Gingerbread and a Murder

by Kathleen Suzette

  “It always is this time of year,” she agreed. “Say Rainey, have you heard anything new about Chrissy Jones’s death?”

  “The police are still looking into it. Cade has been working so hard on it, I hardly get to see him these days.”

  “That’s got to be disappointing. I’ve been thinking it over, and if you want my opinion, I would have a look at her partner, Jenna Dennison.” She glanced at me as she worked on the wire that held the chandelier up.

  “Oh? Why do you say that?”

  She shrugged as she got the chandelier free of its hanger. “Chrissy paid Jenna’s entrance fee into the gingerbread decorating contest. You know Jenna’s family doesn’t have any money. There’s no way she could afford it otherwise. Jenna was the whole brains and talent of the team. I overheard them talking and Chrissy said she would do whatever she had to keep your niece Natalie from winning.”

  I narrowed my eyes at her. “Then when our gingerbread house was broken, why didn’t you step in?”

  She handed me the chandelier so she could safely climb down the stepladder. “Because I didn’t see anything. I had no idea what happened. Just because I suspected something doesn’t mean I was right.”

  That irritated me. Why tell me she overheard them talking and then turn around and not allow Natalie and me extra time to fix the gingerbread house? “I think it would’ve been a pretty easy guess.”

  When she got both feet firmly on the floor, she turned to me. “I didn’t mean to make you angry. My hands were tied. If I made an exception for you, then others would’ve wanted me to make exceptions for them.”

  I had to restrain myself from rolling my eyes. “I can’t imagine anybody else needed or wanted an exception. Clearly, we hadn’t done anything to cause the damage that was done to our gingerbread house.”

  She took the chandelier from me and headed to the front counter. “I didn’t like Chrissy any more than you do. I thought even with the broken walls of the gingerbread house, yours was prettier. It certainly tasted better.”

  I followed her over to the front counter. “Then why did Chrissy’s house win?”

  She went behind the front register and began ringing my purchases up. “Because she came from a wealthy family. Don’t you know how things work around here? This town is full of families that have been in this town for generations. The Joneses are one of the oldest families, as well as the wealthiest, and people are not going to vote against the spoiled rich girl.”

  I stopped in my tracks. I hadn’t taken this into consideration. “Why would you think Jenna killed Chrissy?” She’d only told me that she suspected Chrissy and Jenna of cheating, but nothing about why she thought Jenna might have killed her partner.

  She hesitated, then continued ringing up the birdhouse. “None of the Joneses are to be trusted. That whole family is no good, regardless of their standing in the community.”

  “What does that have to do with Chrissy’s death?”

  She narrowed her eyes. “I heard Jenna hated Chrissy. She only partnered with her so she could have her entrance fee paid, and a person that would partner with someone she hated just to have the money to enter the contest isn’t an ethical or moral person.”

  “I don’t know that that’s a reason to kill someone.”

  I knew Jenna’s parents had been in and out of jail over the years, but just because they had trouble with the law didn’t mean Jenna did. As far as I knew, she had never been in trouble. I did still wonder why the gingerbread house contest was important enough for her to team up with someone she couldn’t stand. I hadn’t felt she was being truthful when she said she was feeling nostalgic about baking and cake decorating with her grandmother. She had said she had always wanted to compete, and that was her only motivation.

  She looked at me and shook her head. “I overheard Jenna on the phone the morning of the competition. She said she was going to take care of the problem and that she and whoever she was speaking to would finally be free. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but since Chrissy was killed, I’ve been thinking it over. The conversation sounded very pointed. Almost like she was speaking on code. Mark my words. Jenna killed Chrissy.”

  I took a deep breath as Ryan Sparks came to mind.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Cade looked over the menu in front of him. We were sitting at a booth at the local pizza joint and his stomach growled. “I think they make a mean Hawaiian pizza here.” He looked up at me and grinned.

  “You sweet talker you,” I said and chuckled. “I’ve been thinking about Hawaiian pizza for days. It’s almost like you can read my mind.”

  “I have skills,” he said with a chuckle. He laid his menu on the edge of the table and looked at me. “So, are you all done with your Christmas shopping?”

  It was early on a Wednesday night, a few days before Christmas, and the place was nearly empty. I shouldn’t have been surprised. Everyone was most likely out getting the last of their Christmas shopping done. I was usually an early shopper, but I had left some of it to finish up this week. I was waiting to get paid, and I was still stumped about what to get Cade. I wanted it to be something special, but I was having trouble coming up with ideas.

  “No, you haven’t told me what you want for Christmas,” I said. “I haven’t gotten you anything yet. Is there something special you want? Give me a hint.”

  He waved the question away. “Your presence all I want. Get it? Presence? It’s like presents, only it’s presence.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You’re so clever,” I said. “But unless you want socks for Christmas, you better tell me what you want.” The joke was that I had already bought him some socks. That would be my leading gift on Christmas morning and if he didn’t tell me what he wanted, it might end up being his only gift.

