NOT a CREATURE WAS STIRRING

by Christina Freeburn

  “Do you remember what she looks like?”

  “Gray hair. Wore it pulled back from her face in a tight bun. Blue trench coat. Heavy handed in the makeup department.”

  “Anything else? Eye color? Did she have a limp? An accent? I’m going to ask the other vendors for a description and see if they match.”

  “She also wore bright red nail polish. The color caught my attention because it was the same as the red drops on the tree.”

  Grace nodded. “I bet that was what she used. I hope we can track her down.”

  “Can you prove she’s been vandalizing items?”

  Grace heaved out a sigh. “Unlikely, but I can let her know we’re on to her. It’ll at least keep her away from our event. Crafters struggle hard enough to earn a living. We don’t need scammers skimming off the profits we do make.”

  “Ain’t that the truth.”

  The snow continued to fall. The roads were turning slick. I felt the wheels slide. Panic welled up in me. I glanced at Grace’s phone. Forty-eight more minutes. A groan slipped out.

  “We’re fine, Merry.” Grace flipped on the blinkers and merged into the middle lane since it was clearer. “Turn on some Christmas tunes. I love singing carols and usually I can’t.”

  “Why not?” I opened the glove compartment.

  She laughed. “Abraham loathes my singing.”

  Where were my Christmas CDs? I put some in there this morning in case the Bluetooth and my phone decided they weren’t compatible. Now not a one. I rummaged around in the mess. It had been well organized this morning. What was all this paper in here? When I took possession of the RV, there was the bill of sale, RV registration, insurance card, and some print outs of how to hook everything up, along with my classic Christmas and Pentatonix CDs.

  “Something wrong?” Bonnie asked.

  “My CDs are gone.”

  “Maybe you put them somewhere else.”

  I shook my head. “I wanted them near me when I was driving.”

  “You wouldn’t be able to reach them from the driver’s seat. I always put items I might need while driving in the holder on the door. They’re usually pretty deep.” Grace reached down.

  “I’m positive.”

  “Are you sure?” Grace held a CD out to me.

  I took it, frowning. “Yes.”

  “This weekend hasn’t been kind to you. It’s natural if you misremembered something.”

  “I know it was in here. And I wouldn’t have shoved these scraps of vinyl into the glove compartment either. I have a trash can.” My stomach plummeted.

  Bonnie. She was at the craft show. She never attended craft shows as she preferred more sophisticated items, basically store-bought items. Samuel had told me that when I asked if he wanted me to leave any of the décor. I thought Cassie would’ve like some and I wanted to be kind to her. I hated that my leaving hurt her.

  “What’s wrong? You look sick.” Grace flicked a concern gaze at me. “Need me to pull over?”

  I shook my head. “Bonnie came today to see if I’d check the RV for a copy of my divorce decree.”

  “Whatever for?”

  “She couldn’t find Samuel’s and believed he stored it in the RV. I told her I was too busy.”

  Grace hummed a knowing sound. “Bonnie broke into the RV and looked for it after you said no.”

  “Or used a key.” I sighed. “Cassie gave me one key. She said the other one was lost.”

  “So, Bonnie came in here and searched through your stuff and put everything back where she thought it went.”

  I scowled. “Yes. I told her the decree wasn’t in the RV. Cassie and I made sure nothing of Samuel’s was left in here. I was diligent about it. The last thing I wanted was for him to have a reason to see me.” Tears filled my voice. Again, I was crying because of him. I promised myself I’d never do it again.

  “Honey, I’m so sorry. I’ll help you put everything back in order when we get to your place. Make sure there are no traces of Samuel anywhere in here.”

  A new dread washed over me. “What if she left something?” My voice was barely above a whisper.

  “What?” The concern on Grace’s face deepened.

  “What if Bonnie planted evidence against me? To prove I killed Samuel.”

  She sucked in a breath. “Do you really think she’s capable of that? That she’d set you up for Samuel’s murder?”

