by Susan Harper
Wanda clapped for him. “Good for you, Brian! Show the old man who’s boss.”
Brian laughed and looked at Felicity as he pointed his thumb toward Wanda. “I like her.”
“It’s hard not to,” Felicity said. “This woman has been training me since this summer on taking over the city planner position.”
“As if!” Wanda exclaimed. “You are ten times better at this job than I ever was!”
“Wanda!” a young man with patchy red hair and a stained t-shirt surprised them all as he approached, putting his hand on Wanda’s shoulder.
Wanda yelped. “My goodness, Ricky! Give me a heart attack, would you!” Wanda smiled and nodded toward him. “Felicity, Brian, this is my cousin, Ricky. Ricky, what are you doing here?”
“Dad and Frankie dragged me here,” Ricky said. “They have had more than their fair share of eggnog and needed a driver.”
“Are you serious?” Wanda snarled.
“Calm down, Wanda. I didn’t have any, I promise. Just wanted to let you know that your mom is here too, and she’s looking for you down by the pub,” Ricky said and then smiled at Felicity and Brian. “Nice to meet you two. I’m going to go and make sure Frankie doesn’t cause any trouble.” He disappeared into the crowd seconds later.
“So who’s Frankie?” Felicity asked.
“An old family friend. He and my Uncle James, Ricky’s dad, go back all the way to grade school. Frankie and Uncle James are both respectable, professional men…until they get into the same room together, and then it’s like they’re two goofy kids again. I can’t believe they were drinking in front of Ricky! He just got out of rehab a while back—drugs and alcohol, but he’s been doing well and doesn’t need that sort of influence,” Wanda said, shaking her head. “I’m sure it was just a little eggnog, though.”
“We’ll walk with you down to the Irish pub if you’re going to find your mom,” Felicity said. “I’m going to start heading down that way anyway.”
“Okay, great!” Wanda said, and the three of them headed down the walkway, having to work their way through the crowd.
Felicity spotted an older woman with gray hair standing by the railing that led down into the cellar that was the Irish pub, and by her features, Felicity was certain this had to be Wanda’s mother. She was dressed in what had to be the tackiest Christmas sweater Felicity had ever seen. Standing beside the old woman was another older lady with her hair pinned up and another woman near Felicity’s age. “Claudia!” Wanda called out excitedly, and the younger woman smiled wildly and ran over, giving Wanda a hug. “Guys, this is my sister’s friend, Claudia. Claudia, this is Felicity, the future event planner for the city.”
Claudia smiled and shook Felicity’s hand. “Nice to meet you!”
“Same,” Felicity said.
“Thanks for waiting with my mom and Sandra,” Wanda said as the two older ladies made their way over. “Guys this, is my mom, Blanche, and her friend, Sandra.”
“A pleasure,” Felicity said, smiling at the two happy old ladies.
“Ooh, so this is the new city planner?” the old woman, Sandra, said. “You have big shoes to fill, you know? Wanda’s done a fabulous job. Do you feel old, Blanche, when you think about how your daughter is retiring? Ha!”
“Shut up, Sandra,” the other woman croaked. “You’re older than me.”
The two women started bickering for a moment. Brian leaned over. “You can tell these two have been friends for a long time,” he whispered to Felicity with a slight laugh.
Felicity imagined herself and Autumn at that age—still walking up and down the same Senoia street teasing one another about this or that. Blanche suddenly perked up and looked at Wanda. “Your little brothers are here,” Blanche said.
Wanda frowned. “Oh boy, did they bring their bimbos?”
“Be nice,” Blanche warned. “And yes, they brought the bimbos.”
“What’s that about?” Brian asked; he seemed to find the banter of the older ladies to be quite entertaining.
“My little brothers, twins, decided they just had to date twin sisters. And they picked the two dumbest, most obnoxious women I have ever had the displeasure of knowing,” Wanda said.
“Be nice! They’re good women,” Blanche insisted.
“No, they aren’t,” Sandra declared. “They’re dumb as bricks.”
