JAMMED WITH MURDER

by Donna Walo Clancy

  Tabby had changed her mind once again as to how the thumbprint cookies would be served. She purchased plastic, cereal sized bowls that looked like crystal and filled each one with a variety of jellies and jams. They were covered with plastic wrap for now and placed on the table with a jar behind it representing what flavor was contained in the bowl. Wicker baskets filled with small white sample spoons were placed in various places on the table.

  The strollers could pick up a cookie, fill it with whatever flavor they wanted to try, and then throw the spoon away. This freed Tabby and Janice up to run and refill the cookie trays and hot chocolate when needed. They also needed to be able to get Thelma off the register and let her join in on the celebration.

  Greg would stand at the end of the table near the hot chocolate and pass out his carnations. That end was closest to the back room and he could easily get a full bucket of flowers and return to the table without spilling water on anyone because of trying to get through the crowd.

  No one had eaten lunch. Greg took everyone’s order for a take-out lunch from the diner and called it in. Twenty minutes later he left to go pick up the food. They took turns taking lunch breaks in the back room. The bell on the door was constantly ringing and Tabby was almost tempted to take it down just for the day, but Greg insisted it added to the festivities.

  It was Greg and Tabby’s turn to sit for a bit and eat. They had just started to eat when Janice poked her head through the curtain.

  “Tabby, your stalker is here,” Janice whispered.

  “Seriously? She had the nerve to come into my shop?” she said, angrily. “I’ll be right out.”

  Tabby and Greg exited the back room and stood behind the register watching Becky Tillman. She knew she was being watched. She flitted amongst the customers, introducing herself, and handing out business cards announcing her new bakery that would open in the Spring.

  “She’s got some nerve,” Janice said. “Do you want me to go escort her out of here?”

  “No, I’m sure that’s exactly what she wants to happen. Let’s just stand here and stare at her. Maybe, she’ll get the hint that she’s not wanted here and leave.”

  Becky moved closer to the register area continuing to speak to people as she did. She managed to wheedle her way into a group of young women who looked to be of the marrying age. In a loud voice, she announced that if they booked a wedding with this particular shop, she would probably be making their wedding cake for them. Tabby had had enough after hearing this last statement. She stormed over to where Becky was and pointed toward the door.

  “You need to leave my shop now. I do not use you as my baker and don’t even know you enough to recommend you to anyone. Stop telling people things that just aren’t true,” Tabby demanded. “Go pass your cards out somewhere else.”

  “Real friendly, Miss Moon. I hope you don’t treat all your customers this way,” Becky announced loudly, looking around to make sure people were watching and listening.

  “Only the ones who come in here telling boatloads of lies,” Tabby replied just as loud.

  “I’m leaving, but you’ll need my services in the future and we’ll see how friendly you are then,” she insisted. “I won’t bother you anymore.”

  She went out the front door slamming it as she went.

  “It’s okay, people. She’s two sandwiches short a picnic, if you know what I mean,” Janice announced to the remaining customers. “Everyone grab a raffle ticket and we’ll do a couple of drawings for some prizes.”

  With prizes on the line, everyone forgot about Becky Tillman very quickly.

  “Nice save, Janice,” Greg said. “But, I don’t know if you should have said the picnic part.”

  “Why? It’s true. She is nuts, in my book anyway,” Janice responded. “Go finish eating while you have a chance. I got things out here.”

  “Thanks, we will,” Greg said, grabbing Tabby’s hand and pulling her behind the curtain.

  They sat down to eat, listening to the screams of glee when someone’s number was pulled from the basket. Tabby was going to do raffles during the Stroll, but Janice saved her butt by starting them just a little bit earlier than planned. She had designated five cases of jelly as prizes so there was still plenty to give away later.

  A small table just inside the door held raffle tickets and a box to put them in once filled out. That way, a person who had visited could still win even if they had moved on to the next business. There would be instant raffles each hour for whoever was in the store at that time.

  Two grand prizes would be drawn at the end of the night. One for a triple, gold-tipped poinsettia plant and one for a basket of jellies and biscuits.

  It was three-thirty. Tabby had to go start the hot chocolate so that it would be ready at four. She set out three large platters and filled them with thumbprint cookies, wrapping them with plastic wrap and piling them on top of each other to carry them downstairs. Plastic tubs, full of cookies, were piled on the kitchen table at the ready to refill the trays. A second batch of hot chocolate was mixed and on a low simmer on the stove.

  At five to four, Greg carried the hundred and eight cup coffee dispenser that was full of steaming hot chocolate downstairs and set it on the table. The whole shop smelled like chocolate. Tabby passed out Santa hats with their names written in gold glitter on the fur to Janice, Thelma, and Greg. She unwrapped all the jelly bowls and they were ready for the festivities to begin.

  Thelma insisted that Christmas music be playing during the Stroll, so to please her employee, Tabby secretly placed her stereo from upstairs in the back room and placed the speakers right behind where the elderly woman would be standing at the register. Her face lit up when the music began playing and she immediately started to sing getting the customers to sing with her.

