Pumpkin Spice Lies: A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 16

by Kathleen Suzette

  She laughed again. “I have a feeling that will never happen. Do you have some of your mother’s pumpkin spice fudge in yet?”

  I eyed her. “Well, it’s not supposed to be available until tomorrow, but if you promise not to tell anyone you got it early, I might be able to get you some. How much did you want?”

  She grinned, holding her black purse in front of herself. “How about a quarter of a pound? I’d like to get more, but my doctor wouldn’t approve of my finishing off a pound of fudge by myself.”

  “You got it.” I picked up a cute white paper bag decorated with jack-o’-lanterns and headed to the kitchen. “I’ll be right back.”

  Mom looked up at me as I entered the kitchen. “Everything all right out there, Mia?”

  “Everything’s great. Mary Jones came in and asked about pumpkin spice fudge. I told her I could sell her some as long as she didn’t tell anyone she got it early.”

  Mom chuckled and kept stirring the fudge she was making. “I hope she can keep a secret.”

  I cut a piece of pumpkin spice fudge that looked to be the right size, then wrapped it, put it into the paper bag, and headed back out front.

  “Here we are,” I said and went behind the counter.

  “Lovely. And why don’t you give me some of those strawberry bonbons? Two of them, please.”

  “You got it.”

  I got her candy, and she paid for it and left. Christy came out of the break room, glancing at the wrought-iron clock on the wall above the door.

  “I’m glad we’re almost done here. I’m tired. What are you going to be tomorrow?”

  “Well, I'm not going to wear anything with a cape. I learned my lesson last year. I’m going to stick with costumes that aren’t very heavy.” During Pumpkin Hollow Days, nearly everyone in town dressed up in costumes. I had made the mistake of wearing a little red riding hood costume last summer, and I had regretted it. The cape was far too heavy for summer. “I think I might be a female Waldo from Where’s Waldo.”

  “That’s a good idea.”

  “And it’s easy,” I said. “All I had to buy was a striped shirt.”

  Mom came out of the kitchen, untying her apron. “I think I’m about done for the day, girls. Oh, I meant to stop by Pumpkin Center Park and check on where our booth is located. I requested it to be beneath one of the trees to help keep the candy from melting, but I forgot to stop by to see if we got one there for sure.”

  “We can stop by on our way home,” I offered. I had picked Christy up for work when her car didn’t start, and the park wasn’t too far out of the way.

  “Would you? Today has been a long one for me. I meant to leave for home earlier, but I got sidetracked with the pumpkin spice fudge.”

  “It’s no problem,” I said.

  ***

  I pulled into the parking lot at the park, and Christy and I got out. Mom had said we had booth number twenty-six. We headed down the sidewalk that meandered through the center of the park and glanced at the numbers on the tables.

  “Looks like we must be someplace toward the back,” Christy said.

  I looked across the park. The park had been doing some construction, adding new park benches, playground equipment, and new covering for the grounds. There was still a backhoe parked near the swing set, and an area was taped off with yellow caution tape. I frowned.

  “I hope they move that backhoe before tomorrow morning.”

  “Yeah, that doesn’t look great. Maybe someone will move it in the morning.”

  We kept walking and found our booth not far from the playground. Thankfully, it was beneath a big cottonwood tree that provided shade past the edge of the booth.

  “Looks good,” I said, coming around the back of the booth to inspect it.

  “Yeah,” she said absently. “But I hate that we’re so close to this end of the park. People are going to be parking at the other end.”

  “Yeah, but I bet it won’t matter. They’ll want to see everything, and they’ll come all the way down here to see all the booths.”

  She was quiet for a moment. “Yeah, probably so.”

  There were another dozen booths on the other side of the playground. We were going to have a big turn out with local businesses, and some from out of town. It would bring some much needed revenue to the town, and I was excited about that.

  “Hey, Mia,” Christy said.

