TABLE OF CONTENTS
JAMMED WITH MURDER
DEDICATION
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
Jammed
With
Murder
Jams, Jellies and Murder
Book 3
Donna Walo Clancy
Copyright 2017 Summer Prescott Books
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DEDICATION
* * *
To all who keep the spirit of Christmas in their hearts.
To my children; who suffer with Christmas decorations going up around the house the beginning of November.
To my Mom; who instilled the love of Christmas in me at an early age and at eighty-two years old, still lights up like a child on Christmas Day.
To my Dad: who will be forever in my heart and in my writing.
JAMMED WITH
MURDER
Jams, Jellies and Murder
Book 3
CHAPTER 1
* * *
“I never imagined that this many people would want jelly for Christmas presents,” Tabby said to her employee, Janice, as they restocked the jelly wall.
The Friday after Thanksgiving had all but wiped out the inventory in Tabby’s shop, Jellies, Jams, and Weddings.
“Who would have thought that Gladys’ public apology would have given our business this much of a boost?” Tabby said, making a pyramid out of her jelly jars.
“I am so sorry I missed it. Did she really admit she was wrong in public?” Janice asked.
“It killed her to do it, but yes she did. Donald Twittle requested that I be at The Tilted Coffee Cup at eight o’clock that morning. I walked in and Gladys was sitting on her normal stool next to the register. Donald left his breakfast and stood behind his wife. She ignored him, and he cleared his throat twice before she acknowledged he was standing there.”
“I bet she was steaming inside,” Janice chuckled.
“Her husband was behind her and Wes was standing directly in front of her, with his arms crossed, staring her down. Donald poked his wife in the shoulder and told her to get to it.”
“How long did it take her to get off the stool?”
“She was slow about it, believe me. Donald raised his voice and asked for quiet. He said his wife had an announcement to make. The place went dead quiet and all eyes were on Gladys.”
“Not quite the kind of attention that she likes,” Janice snickered.
“I was trying so hard to keep a straight face through the whole thing. She crawled down off her stool, straightened her dress, and held her head high. She almost choked on her words as she said them.”
“I might have been slightly wrong in my observations regarding Tabitha Moon. She did not murder anyone that has died here in town over the last year. There, are you all happy?”
“That’s what she said? Slightly wrong? Duh, you think?” Janice asked. “I wouldn’t call that an apology.”
“For Gladys, that was an apology. She slammed herself down on her stool and told her husband to go away and leave her alone. A few minutes later she stormed out of the coffee shop because she couldn’t take the whispering and snickering that was going on all around her.”
“I still wish I had been there to see it,” Janice said. “Maybe people won’t take everything she says as gospel anymore.”
“Nothing changed. The next morning, she was right back at it again, telling stories from the first stool at the counter and everyone was listening to her just like before,” Tabby stated.
“Some things did change. Your reputation was cleared, and business is through the roof,” Janice added. “And, you picked up another wedding contract for next Fall; that makes four for the coming year.”
“We are doing awesome right now, but I try not to get too excited knowing the sales will drop off right after Christmas is over,” Tabby stated.
“You still have all the wholesale orders and that should carry us through the winter,” Janice said, putting up the last jar of jelly they had for back stock. “You need to get busy cooking, my friend.”
“As soon as Thelma comes in, I am so gone. I’ll be upstairs cooking the rest of the day,” Tabby agreed.
“Have you come up with an idea yet for the front window for the Main Street Christmas Window Display contest? You have to beat Greg this time; I can’t stand listening to his bragging anymore.”
Greg Stone, Tabby’s boyfriend, was the owner of the flower shop on the north end of Main Street. He took second place in the Halloween window contest and reminded them every chance he could that he finished ahead of them.
“There is no specific theme this time so I am free to decorate any way I choose,” Tabby replied. “But no, I haven’t come up with a solid idea yet.”
“Maybe you should think about it while you’re cooking. Decorating has already started around town,” Janice suggested.
“I have already ordered all kinds of Christmas items. I couldn’t make up my mind what I wanted to do so I bought everything that caught my eye,” Tabby admitted. “I think I will stick with a traditional theme and put a tree up in the front window. I bought a fake six-foot tree in case I settled on that.”
“That would be nice. I can wrap up some empty boxes to put around the tree. I may stink at flower arranging, but I make a killer bow.”
