A Christmas to Dismember

by Addison Moore

  Jasper’s lids hood over, and he’s looking at me with that glazed expression he gets right before things get interesting.

  “What’s that look for?” I tease.

  “Let’s just say that cookie worked up an appetite for something far sweeter.” He lands a quick kiss to my lips. “I think we’re both going to need a break after this.”

  “I so agree. Whatever shall we do?”

  “The bad boogey,” he says without missing a beat.

  “I’ll bring the chocolate chip cookies.”

  “You really know how to sweet talk a guy.”

  In an instant, the room fills with bodies. Georgie hightails it over to the legal eagle at the front of the room just as Eve French comes in with a modest black silk dress with red rhinestone buttons floating down the front. Her dark hair is pulled back into a bun, and she’s wearing a dark chocolate brown lipstick that I only wish I could get away with.

  “Bizzy.” She offers a sorrowful smile. “We meet again.”

  “You look great. We have cookies and coffee set out. Please, help yourself.”

  “Ooh.” She cranes her head past me. “I think I’ll wait to indulge.” She squints over to the attorney situating himself at the desk. Now there’s the man of the hour. Let’s hope he’s about to hand the keys to the kingdom over today—right in my hands, that is. “Excuse me.” She takes off just as the thick scent of cologne engulfs us, and in steps Arthur Silver.

  He looks dapper in a dark suit, his face cleanly shaven.

  “If it isn’t the dancer.” He gives a slight bow my way. “Nice to see you again, Bizzy. I suppose this is Quinn’s last hurrah.” His lips twitch as he looks to Eve speaking to Joseph. And there she is looking hotter than ever. Now that Quinn is gone, maybe I’ll finally get my chance. “If you’ll excuse me.” He sheds an easy smile as he heads her way.

  “He thinks he’s got a chance with Eve,” I whisper to Jasper, and his chest pumps with a quiet laugh.

  “Funny. I was able to read his mind, too.”

  The door darkens and in strides Angelica with her blonde hair looking milky in the light and her dark-framed glasses accentuating her warm smile.

  “Bizzy, nice to see you again.” She pulls her coat tightly around her.

  “Great to see you, too. If you give me your coat, I’ll hang it for you.”

  “I’m fine. I have a feeling I’m going to want to make a quick escape.” She shudders as she looks around. “The last time I was at one of these things, my father gave me the finger from the great beyond.”

  I grimace without meaning to, and she waves it off.

  “I’m fine.” A nervous titter escapes her. “So fine.” She glowers toward Joseph Goodyear. This is your last chance to right all the wrongs, Quinn. Let’s hope I don’t have to wish you dead, twice.

  She takes off to find a seat, and Jasper leans in.

  “Your mouth just fell open,” he whispers. “Did we just get a confession?”

  “Maybe.”

  “The party can start now,” a voice bellows from the entry, and the entire room turns to see Warwick giving a jovial wave. He’s dressed in a dark navy suit with a red and blue striped tie, and his beard is neatly trimmed to a point. And if I’m not mistaken, there seems to be a bounce to his step as he walks into the room. No doubt Georgie put it there.

  I tip my head toward Jasper’s and whisper, “That’s the pauper Georgie was with the other night.”

  Jasper sighs as Warwick offers a nod and a wink our way before heading to the front of the class with the others.

  Jasper and I take a seat to the right, and Georgie lands in the seat next to me.

  “Get a load of this crowd, would you?” Georgie elbows me in the side. “That Judge Goodyear is a popular guy. With that full head of hair and mouth full of real teeth, who could blame every woman in this room for having hot fantasies about him?”

  “He’s the lawyer,” I whisper. “And believe me, not a soul in this room is too concerned with him or his popularity. The only thing they care about is what he’s about to say.”

  Something brushes against my ankles, and before I can look down, Fish jumps up in my lap.

  I couldn’t stay away, she mewls softly as she situates herself to face Joseph Goodyear along with the rest of us. Don’t worry about the tail waggers. Nessa and Grady have pulled out the tennis balls. I tried to warn them that you wouldn’t like that, but they couldn’t hear me with all the cheering, the barking, the running up and down the halls—the public urination.

