A Merry Little Murder

by Patti Benning

  “I wasn't fired,” he said. “I was let go due to lack of company growth. I guess it's a fancy way of saying I was laid off.”

  “Why wouldn't you tell me?” Lacey asked, frowning. She wasn't angry, she just felt hurt.

  “I was going to,” he said. “But when I came over to your apartment that evening, you were so excited, looking at houses and talking about wedding dresses, I just couldn't bring myself to say the words. Then as the time wore on, I started realizing just how odd it would be to suddenly bring it up. What was I going to do, say ‘by the way, Lacey, I was laid off from my job two weeks ago and I've been pretending to go to work all this time because I was too scared to tell you’?”

  “Chris, I would've wanted to know. This is something that we should be figuring out together. We're a team. That’s what marriage is about, isn't it?”

  “I know,” he said. “I shouldn’t have kept it from you. It’s been eating me up inside.”

  “I don't understand what this has to do with the trip you took up here that you didn’t tell me about. Why wouldn’t you tell me you were coming here?”

  “I came here to talk to your dad in person about working for his company,” Chris said. “I didn't ask him to keep it a secret from you, I would never have done that, but when I told him why I didn’t tell you about all of this, he gave me until the day after Christmas to tell you myself or he would do it. I wanted to wait until I found a new job before telling you. I spent all of this time talking to him and Freddie, his business partner. This morning, I got the email from Freddie that said that I was hired. They had been thinking of opening a branch further south in the state anyway. After the new year, I’m going to start managing that new branch. I know I should have told you sooner, Lacey. Can you forgive me for keeping this from you?”

  Lacey let her breath out slowly, not quite sure how she felt. She was hurt that Chris hadn’t told her what had happened, but she also felt relief. She had been driving herself crazy wondering what his secret was, and now that it was out in the open, she felt better than she had for weeks. Still, how would she know that she could trust him in the future?

  “I'll forgive you,” she said at last. “As long as you promise me one thing.”

  “What's that?” he asked.

  “No more secrets. I don't mean little ones, like planning a surprise party or something like that, I mean big ones. If there's something that you know I'd want to know, I want you to tell me right away. We're in this together, Chris. If we’re getting married, then your problems are my problems and vice versa. We have to be honest with each other.”

  Chris nodded immediately. “I promise,” he said. Lacey smiled and turned to face him fully, wrapping her arms around his neck and getting up on her tip toes to kiss him. “I love you, Chris,” she said. “Thank you for telling me the truth at last.”

  “I was always going to tell you the truth,” he said. “I just had to gather up the courage to do it.” He hesitated. “There's something else.”

  “What?” she asked, frowning.

  “It's about your dad. I'm not trying to accuse him of anything, but I think he knows more about what happened to Charlie than he’s letting on.”

  Lacey pulled away from Chris, her eyes widening. “What do you mean?”

  “I heard him talking to Freddie yesterday morning. It was before you and your father found Charlie’s body, so I didn't think much of it at the time.”

  “What did they say?”

  “Freddie said something like ‘Have you heard anything more from Charlie?’ Your dad said, ‘No, and I don't think I will.’ Then Freddie said ‘Well, I know he was your friend, and I'm sorry that it had to escalate to this, but we can't let people start thinking they can take advantage of us. People have to know that if they can't make their payments, then they suffer the consequences.’

  As soon as I came into the room, the conversation changed to something else. I don’t think they realized that I overheard them. I didn't even think of it again until the police started asking questions about your dad's relationship with Charlie.”

  “That sounds almost like… like they might have had something to do with his death,” Lacey said, feeling sick. It was as though a giant, invisible hand had grabbed her stomach and was twisting it.

  “I know,” Chris whispered. “I don’t see how your dad could have had anything to do with it, but at the same time it seems like far too much of a coincidence.”

  “There’s no way my dad would be involved in that. But…” she broke off, frowning. “When we found Charlie’s body, he suggested that I run back of the house and call the police while he stayed there with the body, alone. If he did know something about what happened, that would have been the perfect time for him to fiddle with the evidence. No, what am I saying? I know my dad. He would never do something like that.”

  “I know. I didn't know whether or not I should tell you, but I thought this might be one of those big secrets that you just made me promise not to keep.”

  “Correct on both counts,” Lacey said, giving him a thin, shaky smile. “I didn't want to know, but I'm glad that you told me.”

  “Now what?” he asked.

  “I can't accuse him of something like that. It would break his heart. I'm just going to have to keep an eye on him. We'll see Freddie the party tomorrow, and maybe we can get something out of him. It’s hard to believe that my dad would have anything to do with murder, but it’s a bit easier to believe that Freddie might. I always got the feeling that his ethics are little bit less strict than my father would like.”

  “That's very possible,” Chris said. He took her hand again. “Are we really okay, Lace?”

  “We really are,” Lacey said.

  “Good.” He squeezed her fingers. “Let’s start heading back. We've got some cookies to eat and a tree to decorate. We can tell your mom about my new job over hot chocolate.”

