“Why don’t you do that then?” April rolled her eyes. “Since you barged in causing a scene and all.”
Yvette secretly hit the Send button on her phone that sat in her jacket pocket. She’d typed out a text in the truck on their way here that would get sent to Nate’s phone in case her suspicion was correct. Nate’s phone buzzed, alerting him to the text telling him to call the police.
“I’m sorry I have to take this. My work has a problem,” Nate said, bowing out of the motel room and into the one they’d entered originally.
“I am here to invite Cyndee in for an interview and that’s the truth. The rest of the matter isn’t so simple. You see, Cyndee and I had coffee together one night and she told me some pretty interesting information about her plans for this company. I’ll be honest and say that until I walked in this door I really had no idea what I was looking for, but I figured one of you would let me know the moment I outed Cyndee’s secret.”
“You’re going to have to elaborate because I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Shannon said, chiming into the conversation.
“One of you killed Jason and I think I know who. At first, I thought it was you, April,” Yvette said, glaring at the woman. “Then, when I found the bag of laundry Shannon seems to be missing in my old bedroom with a clothespin sitting in the bottom of the bag, I thought, no, it’s not April. It has to be Patrick or Shannon because they want Jason out of the way, so Patrick could earn more money. At one point, I even thought the deal that Patrick mentioned previously was motive enough for Cyndee to kill Jason to help execute it. Truthfully, it could have been anyone of you.”
“What deal? You’re stealing an employee and trying to solve a murder. Please,” April rolled her eyes. “Get that foolishness out of here. You don’t even make any sense.”
“I’m not trying. I did. I knew that if I came here and brought up the fact that Cyndee applied for a job in Heritage in front of all of you that you’d all show me what I was missing. I’m sure you’re all lovely people but you aren’t very put together. April, you didn’t want your brother to tell your parents that you had Cyndee running your business for you, but what you didn’t know was that Cyndee was going behind your back, making plans for your company without you knowing.”
“I didn’t kill Jason! I’d never kill anyone,” Cyndee cried.
“I know. It wasn’t you, but you did tell Patrick your plan, didn’t you? You can’t hide that now, since he admitted it just a few moments ago.” Yvette glanced at Patrick. “You knew that Cyndee wanted to find a way to hire you for the maintenance job and the quickest way for that to happen was for you remove Jason from the situation. Was killing him really worth it?”
“You killed my brother?!” April lunged herself across the room at Patrick.
“I didn’t mean to! I’d been so upset with him when we were working on the trolley and I just wasn’t over the fact that he got the job I deserved. When you guys were out picking up dinner, we went outside to talk, hoping to find a way to get along. I guess… well, it just didn’t go as planned.” Patrick admitted, dodging out of the way just in time.
“And there we have it folks,” Yvette said with a smirk.
“How did you know?” Nate asked from the doorway of the adjoining rooms.
“I didn’t,” Yvette shrugged. “I had no idea which one of them it was, but I had a hunch they’d make themselves known if I put them in a tough spot. Are the police on their way?”
“Yup. About a minute out.” Nate nodded.
Chapter Seventeen
The Lockhart’s home was bustling with activity. Celebrating their Friendsgiving during their typical Sunday dinner was just how they liked it. Heath, Audrey and Nate had just arrived and brought a sweet potato casserole, dinner rolls and cranberry sauce with them. Amelia and Mark along with Vanessa, her husband Dean and their children had arrived a bit earlier with mashed potatoes, candied carrots, and enough pecan pie for days. Stella and Joey would be coming soon with the rest of the desserts, and Tonya and her family were arriving a bit later, responsible for bringing along some of their famous mulled cider.
Yvette knew that her family was small, but her friends were so important to her that they were just as close as family. Sitting down in the corner of the living room, she looked around at the full home and felt proud. Everyone had come together to celebrate an early Thanksgiving and she couldn’t be happier. The people from the tour had gone home with the exception of Patrick. He’d not only killed Jason but tried to frame his girlfriend. Patrick admitted that he’d been the one to remove Shannon’s laundry bag from her suitcase, dropping a clothespin inside and hoping someone would find it. He wanted Jason’s job badly enough to kill him and wanted to get away from Shannon enough to frame her for his death.
Cyndee still had intentions on moving to Heritage. Yvette had received an email from her inquiring about the position at the shop saying that April had fired her and ended their contract. Cyndee may not have been the killer but her scheming ways weren’t something that Yvette needed in her life. So, whether Cyndee decided to move to Heritage or not, didn’t matter. She wouldn’t have a job at Sundae Afternoon.
Once Tonya and her family had arrived, the Lockharts and the Briggs could be heard in the kitchen, laughing and teasing one another. Yvette shared a look with Nate at their parents antics, hoping that one day she and Nate could experience that same thing.
“Everyone ready?” Charlie called.
“Yes! We’re hungry!” Mark and Amelia said at the same time, giggling to one another.
Abigail and Audrey exited the kitchen first, holding warm rolls and gravy boats. Charlie and Heath followed closely behind bearing large platters of turkey and ham.
“That looks amazing!” Stella’s eyes were huge.
“Looks? It smells even better!” Vanessa chimed in.
Yvette agreed. Everything had fallen in to place just like it always did. With four different interviews in place for the following day, she was sure that at least one or two of them would work out. Sundae Afternoon was a great place to work and she’d put her all in to making sure it stayed that way.
“Are you still mad at me?” Yvette asked Heath, whose place had been set at the table next to hers.
“Save that for another time. Today is about family.”
Also by Gretchen Allen
Sundae Afternoon Series
Book 1: Triple Dipped Murder
Book 2: Melt Down Murder
Book 3: A Twist of Murder
Book 4: Caked in Murder
Author’s Note
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