Sweet Holidays: The Third Samantha Sweet Mystery (The Samantha Sweet Mysteries)

by Connie Shelton

  “Shelton continues to combine suspenseful storytelling with sensitive portrayals of complex family relationships.” —Booklist

  “...a wonderful, easy flow that draws in the reader.”

  —Amazon 5-Star review

  “As for me, I enjoy mysteries infused with a little touch of magic and a dream that anything is possible.” —Amazon 5-Star review

  “Connie Shelton gets better with every book she writes.”

  –Midwest Book Review

  Sweet Holidays

  The Third Samantha Sweet Mystery

  Secret Staircase Books

  Copyright 2011 Connie Shelton. All Rights Reserved.

  Chapter 1

  Samantha Sweet tucked a sprig of sugar holly against the Yule log cake she’d just created, her final one for the day. She tapped a sprinkling of powdered sugar over the chocolate rolled confection and called out to the front room. “Jennifer, this is ready for the display case.”

  Her petite assistant walked into the kitchen, dusting cookie crumbs from her purple apron with the Sweet’s Sweets logo embroidered on it. The shop slogan, “A Bakery of Magical Delights” seemed especially appropriate this time of year. Sam always marveled at how Jen’s makeup and dark hair in its neat chignon seemed nearly as fresh in the late afternoon as first thing in the morning.

  “It’s snowing out there,” Jen commented, sending a smile toward the holiday pastry as she lifted it from Sam’s work table.

  “Think it will stick?”

  Jen shrugged. “Hard to say. Probably not.”

  Sam washed her hands at the sink and followed Jen out to the sales area, pleased to see that the usual late afternoon customers had not let her down, despite the looming weather front. The first week of December was a little early for lasting snow, but the mountains of northern New Mexico could expect just about any weather this time of year. She walked over to the front windows of her shop and peered out into the deepening dusk. White pellets blew horizontally across the parking lot, gathering in small drifts against the curb.

  “I can close up if you want to leave early,” Sam told Jen. “I have to take a quick inventory and order more supplies anyway. That order for the county employees Christmas party wiped out a few of our necessities.”

  The younger woman looked up from the bistro tables where she’d been giving everything a quick wipe. She tucked a single strand of dark hair behind her ear and rinsed out her cleaning rag. “You sure? It’s been a busy day for you, too.”

  “Luckily.” Sam turned from the window. “I thought we’d have a big slowdown after all the Thanksgiving pies were gone, but it just hasn’t happened. It’s like everyone’s on a sugar binge.”

  Jen wiggled her eyebrows. “And you’re loving it!”

  Sam felt her smile widen. “You bet!”

  “I know we’ve talked about this before . . . A few customers have asked about candies. You know, chocolates, truffles and stuff like that.”

  Sam bit her lip. She’d definitely considered adding candy to the normal bakery offerings, but other than the cocoa she used in flavoring her frostings and decorations, she didn’t have much experience with chocolate—only enough to know that it could really get tricky if it weren’t tempered and handled correctly.

  “I need to think about it, Jen. I can’t afford to risk the reputation of the shop by putting out anything that isn’t top quality. And I sure don’t have the time this season to take classes and learn how to do it. Maybe later.”

  “Sure. Just passing along customer requests.”

  “I know. Thanks.” Sam smiled as she glanced out the window again. “Go on now. And be careful—the visibility sucks.”

  Jen pulled off her apron and hung it on one of the hooks inside the work area. Sam locked the front door behind her, turned over the Closed sign, and dimmed the lights to their nighttime settings. Pulling the cash from the register, she carried it to the small desk she’d set up for herself in the back room and began counting. But her mind zipped in a hundred directions, and she found herself going back for a third count before she gave up and pulled out her calculator.

  She liked the idea of adding candy to their offerings. Plus, they’d had several requests for Jewish holiday treats as well. Hanukkah would begin only four days before Christmas this year, so she really needed to address both holidays at once. Taos didn’t have many Jews so Sam was only now learning about those traditional foods, let alone how to make them. Luckily, she thought her friend Zoë might have some of the recipes, and Sam planned on begging for help from that quarter. And, she’d already gotten orders for two Christmas themed weddings and another on New Year’s Eve—cakes, table favors, and even some rather randy bachelorette treats.

  Then there was her other job. Sam broke into houses—legally, for the US Department of Agriculture—her main source of steady income before the bakery came into being. Now that finances were more stable and she had a little nest egg, she could easily afford to quit that one, but there was the little matter of her government contract. Her supervising officer, Delbert Crow, didn’t seem inclined to simply let her out of it. For the moment, she’d had a short breather. Lawns and shrubs took the winter off, thank goodness, leaving Sam with only two properties where she had to stop in for a few minutes a week, just to be sure no pipes had frozen or roofs had leaked. So far, so good on that count.

  Her cell phone startled her out of that train of thought. She pulled it from the pocket of her slacks.

  “Mom?” Kelly’s voice held a note of urgency.

  “Yeah, hon?”

  “I need a ride home. I’m at Romero’s Garage.”

  “Problem with your car?”

