Candy Canes & Corpses

by Abby L. Vandiver

  “They could be anywhere by now.” Jill drew out her phone. “I’m calling the marina. What’s the manager’s name?”

  Eve gave her a slanted eye look. “You seem to assume I know him… Fine. I did meet him and I just happen to know he’s visiting family for the holidays. Someone else is looking after the marina.”

  “Be careful what you say to him,” William warned. “You don’t want to spook him. Tell him to stay out of sight and, if possible, to take cover. We don’t know if the perps are armed.”

  “We don’t know they’re perps,” Eve said. “We only know they’re driving a stolen car. For all we know, they might have purchased it recently not knowing it had been stolen.”

  “Eve, they’re already guilty,” Jill said. “Otherwise, why would they take off when you explicitly told them Jack had said they needed to stay?”

  Bradley hadn’t looked like a killer. “What’s this world coming to when a father to be turns into a killer?”

  Jill gave a slow shake of her head. “You assume it was him. What about his wife?”

  True. They might even have conspired together. “All I can say is that he’s off on the wrong foot and setting a bad example for his unborn child.”

  Jill put her finger to her lip. “Hi. Who’s this? Bartholomew? Has a young couple come to the marina? The woman is heavily pregnant.” Jill looked at Eve and gave a stiff nod. “They’re just driving in? But they had a head start… Oh, sorry, I was talking to someone else.” Leaning forward, Jill tapped William on the shoulder and said, “Step on it.”

  “Tell Bartholomew to be careful,” Eve said.

  Jill pressed a finger to her ear. “What was that? The coast guard just radioed you? They’re on their way?” Putting her hand over the phone, she turned to Eve. “Sounds like the cavalry is arriving.”

  What about Jack?

  William must have read her thoughts. “He’s on the other side of the island, near the bridge and heading toward the marina.”

  “I think we’ll get there first,” Jill said. “What’s the plan?”

  “For you to lay low and stay in the car,” William said.

  “I don’t have any problems with that,” Eve murmured and sent Mira a text message to check up on her. She responded with surprising speed saying everything remained calm and no one suspected anything. Which begged the question. So, Eve sent another text. “What are you talking about, Mira?” she murmured. When she received the reply, she moaned under her breath. “Trust Mira to be looking out the window when we all piled into the car and took off. She’s dubbed us the Keystone Cops Hangers On because, of course, we’re not the police.” Glancing at the mirror, she thought she saw William frown.

  “Does that make William a Keystone cop?” Jill asked.

  Eve’s phone pinged. “Mira must be a mind reader. She sent a message saying she did not mean to infer William is a Keystone cop and she apologies for any offence taken.”

  Jill grabbed her hand. “Listen up. Bartholomew says the pregnant couple is walking up the jetty.”

  “Okay,” William said. “We’re here.” He pulled up just outside the marina entrance and killed the engine. Turning, he warned, “Stay in the car.”

  Eve and Jill nodded.

  As Officer William Blaine emerged from the car, Eve noticed her SUV approaching. “Jack’s coming.”

  “Bartholomew, talk to me,” Jill said. “What do you see now?”

  “I see a police officer approaching.”

  Jill turned to Eve. “I think he should have waited for back-up.”

  Eve struggled to believe the pregnant couple were in any way involved in Todd Emerson’s death. “Bartholomew, this is Eve Lloyd, does the officer have his revolver drawn?”

  “That’s an affirmative,” Jill said. “This is rather a novelty. We’re usually in the thick of it with guns pointed at us. And we always end up catching the guilty party.”

  Eve lifted her chin a notch. “Well, some people might say meddling women don’t solve crimes, they get killed. So, I’m fine sitting on the side-lines.”

  Jill harrumphed. “What sort of insufferable, good for nothing, petty misogynist would make a remark like that?”

  Eve shrugged. “You assume it might be a man. It could well be a woman.”

  “Have you been eavesdropping on people whispering about you?”

  Eve gave a nonchalant shrug. “I might have heard someone or other saying something or other within my hearing.”