“Then it’s settled; traditional it is. We’ll start decorating tomorrow,” Tabby said, walking over to inventory the basket wall. “The double jelly jar gift baskets are gone again. I made thirty of them this past weekend and they are wiped out.”
“No one said this was going to be easy,” Janice lectured.
“I know and I’m not complaining, mind you. If this pace keeps up I will have to train you to cook jelly and hire someone else to work in the store,” Tabby answered. “I haven’t shared Gram’s secret recipes with anyone else.”
“There is no reason that I can’t do both,” Janice said. “We can cook all winter to get ready fo
r next year’s tourist season. The jelly is good for two years as long as the seal is not broken.”
“See, you already know more than I did when Gram first started teaching me to cook,” Tabby laughed. “Fortunately, the jelly doesn’t stay on the shelves that long.”
“Did you sign up for the Christmas Stroll yet?” Janice asked her boss.
“Yes, I did. I’m making jelly thumbprint cookies and hot chocolate to serve here at the store. Are you going to be free to work that night or are you taking the Stroll with Eric?”
Eric Seaver was Janice’s new boyfriend. They had only been dating for a short time, but totally enjoyed each other’s company. They met at The Brown Bear Lodge bingo where Eric was the caller. He graduated the same year as Tabby from Whipper Will Junction High School.
“No, I can work. Eric is going to be helping out at the lodge for the Stroll,” Janice answered.
“Great; I mean great for me, but not so much for you. I am baking the thumbprint cookies without the jelly in them so that we can put whatever kind of jelly the stroller wants in the center of the cookie. I’ll cook big batches of hot chocolate in the jelly pots to serve in paper cups so they can take it with them.”
“Don’t you think it would be easier to just bake the cookies with a variety of jellies and only have to serve the drinks? We could also get some candy canes to set in the cups to give the hot chocolate a peppermint taste,” Janice suggested.
“Good idea. I’ll order a bulk quantity of candy canes online,” Tabby replied.
Thelma came in the front door singing a Christmas song.
“Good morning all,” she said with a smile, taking her place behind the register.
“Christmas songs already?” Janice groaned.
“They were playing them at the pharmacy. Don’t be such a Scrooge; it’s almost December,” Thelma stated. “When are we going to start playing them here?”
“Next week when we decorate the store, we will start playing Christmas carols just for you, Thelma,” Tabby answered, giving the elderly woman a hug.
Thelma Sprague was one of Tabby’s grandmother’s best friends. She worked the register part-time to keep active and stay social. She made every customer who came into the shop feel like they were family. She was the last survivor of their graduating class and the oldest local still living in town.
“Go, get cooking,” Janice insisted, pushing Tabby towards the stairs to her upstairs apartment.
“I’m going…geez,” Tabby said, pretending to pout. “Can you take down the Thanksgiving decorations while I am cooking, please?”
“Good as done. Bye,” Janice answered.
Janice knew that her boss was a procrastinator. If she didn’t get her up the stairs, the cooking would never get done. Once Tabby got cooking, she would cook for hours, but it was getting her to start that Janice had to push to happen.
Marmalade and Ghost followed their owner up the stairs hoping to score some food or treats. Found abandoned in a cardboard box at the Whipper Will Drive-In, Tabby took them in and they quickly became the store mascots. Marmalade was so named because of her long, soft orange fur and Ghost, who was solid white, were brother and sister.
Tabby pulled out the big stock pots, set them on the stove, and got to work. The only break she took from her cooking was to cover Janice’s lunch hour.
“If I keep this pace up the rest of the week, I’ll be in good shape for this weekend’s customers,” Tabby said to the cats. “Now, we have to go down and close up the store.”
The two women worked together to complete the closing checklist. Janice left and Tabby secured the shop and returned to her apartment upstairs. She hid the deposit bag in the half-empty kitty litter bag she kept under the bathroom sink for that reason. The cats were fed supper and Tabby left to meet Greg at the Whipper Will Diner.
He was waiting in their usual booth perusing the menu.
“Seriously? You have to look at the menu? Don’t you know it by heart by now?” she asked sitting down opposite him in the booth.
“I suppose I do, but I never know when something different will strike my fancy,” he explained. “You look at it too and don’t tell me you don’t.”
“Guilty.”
“You see; I found something different,” Greg said, closing the menu. “I’m going to have the sausage and gravy with biscuits, so there.”
“You had that a couple of weeks ago when they put it on special…nice try,” Tabby laughed.
“I was hoping you wouldn’t remember,” Greg said sulking.