  The shop was buzzing with people. Tabby stood behind the food table watching the women fall prey to Greg’s charm as he handed them a carnation. His gorgeous smile got to every one of them. Some hung around him longer than others and one woman even secretly slid him her phone number.

  The thumbprint cookies were a huge success. Many of the strollers would eat a cookie slathered in jelly and then run off to get a jar of whatever flavor it was that they had eaten on the cookie. It seemed that almost everyone that came in made a purchase.

  A couple of times during the evening, Tabby ducked out the front door to look at Main Street in all its Christmas glory. Families were walking in and out of businesses, many with bags of purchases they had made along the way. Children were squealing in delight at the lights and the goodies they were collecting. Couples were walking hand in hand, smiling and laughing.

  She loved the Christmas Stroll and all the good it brought out in people. Greg came up behind her and put his arms around her waist, much to the chagrin of the other women in the shop.

  “Maybe next year we can take an hour off and do the Stroll ourselves,” he whispered.

  “I think it would take a lot longer than an hour,” Tabby replied. “But, we’ll see.”

  “Tabby, I need Greg to refill the hot chocolate,” Janice yelled through the open front door.

  “So much for a break,” Greg said, kissing her cheek and heading back into the shop.

  By seven-thirty the crowd had dwindled down to a slow pace. Almost all of Greg’s flowers had been given out, the cookies were almost gone, and the hot chocolate was down to less than half a pot. Tabby condensed everything down to one table and Greg carried the other two back down cellar to the storage area.

  Thelma asked if Greg could run her home. She had been there all day and was tired. Tabby tossed him the keys to her car so that Thelma wouldn’t have to climb up into the delivery van. Janice left shortly afterwards. Tabby waited for the last customer to leave and locked the front door.

  She sat at the register enjoying a hot chocolate. It was the first time she had sat all night and her feet were killing her.

  Mental note to self: never wear new shoes just to look good when you
have to stand on your feet for a twelve-hour day.

  Greg returned and together they finished cleaning up the shop. They went upstairs with the cats in tow and Tabby fixed them a quick supper of a chef’s salad. They bundled up following supper and decided to stroll down Main Street. Tabby wanted to check on her mom’s shop which was only a ten-minute walk from her apartment. She grabbed the spare set of keys to the shop and they left.

  Most of the shops were in darkness following the Stroll conclusion. Somewhere in the distance, Christmas music was playing and Greg hummed along as they walked.

  Greg pulled out his flashlight as they approached Mystic Happenings. He told Tabby to stay at the front door while he checked around the back to make sure the rear door was secured and that no windows were broken signaling a break-in. He returned several minutes later saying that everything looked okay.

  Tabby unlocked the door. She turned on the lights at the front of the store. Nothing seemed to be out of place. It was the first time Greg had been in the store and he began to look around. Tabby walked to the back storage room. She didn’t bother to turn on the overhead light as she had plenty of light coming from out front.

  She walked by one of the back windows and let out a scream for Greg.

  CHAPTER 12

  * * *

  “Tabby, where are you? What’s wrong?” Greg yelled, trying to find the storage area.

  “Back here at the window,” she answered. “Hurry.”

  She was standing at the side of the window looking out. Greg entered the storage area and she instructed him to stand on the other side and look where she was pointing.

  “Do you see it?” she asked, her heart beating out of her chest.

  “If I didn’t see it for myself, I wouldn’t believe it,” he said in a hushed tone.

  They stared out the window that looked out over the massive Whipper Will Cemetery. The Floater, clearly visible, was wandering around, stopping at each stone as if he was reading it and then moving on to the next.

  “Come on, let’s go check him out,” Tabby said, unlocking the back door.

  They quickly walked to the spot they had last seen the specter. He had moved further on and didn’t acknowledge that they had come up behind him until suddenly, he turned and looked directly at them.

  “Who are you? What are you looking for?” Tabby asked.

  He vanished right before their eyes.

  “I don’t believe it,” Greg whispered. “I saw a ghost; an actual ghost.”

  “That was awesome!” Tabby exclaimed. “People are right. It looks like he’s reading the stones looking for a certain grave.”

  “Let’s get back to the shop. We left the door wide open,” Greg warned.

  Once inside, they secured the back door, checked the thermostat, and ran the hot water for five minutes to keep the pipes from freezing. They shut out the lights and locked the front door. Not much was said on the walk home. The Christmas music had stopped playing and the only noise was the crunching of the frozen snow under their feet as they walked.

  Greg walked Tabby up to her apartment door.

  “I think we need to walk around the cemetery and see if any names pop out at us,” Tabby suggested.

  “Not tomorrow, we have the Children’s Christmas Party. I’ll meet you at the lodge at ten. Get some sleep,” Greg said, giving her a kiss. “I love you.”

  “Love you, too,” she said, closing the door behind her.

  She crawled into bed, but couldn’t fall asleep. Seeing a ghost for the first time was exciting. The scene kept playing repeatedly in her mind. He was definitely looking for something in the cemetery, but what? She set her alarm for eight and dozed off sometime after midnight.

