Christmas, Criminals, and Campers

by Tonya Kappes

  “What time was it?” she asked.

  “It was a little after six.” I knew the time because Hank had been right on time, but Mary Elizabeth had held us up a bit. “Hank was here right at six and we were stalled a little, so it was probably between six fifteen and six thirty.”

  “I closed the library a little before six, so I wasn’t there.” Abby was certain. “I was so tired and had all my work done. The library closes at six anyways. When no one was there, I knew they didn’t have time to get in and get out, so I closed up early and went home.” As she talked I reached for the notebook and flipped to the timeline. “What is that?” She leaned over the middle console and looked at the paper with stark fright on her face. “You really think I killed her?”

  “I don’t, but Hank sure does. Don’t worry. I’m going to help you.” I pointed to the timelines. “Here is when we found Nadine. It was around ten.” I pointed to the lines on the timeline. “We saw her a little after six p.m. She had to have been killed between six and ten, but Colonel will be able to pinpoint a more exact time.”

  Abby continued to stare at me blankly.

  “All I need from you to help clear your name is for you to tell Hank exactly where you were and who you were with.” I shrugged as though it were that simple. “You do have an alibi, right?”

  “I live alone,” she stated flatly.

  “Yes, but you and Ty have been seeing each other, right?” I asked.

  “A little here and there, but not last night.” She shook her head and looked down at her fingers. The black ink from the fingerprinting was still visible. She let out a long sigh. “I forgot they fingerprinted me last night.” She closed her eyes. Her nose crunched up before it flared out with a big inhale. “My goodness. I remember.”

  “What do you remember?” I asked.

  “I remember getting fingerprinted.” She didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know.

  “Then let’s start from the beginning.” I clicked the pen and pointed to her timeline with the tip. I wrote five fifty p.m. on her timeline. “Is it fair to say you left the library ten minutes early?”

  “Yes. I guess.” Guessing wasn’t good enough, but I just went with it and wrote down that she’d left the library at that time.

  “It was at least twenty minutes before Hank and I saw Nadine going up the steps. It was almost dark, and I remember there were some lights on. Did you remember turning the lights off?” I asked.

  “I don’t know, Mae. I have a ritual every night. That includes turning off all the computers and all the lights and making sure all the books are shelved.” She was getting frustrated. “It’s pretty automatic to me now.”

  “I’m just trying to help. You need to keep a level head. I’m your friend, but when they come at you for murder, you’re going to have to be tougher than this.” I had to be stern with her. She had to know what she was up against. “These are basic questions that they are going to ask you and if you waiver a bit, they will use it against you.”

  “I can’t recall if I turned them off. I can say that I do it every night, but like I said it’s automatic for me.” The worry lines on her forehead deepened. “I’m sorry. I know you’re trying to help me.”

  “No biggie.” I jerked my head around when I heard a knock at the door. “Hold on. I bet it’s Mary Elizabeth.”

  Fifi yapped when I climbed over the console into the living area of the RV. Dawn didn’t budge. I wanted to cover her and her undergarments up, but didn’t want to wake her.

  “Good morning.” I swung the door open to find Hank Sharp standing there in his official black overcoat and the fancy black shoes he wore on his work days. “Hank.”

  “Mae,” he greeted me formally. “Can I speak to Abby Fawn?”

  “Sure.” I offered him a slight smile while I ran my hand down my bed head full of curls.

  “I’m sorry if I woke you.” He stepped inside when I got out of the way of the door. “What’s going on here?”

  His eyes were bulging out of his head and staring at Dawn’s derriere. I grabbed the blanket and threw it over her.

  “What? It’s hot!” Dawn was obviously not a morning person. She sat straight up. Her woman parts jiggled in her lacy bra as she rubbed her eyes, and the blanket fell to around her waist. “Oh. Company.” She pulled the blanket up to her chin, a slight grin on her face. “Who are you?”

  “Who are you?” He asked her back.