  The image of the registration flittered into my brain. What if Samuel’s signature had been forged? Cassie knew her dad didn’t sign it and decided to get rid of the RV by selling it to me before Bonnie was able to convince Samuel that Cassie wanted the RV. “If she killed him she would.”

  A muscle in Grace’s jaw twitched. She gripped the steering wheel and turned on the blinker. “We’ll search this RV from top to bottom.”

  My head was spinning with gratitude and confusion. “What do we do if we find something?”

  “Put it back where it belongs.”

  Thirteen

  Grace parked the RV in front of my cottage styled house with gingerbread trim. Large trees framed the house. The white picket fence was more for decorative than containment purposes. All the houses in the neighborhood had the same old-fashioned charm. Quaint. Simple. Homey. I had loved the house and the neighborhood the moment I saw it fifteen years ago. I house-shopped the first week of December because it was important to me to know how the neighbors decorated even though I had agreed that the children and I would stay in Virginia until June, allowing the children to finish out the school year. Brett had wanted me to stay in Virginia but knew that it was important for me to move closer to my mother as my father was extremely ill. My father died two weeks after the kids and I moved to Season’s Greetings.

  “Abraham would love to visit here. It’s so charming, like a town you’d see in a snow globe.”

  It was a quaint town. No large buildings, franchise stores, or eateries. Everything reminded me of Christmas and times past. Like I had stepped into a Norman Rockwell painting or It’s A Wonderful Life. A town with a Christmas name without an over-the-top Christmas feel. My mother never told me why her and my father retired to this particular West Virginia town. I loved it from the moment I saw it, so maybe the Christmas feel also drew them to it. Christmastime was their favorite time of the year too. Plus, they’d know I’d fall in love and would be tempted to move there. My mother had been concerned, almost frantic, when I moved out and started college. She had feared it would crush my spirit. I only stayed for a couple of semesters as finances and love got in the way.

  I didn’t need to live in Christmas Wonderland, but I didn’t want to live in Scroogeville either. The brick buildings on Main Street were all decorated with garland and lights. The houses had a mix of timeless Christmas décor: wreaths, red ribbons, garland and white lights. Along with a few houses that were a contender for a crazy, Christmas house label: multiple inflatables, hundreds of thousands of multi-colored lights, Santa displays, laser light shows. It was perfect. The only holdout on our street was Cornelius who lived across the street from me.

  The houses were still undecorated though some of the neighbors had taken their big pieces from their garages and storage units and placed them in the driveway, waiting until Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, to set up. It was considered uncouth to start the display until after Thanksgiving. Season’s Greetings liked to give every holiday its due.

  “Want to search today or wait until tomorrow?” Grace asked. “There’s still some light out. I’m sure I can back this up into your driveway. We can load directly into the garage.”

  “We’ll unload tonight. Keep the RV parked here. It’s too long for the driveway. I tried it earlier and the front stuck out and I was blocking the road. I was a trending topic on the Season’s Greetings Facebook page, and it wasn’t because people were admiring my new vehicle. Someon
e had posted a pic and the police arrived just as I parked at the curb.”

  “You rebel you.” Grace grinned at me and turned off the engine. “I’ll unhitch my car and park it in your garage. Don’t want to block your driveway.”

  I stepped out into the cold. Ebenezer whistled and huddled into a corner of the cage. With my luck, an emergency would pop up and I’d be delayed with moving the RV. There weren’t many spaces to park the massive vehicle on the road that wouldn’t tick off the neighbors. I was sure they wouldn’t be happy if I left the RV permanently in front of my house.

  One, it ruined the Christmas ambience, unless I decorated it, and the vehicle took up a lot of curbside parking. Tomorrow, I needed to check around for options for parking, something I should’ve considered before I bought it. Would’ve saved me a whole bunch of angst.

