Ring In the Year with Murder--An Otter Lake Mystery

by Auralee Wallace

  And what a kitchen it was. Man, if I hadn’t wanted to marry Matthew before … wait, what? Who said that? It was a really nice kitchen. The kind of kitchen that made you think you could cook really fancy, delicious things based solely on the inspiration of your surroundings. At least that was what it did for me. In fact, I am pretty sure I had never once thought about making artisan jam previous to this very moment, and probably never would again. The room had such a nice combination of tan wood, brushed chrome finishings, and stone countertops. It also had small chandeliers running the length of the room over an oversized harvest table. The tin ceiling tiles was probably the best touch though. They defused warm light throughout the entire space.

  Despite the calm design of the room, the kitchen was bustling. Even though this was supposedly the Otter Lake Historical Society’s party, there was no way they could have forked out the dough to hire this many people. This had to be Matthew’s doing. Again, the architectural business must be really paying off.

  “How the heck are we supposed to find this—”

  “There he is,” Freddie said with a point. “That is a really nice watch.”

  Freddie was pointing at a server with his back to us arranging champagne flutes on a silver tray.

  “Okay,” Freddie said. “Let’s go talk to him.”

  “Fine, but please, please, Freddie. Let’s at least try to do this subtly.”

  Freddie stopped and flashed me an annoyed look. “We don’t have time for subtle. Do you want to clear Grady or not? I’d say that enough time has passed that the villagers will be thinking about getting their torches and pitchforks to go after him.”

  “Oh, stop it,” I said. “Nobody is—”

  “And it will be all your fault.” Freddie suddenly gasped. “It’s just like that scene in Beauty and the Beast. You’re the magic mirror that sets all the townspeople off to storm the castle and kill the beast!”

  I blinked.

  Freddie wagged a finger in the air. “Or maybe you’re more like the jerk guy with the thick neck who wants to marry—Wait, I’m confused. No, I think I was right the first time. You’re the magic mirror that—”

  “Can’t I just be Belle?”

  “No,” he said with a high degree of certainty. “I can’t see it. But Grady as the beast? That’s perfect! He’s always so grumpy and—”

  “Fine. Forget the cover story,” I said. “Let’s just get the glass. Then tomorrow you can turn it over to the police or a secret lab in some guy’s basement and we will put this entire thing to rest.” I looked back at the server who was just getting ready to leave with his tray. “Okay, we’d better hurry. I’m guessing you want to take the lead with the questioning?”

  Freddie didn’t answer. When I looked at him to see what the holdup was, I noticed he seemed almost mesmerized by our target, who had finally turned around. The server was pretty hot. Tousled brown hair. Big, warm eyes. He almost would have been intimidatingly hot had it not been for the round lenses on the glasses he was wearing. They were nerdy and fashionable—and definitely managed to make him look more approachable.

  “You know,” Freddie said slowly, “I think you should question him.” He pushed me toward the waiter. “It’s time for you to take the training wheels off. I’ll … I’ll wait here.”

  I felt a smile spread across my face. Well, well, well, maybe finally Freddie’s love life could be put in the spotlight instead of mine. That would certainly be nice for a change. I put on my best Southern accent and said, “Why, Freddie, I do declare. You seem quite taken with that there handsome young man.”

  Freddie didn’t return my smile. “Don’t do that.”

  “Yeah, it didn’t feel right.”

  He pushed me forward. “Would you just go?”

  “Fine, I’ll do the talking,” I said. “But you’re staying.” I grabbed his arm, and before Freddie could protest any more, I waved the server down.

  He spotted me and walked toward us.

  “I swear, you’d better not embarrass me,” Freddie muttered, “or, forget Candace, the only murder tonight will be me killing y—”

  “Hi,” I said as the man approached. I looked at the gold plastic nametag pinned to his vest. “Sean?”

  “That’s me,” he said. “Can I get you two anything?”

  “Oh no, I’m fine,” I said. “Freddie?”

  Freddie shot me a threatening look.

  “No? Are you sure?”

