BETTER WATCH OUT

by Christina Freeburn

  I lowered the sign. “Thank goodness it’s you. I found—”

  “If you’re about to say evidence, stop. Don’t say it and don’t touch anything else.”

  Orville grabbed hold of my arm and practically hauled me out of the dumpster, and not too nicely. The sign thumped the side of the dumpster.

  “I’m just trying to help.” I shook off his grasp. What was with him? The police didn’t know about the evidence in the dumpster. “Nancy dropped some bank slips with Jenna’s name on it.”

  “Why would they be in the garbage behind the bookstore?”

  “Because Nancy didn’t take them back and I didn’t want them, so I threw the slips away.”

  “And now, for some reason, you realized it would be a good thing for you to have.”

  “No, I thought they’d be good for you…the police…to have.”

  Orville heaved out a breath and crossed his arms, centering a what-am-I-going-to-with-you look on me. It was like I was a wayward teenager who needed a scolding. Heck, I was a year older than the man.

  “I don’t want to consider you a suspect in this murder,” Orville said. “You ain’t making it easy. I should take you in for questioning instead of talking to you out here.”

  “I’m a suspect.”

  Even I heard the lack of a question in my voice. I wasn’t surprised. This wasn’t my first time dealing with a murder, and I had to admit I made a good suspect. Argued with the victim the morning before she was killed; showed up at the victim’s house the morning after she died to snoop around. It was my word against Eric’s on who was the aggressor.

  “Let’s lay everything out. You had words with Jenna at her house on Thursday. No one has seen or heard from Jenna since your visit. She’s texted and called a few people, hanging up before anyone heard her voice. Doesn’t look good for you. This morning you decided to go visit the widower, who you said held you at gunpoint and threatened Cassie. Now, you conveniently find evidence pointing to Jenna having large sums of money, I’m presuming, which somehow tie into her murder. Anything I’m leaving out?” He crossed his arms and glared at me.

  He wasn’t going to like this. Neither was I. I was looking pretty guilty. “In the dumpster, I found the naughty sign with Eric’s name on it.” I gave it to Orville.

  He held the sign, staring at it. “Ah yes, forgot to mention that you found the sign with Jenna’s name on it and someone took it from you, and now here it is. In your possession with Eric’s name on it.”

  Orville’s voice had grown cold. I trembled. He was officially putting me on the suspect list. “What did Eric tell you about my visit?”

  “Nothing. The man wasn’t there.”

  Oh God. I shouldn’t have left. I should’ve stayed there and seen what Eric wanted from me instead of getting him drunk and escaping. The man must’ve just fallen asleep and took off once he saw I was gone. He could show up any minute. Cassie was in the store. Unprotected. I raced for the door.

  Orville stepped in front of me, blocking me. “Settle down before you run in there. No sense upsetting the girl. Nothing is going to happen to her in the store. There’s an undercover officer in there. A squad car is out front. I doubt Eric will walk in knowing we’re here.”

  Tears rushed into my eyes. “He threatened to go after Cassie. You don’t believe me. You think I’ve made all this up because I had something to do with Jenna’s death.”

  “I believe you, Merry.”

  “It doesn’t seem that way.”

  “Because I have to keep an open mind. I have to come to terms that someone I know, someone I like, someone in this town is a murderer.”

  The sadness in his voice shook me. This wasn’t easy for Orville or any of the officers in Season’s Greetings. The person who killed Jenna was likely someone they knew, liked, possibly even loved.

  “We’re not going to let him harm that girl,” Orville’s tone had grown softer. “If he gets anywhere near her, we’ll stop him. We want to find him. There are a lot of questions he needs to answer, and it doesn’t look good that he’s avoiding the police.”

  “What about the sign?”

  “I’ll show it to the chief and see if we can get any prints off it.”

  “Mine and Rachel’s will be on it. Also, Cassie and Garrett. They might have adjusted it in the window.” My mind went back to last night. “And the people who decided to take selfies with it. Who do you think killed Jenna?”

