She decided she wasn’t lugging all of that. The canister itself was heavy enough, like she thought, so she stood it up, wrapped the breathing hose around it, and grabbed the top and bottom. Ruddy caught up and knelt down beside her. “Here, let me help,” he said.
“Thanks, but I’ve got it.” She looked up at him. “I carry heavy stuff around all the time. You could help me, though.”
“What do you need?” Concern was evident in his eyes. She liked that - he didn’t know her or any of these people, but he still cared. “Would you go to my booth and get Margaret’s daughter Wilma? We might need her help.”
“Sure.” He stood up and trotted off in that direction.
She picked up the canister and headed back to the parking lot. By now, other people had noticed that something was going on, and quite a few of them were at the gates, enough that she had to push her way though. She hoped she wasn’t too late to help.
“Excuse me,” she called, jostling through the crowd. The cold metal canister strained her shoulders and she briefly considered getting some exercise of the lifting variety. That made her think of Richard Simmons and his ridiculous tights, for some reason, so she frowned and concentrated on the task at hand.
Near the front of the crowd, she spotted Sissy, who looked worried to death. She came running to Jenny. “What’s going on?”
Jenny shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
Once they cleared the crowd, Jenny glanced around. The parking lot still looked empty, so she walked toward the horse trailer. Her arms were starting to really ache now, so she hoisted the tank up onto her shoulder. That made things a lot easier.
It was only then that she wondered where the fox had gone. He hadn’t been with Margaret, and he hadn’t been in the enclosure. She hoped he wasn’t loose somewhere.
Sissy was keeping pace with her. “Where are we going?”
Jenny nodded toward the trailer parked at the far end of the lot. “I think they’re over there.”
They made their way between the cars, but Jenny stopped at the back of the trailer. It was too dark to see inside, and she couldn’t hear anything, either. “I don’t think they’re in there,” she said, looking around. She was confused - where else would Margaret and Josie be?
Sissy walked up the ramp and disappeared inside. Jenny waited - she wasn’t hauling the canister in there if she didn’t have to.
Ruddy chose that moment to catch up to her. “She wasn’t there,” he said. “No one was. I’m sorry.”
A small clink, and then a louder thunk vibrated through the trailer. Jenny peered inside. “Sissy?”
“Who’s in there?” Ruddy asked, so Jenny filled him in.
“Jenny? Come here, please.”
There was something wrong with her voice. It was...squeaky.
“Sissy?”
Ruddy walked up the ramp and reached over his head to click a switch, and a row of lights came on. Sissy was standing very still, dead center in the trailer, looking down toward her feet on the hay covered floor.
Jenny followed her gaze and dropped the canister.
Then she heard a siren in the distance.
Chapter Seven
Josie was lying face down, her hair splayed out and tangled. Jenny couldn’t see her face, but she could see the growing pool of blood staining the straw and running toward a drain not far from the girl’s hand. “Oh my God,” she whispered, reaching for Sissy to pull her away.
Sissy was frozen to the spot, her mouth open wide. She didn’t seem able to react at all, but in the next moment she started to faint. Ruddy jumped forward and caught her before she fell and carried her over to a wall before setting her down on her butt in the floor.
Jenny was barely aware of it, because her gaze had traveled back to Josie’s very still form. She struggled to breathe and waited for somebody to save her, too.
What had happened here? Josie had run away, apparently angry with Margaret. So where was Margaret, anyway? If she wasn’t here, that meant Jenny was probably the last person to see Josie alive.
Ruddy put his hands on her arms and turned her around. Real concern colored his gaze. “Jenny? Are you all right?”
She wasn’t sure, but she managed to nod.
“Let’s get you out of here,” he said. “The authorities are here now. Come on.”
He led her out and down the ramp. She was shaking, but not from the cold.
“Did you know her?” he asked, once they were away from the trailer.
Jenny shook her head. “Not very well. I’ve only spoken to her once or twice before tonight.”
Ruddy gave her a quick hug. “You stay put. I’m going to get someone - be right back.”
