said to tell everyone thank you. She was very appreciative of the food. I’m starving.”
“Then you better get your plate filled,” I said to him.
We focused on filling our plates with food for a few minutes and when everyone had settled down and started eating, Dad looked across the table at Ethan. “Ethan, how is Fagan’s murder investigation going?”
“Well, it’s going. We’ve been interviewing a lot of people and I’m hoping we’ll have enough evidence to arrest somebody before too long.”
“That’s good to hear,” Dad said. “Tell me, Ethan, I heard something the other day. Is Dave Jennings one of your suspects?”
Ethan looked at him, a roll in one hand and his fork loaded with mashed potatoes and gravy in the other. “He could be. I’ve talked to him a couple of times now. Why do you ask?”
“Do you know that he’s a bookie?” Dad reached across the table for the sweet potatoes.
Ethan nodded. “I do. We haven’t caught him doing anything illegal though, so I can’t arrest him for that.”
Dad nodded. “It just seems that there’s a lot going around town about him. He and Fagan had some sort of relationship, and I’m supposing it was one that dealt with illegal activities.”
“I think that’s a good assumption,” Ethan agreed.
“I heard when he lived in Montana he was arrested for suspicion of murder,” Dad said.
Ethan looked at him, one eyebrow raised. “Who told you that?”
“Bill Thompson. I work with him at the office. I’m not saying he knows what he’s talking about, he did say it was a rumor that was going around town, but it sure makes me curious."
“It makes me curious too,” Ethan said. “Dave didn’t really seem like a viable witness at first, but the more I hear about him, the more I think I might have been wrong. I’ll run a background check on him tomorrow.”
“Wait, aren’t we going to go Black Friday shopping?” I asked him.
He chuckled. “We’ll see. I guess if we get an early enough start, and finish up early, I can go with you.”
“I want to go,” Christy said. “I love Black Friday shopping.”
We had scheduled two of our part-time employees to work Black Friday morning at the candy store and Mom had volunteered to come in and make the candy. That meant Christy and I were free to shop to our heart's content.
“I talked to Sonia yesterday,” I said to Ethan. “She said when she didn’t pay up on one of her bets, Dave broke her living room window. But he very kindly offered to replace the window.”
Ethan looked at me, eyebrows furrowed. “That was kind of him. I mean the window replacement part. But I’m sure he made her pay for it?”
I nodded. “He gave her discount though.”
“What a sweetheart,” Devon said.
Ethan snickered. “You gotta love a businessman that creates more business for himself.”
“I don’t think we have to love anybody that’s a possible mur
der suspect,” I said and took a bite of cranberry sauce.
“Point taken,” Ethan said.
“That Dave is a bad guy though,” Devon said. “I heard he threatened Jay Graham for not paying his bet. He told me Dave threatened to bust his kneecaps.”
“Busted kneecaps are a classic,” Ethan said lightly. “Maybe I’ll stop by and have a talk with Jay and see if he tells me the same thing. He might not want to admit he was using a bookie to gamble.”
The more I heard about Dave, the more I thought he had to be the killer. He was up to his ears in illegal activities and he didn’t seem to mind causing damage to somebody. Or at least, he didn’t mind causing damage to their home. I was interested to know if he really had been under suspicion of murder in Montana, and if he had actually threatened Jay Graham. Everything was hearsay at this point, but I knew Ethan was going to check into all of these things.
Millie sat at my feet, hoping for a bite of turkey and I wasn’t going to disappoint her. I slipped her a small piece when no one was looking, and she thumped her tail on the floor in gratitude.
Chapter Sixteen
Ethan and I did a very limited Black Friday shopping day. There aren’t many large stores in Pumpkin Hollow, and as suspected, the snow began late Thanksgiving evening. It left a beautiful blanket of white on the town, but it also left several inches on the roadways. After Ethan went to work, Christy and I decided to hang out together and do some online shopping.
When we finished picking out a few Christmas presents online, we went to the gift shop to see what Polly had on sale. She hadn’t opened up any earlier than she normally did, so we had to wait until nine o’clock to stop in.
“Hi Polly,” Christy said when we walked through the door.
She looked up at us and smiled. “Hi girls, are you out Black Friday shopping?"
“We sure are,” I said. “We already stopped by a couple of other places and then we decided we needed to come and see you. Do you have any sales going?"
“I do. I got Christmas candles and some lovely candleholders in, and they’re all twenty-five percent off,” she said motioning toward a display.