“Kat!” Bernie and Nina chanted her name together.
“Exactly,” said Bernie. “If Gwen wasn’t giving up Kat to Sugar, she sure wasn’t giving her to the Lawrences.”
“Either Twiggy is a remarkable actress or she didn’t know a thing about it until today,” I protested.
“That still leaves Claudine and Jonah. Kat’s grandmother and father. Blood ties run deep.” Mars raised his eyebrows as if asking me if I agreed.
“Put them on the list.”
Jonah peered into the kitchen and knocked on the door. Mars rose to let him in.
“Sorry to interrupt. The police are done in your garage, Mars, so we can sleep at home tonight. Thanks for putting up with us, Sophie. We’re not at our best right now.”
“My pleasure, Jonah. Really. It’s understandable that you’re going through a very tough time. How’s Twiggy?”
He rubbed the side of his face and let out a stream of air. “I’m so angry with Sugar. I begged her to let me break it to Twiggy my way. She’ll be okay, I guess. It will take some time, though. I’ll just go upstairs and collect our stuff. Twiggy told me to ask if I should strip the beds.”
I grinned. “I can’t believe she even thought of that with all she’s going through. Thanks, but I’ll take care of the beds tomorrow.”
He nodded and headed upstairs.
Mars, Nina, and Bernie were getting ready to leave when Jonah came downstairs.
Mars picked up Daisy’s leash.
“Excuse me! Isn’t it my turn to have Daisy again?” It wasn’t so much a question as a demand.
Mars reluctantly turned the leash over to me. “I was hoping you’d forget.”
“I’ll walk you home. Daisy needs to go out anyway.”
Mars tamped down the fire for me, and we left the house. Bernie and Nina turned toward their houses.
Mars tilted his head in that direction. “Let’s go the long way.”
“Trouble with Natasha?” asked Bernie.
Mars paused before responding. “Let’s see, Nat wound up tighter than a spring or a calming walk in cool, crisp winter air. Which would you prefer?”
“Want to hide at my place for a bit?” offered Bernie.
Nina held out an arm to stop us. “Isn’t that Natasha?”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Dear Sophie,
I love snowmen. I even collect them! But I don’t have room in front of my town house to display a big snowman. Is there a way to make one to hang on my front door?
Snow Lover in Snowflake, Arizona
Dear Snow Lover,
Use three grapevine wreaths in graduated sizes as the head and body. Tie them together. Cut an old hat in half, and use a glue gun to attach it to the small “head” wreath. Wrap a scarf around the “throat” and, if you’re really ambitious, add twig arms wearing mittens.
Sophie
The Christmas lights on our street glowed so brightly that it was hard to jump from shadow to shadow and remain hidden. But Natasha appeared to be trying to do just that.
“C’mon,” said Nina. “Let’s see what she’s up to now.”
“Are you sure that’s her?” asked Mars.
We skittled across the street.
“Where is she?” whispered Bernie. “I’ve lost her.”
“See Rudolph with the glowing nose?” I asked. “She just passed him.”
Mars huffed. “What’s she doing?” He pulled out his cell phone and dialed.
Faint bells that sounded like a church tower on Christmas rang. Mars muttered, “Rats, that’s her ringtone. It is her!” He held his phone to his ear.
Half a block ahead of us, Natasha reached into her pocket and dodged into a shadow.
“I can’t believe it. She let it roll over to voice mail!” Mars sounded insulted.
“I bet she turned it off,” whispered Nina. “She’s tailing someone. Look up near the house with the lighted snowman by the door.”
A second smaller figure hurried along the street, then paused behind a tree.
“Oh, this is nuts. I’m catching up to Natasha to find out what’s going on.”
But before Mars could jog away, Bernie seized his arm. “Not just yet. No one is in danger or trouble. Maybe she’s onto something.”
“We’re lucky neither of them has noticed us yet.” I zipped up the collar of my jacket.
Nina said, “I’m going to walk fast on the other side of the street and try to pass Natasha to see who she’s following.”