She nodded, but didn’t watch him go. She was staring at the trailer again, dreamlike.
Then she realized that Sissy was still in there with the...with Josie. She must be so scared.
She ran up the ramp. Sissy was right where Ruddy had put her, her head down on her folded knees. “Sissy?” Jenny knelt down and touched her.
Sissy looked up, tears in her eyes. “I think I killed her,” she said.
“What?” Jenny stared. “No you didn’t - you weren’t even here!”
“I know...” Sissy sniffed, “But I put a little bit of rum in her eggnog.”
Jenny groaned. “I still don’t think...”
“Maybe she was allergic...or on some kind of m-medication...” She looked up at Jenny, eyes huge. “I’m so, so sorry. She just looked so upset.”
Jenny squeezed her arm and pointed toward Josie’s body. “Look at her. She died from a head wound, Sissy. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
She really, really hoped she was right.
“Come on, let’s go.” Jenny helped her up and they walked down the ramp. Near the bottom, Sissy stumbled.
“Sissy?”
Sissy waved a wand. “Just let me sit down again for a minute. I’m dizzy.”
Jenny sat her down on the side of the ramp, then sat beside her. She felt extra protective of her baby sister right now.
Ruddy was coming, with Sheriff Colt in tow. Jenny sighed. “Let me handle this, all right?” she asked. The last thing she needed was for Sissy to start confessing to murder.
Sissy nodded.
“Ladies.” Colt nodded, barely glancing at Jenny. He hadn’t liked her much since she’d butted in and solved the murder of her old neighbor, Nester Bloom.
Beside her, Sissy started to shiver.
“Sheriff,” Jenny answered, putting an arm around Sissy and giving her a hug.
“The body is in there?” Colt asked.
Ruddy nodded.
“And who owns this trailer?”
“I do, Sheriff,” Ruddy said. He didn’t hesitate a bit. Jenny offered him a little smile, so he came over and patted her shoulder and bent down.
“Is she all right?” he asked, nodding toward Sissy.
“Yeah.” Jenny hesitated, then gave him the barest of nods. “I’ll explain later.”
He was obviously curious, but he didn’t ask.
“So, Mr., uh...” Colt said.
“Pike,” Ruddy said. “Rutherford Pike.”
“Mr. Pike.” Colt hitched up his uniform pants and then pulled a pad from his shirt pocket. “Mind if I ask a few questions?”
Ruddy looked concerned again. “Wouldn’t you like to see inside first?”
Colt shot him an annoyed look. “Yes. That’d be fine.”
Colt went up the ramp behind Jenny, his boots clanging on the metal. Ruddy and Jenny turned around to watch him go, and heard a curse come from inside.
“I want to go h-home,” Sissy whispered. She was shivering.
“We’ll probably need to answer a few questions first,” Jenny said. “Can you hold on for just a little longer? I’ll make him interview you first.”
Sissy nodded. “But poor Chuck is all alone. Can I go check on him?”
“Nobody’s going anywhere,” Colt said, coming back down the ramp.
Jenny jumped, then fought the urge to smack him for scaring her.
“She’s dead, all right.”
Jenny bit back a smart-aleck remark.
Mr. Pike, if I could have a word.” Colt said. He motioned with his hand and they walked a few feet away. Jenny watched Ruddy nod and say something. Colt licked the end of his pencil and started scribbling in his pad.
Jenny glanced back into the trailer. Josie lay as still as a fallen statue.
She turned back to Sissy. “Sissy, where is Wilma?”
Sissy sniffed and wiped her eyes. “I don’t know. You left, and then Margaret and Josie left. Wilma was upset after she argued with Margaret. She drank about three of my little rum bottles.” She paused, frowning. “Not that I minded, of course. She was crying. I told her to go on home, so she left.”
Jenny knew that Margaret had to come straight from the eggnog booth to the petting zoo - she was arguing with the mayor just a few minutes after Jenny got there. Josie had been with her then.
She looked at the ground, trying to figure it out.
