Miss Frost Cracks A Caper: A Nocturne Falls Mystery (Jayne Frost Book 4)

by Kristen Painter

  “We did. He just wanted to say goodbye before he left.”

  “And Greyson?” She licked the remaining fudge off her fingers.

  “He’ll be back the night of Halloween. If all goes well.”

  “Good luck with that. International flights aren’t always reliable.”

  “I know. And I have no idea what this job is for Lucian. But no point in worrying about what I can’t change, right?” I stood. “I guess I should eat. I’ll just run upstairs and make myself a quick bite.”

  “Sounds like a plan. But I actually did come in here to tell you something. A little news.”

  “Oh?”

  “Kip’s dating some chick who works at Insomnia, and you’re never going to believe this, but Lark was a guest DJ there last night. And apparently, she’s working three more nights before the ball. They’re making a big thing about it, like she’s some kind of celebrity.”

  “She is, sort of. From what I hear, she’s really popular in Europe on the club circuit.”

  Juni snorted. “Whatever. Why does she have to work at Insomnia, though?”

  “Well…” I took a breath. “It’s not that surprising. I mean, she is a DJ, and Insomnia is a nightclub. And she probably saw the opportunity to make some more money while she was here, so why not?”

  Juniper gave me a curious look. “You’re not mad?”

  “No. Not mad. Not thrilled that she’s invaded my new hometown like a virus, but I decided I was going to put the past behind me and move on, so I need to let it go.”

  Juniper nodded. “Maybe you should call Sinclair. See if he wants to go clubbing with you. You know, make an appearance.”

  “No. I don’t want her to think I’m checking up on her or anything like that.”

  “Suit yourself. Personally, I’d want her to know that I was wise to her.”

  I laughed. “There’s nothing to be wise to.” I grabbed my purse. “Now I’m going to eat.”

  And I did, too. A PB & J & F. Which was peanut butter, jelly (strawberry this time), and marshmallow fluff. On wheat bread, because I’m not completely unhealthy. But as I ate, and the sugar refueled me, I thought about what Juniper had said.

  Should I casually swing by Insomnia? Or should I ignore the fact that Lark was working there? I wasn’t sure. But it did feel like I should at least be keeping up with her to some extent. Especially after what Elenora had said about hoping I’d made the right decision. What could that have possibly meant? There was no way that being okay with Lark getting that job could have some kind of impact on my life, positive or negative.

  Ugh. Life had suddenly gotten so complicated. But I kind of had a secret weapon. An inside source, as it were.

  I tapped my phone’s screen, brought up my contacts, and scrolled through them, then dialed the one person I could always rely on to keep me up to date on what was happening in town. Hopefully, she could tell me if she’d heard anything from Elenora.

  She answered on the second ring. “Princess! How are you?”

  “Just fine, Birdie. How are you?”

  “Peachy. Which is mostly because I had cobbler for lunch. Boy, do I love that stuff. What’s happening?”

  “Nothing much. Just wanted to see if you were up for breakfast tomorrow morning? We haven’t been out to breakfast in a while.”

  “No, we haven’t, and yes, I am. Mummy’s?”

  “Is there anywhere else?”

  She laughed. “I’ll see you there at eight. Sound good?”

  “Sounds perfect.”

  The next morning, I was so jazzed to see Birdie and catch up that I got to Mummy’s early. Don’t act so shocked, it happens. I grabbed a couple menus, found a booth, and settled in to wait. I read the menu to occupy myself, which was actually highly enjoyable given that it combined my love of reading with my love of food. There was a little card clipped to the top of the inside page, announcing the day’s specials. I skimmed it, then read it again more thoroughly to make sure my eyes hadn’t deceived me.

  Chocolate chunk and potato chip pancakes? That was so weird, and yet, there was something pretty intriguing about the potential of that sweet, salty combination.

  “Hello, dollface. What can I get you?”

  I looked up to see Arty smiling down at me. “Hey, hi. I thought you only worked the counter.”

  “Nope. I go where I’m needed. How are you this morning?”

  “Great, how are you?” His pompadour was in full pomp.