  The look he gave me this time was so terrifying it made me question my life choices. And truth be told, I didn’t want to push him too hard. Freddie and I talked about pretty much everything but his love life. Being gay in a town like Otter Lake hadn’t been easy, and while everyone was getting used to the idea, it still wasn’t exactly the best place to meet people.

  I looked back at a very confused Sean and rebrightened my smile. “I don’t suppose you were the server who cleaned up the small accident a little while ago?”

  “You mean the drink that spilled? Or the dog accident out in the ballroom?”

  “My dog is very sick!” Freddie snapped. “He didn’t know what he was doing.”

  “Oh no,” Sean said, putting his hand to his chest. “That’s your dog? He’s adorable.”

  Freddie just stared at him.

  The server gestured around the room. “We’ve all been wondering how he’s doing.” None of the other servers looked particularly concerned, except for … was that Chloe? The girl that Tyler had tried to impress with Freddie’s tux? She was standing by herself, sniffling, in the back corner of the kitchen. She was either crying … or had allergies. My guess was the former. I quickly looked away. Alerting Freddie to her presence couldn’t lead anywhere good.

  “Stanley’s stable,” Freddie said. I guess he was letting go of some of his indignation because he tagged on, “Thank you for asking.”

  “Stanley,” Sean said with a sad smile. “I love that name. Do you know what’s wrong with him?”

  “We have our suspicions.”

  Sean’s brow furrowed.

  “He means ideas,” I said quickly. “We have some ideas. Poinsettias. Keep them away from your dogs.”

  “Oh,” Sean said with a careful nod. “Sure. And I really am sorry. I didn’t realize when you waved me over that he was your dog.” He made eye contact with both of us.

  “Oh no,” I said, waving my hands out in front of me. “We’re not—”

  “Now I think I’m the one who’s going to be sick,” Freddie said, bringing a hand to his forehead.

  “So you’re not…” Sean looked back and forth between the two of us, hesitating just a moment longer on Freddie. “I love your tux, by the way.”

  Freddie pointed at his wrist. “I could tell you have good taste by your watch.”

  “Oh yeah,” Sean said excitedly, holding out his arm. “I got it—”

  Freddie suddenly spun on his heel. “I’ve got to go. I just remembered—you got this, Erica.” He hurried off before either Sean or I could blink.

  Okay then. I hadn’t seen that coming. I mean, I knew Freddie was nervous, but … but it had been going so well! They had been doing the flirty I like what you’re wearing. No, I like what you’re wearing talk. I thought Freddie was afraid of being shot down, not picked up. This was not good. He was so going to kill me later. “I’m sorry,” I said with an awkward chuckle. “Freddie has a thing … he wasn’t supposed to forget.”

  “Right,” Sean said, smile dropping. He actually looked kind of disappointed. Maybe even hurt.

  This was terrible. I had to do something. Cute gay men like this didn’t just show up in Otter Lake every day. “The vet! He was supposed to meet back with the vet to get an update on his dog. He’s just upset about Stanley being sick.”

  Sean nodded and a bit of his former smile returned. “Yeah, it’s a pretty helpless feeling waiting for information about a sick pet.”

  “That is so true,” I said with a big nod. “I like you.” I hadn’t meant to sa
y it in a voice that spoke to the fact that I could already see him fitting in nicely with our bizarre little family. But I could totally see it.

  “Um … thank you?”

  “You’re welcome.” Yup, Sean could teach me how to make cocktails in Freddie’s kitchen while wearing his very nice watch. Okay, fine, it wasn’t a full-fledged vision, given that all I knew about Sean was that he served drinks and had a nice watch, but it was a start. “Now back to the whole mess thing,” I said, shaking my head. “I wasn’t actually talking about the dog. I meant the drink in the conservatory. Was that you who cleaned it up?”

  He nodded.

  “What exactly did you do with the glass? You didn’t wash it, did you?”

  Man, I was terrible at this. You could tell by the suspicious side-eye Sean was giving me.

  “No, it had a little chip in it, so I threw it out.”