Mars snagged her coat. “No, you’re not. Stay safely with us, please.”
We followed the darting figures for several blocks. The towering Christmas tree on Market Square glowed in the night ahead of us, illuminating a couple who paused by the tree for a long kiss.
The person Natasha was following stood across the street, arms crossed over her chest. “That’s Patty!” I whispered. “Why would Natasha follow Patty?”
“We’re going to find out right now. Come on.” Mars marched ahead of us.
Natasha stood next to a tree as though she meant to hide from Patty, but she was totally visible to us. Mars crept up on her, and she screamed. Her nostrils flared. “You just gave me away and ruined all my hard work. You dolts!”
“Nat, what do you think you’re doing?” Mars spoke like he might to a misbehaving child.
“Sophie isn’t making any progress in uncovering Gwen’s killer. Apparently, it’s not important to her that I could go to jail. I have to take things into my own hands.”
A recipe for trouble, for sure! We waited to hear more.
“Mars told me that Patty slipped out of Sophie’s house in the middle of the night. So tonight, I was ready and waiting in the alley. Look at her! She’s up to no good. Shh, she sees us.”
Patty joined our little group. “Hi! What’s everyone doing down here so late?”
Natasha spit out, “Us? What are you doing sneaking around?”
Patty stepped back. “I beg Your Highness’s pardon. I wasn’t aware that I needed your permission to walk about at night.”
“Let’s not do this in public, shall we? I’ll buy a round of drinks, come on.” Bernie motioned to us.
“Thanks,” said Patty. “I’ll have to pass. I can’t leave my son.”
Bernie gazed around. “Where is he?”
“See the kid under the tree with his lips locked on a girl?”
We all looked.
“That’s my boy.”
“Bring the two of them along.”
I couldn’t take Daisy inside anyplace. “I’ll head home with Daisy. You be sure to fill me in.”
“No problem, Soph. Come with me.”
We all followed Bernie to the alley that ran behind The Laughing Hound. He opened a gate onto a screened porch with a huge fireplace at one end. He flicked on overhead heaters and the gas fireplace. In minutes the little space was toasty in spite of the chilly weather. We clustered at a large table near the fire. Patty’s son, Bradley, and his very cute redheaded girlfriend plopped themselves down in side-by-side chairs in a corner that wasn’t as private as they probably would have liked.
Patty towered over them, speaking into a cell phone before she joined us. “This is such a cute place.”
“Thanks! There’s no place to sit outdoors in the winter with a dog, so I had this built last month.” Bernie slid a platter of tiny pastries onto the coffee table in the middle of the sofa grouping. He carried a second, smaller platter over to Patty’s son.
Bernie returned and asked, “I hope White Chocolate Peppermint Martinis are okay? Except for the kids, of course. I ordered hot chocolate for them.”
When he sat down, Natasha was glaring at Patty.
“Did I do something wrong?” asked Patty.
“Perhaps you should tell us,” Natasha sp
at.
Patty gazed around at us. “I feel like I missed something. Why are you so upset with me?”
Bernie snorted. “Because you obviously had a good reason for being out and about.”
The bartender delivered the drinks in martini glasses. White with crushed peppermints around the rim, a candy cane graced each glass.
Patty sipped hers. “Oh, this is so wonderful.” She covered her face briefly with her hands. “You can’t imagine what a relief it is to be out of that house for just a few minutes, enjoying the Christmas lights, and drinking an adult drink. Thank you!”
“That’s right,” said Natasha. “Make us feel sorry for you.”
“Nat, that’s enough.” Mars pressed his hand over hers.
“You are not the one who will go to jail if they don’t find the killer. I’d like to know what Patty is doing creeping around at night.”
“You think I killed Gwen?” Patty’s eyes opened wide with horror. “Heaven knows I’d have liked to.” She held up a finger. “But I didn’t. I’m far too much of a wuss. You can count me out.”
“Then why did you sneak out in the middle of the night?” Natasha demanded.