  “Oh, for Pete’s sake,” I mutter a touch too loud, and the room quiets to a hush as they look my way.

  Joseph Goodyear gives a light chuckle.

  “And I agree.” He nods my way. “It’s time we move things along. First and foremost, thank you for being here today. I hope the holidays are treating you well. Bizzy, the inn looks like a quintessential holiday card. The tree, the refreshments, the dessert offerings—it’s all far too kind. Your hospitality is impeccable. I can see now why Quinn regarded you so highly.”

  A tiny smile swims on my lips, and I give a little nod, acknowledging the sentiment.

  “And on Bizzy’s behalf, I’d like to extend an invitation to the Cider Cove Christmas Spectacular taking place tomorrow evening right here on Main Street. I think after something so tragic happens, it would be beneficial to feed your soul with something merry and bright. Now”—his voice grows sharp as he scans the crowd—“I’m going to start in the order that Quinn has outlined. I’m sure some of you are anxious to see where you fall in light of the fact Quinn was worth billions. Let us begin.” He clears his throat and reads one by one the names of a few people I’m unfamiliar with, mostly friends or people he did business with. And he generously leaves them modest sums ranging from five thousand dollars to fifty. “Angelica Chatfield.” He looks to the blonde who immediately spikes up in her seat. I can’t blame her. I’d probably do the same. “To Angelica, my dear friend, I leave three payments of ten thousand dollars each—to be distributed one at a time in ten year increments.”

  Her eyes enlarge, and her lips knot up. Bastard.

  She forces a smile. “Lovely.” So much for quitting my day job. And now it’s looking like I’ll never leave the Davenport Steakhouse. Her fists clench. How I wish I could go back in time and kill him all over again.

  All over again? As in—she’s done it once already?

  The attorney’s glasses slide down his nose as he leans toward the screen of his laptop.

  “It says here, Angelica, I realize this isn’t much, but it might be enough to bail you out every now and again. I fear should I leave you more than you can handle, you would immediately mismanage—”

  “I’m well aware of the reasoning.” She motions for him to continue. “Please, move on to someone else.”

  He does just that, knocking out a few more menial sums to people I don’t know.

  “Eve French?” He offers her a broad smile as she sits almost directly in front of him. “To my darling Eve, who was, in fact, the great love of my life. I owe you many apologies for ruining what could have been a blessed union between us. Contrary to what my appearances may have impressed, I do not have billions in liquidity, but I bequeath you the properties I own in England—one dusty castle and two country estates. I also give you a beach house I purchased stateside in Whaler’s Cove knowing that some day it would be the home you and your precious Elsie would live in. In addition to this, I understand these properties could bring upon you financial duress, so I am leaving you my entire portfolio of financial investments, which include stocks, bonds, commodities, and cash of which were not distributed in the reading of my will.”

  A light gasp circles the room, and a cheer breaks out—from Georgie, of course, and I nudge her to stop.

  Fish mewls, There goes the beach house.

  Eve leans forward in her seat, her face pink with color.

  “I don’t know what to say.” She gives a few rapid blinks. “I gue
ss he loved me in his own way.” He loved me deeply. That means more to me than all the money in the world. But thankfully, he left more than enough of that, too. Goodbye, apartment. Beach house, here we come.

  Angelica snorts. “Wish he loved me a little better. I guess he preferred the cold fish routine.”

  Eve scoffs just as the attorney holds up a hand.

  “Let’s continue.” He goes on with a couple more people before glancing to Arthur. “And to Arthur Silver, though you blamed me for much, I leave you great things. First, know this, you had no father—and the one the world almost provided next, you killed. Be it intentionally or unintentionally, I will never know your true heart regarding the matter. But in the days that we were getting to know one another, I decided to take you under my wing and made up my mind that I would be the father you needed. No, I did not lavish you with finances. I demanded you learn how to hustle, how to move, and claw your way to survival, and then to plenty. That being said, now that I am no longer here, I leave to you the Silver Collective in its entirety.”

  Arthur’s chest expands like a wall, and his head ticks up a notch.