  “Sounds good to me,” she said, turning to give him a small smile.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The next afternoon found Lacey and Chris in the kitchen with Lacey’s mother, who was pulling recipe after recipe out of a small plastic box and placing them on the counter. Every year, her mother supplied the cookies for the office Christmas party. Every year, she went more and more overboard. Lacey was half dreading this year’s work, and was half excited.

  “We’re going to be in here for the rest of the day,” she told Chris. “My mom doesn't take no for an answer when it comes to Christmas cookies.”

  Chris laughed and looped an arm around her waist. “I'm happy to help. Just tell me what to do.”

  Lacey immediately claimed the recipe card for her favorite; peanut butter cookies. Her mom put Chris in charge of the sugar cookies. The dough was already chilling in the fridge, so all he had to do was roll it out, cut the cookies into shapes, and put them in the oven. Her mom darted back and forth, working on multiple cookies at once from snowballs to thumbprint cookies to good old-fashioned chocolate chip cookies. The oven was in constant use, and slowly but surely more and more cooling racks were lining up on the countertops.

  The only interruption came when her father got home a few hours later. He stepped into the kitchen and snagged one of the peanut butter cookies, stuffing it into his mouth before Lacey's mother could slap his hands away.

  “Delicious,” he said, grinning at Lacey.

  “Get out of the kitchen, you,” her mother said, playfully snapping a hand towel at him. “Quit stealing all of our cookies. There will be plenty for you at the party. Don't wreck your appetite. You know how much food there will be.”

  “All right, all right,” her father said, laughing. “I'm going to go shower and get changed. We've got to leave here by seven.”

  “Come down when you're done, and I'll start handing you Tupperware full of cookies to put in the car.”

  They did the same thing every year. It was comforting, Lacey thought, somehow even more so after Charlie’s death. It was a powerful remind
er that life and love went on.

  As soon as the last batch of cookies was in the oven, Lacey and Chris were shooed out of the kitchen by Lacey's mother and went upstairs to get ready for the Christmas party. Lacey put on her favorite red dress, which she had packed away carefully just for this occasion, and spent more time than she should have in the bathroom curling her hair and applying makeup. She smiled as she looked at herself in the mirror, twirling her hips back and forth and watching the dress flare out. This party was going to be a good one.

  The Christmas party was held in the office building every year. The entire company got the week before Christmas off, but Lacey knew that many of the employees stopped in to help with the party preparations. There were small, decorative Christmas trees on all of the surfaces, Christmas lights hanging from the edges of desks and door frames, and cutouts of reindeer, sleds, and Santa Claus lining the walls. An upbeat Christmas tune was playing over the speakers, and folding tables had been lined up along the wall and were loaded with food. It was a potluck style party, so everyone brought their own dish. Lacey's family always supplied the cookies. Her stomach rumbled at the sight of all of the food. She knew from experience which dishes to look forward to the most, and she couldn’t wait to start eating.

  “I think they outdid themselves,” Chris said, taking her coat from her shoulders and hanging it on the coat rack as they walked into the building. “This looks even more outrageous than last year.”

  “They have fun with it,” Lacey said. “A lot of these people have worked together for years. Everyone in town knows each other. Probably half the town will pass through here at some point tonight.”

  “It must have been crazy, growing up in a place like this where everyone knows each other,” he commented. “I still feel out of place here.”

  “It seems normal to me, but I'm used to it. I can see how it must be difficult to be a newcomer. You should talk to Michelle's boyfriend. He must feel the same way. He only moved here last year when he started working for the real estate company. Although, I doubt Michelle will be here tonight,” she added.

  “I feel so bad for her,” Chris said. “You told me that she lost her mother too?”

  Lacey nodded. “To cancer, when she was nine. It was a difficult time for their family. My dad helped them a lot, giving her father a special deal on his home mortgage and easing up on payments when he was having trouble making ends meet. Raising three daughters alone was difficult for him.”

  Chris frowned, but before she could ask him what was wrong, Freddie came over and greeted him with an enthusiastic handshake. “Chris, my man, it's good to see you. You're a part of this company too. You know, this time next year, you'll probably be hosting your own Christmas party down in the new branch.”

  Lacey turned away, letting Chris talk to his new boss in peace. She had never liked Freddie very much. Outwardly, he was always friendly and courteous, but something about him always struck the wrong chord in her. He was too business minded for her tastes. Unlike her father, who seemed to really care about the people he worked with, Freddie was always looking for the way to make the biggest buck.

  Instead of listening in on his conversation with Chris, she wandered around the room, greeting the people she recognized, and occasionally introducing herself to the people she didn't. She hadn’t spent quite as much time at the office as she had spent in the diner, but it was a close second. When she was younger, her father had wanted her to take over the mortgage company, but she had never envisioned herself going down that path in life. Her mother’s diner was what she loved. If she was going to take over any business, it would be that one.

  “Hey, sweetie, how are you doing?” her father asked, having caught her eye near the cookie table. He had a flute of champagne in one hand, and a couple of Christmas cookies in the other.

  “I’m enjoying the party,” she said. “It's good to see everyone again. How are you?”

  “I'm doing all right,” he said. “I feel a little bit guilty for being here tonight, to be honest. It feels wrong to be celebrating after what happened to Charlie, but I just couldn't tell Freddie that I wasn't going to come. You know how he is about these parties.”