Patty’s eyes met mine. “Oh. You knew about that? I may not be with my kids twenty-four/seven, but I still know when they’re up to something.”
Her face lit up with a smile. “When Bradley was eight, he discovered Elvin’s girly magazines. They weren’t anything awful, but to an eight-year-old boy, they were very exotic. He took to pinching one each time we went over to Elvin’s. I found them neatly tucked under Bradley’s mattress. Zebras and little boys don’t change their stripes. The first night I was here, when I had dinner at their house, I excused myself to go to the ladies’ room, but I headed straight for Bradley’s room. Found one of those prepaid cell phones under his bed. Took me a few minutes, but I found the texts. I had to look up the meanings.”
She grabbed a scrap of paper and wrote 420 2NTE 0200. “420 means let’s get high, 2NTE is tonight, and much to my surprise, they’re using military time. 0200 is two in the morning. Bradley responded with ILBL8, which translates to I’ll be late. So I got out of bed, and let me tell you, it wasn’t easy because I was dead on my feet, but I was waiting for him when he slipped out of Baxter’s house. I followed him because I wanted to see who he was meeting. I called their moms on the spot and took him home.”
That explained a lot! I glanced at her son, who was busy making eyes at his girlfriend.
“How long have you been following me, Natasha? Isn’t that against the law? Stalking or something?” asked Patty.
“Nat, cool it,” cautioned Mars.
“Just so you know, Miss Nosy Pants, I have alibis because I was with people constantly. I was at Sophie’s house, then I went over to Baxter’s and had dinner with him and the kids, then I went back to Sophie’s house, and when I went out in the middle of the night, I was with my son. So there!”
Natasha opened her mouth, but Mars clamped his hand on her arm. Natasha shot him an irritated look and said, “But she’s lying!” And then she slid off the sofa in a dead faint, spilling her drink all over herself.
Fortunately, no one took a picture.
Mars kneeled over her, lightly tapping her cheeks. “Nat? Nat?”
“Should I call an ambulance?” I asked.
“Give her a minute. It’s her nerves. The pressure has been too much for her. I was afraid of something like this.”
Natasha came around and sat up exactly at the moment the mother of the redheaded girl arrived to pitch a major fuss. The child turned the color of a red poinsettia. I couldn’t blame her. Her mother did everything except drag her off by the ear.
Patty marched her son home.
Mars and Natasha took a cab.
Bernie, Nina, Daisy, and I strolled back together.
“Is anyone else now convinced that Patty killed Gwen?” asked Nina. “She lied without so much as a nervous blink!”
“She’s told me what a great guy Elvin is and that he would help anyone. Do you suppose he woke, saw what happened, and helped her clean up?” I asked. “We saw him wrapping a gift at Rocking Horse Toys. He’s pretty good at it.”
“Elvin seems like a decent bloke,” said Bernie. “Don’t you think we could get him to cough up what he knows? Maybe if we pressure him a little? Suggest it will go easier on Patty if she turns herself in?”
“Right. How are we going to pull that off?” I asked. “He’s in the store all day and surrounded by people at Baxter’s at night.”
We passed the snooty antiques store near Rocking Horse Toys. I stopped to admire the silver sleigh. It no longer graced the window. Cupping my hands around my face, I leaned against the glass.
“Better be careful. You don’t want to set off an alarm,” said Bernie.
“Does anyone see the silver sleigh in the store?”
Nina pressed her nose against the window. “Nope. Maybe the police collected it as evidence.”
Bernie had drifted on to Rocking Horse Toys. He backed up in a hurry, bumping into me. “Ladies, our prey awaits anon.”
“Huh?” Nina bumped into me from behind when I stopped.
“Elvin is working late. How about we pay him a visit?” asked Bernie.
Poor Elvin, he had no idea what we had in mind when the three of us pounded on the door like women dying to get into a 75-percent-off sale.
“Follow my lead and play along,” whispered Bernie.
Elvin unlocked the door. “What are you three up to?”