  The attorney goes on. “Though I had a myriad of preventative measures in place in the event you decided to dip your hand into the trough, I will remove those constrictions. This is now wholly your company, and my only hope is that you are mature enough to know that you worked for everything you have. You have learned the business inside and out, and it is entirely up to you if it grows. Be the man I always knew you could be. Enjoy this life, my son.”

  Arthur blows out a silent thank you to the ceiling. Payday has come. And now I feel like a sack of trash for what transpired in the garden on that last night of his life.

  My lips part, and I shoot Jasper a look.

  Another admission of guilt? Jasper’s brows hike with his amusement, and I shrug as if to signify it might just be that.

  “And then there is Warwick.” The attorney broadens his smile in the direction of the jovial man himself. “To Warwick, my friend, my ally, and on occasion the enemy of both mine and yourself.” A light titter circles the room. “I leave you Telenational in its entirety—including its Sky phones division, Sky Plus Provides, and small entities within the company.”

  “Telenational?” the word echoes around the room, and it even leaves my lips as I look to Jasper.

  “Did you know Quinn owned Telenational?” I whisper his way.

  Telenational is one of the biggest cell phone providers in this country. Jasper and I are on the plan, as is the inn. Not only that, but we both have the latest model Sky phones. Telenational rose to fame a couple of years ago when it was able to undercut its competitors’ fees by half and now owns the lion’s share of the telecommunications market.

  He shakes his head with caution as I look back to the attorney.

  “Warwick”—Joseph continues—“I only hope this is not to your detriment. There were words we shared regarding the corporation. I hope by the time this is revealed you have heeded them. Understand that with great power comes great responsibility—and you owe that responsibility first and foremost to yourself. Be wise. Be shrewd, but not to your own undoing. Have a wonderful life, my true friend.”

  “Bizzy”—Georgie pulls out her phone and holds it up to me—“I’ve got a Sky phone, and the thing is a piece of crap.”

  A laugh breaks out in the room, and Warwick raises his hand.

  “Georgie, I’ll personally be glad to look into any issues you’re having with it,” he volunteers with a grin.

  “You bet, big boy,” she says it in the sultriest voice she can muster, and another round of laughter ensues. “Expect a few chocolate chip cookies as payment—among other things.”

  “Georgie.” I elbow her. “I thought you switched to the attorney,” I whisper.

  “Turns out, the pauper was the king just like in that story.”

  “The Prince and the Pauper.” I nod her way. “Word of advice: Steer clear of royalty until we solve this homicide.”

  “Come to think about it, that man did have killer moves—in the bedroom.”

  Fish yowls, Muzzle her, Bizzy.

  I’d rather have her committed.

  The attorney looks around the room. “And there is one more disbursement left to detail. Bizzy Baker Wilder.” He nods my way.

  Disbursement? Fish’s ears pique to attention, as do mine.

  “Bizzy, my friend, my loyal employee, you have taken such good care of the Country Cottage Inn, it is safe to say you have treated it as if it were your own. Therefore, I bequeath to you the Country Cottage Inn itself along with the cottages and the acreages of land that it’s settled on. However, it will be up to you to pay all necessary fees and logistics that go along with it. I hope that this is a blessing to you rather than a curse. I have instructed Arthur to continue aiding you in any manner possible. Cheers to you and cheers to all. Carry on now in this life. Smiles all around. Onward and forward.”

  The room breaks out into a microcosm of conversations all at once.

  Georgie grips me and lets out a deafening moan of delight.

  Jasper looks as if he’s about to fall out of his seat.

  Fish lets out a sharp mewl, Bizzy, does this mean what I think it does?

  I nod blindly. “I think I just inherited the inn.”

  Chapter 14

  “You own the inn,” Jasper says as he takes another bite out of a chocolate chip cookie.

  “We own the inn,” I counter as the two of us snuggle up on our sofa back at the cottage. The twinkle lights on the tree are flashing, but it’s still bare of any ornaments. “The inn is ours. What’s mine is yours, remember?”