When she looked up again, a deputy was walking their way, followed closely by one of the local EMTs. Mike, Jenny thought. Mike was his name. She suddenly felt shaky herself, and wondered if she was in shock.
She knew Sissy was, so she stood up. “Mike?”
He smiled at her. “Hey, there, Miss Jenny. Terrible business tonight, huh? Right in the middle of the biggest party of the year.”
“I know,” she said. “Could you please check on Sissy here? She’s not feeling too well.”
“Sure, of course,” Mike answered, trying to peek inside the trailer even as he said it.
“Thank you,” she said, then she turned and knelt down in front of Sissy. “I’m going to go talk to Colt, all right? I promise I’ll be right back.”
Sissy nodded.
Jenny noticed that Sissy’s sneaker was untied, so she reached down and tied it for her. As she did, she spotted something, just under the edge of the trailer. It was black and shiny. Weird, but she was in a hurry to go find out what Ruddy had to say to Colt. “Be right back, all right?”
Sissy just nodded again, then turned her attention to Mike, who was talking to her in a soothing voice. Confident that she was in good hands, Jenny walked over to the men.
“We’re having a private conversation here, Jenny,” Colt snapped when he saw her.
Jenny knew it needled him whenever she got too nosy. She smiled. “I know. What’s up?”
“The sheriff here seems to think that I might have killed your friend Josie,” Ruddy said, his voice tight.
Chapter Eight
“What? Why?” Jenny turned on Colt. “This man is a guest here in town. Why would you think that?”
Cot shrugged. “I’m not saying he did it, but it’s his trailer, his murder weapon.”
“You don’t even know what the murder weapon is yet!” she protested. “For all you know, I could have brained the poor girl with that oxygen tank I was carrying.”
Colt didn’t answer. He just turned and walked back into the trailer, then returned carrying a shovel. It was the wide, square kind with a short handle, and Jenny could see the dark stain on it even in the dim light. She made a face.
Colt held it out for her to see. She took it without thinking and held it up to study it.
He snatched it back almost immediately. “You destroying evidence now?” he asked.
She pointed to his hand on the handle. “No more than you are.”
Colt shot her a look, but dropped the shovel. It clanged on the frozen ground. She stared at it.
“Anyway,” he said, “The time of death should be easy to pinpoint. You saw her just before and right after, Jenny. Is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“And do you know the whereabouts of Mr. Pike here during those few minutes?”
She opened her mouth to say that he was with her, but then realized that wasn’t true. She had sent him to the eggnog booth. She looked at him. “I’m sorry,” she said.
“Don’t be.” Ruddy shoved his hands into the pockets of his long coat. She was impressed - he was being accused of murder, but he didn’t look the least bit troubled about it. In fact, he looked just a little bit amused. “I know I didn’t kill anyone, and I must have passed fifty people on my way to your booth. Somebody will remember seeing me.”
Colt scowled.
“Hey, Sheriff?” the deputy called.
Colt looked up.
“Ms. van Winklet is ready to talk to you now.”
Colt nodded and looked at Ruddy. “Don’t go anywhere.”
Ruddy nodded, and Colt followed the deputy toward the gate. For the first time, Jenny noticed that Margaret was sitting on one of the benches there. She looked small and pale.
Jenny turned back to Ruddy. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get you into trouble.”
“I’m not in trouble.” He looked over at Colt. “He’s a real piece of work, isn’t he?”
Jenny chuckled. “You have no idea.” She reached down and picked up the shovel Colt had dropped.
“You’re touching the evidence again,” Ruddy said. “Your fingerprints will be all over it.”
She shot him a quick grin. “I think that’s called reasonable doubt, in the eyes of a jury.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Sure. If everyone’s fingerprints are on it, that means anyone could be the murderer, right?”
He shook his head and laughed. “But what if I am the killer?”
“You’re not.” Jenny walked over to the trailer and put the shovel inside so that it wouldn’t get lost. Colt was a sloppy investigator on his best days - she could just imagine him losing the thing altogether.