  “Can’t really say. We just go where the evidence sends us.” Orville walked over to the dumpster. “Be aware of your surroundings and let Cassie know to keep an eye out for anything unusual, but don’t scare the girl.”

  He was right. I wanted Cassie protected and aware but not terrified. How was I going to manage that? She was going to her grandmother’s tonight for dinner. A house that was off the main road and tucked into a quiet wooded area. A perfect place for someone to sneak up on an ailing older woman and her teenage granddaughter. I should finagle myself an invitation.

  “She’s going to be at Helen’s tonight. What if he goes there?” My voice hitched.

  “We’ll keep everyone safe. Though it’s a lot harder to do if you’re going around antagonizing people.”

  I was about to defend myself and decided my best defense was to keep my mouth shut. Also, because there was little to argue against. I was riling people up. Though, I shouldn’t be too surprised that Sarah wasn’t happy that her husband was tied to Eric and Jenna at this moment in time. Right now, the pastor also made a good suspect and church goers weren’t going to be too forgiving about that.

  “Sarah Heath was the one who showed up at my front door acting like a hen wanting to peck my eyes out.”

  Orville drew back and relaxed his features, trying to wipe away the shock that had flashed on his face. “Mrs. Heath spoke to you this morning?”

  “She came to my house. Basically, she wanted me to stop telling the police stuff that made her husband look bad.”

  “Interesting.”

  I was glad that Orville thought it was too. “The pastor told me he went to Jenna’s to talk to her Friday morning, but she wasn’t there.”

  “He told you that?” All expression vanished from Orville’s face.

  I nodded. “He told me he went to talk to Jenna about some city council stuff. Since he’s the vice mayor.”

  “Anything else?”

  I talked myself right into the topic I had wanted to avoid—the loan or embezzling, depending on how you viewed it.

  Orville placed his hands on his utility belt. “Merry, you have to tell me. You can’t keep withhold information that’s important to this case.”

  “What if it’s a rumor?” My heart thudded in my chest.

  “You didn’t have a problem sharing earlier.”

  My cheeks heated. He was right. Some of the information I already passed on could be deemed rumors. I trusted Orville. He wouldn’t spread gossip. “The pastor mentioned that the mayor was saying that Samuel had stolen money. I’ve been trying to find out the truth. That’s why I went to Eric’s.”

  Orville heaved out a sigh. “The better thing to have done would’ve been calling the police and let us determine who’s doing the lying. You’re going to get yourself hurt.”

  The fact that he didn’t ask me to clarify my statement told me that he already knew about the town’s missing money. Giving the town money wasn’t going to stop the truth from coming out. “I’ll be careful.”

  “You’re going to stay out of this, Merry.”

  “I feel responsible. There’s something in my head. Something I’m missing.”

  “Call me.” Orville pulled out a business card and jotted down a number on the back. “That’s my personal cell. If you remember something, call me and I’ll help you talk it through to see what you can remember.”

  “I don’t want
to waste your time.”

  “I’d rather my time be wasted than have another murder to investigate. Don’t put me in a position of having to call your kids and tell them something terrible happened to their momma.”

  Using my kids was low but if he wanted to shock me, it worked. I didn’t want my children receiving a call that something happened to me because I was being nosy. I wanted to know who killed Jenna, I felt responsible. I was there that night. How could I have not seen or heard anything? Trying to assuage my guilt wasn’t going to put a protective bubble around me. Whoever killed Jenna wasn’t going to want anyone to find out. They killed one person, killing a second was probably easier after you had done it once.

  “I’ll call you. Can you ask an officer to keep an eye on Cassie and Helen? Drive by their houses and check on them tonight.”

  Orville patted my shoulder. “I’ll do what I can, Merry. It’s time for our annual food drive so I’ll have someone stop by tonight and check everything over. Helen is a smart woman and she’ll know something is up if an officer stops by.”