  When Jill waved, Eve looked out the window and saw Jack running toward the marina.

  “I suddenly find being here very odd,” Eve whispered. “However, if Mira had come along, she would have told me not to worry and then she would have told us about the Battle of Waterloo and how some high society people had trekked out there to be near the battle.”

  “They did? Whatever for?”

  “I have no idea. I only remember hearing Mira talk about the Duchess of Richmond holding a ball on 15 June 1815, the night before the battle. It turned into quite a social gathering.”

  Jill laughed. “So, if we’d known this would happen, we could have organized a picnic by the marina.”

  Ten minutes later, Jack appeared.

  “I guess they got away,” Jill murmured.

  “That’s a hasty conclusion.” Eve tried to read Jack’s expression. He looked focused and serious. Which could mean anything.

  They waited until he reached the car to wind down the windows.

  “Did you catch them?” Eve asked.

  He nodded. “They’ve been taken into custody. We handed them over to the coast guard.”

  Jill yelped. “For stealing a car?”

  “No, the wife really lost it. She didn’t take it too well and she blamed her husband for getting caught because he couldn’t wait another couple of days before killing Todd Emerson. I guess we’ll find out the details soon enough when the mainland police interrogate them.”

  Eve sat up and braced herself. “Are you suggesting they planned this all along?”

  Jack brushed his hand across his chin. “Let’s just say they have been busy.”

  “But they looked so innocent.” Eve looked out the window and wondered if she should rethink the whole idea of running an inn.

  “Fact is, they’ve been busy for a long while now.”

  “What? Hang on… Do they have anything to do with David Bergstrom’s cold case?” Eve asked.

  “How did you know about that?”

  Eve gave a woeful shake of her head. “The real pertinent question is why I didn’t know about it. I wish you’d mentioned it before, Jack. Do you have any idea what Mira has been going through?”

  Jack looked away and back again. “I guess David didn’t mention it. Well… It wasn’t for me to say.”

  “That’s no excuse. You could have dropped a hint.”

  Jill nudged her. “He didn’t know David had kept it all under wraps. Give Jack a break.”

  Jack grinned. “Am I forgiven?”

  “Yes, of course. It’s so close to Christmas, how could I not forgive you, but I might bring it up again after the holidays.”

  Jack climbed in and said, “Where to?”

  “Home, James. Take us home. Although, this feels like a bit of an anticlimax. We were never in real danger.”

  “None that we know of,” Jill said.

  Epilogue

  Eve strode into the inn and set the last of her shopping bags down. Somehow, she’d managed to talk the local store owner into revealing he had extra stock for emergencies. It hadn’t been easy. She’d had to bribe him with an offer of a free lunch at the inn and two nights stay for his mother-in-law visiting in the new year.

  Jack came up behind her and covered Eve’s eyes with his hands. “Close your eyes. I have a surprise for you.”

  Eve smiled. “Am I going to like it?”

  “You’re going to love it. I promise.”

  As they reached the kitchen, Jack removed his hands.

 
Laughing, Eve swirled around. “Okay… What’s the surprise?”

  “Listen.”

  “I don’t hear anything.”

  He walked her through to the sitting room. “Look out the window.”

  “What am I supposed to see out there? I just came in. I didn’t see anything.”

  “Didn’t you notice anything when you drove in?”

  Eve sighed. “I tried not to. Making the best of the situation is hard work.”

  Jack pointed toward the street. “What do you see?”

  “Nothing. Oh…” Eve jumped on the spot. “Where are the cars?”

  “It’s an early Christmas gift, Eve. I organized a ferry to take everyone to the mainland and then buses to drive them off to their respective homes. They left early this morning while you were out.”

  “You mean, I have my empty inn back?”

  He nodded.

  “Details. How? When?”

  “You were baking up a storm, so I drove into town and had a friendly chat with Roger McLain. I told him what needed to happen within twenty-four hours and…” He swept his arm around. “Here, it is. You are once again closed for the holidays.”

