by Scott, D. D.
THE WG2E ALL-FOR-INDIES ANTHOLOGIES
(WINTER WONDERLAND EDITION)
By D. D. Scott Tonya Kappes
Talli Roland Tamara Ward
Sibel Hodge Alicia Street
Lacy Maran & Kevin Michael
Patrice Fitzgerald Kathy Carmichael
T. M. Souders
Compiled and Edited By: Matthew Rush, The Edit Dude
This book of short stories is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without the permission in writing from the author or publisher.
Edition: December 2011
Copyright © 2011 by Tonya Kappes, D.D. Scott, Talli Roland, Tamara Ward,
Sibel Hodge, Alicia Street, Lacy Maran & Kevin Michael,
Patrice Fitzgerald, Kathy Carmichael, T. M. Souders
All rights reserved
Cover Artist
Laura Morrigan
www.lauramorrigan.com
Smashwords Edition
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
WELCOME TO THE WG2E ALL-FOR-INDIES ANTHOLOGIES
(WINTER WONDERLAND EDITION)
When just one year ago, we brainstormed The WG2E – The Writer’s Guide to Epublishing – your destination site for all-things-Epublishing, we never in our wildest, most spectacular dreams imagined we’d end up creating a site which now gets over one million hits per month and is the first visit of the day for over 2500 Indie Epublished Writers and Authors!
At The WG2E, it’s all about finding ways to Pay It Forward, both to our fellow writers and to all our superfab readers too.
We simply luuuvvv treating readers to great books for great prices and helping our fellow authors find new readers around the globe.
With this debut launch of our brand new WG2E All-For-Indies Anthologies, we’re treating you to a terrific, one-of-a-kind approach to the anthology concept.
You’ll get a variety of genres all packaged together as a wonderful way to discover authors new to you!
Plus, each WG2E Anthology is based on a different theme.
And as far as the themes go, we’re over the moon to offer you unique perspectives on these superfab fun themes.
Here’s what we mean by that...
In our WG2E Winter Wonderland Anthology, we’re treating you to stories that yes, have a Winter Wonderland element, BUT definitely not in the average way.
You’ll never think of Winter Wonderland in quite the same way. For example:
“What’s goin’ on underneath all that snow?” for D. D. Scott’s A CUT ABOVE CRAZY
“More than people wear goose down parkas in Winter” for Tonya Kappes BEAD OF DOUBT
“There’s nothing like a sauna to thaw a cold spell” for Talli Roland’s MISTLETOE AND THE FIVE-YEAR ITCH
“An Ice Queen can be much more than a very cold spouse” for Tamara Ward’s JADE O’REILLY AND THE ICE QUEEN
“The flavors of Winter...as in Winter Green Mint, Anyone?” for Sibel Hodge’s THE S-WORD AND THE LADY GARDEN
“Not only reindeer dance in the snow...unicorns do too” for Alicia Street’s SNOW DANCE
“Breaking News: The All-Things Holidays Edition” for Lacy Maran & Kevin Michael’s NOTHING IS SACRED COMEDY’S GUIDE TO THE HOLIDAYS
“More than the Earth dies in Winter” for Patrice Fitzgerald’s TILL DEATH DO US PART
“There’s ice on the tracks, but not the kind you might think...” for Kathy Carmichael’s MAYHEM ON THE WINTERLAND EXPRESS
“Not everyone loves pumpkin pie” for T.M. Souder’s DASHING THROUGH THE SNOW
Happy Reading and Welcome to our WG2E All-For-Indies Anthologies!
The Best of Reading Wishes ---
D. D. Scott and Tonya Kappes
Co-Founders of The WG2E
P.S. Watch for The WG2E All-For-Indies Anthologies Viva La Valentines Edition coming soon!!!
Table of Contents
A CUT ABOVE CRAZY by D.D. Scott
“What’s goin’ on underneath all that snow?”
Bead of Doubt by Tonya Kappes
“More than people wear goose down parkas in Winter”
MISTLETOE AND THE FIVE-YEAR ITCH by Talli Roland
“There’s nothing like a sauna to thaw a cold spell”
JADE O’REILLY AND THE ICE QUEEN by Tamara Ward
“An Ice Queen can be much more than a very cold spouse”
THE S-WORD AND THE LADY GARDEN by Sibel Hodge
“The flavors of Winter...as in Winter Green Mint, Anyone?”
SNOW DANCE by Alicia Street
“Not only reindeer dance in the snow...unicorns do too”
NOTHING IS SACRED COMEDY’S GUIDE TO THE HOLIDAYS
by Lacy Maran & Kevin Michael
“Breaking News: The All-Things Holidays Edition”
TILL DEATH DO US PART by Patrice Fitzgerald
“More than the Earth dies in Winter”
MAYHEM ON THE WINTERLAND EXPRESS by Kathy Carmichael
“There’s ice on the tracks, but not the kind you might think...”