  “You don’t think it’ll be a good idea to tell them?”

  “Tell them what? Everyone in town knows that someone killed Jenna and the person hasn’t been caught. Either they don’t think the person is a threat to them, which is good, or they don’t care. The last thing Season’s Greetings needs is a bunch of vigilantes running around town, or even a slew of amateur sleuths.”

  I went back into the store, trying to ignore the feeling that once again I was missing something, forgetting a detail.

  Rachel was helping one of Jack’s nephews place some stickers on an ornament. The niece was sitting on the reading circle carpet, a brother on either side, as Cassie read The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. The little girl was thumping her feet on the circle. Her small booted feet nearly crushing her brothers’ fingers. The boys had quick reflexes and were able to move their hands away in the nick of time. I had a bad feeling that was the point of the game.

  I brought two chairs over for the boys. They offered me a grateful smile. The niece stared up at me, tears welling in her big blue eyes. Her lower lip trembled. I squatted down and fixed my best momma-don’t-play-that-game smile on her. “Want a chair too?”

  She shook her head. “Brothers down here.” She patted the two empty spots on the carpet beside her.

  “Now you can dance your feet all you want without smushing your brothers’ fingers. Santa wouldn’t want you doing that.”

  Her eyes widened. Tears pooled. “Brothers here. By me.”

  “I think it’s best your brothers sit on the chairs.” I stood and planted my hands on my hips, giving her my stern momma look.

  She narrowed her eyes on me. The tears drying instantly. This was a child that was used to getting her way no matter what. She crossed her chubby baby arms and turned away from me.

  Cassie pressed back a smile as she continued to read.

  I walked over to the crafting table and started cleaning up. A mother walked over to the counter, carrying an armload of books and some craft kits. Messy canvas kits would be easy to assemble. Couple tubes of paint. Sponge paint brushes. Small canvases to make it easy to mail. And have a couple choice of decals. I had a color printer and could put together an easy to read direction sheet with color pictures.

  Tugging out my phone, I quickly messaged the idea to Bright. We’d been thinking of a way to expand our handcrafted Christmas and this was perfect for us. Craft kits that allowed children and adults to create their own handcrafted items for their loved ones. We might lose a little bit of business for the items we handcrafted, but there would always be people who preferred to buy the handcrafted look and now we could branch out to those who preferred to do their own crafting but wanted the ease of a kit.

  “Thanks for bailing on me,” Jack said, dropping silver glitter into the clear ornament. “Hope whatever came up was worth ditching me. I’m not really the crafty type and could’ve used some help.” He capped the ornament and held it up. Lopsided stickers spelled out “let it sow.”

  “Let it sow? Interesting phrase for a Christmas ornament.” I tucked my phone into my back pocket and snuck a look at the picture window. There were some people lingering outside. None of them Eric.

  “Well, the terror wanted mine to say let it snow but my sheet was missing the letter ‘n.’ Hard to write snow without an ‘n.’”

  “Why didn’t you take one from another sheet?” Leaning over, I peeled an “n” from a discarded sheet and carefully peeled up the “s” and moved it over. “There you go, you can now let it snow.”

  “It was the only sheet missing letters, so I took it for me. My niece insisted I craft with her and I discovered it’s quieter if you just do as she tells you. She got bored five minutes into the project and went to listen to the story.”

  Or rather to torment her two brothers who tried to escape her. “Unless you always want her to boss you around forever, you have to learn to say no.”

  “Didn’t seem the time or place.”

  I wonder if his niece was solely responsible for the squealing Rachel and I heard earlier. The doorbell jingled. I glanced over. Nancy entered. No Eric.

  “It’s never the time or place to say no to her,” one of her brother’s muttered casting an evil eye on his uncle.

  Jack ruffled the young boy’s hair flicking a concerned gaze in my direction. “Uncles are supposed to be the fun guy. Besides your sister is still a baby.”