  Under the door knocker, there was a note attached to my door. Darn. UPS must’ve stopped by with my order of wine glasses. I should’ve left a note for the delivery guy that it was okay to leave it. We didn’t have a lot of package thefts on our street. Had more to do with Cornelius scoping out everything and everyone rather than no crooks in Season’s Greetings. Every town had their share of crime. I shoved the note into a front pocket of my jeans.

  “A few more moments, Ebe.” I fumbled with the keys, finding the lock on the third try. The door creaked open. We walked inside.

  Comfort wrapped around me. The tension in my body and my misgivings faded. I was home. It always brought me joy.

  A large brick fireplace stretched almost from one end of the room to the other. It was the focal point of the living room. The Christmas tree would go to the left, in front the large picture window. A couch and two recliners filled up the space, a white rug with swirls of green, gold, and red pulled the conversation grouping together. There was no TV in the living room. It was the crafting, reading, and board game space. I always wanted to make it an electronic free zone, but I knew that would encourage my children to live in their rooms, and I’d have to ditch the old record player console the previous owner had left. I loved listening to records on it. The slight scratching sound of the needle going over the grooves of the album was a lovely sound. It recalled memories of my childhood, dancing to Christmas albums with my mom and dad. Trimming the tree with popcorn and cranberries. Love and peace. That was what my childhood had contained.

  The moment I opened the cage, Ebenezer ran out. He raced round the living room, lapping it a few times before doing a step-hop up the stairs. The first day I brought him home, I had set up a guinea pig zone in the living room. There was large plastic toddler swimming pool filled with bedding, a large wheel and some tubes for him to play in. I had wanted him comfortable and entertained at night. I was a light sleeper and hadn’t wanted Ebenezer’s possible loneliness to keep me up. It hadn’t. The critter whistled and squealed until I brought him upstairs. He figured out how to get into my bed and curled up into the crook of my neck and slept there all night. Since I had slept better than I had in years, I allowed it to become a habit.

  “Behave yourself while I make sure no one is trying to frame me for murder.” I shut the door and went back into the RV.

  While I sorted through everything in the glove compartment, Grace checked around the dinette and in it. “Want me to open it?” She asked as she raised the storage seat.

  I shuddered the moment I heard it open. It creaked, like coffins in old time horror movies. I kind of expected Samuel to fling up, cackling like a crazed clown. I edged toward the dinette. I felt a little guilty making Grace look in there. She had insisted, believing her nerves would handle it better than me. She was probably right. It still wasn’t nice to do to a friend.

  Trembling, I stood behind her and peered in. There a slight blackish brown stain in the corner of the dinette. Scratches on the inside of the lid. My stomach rocked. Then rolled. “I’m going…” I flew out the door.

  My side banged into the edge of the door. Pain shot through me. I’d have a bruise tomorrow. I stepped away from the RV, drawing in breaths of the cold air. My lungs burned, and my limbs started to freeze. The sick feeling in my stomach evaporated.

  Grace handed me a coat. “Thought you could use this? Feeling better.”

  “Much.” I slipped on the coat. “Sorry about that.”

  “Merry, don’t be sorry. This has been a stressful weekend for you, and now Bonnie has made it worse. Call Brett and tell him your suspicions.” She wrapped a scarf around my neck and handed me a pair of gloves. “Let’s check the underneath storage compartment.”

  “Do you really think she’d hide something in there?” Bonnie loved her white attire. I couldn’t see her mucking it up when she had better options, like hiding spots inside the RV.

  Grace used my keys and unlocked the compartment. “If she didn’t think you’d look in here until later. It’s easy to mix in some incriminating evidence with your craft supplies.”

  “It was empty,” I reminded her.

  “Then she wouldn’t have had to climb inside. Just toss something in there and hope it found its way into a corner. She wasn’t expecting you to figure out she was in your RV.”

  True. It was cold and snowing when we loaded up. The temperatures were frigid, and my items risked getting damaged by the snow. It would be a quick process. She’d also assume that I’d leave everything packed up until the weather cleared. Plenty of time for her to send the police my way with an anonymous tip to check the RV before I discovered whatever she left behind.