Brian snorted, and Felicity elbowed him in the side. “We’ll catch up to you later, Wanda. I’ve got to go get ready for the arrival of Santa,” Felicity said, and she bid the women farewell.
“They seem like a fun family,” Brian said as they walked.
“Senoia is full of interesting characters,” Felicity said. They spent the next half-hour or so prepping for Santa’s arrival. He would be riding around the new buildings behind Main Street before pulling up in front of the gazebo. She got to work putting up cones to prevent anyone from wandering in front of the carriage. Once everything was ready, she announced to the crowd that Santa would be arriving soon and to be sure to get in line, instructing them where the line was over the loud speaker system Jefferson had set up.
Little children pointed and giggled at her, calling her one of Santa’s elves. Felicity had to admit that the elf costume had been a good idea, even if she had been tricked into wearing it. Brian went and sat with her friends by the coffee shop, which made for a great viewing zone for the entrance of Santa.
Fifteen minutes passed, and the distant sound of bells could be heard. Felicity went by the coffee shop just in time to see Santa and Mrs. Claus arriving via horse-drawn carriage, but the horse was wildly out of control. “Oh no,” Felicity muttered, and she saw Jack and two other officers running to the rescue to calm the horse down before too many people saw what was going on. She sighed in relief and shot Jack a thumbs up from where she stood, but he shook his head and waved her over.
She hurried down the backstreet. “What’s going on?” she asked as Jack and the other officers helped the costumed pair down. Santa and Mrs. Claus looked quite panicked.
“I swear,” the man in the Santa suit said, “I didn’t see her until the horse started freaking out!”
“See who?” Felicity asked and then stepped around the back of the carriage to see Wanda strapped to the back of the carriage, having been dragged by the out of control horse. “Wanda!” she shrieked, watching as Jack knelt down beside the tattered body.
Jack shook his head and announced, “She’s dead.”
Chapter 4
Felicity stood in horror from seeing Wanda’s body curled up underneath the carriage, and she listened to the panicky costumed couple as they attempted to give their statements to the police. There were at least two hundred young children waiting in line to see Santa Claus, so despite her current traumatized state, Felicity did her best to keep the crowd from learning what had just taken place.
Jack seemed to agree that this needed to stay out of the public’s ears for the time being, until the crowd dispersed, and the police wound up making quick and somewhat sloppy work of the crime scene. They left the carriage on the side of the road where the costumed couple had managed to calm the horse down; the police put up yellow tape around the carriage and released the horse. Both Santa and the Mrs. Claus were quietly taken away for questioning, so Felicity had to act fast to save the event. Thankfully, she was able to call in a favor to the Youngling family, who Felicity knew hired a Santa Claus for their family’s annual Christmas reunion, and while they were down a Mrs. Claus, the children were still able to sit and talk to a local Santa only half an hour later than originally planned. All it took was a bit of adlibbing about Santa’s sleigh running a bit behind at the North Pole to calm the impatient and still unknowing crowd.
Once the event was salvaged, Felicity headed over to the carriage where Jack and three other officers were still gathered. An ambulance was present and a few nosy party guests were peering around the corners of the shops to see what was taking place, but for the most part, the crowd still did not kn
ow what exactly was going on.
“How did this even happen?” Felicity squeaked, wiping away a tear at the thought of poor Wanda going out in such a horrible way.
“Hands are bound, and she has a gag in her mouth,” one of the officers said. “Miss Overton, do you have some identification information on our Mister and Missus Claus?”
“Jefferson, my assistant, he hired them. He’s at the shop on Main Street right now. He’ll be able to tell you about them,” Felicity said. “You don’t think that they did this, do you? They seemed really surprised and upset when they realized someone was tied up under the carriage!”
“They did, but we still need to talk to them about all of this,” Jack said. “I mean, they were the ones driving the carriage.”
“Oh, poor Wanda!” Felicity said.
Jack reached out and put a hand on Felicity’s shoulder. “Maybe you should go back to Main Street. There’s no reason for you to be here.”