DASHING THROUGH THE SNOW by T.M. Souders
“Not everyone loves pumpkin pie”
A CUT ABOVE CRAZY
(The Prequel to Cozy Cash Mystery #3)
By D. D. Scott
Chapter One
There’s crazy.
Then there’s a cut above crazy.
And when your parents are two of the world’s top gemologists, you not only learn to deal with cuts – brilliant, baguette, briolette and the list goes on - but you also get damn good at dealin’ with the crazies that those cuts bring into your life. And by crazies, I mean the smugglers and thieves who transport gems around the globe.
So yeah, as you can imagine, my life to date has been anything but Mayberry. And I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
I’m Zoey Witherspoon, Designer and Stylist to The Stars, a fairly new PI, and now the Princess of Caserta. And as if that’s not enough of a crazy-packed resume, I’m also the daughter of George and Suzie Witherspoon of Witherspoon & Witherspoon, the world’s premiere gem vault and lapidary.
Not sure what a lapidary is?
My parents are experts on all-things-gemstones, as in diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires and the four thousand other mineral crystals of the earth. They also are expert cutters, polishers and engravers of those same stones.
Seems like a luxurious lifestyle, right?
Well, it is luxurious, in a way.
But the sad thing is...this world can’t responsibly deal with the kinds of wealth my parents cut from rocks. Just like the world can’t deal in a socially moral way with the oil drilled out of our oceans and seas.
Y’all think oil is the only thing breeding and feeding terrorists?
Try handing those same thugs fistfuls of precious gems. Or showing ‘em how and where to get their own rock sacks full of ‘em.
The gem trade breeds an entirely different kind of te
rror. And I’m about to put an end to it...or at least the part of it I know how to stop.
Now you might think that, in order to do such work, you’d find me in the Middle East or perhaps North Korea or somewhere in Africa.
No dice...I’m in Michigan.
Here along the fabulous shores of Lake Michigan, it may be the end of the holiday season, but deep below the snow-covered earth of our Winter Wonderland, it looks like Christmas forever in my parent’s underground gem vault. Or if not that, it could be the main warehouse for all the high-priced, fancy jewels you see dangling and dripping from every jeweler’s ad on your television screen.
People may think my parents are just a crazy couple who believe they’re Santa and Mrs. Claus. And for those of you who’ve heard about our typical Hullabaloo and Holly Too holidays, the crazy couple bit might, on the surface at least, seem true.
But under my dad’s Santa Claus Workshop, through a secret entrance in the floorboards, lies the Witherspoon & Witherspoon gem vault, which makes The Smithsonian’s stone-stash seem paltry by comparison.
While a lake effect blizzard is blowin’ outside, things are really heating up down there...
Chapter Two
“I just can’t believe one rogue elf could steal anything from this fortress.”
Those were the words spoken by my prince and fake husband, Prince Roman Bellesconi Umberto-Vittorio Emanuele Vanvitelli, while stepping through the fourth solid, anti-drilling and cutting, magnesium and concrete-embedded door leading into our vault’s main room.
“Let alone The Witherspoon Blue Moon Diamond, and now your Precious Aquamarine too!”
I couldn’t believe it either.
But it was true.
“What bothers me more,” I said, placing the coconut that contained our Blue Moon Diamond on one of my parent’s cutting tables, “is why the hell did he give the diamond back?”
“Are you sure it actually is our diamond?”
I heard my mother’s voice before I saw her.
But I couldn’t see her at all now. All the vault’s lights had gone out.
Roman grabbed my hand and used his body to shield mine.
“Easy. Everything is fine,” my mother’s voice created a much-needed sense of calm.
All at once, our Blue Moon Diamond began to glow with an intense orange-red phosphorescence.
“It’s our diamond all right,” I said, sort of relieved and sort of scared even more.
“How do you know?” Roman asked.
“Orange-red phosphorescence is almost exclusively limited to dark blue diamonds,” I said, as the lights in the vault came back on.
“That said, this effect is never as intense with other stones as it is with our Witherspoon Blue Moon. She’s indeed a rarer-than-rare blue beauty,” Mom said, effectively completing Roman’s first gemology lesson.
“And you can only see the phosphorescence in a dark room, using exposure to ultraviolet light,” my dad piped-in as he joined us in the vault’s main cutting chambers.
“You’re right then, Plum Puddin’,” Roman said. “Why would Stanley give back The Blue Moon?”
“First, I’m usually right. Second, Stanley has major issues besides his dwarfism,” I said, thinking that was as good a place as any to start explaining my theory about our rogue elf. Plus, I couldn’t resist teasing Roman about my golden gut instincts.
“What kinds of issues?” Roman asked, his Dark Knight aura giving the word ‘issues’ a very sinister undertone.
Actually, Stanley’s size was a benefit in this biz. He could get away with a lot that the rest of us couldn’t, but more on that later.
