Confectionately Dead

by Kathleen Suzette

  I looked at her. “Show up? What do you mean?”

  She shook her head. “That sister of mine is a wanderer sometimes. She didn’t come home last night, and I’m pretty sure I know why.” She looked at me knowingly.

  “Why is that?” I asked as I went to the display case.

  “She and Brent Downs have been making googly eyes at one another for some time now. She said she was going Christmas shopping yesterday afternoon, but did she come home? No! She didn’t come home.” She snorted again. “You’d think at her age, she’d be past doing something like that, but not her. No sirree, not her. She’s sixty-two, you know. I guess that makes me sixty-two, too.” She laughed heartily.

  I grinned at Ethan as he took this in. “You know what they say. You’re only as old as you feel,” he said.

  She nodded. “Oh, yeah that’s true. In that case, I must be ninety-three.” She laughed again. “But that sister of mine needs to grow up and act her age. Enough of this silliness with men! She was always one to flirt and make eyes at boys. They called her boy-crazy back then. I don’t know what they call it today.”

  Laura and her sister Ellie were identical twins and had been a fixture in Pumpkin Hollow since they were born. Ellie had married and had one daughter, but I couldn’t remember ever hearing if Laura had married. If she had, it had to have been when she was much younger and must not have lasted long.

  “I think they still call it boy-crazy,” I said as I weighed out the fudge.

  “Well that’s what she is, then. I better have a look at your other candy, here,” she said, moving over to a shelf that held lollipops and other hard candy. My mother had made much of what was there, but some pieces had been brought in. “Oh look, a lime goblin. I thought these were all gone with Halloween. I had better get it.” She picked up the wrapped hard piece of candy and placed it on the counter.

  “Those are good,” I said as I wrapped her fudge for her. The goblin was about three inches tall and my mother had made it using a recipe for hard candy and poured it into a goblin mold. She had flavored it with lime oil. “Are you done with your Christmas shopping, Laura?” That was the standard thing to ask customers this time of year. People liked to talk about how their holiday preparations were going.

  “I’ve hardly done anything. I stopped down at the gift shop, but they didn’t have anything I wanted. I keep telling Ellie we need to go shopping, but she’s always got something else on her mind. I don’t know what I’ll do with that sister of mine. I told her it was getting late in the season. She wants to shop online, but I hate doing that. What good is it if you can’t pick up stuff and touch it? How do you know if it has any quality to it if you can’t handle it? Everything these days is made so cheaply.”

  I smiled at Ethan. He was grinning and thoroughly enjoying Laura.

  “I think it’s just a sign of the times,” I said as I rang up her candy. “People like convenience and they like things to be inexpensive.”

  She shook her head and waved a hand. “Inexpensive. You mean cheap. I guess there’s something to be said for that, but I’m old-fashioned and I intend to stay that way. I want something that will last a long time.”

  I gave her the total for the candy and watched as she retrieved her checkbook from the oversized gold bag that hung from her shoulder. Not many people wrote checks these days, but it didn’t surprise me that Laura was going to write one now.

  “I better get going,” Ethan said. “It’s good seeing you, Laura. And Mia, I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Ethan, it was good seeing you, too,” Laura said. “You tell your mother she needs to stop by and we’ll play a little bridge.”

  “I sure will,” he said. He winked at me and turned and headed toward the door without kissing me. I was disappointed, but I knew he was being polite. Laura would have something to say if Ethan had the audacity to kiss me publicly.

  “Have you got your Christmas shopping done, Mia?” she asked as she carefully tore the check from her checkbook.

  “No, I’m falling behind on Christmas preparations,” I said. “I guess I had better work on it, or I might find myself empty-handed come Christmas morning.”

  She shook her head and made a clucking sound. “Well, I’ll tell you, that sister of mine is the same way. I told her she needed to get going before all the good stuff was gone. She never listens to me. Honestly, I don’t know what I’ll do with her. If Mother were here, she’d give her a good talking to. Some days I wish Ellie had never moved in with me. I was happier on my own.”

  “Oh?” I said as she handed me the check. “I guess it can be trying living with your sister once you become adults.” I placed her candy into a cute decorated paper bag and set it on the counter in front of her.

  “You can say that again. She’s a slob. She never picks up after herself. I swear, if she doesn’t shape up, I’m giving her an ultimatum after Christmas. I can make it just fine on my own, and I don’t need her nearly as much as she thinks I do,” she said, shaking her head. “I’ll be glad to have the house to myself again.”

  This was one of those conversations where I wasn’t quite sure what to say, so I smiled. “I’m sure Ellie will be home soon, and you two can get your Christmas shopping done.”

  She picked up the bag of candy on the counter. “I suppose she’ll be home soon. I don’t know where she got off to. Tell your mother I said hello,” she said and turned around and headed to the door. Before she opened it, she looked back over her shoulder. “Merry Christmas, Mia. I’ll be back in for more fudge in a few days, I’m sure.”

  “Merry Christmas, Laura,” I said, and watched her go.

  The Christmas season was one of my favorite times of year. I wasn’t sure if it was all the shoppers, the happy people, or just the anticipation of the big day. I should have signed up for the community play, I thought wistfully. It would have been a lot of fun if Ethan had signed up with me.