“No, I’m staying,” she said.
“She’s solved more cases than you this year, Jack,” one of the officers quipped, and Jack made a rather crude gesture his way.
“Stop playing around,” Felicity warned Jack.
Once the officers had done a thorough sweep of the area and were done taking pictures of the crime scene, doing so in a bit of a hurry to avoid too much attention from the crowd, they allowed the paramedics to cart Wanda off to the hospital. Felicity shook her head as she started back toward Main Street where she spotted some of her friends still sitting outside of the café. Autumn was on the phone; Felicity was sure that she was being called to Newnan Hospital to meet the arriving body. When Autumn hung up the phone, she stood and looked directly at Felicity as Felicity arrived outside of the coffee shop.
“Wanda?” Autumn asked with a pale look about her.
“Yeah,” Felicity said
“Geez,” Autumn mumbled. “I’m sorry, Felicity. I know you two had gotten close.” Autumn glanced around the coffee shop toward the backroad where the officers were still walking around the crime scene. “It happened right over there, and I didn’t even notice?”
Felicity nodded, but she didn’t say anything. Brian, who had been seated by Monte and Dawn, rose from his seat. “Everything okay?” he asked.
“One of her friends was just killed,” Autumn said. “Wanda. I got to go, guys. Felicity, call me if you need anything.”
Felicity nodded again, taking a deep breath. Brian stood up and hurried over to her, putting his arms around her. “Felicity, she doesn’t mean the Wanda we were just talking to earlier this evening, does she?” he asked, and Felicity nodded.
“Will you excuse me for a second?” she said, pulling back.
“Hold on, don’t leave,” he said. “Let me be there for you.”
“I just need a moment,” she insisted, and Brian respectfully backed off.
“I’ll be right here, okay?” he insisted, and she smiled and thanked him. Monte and Dawn repeated the sentiment as they sat at their spot under the array of Christmas lights near where the last-minute Santa Claus was now waving at the crowd of excited children.
Felicity walked back to where the ambulance was just now pulling away; the police, Jack included, were still standing by the taped off carriage, seeing if they could find anything. Felicity decided to walk up the street in the direction the carriage had come from. It didn’t take long for her to find a sleek Note phone. From experience, Felicity knew that phones with screen write capacities were quite helpful for event planning, so she immediately assumed it belonged to Wanda. Picking it up, she was able to confirm that. Thankfully, Wanda was too old school to have a passcode installed on her cell.
The first thing Felicity noticed was that Wanda’s social media page was open; she had made a lengthy post about someone named DeAnn. The post began, “It’s been thirty-five years today since DeAnn died…” Since it was rather long, Felicity copied the message into a text and sent it to herself to read later. One of the officers was heading her way, and since it was not Jack, she wanted to make sure she got as much as she could from the phone before having the evidence snatched away. She pulled up Wanda’s messages. There were a number of sympathetic texts from friends and loved ones.
“Hey, I know what day it is and just wanted to make sure you were okay?” read one.
“Hey beautiful woman! Hope you’re doing all right? You going to the cemetery today?” read a second.
“Wanda! Saw your post online…Just thought I would drop a line. Can’t believe it’s been thirty-five years,” and the list went on and on.
The officer was now right beside her. “Find something?” he asked and held out his hand.
“Yeah,” Felicity said. “I think it might be Wanda’s cell phone.”
“That could be beneficial to our investigation, Miss Overton,” he said, and she reluctantly handed over the phone. “Maybe let the police handle this one.”
“I would, but you guys always take too long for my taste,” she said, feeling extra snippy since she knew Wanda personally.
The man grunted. “Thanks,” he said under his breath, taking the phone with him.
Felicity decided to walk back up the street toward Overton’s Events, but she took the back road to avoid the crowd on Main Street. She entered through the back of the shop and wandered into the main lobby area where Jefferson was saying farewell to a few window shoppers. “Hey,” he said. “Autumn popped in here before heading to her car. She told me Wanda was killed? Do you know anything?” He seemed quite upset.