  She wrapped her arms around him and cocooned herself in his embrace. “You could not have given me a better gift. From the bottom of my no longer heavy heart, thank you.”

  “But wait, there’s more!”

  ***

  “That’s what he said?” Jill asked.

  Eve gave a vigorous nod. “He didn’t give me any more details. He only said I should expect another surprise.” Eve stepped back from the table and admired their handy work. “Traditional red and green for the table setting worked a treat. I particularly like your sprigs of holly arrangement.” Eve checked her watch. She wanted to get started on the tree but would have to wait until after lunch when they could all settle in the sitting room.

  “Someone’s coming.” Jill hurried over to the window and gasped. “Oh, you’ll never guess.”

  As Eve rushed to join her by the window, Jill swung around, grabbed hold of her arms and pushed her back. “No. I’m sure this is all part of Jack’s surprise so you have to cover your eyes. Mira. Come out of your writing cave. You need to be here for this. Oh, and close your eyes.”

  “Jill,” Mira said as she strode out of the den, “I swear the more time you spend with Eve, the less sense you make. Has there been another murder?”

  “Far from it. Come on. Stand next to Eve and close your eyes.”

  “I hear the front door opening,” Eve said. “Mischief and Mr. Magoo have rushed to see who it is. They sound excited.”

  Jill clapped her hands. “Okay. On the count of three, you can open your eyes.”

  Eve and Mira both opened their eyes. Seeing David Bergstrom standing in front of them, they both folded their arms and lifted their chins.

  “Oh,” Eve said, her tone expressing the indifference she wanted to feel but didn’t because she rather liked the surprise. “Hello.”

  “How did you get here?” Mira asked. “I didn’t hear the helicopter.”

  David Bergstrom gave her an apologetic smile. “Jack insisted, saying I’d already spoilt the surprise by telling you to expect a surprise so he asked the helicopter pilot to land near your place. Jack picked me up and drove me here.”

  Eve softened her tone a little when she asked, “Are you here for Christmas or is this only a brief visit? I’d like to know how many people I’m cooking for.”

  “I’d like to stay,” David said. “But that depends on whether or not I’m forgiven.”

  “Only if you tell us every single detail of your investigation,” Eve said.

  Without taking his eyes off Mira, David agreed.

  “Oh, go on,” Mira said. “You’re already here so you might as well stay.”

  ***

  Eve poured everyone more coffee.

  “It was my last case. I’d already postponed retiring twice. Finally, I had to give up on it. The trail had gone cold, and I had to file the case, but I never accepted it.”

  Eve stirred some sugar into her coffee. “I cannot believe that sweet looking couple had been on a killing spree.”

  David’s gaze lowered. “Their sweetness is what makes it all the more embarrassing for me and horrendous for the crimes they committed. They eluded capture for three years.”

  “What prompted you to look at the case again?” Jill asked.

  “Ken McLain alerted me to a recent murder. He saw a few similarities to previous unsolved murders. Thinking I might be interested, he asked if I wanted to do some consulting work.” He turned to Mira. “I’m sorry, but once I opened the case again, I couldn’t let it go. I would have told you but, from one day to the next, I didn’t know how long it would take and I just didn’t want to give you any empty promises.”

  Eve’s gaze shifted over to the corner where David had put his surprise gift for Mira. Before turning his attention to the cold case, he’d put his retirement time to good use by making a rocking chair for Mira and had organized to have it helicoptered in. That had been the surprise he’d told her to expect.

  Still… That didn’t get him off the hook.

  While Mira smiled at him, Eve decided to give David a good dressing down. Mira worked on a constant deadline and if he wanted to be in her life, he needed to learn to toe the line and not disrupt… Eve raked her fingers through her hair. She’d think of something appropriate to say to him. For now, she was simply too happy to see him again.

  Eve didn’t need to ask for more information about the case because Jill beat her to it. “Did they break and tell you why they killed Todd Emerson?”