  “Kind of.” Kelly stalled, in the same way Sam remembered from her daughter’s teen years. “Well, it’s got a bent wheel rim.”

  Sam bit the inside of her cheek, forcing herself not to ask.

  “Okay, okay. I went off the road.”

  Kelly’s years of living in southern California hadn’t exactly prepared her for winters back here in the mountains. “I’m just leaving the bakery. I should be there in ten or fifteen minutes.” Normally a trip to the garage that had serviced her vehicles for years would take five minutes, but tonight she had a feeling the streets were getting messy.

  She stuffed her bank deposit into a zippered bag, gathered her coat and backpack, and rechecked the doors and lights before walking out into the alley behind the bakery. Her delivery van, with its elaborate design that looked like an overflowing box of baked treats, now sported a light powdered-sugar coating, and a skiff of white coated the ground. She scuffed the toe of her sneaker across the pavement to test the slickness of it. Not that bad. Kelly had probably just panicked. Unless she was texting. Sam sighed and muttered all the choice words she wanted to say to her daughter but probably wouldn’t. There’s only so much lecturing a mom can do after the kid hits thirty.

  She unlocked the van and tossed her backpack inside, her thoughts darting from her daughter’s predicament, to the supply order she’d not had time to place, to the ever-nagging question of what she could make for a quick dinner. She’d only begun to edge one hip toward the driver’s seat when a man stepped out of the shadows.

  Sam’s heart thudded.

  “Madam of the sweet shop? Please—do not leave.”

  His accent was European, something with hints of French and German, but not quite. She let the van’s door stay between herself and the large man who walked slowly toward her. His clothing was rough—a heavy wool coat of dark brown or b
lack, dusted with snowflakes, dark pants, thick boots, a soft wool hat. The six-foot frame and heavy facial features belied the delicate hands that reached toward her, palms upward.

  Sam started to make an excuse for not digging into her wallet for some cash, but he interrupted.

  “Please, Madam, I am here to helping you.”

  “Look, I’m really—”

  He removed the hat, revealing dark hair that fluffed away from his scalp in thin wisps. “I am Gustav Bobul.”

  And I’m supposed to know you?

  “Chocolatier extraordinaire.”

  She felt her eyebrows draw together in puzzlement.

  “I create such lovely confections . . . the exquisite tastes to delight one’s vision and one’s palate. You need me.”

  Had Jen set this up?

  “I’m not really looking to hire anyone right now. The holidays . . . we’re very busy.”

  “I know this. Is no need to pay. I come to answer a great need for you.”

  How did he know?

  “I’m really in a hurry right now, Mr—”

  “Bobul. You simply call me Bobul.”

  “Yeah, well. I have to—”

  “I understanding. I come back tomorrow.” He did a little flourish with the hat, plopped it back onto his head, and walked up the alley. In under ten seconds he had disappeared into the storm.

  Sam stared at the end of the alley, where sleet raced through the cone of light from a streetlamp. Only the sound of the wind greeted her.

  Chapter 2

  Kelly was waiting under the tiny awning in front of Romero’s Garage, hunched into her thin, inadequate coat, staring toward the street when Sam pulled up.

  “I’m so sorry, Mom. It happened so fast. I didn’t even feel the car going out of control.” The words tumbled out before Kelly had even closed her door.

  The encounter with the mysterious stranger, Bobul—and watching out for crazy drivers on the road—had so occupied Sam’s thoughts that she’d not prepared a lecture.

  “Danny Romero says they can have the rim replaced sometime tomorrow.”

  Kelly fluffed the snow out of her brown curls and chattered on, something about getting parts from a dealership, but Sam’s mind was elsewhere. Maybe she could meet with the chocolatier—if he really showed up again—and see what he had to offer. She would check with Jen; perhaps her assistant really had sent him over.

  Putting that subject on the back burner, she began a mental inventory of what she had at home for a quick dinner. With the early darkness and the fact that she’d stayed late at the shop, she couldn’t seem to summon up the energy for a made-from-scratch meal or for a trip out of the way to grab fast food. The little van seemed determined to take the shortest way home and Sam merely followed along.

  Shallow drifts coated the long driveway beside Sam’s house. The van gave a little sideways shudder when she made the turn, but she straightened it and kept a steady pace to her normal spot near the kitchen door. Her cell phone rang before she’d shut off the ignition.

  Delbert Crow, her contracting officer for her USDA job, rattled out a bunch of data about a new property and Sam missed most of it.

  “Hang on just a second, Delbert. I’m not even in the house yet. Let me get inside and take a few notes so I can get out to the place tomorrow.”

  “No deal. I need you to check this one tonight.”

  She groaned. Kelly glanced in Sam’s direction and nodded toward the house. She got out and headed toward the back door while Sam tried to concentrate on what Delbert was saying.

  “It’s not officially in foreclosure yet. Mortgage is only ninety days in arrears,” he said. “But it’s a valuable property and we don’t want frozen pipes and water damage.”

  Sam stared out at the whipping snow. The temperature didn’t seem that low.

  As if he could read her mind, Delbert said, “Forecast is for the snow to move out within the next couple of hours and the temps to drop. A lot. Just give it a quick check and make sure the heat is on. If the guy is as delinquent in his gas and electric as he is with the mortgage, everything could be shut down.”