  Chapter Three

  “I love this town,” the woman in front of me gushed. “I come here almost every weekend during the Halloween season and at least once during the Christmas season. It’s one of my favorite towns.” She beamed with excitement, her enthusiasm was contagious.

  “That’s so awesome to hear,” I said as I handed her the bag of fudge she had just purchased. “I remember you from Halloween. We love repeat visitors. It makes what we do so much more fun and fulfilling.”

  “I always tell my friends to come to Pumpkin Hollow, and especially to not miss the candy shop. Your mother makes the best fudge,” she said. “I better get going before I buy more candy. I don’t need all that sugar, but it sure is hard to resist.”

  “Thanks so much, and make sure you come back for the Christmas play,” I said. I loved when people got excited about visiting Pumpkin Hollow.

  “I’ll do that,” she said and headed for the door.

  Our part-time employee, Carrie Green, was sweeping the floor, and she turned and grinned at me. “I love to hear people talk like that.”

  “You and me both,” I agreed.

  “Caaandy,” Mom sang out as she came out of the kitchen with a tray on her shoulder. “We have lovely candy.” She chuckled at herself.

  “I have it on good authority from our customers that you make the best fudge, in case you didn’t know that,” I said to her.

  She laughed. “Thanks,” she said. “I made some divinity, too.” She headed to the display case with the pan of candy and placed it inside.

  “How’s Christy doing?” I asked. We had been busy with customers when she got back from talking to my sister, and then she had gone to the kitchen to make more candy. I hadn’t had a chance to ask about Christy.

  “She’s sad. I’m hoping if she gives it a little time, maybe John will come to his senses. But she thinks it’s over,” she said sadly. “I hate to see it. She loves him and she loves being married to him.”

  I nodded. “It seems so sudden. I would never have thought they weren’t happy.”

 
; “It really blindsided her,” she said, nodding. “Well, I think I’ve got enough fudge made for the day, but I might make some more bonbons.”

  I sighed. I wanted my sister to be happy. “What’s this?” I asked, spotting a cardboard box sitting on the floor behind the counter.

  “Oh, it’s some decorations I had left over from decorating the shop. I bought a lot of new things this year and there was too much to use here. I saved some vintage items I found online for your house, and I was going to take these to the party house. The Petersons are doing so much for the community Christmas play and I thought they might like some of it.”

  “I bet they’ll be thrilled. And thanks for the decorations you bought for me, I really need more things for my house,” I said. I had recently moved into my own little house that just happened to be right across the street from Ethan’s house. It was convenient as well as cute.

  She nodded. “I know they have a lot of work to do at the party house in order to be ready for the play on opening night. I’m glad they decided to host it. It will breathe new life into Pumpkin Hollow if it becomes an annual event.” She closed the display case door.

  In Pumpkin Hollow, we had shops that decorated for Halloween all year long as well as holiday themed events during the Halloween season. The Halloween season ran from Labor Day weekend through mid-November. The remainder of the year saw little more than a trickle of visitors, but I had some great ideas that would hopefully change that. The more visitors we got during the off-season, the better things would be for Pumpkin Hollow businesses and for the town.

  “I agree. We need more year-round events to keep the tourists coming. I’ll drop the box off if you want. It’s time for me to leave anyway,” I offered.

  “That would be great,” she said. “Christy is going to be staying with Dad and me for a while. She might help out down here now and then.”

  “I look forward to it. I missed her not being in town. We need to get together for a sister’s night out,” I said and picked up the box. “I guess I’ll get going. I’ll see the two of you tomorrow.”

  “I’ll see you later,” Carrie said.

  The sky was dark and gray, and I thought we might get some more snow. I didn’t mind snow before Christmas. But come January, I would be wishing for Spring.

  ***

  During the Halloween season we had several attractions that drew tourists to the town, including a haunted house, a haunted farmhouse with a straw maze and a corn maze, and a goat tying event for the little ones. The corn maze had burned down last fall, but come spring, that corn would be growing again. There were also two houses that we referred to as the party houses. One catered to kids’ parties while the adult party house had live bands and was for the over twenty-one crowd. It was the larger of the two and had a stage that would suit the play well. During the off-season, the party houses could be rented for weddings, birthdays, or other celebrations, but weren’t ordinarily open to the public. The play would be one more use for the house and would bring in income for the town through the sales of food and souvenirs.

  The party house looked very much like the nearby haunted house, with dusty cobweb windows, spiders on the walls and a ghost in one window. The front facade was made to look like a two-story Victorian house with a turret. What looked like the second floor of the house was actually an attic for the single level house and was used for storage of props.

  The parking lot was empty, and I parked my car out front and got out. I picked up the box out of the trunk and headed up the porch steps. The house looked deserted, but when I knocked on the door, it opened a crack. I waited to see if anyone would come to the door, but the house was silent. After a moment, I pushed the door open and peered into its dark interior.

  “Hello?” I called. Angela and Phil Peterson owned both party houses, and I wondered if they were in the back or upstairs. I couldn’t imagine them leaving the door unlocked if they weren’t around. But I also couldn’t imagine why the interior was dark if they were here.