  “We can do formal introductions when you’re dressed.” I picked her clothes up off of my RV floor and threw them to her. I turned Hank around to face the kitchen sink. “The bathroom is that way.” I pointed towards the bathroom to get Dawn scooting a little faster.

  “Hi, Hank.” Abby climbed over the console. “I guess you’re here for me.”

  “I’m sorry, Abby.” He looked like he was in as much pain as I was that he had to be here for this. “I’m going to need you to come to the station with me. We have to question you.”

  “Hank, she didn’t do it.” I started to plead with him. “Just let me talk to her today and we can come down later.”

  “You killed my best friend?” Dawn appeared out of nowhere fully dressed.

  “Who are you?” Hank asked a clothed Dawn.

  “I’m Dawn Gentry. I’m Nadine Debrowski’s best friend.” She sucked in a deep breath. “I thought for sure Valerie killed Nadine. What? Are you some crazy fan?”

  “Wait a second.” I stepped in. “The only thing Abby did wrong was find Nadine and pull the knife out of her neck.”

  “I did?” Abby didn’t make matters any better. “Gosh, I did!” She gasped. “I was going to go to the diner to see Ty and I noticed the lights were still on at the library.” Her eyes grew as she began to remember. “The door was unlocked. I thought maybe I was so upset from the day’s events that I’d forgotten to close up. I looked around the library and nothing was out of place, so I headed back to the office where the switches are for all the lights and that’s when I found Nadine’s body on the floor of my office.”

  “Anything you say right now can be used against you.” Hank had already taken out his notebook and begun scribbling in it.

  “I ran over to her and saw that she was bleeding. I yanked the knife out of her neck.” Abby’s jaw dropped. She blinked rapidly. “I heard something.” She looked down at the ground. Her eyes darted back and forth. “I heard something behind me and then some footsteps.”

  “What did you hear?” I asked wondering if it was a clue that someone else was in the library. “Someone was in there. The killer.”

  “Okay. I have to stop this,” Hank interrupted.

  “But she’s remembering for the first time.” I tried to stop him.

  “Abby, can you please come with me?” He asked her nicely. “I don’t want to cuff you.”

  “Are you arresting her?” I asked.

  “You better arrest her.” Dawn stuck her hands on her thin hips. “Or I’ll get someone who will and bring this murderer to justice.”

  “I’m not a murderer!” Abby yelled and began to sob. “I didn’t kill her,” her voice trailed off.

  “Let’s just go down to the station and sort out some particulars,” Hank suggested. But he and I both knew he was going to charge her with Nadine’s death.

  “Okay.” Abby conceded.

  I stomped around Hank, grabbed Abby’s coat, and took her cell phone off the charger, giving them to her.

  “I’ll call a lawyer.” I helped her get her arm through the sleeve. “Don’t say a word and I mean it. If you have to bite your tongue while they interrogate you, do it. Don’t say a word,” I warned her again.

  “Okay.” She nodded and took a deep swallow.

  Hank gave Dawn another good, hard look before he followed Abby out of the RV.

  “Hank,” I called after him and stood on the step, shivering. “You know deep down she didn’t do this.”

  “Mae, the evidence speaks for itself.” He was always by the book. “I’m
sorry.”

  My breath and the cold air mixed together in puffs of smoke as I took several deep breaths in and out of my nose as I watched them drive off.

  Fifi was dancing around my feet to get out of the RV to do her morning business.

  “Let me get my coat.” I took a few steps in and grabbed my coat off the hook and my phone off the counter.

  Fifi darted out and I shut the door behind us.

  Scrolling through my contacts, I had to find the one person I knew could help us. Ava Grandy.

  “Mae West.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm. “I didn’t think I’d be hearing from you again. Especially in this year.”

  “Ava, I need your help.” I wished I didn’t have to call her. After my ex-husband destroyed her family, I was sure she didn’t want anything to do with me. “A friend of mine is in jail. She’s being accused of a murder she didn’t commit. She needs you. I need you.”

  There were a few moments of silence.

  “Fine,” she finally answered, sending some relief to my soul. “Normal Police Station?”