I cringed when he put it that way. “What are you doing working so late?”
“I guess you heard about Kat? There was a lot of chaos in the Lawrence family today. Half the deliveries didn’t get unloaded, and we’re expecting another truck in the morning, so I told Jonah to go home and get some sleep.”
“Maybe we can give you a hand so it will go faster,” offered Bernie.
“Sure,” I said. “You guys open the boxes and, if you tell us where to put everything, Nina and I can set out the toys.”
Elvin seemed wary. “You don’t have to do that.”
“But we want to!” Nina insisted.
I felt a little guilty about pretending to help him out when we had an ulterior motive, but a better opportunity probably wouldn’t present itself.
In one hour, the four of us accomplished what would have taken Elvin until the wee hours of the morning. Bernie bantered with him good-naturedly and eventually the topic turned to murder.
“Must be tough trying to keep everyone’s spirits high,” said Bernie.
Elvin slit open another box. “Baxter is so torn up I’m not sure he’ll ever recover.”
Nina pushed a carton of stocking-stuffer games toward me. I dutifully placed them in colorful little bins. Outside the Santa’s Workshop display window, snow began to fall. Surrounded by toys and Christmas displays, it started to feel like we really were in Santa’s workshop. How could anyone who worked in this festive atmosphere possibly be guilty of murder?
“Do you have any theories about who killed Gwen?” asked Nina.
I thought Bernie might explode. Nina had jumped the gun with that question.
“That Natasha woman, I guess. I saw what she posted on the Internet. Baxter told me today that the police think Gwen poisoned that fellow, Horace! I don’t understand what’s going on at all. I don’t know what to think.”
I turned toward him and watched him carefully. He didn’t seem upset. Then why had the mouse disturbed him so much?
“I heard the police are hot on Patty’s trail,” said Bernie. “She slipped out of Sophie’s house in the middle of the night.”
“And she sure hates Gwen,” added Nina.
“No!” Elvin looked straight at Nina. “It wasn’t Patty.” He gazed at me. “Claudine says you used to date that Wolf fell
ow.”
“I did.”
“You gotta tell him that Patty didn’t do it. She couldn’t have. Gwen did Patty wrong. Real wrong. I guess you know Gwen broke up Patty and Baxter’s marriage.”
“It took two people to do that,” I observed.
“Baxter thinks he’s so smart, but he can be as stupid as the rest of us. He never should have left Patty. I know for a fact that Patty didn’t murder Gwen. You should know that, Sophie. You’re her alibi.”
That surprised me. “How’s that?”
He nodded his head. “You gotta tell Wolf that Patty was with you the whole time before she came to the house for dinner that night. She couldn’t have done it.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Dear Natasha,
Every year my husband wants to set up a train under our Christmas tree. It’s a nightmare. There’s no room for gifts and inevitably, something is broken, and hubby gets upset. Where can we put that thing?
Conductor’s Wife in Station 15, Ohio
Dear Conductor’s Wife,
The basement comes to mind. Toys belong in a playroom. However, it could be cute combined with a Christmas village in a seldom-used corner of a room like the nook under a curving stairway. Make it hubby’s job.
Natasha
I should have responded to Elvin’s statement right away but it took me a minute to process the meaning of what he’d said. It assumed Gwen was murdered after the cookie swap broke up and before Patty joined Baxter and the kids for dinner. How did Elvin know the exact time Gwen was murdered unless Wolf told him . . . or he was there? I stared at Elvin. Had we stupidly blundered into the killer? I’d been suspicious of him. Maybe we should make our exit as soon as we could, and pass this information along to Wolf.
Nina shoved me a box of stuffed animals, and the first one I pulled out was the Christmas mouse with glasses, like the one Edith had bought. I froze. What a stroke of bad luck. I looked at Elvin out of the corner of my eye.
He dropped the utility knife he’d been using to open boxes. It landed poorly, slicing right through the top of his running shoe. He howled and jumped backward, which flung the bloodied knife to the floor.
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