“A little,” Felicity said. “She was dragged by the carriage; someone tied her under it.”
“What?!” he exclaimed. “Autumn didn’t tell me that!”
“She probably doesn’t know yet,” Felicity said. “She just got a call telling her to come into work, and they told her the name of the victim. The police helped me to salvage the event. This is one of the city’s biggest events of the year, so they didn’t want the crowd to freak out.”
“And our Clauses?” Jefferson asked.
“They’re at the police station, but I called the Younglings to get the number for the Santa they use, and he rushed down here,” Felicity said, and Jefferson sighed.
“I’m guessing you’re already on the case, am I right?” he asked, and she felt some animosity in his tone that she couldn’t explain.
“Probably,” she said and headed behind the counter, pulling up the internet browser on the store’s computer. “I did find Wanda’s cell phone, and apparently, it’s the thirty-fifth anniversary of something kind of traumatic.” She pulled up the post Wanda had made that she had sent to herself and began to read it. It was a long post about moving on but never letting go; it was somewhat vague, so Felicity ran an internet search for the name DeAnn with the date from thirty-five years ago.
It took a few minutes, but soon Felicity found an old article. “Find something?” Jefferson asked from across the room.
Why is he just hanging out way over there? Felicity wondered, feeling as though he was acting rather distant. “Yeah, I think so,” she said. “Thirty-five years ago… a DeAnn Monroe died during a horseback riding incident.”
“I’m assuming she’s related to Wanda somehow?” Jefferson asked.
“Yeah. Her little sister. DeAnn was ten when it happened,” Felicity said sadly. “According to the article, her horse’s saddle was not strapped on properly, and the horse threw her…and her boot got caught in the stirrup and dragged her. Wanda must have been…maybe eighteen when it happened? It says there were a group of girls, including DeAnn’s sister Wanda, who were present during the accident. Oh, wow, this is so sad,” Felicity said as she skimmed through the article. “Sounds like Wanda and the girls carried her back to the cabin the families were renting, but she was dead before they got her back. That must have just been so traumatic.”
“I imagine so,” Jefferson said, slowly making his way over to the counter. “So what do you think? You think it’s a coincide
nce that Wanda was killed on the thirty-five year anniversary of her sister’s death by horse?”
“Probably not,” Felicity said and wiped away a single tear that had started to form. She hadn’t known Wanda long, but she was a good woman. A woman who had decided she wanted to retire early and travel the world; she was going to retire the next year. It didn’t seem fair.
They didn’t have much to go on just yet, but they spent some time swapping theories around. Felicity talked to Jefferson about some of Wanda’s friends and family who were at the event since she had met a good bit of them that evening. He nodded along. “Yeah, I met Blanche and Sandra. They came into the shop to check it out and give me a hard time about taking over Wanda’s position. They seemed nice,” Jefferson said.
“They’re a nice family. It’s hard to imagine one of them would have hurt Wanda, but I agree with what you said. The thirty-five-year anniversary of her sister’s death and she dies in the same way her sister did—dragged by a horse? That can’t possibly be a coincidence.” As Felicity was saying this, the front door flung open, and she saw a rather displeased looking Brian standing in the doorway.
“Felicity!” he exclaimed as he entered the shop. “There you are! I’ve been walking up and down the street looking for you in that crowd for the past hour! You were really upset, and I was worried about you. Why didn’t you tell me where you went?”
Felicity blushed. “Oh!” she said as she hurried around the counter to greet him. “Brian, I’m so sorry. I got distracted.”
Brian frowned and then looked at Jefferson with a slight scowl before turning his attention back to her. “It’s okay. I’m not mad at you. I just wish you had told me you were here. You just seemed really upset is all… please don’t tell me you’re playing detective again? You know you’re breaking all sorts of laws, right? You can’t head up a murder investigation. I know the city has turned a blind eye a couple of times, but you really shouldn’t—”