  Fish belts out a sharp meow from her perch on the sofa. Don’t forget about me. I’ve always suspected I owned this place.

  As soon as the reading of the will wrapped up, I asked Georgie not to breathe a word just yet regarding my newly acquired hunk of real estate. I snapped up a leftover platter of cookies and peppermint bark, and Jasper and I headed back to our cottage. Of course, not before we snapped up our menagerie, too.

  Sherlock barks as Rudolph does his best to chew on his tail.

  My tail is off-limits, kid. Sherlock tucks it between his legs in an effort to spare it from tiny teeth marks. Bizzy, you and Jasper need to think about putting in a twenty-four hour bacon bar.

  I chuckle as I quickly relay his comment to Jasper.

  Jasper twitches his brows at his perpetually hungry pooch. “We’ll take that into consideration.” He looks my way. “I think that should be your new favorite catch phrase. I hate to break it to you, but that was the first in a very long list of requests you’ll be fielding. Don’t worry about a thing. Everything is perfect here just the way it is.”

  “I guess I’ll need to have a staff meeting. A shakeup like this could prompt half of my employees to walk off the job—ironically because they fear that I’ll give them the axe.” I make a face at the dark analogy. I wouldn’t be in this predicament if it weren’t for an axe.

  “Nobody is quitting because you’re in charge.” Jasper pulls me onto his lap. “If anything, they’re going to be enthused to finally speak with the owner face to face. Quinn was a ghost to them from the beginning.”

  “Maybe so, but I need to reassure them that I’m not selling it or turning it into an unrecognizable version of itself. And I’ll have to prove to them and myself that I can keep the cogs to the financial wheels turning. I mean, I see the bills. And I do try to keep electrical costs down. Just last year, I went through and replaced all of the light bulbs with those energy efficient ones, same with the toilets and showerheads. I’ve tried to keep costs down for Quinn because I was half-afraid if we drifted into the red he’d sell the place. And the inn really is my baby. Oh wow”—I look into Jasper’s pale gray eyes—“it’s really my baby now, isn’t it? Our baby.”

  He gives a solemn nod. “And I promise you won’t have to go it alone. What I would recommend is not making any immediate ch
anges. Keep things status quo until you can come up for air.”

  “You’re so right.”

  My phone pings, alerting me to a text message, and before I can pick it up off the table, it pings again and again.

  “It’s a text from Emmie,” I say. “And Jordy, and Nessa, and Juni.”

  Jasper and I read them one by one.

  Emmie—CONGRATULATIONS! Just heard the news! OMGoodness. I’m so happy for you. When you get a chance, we should totally talk about replacing the café with an upscale bistro. I’ve got a ton of ideas for you!

  Jordy—Awesome news. So happy for you. Now we can finally get that Olympic-size swimming pool we’ve been talking about.

  “The Olympic-size pool we’ve been talking about?” I balk. “I think the ocean is just fine. One less body of water for you to worry about.”

  Nessa—Good for you, Bizzy! Grady and I are both doing a happy dance. Now we won’t have to wait for Quinn to reply each time we ask for a raise.

  I cringe at that one. “There goes the excuse I had whenever anyone asked for more money.”

  Juni—Mama just told me the good news, Biz! I guess this means you’re buying dinner from here on out! Are you free tonight? Because I’m getting hungry!

  I sigh as I put down my phone. “Juni’s right, I’ll be buying dinner from here on out, but only because it’s been a long-standing tradition whenever we’re together.”

  Jasper buries a kiss next to my ear. “I can take you to dinner if you like.”

  “No, that’s okay. And it’s still early. I just want to clear my head a moment. What did you think of the behavior of those suspects at the reading?”

  He blows a steady breath. “From what I could see only Angelica looked disappointed. Eve, well, she’s pretty much set for life. And that smile she gave before she left let me know she was pretty thrilled. Arthur looked perplexed but elated. And Warwick definitely had a spring in his step.”

  “I didn’t know Warwick was one of your suspects?”

  “He is now that he acquired Telenational. Honestly, I think he got the biggest potential jackpot out of the deal. Outside of you, of course. I’ll admit, I was a bit worried about the inn.”