  So much for getting off her feet and spending a snug evening at home. She clicked off the call and grabbed her backpack.

  In the kitchen, Kelly was standing in front of the open refrigerator door, staring.

  “Find whatever you want,” Sam said. “I think there’s some canned soup, or there might be homemade chile in the freezer if you want to take the time to thaw it. Delbert informs me that I have a must-do job tonight.”

  Kelly sent a sympathetic look. “I could make something and have it ready for when you get back.”

  “That’s okay. I don’t know how long it will take. You go ahead. I’ll grab something when I get back.”

  One thing about breaking into houses—you never really knew what you were in for until you got there.

  Sam slipped out of her heavy coat and went into her bedroom to change into something more suitable than her lightweight work slacks and baker’s jacket. She took off her favorite gold earrings and put them into the odd, lumpy wood box that had come into her possession a few months earlier. As usual, the wood began to glow with warmth when she handled it. She quickly set it back on her dresser.

  Ten minutes later, attired in sweats and sturdy boots, with a moisture proof jacket, she walked out to her big red Silverado 4X4 and let it warm up while she swept the coating of sleet off the windshield. Residual energy from handling the mysterious box ran through her but Sam really just wanted to get Delbert’s chore over with. She put the truck in four-wheel mode and headed out.

  She turned right at the end of her lane, away from the center of town and the plaza, where there were likely to be more traffic problems. A few more jogs along back roads and she’d bypassed most of the congested areas.

  By the time she reached the south end of town and the tiny community of Talpa, she felt as if she were alone on the road. Tire tracks in the few inches of snow indicated where people had come home and turned at their driveways. Soft golden light, diffused by the whiteness in the air, glowed from most of the windows.

  Darn it, that’s where I want to be, she grumbled to herself. She gunned the truck just a little and came to the final turn, a narrow lane with only a few houses. She spotted her goal, a walled property that she guessed to be two or three acres, thickly treed behind the house. Sam stopped next to a heavy wooden gate in the adobe wall, which closed off the driveway. She grabbed her flashlight from under the seat.

  An oversized wooden mailbox stood by a smaller walk-through gate and a peek inside showed that no one had picked up mail in ages. Sam closed the door on it and re-fastened the little hook that kept it in place. She put her shoulder to the gate and shoved, managing to get it open enough to squeeze through. Her latest diet clearly wasn’t accomplishing quite as much as she’d hoped.

  She looked toward the house, a large adobe with territorial style porch and pitched metal roof. A lawn stretched in a smooth unbroken expanse, and winding flowerbeds held snowy clumps of dead stalks that had never been trimmed back at the end of the summer. Neatly trimmed junipers, coated now with ice, flanked both sides of the front entry. Sam let out a frosty breath and started up the flagstone walk, watching her balance.

  The front door appeared to be firmly locked. No surprise there. It was an expensive lock. In fact, an expensive door—carved wood with a little window inset near the top with a rustic iron grid over it. Tied to one of the small iron bars was a flame-red tag. Sam recognized it as the type normally left to inform the owner that the electric company planned to cut the power for non-payment. Sam held the tag up, and shined the flashlight’s beam at it. The penned-in date for cut-off was the next day.

  From her coat pocket she pulled her cell phone and speed-dialed Delbert Crow’s number. He grumbled when she explained the situation and asked whether his department could make a plea to keep the power on.

  “Doubt they’ll do it,” he said. �
��You better shut off the water line.”

  Life would be so much easier if people just handled their business. Every one of these houses had a different situation, and Sam wasn’t even sure whether this place had a hookup to the city water main. She trudged around the side of the house, aiming the light beam about, until she came to a small outbuilding that apparently housed the well and pump. At least this was something with which she’d had experience. She quickly located the shutoff valve and heard the water settle into the tank. If there truly were a hard freeze before she could get power back to the place, there might still be damage. And that would end up becoming the problem of some insurance company.

  Sam completed her circle of the house, not finding a single open door or window to ease the task of getting inside. A trip back to the truck would provide the tools to drill the lock, but she belatedly remembered that she didn’t have a spare lockset and it wouldn’t be smart to leave the place unsecured. She faced the solid front door again, stomping snow from her boots as she debated what to do.

  On the off chance that the owner had left a hidden key, Sam ran her hand along the top of the door frame. Nothing. Large potted evergreens stood at each end of the covered porch but a thorough inspection of the pots, the drainage dishes they sat upon, and the earth around the plants yielded nothing. There wasn’t a whole lot more she could do at this point, with all the hardware stores closed. She took a peek at her watch and saw that it was nearly ten. And she had to be up by five to open the bakery. It had been a long day. She gave the heavy door one more tug and turned back toward her truck.

  The icy pellets stopped flying before she got home and when she stepped out of the truck she caught a glimpse of a few stars in the black sky. She would definitely need to get anti-freeze into the drains at the Talpa house tomorrow.

  She kicked snow off her boots and opened the connecting door from the service porch to the kitchen, realizing belatedly that lights blazed in every room.