She glanced at Josie’s body again, and noticed something she hadn’t seen earlier. Leaning in to get a closer look, she saw a clear bite mark on the side of Josie’s hand. Blood was smeared across the strap marks that Josie had shown her.
Well, that explained why Josie had decided to quit so suddenly. If Napoleon had bitten her, Jenny might have quit on the spot, too.
Then she left the trailer and checked on Sissy, who was wrapped in a blanket and still talking to Mike. “You all right?” Jenny asked.
Sissy nodded, and she did look a little less distraught. Mike had gotten her a juice box somewhere, and she was sipping on it.
Jenny patted her on the shoulder and headed for the little clutch of people around Margaret. Ruddy saw where she was going and fell into step beside her. “Do you need to go check on your reindeer?” Jenny asked him.
He shook his head. “No - Harvey promised to keep an eye on them. He’s a nice guy.”
Jenny agreed.
Margaret was still on the bench, but Jenny was surprised to see that she was holding Napoleon. Even more surprising, Wilma was sitting right beside her, holding Margaret’s free hand and looking very much like a concerned, loving daughter.
Colt saw her and rolled his eyes. She gave him a smile.
Wilma saw her and jumped up, grabbing both of Jenny’s hands in hers. “Oh, Jenny! There you are! I’m so sorry I abandoned Sissy like I did. I was just so upset.”
“It’s all right, Wilma. I hope you’re feeling better now.”
Wilma nodded, her red hair bouncing. “I am. When they came to tell me what happened, I rushed right over here. Mother needed me.”
She must have just gotten home, Jenny thought. Her purse was still slung over her arm, and she hadn’t even bothered to put her shoes on - she was wearing the slip-on sneakers she’d mentioned earlier.
“Napoleon has never been a biter,” Margaret was saying, her voice wobbly. “I don’t know what came over him.”
“Ssh, Mother. It’s not your fault.” Wilma turned to rub her shoulders.
Napoleon himself looked happily around at the crowd.
It was surreal, seeing them act so affectionately after the shouting match that Jenny had witnessed earlier. It was even more surreal, seein
g Margaret act like a nice, normal human being instead of a self-appointed empress.
“I’ll have to cite you for the bite, you know,” Colt was saying. “Now, did you speak to Josie before...you know?”
Margaret shook her head. “I came close to fainting before I got there. Some high school boy helped me here to the bench, and then Wilma came. You were next.”
Jenny hadn’t seen her earlier, but then she had been headed for the trailer, and there were a lot of people here at the gates. She could easily have missed her.
“Wait,” she chimed in. “Wilma got here first?”
Wilma spoke up. “I was worried to death,” she said. “I’m sure I was speeding. Sorry, Sheriff Colt.”
Colt gave her a half smile. “It’s fine, Wilma.”
“Did one of the deputies come to get you?” Jenny asked.
Colt turned to her with a sigh. “Will you please let me do my job?”
Jenny didn’t answer. She was still looking at Wilma.
Wilma shook her head. “Someone called me and told me to come back to the park, because Mother here was sick. Why?”
“Who called you?”
Colt spoke up again. “This has nothing to do with you. Please leave us alone.”
Jenny shrugged. “Sorry, Colt. You know how nosy I am.”
“Well, quit it. Go take care of your sister.”
“Fine.” Jenny turned to go. She wasn’t actually mad at Colt. She was too busy thinking. “When you’re ready to know who the killer is, come on over.”
Colt snorted. “I still think your new friend there had something to do with it.”
Jenny gave him a tight smile. “You’re wrong, Colt. As usual.”
Colt looked like he was about to arrest her, just for the fun of it, so she scooted away and walked back to Sissy.
Sissy looked a lot better, and Mike was inside the trailer, checking out the body. She assumed that he was waiting for the coroner to come and pronounce Josie dead.
“Have they figured it out yet?” Sissy asked. “Am I going to be arrested?”
Jenny sat down and took Sissy’s hand. “I told you, you didn’t do anything wrong.”
Fireside Homicide Cozy Mystery Bundle Page 15