  “Yes. Thank you, thank you,” was all I could say.

  “I’ll be there this morning.” She had to drive down to Normal from Lexington, where she lived. “Tell her not to say a word.”

  “Don’t worry. I did.” I was glad I thought to tell Abby that before she left because she was so honest she’d just spill her guts without thinking how any of it sounded to any cop. Even worse, to Hank Sharp, who was always assessing what everyone said.

  “Mae, did she do it? Really?”

  “No. I think she was set up, but the evidence is really good against her. Me and Hank found her standing over the body with the murder weapon.” It looked at bad as it sounded.

  “Don’t tell me this is that famous author?” She asked. I was silent. “Good grief. It’s all over the news. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  Thirteen

  “What are we going to do now?” Dawn was sitting at my small kitchen table, drinking a cup of coffee. She was waiting for me to get dressed.

  “I’m going to call Hank to see if they are finished with Nadine’s camper, so I can get you over there to stay while you are here.” I pulled my curly hair back into a low ponytail. There was no time to fool with it today. I had to get in touch with the girls from The Laundry Club and call an emergency meeting. “Then, I have to work.”

  After Hank had taken Abby to the station with him, other officers had showed up at the campground to go through Nadine’s camper. The rental car wasn’t there, and I wondered if Valerie had skipped town. The police were still over there.

  “What is your plan?” I asked her, making sure she knew I wasn’t going to be stuck with her. There was something odd about her and my gut tugged when I went to tell her something but stopped. That was a sign for me to just let this thing play out with her. My gut was never wrong. Plus, Fifi was still standoffish with her.

  “I’m going to go to the morgue. First thing.” Dawn patted her shin to try to get Fifi to come to her, but gave up after a couple of tries.

  “You’re going to drive that motorcycle around?” I asked.

  “It’s all I got.” She shrugged. “I might call an Uber or something.”

  “Let me see if I can get you a ride into town.” Even though I didn’t trust her, it wasn’t in my nature to let her drive on the dangerous roads. It was slick out there. “I can always get you a ride back.”

  “Thanks. I noticed everything is pretty close together, so I can walk around. No biggie.” She sent my inner alarm off.

  When I called her, she sounded asleep. It was also dark out. When did she see downtown in the light? There was something that didn’t feel right about this girl.

  “Bobby Ray, can I ask you a favor?” I had called him since I knew he’d be driving into downtown where the morgue was located, along with all the other businesses. “I need you to drop someone off at the morgue on your way to work.”

  Bobby Ray told me that Mary Elizabeth had kept him up half the night gabbing on and on about the murder and how she was going to help me solve it. Then he agreed to take Dawn. The best news was that Mary Elizabeth was still sound asleep, which meant the faster I got out of the campground, the better.

  It was perfect timing too. Bobby Ray was leaving right then. Once he and Dawn were off, I gave Fifi kibble and some treats to tide her over for a few hours.

  Quickly, I sent a text to the girls at The Laundry Club, telling them to meet me as soon as possible to discuss Abby’s situation. With my notebook in hand, I was out the door in no time.

  Dottie texted back to let her know what was going on when we found something out since she had to work at the Happy Trails office this morning. Everyone was going to need time to get ready and it would take even some more time to get to the laundromat driving in the snow.

  We were going to need something to wake us up besides coffee and that meant a yummy sweet treat from The Cookie Crumble Bakery. It was exactly what we needed to get our sleuthing caps on and get our little investigation underway.

  “Mae, good morning,” Christine Watson, owner of the Cookie Crumble Bakery, greeted me as soon as I walked through the door. Her bubbly personality was infectious. It was her calling to bake donuts and all the other fun pastries because she put people in happy moods first thing in the morning when they came in to get their morning treat. “Did you try those candy cane donuts I sent over this morning?”

  “I didn’t.” I eyeballed the delish looking pastry that was festive to look at.

  “Here. Try a sample.” Christine pointed to a silver platter of samples on top of one of the bakery counters.