  “I’m fine and dandy and sweet as candy. You here by your lonesome?”

  “No, Birdie Caruthers is joining me.”

  “Well, now, the Winter Princess and the unofficial mayor of Nocturne Falls? Today is my lucky day. What can I get you while you wait?”

  “Coffee.”

  “You got it. Sure you don’t want a cinnamon bun to go with it?”

  “No, I’m saving myself for those potato chip pancakes.”

  He nodded. “Smartest thing you’ll do all day. Trust me.”

  “That good, huh?”

  “They’ll make you stupid with happiness.” He winked. “Be right back with your cuppa. And I’ll bring one for Ms. Birdie, too.”

  “Thank you.” As soon as he walked away, I saw Birdie by the door. I waved her over. “Hey, good morning.”

  She didn’t look like her usual happy self. “Morning. I don’t know about good.”

  “What’s going on?”

  She leaned in and lowered her voice. “There were three robberies last night. Three.” She shook her head. “That just doesn’t happen in this town.”

  No, it didn’t. At least not that I’d ever heard about. “What the heck is going on? Do you know who did it?”

  Arty came back with two coffees. “I’ll give Your Highnesses a moment to settle in.” Then he slipped away like he knew we were in the middle of something.

  Birdie upended the sugar dispenser into her coffee as she stirred. “No leads on who did it. Not even a best guess. All three thefts were against tourists. And…” She leaned in again. “They were all supernaturals.”

  My eyes widened. “Okay, that’s just bold. Somebody’s got snowballs the size of planets to make supers their target.”

  Birdie nodded. “Right? It’s very frustrating. Hank’s in a terrible mood, as you can imagine.”

  Her nephew, the sheriff, wasn’t exactly known for his bubbly personality to begin with. “Yikes. I don’t envy you being in that office today.”

  She waved the words away as she sipped her now heavily sweetened and lightened java. “Oh, he wouldn’t dare fuss at me. Not after I pulled the CCTV footage from one of the B&Bs that got hit.”

  “Well, that should help.” I added sugar and cream to my own cup.

  “You’d think so, but all the cameras caught was a blur going by. Pretty sure it was a moth.” She sighed. “And unless we have a moth shifter in town, that’s not going to help.”

  I made a face. “Is that a thing? Because I’ve never heard of that.”

  Before she could answer, Arty was back. “You ladies ready to order?”

  Birdie picked up her menu. “Go ahead, Princess. I’ll figure out my order while you place yours.”

  “Okay.” I glanced at him. “I want that pancake special with a side of bacon.”

  “You got it. Maple syrup or the peanut butter sauce?”

  Peanut butter sauce? How had I missed that? “Which one do you recommend?”

  “Both,” he said. “You could be hit by a bus on your way to work. Live while you can.”

  I grinned and handed him my menu. “Good point.”

  Birdie turned her menu over as well. “I’ll have the meat lover’s omelet, cheese grits, and hash browns, extra crispy. Plus a cinnamon bun for here and another boxed to go.”

  “Coming up!” Arty headed away to put our order in.

  Birdie glanced at me. “I can’t help it. I’m a stress-eater.”

  I refrained from commenting about how this morning’s order didn’t seem
any different than her usual order. Instead, I held my hands up. “You don’t have to explain to me.”

  She smiled. “That’s one of the things I love about you.” She straightened her place mat. “Now, about your date for the ball—”

  “I already have one, so you don’t have to add that to your list of things to be stressed about.”

  Her brows shot up. “You do? Who?”

  I hesitated. “Sinclair Crowe. He owns—”

  “Zombie Donuts.”

  “You know him?”

  She snorted. “Who did you think I was going to set you up with?”

  A little part of me sank. “You sent him to my office?”

  “Heavens, no. Why? Did he show up there?”

  “Yes. With a large box of very delicious doughnuts.”

  “Hmm. That would have been a good idea, had I thought of it. But I didn’t. I confess, I have been so busy at the station, and then I had volunteered to help at Charlie’s school with their Christmas play, and my time sort of slipped away from me. I hadn’t gotten around to talking to Sin yet. I’m so glad you two met anyway.” She batted her eyelashes at me. “Isn’t he dreamy? Tell me everything.”