  “Oh good. Good.” I clutched my hands to my chest and tilted my head. “Which garbage can?”

  He half smiled, half looked at me like I was crazy. “Can I ask why?”

  “Why? Oh, of course you can ask that.” Do not start any more poison rumors, Erica. Do not start any more poison rumors.

  “Okay,” Sean said in that slow way that meant he was questioning my sanity, but totally willing to have a laugh about it if I had a reasonable explanation. “Why do you want to know where I put the glass?”

  “Oh right.” I chuckled. “I did say you could ask. It’s, uh…”

  He waited as I looked around the kitchen.

  “Poison.”

  Dammit.

  “Poison?”

  “Yeah, well at least poison for the dog. You see, it might not have been the poinsettias. Stanley is allergic to nuts, and Freddie was worried that the spilled drink might have actually contained nuts, and Stanley got into it…” So, so bad at this.

  “What kind of drink has nuts in it?”

  “Oh well, I didn’t mean it was like a peanut martini or that kind of thing. Just the factory it was made in may have contained nuts. You know how like they never want to guarantee that sort of thing. Or coconut water,” I said, waving my hands out like Of course! “Everybody’s drinking coconut water these days. And a coconut is still a nut.” At least I thought it was.

  “I … I guess.”

  “Yup. Coconuts.” I gave the air a little Go team! punch for some inexplicable reason.

  “Right.”

  “Listen, truth is I know it’s a little crazy, but Freddie really loves that dog. And I would like to be able to put his mind at ease. You’re a dog lover. You know how it is.” I slapped his arm lightly. “I’m not a dog person. Not really a cat person either. My fur-brother is my mom’s favorite. It left me with some issues.” Oh, so now I babble when I lie. Good to know.

  He nodded. “If Freddie needs to talk to someone—dog lover to dog lover—I’d be more than happy to meet up with him on my break.”

  I was smiling and nodding again, but at least I stopped myself from saying another I like you. “I’ll tell him that you said that. I’m sure he would appreciate the offer. Now that garbage?”

  “Oh, I already took it to the bin outside,” he said, pointing to a door at the far end of the kitchen. “I didn’t want anyone to get hurt with the glass.”

  “Outside?”

  “Yeah, sorry.” He smiled at me apologetically. “I wrapped the glass in the paper towel I used to clean up the mess then put it in a little food box, so it might be tricky to find.”

  “Great. You’ve totally helped. Thank you.” I turned to leave.

  “Oh, and tell Freddie that I really am sorry about his dog.”

  I shot him a thumbs-up. “Sure thing.”

  Yup, we were all very sorry about Freddie and his dog issues.

  Especially me.

  I was so not wearing the right outfit for garbage picking.

  The Morning After

  “You like Sean!” I gasped. “And I’m pretty sure he likes you.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “The waiter guy! You couldn’t even talk to him you were so shy.”

  “Shut up!”

  “Freddie’s got a boyfriend.”

  “I do not!”

  “Yes you do, and he’s really cute.”

  “He is really cute.”

  “I know, right?”

  “I hope he didn’t see me in this fur.”

  I snorted a laugh. “Yeah, and I hope he didn’t see me in this turban.”

  “Erica, nobody cares if you’re wearing a turban.”

  I blinked. “You’re a mean one, Mr. Ng.”

  Chapter Twenty

  “I can’t feel my toes.”

  “Do you normally go around feeling your toes?” Freddie asked, flicking some slush off his galoshes.

  I wrapped Freddie’s suit jacket more tightly around my torso and hiked up the hem of my dress as I stepped over a minidrift of snow. “No, but it really hurts when you can’t feel them.” We couldn’t figure out where our coats had gotten off to, so Freddie had lent me his tuxedo jacket, and he had borrowed the galoshes sitting at the back door. Hopefully this wouldn’t take too long.

  “All right. All right,” Freddie said. “I’m getting a little tired of this myself. We’ll just get the glass and give Grady a little heads-up that somebody is trying to kill his girlfriend then I’ll let it go.”