  The little boy scrunched up his nose. “Two isn’t a baby. I wasn’t allowed to hit people when I was two. You’re just scared of her. Like Dad and Mom are. She always gets her way.”

  As if to prove the little boys point, the two brothers on the chair pushed them back and sat by their sister, putting their fingers back at risk of being stomped on by her. The little girl caught me watching them, she stuck out her tongue and smiled.

  Jack and the girl’s parents sure had their hands full. “You’re going to have a fun-filled rest of the day and evening.”

  Jack shook his head, a look of terror crossing his face. “I’m done in an hour. I told my sister I could babysit until three.”

  “You never know. Stores are more crowded. Could take them longer to get their errands done.” Again, the bell jingled, and I whipped my head in the direction of the door. A group of teenage girls. Garrett hustled over to help the giggling bunch. I should move to the other side of the table before I gave myself whiplash.

  Jack turned and stared at the door for a moment before returning his attention to the pile of stickers in front of him. “Are you okay?” He picked up a sheet, counted letters then put it back down.

  “Sure. Why wouldn’t I be?” I asked, stopping myself from checking out who was now coming in the store. Traffic was picking up at One More Page.

  “You seem to be interested…or should I say terrified…of whoever might be coming in the store.” Jack pulled a capital “w” off the sticker sheet.

  “I had a run-in with a creep earlier and he made a comment about visiting the store.” I tried to keep my tone light and breezy. It didn’t work. My voice broke and a tremor shook each syllable. “What are you adding to the ornament?”

  “The cute little terror’s name. I expect by tomorrow this one will be in pieces and she’ll try and snatch one of her brothers’. How in the world will I fit Wilhelmina on here?”

  “I can do it.” I knelt and took the ornament from him and gathered a pile of sticker sheets. There had to be enough letters in the castoffs to spell the child’s name.

  “Explain it all to me.” He made himself as comfortable as possible on the child-size chair and patted the one next to him.

  “It’s a long story.” I moved from the floor to the chair. “I probably won’t come out looking too good.”

  He looked me up and down then grinned. “I find that hard to believe.”

/>   I narrowed my eyes. “I wasn’t looking for a compliment.”

  “Didn’t say you were. You just seem too friendly and happy to be trouble.”

  Little did he know how my life was going lately. “You’d be surprised. My ex-husband, or maybe not my ex-husband, was murdered a few weeks ago. People think he won a load of cash and because our divorce wasn’t exactly finalized, it means I’m a very rich widow.”

  “Someone’s trying to shake you down for money and is threatening those you care about to get some.” He nodded, a been-down-that-block-before gesture. “There will always be people who think extortion is an easy and viable way to make money.”

  “It’s not quite like that. Just trying to let you know my life is complicated and not the sipping on cocoa, watching Christmas movies all day lifestyle you assume I have.”

  He rolled his eyes. “What is it about people with generally good lives always wanting them to be more drama filled. Having a topsy-turvy life shouldn’t be a goal. Calm is good. Boring is good. Nothing wrong with happy.”

  He had a good point. My life wasn’t quite the kiddie coaster I was used to with small hills and downward plunges, but it hadn’t totally jumped the tracks.

  “The thing is that I’ve been asking a few questions and it’s irritated some people. One person mainly. He made a comment about going after Cassie if I didn’t do what he wanted. I want to make sure she’s safe. I don’t want someone hurting her because I’ve been trying to find answers to what’s going on in this town. That’s why I want to know whose walking in here.”

  He cupped his hand over mine. “Who is it? It’ll be better if more than one person is on the lookout.”

  “You can’t sit here with me until her shift is over.”

  “Sure, I can.”

  “Eric Wilcox.” I nodded toward his niece who was yanking more books of the shelves. “You need to keep all your attention on Wilhelmina not look for Eric.”

  “I can. I’m a multi-tasking kind of guy. Besides, someone shared a great parent tip with me.” He cleared his throat then called out, “Santa’s watching you, Wild One.”