  “Yeah?” I answered, looking at her over my shoulder. She was looking in the direction of the backhoe.

  “What’s that?”

  I turned around and looked in the direction she was looking.

  “What’s what?”

  “That,” she said, pointing.

  I wasn’t sure what she was looking at. “What—” and then I saw it. We were both quiet.

  “Doesn’t that look odd?”

  I nodded. It did look odd. Right in front of the backhoe was a suspicious-looking mound of dirt. Something about its shape gave me the chills. “Yeah, that is odd.”

  “Let’s go see,” Christy said, and started walking toward it.

  I followed after her. “It’s probably where they dug up the ground for the new playground equipment.”

  The city had been working on making improvements all over town in anticipation of the Halloween season, and there was some concern that the park wouldn’t be finished before Pumpkin Hollow Days began, but it looked like they just needed to do a little touch-up work and they would be done.

  “Yeah, probably.”

  We stood in front of the mound of dirt. Someone had tried to smooth it out, but its surface was still more than six inches above the rest of the ground.

  “What do you think?” she asked me.

  “I don’t know.”

  I shrugged and stepped closer, then crouched down. There was something wrong about this mound of dirt.

  “Mia?”

  “Yeah?”

  “What’s that?”

  I glanced at her and followed her gaze. There was something covered in dirt lying on top of the mound. When I got closer, it looked like an emerald ring. I reached for it, but when I tried to pick it up, it was stuck. I wiggled it, trying to make it come free. And that was when I screamed.

  Chapter Three

  The following morning dawned clear and bright. The weatherman said it would be a hot one, and I wasn’t looking forward to the heat. I was dressed as Waldo, substituting a long-sleeve T-shirt for the sweater, and I hurried to my car, casting a glance over my shoulder at Ethan’s cottage across the street. His truck still wasn’t parked in the driveway. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I saw it was just after six a.m. An image came to mind of the ring I had tried to pick up from the mound of dirt at the park the previous evening, and it made me shudder. There had been a hand attached to it.

  I drove over to the Little Coffee Shop of Horrors and went inside. Brian was behind the counter and he gave me a sleepy grin.

  “Hey, Mia. Fancy meeting you here this early.”

  I forced myself to smile. “You look like you didn’t sleep well.” I had dated Brian in high school and now he was married to my best friend. Sometimes life takes a turn, and it really is for the best.

  He shook his head. “Isabella isn’t cooperating.”

  I chuckled. Brian and Amanda had just had their first baby, and she was just over a month old. Sleep was a precious commodity for the two of them.

  “I bet. But she’s so darn adorable, it totally makes up for it.”

  He nodded, grinning. “She sure is. I still can’t get over the fact that I’m a father. I mean, we have a baby.” He shook his head. “Who knew that becoming a father was the best thing in the world?”

  I chuckled. “She is pretty amazing. Little Isabella is one lucky baby, with parents like you and Amanda.”

  Brian blushed. He was dressed as Dracula, and I thought he would regret the cape if he had to spend much time outside today. “Thanks, but I think we’re the lucky ones. That baby is the most perfect baby I’ve
ever seen.”

  “You can say that again.” I grinned and glanced up at the order board. “How about you make me a bloody vampire, a vanilla mummy, and then—oh, why don’t you make me seven vanilla mummies?”

  “You got it. Is Ethan with you?” He glanced at my car parked at the curb.

  I shook my head. “No, he had a late night. Why don’t you add an extra shot of espresso to the bloody vampire? I think he could use it right about now.” The bloody vampire was a raspberry mocha, and I knew Ethan would appreciate it. Not to mention he probably needed the extra caffeine right about now.

  He picked up a cup. “You bet. So he had a late night?” he asked as he got to work on the coffees.

  “Yeah.” I glanced over my shoulder, but the coffee shop was empty. “Christy and I found a body at the park.”

  His eyes widened. “Really? Who was it?”

  I shrugged. “I have no idea. Whoever it was, they were buried.”