  “Maybe trying to kill her. Like not really. Like probably not at all,” I said. “And I’m sure he’ll love hearing that from us.”

  “Why are you so grumpy? I thought you were young and single and at a fancy party. You love New Year’s. You should be happy.”

  “I am. I am. But Stanley’s sick, I’m cold, my boots are back at the snowmobile, and I have slush in my shoes. Not to mention the fact that I nearly broke my neck tripping on that jug of antifreeze back there. And let’s not forget that we are about to pick through garbage. That all is kind of tipping the scale.”

  “That and the twinkly lights,” Freddie said, stopping to look at the trees Matthew had shown me earlier. “They are a bit much.”

  “What? They’re beautiful!” I said with probably a little too much enthusiasm, because my back heel almost slipped out from underneath me, making me pinwheel my arms for balance. We were walking a mainly clear path around the side of the house to where Sean had pointed earlier. “They are not too much. They’re just right.”

  “For a My Little Pony Christmas special maybe,” he muttered. “I betcha the rest of the town is in the dark with all this wattage.”

  “Wow, you are not doing well,” I muttered. I felt bad, though. Freddie was really starting to look kind of down. I mean, first there was Stanley, then there was the insult to his tuxedo, and then there was the whole thing with Sean. He was having a pretty rough time of it. “So are we going to talk about what happened in the kitchen back there?”

  Freddie looked at me. “What are you talking about?”

  “That whole business where you walked away mid-sentence from an extremely handsome man who seemed to be interested in both you and your dog?”

  “Who? Sean?” Freddie puffed some air through his lips. “Sean. What a ridiculous name.”

  “Again with the names. What’s the matter with Sean?”

  Freddie’s shoulders bounced with a huffed laugh. “Only an Erica would ask that.”

  I swatted at him but missed, nearly spinning myself into the snow.

  “Did you see his nametag? He spells it S-E-A-N.”

  “So?”

  “So change the S to a B and you’ve got Bean! I mean, have some dignity already.”

  I sighed as I hugged Freddie’s too thin jacket to my chest. Okay, this was getting ridiculous. Sure, Freddie did not like to spend time talking about the really personal stuff going on in his head—apparently that’s what my life was for—but he couldn’t keep all this stuff in. It wasn’t healthy. “All I’m saying is that maybe—”

  Freddie stopped walking with a jerk.
“What are you trying to do right now?”

  I stopped to look at him. “I don’t know. Just … maybe it wouldn’t kill you to—”

  “I am too busy trying to get our business off the ground for any distractions,” Freddie snapped before smoothing down his silk scarf. “Besides, I can’t date a server.”

  “What? Why not?”

  “It’s bad enough that I have to keep you and Rhonda afloat. I need to be half of a power couple or nothing.” He suddenly pointed a finger in the air. “And, you know, while we’re on the subject, I think maybe we have been spending too much time together.”

  “No. No. No. Nice try, but that’s not what’s going on here. You’re just too—”

  “Hey!” he shouted with a point. “There’s the bin.”

  “Nice segue,” I muttered. Just then my phone rang. I took it out from my pocket and looked at the screen before answering. “Rhonda? What’s going on?”

  “The target is on the move. I repeat, the target is on the move.”

  “What are you talking about?” I said, covering my other ear with my hand. Freddie had turned to see what the holdup was. “Who’s on the move?”

  “Candace! I went to the bathroom for one second and she disappeared. I asked around and someone said they saw her outside headed toward the lake. She’s super drunk. We’ve got to stop her.”

  I shot Freddie some uh-oh eyes. Candace was super drunk? That wasn’t going to help stop any of the many rumors floating around tonight. “I thought you weren’t going to let her drink anything?”

  “Ha! Easier said than done. The girl’s determined to get her drink on.” And she wasn’t the only one by the sound of Rhonda’s voice. “I couldn’t stop her, so I had to do the next best thing. It was the only way I could keep listening to her go on and on about having the courage to do what needed to be done with Grady.”