  I stepped inside and felt along the wall for the light switch with my free hand. When I flipped the switch, the foyer was flooded with bright light. I blinked, while my eyes quickly adjusted. The foyer led to a large ballroom, and I went to the doorway, peering into the darkness. “Hello?”

  When no answer came, I ran my hand along the wall for the light switch for the ballroom. When I flipped the switch on, the ballroom was illuminated. My breath caught in my chest when I spotted someone lying on the floor at the foot of the stairs. I hurried over to see if I could offer assistance and I gasped again when I realized it was Ellie Adams, Laura Bostwick’s sister.

  “Oh, Ellie” I said, setting the box down and kneeling to check for a pulse. Her wrist was cold and stiff, and I withdrew my hand reflexively. She had been dead awhile. Standing up, I turned away, digging my cell phone out of my purse. I called Ethan, skipping 911. Ellie wasn’t in any hurry.

  “Ethan, Ellie Adams is dead. She must have fallen down the stairs at the adult party house. My mom sent me down here to drop off some decorations, and I found her here,” I said when he answered.

  There was a pause. “I’ll be right there,” he finally said.

  I walked back to the foyer to wait. I didn’t want to look at Ellie. How long had she been here? Laura had said she hadn’t come home the previous night. I turned back to look. There was a spilled box of ornaments on the floor where she lay. Had she been upstairs to get some ornaments? The steps were steep. If she was holding the box in front of herself, she may have missed a step and fallen. Except that it would have been difficult for her to shut the lights off if she had fallen down the steps and died.

  Chapter Four

  Ethan arrived within a few minutes and he hurried inside, looking at me questioningly when he entered the foyer.

  “She’s at the bottom of the steps,” I said, pointing. But by then it wasn’t necessary to tell him where she was. He had already spotted her and trotted over to her and kneeled down, searching for a pulse.

  I followed him to her side. “I think she’s been gone for a while,” I said.

  He nodded. “I just want to make sure.”

  “The door was unlocked, and the lights were off when I got here,” I added, folding my arms in front of myself.

  He looked at me, eyebrows raised. “It’s hard for a dead woman to shut the lights off,” he said.

  “I thought the same thing,” I agreed.

  Sirens could be heard in the distance and I sighed.

  “These ornaments were here when you found her?” he asked. He looked up at the stair railing. There was greenery entwined around the rail at the top of the railing, but whoever had been putting it up, hadn’t gotten far and it trailed down the stairs.

  “Yes, except for this box that’s closed. My mom had some extra ornaments she was donating for the Christmas play, and I brought them by.”

  He nodded and looked over the ornaments on the floor next to Ellie’s body. There were nine glass ball ornaments, three of them broken, as well as a plastic angel, and some tinsel. “If she had been high up on the stairs when she fell, it would seem like more of these delicate glass balls would have broken on the wood floor.”

  “You would think so,” I said. “I Can’t imagine why she would be here in the house alone. Even if she volunteered to help decorate, I would think Angela or Phil would be here with her. Or Stewie Southworth since he’s running the play.”

  He looked up at me from where he kneeled. “Doesn’t make sense for her to be here alone, does it?”

  I shook my head as Officers Jasper Smith and Jim Browning entered the ballroom.

  “Hey, Ethan, Mia,” Jasper said.

  Ethan nodded a greeting. “Can one of you call Angela or Phil Peterson and ask them to come down here?” Ethan asked.

  He nodded. “Will do.”

  “Is her neck broken?” I asked, suddenly realizing her head was at a slightly odd angle.

  “Looks like that’s a possibility,�
�� he said, standing up. “We’ll have to find out who was here, or who was supposed to be here with her and go from there. If the lights had been on, it might be easy to think it was an accident, but at this point I don’t think that’s what happened.”

  I nodded. Poor Ellie. And poor Laura. She was going to be devastated when she found out her twin sister was dead. She might have complained about her sister, but I knew it was all bluster. The two had always been close.

  I went and sat on a chair near the ballroom entrance and watched while Ethan looked around the area. Jim covered Ellie with a sheet while we waited on the coroner. It made me sad to look at Ellie’s form beneath the sheet. She and her sister didn’t look as identical now as they had when they were younger. I had seen pictures of the two blond little girls at the library in a display of local people that had helped build Pumpkin Hollow. These days Laura was about twenty-five pounds heavier than Ellie, but she looked younger than Ellie had. Somehow Ellie had seemed to age about ten years faster than her sister. Back in the nineties, Ellie had owned an arcade and I could remember going there for a birthday party before it closed down.

  Laura had worked at the local bank for many years and had retired from that job. I wondered if she had meant it when she said earlier that she enjoyed living on her own because that’s what she was going to be doing now. I could imagine that losing an identical twin sibling might be harder than losing a non-twin sibling.

  I looked up as Angela and her husband Phil arrived, their faces pinched with worry. They stopped in their tracks when they caught sight of the sheet-covered Ellie. I got up and went to them as Ethan approached from the other direction.

  I waited as Ethan explained what we had found. “Do you know why Ellie would be here by herself?” he asked.