  “Wow. At the park? The night before Pumpkin Hollow Days begin?”

  I nodded. “I don’t know what’s going to happen with the vendor’s fair. Hopefully, Ethan has done all the investigating he needs to do, and the fair can go on as planned.”

  He squirted whipped cream onto the bloody vampire. “Yeah, that would be a shame if it had to be canceled.”

  “Don’t say that. We’ve all been looking forward to this. My mother has made a lot of extra candy. In fact, she should be at the candy store making some more right now.” I glanced at my phone again, then looked at the display case of baked goods. There were three kinds of scones. “I hate to clean you out, but why don’t you give me eight scones? Any flavors.”

  “You got it,” he said as he continued working on the coffees.

  “Who’s doing all your baking now that Amanda is taking some time off?” Amanda was the baker at the shop, and she was in no hurry to go back to work with little Isabella at home.

  He grinned. “That would be me. She watched me do it for a few weeks before turning me loose. I think I’ve turned into a pretty good baker.”

  “That’s awesome. That means she can put you to work in the kitchen indefinitely.”

  His brow furrowed. “No, thanks. I might be good at it, but it isn’t my favorite thing to do.”

  “Suit yourself,” I said with a shrug.

  When Brian finished making the coffees, he put them into two cardboard carriers and put the scones into smaller bags, and then all of them went into a larger bag. I paid for everything and hurried out to my car. On my way to the park, I dropped most of the coffee and scones off at the candy store. I kept one coffee for Ethan, and one for myself and brought two scones with me.

  ***

  I parked on the side of the park that was closest to the playground area. The police had set up a chain-link barricade that they had covered with tarps so no one could see what was happening on the other side. I breathed out and steeled myself as I walked around the side of the barricade.

  Ethan was talking to a uniformed officer. He smiled tiredly at me when he saw me.

  “Hey,” I said, approaching him. The officer left, and I handed Ethan a coffee and a scone. “I thought you might need these.”

  “You have no idea,” he said and kissed me. He took a sip of his coffee and then sighed.

  “Good?”

  He nodded. “Excellent. I so needed this.”

  “You’ve been here all night?” I asked, glancing at the mound of dirt that was now a shallow hole. Thankfully, whoever had been in the makeshift grave had already been removed.

  “I went home for a couple of hours of sleep, and came back a little over an hour ago. I got some coffee at the gas station, but let’s just say it isn’t the best coffee around.”

  “I bet.” I glanced at the hole again. “Do you know who it is?” I whispered.

  He shook his head. “No. She looked familiar, but we’ll have to wait until we identify her.”

  That didn’t sound promising. “Had she been there long?”

  “I don’t think so. Hard to say at this point. We talked to the construction crew, and they were here Thursday afternoon, so we can narrow down the time frame.”

  I sighed. “That’s so sad. Did you see anything that might be helpful to the case when you uncovered her?”

  He looked at me. “It's too early yet to know much yet. I know you want the details, but I don’t have many right now. I guess you’re going to have to wait.” He grinned, and then took a big sip of his coffee. “This is so good.”

  “I had Brian add a shot of espresso to it. I figured you could use the caffeine.”

  “You figured right.”

  There were dark circles beneath his eyes, but the coffee made him look more awake now. “So this won’t interfere with the vendors’ fair?” I asked, glancing back at the barricade. It would be a couple of hours before people began arriving to set up, with the fair beginning at ten o’clock.

  He shook his head. “I don’t think so. We’ll have officers posted at both ends of the barricade, and add on some more length to the sides to keep people out of the area, but as long as we don’t tell people what’s going on, I think we’ll be fine. With the construction work that’s been going on, people will probably just think it’s more work being done and they just want to keep visitors out of it.”

  I nodded. “That’s a good idea.” I sighed. “I’m kind of creeped out by seeing that hand when I tried to pick up the ring.”