  “That’s what made this case so difficult. Motive. They did target him and had been following him for several days. A while back, we labeled them the holiday killers. Lily and Bradley Hopper enjoyed stalking their victims for days. They made their encounters look casual until they looked too coincidental. Lily, in particular, enjoyed seeing the rise of fear in their victim’s eyes. When they found themselves stranded at the inn Bradley Hopper couldn’t resist the temptation.”

  “So, that story about driving into town to do some last-minute shopping had been a ruse?” Jill asked.

  “I’m sure they planned on doing some of that too. To quote Bradley Hopper, getting stuck on the island raised the degree of difficulty and excitement. He positioned himself out on the rocks just in case Todd Emerson checked his window before turning in. And he did. When Bradley told us this, his eyes lit up. He hadn’t expected his plan to work, but it lured his prey outside. Todd wanted to confront him. By then, he’d been obsessing about seeing Lily and Bradley everywhere he went. Suddenly, they were at the inn.”

  “But what motivated them?” Eve asked.

  “He blames his mom. Apparently, she had a fixation with Christmas and kept the entire house decorated throughout the year. Bradley Hopper grew to hate the holiday season because it reminded him of his Christmas obsessed mom.” David Bergstrom shook his head. “Those two are a match made in hell.” David smiled. “I saved the best till last. Lily faked her pregnancy.”

  “That’s something you could have left out. I feel foolish enough already for having thought of them as sweet.” Turning to Jack, Eve asked, “So, why did Rob Reeves make a run for it?”

  Jack looked at Josh. “He took us on a wild goose chase.” He tipped his head back and sighed. “Rob Reeves is a kleptomaniac. When Josh said we wanted to have a word with him, he thought he’d been caught red-handed.”

  “What?”

  “Every time he visited his friends, he had the habit of taking something. Todd Emerson had already been suspicious of him. Mira did a great job picking up on that.”

  “Did… Did he take something from the inn?”

  “Quite a few things, actually. He cleaned out your camera display. Don’t worry, we’re holding them as evidence but I’ll make sure they’re all returned to you.”

  “I hope so. You know what it cost me to get them.” S
he poured everyone more coffee. “So, your cold case is solved, David,” Eve said. “Do you have any others?”

  “No, that’s it for me. I’m in full retirement mode now. No going back.”

  “That’s good to hear.” At last, Eve thought. They were officially closed for the holidays. “Is anyone interested in helping me with the Christmas tree? We can have some Christmas Stolle and hot chocolate.” Eve smiled at Mira. “With extra tiny marshmallows courtesy of Jack.”

  They all rose and followed Eve to the sitting room and were about to start hanging the decorations when the doorbell rang.

  “If it’s a stray Tinsel-Toner or Yule-Tider tell them there is no room at the inn,” Eve called out as Jill went to answer the door.

  She returned moments later with Helena Flanders and Abby Larkin.

  “We couldn’t wait until dinner,” Helena said. “The whole town is talking about it but we want to hear your version of events.”

  “It all started when Mira wanted tiny marshmallows for her hot chocolate…”

  “Are you sure?” Mira asked. “I think it might have started with you singing Deck the Halls.”

  David cleared his throat and began humming the tune. The rest joined in with a cheerful rendition. Jack tended to the fire. Jill handed some candy canes around. Mira sipped her hot chocolate with tiny marshmallows…

  Yes, Eve thought, despite everything that had happened, this would be the best Christmas ever.

  THE END

  Other books by Sonia Parin

  A Deadline Cozy Mystery Series

  Sunny Side Up (Book 1)

  Snuffed Out (Book 2)

  All Tied Up (Book 3)

  The Last Bite (Book 4)

  Final Cut (Book 5)

  Sleeping With the Fishes (Book 6)

  A Kink in the Road (Book 7)

  The Merry Widow (Book 8)

  A Dear Abby Cozy Mystery Series

  End of the Lane (Book 1)

  Be Still My Heart (Book 2)

  The Last Ride (Book 3)