  Ghost woke her up before seven. He dropped one of the non-breakable ornaments from off the tree next to her head on the pillow and started rolling on it. She sat up and stretched, giving up on going back to sleep. She looked at her quilt and there were three other ornaments that Ghost had brought up on the bed to play with.

  This was becoming a morning routine. Put on the coffee and chase down all the ornaments that the cat had removed from the Christmas tree the night before. One morning, she had even found one floating in the toilet. Now, she made sure the lid was down before she went to bed.

  Sitting in her recliner, sipping her coffee, she was looking forward to the children’s party today. Because of the anonymous donor, they were able to finish the shopping lists that had been submitted by the kids. This would be one of the best parties they had ever put on for the town.

  She hopped in the shower. Waiting on the bed was her costume for the day; an elf suit. She had funny elf shoes with bells on the toes, a green and red elf dress with green tights, and a hat with built-in elf ears. Her job for the party was to hand each child a filled stocking when they got down off Santa’s lap.

  At ten o’clock she walked through the lodge door. People had already been working for hours to convert the main hall into a North Pole. Glistening snowflakes hung from the ceiling, five-foot-tall candy canes lined the paths that would be followed by the children, and Santa’s golden throne stood at the center of the room.

  Crafts and games were set up around the perimeter of the room. People were running around in costumes finishing last minute details before the breakfast was served for the working crew. The previous year Tabby was on the first shift getting there at seven in the morning. This year she got the late shift combined with the clean-up shift.

  Jenny arrived shortly after Tabby. Also dressed as an elf, she was in charge of the face painting table. Greg came out of the smaller meeting hall to call everyone to breakfast. He had drawn the early shift seeing as it was his first-year volunteering. Tabby burst out laughing watching Greg walk in his elf tights. The little silver bells hanging off his elf smock tinkled with every step he took.

  “Keep laughing, Moon. At least my shoes don’t have curled up toes,” Greg said, putting his hands on his hips.

  “Let’s go eat, Jingle Bells,” Tabby said, putting her arm around her boyfriend.

  The Bears always provided a pancake breakfast for the locals who worked the party. Regular or blueberry pancakes, bacon and sausage, home fries, juice, and coffee were waiting on the buffet in the next room.

  They had an hour to enjoy themselves before several special needs kids came in early with their families. These children did not do well in large crowds and were given the run of the place for an hour prior to the rest of the town being admitted. The doors would open to the rest of the families at twelve.

  The breakfast was excellent as usual. Every year, the Bears cooked triple was what needed to feed the volunteers as the left-overs were brought down to the homeless shelter and shared with the residents there.

  Earl Anthony played Santa for as long as Tabby could remember. The owner of Earl’s Ammo and Tackle located on the outskirts of town, he was not known to most of the younger children, so he was not easily recognized when playing Santa. He had the belly and the beard and played the part wonderfully. The children loved Santa and he loved them back.

  One of the Bears came in and announced the first families were arriving. Santa wiped the syrup off his mouth and slipped on his beard. The elves all went out to take their places at their stations. The twenty-third annual Christmas Children’s Party was about to begin.

  The next four hours flew. Children from ages six months to seventeen years old attended the party. Each child was given a big bag with handles to hold all their crafts, prizes, and snacks. The first station was a table with crayons and markers so that they could decorate their bag with drawings and their name. This was a necessity as bags were set down and forgotten, but could be returned via the name on the bag.

  Then, they could run around and participate in any event they chose. The parents would sit at tables on the side of the room and enjoy a cup of coffee or cider while they watched their kids. No child was allowed to leave the room without a parent, grandparent, or the adult that they came
with to the party.

  Some of the families that came from the outer parts of town had little money to spend on Christmas. The gifts the children received here were the only ones they got from Santa. In some cases, the parent would be asked to come back later in the week and pick up additional gifts that they could wrap and put under the tree at home. If the family couldn’t afford a tree, Jenkin’s Tree Farm would deliver one to the front door, anonymously, while no one was home.

  No child went without Christmas in Whipper Will Junction. The most asked for item on the lists were bikes. The committee would get an early count on the number of bikes needed and special order them, along with some extras, from the department store in Larsen. They would be delivered to The Brown Bear Lodge and stored in the cellar.

  Over several weeks, volunteers who were mechanically inclined would spend their nights at the lodge putting the bikes together and tying a Christmas tag on the handlebars. A lot of background work went into this party; much more than people knew. Many hours were donated to make this three-hour party the success that it was.

  When the children fizzled out and were ready to leave, they could sit on Santa’s lap and be presented several of the gifts that they had put on their list to the North Pole. Receiving their filled stockings finished their day with Santa.

  At three o’clock the last family left. Clean-up would now begin. Both Tabby and Jenny had this shift. Greg volunteered to stay and help even though he had been there since seven this morning. Two families had not shown up for the festivities. They would be called to find out where and when they wanted the children’s presents delivered to their house.

  Clean-up moved along swiftly as most of the volunteers had done it before and knew the routine. Decorations were stored down in the basement along with Santa’s throne. The extra prizes, games, and extra gifts were locked up in a cage down in the basement to be used later if necessary.