  The little toothpicks stuck in them were a mix of red, and green, and white, all the colors of Christmas. It was the small touches that made everything in Normal’s shops feel so special.

  “Gosh. This is amazing.” I had to refrain from grabbing all the samples. “You are so good.”

  “I think it’s because I use as many local ingredients as I can from farmers in the area.” There was a look of satisfaction on her face. She was so humble and that was one of her most endearing qualities. “I get all my eggs and dairy from the dairy farm off Route 44.” She continued to tell me other places where she got her ingredients, but my taste buds were so caught up in the mix of peppermint and sweet glaze, my mind just couldn’t process her words.

  “I’d love to have a few to take over to the gals at The Laundry Club this morning.” I walked down the glass counter. My mouth watered at the amazing creations Christine made. “And I’d love it if I could get you to make me enough for the Christmas Dinner at the Campground. About one hundred in total.”

  She didn’t make just any donuts. She used her artistic ability to create different designs. She wasn’t afraid to stack different textures on top of each other.

  “I’ll take a couple of those s’mores too.” The drizzled chocolate over crumbled graham crackers and marshmallows on top of a glazed donut was calling my name and my thighs. I couldn’t tell if she was processing my request for her to cater the donuts for the dinner. “The candy cane donuts would be a great dessert for the Christmas dinner.”

  “I’d love to make them for free, if you can supply all the dairy needed.” She snapped a glove from the box and put it on her hand. “You can tell Kelli Sergeant how many you want me to make and she’ll get all the ingredients ready for you.”

  “Kelly Sergeant?” I questioned.

  Even though I’d been living in Normal for a few months now, I still didn’t know everyone who called Normal home. I pretty much stuck to the campground and my girlfriends at the Laundry Club. I knew there were a lot of shops and stores out of the downtown area that I’d yet to explore, and the Milkery Dairy Farm was one of them.

  “Yes. She’s the owner of the Milkery.” Christine referred to it by its nickname. “There’s a card in one of the holders over there next to the cash register.”

  I walked over there and looked at all the b
usiness cards Christine let locals put there for marketing.

  “The Milkery Dairy Farm,” I said with a smile and picked up the white card with big black blotches all over it that were supposed to represent cow spots. It was cute.

  “I’m sorry to hear about the famous author staying at the campground. It’s a shame too. I was looking forward to getting to know her better.” Christine had a Cookie Crumble Bakery to-go box in one hand and a gloved hand putting my goodies in it with the other.

  “You knew her?” I asked, thinking it was strange she mentioned getting to know her better.

  “Yesterday, someone from her publishing team came in and got a couple of maple cream long johns. They said she was going to love them, and I gave her my card. She also asked if I did deliveries.” She flipped the sides of the cardboard down on the box and peeled off a Cookie Crumble Bakery logo sticker to seal it. “Since I have my sister deliver your donuts each morning, I didn’t see a problem making a special delivery to her. Especially if she liked them and told her readers about them.” She removed the glove from her hand and tapped her temple. “It’s all about the marketing.”

  “Don’t I know. Abby Fawn. . .” I was going to say that Abby was instrumental in getting Happy Trails Campground as popular as it’d become with all her marketing, but I wondered when Valerie Young had come in here when I didn’t see her leave Nadine’s side until after their blow up. According to my timeline, that was later in the day, before my six p.m. date with Hank. “The person who came in here.” I held my hand above my head. “Was she about this tall, lanky, with dishwater brown hair? Sorta greasy?”

  “No.” Christine shook her head and handed me the box over the bakery counter. “She had the cutest black pixie cut.”

  “What time was this?” I asked knowing it had to be Dawn.

  “Around noonish. I know that because I was getting ready to take some of the older donuts out of the case. I distribute them to the homeless shelter, the police station, and the fire department so they don’t go to waste.” She smiled, causing the freckles across her nose to spread along her cheeks. “I do that at lunchtime, so I can put out freshly baked pastries and pies out for the lunch crowd. That’s when I sell the most pies and cakes. You know,” she flip flopped her hand in the air, “customers like to have them for dessert after supper.”