  “I told you. All I want is you. You can even sing the song if you want.”

  I rolled my eyes. “The last thing you want for Christmas is me singing to you. I do okay in a group where no one can actually hear me, but you do not want me to sing a solo.”

  “I mean it,” he said. “All I want is you.”

  He was making things difficult for me. I wanted to get him something special. It was our first Christmas together and I couldn’t get him some generic gift. I wanted something that had meaning and that he’d cherish. Or at least something he’d actually use and get some enjoyment from.

  Our server arrived at our table, and I was surprised. It was Jenna. I smiled at her. “Hi Jenna,” I said. “Are you moonlighting?”

  Her eyes went from me to Cade and back again. She smiled, but it was forced. “Hi Rainey,” she said, and she nodded at Cade. “I took on a second job. You know how expensive Christmas shopping can get. Do you know what you want yet?”

  “I do know how expensive Christmas shopping can get. I think we’re going to get a medium Hawaiian pizza and iced tea,” I said closing the menu and putting it on top of Cade’s menu.

  “Great,” she said, picking up the menus. “I’ll be right out with that.”

  I looked at Cade. “Did you talk to her?” I asked him.

  He nodded. “I did. She seemed intimidated talking to me. Could be my rugged good looks,” he said, leaning back in his seat. The red upholstered seat of the booth creaked with the movement.

  “I’m sure it was that and not the fact that someone she had partnered with for a recent gingerbread contest had been murdered and the detective on the case was now interviewing her.” I raised my eyebrows at him.

  He smirked. “I suppose it could have been that,” he said. “But I like to think it’s my good looks.”

  “Yes, well, you can think that if you want.”

  “So what’s the plan for Christmas day? Do we open presents first thing? Or the night before?” he asked.

  “We usually gather at my mom’s Christmas morning and open presents with all the kids. Then we stuff ourselves on an overly sweet breakfast. What do you usually do?” Cade didn’t like to talk about past girlfriends or his
childhood. He always insisted there wasn’t much to tell about his home life growing up. He had lost his mother when he was sixteen and it was something he didn’t like to talk about.

  “When my mother was alive, we went to church Christmas Eve and opened one gift before we went to bed. We saved the other gifts for Christmas day.”

  Jenna brought out our iced tea and left without a word. I picked mine up and took a sip. “Needs sugar,” I said and opened a packet. “That sounds like fun. I haven’t been to church in a while. Maybe we should do that. Make it a tradition?”

  “Maybe,” he said without looking at me. His eyes were on the fork he was playing with on the table. It made me wonder if I shouldn’t have suggested it.

  “Or not,” I said, hoping he would give me more of an answer.

  He looked at me. “It might be fun. We could do that.”

  “Where have you spent the last few Christmases?” I asked. He had never married, and I wondered if he went home to be with his father and siblings, or if he had stayed with a girlfriend.

  “I spent the last two Christmases at the police station in Boise. The one before that, the chief asked me to come to his house.”

  “Oh. I’m sorry,” I said. It made me sad to hear he had been by himself at Christmas time. I thought he would have been with someone that was special to him.

  “See?” he said with a smile. “That’s why I don’t tell anyone about my past. It’s full of all sorts of nefarious and mysterious acts. Seriously though, I didn’t mind being on my own. Spending the day with the chief was harder. Talk about awkward. But his wife is a sweet woman, and she insisted. She baked the best baklava I have ever tasted. It melted in my mouth.”

  His smile seemed genuine, but it still seemed sad to me. “Baklava, eh? I’ve never made one before.”

  “Maybe it’s high time you did?” he said, lifting one eyebrow.

  “That could be arranged,” I said as Jenna brought out our pizza.

  “Here you are,” she said, setting it in the middle of the table. “Is there anything else I can get you?”

  “I think this will do it,” Cade said, sitting up in his seat.

  “Great. Enjoy your meal,” she said and turned away. She took two steps and then turned back. “Have you found Chrissy’s killer yet?” She said it with trepidation and didn’t quite make eye contact with Cade.

  “We’re still working on it,” he said, looking at her expectantly. “I’m sure we’ll have someone in custody soon.”

  She nodded. “You know, I was thinking about it and maybe I shouldn’t say anything, but I was thinking. I heard that Chrissy framed Elaine Jeffers. They both worked at Michelle’s dress shop. Elaine still does. Chrissy framed her for stealing.”

  “I did hear something about that,” I said noncommittally. I didn’t want to give away anything specific.

  She nodded, not looking at me. Her eyes were glued to a spot on the table in front of her. “It’s just that I heard it was actually Chrissy that stole the jewelry. She blamed Elaine because she knew the owner would never believe Chrissy would do something like that. Chrissy didn’t have to steal. She had everything she ever wanted.”

  “Who did you hear that from?” Cade asked.

