23. Lottie

LOTTIE

" L et's see…" Clara Dickens Greenmantle pulls her coat tight around her as we stand next to the frozen waters of Honey Lake.

The snowman building competition just ended and my shiny new suspect is about to give me the lowdown on all of the gossip that the deceased last told her.

"Ah yes, during our final lunch a few weeks back, she talked at length about two women in particular." She casts a cool glance over her shoulder before stepping in close. "The first was a woman named Eudora Fairbanks, a real uppity gal who thinks she's hot stuff because she's commandeering all of these businesses, mostly retail shops and such."

I nod. "I'm familiar with her." And unfortunately so is Ivy.

"But are you familiar with the fact that she had to file chapter eleven last month to restructure her crumbling empire? She even went to Glenda for a loan because she's afraid of losing her home."

"You don't say," I gasp just hearing it. I wonder why Eudora wouldn't ask Ivy for help? But then, on Ivy's salary, she probably wouldn't be much of a help at all. "So she was in over her head financially. I wonder what her motive could have been, though?"

"Her motive?" A dry laugh thumps through her. "Eudora would rather die than have anyone find out the fact she's destitute. Glenda was lording it over her head, telling her that she was going to expose her to everyone as an impoverished fake. Which she is." Clara shrugs. "And well, Eudora couldn't handle that. It's been chaos between the two of them ever since."

"Well, that's too bad. I guess pride is just as good a motive as any." I think about it for a moment. "Who was the second woman she spoke about during your last lunch?"

Clara holds up a finger and squints. "Oh, that's right. It was Suze." She makes a disgusted face when she says Suze's name. "She's our resident know-it-all cheapskate."

"That's funny." Thimblewick giggles. "That's what Carlotta says about her. Speaking of which, where is my tasty prune cake?"

Prune cake? I hike a brow his way. No wonder Carlotta had to fill him in on her love language.

If Everett ever called me his tasty prune cake, I'd file for divorce.

Kidding.

Mostly.

"So what did she have to say about Suze?"

Suze is about as exciting as a pair of wet socks. I'm sure whatever it is, it's pretty milquetoast.

Clara taps a hand to her chest as she glances around once again. "This one is pretty juicy. Suze has been holed up at your mother's B&B for a while now. And no matter how hard certain members of our club have tried to set her up with a man, she's refused the offers. She's forever citing that she can't stand the opposite gender."

I nod because I'm well aware of both of those facts.

Clara leans in. "Well, apparently, Little Miss I-Don't-Need-a-Man is not only seeing someone, but said someone is very much married."

"What?" I inch back. "That can't be true. Suze's marriage imploded when her husband cheated on her. I'm sure she wouldn't bring that pain to another woman. Maybe this man is separated or something?"

"Nope." Clara shakes her head with certainty. "He's not only happily married"—she says the word happily in air quotes—"but Suze met the man through his wife! She's a member of our club. Her name is Lucerna Diggins. Her husband is the?—"

"Manager of Honey Hollow Bank," I squawk in horror and she nods, affirming the fact. "Oh my word, he's so friendly each time I go into the branch. In fact, I do the banking for the bakery there, too." My eyes widen the size of my peppermint thumbprint cookies because it's Suze who is always volunteering to take my deposit to the bank for me! She's always gone twice as long as it would take me to do it. And now I know why.

"Gross. I can't believe she would do that." I shake my head in horror. "Suze is lucky she's not dead. Mr. Diggen's wife would not be happy. How did Glenda find out?"

"The old-fashioned way." Clara tips her head. "She caught them. I guess Glenda had a safety deposit box in the vault and that's where the action happened."

"Oh, double gross." I close my eyes for a moment.

"Worse than that, Lucerna and Suze have been very close friends. I would go as far as saying that Lucerna was Suze's very best friend at the club. Of course, she and Glenda were close once upon a time, too. And that's sort of why Glenda has been teasing her. She gave the bank the code name Hollyhock, which is the town they both hailed from. But boy, was Suze nervous that Glenda was going to let that little dirt bomb fly. I guess you could surmise she's pretty relieved that someone did Glenda in. And even though Suze was found hovering over the body, Eudora is just as likely a candidate for the homicide in my book."

"I can't believe either of those women would have it in them to kill."

"What I can say is, watch the quiet ones. Sometimes, they're the ones you least suspect."

A whistle goes off in the distance and my mother calls for all of her purple people to help with the cleanup.

"I'd better get going. Duty calls." Clara snaps up an eggnog snickerdoodle. "One for the road." She winks. "You know I was once a baker, too. A home baker you might say. I made a mean batch of peanut butter brownies. My husband just couldn't get enough of them. In fact, I made him a batch just before he passed away." She sighs at the sweet thought. "My sweet Harlan and I had a late-in-life marriage, but we were a perfect match right from the start. How I do miss him."

"I'm so sorry about your loss. But it sounds as if you loved him very much. And you must have if you baked sweet treats for him."

"Oh, I did. And I guess we have that in common, the baking."

"I guess we do," I say as she takes off.

Thimblewick leans in. "So who should we send to the fryer for the crime?"

" Thimblewick ." I wrinkle my nose at him.

"What? Carlotta says that all of the criminals you catch fry."

"She means they go up the river."

"The chocolate river that divides this realm from mine?"

"No, as in they go to prison."

"Oh, for Santa's sake, you humans and your euphemisms. I can never keep them straight." He floats up a notch. "I'd better go find Carlotta. Last I heard her say was that she was off to hide the mayor's gingerbread man under her tree." He disappears in a fit of red and green stars.

"He's not going to like what that means either," I say, snapping up another cookie for myself.

"Lemon?" Everett calls out as both he and Noah appear. "We've been looking everywhere for you."

"Have cookie will travel," I say, wiggling a snowflake sugar cookie their way.

"Save it," Noah says as he plucks Lyla Nell from her stroller. "We saw Clara take off a second ago. It looks like you beat me to another suspect."

Everett chuckles. "Hate to say it, but I was right. That snowman you fashioned has a better chance of finding a killer than you do."

"Keep it up," Noah says. "I bet my fist can find your face just fine."

"Noah." I give a mournful laugh. "No need to resort to violence. I'll tell you everything I gleaned."

"Excuse me," a deep voice calls out from behind and we turn to see a man in a wool coat, mid-forties, deep-set eyes, and panting like mad as if he just ran all the way here. He nods at Everett. "Are you Judge Baxter?"

"That would be me," Everett says, turning toward the man.

"Good," he says as he pulls back and smashes his fist right in Everett's eye.

I let out a short-lived scream as Noah pulls both Lyla Nell and me to safety.

" Geez ," Everett says. "Wait a minute. Does this have anything to do with Harper?"

" No ," the man says, irate. "It has to do with Mia. But this one is for Harper." He hauls back and slugs Everett one more time before bolting for the parking lot.

Noah puts Lyla Nell in the stroller and she begins to cry.

"I'm going after him," he says and Everett catches him by the elbow.

"No, don't." Everett winces. "I've done enough. I probably deserved it. I've already ruined their holidays."

I shake my head because Everett did not deserve it.

At least now we know exactly how Mia's stepfather feels about the situation. He's about as thrilled as Harper and her fans.

I just hope the holidays aren't ruined for all of us.