“So, have you signed up for the Christmas Stroll yet?” Tabby asked, pushing the menu aside.
“No, I haven’t. Margaret is leaving for the month of December to go be with her kids and grandchildren for the holidays. And, I am down to one cashier since college started up again. I don’t think I can man the store by myself,” he answered.
“Why don’t you order a couple of buckets of red and green carnations and stay at my shop and hand them out there. You can help serve the hot chocolate while you pass out the flowers to the ladies,” Tabby suggested.
“You don’t mind me crashing your business?” he asked.
“The only way I will mind is if you beat me out again in the window display contest,” Tabby teased. “I don’t think Janice can take any more of your bragging.”
“Am I starting to get under her skin?”
“Yes, you definitely are,” Tabby confirmed.
“Good; paybacks are so enjoyable. She had me believing for a long time that she didn’t like me when she really did,” Greg chuckled.
“You two are just not meant to be in the same room together,” Tabby stated.
Bea came to take their order.
“I’m going to have the sausage and biscuits tonight, please,” Greg said, closing his menu.
“I think I’ll have the same,” Tabby decided.
“I know… two mocha frappes,” Bea said, picking up the menus.
“Not tonight. I want the biggest glass of apple cider you have,” Greg said, licking his lips.
“That sounds good; same here, please.”
Bea left to place their order. The bell above the door chimed and a young couple entered the diner holding hands. Judy sat them in the corner booth behind Tabby and Greg. At first, they talked very quietly, but their conversation got louder the more the woman disagreed with the man she was sitting with.
Bea brought Tabby and Greg’s dinners and went to the next booth to take the strangers’ orders. The voices quieted down while Bea was at their table. As soon as the waitress left, the arguing started again.
“It’s too dangerous,” she insisted.
“No, it’s not. It was so long ago, I doubt anyone remembers,” he replied.
Greg started to say something and Tabby put her finger up to her lips to silence him.
“I still think you’re pushing your luck staying here,” she insisted again.
“We’ll be fine. You want a new start and a better life, right?”
“Yes, I do, but at what cost?”
“Just leave everything up to me and it will be okay, I promise.”
Bea walked up to their table with their drinks and the conversation ended. They talked about some house they had rented and a future wedding. Nothing more was said regarding what was so dangerous.
“You do realize that you are acting just like Gladys and listening in on people’s conversations,” Greg whispered.
“The difference is I don’t sit on the first stool at The Tilted Coffee Cup every morning and broadcast what I have learned,” Tabby whispered back. “Let’s talk about something else, please, so they won’t know I was listening.”
The conversations at both booths were general in nature from there on out. Every once in a while, Tabby would strain to listen to what was being said in the next booth, but she couldn’t hear much as they had lowered their voices.
The bell chimed again signaling another customer was entering th
e diner. The town librarian, Mrs. Piper, entered and sat at the counter, El took her order and the elderly lady got up from her stool and walked towards the bathroom. She glanced in the booth at the strangers sitting there and gasped. She turned, returned to the counter, picked up her purse and left the diner without a word to anyone.
“That was strange,” Tabby said, picking up her glass of cider.
CHAPTER 2
* * *
The next morning at the shop was spent packing away the Thanksgiving decorations that had all been gathered in the back room and clearing the front window to make way for the Christmas scene that would go up for the Main Street window display contest.
Thelma and Janice wrapped various sized empty boxes and adorned them with fancy bows and Christmas doodads. The chatter was light and merry to go along with the season they were decorating for. Several times, Thelma broke out in song singing her favorite carols. She even got some of the customers to sing with her.
As her employees wrapped boxes, Tabby put together the fake Douglas fir tree that would be placed in the window. As a group, they decided the theme colors would be blues and silvers. Silver garland, white lights, and various shades of blue ornaments would cover the tree. An antique, wooden-sided children’s wagon would be placed to one side of the tree and filled with toys that would later be donated to the children’s party.
Sheets of white buffalo snow with glitter were laid out on the floor of the closed in space. Tabby crawled in and grabbed the top of the tree while Janice lifted the bottom over the three-foot wall that enclosed the window display area. An antique teacart was set at an angle to the wall; the tree next to the cart.
A two-foot tall angel, dressed in a powder blue dress, white feather wings, and a silver halo was set on the top of the teacart. A white porcelain tea set trimmed in the same blue as the angel’s dress was placed on the bottom level. Two navy blue stockings, filled with candy, hung from the handles.
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