  “I know,” Lacey said. She hesitated. “Dad, someone mentioned that you and Charlie had a falling out shortly before he passed away. What was that about?”

  Her father looked down at the floor, embarrassed. “I feel terrible about it now,” he said.

  “I know,” she said. “But what was it about?”

  “You know how we helped him out with his mortgage back when his wife died, and he was buried in medical bills?” Lacey nodded. “Well, he defaulted on some of his payments this past year and trying to get money out of him is like pulling teeth. He kept asking me to make exceptions for him, and eventually I just told him that he needed to start treating me with respect instead taking advantage of our friendship. Freddie kept talking about foreclosure, and I told Charlie that if he didn’t start making the payments that he was supposed to, he was probably going to lose the house. We had a big fight and didn’t talk after that.”

  “I'm sorry,” Lacey said. “It must be tough, especially now.”

  “It is. Of course, the house will likely go back to the bank anyway, now that Charlie is gone. I am a little bit upset at Freddie too, to be honest. He didn’t seem upset at all when he heard what had happened to Charlie. While I was helping him set up for the party, he just kept talking about how nice it was that we were finally going to be making money from Charlie’s loan. He tends to forget that these are actual people that we work with, not just faceless bank accounts.”

  Before they could discuss this further, her father was called away by one of his employees. Lacey looked after him, frowning. Her eyes roamed across the room until they landed on Freddie, who was still talking animatedly to Chris. Was it possible that Freddie had killed Charlie? She couldn’t quite imagine him doing a hands-on approach, but at the same time, she knew how ruthless he could be in business.

  She grabbed a flute of champagne and narrowed her eyes at Freddie, trying to figure out how she could ask him about Charlie’s death in a way that wouldn’t raise his suspicion. She wasn’t quite sure that she was up to the challenge.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Lacey, wasn’t it?”

  She turned, seeing Michelle's boyfriend, Aidan standing by the cookie table. Lacey nodded. “I'm surprised you’re here,” she said. “I thought you'd be with Michelle.”

  “My boss made it clear that he expected all of his employees to show up,” Aidan said, crossing his arms in annoyance. “Plus, Michelle's asked me for some more time alone with her sisters tonight. They’re reliving old family memories, which I'm not part of, of course.”

  “How is she doing, really?”

  He shuffled from foot to foot, looking uncomfortable. “I don't know,” he admitted. “Not good, of course, but that's probably to be expected, right? I lost both my parents when I was too young to remember them and grew up with an aunt. She made sure I had what I needed, but we were never really close. I never really had a relationship with anyone like Michelle had with her father, so I can't even begin to imagine what she's going through. I love her more than anything, and it’s hard when she’s pushing me away like this.”

  “She just needs some time with her family,” Lacey said. “Like you said, she and her sisters share memories of their childhood that no one else lived. I’m sure they have a lot to talk about. When is the funeral, by the way?”

  “Two days after Christmas,” he said. “The twenty-seventh. Do you think your family will come?”

  “I'm sure they will. Half the town will probably show up, “ Lacey answered without thinking. Then she frowned, remembering Charlie's fall out with her father and Freddie. She was certain her father would go, but would Freddie?

  “What is it?” Aidan asked. “You look worried all of a sudden.”

  “It's just –” she looked around and then nodded toward a seclud
ed corner. “Can we talk over there? There is something that has been eating me up about Charlie’s death.”

  Aidan nodded and followed her over to the corner. Lacey only debated with herself for a moment. She needed to talk with someone other than Chris about what he had overheard between her father and Freddie. Michelle was out of the question. Aidan seemed like he might be a good person to bounce ideas off of. He was involved, but not emotionally invested in Charlie. He would be able to look at things more clearly than Charlie’s daughter would.

  “Well, a couple of days before Charlie's body was found, my fiancé heard Freddie and my father talking about how Charlie owed them money and wasn't paying up. Apparently, Freddie said that he would “take care of it”. Charlie had defaulted on his house payments, and Freddie wanted to file for foreclosure and get the money back from the loan. My father was fighting against that, but eventually gave in and told Charlie he had to either pay up by the new year or he would lose the house. She took a deep breath. “Then, according to my father, when Freddie found out that Charlie was dead he acted almost glad, like all he really cared about was the money. It just all seems a little bit… too suspicious. Do you know what I mean? Am I being paranoid, or you think there might be something there?”

  Aidan blinked. “You really think Freddie might have killed him?”

  “It makes a lot of sense,” she said. “Someone had to have done it. He had a motive. He knows where Charlie lives, of course – his address was on file – and Charlie would've opened the door to him without hesitation if he visited. It all adds up.”

  “It does, doesn't it,” Aidan asked. “Are you going to go to the police with this?”

  “I don't know,” Lacey admitted. “Not until after the holiday, at least. I know it probably sounds silly, but I don't want to wreck everyone's Christmas. Besides, I don’t want to get Chris in trouble. Freddie is his new boss, and I would feel terrible if I was wrong and ended up getting him fired. Hey, you could do it.”