  Laughing, I shook my head. “There isn’t much to tell.” But I felt better knowing he’d shown up on his own. There was something about being set up that felt so forced to me. Like I would have struggled to be myself or something.

  I gave her the light version of us meeting, agreeing to go to the ball, and our one dinner at the Poisoned Apple, then before she could dig for more details, I brought up the news that my mom and aunt were coming to the ball, too.

  She clapped her hands. “That is so exciting. I cannot wait to meet them. What do I call your mother? Your Highness? Your Majesty? Oh, Your Grace?”

  I knew Mrs. Frost would never satisfy her, so I went with the most informal title I could think of. “Lady Frost. And you can call my aunt Mrs. Kringle. I promise, that’s what everyone calls her.”

  She narrowed her eyes at me. “If you say so.”

  “I do.”

  Arty showed up with our food, and my stomach rumbled in appreciation. He put the plates in front of us, wished us bon appétit, and left us to chow down. Which we did. The pancakes were, to use Arty’s word, stupid good.

  When we came up for air, I used the moment to dig into the subject I most needed to know about. “Hey, do you know how Lark came to be DJing at Insomnia?”

  Birdie nodded and swallowed a bite of omelet. “I do. Through Greyson.”

  “What?” That didn’t make me happy at all. He knew how I felt about her.

  “Before you get mad at him, it wasn’t his fault. The way I hear it, when Lucian sent him off to Rome, Greyson tried to get out of the trip by telling him you needed him at the ball. Then he explained why you needed him, and one thing led to another. Lucian apparently thought having a famous DJ at his club would bring more people in.”

  I sighed. “Has it?”

  “Yes. You know Chet? He’s a doorman there?”

  “Yep, I know him.” I was only mildly acquainted with the bear shifter, but he was always friendly to me when I went to the club.

  “Well, his mother is in my bunco group, and she said the first night Lark worked, they had double the usual crowd. Chet had to call in a second bouncer.”

  “Wow. I didn’t know she was that popular.”

  Birdie shrugged. “Who would have thought someone could make a name for themselves playing records by other people?”

  “I think there’s more to it than that.”

  “Probably. But still.” Birdie loaded her fork with crispy hash browns. “Seems to me like she’s made a career out of other people’s talents.”

  I took another bite of pancakes. I wasn’t going to argue. I also wasn’t going to Insomnia. Call me petty, but I didn’t want to be one more face in the crowd clamoring to see the Ice Queen drop some beats.

  October thirty-first arrived with the kind of bright chill that made you want to suck down a couple pumpkin spice lattes and enjoy the brilliance of the changing leaves while wearing your favorite oversize cardigan.

  I, however, had work to do.

  My aunt and mom were due to arrive after lunch, and by five, we’d be in the throes of Black and Orange Ball preparations. There was hair and makeup to be done, fancy dresses to get into, sparkling jewelry to adorn ourselves with, and snazzy shoes to slip on. It would be a whirlwind of female activity.

  I couldn’t wait.

  But due to the conspicuous nature of the large, magical, cherry-red sleigh they were arriving in, the decision had been made to land said sleigh at Elenora’s estate. She had the room and the ability to hide the vehicle from curious eyes in one of her detached garages. She’d also graciously offered to have her driver bring my mom and aunt to the shop.

  I thought it was a very nice thing for her to do, but I also figured Elenora was enjoying the prestige of having North Pole royalty arrive at her home and the one and only Santa’s sleigh temporarily housed on her property. And I knew my mom and aunt were going to thoroughly enjoy being welcomed to town by Elenora’s lavish brand of hospitality.

  How did I know that? I’d offered to meet them at Elenora’s, and they’d told me not to worry about it and they’d see me at the shop because they didn’t want to take me away from my work until it was absolutely necessary. Which was very understanding of them, because I had tons to do, but clearly, the draw of having a four-hundred-year-old vampire and former duchess all to themselves was more than they could resist.