“Let’s just say there’s a major connection to our Blue Moon being contained in this packaging,” I said, knocking my knuckles on top of the coconut’s hard shell.
“Go on,” Roman said.
As his protection mode kicked into high gear, his sentences always got more and more staccato, which meant I didn’t have much time left to evade his questions.
“Stanley giving back our Blue Moon Diamond is probably a sign that it’s small potatoes. Or rocks, I guess, compared to what’s still left for him to steal,” my dad said, having a seat on one of he and my mom’s work stools.
I didn’t like the worried glances passing back and forth between my parents, but they were right to be worried.
“What’s left for him to take? And from where?” Roman asked, again using his preferred short, very pointed and spot-on interrogation-style questions.
“Our Blue Moon Diamond is small compared to what’s left in Brazil,” I said, knowing I could no longer put off what was at stake or where it could be found.
“Brazil? And coconuts?” Roman asked.
“Along with natural beryl crystal,” my mother added to the mix.
“We don’t just mine diamonds in Brazil. We also mine natural beryl crystal. What you know as emeralds and aquamarines and the even rarer still pink morganite, yellow heliodore and the rarest-of-rare, red beryl.”
“Ahhh. Thus the reason for the missing Precious Aquamarine as well,” Roman stated, his mind beginning to sort through what was still missing from our vault inventory and why it was gone.
“But why the Blue Moon in the coconut? Brazil has coconuts?”
“Brazil has much more than coconuts,” my mom said, the normally robust color of her cheeks draining away to match the blizzard howling outside. “They have The Coconut Highway.”
“It’s a coastal road lined with coconut palms, leading to our largest mine,” Dad added, supplying the final piece for Roman’s mind puzzle.
“Thus, Stanley’s inside joke of mixing carats with coconuts,” I said, holding up the now empty coconut shell as my parents began examining our Blue Moon Diamond with their loupes.
While my parents got lost in their precious rock, I pulled Roman aside and out of their earshot.
“Stanley will stop at nothing to gain control of our mines.”
“How do you know that?” Roman asked, his espresso-colored eyes now darker than a ride down one of our mine car shafts.
“Trust me. I just do.”
“Well, one of these days, you’re going to have to trust me, and tell me everything, Zoey. And I mean everything,” my prince said.
And I knew he was right.
But how could I tell him everything, if telling him meant I could lose him forever?
Chapter Three
Color is the most sought-after and recognizable of gem traits. The more intense the color, the more valuable the stone.
These days, the most valuable stones on the black market, as well as the open international gem markets, come from our mines in the Brazilian states of Bahia, Minas Gerais, and Mato Grosso.
No, no, no. I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. My parents are totally legit. They do everything they possibly can to guarantee our stones are legally traded.
But unfortunately, you can’t control what happens to the stones people steal from your mines.
No Kimberley Process Certificate determines whether or not a gem is obtained legally to begin with.
Here’s another interesting tidbit...
Do y’all know what gives a gem its color?
It’s the impurities and defects. The more imperfections a gem has, the more intense its color, and the higher its value.
Kind of gives the saying “colorful people” a whole new meaning, right?
Except...in the gem world, people’s imperfections don’t make them more colorful and entertaining. They make them that much more deadly.
I was walking a tightrope here, without a net.
Roman needed to know enough to be able to help me stop Stanley and his Brazilian smuggling partners. But if I told him too much, he’d become a target, just like I was.
Walking hand-in-hand with my prince, we silently took in the rows and rows of plate glass table-like exhibition cases displaying my parent’s meticulously cataloged gem collections. I pondered what he needed to know...a
nd what he didn’t.
I hadn’t a clue how I was going to pull off this operation. But I’d best be thinking of something halfway intelligent to at least get us started.
I stopped in front of the 15,256-carat natural beryl crystal from which my family’s 1,000-carat Precious Aquamarine had been cut. Exceptional for its size and clarity, its extraordinary shape and few internal flaws meant it could only have come from the near perfect conditions of our Brazilian mines.
Aquamarines of this size are rarely preserved. They’re normally cut into brilliant gems. This hunk of rough crystal, weighing in at around 7 pounds, had enough of a Technicolor green glow that it could be used as a dazzling set piece in The Wizard of Oz’s Emerald City.
“The beauty of these stones is that they never diminish with age,” I said, finally summoning the courage to get this show on the road. “That’s what my mom once told me, when I was a little girl and she was taking me on my first tour down here. She said that she and her curator colleagues used to say that...yesterday, these were kings’ and queens’ stones, today they could be someone’s cocktail ring, but ten thousand years from now, the stones themselves will still have this same sparkle.”
“Then it sounds like we’ve got some stones to save,” Roman said, his arm now around my shoulders as we stared into the case containing the giant glistening green rock.
“This is very dangerous, Roman,” I said, then thought, who was I trying to fool, that wasn’t exactly the whole of it and so I continued, “not just dangerous...deadly.”
Roman laughed.