  “Let’s start moving everything out. I don’t want to be convicted of a crime I didn’t commit.”

  “With two of us, it won’t take long at all.”

  I opened the garage. “Let me grab a tarp for the trees. I like putting the trees in last, so boxes aren’t crushing them.” I snagged one that was bundled up in the corner and spread it out.

  “I have an idea,” Grace said. “I’ll go inside the compartment and hand everything out to you, it’ll take less time and you know where everything goes. No sense in you having to rearrange all the boxes and trees tomorrow.” She scrambled inside and pushed out trees and boxes. I had no time to think, just catch.

  I placed tree after tree on the tarp. There were a lot of trees. I should’ve sold one for fifty percent off. It wasn’t a win to have to haul all of them out and wrestle them into the garage and then back to the RV.

  The sound of tires crunching over the snow grabbed our attention. We stopped working and looked over. A police car parked behind the RV. An officer got out of the cruiser and walked toward us.

  “Evening, Merry.” Officer Orville Martin adjusted his utility belt and tipped his chin down at the items on the tarp. “Had a report of a junk yard sprouting up.”

  I didn’t have to look far to know who reported me. Cornelius. The man needed a hobby besides tattling on people in his neighborhood. “I’m just unloading my items from the craft fair. You can tell Cornelius that I’m not leaving the trees in the front yard. I don’t want them stolen.”

  He peered into the storage compartment. “You got a lot of stuff in there. Let me give you ladies a hand.”

  “No, we’re fine.” I said. “I’m sure you have more important things to do.” It would be hard getting rid of planted evidence with a cop nearby.

  He smiled at me. “It’s no problem, Merry. I can help you until I get a call. It’s better than Cornelius staying riled up. You know how the old guy gets. Next, he’ll be calling the chief or posting on that dang town Facebook page.”

  True. Cornelius had a love-hate relationship with everything and everyone in Season’s Greetings, including the town’s Facebook page. He used it regularly to air his grievances and ranted how others used it to criticize his behavior.

  I ran through a multitude of options to get rid of Orville, but none of them seemed probable or prudent. The more I fussed that I didn’t want his help, the more ins
istent and suspicious he’d become. I doubted the local police didn’t know about Samuel’s murder, especially with Cassie talking about it on social media.

  “Thanks, Orville, I appreciate it.”

  “Just tell me where to put them.” Orville picked up a tree and headed for the garage.

  Oh well, I’d just put all the boxes inside and sort them in the morning. A lot of them belonged in my craft studio anyway.

  With Orville’s help, we unloaded the RV in record time.

  Grace stayed inside the compartment, making a production of placing bungee cords into a plastic box. “We have it under control, Officer. Thank you for your help.” Grace’s voice echoed from the chamber.

  Excitement and dread raced through me. She must’ve found what Bonnie hid and didn’t want the officer watching while she brought it out. “Yes, thank you.” I smiled brightly at him.

  “I’ll let Cornelius know I gave you a warning and watched you put everything into the garage. That’ll make his soul happy.”

  Grace slid out of the compartment and closed it.

  “Did you find anything?” I whispered.

  She shook her head. “If she hid something, she hid it good.”

  Fourteen

  Grace nearly tripped over Ebenezer when she walked into my house. The critter was zipping all over the place. “He sure does have energy.” Grace placed her overnight bag by the front door and glanced around the living room, disappointment tugged down the corners of her mouth.

  I looked at my house with a more critical eye. My decorating style was flea market mixed with craft projects and understated Christmas that I kept out year-round. Christmasland house didn’t appear until after Thanksgiving. It was a promise I made to my kids when they were youngsters and I kept it even after they moved out.

  “Scotland’s room is set up as a guest room,” I said.

  Grace peeked around the corner into the dining room. “No Christmas? I was looking forward to seeing your Christmas display. I always imagined it was a sight to behold.”