  I’m sure they were also hoping for an advance peek at the Heart of Dawn. I had no doubt Elenora would indulge them. I wasn’t sure if they’d be opening their jewelry boxes as well, but if they did, Elenora would not be disappointed. My mom and aunt were bringing some of the good stuff from the royal vaults. I was pretty excited to see it myself.

  Not as excited as I was to see Sinclair, however. See him again, I should add. We’d been out quite a few times since he’d first shown up in my office. I was especially interested in his costume this evening as he’d told me he was going as snow at midnight, which was both interesting and vague. I couldn’t wait to see what he looked like.

  Introducing him to my mom and aunt would also be interesting. I’d been pretty quiet about Cooper and Greyson, but that was all going to have to come out too. Not sure what they were going to think.

  Or if they’d approve. I tended to think not. Especially about Cooper. They’d been the ones to nurse my broken heart back into reasonable shape. They knew very well how hurt I’d been.

  As for Greyson…there was that whole thing where he was a vampire. My family was pretty open-minded, but I was next in line for the Winter Throne and I wasn’t sure how they’d feel about the possibility that a vampire might be the queen’s consort. Not, and I repeat, not that I was remotely thinking about marriage with anyone. But that’s the exact leap the minds of my mother and aunt would take.

  I was already bracing myself for the onslaught of questions. My real goal, besides having them like my friends and my life here in Nocturne Falls, was to keep them from sharing too much with my dad and uncle.

  Wasn’t like they’d make a corporate decision to pull me out of here based on who I was dating, but I was still my father’s daughter, and if he didn’t like something, he wasn’t going to be quiet about it.

  Pretty sure he’d make a point to visit in a very official way as soon as Christmas was over. And that would be the adult equivalent of being called into the principal’s office. Except in this case, the principal would be coming to me.

  I sighed and tapped my pen on my desk. All this thinking wasn’t getting any work done. I went back to it, but a few hours later, I put the pen down and headed into the shop to see if there was anything that needed doing that might get my mind off the uncomfortable conversations to come.

  Juniper was fixing the display of Pocket Pets, and Kip was helping a customer.

  “Hey, how’s it go
ing? You guys need me for anything?”

  Juniper frowned as she straightened. “I think I have bad news.”

  “You think? What’s going on?”

  She put her hands on her hips and stared at the display. “This inventory isn’t adding up. I have a feeling someone stole a Pocket Pet.”

  I groaned. More fun news to share with my family. “That sucks. Did it just happen?”

  “No, it happened yesterday. I’ve been running the numbers and going over the receipts, and I can’t get them to come out right. That’s the only answer I can come up with.”

  “Well, it’s not your fault. The store gets busier and busier the closer we get to Christmas. It’s bound to happen, sadly. But I’d still like to put the thief on ice.”

  “Me too. I hated to tell you, especially with your mom and aunt about to arrive, but putting it off wasn’t going to make it magically disappear.”

  “You did the right thing.”

  “I promise we’ll be extra vigilant.”

  “I know you will be. I think you should call it into the sheriff’s department, though.”

  “Really?”

  I nodded. “There have been some other thefts in town in the last few weeks. Not sure this is related, but it still needs to be reported.”

  “Okay, I’ll take care of it.”

  “Thanks.”

  “When do your mom and aunt get here?”

  A sleek black limo pulled up outside. “Pretty sure they just did.”

  Grinning, I went out to greet them, opening the limo door before the driver could get to it. “Mom! Aunt Martha!”

  “Jayne!” they both yelled. They climbed out and hugged me, causing a small traffic jam on the sidewalk. I hugged them back, so happy to see them I could almost cry. No, I wasn’t looking forward to telling them about my love life, but that was a minor part of this trip. They were my family and I loved them.

  “How are you guys?” I asked as we finally disengaged.

  Aunt Martha cupped my face in her hands, apparently not done greeting me. “You’re too skinny. Are you working too hard? I bet you’re working too hard.”

  “I’m working just enough, I promise. And I eat plenty, which is why I am definitely not skinny. You do not have to worry about that.”