  “Ryan Sparks. He said Chrissy wore the jewelry when they went out, but she said she didn’t like it after all. She said she might return it to the store, but later said she could sell it online and make a few dollars off of it.”

  Ryan Sparks. His name was once again being tossed around. “Does he know for sure that she stole it? She admitted to him that she stole it?” I asked.

  She nodded and looked at me now. “She thought it was funny. She couldn’t stand Elaine. Said she was beneath her. Chrissy was like that. She didn’t think anything of people that didn’t have money. I’m surprised she even went out with Ryan. He doesn’t come from money.” Her chin jutted out on this last part and it made me think she was jealous of the fact that Chrissy and Ryan had dated.

  “Did you have problems with Chrissy because she thought you didn’t quite measure up?” Cade asked gently. It surprised me he would say it, and I looked at him. His eyes were on Jenna.

  Jenna’s mouth opened, and it moved without any sound coming out. Then she closed it and gave a curt nod of her head. “Chrissy thought she was better than everyone. And she had no trouble letting you know that when she wanted to.”

  “Then why did you partner with her?” I asked. “I know you said you really wanted to be in the competition, but it seems like an odd thing to do, considering neither of you liked the other. Why did you really do it?”

  Her face paled. “I told you. It was a dream I had. I wanted my grandmother to be proud of me. She taught me everything I know about cake decorating and baking. But my grandmother died a couple of years ago and she never got to see me win.”

  I wasn’t buying it. If I had a history with someone like she did with Chrissy, I’d avoid her like the plague. Life can be difficult enough without going out of your way to be around someone that didn’t like you.

  “You know, Jenna, if there’s something I need to know, it would be good if you told me instead of me finding out on my own,” Cade said, sounding stern.

  Jenna looked at him, her eyes wide. “It’s true that I always wanted to enter the gingerbread competition. I love cake decorating. My grandmother taught me when I was eight and every year we would go and look at the beautiful gingerbread houses together. I promised myself I would get to compete one day,” she said. There were unshed tears in her eyes as she talked about the memory. “I never intended to enter with Chrissy, but the entrance fee was so expensive. Chrissy hated Natalie, and she wanted to beat her, so she offered to pay my entrance fee so she could make Natalie feel bad. Against my better judgment, I agreed.” She looked at me, her eyes pleading with me to believe her.

  “No harm in that I guess,” Cade said lightly. “It’s good information to have.”

  “The other thing is, Elaine has a terrible temper. She went into a rage and got into a fight with a girl about six months ago when the other girl stole her boyfriend. She really beat that girl badly. She didn’t spend much time in jail, but she was sentenced to anger management classes. She really knows how to hold a grudge.”

  My eyes went to Cade as he took in this tidbit of information. Whoever had killed Chrissy must have had some anger going on to hit her in the head with a brick. I didn’t like Elaine after our conversation where she had implied that Natalie had a good reason to kill Chrissy.

  He nodded. “I appreciate the information.”

  I wasn’t completely sure I believed Jenna about wanting to compete in the gingerbread house contest badly enough that she’d partner with someone she hated. But, Elaine Jeffers had just risen up the ranks of suspects. Had she learned to manage her anger after the class she was forced to take or had she let that anger loose and killed Chrissy?

  Chapter Seventeen

  Elaine had been a cool customer when I last spoke to her at Michelle’s, but sometimes people with anger issues could be calm on the surface. I could see where she might hold a grudge if Chrissy had really set her up like Jenna and Susan had said. It took a lot of nerve to steal from your place of employment and then frame a co-worker. The thing was, I wouldn’t put it past Chrissy to do it. She had changed from that cute little blond girl I had known when she was young.

  I still wanted to pick up a couple of things for Natalie for Christmas anyway, and I thought I might find some really cute tops for her at Michelle’s dress shop.

  “Good morning, Elaine,” I said when I walked into the shop. She was hanging up sparkly tops that looked more suited to New Year’s Eve than Christmas, although I supposed they would work for either. “Those sure are pretty.”

  She smiled and held up a silver sequined top. “Aren’t they though? I really like this one. I might have to buy it with my store discount. I have a New Year’s Eve party to go to and this would look so pretty with the black skirt I own.”
>
  “I guess with Christmas less than a week away, we can look forward to New Year’s now.”

  “Seems like the season has gone so fast. We also got some cute sparkly bags in,” she said indicating a wall with hooks that the handbags hung from. There were some silver ones that would go perfectly with the top.

  “Oh, cute!” I said and walked over to the display. “It makes me wish I had a party to go to.” I picked up a cute little bag that would only be useful at a fancy party. I could fit my ID, lipstick and money in it and not much else. When I lived in New York, I had spent ten New Year’s Eves at parties where this bag would fit in perfectly. Ah, youth.

  “You should just go to the one I’m going to. It’s being held by Sharon North, at her house. My mom knows her and that’s why I was invited, but I heard she was inviting half the town and I’m sure she wouldn’t notice an extra person or two,” she said amiably.