  “I don’t blame you. That’s kind of a scary thing to have happen.”

  I glanced at the evidence markers on the ground. “Did you find anything important?”

  “Maybe. There were some shoe prints and a barrette. But the barrette looked like a kid’s, not a woman’s.”

  I turned to him. “What did it look like?”

  “It had a white poodle on it. Plastic. It kind of looked old. Not that it was in bad condition, but that it looked like an old-style I’ve seen somewhere before. I just can’t remember where.”

  “Vintage, you mean?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. It seems like I’ve seen one like it around somewhere.”

  “Was it an older woman?” I asked. I couldn’t imagine a kid’s barrette being left at a crime scene when there wasn’t a child victim.

  “No, actually, she looked young. Maybe as young as a teenager. But until we can get her identified, we won’t have a lot of information.” He looked into the bag. “I love pumpkin spice scones.”

  “I know you do,” I said. Six officers were milling about and talking. “I guess I could have called you and asked how many officers were here and gotten them a coffee.”

  He waved the thought away. “Mike just went to pick some coffee up. Don’t worry about it. He’s going to get me one, too, so now I’ll have two. And boy do I need it.”

  I chuckled. “Are you going to have some free time to enjoy the vendors’ fair?”

  “I already filed my initial report, and I’m going to be leaving here in a half-hour or so. With a few more hours of sleep, I should be able to come back and see what’s going on. Maybe.”

  I nodded. “Good. I don’t want you to miss it. So have you had much time to think over having the wedding reception in my parent’s back yard?”

  He shrugged. “Honestly, I haven’t thought about it since your mother brought it up, but I think it’s a great place to have it. Why? Are you okay with it?”

  I nodded. “I think it will be nice. I just didn’t want you to feel like you had to go along with it just because my mother offered.”

  He smiled. “I think it’s going to be really nice. As long as you like it, then I say we do it.”

  I nodded. “I can’t wait.”

  Our wedding was coming together nicely, and I was excited about it. I glanced at the open hole where the woman was taken from, and I shivered. I hoped it wasn’t a teenager. Some parents in Pumpkin Hollow might be waiting for a dreaded phone call as we spoke.

  Chapter Four

  “
Hi Mia, I see your mom made pumpkin spice fudge,” Polly Givens said.

  I looked up at her from where I was setting sample trays out onto our booth table. “Hi, Polly.” I nodded. “She did it. She finally made pumpkin spice fudge again, and it is delicious. And I’m not just saying that because she’s my mom.”

  Polly was dressed as Morticia Addams from the Addams family. With her tall, thin build and long black hair, she had the natural looks to go with the outfit. She owned the gift shop and almost always dressed as Morticia during the Halloween season.

  “Oh, I know you aren’t just saying that. She has my vote for the best candy-maker on earth.” Her eyes went over the candy on the glass-covered display plates. There were ice chests stashed beneath the booth table with more candy, and we’d take orders for whatever we ran out of.

  “It turned out hot today,” I said and took a sip of my iced tea. Christy had made a run to the local burger joint and bought us iced tea.

  She looked at me and nodded. “That’s the one drawback to having Pumpkin Hollow Days in the summer. The heat. But that’s all right. We’ll survive. And I got some new candles in, so if you get a minute, pop over to my booth and see what I’ve got.”

  “I will. You know I can’t resist candles. Maybe I should have gone into business making them.”

  She chuckled. “I’d buy them from you to sell in my shop. But for now, how about I place an order for a pound of pumpkin spice fudge? I know your mom has been working her fingers to the bone making candy, so she can let me know when she gets it done next week, and I’ll stop by the candy store and pick it up. No rush.”

  “Thanks, Polly. Mom will appreciate an order she doesn’t need to make right away.” I picked up a blank order form and began filling it out for her.

  “I think I’ll take this piece you have here, so at least I get a little taste of it right now,” she said, indicating a quarter-pound slice beneath the glass cover.